Tag: Americas

SAN FRANCISCO (TCN) — A 21-year-old sex worker has been convicted of fatally shooting a client who asked for his money back.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced March 31 that a federal jury found Leion Butler, who also goes by Leniyah Butler, guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The jury acquitted Butler of second-degree murder. She is set to be sentenced on June 27 and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution.

According to prosecutors, on Nov. 12, 2023, Butler performed a sex act on the victim. He reportedly asked the defendant for a refund and to exit the car. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Butler then shot the victim once in the eye before stealing his vehicle and driving to Hunters Point. Authorities say Butler tried to clean any fingerprints and DNA and “spent the rest of that morning scattering the physical evidence, including the murder weapon.”

According to an initial release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, witnesses later found the victim’s body at Crissy Field East Beach in the parking lot with a single gunshot wound to his head.

Three days later, authorities recovered the victim’s vehicle, which remained parked on a street in the Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco. Authorities observed the defendant on surveillance footage arriving with the victim’s car, exiting, and then talking into a cellphone. A second car reportedly arrived, and the defendant spoke with the driver. She then allegedly gathered items from the victim’s car, entered the second vehicle, and left the scene.

Acting United States Attorney Patrick Robbins said, “We extend our sincere condolences to the victim’s family, whose son and brother was taken from them prematurely, and hope today’s verdict brings some measure of justice.”

• San Francisco Resident Who Shot And Killed Victim In The Presidio Found Guilty Of Voluntary Manslaughter – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California
• San Francisco Resident Charged With Murder Of A Person Whose Body Was Found In The Presidio, 11/21/2023 – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California

Source: True Crime Daily

Two deer hunters stumbled upon a horrific sight: a torso without a head, arms, or legs. Detectives scoured the scene for other remains, but instead, they found blood and a discarded store receipt. They ultimately managed to identify the victim as Illinois National Guardsman Norman McCaster, but the killer remained a mystery. Investigators tracked the person from the receipt who purchased power tools, and it pointed them to someone close to McCaster that no one expected.

Source: True Crime Daily

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Source: True Crime Daily

TACOMA, Wash. (TCN) — A 17-year-old is being charged as an adult for allegedly opening fire at a house party over the weekend, killing two and injuring several others.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, on Saturday, March 29, at 12:24 a.m., deputies responded to a “large party” on the 17800 block of 25th Avenue Court East, where “30 to 40 juveniles were reportedly running and screaming from a house party.”

Several people called 911 to report a fight in the street that led to shots being fired moments before law enforcement arrived. Several attendees fled the area, and the sheriff’s office said cars were “getting stuck in the neighborhood while chaos embodied the entire street.” Surrounding homes were reportedly hit and impacted by the gunfire.

At the scene, deputies rendered aid to a male victim in the street, but he was later pronounced deceased. Five victims transported themselves to the hospital, one of whom died. The other four victims sustained serious injuries but are expected to recover. They range in age from 16 to 21. KING-TV reports the victims who died were 15 and 19 years old.

Investigators found two weapons and multiple shell casings on the street.

According to KING, the teen suspect also sustained a gunshot wound to the hip. Deputies reportedly found a gun in one victim’s pocket.

A 17-year-old girl was reportedly hosting the party. Her mother was home at the time but allegedly did not see the shooting occur.

KCPQ-TV reports prosecutors are charging the suspect, Isaiah Williams, as an adult with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree unlawful use of a firearm. A judge set his bond at $2 million. Williams was reportedly convicted in February 2024 of unlawful possession of a firearm, fourth-degree assault, and two counts of third-degree assault.

• Mass Shooting at Juvenile Party – Pierce County Sheriff’s Office
• Documents reveal what led up to deadly mass shooting at Pierce County party – KING
• Teen accused of Spanaway, WA house party murders held on $2 million bail – KCPQ

Source: True Crime Daily

HILO, Hawaii (TCN) — Authorities arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of fatally stabbing his elderly neighbor over the weekend.

According to the Hawai’i Police Department, on the morning of March 29, Hilo patrol officers responded to a home on Olu Street to a report of an unresponsive victim who had been stabbed in the face. Responding police discovered an 81-year-old woman, later identified as Lola Loebl, with multiple stab wounds. Fire personnel determined she was “beyond lifesaving measures.”

Authorities named Keone Brown, Loebl’s neighbor, as the primary suspect. He tried to flee the area but was arrested without incident.

A witness told police she observed Brown stab Loebl multiple times. The suspect then allegedly turned to the witness and threatened her with the knife before heading back to his home.

On March 30, police said Brown was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree terroristic threatening. His bail was set at just over $2 million.

• Police Investigating Early Morning Murder in Hilo – Hawai’i Police Department
• Police Identify Victim in Last Weekend’s Violent Murder of Elderly Woman in Hilo – Hawai’i Police Department

Source: True Crime Daily

MIAMI (TCN) — A 35-year-old man reportedly confessed to killing a person whose body was found inside a cooler at a local bar.

On March 28 just after 3 p.m., Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a business on Northwest 7th Avenue regarding a man’s body found in the exterior cooler. Miami-Dade Fire Department officials arrived at the bar and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene. Deputies identified Oscar Rivera-Peraza as the suspect and arrested him on a charge of second-degree murder.

The victim’s identity was still being determined, but the sheriff’s office described him as a Black male.

According to WPLG-TV, workers delivering ice to the Chicagoan Bar discovered the victim’s body in the cooler and called law enforcement.

Investigators noted in an arrest report that Rivera-Peraza provided a “full confession” to the killing, allegedly saying he “armed himself with a metal pipe and struck the victim multiple times before placing him within” the cooler.

Miami-Dade County records show Rivera-Peraza is being held without bond.

• Subject Arrested in Homicide Case – Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office
• Man jailed after murder victim’s body found in cooler behind Miami-Dade bar – WPLG
• Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate search

Source: True Crime Daily

SULPHUR, La. (TCN) — A 75-year-old woman was arrested last week following a yearslong investigation into her toddler son’s death in 1970.

KPLC-TV reports Sulphur Police Department officers took Alice Bunch Idlett into custody on March 27 on a charge of second-degree murder for the death of her son, Earl Dwayne Bunch III. The department started investigating his death in 2022 following a request from the 16-month-old victim’s family. Officials initially said Bunch died when he fell from a crib, and there was not enough evidence at the time to prove otherwise.

Detectives reportedly recently exhumed the boy’s body and sent his remains to the FBI, who listed his death as a homicide.

Bunch’s father, Earl Bunch Jr., was deployed overseas in Thailand during the Vietnam War when the boy died.

According to court documents shared by KPLC, Bunch Jr. filed for divorce in 1983, citing “mental cruelty.” During his custody appeal of their daughter, Bunch Jr. said Idlett wrote him letters that “were of a threatening nature, both toward herself and her son.” The court document cites excerpts from her correspondence where she talks about hating their son and herself.

On Nov. 19, 1969, she allegedly told her husband she never wanted to be a mother, adding, “I honestly wish he had never been born. He knows he won’t get his way around me. I’ll kill him before he becomes spoilt. I honestly mean that…”

In a letter two days later, she reportedly said, “If he (Earl Dwayne) starts crying when I put him down to play, I’m going to whip him until his darn seat is red. I can’t put up with this mess… I hate your son, I wish he was dead.”

She wrote that Earl Dwayne Bunch “ruint [sic] my life” and that he “needs love but I can’t give it to him.”

Bunch Jr. said he attempted to fly back to Louisiana to be with his wife, but he could not get an emergency leave order.

On Jan. 19, 1970, Idlett took Earl Dwayne Bunch to the emergency room because he was “limp and gasping for breath.” A doctor who examined him said the boy was “in a comatose condition.” He also noticed bite and burn marks on the child’s body. The doctor reportedly noted Earl Dwayne Bunch’s wounds “looked more like a child that had been beaten; that perhaps somebody had taken it by the feet, and swung it against a piece of furniture or the wall.”

Idlett allegedly appeared “stoical” and not emotional.

He was transferred to another hospital for X-rays, which showed he sustained several skull fractures and a right shoulder fracture. Earl Dwayne Bunch was taken to a third hospital in Texas, where he died during emergency surgery the next day.

Bunch Jr. returned to Louisiana for his son’s funeral, and he “accepted his son’s death as accidental, because he could not believe that the woman he loved could have harmed her own son.”

According to KPLC, a grand jury returned an indictment to the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office charging Idlett with second-degree murder.

Idlett is being held at the Calcasieu Parish Correctional Center on $950,000 bond.

• Mother arrested for murder in 1970 cold case – KPLC

Source: True Crime Daily

NightCap Scrunchie Drink Cover

Source: True Crime Daily

THOMAS COUNTY, Ga. (TCN) — A woman was recently convicted of fatally poisoning her husband and will spend the rest of her life behind bars.

According to a March 27 news release from the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office, a jury found Torii Fedrick guilty in connection with the death of her husband, Phil Fedrick, and a judge sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Per WJCL-TV, she was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.

In September 2021, the victim was reportedly taken to Archbold Memorial Hospital, and medical staff “suspected poisoning.” He died approximately one week later.

The sheriff’s office worked with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for two years on the case before determining that the defendant poisoned her husband with ethylene glycol, which is commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid.

The sheriff’s office said the hospital staff’s “quick assessments and requesting of proper testing” was “crucial in the case being discovered.”

• News Release – Thomas County Sheriff’s Office
• Murder by Poison: Georgia woman sentenced to life in prison for killing husband – WJCL

Source: True Crime Daily

MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (TCN) — A man and his wife face several charges for allegedly abusing and subjecting the man’s 5-year-old son to “cruel confinement and cruel punishment” because he did his homework incorrectly.

According to the Middlesboro Police Department, officers arrested Ricky North and Nichole North on March 30 for first-degree criminal abuse, tampering with evidence, first-degree strangulation, and failure to report child neglect/abuse.

Investigators allege the couple “intentionally abused” the victim by binding him with duct tape, forcing him to take cold showers, slapping and punching him in the head and face, choking and body slamming him, and whipping him as punishment for “coloring outside of the lines on homework/schoolwork.”

Middlesboro Police also say the couple allegedly held the boy by his ankles and slammed his head on the ground several times.

Bell County Jail records show they are both being held on $100,000 bond.

• News Release – Middlesboro Police Department

Source: True Crime Daily