Tag: Americas

LONE PEAK, Utah (TCN) — A 47-year-old nurse was arrested for allegedly fatally poisoning a sick friend with insulin to collect over $1 million from the victim’s life insurance policy.

According to court documents cited by KSL.com, on Aug. 12, Lone Peak Police Department officers responded to a home on West Stevens Lane for a medical emergency after 38-year-old Kacee Terry’s uncle found her unresponsive in her bedroom. He reportedly told dispatch that his niece sounded “like she’s drowning.”

Terry’s friend Meggan Sundwall was reportedly in the room with Terry, and she told the uncle Terry had been unconscious for “a couple of hours.” Police reportedly discovered a diabetic needle at the scene.

Sundwall told paramedics that Terry should not be taken to the hospital because she had a “do not resuscitate” order. Medical officials, however, said they could not find any proof of that, and Sundwall did not have power of attorney. Terry was taken to a local hospital with a critically low blood sugar level of 14.

Sundwall reportedly claimed Terry had been diagnosed with leukemia while the two lived together. Terry’s sister, however, helped her move to their grandfather’s house because Terry was allegedly “complaining about Meggan bringing insulin home and trying to talk Kacee into treatments to help end her suffering.”

Sundwall allegedly brought her father over to Terry’s house to conduct “release blessings” to “help her pass on.”

KSL.com reports Terry allegedly told Sundwall that she was her life insurance policy beneficiary and that it was worth over $1 million. The two women allegedly “had discussed using insulin to cause death many times since 2020,” as Sundwall “consistently” told her to do it. Terry allegedly would pretend she used the insulin but claimed it “didn’t work.”

Texts to Terry allegedly included Sundwall telling her to “let go! It is past time!”

Another reportedly said, “Someone (should probably be me) should stay with you and continue to give you doses so it will actually stay low and you can pass.”

Terry’s sister reportedly spoke with doctors about her sister’s apparent terminal cancer, but doctors “were told that she never had cancer. The autopsy performed revealed no cancer and no health problems.”

In January, Sundwall reportedly told Terry that she had “poor finances,” but Terry confirmed Sundwall was her beneficiary. Following Terry’s death on Aug. 15, Sundwall asked police to look for the insurance papers in Terry’s room, but they couldn’t find any.

The police report says Sundwall contacted Terry’s life insurance policy provider after Terry’s death, but she found out Terry never actually had a policy.

Sundwall is being charged with aggravated murder and obstruction of justice.

• Utah nurse accused of killing former roommate for life insurance in yearslong plot – KSL.com
• Santaquin woman charged with aggravated murder in insulin death of her friend – KSL.com

Source: True Crime Daily

This Week on True Crime News The Podcast: Before she was brutally gunned down, Mary Gingles called authorities 14 times with concerns over her estranged husband Nathan Gingles’ behavior. Police say that the man killed not only his wife, but also her father and a neighbor who tried to help Mary, all in front of the couple’s 4-year-old daughter.

Rich McHale joins host Ana Garcia.

Check out Rich’s book “Where Is Mark?” here.

YouTube: Mother gunned down in front of 4-year-old daughter while fleeing shooter amid contentious divorce

Source: True Crime Daily

LEESBURG, Fla. (TCN) — A dentist who beat a man with a golf club during an altercation was found not guilty in February under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

The incident took place April 30, 2023, and Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a battery in progress call at a golf course. Deputies spoke with Dr. Joe Sivak, who said he was walking on a course path with his wife when Dr. Eddie Orobitg told him the path was for golf carts only. The two men got into a verbal altercation that quickly turned physical. Orobitg hit Sivak with his golf club, and Sivak struck him back with his water bottle. Sivak had lacerations on his body and a torn earlobe. WOFL-TV reports Sivak also suffered fractured ribs and a brain injury.

Orobitg reportedly told deputies that he was golfing with his son when Sivak and his wife stepped on the course. He claimed he asked them to get out of the way, but then Sivak pushed him and then spat in his face. Orobitg said Sivak hit him with his water bottle as he tried to take Orobitg’s golf clubs.

Orobitg reportedly said he thought Sivak was going to hit him and his son, so he used his golf clubs in self-defense. Orobitg’s son shared with deputies that his father spat in Sivak’s face first, which caused Sivak to spit back. The son allegedly claimed Sivak pushed Orobitg, and Orobitg struck Sivak by accident when he fell.

Orobitg was arrested and charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

According to WOFL, Sivak said at a hearing, “I thought I was going to die or was dead.”

Orobitg’s attorneys, however, argued, “The physical evidence does not support Mr. Sivak’s version of events. Mr. Sivak’s narrative has numerous inconsistencies and discrepancies when compared to the physical evidence and 911 call. We are committed to presenting a vigorous defense that will demonstrate Dr. Orobitg’s use of force was justified.”

In February, a judge acquitted Orobitg and said Sivak was confrontational when the fight occurred. The judge also reportedly said the prosecution did not have enough evidence to disprove Orobitg’s self-defense argument.

Do you believe Orobitg acted in self-defense? Share your thoughts in the poll below!

• State of Florida v s. Eddie Orobitg
• Not guilty: Dentist accused of beating psychiatrist on golf course speaks out after case dismissed, 2/11/2025 – WOFL
• Florida golf course assault case heads to ‘stand your ground’ hearing, 1/14/2025 – WOFL

Source: True Crime Daily

SANTA ANA, Calif. (TCN) — A 48-year-old mother has been arrested for allegedly killing her 11-year-old son during a custody visit.

According to the Santa Ana Police Department, on the morning of March 19, dispatch received a call from Saritha Ramaraju, who said she had “stabbed and killed her son in a room at the La Quinta Inn & Suites.” She also told officials that she had “ingested an unknown substance.”

Officers responded to the scene and took Ramaraju into custody, and she was transported to a hospital for evaluation. Police found the woman’s 11-year-old son in a hotel room with stab wounds, and fire personnel pronounced him deceased.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Ramaraju moved out of state after divorcing the victim’s father in 2018. At the time of his death, the boy was with his mother for a custody visit. Ramaraju had reportedly purchased three-day passes to Disneyland.

The victim was scheduled to return to his father on March 19, but Ramaraju allegedly killed her son that day and ingested pills to try to take her own life. Investigators suspect the 11-year-old boy had been dead for several hours before Ramaraju called 911. Police recovered a large kitchen knife nearby that had been purchased the previous day.

Ramaraju was discharged from the hospital on March 20 and booked into the Santa Ana Jail. The district attorney’s office announced March 21 that they charged Ramaraju with one felony count of murder.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said, “The life of a child should not hang in the balance between two parents whose anger for each other outweighs their love for their child.”

Spitzer continued, “Anger makes you forget who you love and what you are responsible for doing. The safest place for a child should be in their parents’ arms. Instead of wrapping her arms around their son in love, she slit his throat and, in the cruelest twist of fate, removed him from the very world she brought him into.”

• Mother Charged with Slitting 11-year-old Son’s Throat in Santa Ana Motel After Three Days at Disneyland During Custody Visitation – Orange County District Attorney’s Office
• Arrest Made in Homicide Investigation – Santa Ana Police Department

Source: True Crime Daily

COLORADO CITY, Colo. (TCN) — Authorities arrested a 47-year-old woman in connection with the death of her elderly mother, who was fatally attacked by her dogs.

According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, on Feb. 3, deputies responded to a home on Jefferson Boulevard and found 76-year-old LaVonne Hoff unresponsive with several dogs running loose. Authorities also discovered about two dozen dogs and seven birds in cages inside the residence.

Hoff was pronounced deceased at the scene, and an autopsy revealed she died from a dog attack.

Sheriff’s office detectives determined the victim’s daughter, Jessica Hoff, allegedly “left her mother at home alone with her dogs that day while she went to Pueblo to run errands.” LaVonne Hoff reportedly suffered from dementia and “required 24-hour care.”

Investigators suspect that the loose dogs attacked the victim while she was alone. Detectives searched the home and a second property owned by Jessica Hoff and discovered 54 dogs and seven birds in total. Authorities said the animals were “found living in unsanitary conditions” and “several of the dogs were in poor health.” The sheriff’s office, with assistance from Animal Law Enforcement, seized the dogs and birds.

The sheriff’s office announced March 21 that Jessica Hoff was arrested on charges of criminal negligence resulting in death/at-risk adult and 54 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals death. She remains held in the Pueblo County Jail on $50,000 bond.

• Woman Arrested in Mother’s Death – Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office
• Pueblo County Jail

Source: True Crime Daily

SAN DIEGO (TCN) — A woman wanted for allegedly fatally stabbing her wife at their home last month was captured in Mexico following a weeks-long search.

On the evening of Feb. 17, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call about an assault with a deadly weapon and found Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca Marodi with several stab wounds on her neck, chest, and back. Deputies rendered aid until paramedics arrived, but she was pronounced deceased at the scene. Investigators identified Marodi’s wife, Yolanda Olejniczak, as the suspect in Marodi’s killing.

The sheriff’s office said surveillance video showed the two women arguing and Olejniczak pushing Marodi the night of the fatal incident. She was reportedly seen leaving before Marodi’s mother showed up. Olejniczak drove her car across the border into Mexico on Feb. 17.

On March 22, law enforcement in Mexico reached out to U.S. Marshals and said Olejniczak was found and taken into custody. She was bound over to the U.S. Marshals and brought back across the border. According to the sheriff’s office, Olejniczak will be booked on a charge of murder.

Olejniczak previously served over 10 years in prison for stabbing her husband to death in 2000.

• UPDATE: Homicide – Ramona – San Diego County Sheriff’s Office
• Woman suspected of fatally stabbing her fire captain wife served time for killing husband in 2003, 2/21/2025 – TCN

Source: True Crime Daily

OREGON CITY, Ore. (TCN) — A man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his roommate, whose dismembered remains were found in a landfill.

The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office announced March 19 that 48-year-old Jamon Fritsch received a sentence of life in prison after he pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder and first-degree abuse of a corpse.

According to prosecutors, 49-year-old Kara Taylor and her adult daughter moved in with the defendant several weeks before the victim was killed. Taylor and Fritsch knew each other professionally and both worked as respiratory therapists.

On July 27, 2023, Fritsch reported Taylor missing, and Oregon City Police quickly identified him as a suspect in Taylor’s disappearance and suspected death.

Police discovered through cellphone and video surveillance that Fritsch bought zip ties, heavy-duty trash bags, a large tote, tarps, hair and grease drain cleaner, and Comet cleanser at Home Depot shortly after reporting his roommate missing. According to the district attorney’s office, surveillance also captured Fritsch throwing items away at a landfill.

Fritsch reportedly emailed a detective on Aug. 6, 2023, and admitted to killing Taylor. Police found evidence of blood throughout Fritsch’s home during a search warrant, and Oregon City Police arrested him on Aug. 7, 2023.

After the defendant’s arrest, authorities began searching the Coffin Butte Landfill on Aug. 11, 2023, and found Taylor’s remains several days later.

• Oregon City man who murdered and dismembered roommate sentenced to life in prison – Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office
• Missing woman’s dismembered remains found at Oregon landfill, 8/17/2023 – TCN
• Jamon Peter Fritsch Pleads Guilty To Murder II And Abuse Of A Corpse; Sentenced For The Death Of Kara Rayleen Taylor – Oregon City Police Department

Source: True Crime Daily

Martin Olive was standing in front of the dispensary that he owned in San Francisco when Cheasarack Chong approached him and started shooting in what appeared to be a random attack. Martin survived and spoke to “True Crime News” about his road to recovery.

Source: True Crime Daily

Yesenia “Jessica” Torres stopped by one of her favorite restaurants for lunch, but it would unfortunately be her last. Jessica was gunned down in the parking lot in what appeared to be a robbery, but investigators uncovered a suspected murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by her estranged husband.

Source: True Crime Daily

Sylena Jo Dalton lived in a small Virginia town as a young mom to newborn baby Allyson. But the community would soon be shocked when Sylena’s friend found the mother fatally stabbed on a couch, and her baby gone from her crib. Decades later, investigators haven’t yet identified a suspect or found Allyson. Could a new age progression photo change that?

Source: True Crime Daily