Gardener decapitated after rope slips around his neck and is sucked into wood chipper

By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 6:26 PM on 27th September 2010

A gardener was horrifically killed after being decapitated when a rope around his neck was dragged into a wood chipper.

Miguel Vargas desperately fought to avoid being pulled into the chipper after the rope was fed into the churning mechanism.

As the noose tightened around his neck it decapitated his head from his body.

Other workers made the horrific discovery when they shut down the machine.

The gruesome accident happened in Tampa, Florida, where 44-year-old Vargas was part of a five man crew trimming trees on a suburban street.

He was feeding branches into the chipper when a rope that had been used by one of the tree trimmers somehow slipped over his neck.

Unable to reach the emergency shut off button, Vargas desperately tried to avoid being dragged head first into the machine where he would have been chopped to bits.

According to his boss Dwayne Wilson the force of the rope looped around his neck was so great that he was decapitated.

Wilson said: 'I heard a piece of metal and I ran back to shut the machine down and when I did, I looked and saw him on the ground.

'The force of the wood chipper pulling the rope, Miguel struggled against the rope trying to escape the chipper but was decapitated within seconds.'

Wilson said Vargas's screams would have been drowned out by the noise of the chipper as it stripped and shredded branches.

He said he hit the emergency stop button after hearing a metal clip on the rope grinding against the chipper blades, but by that time Vargas was dead.

Police said Vargas had worked as a tree trimmer for seven years and had four years experience operating the wood chipper.

They have ruled his death an accident.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315616/Gardener-decapitated-rope-slips-neck-sucked-wood-chipper.html

Rape victim, 12, secretly filmed attack

Published: 29 Sep 10 15:19 CET

A 12-year-old girl who was raped repeatedly by her ageing stepfather filmed an attack as evidence using a secret video camera in her room, a North Rhine-Westphalia court heard this week.

Cologne daily Express reported on Wednesday that the girl from the Rhineland city of Mülheim installed a concealed video camera in her room after she had already been raped at least 17 times over several years.

Her stepfather, 70-year-old Greek Georgios A., denied the allegations, the paper reported.

“I have never seduced her, rather her me, I swear it,” he said through a Greek-German interpreter. “She must have put something in my drink. I don’t remember anything.”

The state prosecutor accuses the man of seriously sexually assaulting the girl, who is now 13, at least 17 times between 2006 and May 2010.

“I want you. We’ll do it now, my girl,” the man is alleged to have said before each attack.

The man also tied the girl up and threatened to kill her, prosecutors say.

The girl, now 13, hatched her plan in May, hiding the camera in her room. When her stepfather raped her, the attack was recorded.

“You can clearly recognize in the images who is the perpetrator and who is the victim here,” judge Christoph Kaufmann said, according to the paper.

The girl showed the pictures to her teacher and her stepfather was promptly arrested. Because he continued to deny the charges, the victim had to testify for several hours on Tuesday, during which she clung to a teddy bear.

The girl now lives in a foster home and is "traumatised," the paper said. Her mother moved to another country after the case became public knowledge.

The court is expected to rule on the case on October 8.

From: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100929-30163.html

Grandfather Uses 10 month old Grandson as "Human Shield"

By Corrie Lovette - September 27th 2010 02:07pm

The incident occurred around 1 AM this morning at 2339 Northeast 52nd Street in Gainesville as Dorthy Williams Hutchinson and Johnnie Allen Hutchinson were watching their four grandchildren at their daughter's home.

According to the police report, the husband and wife got into an argument as their grandchildren slept in the living room.

As the argument escalated, Dorthy Hutchinson threatened to throw hot grease on her husband, Johnnie if he didn't leave her alone.

The altercation continued and she approached him with a pan of hot grease from the stove. Then Johnnie allegedly used his 10 month old grandson as a "human shield" as Dorthy threw the grease on him.

The grease burned Hutchinson and caused first and second degree burns to the child's right leg and lower abdomen.

It also burned another grandson under his left eye and on the left side of his face.

When I spoke with the children's distraught mother, Kalandra Esau, she said that although her mom and step-dad argue, she never expected this.

Esau said, "I just don't understand it...just the whole thing because I know my step-daddy loves his grandkid's and I know my mother loves them also...and I just feel like this was just an accident, but it's just...I can't. I don't want to talk no more."

Dorthy Williams Hutchinson was arrested and charged with Aggravated Domestic Battery and 2 counts of Neglect of a Child. Johnnie Allen Hutchinson was arrested and charged with Aggravated Child Abuse (knowingly causing disfigurement).

Neighbors said they were shocked by the news and that the Hutchinson's are usually out in the yard playing with four happy children. The children's mother, Kalandra Esau told me that she was with the kids at the hospital and they are going to be alright. But the ordeal is far from over.

From: http://www.wcjb.com/news/7665/grandfather-uses-10-month-old-grandson-as-human-shield

Dad kills 2 young sons, self; mom comes home to bodies

Posted on Tue, Sep. 28, 2010

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A pharmacist apparently shot and killed his two young sons and himself in their suburban Columbus home, leaving a grisly scene for his wife when she returned to her family Sunday after a weekend away, authorities said.

Sarah Geller, also a pharmacist, called 9-1-1 after she found the bodies of her husband, Troy Geller, 35, and their two sons, Solomon, 8, and Samson, 6, in their home in Upper Arlington, according to police spokeswoman Heather Galli.

Autopsies showed that Troy Geller died of a gunshot wound to the head, said Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak. The two boys died of multiple gunshots to the head and chest.

Galli would not say what police believe was the motive. There were no reports of domestic violence at the home, however. Police would not say where Sarah Geller had been over the weekend. She's now staying with relatives.

The Geller boys had just started school at Barrington Elementary School. Solomon was in the second grade and Samson was in kindergarten.

Teachers continued with classes yesterday in the rooms where the boys sat last week. Grief counselors were made available for faculty members and students.

"Any kind of death, and particularly a tragic, unexpected death, is a severe loss to our community," said Dan Donovan, a school spokesman. "It's extremely difficult for us to take."

The Gellers married on Valentine's Day in February 1998, the same month they were licensed as pharmacists, according to public records.

Sarah Geller has worked for Medco Health Solutions Inc. near Columbus since 2001, according to company spokeswoman Ann Smith. Troy Geller worked as a pharmacist for the same company until April 2005, but it wasn't clear when he started.

From: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/national/103910784.html

Teesside man dies after downing pint of vodka

29 September 2010 Last updated at 12:58 GMT

A man died after downing a pint of vodka in four seconds, an inquest heard.

Richard Davies, 29, from Thornaby, near Stockton, had been drinking with friends before the alcohol knocked him unconscious in January.

Mr Davies was found not breathing in a pool of his own blood, and died hours later.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Teesside coroner Tony Eastwood said the alcohol in his system had killed him.

The hearing on Tuesday at Teesside Coroner's Court was told how the electrician's mate was five-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit and his body contained traces of the then-legal high mephedrone, which has since been banned.

However, Mr Eastwood said the alcohol in his system had killed him and that the mephedrone was not a contributing factor.

'Pushed me away'

Mr Davies' best friend Christopher Crooks told the inquest how he tried to save his life after he was found unconscious in the early hours of 16 January.

In a statement read out by deputy Teesside coroner Tony Eastwood, he said: "Richard drank a pint of vodka in four seconds or so.

"I did try to take the glass off him, but he turned his back on me, pushed me away, and drank it all."

Paramedics were later called, but by the time they arrived Mr Davies was dead.

Pathologist Jan Lowe said Mr Davies had an alcohol level enough to have caused acute alcohol poisoning.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-11437449

Policeman stages fake arrest of boy for having sex with his daughter

A police officer has been suspended for staging a fake arrest of a 15-year-old boy after discovering the teenager was having sex with his stepdaughter.

By Nick Allen, Los Angeles
Published: 8:07PM BST 26 Sep 2010



The motorcycle officer, who was in uniform and armed, went to the boy's home in San Jose, California where he handcuffed him and lectured him for more than five minutes.

He told the boy, who had been seeing the 14-year-old girl for some time, that he was going to face criminal charges of having sex with a minor.

The officer said: "It does not bode well for you. Do you know what that means? No? Not a good thing that the person you had sex with is a cop's daughter. The district attorney will probably file charges.

"A cop's daughter is not somebody you mess around with. You're stupid."

One of the boy's parents videoed the incident and complained to police.

The case sparked a national debate in the US about whether the officer had abused his position, or was simply acting as a concerned father.

Tony Boskovich, a lawyer for the boy's family, said: "Applying force, applying handcuffs, threatening the young man with things such as rape in prison, he acted like a cowboy. He lost it, he came in and he abused his authority."

However, the officer's lawyer Terry Bowman said the boy's parents had not objected at the time.

Mr Bowman said: "Everything was done in the spirit of reaching a troubled young man who is heading down the wrong path."

The officer has been placed on leave and prosecutors are considering criminal charges of false imprisonment.

The boy later told the San Jose Mercury News he had been "terrified" and the officer should be punished.

He said: "I think he should go to jail and feel how I felt. I thought he would be a good dad by just showing up and talking to my parents, rather than taking advantage of his position."

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8026340/Policeman-stages-fake-arrest-of-boy-for-having-sex-with-his-daughter.html

Public schoolboy jailed for stab attack on 'best friend'

PA

Monday, 27 September 2010

A public schoolboy who stabbed his best friend 13 times and left him for dead "for his own personal gratification" was locked up for nine years today.

Harry Schick, 17, tried to kill 16-year-old Gavin Doyle after luring him to darkened woodland, the Old Bailey heard.

The teenagers were both A-level students at the £14,000-a-year Pangbourne College in Berkshire.

Gavin, who hoped to become a Royal Marine, had paid Schick £400 to get him a Pioneer air pistol which he wanted for target practice but was too young to buy.

The victim, from Surrey, arranged to meet Schick so he could hand over the weapon in Lloyd Park, Croydon, late at night in March.

But as he had his back turned the older boy produced a large knife, stabbing him repeatedly during an hour-long attack.

Schick took his victim's mobile phone and deleted records of contacts between the two, before tossing it onto his chest where he lay on the ground.

Gavin suffered a pierced liver and a collapsed lung and could have died but managed to use the handset to dial 999.

Schick, of Kenway Road, Earls Court, west London, at first denied anything to do with the attack but pleaded guilty to attempted murder as he was due to go on trial last month.

Judge Richard Hawkins told the boy that the stabbing had a "traumatic" effect on the victim - who is now 17 - adding: "What makes it worse is that he considered you as a friend."

He ordered a further psychological assessment once Schick had served his sentence after a report found that while the defendant presented a "low to medium risk of future violence", it was a "very unusual" attack.

Detective Sergeant Tim Hammond said: "He is a strange character and I think a very dangerous character.

"We have got nothing to suggest any motive other than he wanted to kill the victim for his own personal gratification."

The judge declined to ban the young defendant from being identified, saying: "In view of the gravity of this case the press ought to be free to report it."

Schick, an only child whose mother is estranged from his US-based father, looked close to tears as he was sentenced.

As he was taken down, a male voice shouted from the public gallery: "Enjoy it you f****** c***."

The judge had been handed a letter from Schick's mother and another from the defendant himself, in which he apologised for the attack.

His mother wrote of her shock at the actions of her "popular" son who "everyone thought well of" and who had won a school award for his consideration to others.

"What has happened is so tragic and incomprehensible," she said.

Benjamin Squirrell, defending, said: "It is clear that this is a tragic case, not only for the defendant but also of course for the victim.

"It is very difficult throughout all of the reports and letters to find any underlying reason to make it understandable.

"It is clear that the defendant was not suffering from a mental illness at the time but perhaps there is something in what his mother says in the letter, that he had effectively become distanced from reality.

"He had been living in a different world, detached from his feelings.

"Perhaps that is one reason to understand how someone who had so much to offer, who was doing so well, who had not displayed any of these tendencies or behaviour, would choose to attack one of his best friends.

"It obviously goes beyond anyone's comprehension.

"He has no previous convictions or history of violence and psychiatrists described this attack as surprising in the context of an individual who has no known history of aggression or violence.

"It is unlikely that this set of circumstances will ever arise again."

The judge told Schick: "You made it clear during this hour-long attack what your intention was - to kill him.

"You got a SIM card specially to contact the victim days before the attack. You took a knife out to meet him in a lonely place, changing your clothing.

"The attack was on a close friend and it was sustained, over an hour, and the victim has suffered psychologically and physically to a serious extent."

The judge told Schick that had Gavin not been able to call for help, he would have been facing a charge of murder.

He was discovered covered in blood and spent three days in intensive care.

Gavin suffered wounds all over his body - including defensive injuries to his fingers as he tried to ward off the attack that may damage his ambitions of joining the Marines, the court heard.

Det Sgt Hammond said: "This was a horrific and still apparently motiveless attack on a 16-year-old boy at the hands of someone he trusted as a close friend. It was a cold and calculated crime that the attacker had been planning for some time.

"The victim would almost certainly have died had it not been for the quick response of the police and the London Ambulance Service."

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/public-schoolboy-jailed-for-stab-attack-on-best-friend-2090853.html

Man jailed for shooting wife in head

PA

Monday, 27 September 2010

A man who shot his wife in the back of the head while their young son was watching was sentenced to life in prison today, said police.

Jamie Dunne, 30, of Ian Mikardo Way, Caversham, Reading, Berkshire, shot his wife Tracy in the head at their home on New Year's Day last year.

Mrs Dunne suffered serious head injuries.

Dunne was convicted of attempted murder after a trial at Reading Crown Court in June and was sentenced today, said Thames Valley Police.

He previously admitted possessing a shortened shotgun, criminal damage, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and unlawful wounding.

Detective Constable Jim Howden, from Reading CID, said: "This was clearly a very serious and senseless act, carried out in front of a young child.

"The incident resulted in both serious physical injuries and long-term emotional trauma to Mrs Dunne.

"This sentence cannot undo the suffering caused by Mr Dunne to his wife over many years through his alcoholism and behaviour towards her.

"However, I hope she will now be able to start a new life with her son, knowing that justice has been done."

David Edwards, CPS case lawyer, said: "Mr Dunne's conviction for attempting to murder his wife by shooting her in the back of her head with an illegal sawn-off shotgun follows a professional and thorough investigation and robust prosecution, through team working by the CPS and police.

"The case demonstrates both the terrifying consequences of possessing illegal firearms and domestic violence, even more so when the two are combined.

"The fact that Mrs Dunne somehow survived this ordeal is wholly down to fortune.

"The most harrowing aspect of the case is the fact that the whole incident was witnessed by the couple's son.

"His bravery in being able to give his account to the police cannot be underestimated.

"There can be no better example of the suitability of special measures, such as his being able to have his evidence given through the playing of his video-recorded interview, which meant that he did not have to give live evidence in court."

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/man-jailed-for-shooting-wife-in-head-2090912.html

Aztec men arrested for killing dog with chainsaw

By Elizabeth Piazza The Daily Times

Posted: 09/23/2010 11:42:35 PM MDT

FARMINGTON — Sheriff's deputies issued arrest warrants for two Aztec men Wednesday after the pair allegedly cut a dog's head off with a chainsaw when the knife they tried to use didn't work.
Young children were inside the residence at the time.

Teddy Sexton, 32, and Corey Bowen, 31, face charges of fourth-degree felony extreme cruelty to animals, which carries up to 18 months in prison, San Juan County Sheriff's Lt. Dwayne Faverino said.

The men allegedly were trying to put the 2-year-old pit bull down because it previously bit a 9-year-old girl who was visiting the residence, Faverino said.

"Sexton said this was the second time the dog has bitten someone and he felt it needed to be put down," Faverino said.

Because Sexton is on felony probation, he told deputies he couldn't obtain a gun. Instead, he grabbed a kitchen knife and went to the place where the dog was tied up, Faverino said.

He and Bowen, who lives on the same property, attempted to use the knife to cut the dog's throat, but they were having difficulty and grabbed the chainsaw, Faverino said.

Sheriff's deputies and an animal control officer recovered the dog's body, which will be tested for rabies.

A Children, Youth and Families Department investigator tipped off deputies to the incident after being notified about several young children suffering from nightmares stemming from the incident.

It is unknown if the children, believed to be Sexton's, witnessed the incident, Faverino said.
Sexton told deputies the children were in the house when he killed the dog.

The children don't live at the residence, Faverino said.

"This is horrible," said Betty Berry, a board member for the San Juan Animal League. "I don't care what the situation is. You always have humane options."

Any veterinarian and either of the two area shelters would help in a situation like this, Berry said.

"It's downright cruel," she said.

Sexton was arrested Thursday on a probation violation and booked at San Juan County Adult Detention Center. He will be served with the animal cruelty charges in jail, Faverino said.

This isn't the first encounter with law enforcement for either man.

Sexton's criminal history includes aggravated battery against a household member, false imprisonment and drug possession charges, according to the state website, nmcourts.gov.

Bowen was charged with drunken driving in 2005.

From: http://www.daily-times.com/ci_16160648?source=most_viewed

Owner of Segway firm dies while riding one

Last Updated: September 27. 2010 10:12AM

Associated Press

London -- A wealthy British businessman who owns the company that makes the two-wheeled Segway has been found dead in a river in northern England after apparently falling off a cliff on one of the vehicles, police said Monday.

The body of 62-year-old James Heselden and a Segway personal transporter were found in the River Wharfe and he was prounced dead at the scene, West Yorkshire Police said.


Police said a witness had reported seeing a man fall Sunday over a 30-foot drop into the river near Boston Spa, 140 miles north of London.

"The incident is not believed to be suspicious," police said, indicating that they do not believe anyone else was involved.

Heselden, who bought control of the New Hampshire-based Segway company in December, made his fortune through his firm Hesco Bastion Ltd., which developed a system to replace sand bags to protect troops.

Hesco Bastion is based in Leeds, near the tough Halton Moor area where Heselden grew up. He left school at 15 and first worked as a coal miner before becoming a businessman and philanthropist. Hesco Bastion said Heselden recently gave $15.9 million to the Leeds Community Foundation. "Jimi was an amazing man who, apart from being a wonderful success story for Leeds due to his business acumen, was also remarkably selfless and generous, giving millions to local charities to help people in his home city," said Tom Riordan, the chief executive of Leeds City Council.

The battery-powered Segway, which is stabilized by gyroscopes, was invented by Dean Kamen, who founded the company in 1999.

From: http://detnews.com/article/20100927/NATION/9270364/1020/Owner-of-Segway-firm-dies-while-riding-one

Man kills estranged wife, children, self

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted September 27, 2010 at 7:45 a.m.

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — South Florida authorities were at the scene of an apparent murder-suicide early Monday that left six people dead, including four children.

A police officer was checking a suspicious vehicle around 2 a.m. when he heard what sounded like muffled gun shots, Riviera Beach Police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said. When the officer approached the home, an unidentified man went outside and shot himself. The man died at the scene, she said.

Inside the home, officers found the bodies of the man's estranged wife and four children, believed to be ages 10 to 15. Another teen was transported to a hospital. The teen's condition and gender were not immediately released.

"It appears to be a murder-suicide," Brown said.

Phone messages left with fire rescue and hospital officials were not immediately returned.

By dawn Monday, police had blocked off all access to the crime scene, parking a large police truck to impede reporters' views.

The shootings occurred in a neighborhood of modest homes — some boarded up — near a small brick church.

From: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/sep/27/police-man-kills-estranged-wife-children-self/

Clearwater man, 83, pulls gun on would-be robber in restaurant parking lot

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted September 25, 2010 at 12:32 p.m., updated September 25, 2010 at 3:38 p.m.

CLEARWATER — Knocked to the ground by a would-be robber, 83-year-old Charles Place defended himself - by pulling a gun.

Clearwater Police said Place was in a restaurant parking lot Wednesday when a man grabbed him from behind and tried to take his wallet.

Place resisted and was knocked to the ground. Police said that's when Place pulled out a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Authorities said Place pointed it at the man and ordered him to leave him alone.

The assailant, Bryan Treloar, ran and was followed by a witness. Police caught up with him and charged him with attempted strong arm robbery. He was being held on $10,000 bail.

Place, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, wound up with small cuts on his hand.

From: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/sep/25/clearwater-man-pulls-gun-on-robber/?partner=popular

Poacher killed by great white shark

A poacher in South Africa has been eaten by a great white shark during an illegal fishing trip.

By Stewart Maclean
Published: 11:47AM BST 25 Sep 2010

Khanyisile Momoza, 29, was attacked as he harvested valuable perlemoen shells in the waters near Gansbaai in South Africa.

The fisherman was among a group of 12 poachers who had tried to swim to safety after spotting the shark in shallow waters.

A friend of Mr Momoza, who witnessed the attack, said: "There was screaming and crying. We just swam, we didn't look back.

"We were swimming in a group but he was a bit behind us.

"It jumped out of the water with him and then it took him down."

The attack took place on Tuesday between Dyer Island and Pearly Beach, east of Cape Town.

In an interview with the Weekend Argus local newspaper, the victim's friend told how the poaching group had left the beach at 6am and swum for two hours before reaching the island three miles offshore, where they began hunting for perlemoen shellfish.

The men were swimming back to shore with their catch when the great white approached.

The survivors admitted they had been too scared for their own lives to help the stricken swimmer and raced back to dry land.

Once ashore the group alerted authorities to the tragedy.

Illegal harvesting of perlemoen is big business in South Africa, where the valuable shellfish are common along coastal areas.

The molluscs' fleshy insides are considered a delicacy similar to oysters, and either served raw or cooked in seafood dishes.

But widespread farming of the shells has sparked fears the population could plummet.

In 2007 South African authorities listed the species, also known as abalone, as endangered with the global wildlife protection body CITES.

The restrictions were loosened in July this year, although it remains illegal to harvest perlemeon without a licence.

However hundreds of local fishermen are believed to continue to work in the illegal trade.

Many poor workers risk arrest or injury to hunt for the wild shells, whose meat can be worth up to £25 a kilo.

The shark attack victim's friend told the Argus his group went perlemoen fishing around once a week and needed the money to provide food for their families.

Gans Bay, known in Afrikaans as Gansbaai, is famously the centre of South Africa's great white shark population.

In recent years some experts have warned the increase in commercial "shark dive tourism" has encouraged great whites to inhabit shallower waters.

Every day hundreds of tourists pay to experience a close encounter with the creatures, which are enticed with food to come close to boats.

Some fear the sharks are now commonly inhabiting waters where humans are more likely to be swimming or working.

The poacher is the second person this year to be killed by a shark in South Africa.

In January tourist Lloyd Skinner was killed by a great white as he swam a few metres off the beach in Fish Hoek near Cape Town.

Shocked holiday-makers watched from the shore as the 47-year-old was pulled underwater.

Rescuers later searched for the Zimbabwean's body but found only his goggles.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8024829/Poacher-killed-by-great-white-shark.html

Rare Video Shows Taliban Allegedly Stoning Woman to Death in Pakistan

By MEGAN CHUCHMACH
Sept. 24, 2010



A rare video reportedly smuggled out of northwest Pakistan allegedly shows a woman being stoned to death by Taliban militants in the upper region of Orakzai.

Al Aan, a Dubai-based pan-Arab television channel that focuses on women's issues, said it had obtained cellphone footage that it says shows a woman being executed because she was seen out with a man. The killing reportedly took place two months ago and was smuggled out by a Taliban member who attended the stoning, according to Al Aan. ABC News could not independently confirm the cellphone video's authenticity.

From: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/rare-video-shows-taliban-allegedly-stoning-woman-death/story?id=11717682

7 Elephants Killed in India by Speeding Train

Elephants Killed by Speeding Train; Environment Minister Calls on Railway Authorities to Act

The Associated Press

By MANIK BANERJEE Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI September 24, 2010 (AP)

India's environment minister pressed railway authorities Friday to ensure the safety of elephants after seven pachyderms were mowed down by a speeding train in eastern India.

The herd was crossing the tracks in Banarhat forest in West Bengal state at midnight Wednesday when the freight train plowed into the animals, killing them all.

"This is not the first time that such a mishap has taken place, although the scale with which it has taken place now is unprecedented," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.

Ramesh said he had previously written letters to the railway minister and met with rail officials to discuss "measures to be taken in order to avoid such tragedies."

Outraged wildlife activists in India said they too complained to railroad authorities many times, asking them to divert trains to other routes or avoid running locomotives through the forests at night.

"The drivers hardly ever adhere to the restrictions," said Animesh Basu, who runs the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, a wildlife conservation group.

Scores of wild bison, deer, boars and leopards have died in the same forest after being hit by trains, Basu said.

Dozens of elephants have died in India in recent years after being struck while crossing railway tracks that often run through national parks and forests.

India's wild elephant population was recently estimated at about 26,000.

From: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=11708385

Hate group to picket churches Sunday

By WESLEY P. HESTER | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: September 25, 2010

Richmond, Va. --
Members of the Kansas-based hate group Westboro Baptist Church will picket local churches tomorrow morning ahead of a mock Supreme Court hearing at Virginia Commonwealth University on a Westboro-related hate-speech case.

The anti-gay, anti-semitic group -- nationally known for heckling at military funerals claiming God kills soldiers as punishment for national tolerance of homosexuality -- made waves when members came to Richmond in March, drawing hundreds of counterprotesters.

Tomorrow, members are scheduled to picket the West End Assembly of God in western Henrico County from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Trinity Baptist Church in Richmond from 10:25 a.m. to 10:55 a.m., and St. Paul's Baptist Church in eastern Henrico from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a Westboro spokeswoman, said the churches were targeted based on their size, what she termed acceptance of homosexuality and "filling their pews with divorced and remarried people, which Christ says is adultery."

"We'd picket all the churches if we could," she said. "These churches have got the 'It's OK to be gay' thing going on. The whole thing is just a tawdry, vile cesspool that is ready for destruction, and that's what's coming -- imminent destruction."

John Hershman, senior pastor at West End Assembly of God, said that while he respects the group's First Amendment rights, he regrets that some of the 2,000 people who attend his three Sunday services would be exposed to the group's message.

"They charge that we preach the 'damning message' that God loves everyone. To that, I simply say, 'Guilty as charged.' We do proclaim that, and proudly," Hershman said.

"We do not teach that it's OK to have a gay lifestyle," he noted, "however, we open our doors to anyone and everyone who will come in to have fellowship with us."

Members of the hate group also will protest at a service in Williamsburg today for 1st Lt. Todd W. Weaver, 26, of Hampton who died earlier this month in Afghanistan. Protesters will be at the Williamsburg Community Chapel from 1:15 to 2 p.m., according to the Westboro website.

The hate group's first appearance in Richmond, including a stop at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, led to the formation of a group called Pennies in Protest that raised $14,000 for the museum and other Jewish and gay organizations.

After tomorrow's picketing, Margie Phelps, a Westboro member and attorney for the group, will argue against Richmond attorney William H. Hurd in a mock hearing of the Supreme Court hate-speech case Snyder v. Phelps.

Albert Snyder, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq whose funeral service in Maryland was picketed by Westboro Baptist Church, is suing the group and its pastor, the Rev. Fred W. Phelps, for allegedly disrupting the service.

Snyder won a $5 million verdict in district court, but an appeals court reversed the decision, saying the protesters were exercising their right to free speech. The case is before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In June, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli opted not to join 48 other states in filing a supporting legal brief on behalf of Snyder.

From: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/sep/25/west25-ar-524457/

Pickens County woman raped, beaten

10:07 p.m. Thursday, September 23, 2010

By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Moments after finishing her morning shower, a Pickens County mother was beaten with a baseball bat and raped, police said.

According to Channel 2 Action News, the assault was the first rape in Pickens County, north of Cherokee County, in more than 14 years.

Police said the woman sent her children to school and then got into the shower around 8:40 a.m. Wednesday. A man dressed in black and armed with a bat waiting for her when she stepped out.

A neighbor told Channel 2 that the woman ran to a house across the street for help after the attack.

From: http://www.ajc.com/news/pickens-county-woman-raped-620313.html

Triple murderer's execution stayed until Monday

By Rhonda Cook and Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

8:11 p.m. Friday, September 24, 2010

Capital punishment opponents and attorneys for a man scheduled to die next week are pushing their arguments that he is not competent to be executed by distributing photos of the gashes Brandon Rhode cut in his own neck and arms just hours before he was initially set to be put to death.

"Executing Rhode on the heels of his attempted suicide is especially cruel and inhuman,” Laura Moye, director of the Death Penalty Abolition Campaign, said in a written statement Friday. “To strap Rhode’s stitched up body to a gurney, fresh with razor cuts to his wrists and neck, is particularly grizzly. He may not be innocent, but he is a human being and what is done to him speaks volumes about our society's values.

"Georgia officials may find it inconvenient that Rhode tried to kill himself before they could, but questions about his current competency to face the ultimate punishment must be properly addressed,” Moye said.

Just before 4:30 p.m. Friday, little more than 2 ½ hours before he was to be executed, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a temporary stay. The court said he could be executed at 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

The court did not explain the 6-1 decision but it came as Rhode’s lawyers are arguing that his suicide attempt was evidence he is not competent to be executed. The courts have ruled it is unconstitutional to execute someone who does not understand that they are being punished and why.

Rhode and a co-defendant were sentenced to die for murdering 37-year-old Steven Moss, and his 11-year-old son, Bryan, and 15-year-old daughter, Kristin, in 1998.

Rhode, then 18 years old, and Daniel Lucas, also on death row, were ransacking the Moss home in Jones County, near Macon, when Bryan came home and confronted the two men armed with a baseball bat.

They shot the boy.

They killed his sister moments later when she came home. Steven Moss was their third victim.

A warrant calling for Rhode’s execution said the lethal injection should be carried out between noon Sept. 21 and noon Sept. 28.

It was initially scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the first day possible. The Georgia Supreme Court stayed it after Rhode’s tried to kill himself earlier that day.

The execution was reset for Friday at 9 a.m. but on Thursday the Department of Corrections commissioner pushed back the time to 7 p.m. to allow more time for the courts to resolve multiple pending challenges.

Now Rhode's execution is set for 4 p.m. Monday, just 20 hours before the “window” closes. If he is not executed by noon on Tuesday, a judge will have to sign a new warrant for a new execution date several weeks off.

Rhode’s lawyer wrote in a court filing that the 31-year-old murderer was brought from “the brink of death” only so the state could execute. In court filings, attorney Brian Kammer described the “ironic circumstances” that began when Rhode cut himself. His lawyer contends a prison guard gave Rhode razors, one of three taboo items for an inmate hours from execution.

Rhode was revived at the hospital in nearby Griffin.His self-inflicted wounds were sutured and he was returned to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, where he has been kept restrained since the suicide attempt.

Rhode’s lawyer and death penalty opponents have circulated photographs of the sutured wounds along with an artist’s rendering of Rhode strapped in a “restraint chair” that his lawyer described as a "torture chair" with tight straps.

“The stress and barbarity of his present situation, coupled with his longstanding depression and mental illness, has resulted in Brandon Rhode now experiencing dissociative episodes as his mind tries unsuccessfully to cope with his current physical condition,” Kammer wrote.

An appeal on another issue in the planned execution was pending in the federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta but Rhode’s lawyer withdrew it on Friday. The U.S. Supreme Court still has another appeal filed by Rhode, that he should not be executed because he suffered organic brain damage because his teenage mother drank during the first five months of her pregnancy.

From: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/triple-murderers-execution-stayed-619810.html

Accused subway pusher's bizarre sexuality

By TAMARA CHERRY, QMI Agency

Friday, September 24, 2010

TORONTO - The man on trial for pushing two kids in front of a Toronto subway train grew up having sex with his brother and farm animals, a psychiatrist testified Tuesday.

Incest and bestiality were just part of Adenir De Oliveira's bizarre upbringing, which also exposed him to a jealous father who used to stalk his mother from the bushes, Dr. Julian Gojer told a Toronto courtroom.

De Oliveira's lawyer, Ian Kostman, doesn't dispute the fact that the 49-year-old man pushed two kids - 14 and 15 years old at the time -- onto the tracks at Dufferin station on Feb. 13, 2009, and tried to push a third, but claims he was not criminally responsible for the crime.

During De Oliveira's adolescent years, "he and his brother were engaging in sex with themselves and horses and cows on the farm," Gojer said, testifying on behalf of the defence.

"You have to ask yourself what would prompt someone to have sex with farm animals," Gojer said. "There seems to be psychopathology that runs in this family from both sides, from sisters, his brother, father. It's a very disturbed family."

Prior to the shoving the kids, De Oliveira spent much of that day sitting in the food court of Dufferin Mall, drinking coffee, eating Chinese food and having suicidal and homicidal thoughts that were so strong, they felt like "an echo," Gojer told the court.

Though initially intent on going home, by the time he arrived at Dufferin subway station and saw three boys standing on the platform, the only thoughts he had were "push or jump," he testified.

Two of the teens fell to the tracks, narrowly escaping death by rolling under the lip of the platform, while the third regained his balance and didn't fall. Then De Oliveira ran, assaulting three people who tried to stop him until police found him sitting on a rock outside the Pizza Hut back at Dufferin Mall.

De Oliveira's actions were evident of psychotic symptoms that were "part and parcel" to his history of depression. He suffered from "a major depressive disorder at the time of the offence with psychotic features," Gojer said.

Gojer described De Oliveira as a "walking time-bomb" between fall 2008 and February 2009 -- a man who was "constantly seeking out help" from medical professionals and who laid down on the subway tracks at Ossington station weeks before the attack.

The bizarre behaviour continued after the attack.

A note made by a Don Jail officer and read out by Kostman in court described an incident in which De Oliveira was "nude and dancing on his bed, also on top of the toilet," and not responding to a staff member's voice.

De Oliveira also expressed beliefs that jail guards wanted to "rape and burn and kill him," Gojer said.

A note written by a nurse at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health described an incident in which De Oliveira was being interviewed by a staff psychiatrist when he began to leave the interview room, stated his "mind is heavy," and walked to his bedroom. After yelling and banging was heard from De Oliveira's room, he was found on the window sill, kicking the window and yelling. Once placed on the bed, he cried, hit himself on the head and said he was having suicidal thoughts, the note said.

"It's unfortunate that Mr. De Oliveira suffered from his depression for that long, whereas it could have been treated much earlier," Gojer said. "At one point, if his depression had worsened, it is conceivable that he would have even attacked (his common-law wife)."

Gojer said he found no evidence that De Oliveira was faking or exaggerating his symptoms.

De Oliveira's mental illness would have affected his thinking, perception, emotions, actions and judgment, Gojer said.

Cross-examination of Gojer is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

From: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/national/2010/09/21/15431926.html

Man Steals Electronics From Hospital, Gets Crack Cocaine In Return

By Clark Cahill, Reporter

Story Created: Sep 21, 2010 at 2:38 PM CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- An Iowa City man has been charged with second-degree theft after stealing video games and a laptop from University Hospitals, but he didn’t quite get what he was looking for in return.

University of Iowa police said Ryane D. Griffey, 23, of 2401 Highway 6, was anticipating getting cash for the electronics he stole from the hospital, but got crack cocaine instead.

According to an arrest report, Griffey’s girlfriend was a patient at the hospital from Sept. 3 to 9. The woman checked out a PlayStation 2, 11 games and a laptop computer, but allegedly never returned the items before being discharged.

Griffey told police he gave the electronics to a woman so she could sell them, but the woman came back with two grams of crack cocaine instead of the $200 he wanted.

The overall value of the property taken was $1,010.

Griffey is being held in the Johnson County Jail on a $7,500 bond.

Second-degree theft, a class-D felony, punishable by up to five years in jail and a $7,500 fine.

From: http://www.kcrg.com/news/crime/Man-Steals-Items-From-Iowa-City-Hospital-Gets-Crack-Cocaine-In-Return-103463974.html

Woman killed estranged husband, son

Sep 20, 12:02 PM EDT

BERLIN (AP) -- A woman who went on a shooting spree at a hospital in southwest Germany had allegedly killed her estranged husband and five-year-old son at a nearby apartment shortly before, authorities said Monday.

Officials said the 41-year-old lawyer had suffered a miscarriage at the hospital in the town of Loerrach in 2004, but were not sure if that was the motive for the Sunday rampage there.

Authorities said she allegedly killed her husband and son in her apartment and then ran across the street to the hospital. There she killed a male nurse before being shot dead during a gunfight with police.

The son usually lived with his father, but had been visiting for the weekend.

After the killings at the apartment, the woman set off a fire in the building before leaving, officials said.

The earlier miscarriage "could be the reason ... why she chose to go to the hospital," prosecutor Dieter Inhofer said at a televised news conference, but stressed that that was not yet clear.

The nurse died after suffering stab wounds and gunshot injuries to the head and officials believe he crossed her path by chance, Inhofer said.

The woman shot 10 times at the door of a room in which there were a patient and six visitors, officials said, before police shot her. She had some 300 rounds of ammunition.

Three people at the hospital were wounded, including a police officer, but none of them was in a life-threatening condition.

Officials said the woman legally owned the weapon used in the shooting.

From: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_HOSPITAL_SHOOTING?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Man jailed over brutal Queanbeyan murder

By Gordon Taylor

Posted 09/24/2010

A Queanbeyan man who brutally beat his mother's ex-boyfriend and then dumped the body in the Queanbeyan River has been jailed for 22 years for murder.

Police divers found the body of Danny Ralph, 46, in the Queanbeyan River in March 2008.

He had been consistently and brutally bashed and, while probably still alive, thrown from a bridge into the river.

Benjamin Wayne Holcroft, 27, was found guilty of the murder in April.

While sentencing Holcroft today, Justice Robert Hulme said the beating was so savage it caused multiple brain haemorrhages, a broken vertebrae, rib and jaw, as well as bleeding in the scrotum and brain stem.

He said the beating was repulsive and gave Holcroft a non-parole period of 17 years jail.

From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/24/3021568.htm?section=justin

Threat to family as woman raped

Waikato Times Last updated 12:00 24/09/2010

A Waikato man who assaulted and raped a woman in her own home threatened to harm the victim's family if she reported the attack.

Tekauhanganui Mahara was sentenced yesterday in the Hamilton District Court to 6 1/2-years' jail after pleading guilty to sexual violation by rape and injuring with intent to injure.

Mahara, 23, was served with a first warning under the new "three strikes" law after pleading guilty to the two charges.

The court was told how Mahara attacked his victim inside her home on June 9, in full view of the woman's terrified child.

Mahara slapped the woman about the face before pushing her against a wall and punching her.

The woman suffered two black eyes and a broken nose.

Judge Glen Marshall described the attack as particularly serious and violent. Mahara had taken offending of this type "right to the very extreme".

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/4164289/Threat-to-family-as-woman-raped

Truck driver impaled by canoe

The Dominion Post Last updated 15:47 23/09/2010

A truck driver is in critical condition after being impaled by a flying canoe that smashed through his windscreen, trapping him in his truck.

The crash happened on State Highway 1, near Levin this afternoon.

Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter pilot Fergus MacLachlan said the truck - a fully loaded car transporter - had been following another vehicle carrying a number of canoes when one came loose.

"It flew up in the air, through the windscreen and impaled him to the seat. He was trapped in the cab."

Mr MacLachlan said the driver then drove off the road "luckily to the left and not the right" and across some railway tracks, which were blocked while the scene was cleared.

"He was lucky again there that there wasn't a train coming."

"It was a nasty accident."

Levin Volunteer Fire Brigade crew had to cut the 64-year-old Waikanae man free from his truck before he was flown to Palmerston North Hospital.

A hospital spokesman said the man was "seriously ill".

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/national-news/4160879/Truck-driver-impaled-by-canoe

Girl, 4, Killed In Hit-And-Run

Grandview Police Seeking Brown Pickup Truck

POSTED: 5:38 pm CDT September 19, 2010
UPDATED: 7:45 pm CDT September 20, 2010

GRANDVIEW, Mo. -- Grandview police said a 4-year-old girl was hit and killed by a vehicle that left the scene on Sunday afternoon.

Police said the girl was struck at about 1:30 p.m. in the 6100 block of 152nd Terrace.

"Why would somebody just hit an innocent baby and just drive off like that and not stop and say anything?" neighbor Alisha Jones said.

Jones told KMBC's Marcus Moore that she was among the first to see the girl down in the street. She told her boyfriend, Eric Smith, who called 911.

"She was just bleeding and she was gasping for air. But her eyes weren't open and he was trying to keep her awake," Jones said.

She was taken to a hospital, where she died. Police have not released the girl's name, but family identified her as Taylor Wilson.

Neighbors said Taylor's mother had just left to get lunch, but the mother's boyfriend was still at home. The young girl often played with friends across the street and neighbors believe she was headed back home when she was hit.

"It's sad for somebody to just hit an innocent child and not stop and say anything. That's a baby. Say something," Jones said.

Witnesses said an older midsized brown or brownish-gold pickup truck drove away from the scene. The witnesses told police the truck may have been involved in the incident and police would like to speak with the driver.

Smith, told KMBC's Peggy Breit that he can't stop recalling the last moments of Taylor's life. He was watching the Chiefs game when Jones alerted him to the crash.

"I just picked her up," Smith said. "I tried to just run her over there (to her home) across the street to him (the father) as soon as possible and try to contact the police."

A candlelight vigil is planned for 8:30 p.m. Monday where Taylor was hit. Neighbors hope it will help those hurting heal and lead to the arrest of the driver.

From: http://www.kmbc.com/news/25075969/detail.html

Four years jail for 'raging wife' who killed husband

23 September 2010 Last updated at 15:45 GMT

A woman who killed her husband "in a rage" has been sentenced at Belfast Crown Court to a minimum of four years in prison.

Pauline Shaw, 47, of Maymount Street, east Belfast, was originally charged with murdering her husband Stephen on 10 March last year.

The charge, however, was left on the books after she admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Shaw faced shouts of abuse from the public gallery as she was led away.

Earlier, the judge had told her he could find no evidence of genuine remorse on her part for causing the death of her husband when she stabbed him in March last year.

He said he was handing down a discretionary life sentence, of which she will serve at least four years, because she had been deemed "what is termed colloquially as dangerous," especially to any man she would have a relationship with in the future.

Shaw also admitted perverting the course of justice by telling paramedics and police he had been stabbed by two men the night before.

Mr Justice McCloskey said he accepted there had been an "element of provocation" before Shaw armed herself with a large kitchen knife and stabbed her husband twice in the chest.

He said the offence was aggravated because she had armed herself with the knife before actually using it and had lied to police about what had happened.

After handing down the minimum life term, the judge warned Shaw that even when she has served the four years, it would be up to the Life Review Commissioners and the Secretary of State "when, or even if," she should be released and under what licence terms.

"You could be in prison for a period very considerably in excess of four years," he said.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11397937

Pastor Arrested for Allegedly Killing Wife

By EMILY FRIEDMAN 9/15/10, 10:49 AM EDT

Retired Pastor Arthur Schirner has been charged with murder.

A grisly suicide in the office of a Pennsylvania pastor has led investigators to arrest the church leader for allegedly killing his second wife and then staging a car accident to hide it. Also under investigation is whether he played a role in the mysterious death of his first wife.

Rev. Arthur Burton Schirmer, 62, entered no plea Monday in a Tannerville, Pa., courtroom, hours after authorities arrested him at his Reeders home for the 2008 death of wife Betty, 56.

The man who broke in and shot himself at the desk in Schirmer's office at the Reeders United Methodist Church, Joseph Mustante, was the husband of the pastor's secretary, Cynthia Musante, Poconos Township Police Detective James Wagner said.

Mustante's suicide was prompted by the discovery that his wife and the pastor had apparently been having an affair, Wagner said. He was alone at the time of his death.

Investigators looking into the suicide say that several church parishioners had concerns about the deaths of Schirmer's two wives.

"That suicide eventually exposed the affair publicly and subsequent to that, questions arose about the loss of [Schirmer's] wives and his character became questionable," Wagner said.

Relaunching the investigation into the two deaths, Wagner said he quickly suspected that "foul play existed, and the car crash was staged," allegedly, by Schirmer. Wagner said investigators also believed there was something "suspicious" about the first wife's death, a marriage that investigators had not known about prior to the suicide.

Schirmer's attorney, Brandon Reish, did not return messages left for comment but has denied his client's involvement in either death, telling ABC News' Scranton affiliate WNEP that he "anticipated that they were investigating and that we'd have to face these accusations and we're fully prepared to do so."

One of Schirmer's children, 38-year-old daughter Julie Lynn, told ABC News that she and the rest of her siblings "fully support and love our father and we believe in him."

Investigators Look Into Deaths of Rev. Arthur Schirmer's Wives

Schirmer's first wife, Jewel, died in April 1999 from a traumatic brain injury after she purportedly fell down a flight of stairs in Lebanon, Pa., Wagner said.

Lebanon is about 100 miles southwest of Reeders, where Schrimer later moved with his second wife.

At the time of Jewel's death, Wagner said, a relative told police that he suspected Schirmer may have had a hand in his wife's death but that the investigation was "never completed."

The relative was not identified or made available to ABC News for comment. No charges were ever filed against Schirmer.

An autopsy of Jewel left the cause of death "undetermined," also making the investigation more difficult to complete, Wagner said.

More than nine years later, Schirmer was involved in what appeared at the time to be a car crash with his second wife. Schirmer told police at the time that he had been driving 55 mph and had swerved to miss a deer, causing him to drive off the road, according to a police affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Schirmer also said at the time that his wife's head had come forward and struck the windshield, according to the affidavit. Betty died a day later and her body was cremated at the request of Schirmer.

But Wagner says when he began looking into the crash amid suspicion that Schirmer may have had something to do with it, he discovered blood drops in the home Schirmer shared with Betty at the time of her death. Wagner says that Dr. Zoltan Rado, the director of Vehicle Systems and Safety Program Director at Penn State University, was hired by the police department to examine photographs of the car taken after the crash. According to the police's summary of Rado's findings, the car could not have been traveling more than 15 mph at the time of the crash and that Betty's injuries "were inconsistent" with the accident.

"There was no airbag deployment and it simply looked like a car that had driven off the road at a very low speed," Wagner said. "It didn't match the injuries to [Betty's head]."

"I know there are people out there who probably know him and feel like there is absolutely no way he would be capable of doing this," Wagner of Schirmer. "But they clearly don't know him.

"I think his [position as a pastor] certainly helped him in a sense, to use his position of power and authorities to manipulate vulnerable women," Wagner said.

"He hid behind the cloth, so to speak."

Schirmer is being held without bond at the Monroe County Correctional Center.

From: http://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=11634765&pid=81#

Student Athlete Dies Tangled In Exercise Machine

Sep 21, 2010 4:26 pm US/Pacific

Parents Found Teen Tangled In Exercise Machine; Death Ruled 'Tragic Accident'

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. (CBS13) ― Students at Bear River High School were stunned after learning one of their star players died early Monday morning.

Justin Butler, 16, was found by his parents in his home Sunday night after somehow becoming entangled in a Bowflex exercise machine. They called 911 and began performing CPR, and emergency crews rushed him by helicopter to a hospital.

Butler died Monday morning.

The death of the Bear River student athlete sent shock waves through the school. Friends described Butler as an avid football player who loved stepping on the field and making big plays, and filled his Facebook page with messages of love and grief.

"We definitely suffered a great loss here, both as a school and as a community," said school athletic director Duwaine Ganskie. "When you saw him come off the field after scoring that touchdown last week, you just see the joy in his face."

School administrators say they will have grief counselors on campus Tuesday to speak with staff and students.

Investigators do not believe the exercise equipment was responsible for the teen's death.

Few details are available, but the Nevada County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that "there is no information or evidence to suggest in any way the victim was trying to purposefully hurt himself or end his own life."

Investigators concluded the death was "a very tragic accident."

From: http://cbs13.com/local/bear.river.student.2.1923109.html

Killer wave ripped backpacker's girlfriend out of his arms on Thai paradise beach

By Claire Ellicott
Last updated at 9:00 AM on 24th September 2010

A backpacker died after a freak wave swept her from her boyfriend’s arms as they paddled in the sea.

Rebecca Callaghan, 21, was on a romantic trip to Thailand with Ian Fenwick when she drowned, an inquest heard yesterday.

The sea was initially calm, but a massive wave came suddenly and separated the couple, dragging them under the water.

When Mr Fenwick battled his way to the surface, he saw his girlfriend, a keen diver, floating face down.

Despite attempts to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead in hospital. He told Worcestershire Coroners’ Court: ‘We were in the water and saw the red flags lined along the beach, so we asked three lifeguards what they meant as they seem to mean different things in different parts of the country.

‘We were told not to go swimming and not to lie down as the current was particularly strong that day, but going in the shallows was okay.

‘Conditions seemed quite calm. We were stood in the water up to our knees, hugging, when a wave came from behind and knocked us off our feet. I had Rebecca on my back at one point but the water and her weight were pushing me under. I remember feeling her arms let go of me.’

Mr Fenwick finally managed to pull Miss Callaghan out of the water and gave her CPR until a nurse, an American tourist, took over.

They called an ambulance and efforts to revive her continued in hospital but failed.

Mr Fenwick added: ‘She was a qualified diver and a better swimmer than me. The water just seemed to change in a matter of minutes.’ The tragedy happened at Karon beach in Phuket in June.

Although the beach is popular with holidaymakers, more than 20 people have died there in the last year. Just a week before Miss Callaghan’s death, an American man was killed.

Miss Callaghan’s brother Rob, a 24-year-old student, said: ‘She went out with her boyfriend and was told to swim only to waist height, which she did.

‘People don’t understand how dangerous it is. Travel agencies need to make people aware what happens in these waters. They need to raise awareness of the rip tides.

He added: ‘You can be the best swimmer in the world and this can still happen.’

Miss Callaghan, who has two brothers and one sister, had been studying animal health and welfare at college and was due to start a degree in animal welfare at Chester University this month.

She was two weeks into the trip of a lifetime with Mr Fenwick, who she lived with in Evesham, Worcestershire, and two friends.

She had saved for more than four years for the three-month adventure, which was also to include Australia and Indonesia.

Her father Mark, 48, a healthcare assistant, said the death had been ‘horrendous’ for him, his wife Rosie, a community nurse, and the rest of the family.

Pathologist Terry Jones said the cause of death was drowning and Worcestershire coroner Geraint Williams recorded a verdict of accidental death.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314496/Backpackers-girlfriend-Rebecca-Callaghanout-ripped-arms-Thai-beach.html

Babysitting stepfather killed girlfriend's baby by stamping on her because he 'couldn't cope with her crying'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:51 PM on 22nd September 2010

21-year-old branded 'animal' by tot's father after being sentenced to a minimum of 13 years

An 'animal' who killed his girlfriend's 13-month-old baby by stamping on her stomach because she was crying has been jailed for life.

Oliver Longcake, 21, was stepfather to little Alisia Salter and her half-brother Harry, four, and was trusted by the pair's mother Liane to look after them while she worked in a nearby bingo hall.

But in a moment of rage, Longcake rammed his foot into the baby's chest and later told shocked doctors at the hospital he 'couldn't cope' with her crying - admitting 'it's my fault, I stood on her, I stamped on her'.

After the hearing, Alisia's natural father Gary Miller branded his daughter's killer 'sick' and 'an animal' after Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told Longcake his murderous actions 'almost defied description'.

He was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 13 years.

Jobless Longcake had been with Liane Salter for nine months and had accidentally dropped Alisia the previous night, March 21, bruising her forehead.

After explaining the injury to Liane, the baby was left in his care the following morning when he killed her a single stamp.

Sentencing Longcake at Hull Crown Court, Judge Richardson said: 'You lost control of yourself, and acting with extreme violence murdered her by cruelly stamping on her defenceless body. She was very vulnerable, it almost defies description to stamp on a baby as you did.

'You momentarily lost control of your temper when you were in a stressful situation.

'Many parents and step parents are faced with very difficult situations and are placed in stressful situations while looking after very young children.

'I do not underestimate the stresses involved in taking care of babies, but many parents have faced much worse than you ever faced that morning.

'I have little doubt you were a wholly unsuitable carer for a baby and should never have been left in charge of Alisia.'

Prosecuting, Simon Waley said that Longcake had been looking after the two children on the evening of March 21 this year at the home they shared in Hull, East Yorkshire, but had accidentally dropped her while carrying her.

He admitted this to his girlfriend but had not taken her to hospital because she 'appeared ok' and Miss Salter left for work as usual the next morning.

Mr Waley said: 'At 11.02am on March 22 the defendant made a 999 call and told the operator Alisia was floppy and lifeless and did not appear to be breathing.

'He was talked through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but with no success.'

The baby was rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary but was pronounced dead later that day having suffered massive internal injuries, including abdominal haemorrhaging and a lacerated liver. She also had bruising to her forehead and fractured ribs.

Mr Waley continued: 'At hospital he said Liane had gone to work that morning and he had been unable to stop Alisia crying.

'He had changed her nappy but had got stressed and stamped on her stomach. He had then put her in the bath and gone to get a towel. When he returned she was not breathing.

'He told a doctor "It's my fault, I couldn't cope with it anymore, I stood on her, I stamped on her". He was arrested but made no comment in any of his police interviews.'

Defending, Malcolm Swift QC said: 'This case demonstrates a tragic outcome after a momentary loss of self control and temper. He could not cope with episodes involving repeated diarrhoea and crying.

'"He does express his deepest remorse for what happened, but accepts this is a case where the aggravating features are the breach of his position of trust and the vulnerability of the victim because of her age.'

Outside court, Mr Miller and Miss Salter - who are separated but clasped hands during the hearing - voiced their anger with Longcake.

Mr Miller said: 'There's no other way to put it, he's sick and we're never going to get over it. He's an animal.

'She was a much-loved, adorable little girl and we are completely devastated by her loss. No sentence is ever going to make up for the loss of our beautiful baby girl.

'13 years is effectively one year for every month she was alive.'
Miss Salter, who wept briefly during the hearing, added: 'She was perfect, she was all smiles.'

Det Supt Dina Fleming from Humberside Police said: 'This is a particularly tragic case, and the saddest thing is that if Oliver Longcake hadn't come into Alisia's life she would still be here today.

'The internal injuries to this baby were particularly horrific. How many people would stamp very hard and very deliberately on a child's stomach?

'Longcake was a troubled child, had a troubled upbringing and had behavioural problems and problems with anger. He wasn't the right person to look after a small baby.'

Longcake had two previous convictions arising from an incident in which he threatened two women with a knife demanding they repay a debt owed to his friend in May last year.

He was charged with affray and having a bladed article in a public place.

He was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to attend an anger management course.

Longcake, sporting shoulder-length hair and dressed in a smart suit and tie, initially denied the murder of Alisia but pleaded guilty today.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314312/Stepdad-killed-girlfriends-baby-stamping-stomach-crying.html

US executes first woman for five years

Teresa Lewis, a grandmother who had become a symbol for campaigners against the death penalty, has been executed in Virginia.

By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 2:47AM BST 24 Sep 2010

Hopes for an 11th-hour reprieve came to nothing and Lewis died by lethal injection at 9.13pm (2.13am GMT) in Greensville prison.

The 41-year-old was the first woman to be executed in the United States since 2005, and the first in Virginia for almost 100 years.

She was only the 12th woman executed in the US since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1996.

Lewis had an IQ of only 72 but was considered fit for trial in Virginia.

She pleaded guilty to hiring two men in 2002 to murder her husband and stepson to cash in on their life insurance policy. Relatives of her victims witnessed the execution.

Death penalty abolitionists had championed Lewis's case, insisting she had diminished mental faculties.

Outside the prison Jack Payden-Travers, a member of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said the execution was "nothing more than a legal lynching."

Before her death Lewis ate a final meal which included two breasts of fried chicken, sweet peas with butter, and Dr Pepper to drink.

She was visited by family members including her son, Billy Bean, 20, and her lawyers.

Her final hope for a last-minute stay of execution had rested with Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, but he did not intervene.

Shortly before the execution Council of Europe goodwill ambassador Bianca Jagger had urged Gov McDonnell to halt it.

She said: "It is not too late. If Teresa Lewis is executed tonight in this questionable case it will be a gross miscarriage of justice, a lasting shame on the American legal system." The US Supreme Court had turned down an appeal for a stay on Tuesday.

Speaking before the execution Lewis's lawyer James Rocap said she had a "remarkable, spiritual peace about her." He said: "Teresa Lewis is a poster child for why the death penalty process is broken."

Lewis's crime took place in October 2002. She left the door of the family trailer in rural Pittsylvania County open so two young male accomplices could enter and shoot her husband and his 25-year-old son.

The two gunmen Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, who she had met in a supermarket, also pleaded guilty. They were given life in jail but Lewis was sentenced to death because she was the "mastermind" of the killings.

Lewis had begun an affair with the 22-year-old Shallenberger and her lawyers claimed she was manipulated by him.

Before he killed himself in jail in 2006 Shallenberger wrote a letter in which he claimed full responsibility for the murder plot.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8021995/US-executes-first-woman-for-five-years.html

'Crazy' mother shoots dead three then kills herself

A woman shot dead three people and then herself at her home, injuring another woman who fled into the front yard and told officers: "My mom has gone crazy."

Published: 8:23AM BST 24 Sep 2010

Officers responded to a report of gunshots at the Seattle house about 1:30 p.m and could still hear shots being fired from the house when they arrived, a police spokesman, Sean Whitcomb, said.

A man in his 50s ran into the house. Two more shots were fired and he ran back out, telling officers his wife had shot herself.

When police were able to go inside, they found the four dead, including a woman in her 50s they believe was the shooter, Mr Whitcomb said.

He added that police don't believe anyone else was involved.

In addition to the older woman, the dead included two women in their late teens and a man in his 30s, police said. Their relationships were not immediately known.

Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said a wounded woman — who fled the house and is expected to survive — was able to speak to officers when they arrived.

"All she said was, 'My mom has gone crazy,"' Mr Pugel said.

The woman, who is in her 30s, was in serious but stable condition at Harborview Medical Center.

Police said two handguns were recovered from the house in a lower middle-class neighborhood a block north of southwest Seattle's city limits. No motive for the shootings was known, officers said.

Bobby Miller, a neighbour, told local media that police showed up almost immediately after the shots were fired.

"I just heard gunshots. I come out and cops were all over," Mr Miller said. "Just 'bam, bam' and that was it. Then screaming over here."

Travis Rowland, 53, said he was about a block away waiting to get his truck repaired at an auto shop when he saw a woman run from the house hollering.

As police arrived, Mr Rowland said, a man "busted away from the police officers and ran into the house."

Mr Rowland said the man was inside for about 10 to 15 seconds before "there were a couple more shots, pow, pow, pow. At first I didn't know who was shooting. He came back outside."

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8022036/Crazy-mother-shoots-dead-three-then-kills-herself.html

71-Year-Old Beats Armed Intruder With Swiffer

Deputies: Gunman Threatens Man Cleaning Kitchen

POSTED: 9:31 am EDT September 16, 2010
UPDATED: 6:12 am EDT September 17, 2010

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. -- A Spartanburg County man got rid of more than dirt Wednesday night as he was cleaning his home.

Deputies said 71-year-old Phillip Graham, of Tucker Road, was cleaning his kitchen just after 9 p.m. when a man dressed in black wearing a ski mask barged in the back door.

Graham said, "I had been in and out of the house several times, taking the garbage out to the barrel and putting some more in the can right by the back door. I stepped back in the house, didn't bother to lock the door because I wasn't sure whether I was through going in and out. By that time, this guy opened the door, stepped foot in my house."

The man, who was wearing a ski mask, appeared to have a pistol in his hand, Graham said.

Graham was armed too, but only with a Dustbuster in one hand and a Swiffer in the other.

"He told me to get down and I grabbed the Swiffer, started jabbing him with it and it broke off, so I still kept on jabbing,” Graham said. "I told him, 'You get out of my house, you sorry son of a bitch, I'll kill you.' I kept jabbing him and he backed out and ran to the back of the house and then across behind the house."

The gunman ran out the back door and across the back yard toward Staley Drive, deputies said.

No one was hurt, and nothing was taken from the home, deputies said.

Graham said his wife was in the shower during the whole altercation, and didn't know what was going on until she came out of the bathroom and found him on the phone to 911.

He said he thinks their house was chosen because the carport light was on.

Graham said he hopes his Swiffer defense made an impression.

Graham said, "Hopefully that will discourage some of these young bucks that people are not going to stand for them coming in your house uninvited -- let them know that not all of us are going to stand for them to bully us around."

Graham said next time, he won’t rely on his Swiffer. He said he plans to have his gun handy.

From: http://www.wyff4.com/r/25034274/detail.html

'Suicide pact' of Braintree car death pair

22 September 2010 Last updated at 11:50 GMT

A man and a woman who died in a suspected suicide pact in Essex are believed to have met online on a forum for people contemplating suicide.

Stephen Lumb, 35, of Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, and Joanne Lee, 34, of Great Notley, Essex, were found inside a car in Essex on Monday.

Messages Ms Lee posted on an internet forum appeared to suggest she wanted a partner for a suicide pact.

She posted messages using the name Heavens Little Girl.

Ms Lee's mother, Jill Chappell, said: "We didn't know what she was doing. If we had we would have tried to stop her."

'Complete shock'

Truck driver Mr Lumb is believed to have driven 200 miles to Braintree to meet Ms Lee.

Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of Samaritans, said: "The internet can be a place to find friendship and like-minded people to chat to, but sometimes it can also be harmful, as seen in these tragic suicides.

"A distressed person can meet another person online and, instead of finding help and support, they end up encouraging each other to do something they might not have done alone."

Mr Lumb's father Melvyn, who shared a home with his son, said of the deaths: "He didn't seem any different, he had the same mannerisms. I didn't know her, I knew nothing about her.

"He liked a beer and football, normal lad. It is a complete shock, I never expected anything like this. It is the last thing I would have expected.

"I loved him. I will miss him everyday of my life. I will miss him every minute of every day. I thought the world of him. I couldn't have had a better son."

Ms Johnstone said the Samaritans was working with social networking sites to help them and their users offer support to people in distress.

She said: "It is illegal to encourage or assist people to take their own lives - be it on the internet or in any other space - but it is unclear how this recently-amended legislation will be applied and policed.

"In the meantime, what we are doing is making sure that Samaritans' website is one of the search engine results when a person looks for suicide-related information online, so that the option is there for them to seek help."

Essex Police said the deaths were "highly unusual" and confirmed that "noxious" substances had been found inside the vehicle.

The car had notes placed on the windows warning of the toxic chemicals inside.

Firefighters had to wear gas-tight suits to remove the bodies from the car, parked near Braintree Enterprise Centre.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-11388669

Man drinks in bar with girlfriend's head in bag

AFP September 21, 2010

MADRID - A Spanish man calmly drank beer with his mates in a bar with his murdered girlfriend's head in a bag, press reports said Tuesday.

After leaving the bar on Sunday, the 34-year-old climbed an electrical tower, was hit by a shock and plunged 30 metres (100 feet) to the ground, dying that evening in hospital, they said.

According to a report in the ABC daily newspaper, citing witnesses, the man told friends in the bar in Cordoba, southern Spain, that he had decapitated his 30-year-old partner.

But he was so calm they did not believe him, despite bloodstains on his shirt.

"A while later when several customers left the bar and saw a pool of blood in the road, they immediately realized this was not a macabre joke. Horrified, they discovered a bag near the bar, inside of which was the victim's head," the ABC daily said.

Police confirmed they had found the woman's body with knife wounds, and that her suspected killer, identified only by his initials MRTR, had fallen from the electrical tower, later dying in a Cordoba hospital.

Near the tower they found a knife believed to be the murder weapon, said a Cordoba region spokeswoman for the national police, Rosa Ortiz.

Police were unable to provide details about the murder because they were interviewing witnesses and had yet to file a judicial report, expected Wednesday, she said.

From: http://www.leaderpost.com/drinks+with+girlfriend+head+Reports/3555036/story.html