Paradise News

Category: Metro

  • Suspect identified in 1976 cold case death of 25-year-old California woman

    SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (TCN) — Investigators recently identified a suspect in the cold case death of a 25-year-old woman whose body was found five decades ago.

    According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, on May 28, 1976, deputies responded to an area near Aptos Village Park, where they found Karen Percifield deceased. Authorities determined she was the victim of a homicide, and they collected forensic evidence. Detectives were unable to identify any suspects at the time, and the case went cold.

    In 2019, investigators found additional evidence to be tested, and they developed a male DNA profile but couldn’t find a match in the DNA database.

    Several years later, in 2023, the sheriff’s office submitted forensic evidence to genetic genealogy company Othram Labs to build a comprehensive DNA profile, and investigators developed new leads. As a result, the sheriff’s office said in an April 3 news release that authorities identified Richard Sommerhalder as the primary suspect.

    Sommerhalder was reportedly a person of interest early on in the case, but there wasn’t enough evidence at the time to pursue charges. Months after Percifield’s death, in September 1976, officials arrested Sommerhalder on suspicion of killing two people in Santa Cruz County. He served 8 1/2 years in prison, was paroled, and moved out of California. As the investigation continued and detectives tried to collect a reference DNA sample, they learned Sommerhalder had died in 1994.

    In a statement, Sheriff Chris Clark said, “No matter how much time has passed, we will never stop seeking the truth. Advances in DNA technology continue to provide new opportunities to deliver justice and closure to victims and their families. This case is a powerful example of how those advancements can give us the answers we’ve been searching for.”

    The victim’s daughter reportedly stated, “To the detectives, and forensic team, I appreciate them not giving up. This has been weighing on me my whole life, not having a memory of my mom and just wondering who it could have been, this just means so much. I’m just so grateful you didn’t give up.”

    • Suspect named in 1976 murder – Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office
    • Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Teams with Othram to Identify the Suspect in the 1976 Murder of Karen Percifield – Othram Labs

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Teen stabbed in the heart at high school track meet and dies in his twin’s arms; Suspect arrested

    FRISCO, Texas (TCN) — A 17-year-old is in custody after he allegedly fatally stabbed another student in the heart during an argument about where the suspect was sitting.

    On April 2 at around 10 a.m., the Frisco police and fire departments responded to a call about a stabbing at a track meet and located the critically injured 17-year-old victim. Paramedics and police officers rendered aid, including CPR and blood administration, but the victim died at the scene. Police identified the suspect as Karmelo Anthony and said he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

    Frisco Police identified the victim as Austin Metcalf, a student at Frisco Memorial High School.

    Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, told KDFW-TV that Anthony allegedly got angry at Metcalf because he told Anthony he wasn’t sitting in the correct area. The two went to different high schools, and Metcalf allegedly said the area they were in was for Memorial High School students.

    Jeff Metcalf said Anthony “wound up stabbing him in the heart and killing him, all over someone sitting in the wrong spot at a track meet.”

    KXAS-TV reports Jeff Metcalf said Austin Metcalf’s identical twin “was holding on to him, trying to make it stop bleeding, and he died in his brother’s arms.”

    Metcalf was reportedly a star student with a 4.0 GPA and was named the MVP of his football team.

    • Frisco Police Investigate Fatal Stabbing, Suspect in Custody – Frisco Police Department
    • Update: Frisco Police Investigate Fatal Stabbing, Suspect in Custody – Frisco Police Department

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Legal watchdog scores with elimination of 5 million ineligible voters

    From Washington Examiner:

    A long-term campaign by a conservative legal watchdog to clean up the nation’s voter rolls has led to the erasure of over five million ineligible names since 2017.

    In less than 10 years of legal action targeting sloppy voter lists, Washington-based Judicial Watch has used the National Voter Registration Act Of 1993 and its requirement that states regularly clean their lists to press for the elimination of bad names in nearly a dozen states and localities.

    “Judicial Watch’s clean-up of over five million dirty names from voter rolls is a historic achievement for clean elections. I have no doubt that Judicial Watch’s election integrity heavy lifting helped stop the steal in 2024,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

    Read more here…

    Source: Judicial Watch

  • Judicial Watch Sues for Records on Biden State Department Grants to Support Leftist Opposition to Conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

    (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State for records on grants made by the Biden State Department to various Hungarian media outlets and educational organizations opposing conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:25-cv-00836)).

    Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the State Department failed to respond to a January 29, 2025, FOIA request for:

    All records regarding any grants provided under the Independent Media Support Fund/Free Media Grant Program to any organization or individual in Hungary. This request includes, but is not limited to, all records depicting the recipients and purposes of the grants, the timing of the awards, and all related records of communication between former Ambassador David Pressman or Chargé d’Affaires David Holmes and any other individual or entity.

    The complaint explains:

    According to media reports, on the final day of the Biden Administration, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, awarded grants worth millions of Hungarian Forints to various Hungarian media outlets and educational organizations aligned with opponents of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. See, e.g., “U.S. Embassy Awards Millions in Grants to Opposition Media on Trump Inauguration Day,” Hungarian Conservative, Jan. 21, 2025 (available at )

    According to the Hungarian Conservative:

    Recipients of the grant include several well-known anti-government media outlets, aligned with the Hungarian opposition but posing as independent press. Among the grantees, 444 received more than 8 million HUF (over 20,000 USD), Átlátszó 10 million HUF approximately 25,000 USD), Jelen 7 million HUF (around 18,000 USD), and both Magyar Hang and Klubrádió were awarded 10 million HUF each in Category A. In Category B, which supports media education and journalism training, Transparency International’s Hungarian foundation—one of the most prominent organizations within the Soros network—received more than 7 million HUF.

    “The Biden State Department, on Joe’s last day in office, apparently sent a cash infusion to Hungary’s left-wing, anti-Orban opposition organizations,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Let’s hope the new State Department stops the cover-up and produces records on this meddling.”

    Judicial Watch in February 2025 also sued USAID for records regarding waste, fraud and abuse tied to aid money sent to Ukraine.

    In November 2024, Judicial Watch sued the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for records about to the $27 million in U.S. grants awarded to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees” that have been designated for use in Gaza.

    In October 2023, Judicial Watch sued the State Department for communications and records regarding the eligibility of citizens of Hungary to participate in a visa waiver program.

    In 2018, Judicial Watch obtained State Department documents showing top Soros representatives in Romania collaborating with the State Department in a program jointly funded by, among others, Soros’s Open Society Foundations – Romania and USAID, called the “Open Government Partnership.”

    Additional State Department records uncovered in 2018 showed USAID funding for George Soros’s left-wing nonprofit organizations in Albania. The documents dealt primarily with the activities of Soros’ top operative in Albania, Andri Dobrushi, the director of Open Society Foundation-Albania, who was actively engaged in channeling funding to what Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban calls Soros’ “mercenary army.” The documents showed U.S. grant money flowing through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that profess to promote “civil society,” while in fact attacking traditional, pro-American groups, governments and policies.

    Other records related to the USAID’s activities in Albania showed that the Obama administration sent U.S. taxpayers’ funds to a group backed by Soros, which used the money to fund left-wing political activities in Albania, including working with the country’s socialist government to push for highly controversial judicial “reform.” The records also detailed how the Soros operation helped the State Department review grant applications from other groups for taxpayer funding.

    ###

    Source: Judicial Watch

  • HSF tie-up with US firm Kramer Levin gets green light

    Combine 1 June

    City giant Herbert Smith Freehills will merge with US outfit Kramer Levin after partners voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of the deal.

    Previously reported by Legal Cheek in November as pending a partner vote, the merger has now been confirmed. Effective 1 June this year, the combined firm will operate under the name Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer or simply HSF Kramer in the US.

    The newly combined outfit will boast $2 billion (more than £1.5 billion) in global revenues, all within a unified profit pool.

    It will operate across 26 offices worldwide, with around 630 partners. “This is just the beginning”, said HSF chair Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, following news that the merger had been successfully approved.

    The 2025 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    HSF’s global CEO Justin D’Agostino added: “HSF Kramer’s combined offering, global reach and scale means we will be able to deliver more effectively for our clients, whose needs are evolving rapidly in a complex environment.”

    The HSF Kramer merger follows another transatlantic fusion, when Allen & Overy combined with US firm Shearman & Sterling last year to create A&O Shearman, a Magic Circle titan with £2.9 billion in revenue.

    The post HSF tie-up with US firm Kramer Levin gets green light appeared first on Legal Cheek.

    Source: Legal Cheek

  • Man allegedly hit, lit on fire, and run over by wife; Sexting messages read aloud in murder trial – TCN Sidebar

    In this episode of True Crime News The Sidebar Podcast: Ashley Willcott joins host Joshua Ritter to break down the biggest cases making headlines across the nation. They discuss Linda Stermer’s second trial for allegedly striking her husband, lighting him on fire, and hitting him with the family van, sexting messages exposed in court by Ingolf Tuerk’s defense as the doctor argues that the strangling of his wife Kathleen McLean was not premeditated, and the beginning of Karen Read’s retrial for the death of her boyfriend John O’Keefe as the lengthy jury selection process continues.

    YouTube: Man allegedly hit, lit on fire, and run over by wife; Sexting messages read aloud in murder trial

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Simmons to relocate City HQ in 2030

    Moving around the corner to Finsbury Circus

    Simmons & Simmons has announced plans to relocate its London headquarters in 2030.

    Owing to “strong growth” in recent years, Simmons & Simmons says it is relocating to support further expansion. The firm’s new home, 25 Finsbury Circus, sits equidistant from Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations and overlooks the City’s largest open space, Finsbury Park Gardens. The move will see the firm leave its current office at CityPoint after nearly 30 years.

    Whilst preparing for the firm’s arrival, renovations will add a roof terrace and a two-floor extension, all while retaining its Edwardian façade. Bringing modern amenities to the Grade-II listed space, upgrades will include wellness areas, facilities to encourage healthy commuting, and flexible office layouts. Melding heritage with innovation has been on the firm’s agenda recently, like naming their new AI tool “Percy”, after one of the firm’s nineteenth century founders.

    The 2025 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    Slaughter and May advised Simmons & Simmons on the move. Slaughters themselves were due to move to new offices until widespread work-from-home adoption led to a lease extension to 2036 at their current home in Bunhill Row.

    Elsewhere in City law, Clifford Chance said it will leave behind Canary Wharf for 2 Aldermanbury Square in the City once its lease expires in 2028. A&O Shearman is due to move to 2 Broadgate in 2027. Fellow Magic Circle firm Linklaters is set to relocate to a new site at 20 Ropemaker Street, Moorgate, from 2026, also when Dentons confirmed it will now move to Liverpool Street — the same year Hogan Lovells planned to go to “bespoke” premises at 21 Holborn Viaduct until a minimum 12-month delay, after Roman ruins were discovered.

    Travers Smith and Kirkland & Ellis will be moving to new pastures in the coming years. Taylor Wessing, in a sustainability move, have opted to update their current space instead.

    The post Simmons to relocate City HQ in 2030 appeared first on Legal Cheek.

    Source: Legal Cheek

    April 4, 2025

  • What happened the night Tupac was killed?

    Iconic rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down while driving on the Las Vegas Strip with producer and mogul Suge Knight on Sept. 13, 1996. Tupac’s killer remained a mystery for decades, but in 2023, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detectives arrested Duane “Keffe D” Davis on a charge of first-degree murder. Prosecutors and police allege Keffe D has essentially incriminated himself, but he claims it was all for entertainment purposes. Who really pulled the trigger that killed Tupac?

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Fla. man allegedly looked up 'dent in baby forehead' before he and woman brought infant to hospital

    PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (TCN) — Authorities recently arrested a man and woman after an infant in their care required emergency surgery for skull damage and a brain bleed.

    According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, on Monday, March 24, detectives responded to Golisano’s Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers to a report of a baby with life-threatening injuries, including multiple skull fractures, a brain bleed, a stroke, and more. Medical staff said the infant was in “extremely critical condition” and was undergoing emergency surgery upon authorities’ arrival.

    Twenty-two-year-old Shona Hochsprung and 24-year-old Alexander Ransom reportedly brought the child to the hospital, and detectives interviewed them separately about what led to the injuries. The sheriff’s office noted that “both had different explanations about how the infant sustained the injuries, and their stories were inconsistent.”

    Hochsprung allegedly told detectives she “rolled over onto the baby while asleep,” but she woke up and rolled off after hearing the child cry. However, medical staff said the baby’s injuries were likely not caused by what Hochsprung claimed.

    According to the sheriff’s office, Hochsprung and Ransom said that on Sunday, March 23, they were the only two people with the baby when the injuries occurred.

    Ransom had allegedly searched online for “dent in baby forehead” and “do babies snore?” at approximately 5 a.m. on March 23. Although Ransom was aware of the injuries, he and Hochsprung reportedly did not seek medical care until the next day.

    Officials arrested Hochsprung and Ransom on charges of child neglect with great bodily harm. They remain held in the Charlotte County Jail without bond.

    The sheriff’s office said the baby’s surgery was successful, but the victim faces a “lengthy recovery and is expected to have significant medical issues for the duration of its life.”

    In a statement, Sheriff Bill Prummell said, “As a father, I know there is nothing so precious as the life of a child. I ask you to join me in prayer, as this infant fights for survival, that God grants a better life going forward. The individuals who were supposed to be caring for this child have many questions still to answer, and they will be held accountable. In the meantime, my heart is with that child and all who are impacted.”

    • Couple Arrested on Charges of Child Neglect, Infant in Critical Condition – Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office
    • Charlotte County Jail

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Swann Home Security

    Swann Home Security

    Source: True Crime Daily