In this episode of True Crime News The Sidebar Podcast: Eric Faddis joins host Joshua Ritter to break down the biggest cases making headlines across the nation. They discuss evidence in Bryan Kohberger’s case that could suggest a second suspect in the University of Idaho slayings, key differences in Karen Read’s retrial after jury selection, and Judge Jeffrey Ferguson facing a second trial for his wife’s fatal shooting.
Source: True Crime Daily
From Just the News:
The conservative legal group Judicial Watch on Thursday said it has received 52 pages of documents that show proposed revisions to former President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, regarding his handling of classified documents.
The documents, which were turned over by the Justice Department, come after the legal group sued the Biden administration through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The group requested records of the communication between the DOJ and the White House regarding altered transcripts.
“These new documents provide an extraordinary insight into a cover-up of the White House of Biden’s cognitive challenges,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The Bondi Justice Department should follow up with the full release of the actual audio of President Biden’s disastrous interview with the special counsel on his document theft and mishandling.”
Read more here…
Source: Judicial Watch
SUMTER, S.C. (TCN) — An elderly man stands accused of fatally shooting his wife before entering his neighbor’s residence and killing a young child.
According to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, on the night of Wednesday, April 16, 80-year-old Reuben Leonard allegedly went into a home on Floyd Drive, opened fire, and fatally shot his 11-year-old neighbor. Deputies responded to the scene and found the victim with a gunshot wound, as well as family members restraining Leonard.
Emergency responders attempted lifesaving measures, but the child was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Authorities took Leonard into custody, and he allegedly told deputies that he had killed his wife prior to shooting the child. Sumter Police responded to Leonard’s house and discovered his 76-year-old wife shot dead inside the garage.
Leonard was transported to a hospital for injuries and is expected to recover. He will be booked into the Sumter County Detention Center upon his release and faces a charge of murder.
Sheriff Anthony Dennis called it a “horrific incident” and said investigators are “working diligently to uncover all the details.”
Source: True Crime Daily
EL PASO, Texas (TCN) — A 39-year-old man is in custody for allegedly killing his father, disemboweling him, and stealing his car.
On April 12, El Paso Police Department officers went to a home on the 11700 block of Ronald McNair Drive for an unattended death situation and found 74-year-old Victor Gerado Contreras deceased. The Crimes Against Persons Unit arrived at the scene and determined Contreras’ death was suspicious. Following an investigation, they issued a warrant for the arrest of Jaime Contreras.
Officers located Jaime Contreras and arrested him on a charge of murder.
According to court documents cited by KDBC-TV, the victim’s son and suspect’s brother went to the home on April 12 to check on his father because he had not spoken to the victim in about a week. The son reportedly could not get in the front or back door, so he went to his dad’s bedroom window and smelled rotting flesh. The son entered the home through the window and reportedly discovered Victor Contreras with his “head bashed in,” throat slit, and covered with a sheet. The son also realized Victor Contreras’ Jeep Wrangler wasn’t at the house.
The son reportedly texted Jaime Contreras about the situation, but he never responded.
The son’s wife spoke with Victor Contreras twice on April 4, and in the first call, he allegedly told her Jaime Contreras was “acting crazy again.” Jaime Contreras, who lived with his father, reportedly took the phone and told her that he was angry that Victor Contreras wanted to sell the house. Victor Contreras called the police, then later informed his daughter-in-law that everything was “fine.”
A neighbor told police that he saw Jaime Contreras driving his father’s Jeep, parking it nearby, and going to his house for several hours at a time.
Police executed a search warrant for the house and discovered apparent blood throughout. Investigators found Jaime Contreras and the Jeep nearby, and when they asked where Victor Contreras was, he said he was “in heaven.”
Investigators reportedly saw injuries and lacerations on Jaime Contreras’ body. Contreras allegedly told them he hurt himself “battling,” and fighting. KDBC reports he claimed an alien recently harvested his organs.
KTSM-TV reports police previously responded to calls at Victor and Jaime Contreras’ home. In 2023, Jaime Contreras allegedly said his father was an alien, then walked around the surrounding streets with a decapitated rabbit. Several months later, officers went to the house because Jaime Contreras again said his dad was an alien.
On April 5, Victor Contreras reportedly called El Paso Police saying Jaime Contreras was “threatening him and killed his pets.” Police went to the home and listed it as “checking OK.” Hours later, Victor Contreras called police a second time and claimed Jaime Contreras threatened him with a hammer.
The medical examiner who went to the home when Victor Contreras was found dead noted that the 74-year-old was “disemboweled.”
Jaime Contreras is in custody at the El Paso County Jail with bond set at $2 million.
Source: True Crime Daily
HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio (TCN) — A 35-year-old man is accused of locking a toddler with special needs in a bedroom and leaving the child alone for hours.
According to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, on April 8, Joshua Merz allegedly left a 2-year-old child alone for at least seven hours while he went to work. A neighbor reportedly discovered the child and called law enforcement. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office subsequently responded and noticed the home was “filthy and potentially dangerous.”
On April 16, prosecutors announced that Merz was indicted on two counts of child endangerment. If convicted, he faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison.
The indictment alleges Merz “recklessly physically restrained” the child in a “cruel manner or for a prolonged period, which restraint was excessive under the circumstances and a created a substantial risk of serious physical harm.”
In a statement, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said, “There is never a reason to leave a 2-year-old child home alone. It’s our job to make sure those who cannot speak for themselves are protected. And that’s exactly what we will do in this case.”
Source: True Crime Daily
In this episode of “True Crime News,” Shakeia Allen’s boyfriend, Amir Johnson, was caught on camera fatally shooting her in her apartment parking lot. Johnson fled the area following the cold-blooded killing, and Allen’s family wants information about his whereabouts so they can finally get justice. Plus, Dawn Bennett ran a sophisticated Ponzi scheme that caused her victims to lose millions of dollars. As the feds closed in, she turned to homemade hexes.
Source: True Crime Daily
SARASOTA, Fla. (TCN) — A man currently serving time in an Oregon prison for sexually abusing a young girl is facing charges in Florida for allegedly plotting while behind bars to kill the victim and her family to make the charges against him disappear.
In November 2023, a Multnomah County jury convicted Leland Harper of multiple crimes, including 23 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, 16 counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, 14 counts of luring a minor, three counts of unlawful sexual penetration, two counts of first-degree sodomy, one count of encouraging sexual abuse, six counts of witness tampering, four counts of bribing a witness, two counts of conspiracy to bribe a witness, and two counts of conspiracy to commit witness tampering. A judge sentenced him in January to 25 years in prison, according to KOIN-TV.
Court records show that on April 11, officials in Sarasota County, Florida, charged Harper with four counts of solicitation to commit homicide. According to a probable cause affidavit, investigators looking into his Oregon case learned he allegedly committed child sexual abuse in Florida. A Sarasota County detective began investigating in 2023, and in February 2025, the detective learned about an alleged “potential threat to do harm” against the victim’s family.
Harper is reportedly appealing his case in Oregon while also facing a civil lawsuit from the victim’s family. An informant allegedly told their attorney that Harper asked if they could help him locate someone to kill the family in exchange for money, and it needed to be done before he went to trial in Sarasota. Harper allegedly wrote a letter explaining that killing the victim and her family would “help with the appeal on his case in Oregon and stop the civil lawsuit.”
He reportedly said he would pay $30,000 for the hit. According to the affidavit, Harper allegedly “described that he wanted it to look like a murder-suicide at the hand of the father/husband” and that emails would be sent from the father’s phone admitting that he sexually abused his daughter and set Harper up.
“Surreptitious audio recordings” allegedly caught Harper telling the informant, “No face, no case. If there are no witnesses, there is no trial.”
He also reportedly said, “Ending that genetic legacy is doing the world a f–king favor.”
The informant reportedly asked if the killings “would bother him,” and Harper allegedly replied, “Nope. No, I know my mind. That’s how I am. Stone-cold sociopath. That’s what I am.”
He allegedly hoped the family would feel a “mountain of terror” prior to their killings, which he planned for May.
Investigators set up a bank account, and Harper’s wife allegedly wired $29,998.97 to it. Harper, however, did not ask for confirmation if the family was killed.
Harper is facing nine counts of sexual abuse in Sarasota County.
Jail records show Harper was extradited from Oregon to the Sarasota County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
The lead Multnomah County prosecutor in the case, Chuck Mickley, told KOIN, “He’s made efforts all throughout the process to try to avoid the consequences of his criminal actions. And so this isn’t necessarily surprising that he is going through a lot of additional steps to try to get out from the trouble that he’s caused himself by committing these crimes.”
Source: True Crime Daily
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it received 52 pages of documents from the U.S. Department of Justice showing White House staffers suggesting edits to transcripts of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding his handling of secret documents.
The documents were obtained thanks to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice for records of communication between the agency and White House regarding the altered transcripts of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s October 2023 interviews of President Biden in the criminal investigation into Biden’s theft and disclosure of classified records (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-02176)).
In a separate lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch, a federal court ordered the Department of Justice to declare whether it intends to continue denying Judicial Watch’s request for the full audio of former President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. The Trump Justice Department has until May 20, 2025, to report its position on the release of the videotape. ((Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-00700))
Also, previously in that lawsuit, Judicial Watch forced the Biden administration to confess that the transcripts of the audio recordings have been altered and are not accurate.
The new documents provided in this case include a chart of suggested changes by Biden White House and personal lawyers to the transcript. Also included are emails that detail Biden lawyer Bob Bauer’s requesting access to interview exhibits and a meeting with the special counsel to discuss the case. Justice Department official Marc Krickbaum confirmed most White House revisions to the transcript were accepted, including minor clarifications and changes potentially masking Biden’s confusion, such as correcting who said “Yeah” or altering references to Biden’s Delaware garage and President Biden’s seeming inability to recall the name of the Defense Secretary.
“These new documents provide an extraordinary insight into a cover-up of the White House of Biden’s cognitive challenges,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The Bondi Justice Department should follow up with the full release of the actual audio of President Biden’s disastrous interview with the special counsel on his document theft and mishandling.”
On October 12, 2023, Bob Bauer, personal attorney to Biden and White House Counsel for President Obama, writes to Marc Krickbaum, then-Deputy Special Counsel, and others, including several White House staffers:
Gentlemen:
Now that the interviews of the President have concluded, we would like to discuss with you the written presentations that we are preparing to aid in the resolution of this matter, as well as the schedule for their timely submission. To this end, we request a meeting for the purpose of hearing from you where matters stand in the case, which would enable us to focus our presentations on the issues it would be most helpful for us to address. The meeting would include both personal and White House Counsel.
***
As you know, we also have an outstanding request for copies of the exhibits you provided in your interview of the President. We have noted that these exhibits would be necessary in our review of the transcripts of the interviews to check for any omissions or inaccuracies. We believe it is fair that we have access to this material at least for this purpose. This is one of the issues we would like to resolve at the meeting, along with an understanding for our planning purposes of when the interview transcript may be available for review in both audio and video form.
In a follow-up email, he corrects himself: “…the reference to ‘video’ can, of course, be disregarded.”
On December 21, 2023, Krickbaum writes to Rachel F. Cotton, Deputy Counsel to the President in the Office of the White House Counsel, and others showing the court reporter rejected some of the proposed edits to the Biden transcript
Dick and Rachel,
We had the court reporter who prepared the transcript review your suggested revisions. She accepted most of them. This table lists your revisions and then describes whether we did or did not make changes.
We may have to send the transcript itself on the high side [classified] next week. I will let you know when we do.
Thank you.
Marc
Some proposed transcript edits detailed in a chart produced by the Justice Department suggest that the Biden White House to transcript might be considered an effort to cover up Biden’s mental confusion. White House suggests:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: The date is 4-20-09. Was I still Vice President? I was, wasn’t I? Yeah. Yeah.
Mr. Bauer: Yeah.
President Biden: Yeah.
On this entry, the White House attaches a note: “Audio indicates that ‘Yeah’ was said twice in succession by President Biden. Mr. Bauer did not say ‘Yeah.’
The court reporter records:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: The date is 4-20-09. Was I still Vice President? I was, wasn’t I? Yeah. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Yeah.
Other changes also seem significant. One seems to refer to Biden’s garage at his Delaware home, where secret documents were found.
The White House proposed this change:
were delivered my the garage
The court reporter records:
were delivered to the – my garage.
At another point, Bien might have been confused about the name of the Secretary of Defense. The White House proposed this change:
Secretary of Defense? Gates
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Gates.
A White House entry on that notes states:
According to the audio, President Biden says “Gates” prior to the unidentified male speaker.
The court reporter records:
Secretary of Defense? Gates?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Gates.
The White House responds:
The court reporter inserted a question mark that is unsupported by the audio recording. It is clear that the President said “Gates” as a statement rather than a question. We ask that the question mark be replaced with a period …
Regarding that last entry and another, on January 3, 2024, Amish [probably Amish Shah, Senior Associate Counsel in the White house Counsel’s Office], emails Krickbaum:
Thank you for sending. We have reviewed and are fine with almost all of the court reporter’s responses. However, we ask the SCO to reconsider the attached two corrections on Day 2. Both corrections are supported by the audio recording of the interview.
On January 22, 2024, Krickbaum replies:
We will send a revised transcript of the President’s interview on yellow [higher security], and attached is a revised list of edits. For the two revisions you suggested in your last email, the court reporter adopted the second and adopted a slightly modified version of the first.
On February 28, 2024, an Executive Officer in the Special Counsel’s Office emails Free State Reporting:
Good evening. Would you be able to come back (hopefully, the last time) on Friday, 3/1 or Monday, 3/4 (the sooner, the better? There are more edits to the President’s transcript. I’ll have an exact number tomorrow. I’m getting the computer back so it will be blank when you arrive so it will need your software on it again. It got wiped when I thought everything was finished. I’ll meet you out front with a new parking pass. My apologies for the inconvenience.
It’s not clear what these last-minute changes were.
Judicial Watch has several ongoing FOIA lawsuits about Biden’s document scandals and the related unprecedented partisan prosecutorial and judicial abuses of former President Donald J. Trump.
###
Source: Judicial Watch
ST. MARYS, Ga. (TCN) — Two men will spend the rest of their lives behind bars for kidnapping, torturing, and killing a 29-year-old homeless man in a remote area known locally as “Gilligan’s Island.”
The Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office announced April 16 that a jury found 56-year-old Frank Kennedy and 29-year-old Anthony Mistretta guilty of malice murder, kidnapping, and other related felony charges in connection with the death of John Mamph. A judge subsequently sentenced Mistretta and Kennedy to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to prosecutors, on July 5, 2023, the defendants beat and hog-tied Mamph near his homeless encampment before bringing him to a boat ramp, placing him in a boat, and taking him out on a lake. The defendants reportedly weighed the victim down with numerous weights while he was still tied up, and then they threw him into the lake to drown.
The following day, an individual found Mamph’s body while Jet Skiing with his family and called law enforcement. St. Marys Police responded to the area and initially arrested five suspects, including Kennedy and Mistretta, as well as Debra Dougherty, Megan Robison, and Bernice McGuire.
Prosecutors said prior to the trial, Dougherty pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years served. McGuire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and hasn’t yet been sentenced. Robison originally lied to authorities about her knowledge of the incident, and she pleaded guilty to making a false statement. Robison received a sentence of five years of probation.
Source: True Crime Daily
By Ovat Abeng
A joint security operatives comprising officers from Oba Divisional Police Headquarters and Anambra Vigilante operatives have arrested six individuals suspected of exploiting ill persons to solicit alms from the public.
The arrest occurred on April 16, 2025, at 6:30 pm during a raid on an uncompleted building in Isu Village, Oba.
The suspects, identified as Doris Basil, 28; Peter Ezedike, 38; Susan Monday, 27; Ogechi Okoro, 27; Solomon Sunday, 29; and Kenneth Achi, 29, were found with six mobile phones and ₦82,400 in small denominations.
Four sick individuals suffering from brain tumor, breast cancer, and other terminal illnesses were rescued and provided first aid.
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Arrangements are underway for their medical treatment and safe return home.
The State Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, condemned the exploitation of vulnerable individuals, citing Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, which carries a penalty of up to three years imprisonment.
Relatives of the sick persons will be investigated to determine their involvement.
The suspects will face court action after investigations , according to a statement by the state police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Tochukwu Ikenga.