Paradise News

Tag: Americas

  • Child’s remains found encased in concrete in Colorado storage unit

    PUEBLO, Colo. (TCD) — Police are actively searching for two missing children after the remains of a child were discovered in concrete in a storage unit last month.

    On Jan. 10 shortly after 8:30 a.m., the Pueblo Police Department responded to the 600 block of West 6th Street to a report of “suspicious activity” after a person found a metal container in a storage unit that had been filled with concrete. The Pueblo Police Special Victims Unit and Crime Scene Investigations Unit also went to the scene and assumed the investigation.

    During a search of the metal container, investigators reportedly found a child’s remains. The Pueblo County coroner will identify the victim.

    According to police, investigators are working to locate two missing children, Jesus Dominguez and Yesenia Dominguez, in connection with the case. The children were last seen in the summer of 2018.

    Yesenia Dominguez was 3 years old when she disappeared and would now be 9, while her brother, Jesus Dominguez, was around 5 years old when he went missing. He would now be 10 years old.

    Officers wrote, “Pueblo Police would like to confirm the location and safety of these children.” However, law enforcement officials did not say how the children were related to the investigation.

    As of Jan. 31, police have interviewed two people of interest but did not disclose their names.

    MORE:

    • News Release – Pueblo Police Department

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • Missouri mother charged after her son fell out of 17th story window and died

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. (TCD) — Jackson County prosecutors are charging a 27-year-old mother after her 5-year-old son fell out of an upper-story window and suffered “catastrophic damage to his head and body” in November.

    The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced this week that Corinne O’Connor was arrested and charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child because she “failed to provide a livable/habitable dwelling” for her son. O’Connor also allegedly did not call for help when her son fell out of the window.

    According to the probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 27, 2023, at 11:31 a.m., Kansas City Police Department officers were called to an alley near downtown and found the 5-year-old boy deceased. He had “massive” head trauma and a “broken and twisted” right leg. He was wearing an inside-out shirt that was on backward, rolled jeans, and socks without shoes. Police noted an open window on the 17th floor and said it was the “sole window open on the entire back wall of the apartment building.”

    The affidavit says the boy, who WDAF-TV identified as Grayson O’Connor, first hit a covered walkway, then the alley.

    A detective and an investigative sergeant went to the apartment and allegedly found Corrinne O’Connor “laying in front of the open window.” She allegedly told the sergeant her son “went out the window.”

    The affidavit says a resident walking out of the basement discovered the young boy. Emergency personnel and the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office became concerned because Grayson O’Connor had such a low body temperature.

    Investigators spoke with the apartment building’s manager, who said it “should be impossible” that O’Connor’s window could open fully. She said each window had safety mechanisms that prohibited it from opening more than a few inches, but if it opened all the way, then someone removed those stops. When detectives searched O’Connor’s apartment, they noted the window did not have any of the safety stops.

    Officials obtained a search warrant for the apartment, which was unkempt and unsanitary. According to the affidavit, the apartment was littered with feces, trash, food, and clothing. There was a small mattress “covered in food” in the living room and a larger mattress on the kitchen floor.

    Detectives noticed a “copious amount of chocolate” on the open window sill and exterior of the window, which was “dripping over the edge down to the ground 17 stories below.” The interior sill was also covered in chocolate hand prints. Investigators found chocolate syrup bottles and other chocolate stains around the apartment.

    The majority of the other windows in the apartment reportedly had the safety mechanisms that prevented them from opening more than 6 inches, while two windows would not open at all. The living room window was the only one without the stop.

    Court records show the apartment’s management company filed an immediate eviction notice against O’Connor. The notice said the window stops had been “carelessly removed” and that the apartment was “deemed to be uninhabitable by the State due to very poor sanitary conditions.”

    O’Connor is in custody at the Jackson County Jail with bond set at $100,000.

    MORE:

    • Mother of deceased 5-year-old child charged in his death – Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
    • Corrinne O’Connor criminal complaint 
    • Grand Boulevard Lofts v. Corrinne O’Connor
    • State of Missouri v. Corrinne O’Connor
    • Mom charged in death of boy who fell from downtown Kansas City apartment window – WDAF

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • Georgia stepmom allegedly beat 8-year-old girl to death with wooden rolling pin

    GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. (TCD) — A married couple were arrested on suspicion of murder after the 34-year-old woman allegedly fatally beat her stepdaughter with a rolling pin.

    On Jan. 30 at 2:16 p.m., Gwinnett County Police and EMS responded to a medical call on Vine Springs Trace and found an 8-year-old victim, who was declared deceased at the scene. Police said the girl had been home with Natiela Barros and “suffered some kind of medical emergency.”

    Barros contacted the girl’s father, who came home, called 911, and started CPR on the girl.

    Gwinnett County Police announced homicide detectives arrested Barros and are charging her with first-degree cruelty to children, aggravated assault, felony murder, and malice murder. The next day, on Jan. 31, the girl’s father, Cledir Barros, was arrested on charges of second-degree cruelty to a child and second-degree murder. They are both being held without bond.

    According to the arrest warrant cited by WAGA-TV, Natiela Barros allegedly hit the victim, Sayra Barros, “with a wooden rolling pin 10 to 20 times, refusing to get her medical care afterwards.” Sayra Barros reportedly sustained injuries to the “top back of her neck.”

    WAGA reports the judge told Natiela Barros, “You’re going to be here for a while.”

    MORE:

    • Juvenile Death – Gwinnett County Police Department
    • Father, stepmom charged with murder in Gwinnett 8-year-old girl’s beating death denied bond – WAGA
    • Gwinnett County Jail inmate information

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • Miami wife allegedly bit, tried to smother husband after he got a postcard from ex he dated 60 years ago

    NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (TCD) — A 71-year-old woman is facing multiple charges for allegedly attempting to kill her husband after he received a postcard from a woman he dated over 60 years ago.

    Miami-Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records show Bertha Yalter was arrested Jan. 29 on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery of a person 65 or older, and tampering. She is being held without bond.

    According to the arrest report cited by WPLG-TV, North Miami Police Department officers were called to an apartment in a gated community and found the “extremely fragile” male victim with “several serious bruises and open lacerations.”

    The victim also reportedly had “open bite marks that were bleeding.”

    WPLG reports the man told police he got the postcard from the ex-girlfriend, and Yalter became upset about it. She allegedly tried smothering him with a pillow.

    Police reportedly found video evidence of the attack and arrested Yalter at her apartment near Northwest 169th Street and 35th Avenue.

    MORE:

    • Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate information
    • Police: Woman tries to kill husband over postcard from woman he dated 6 decades ago – WPLG

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • Teen sentenced for fatally stabbing 16-year-old in fight over sweet-and-sour sauce

    WASHINGTON (TCD) — A 16-year-old girl was sentenced this week for stabbing her friend last year during an argument over McDonald’s sweet-and-sour sauce.

    WUSA-TV reports a judge ordered the teenager, who remained unnamed, to stay in custody of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services until she is 21, which is the maximum sentence she could have received. She pleaded guilty in December to voluntary manslaughter while armed and carrying a dangerous weapon.

    In the early morning hours of Aug. 27, 2023, Metropolitan D.C. Police Department officers responded to a hospital regarding a juvenile needing treatment due to stab wounds. The victim, 16-year-old Naima Liggon, died from her injuries. The same day, investigators arrested the suspect on a charge of second-degree murder while armed.

    The suspect reportedly had a knife in her possession when she was arrested.

    According to WTOP-TV, Liggon, the suspect, and three others drove into Washington, D.C. from Maryland to attend a party. Afterward, they went to McDonald’s on 14th and U streets. The teens were inside a car and got into a fight. The teen suspect reportedly said Liggon and another passenger beat her up, so she stabbed Liggon in self-defense.

    WUSA reports Liggon was stabbed in the chest and abdomen with a 7 1/2-inch knife.

    The teen reportedly told police after the stabbing that the fight was “about the sauce,” saying, “I asked for more sauce and she had an attitude.”

    The suspect reportedly told a friend in a text, “They shouldn’t have jumped me, IDGAF.”

    Liggon’s father, Wylace Liggon, reportedly said at the sentencing, “I believe a form of justice was formed today, but not justice at all because we still don’t have her.”

    The teen suspect also spoke and said, “I would have changed everything if I could go back to that day.”

    MORE:

    • Max penalty given to teen who stabbed another teenager in fight over McDonald’s sauce – WUSA
    • Plea deal agreed upon in death of teen girl killed over McDonald’s sauces, 12/5/2023 – WUSA
    • 16-year-old fatally stabbed after dispute over sweet-and-sour sauce near McDonald’s in Northwest DC, 8/28/2023 – WTOP
    • Arrest Made in a Homicide: 1900 Block of 14th Street, Northwest, 8/27/2023 – Metro D.C. Police Department
    • 16-year-old fatally stabbed in D.C. during fight about McDonald’s sweet and sour sauce, 8/29/023 – TCD

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • N.M. man pleads guilty to beating, stabbing, raping 70-year-old woman who was jogging on trail

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (TCD) — A man pleaded guilty this week to charges related to the 2022 sexual assault and stabbing of an elderly woman who was jogging with her dog on a trail.

    Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman announced Jan. 30 that Reginald Hall pleaded guilty during his trial this week to criminal sexual penetration resulting in great bodily harm, criminal sexual penetration with a deadly weapon, three counts of aggravated battery, and cruelty to animals.

    According to KRQE-TV, a judge sentenced Hall to 49 years in prison with 19 years suspended.

    On Aug. 19, 2022, at around 7:30 a.m., Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the area near 2nd Street and Woodward Road Southwest on the Bosque trail to a report of a stabbing. The reporting party reportedly saw a man, later identified as Hall, who was 19 at the time, pulling a 70-year-old woman into a canal. The witness confronted Hall, snapping photos of him, and then the suspect fled the scene on a scooter.

    According to the sheriff’s office, bystanders helped the woman get out of the canal and led first responders to her. Deputies and fire rescue personnel provided medical aid to the victim. She was eventually transported to a hospital to treat multiple stab wounds, as well as injuries from a sexual assault.

    Around the same time, deputies learned of a small fire near the scene after witnesses reportedly saw Hall igniting the flames. Investigators speculated the fire began shortly before Hall attacked the victim, and it grew to a “noticeable size” before the sheriff’s office received the report. Bernalillo County Fire and wild land fire units extinguished the flames quickly.

    A search for Hall ensued, and at around 5:30 p.m., Albuquerque Police found the suspect near the 1700 block of 2nd Street Southwest, and they took him into custody following a foot pursuit. According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect had a knife and other items of evidence in his possession.

    Investigators interviewed Hall, and he reportedly said he started the fire “because he was cold.”

    Before his sentencing, KRQE reports the victim addressed Hall, stating, “I am 71 years old now, and I have been through a lot in my life.”

    The woman continued, “I don’t know you, I never knew you, but I feel really badly for you. I hope that someday you will be guided to make different choices in your life so that you can find peace.”

    Hall must serve at least 85% of his sentence, KRQE reports. Following his release, Hall will have to register as a sex offender and serve five to 20 years of probation.

    MORE:

    • News Release – Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office
    • Bosque Trail Stabbing Offender Arrested, 8/20/2022 – Bernalilo County Sheriff’s Office
    • Man sentenced for stabbing, raping woman along the Bosque – KRQE

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • Pa. mother accused of abandoning 15-year-old son to move in with boyfriend out of state

    LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (TCD) — Officials recently arrested a 45-year-old woman on suspicion of leaving her 15-year-old son alone in a “cluttered” house for a month without adequate heat.

    According to a news release from the Manheim Township Police Department, on Jan. 12, officers responded to the 900 block of North President Avenue to a report of a juvenile living alone. The teen told police that his mother, Tiffani Bogroff, moved to New Jersey and would occasionally come home.

    The woman allegedly left to be with her boyfriend, LancasterOnline reports.

    Police said the minor never knew when Bogroff would return to Pennsylvania, and they only spoke through the Facebook Messenger application. Bogroff allegedly sent the victim money on CashApp for food.

    The victim cared for two dogs and a cat in the home, according to police. Additionally, officers said the home didn’t have proper heat except for a space heater in their room, and there was no running water or gas.

    Police noted the house was filled with trash and spoiled food.

    The minor reportedly attended school sometimes, but he said it was hard to wake up in the morning by himself.

    According to police, a relative occasionally brought the victim to the grocery store and to their home to shower and do laundry. The teen’s grandmother and father allegedly live in the same county as he does, LancasterOnline reports.

    Officers obtained a warrant for Bogroff’s arrest on one count of endangering the welfare of children. Pennsville Township Police in New Jersey located and apprehended Bogroff on Saturday, Jan. 27. She is being held in the Salem County Correctional Facility and is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania.

    MORE:

    • News Release – Manheim Township Police Department
    • Woman charged after police found 15-year-old son living alone in Manheim Township: police [update] – LancasterOnline

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • Man whose skull was found by cats in 2000 is positively identified

    ORLANDO, Fla. (TCD) — Using genetic genealogy technology, investigators recently identified a homicide victim whose skull was found near an apartment complex nearly 24 years ago.

    According to Detective Scott Lowen with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, on June 21, 2000, deputies responded to the Calibre Bend Apartments after a resident saw two cats playing with a human skull. Anthropologists suspected the person had been dead since around 1992 or 1993.

    Lowen said officials found a hole in the skull, suggesting the victim had been shot.

    During a search of the area, detectives located additional skeletal remains and clothing that were partially buried in a vacant lot nearby, according to a news release from Othram Labs.

    Despite their efforts at the time, investigators were unable to identify the victim, and he became a John Doe. Officials entered details about the investigation into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, and the case went cold.

    The sheriff’s office submitted forensic evidence to Othram Labs in August 2022, and they extracted DNA from the remains. Othram used forensic-grade genome sequencing to create a DNA profile and developed investigative leads. They sent their findings to the sheriff’s office.

    According to Lowen, investigators identified the victim as Paul “Larry” Rougeux Jr. They determined he was approximately 40 years old when he died.

    The sheriff’s office has not named a suspect in the case.

    MORE:

    • Orange County Sheriff’s Office Teams with Othram to Identify 2000 Homicide Victim – Othram Labs
    • Larry Rougeux cold case – Orange County Sheriff’s Office

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source

  • U.S. Pays Record $20 Billion to Welcome Illegal Aliens with “Refugee and Entrant Assistance”

    Among the many burdens that skyrocketing illegal immigration forces upon American taxpayers is the exorbitant cost of rolling out the welcome mat to accommodate, transport and provide migrants with a multitude of services upon their arrival in the United States. In the past two fiscal years the Biden administration has spent an astonishing $20 billion, according to government figures included in a report published by a nonprofit that investigates federal spending. A Health and Human Services (HHS) division known as Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) does most of the spending, which is considered “refugee and entrant assistance.” In 2022 the agency dedicated $8.925 billion to the cause and in 2023 the cost soared to $10.928 billion.

    Services provided to illegal immigrants include transitional and medical care, refugee support, programs for survivors of torture, emergency supplemental assistance and millions of dollars for minors, which are classified as Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC). Underaged migrants also receive costly extended services such as housing, schooling, recreational activities, legal help, and even long-term foster care for those who cannot be placed with family. The Biden administration’s disastrous open border policies will only increase the cost of providing all these rewards to illegal aliens. In 2023 the U.S. Border Patrol encountered a record-breaking 2.5 million migrants, and early figures indicate this year will be worse. “There seems to be no end in sight, or meaningful plan from the Biden administration to stop or slow the number of people coming over the border,” says the founder of the Hinsdale, Illinois group, OpenTheBooks, that issued the report. “Meanwhile, federal funds flowing to migrants are growing at an exponential rate.”

    The nonprofit points out that its auditors looked at just one federal office—ORR—to get an idea of how much spending is going towards accommodating, transporting, and providing migrants with various other services. The report focuses primarily on just a few major grant programs, which means that “the universe of taxpayer spending is so much larger, especially when including state and local funds as well,” OpenTheBooks logically concludes. One of the programs examined covers a wide variety of services such as helping migrants save for asset purchases like a car or house and credit building through business and personal loans. Recipients include asylees, refugees, survivors of torture, trafficking victims, special immigrant visa holders, Cubans, and Haitians.

    Another taxpayer-funded program for migrants offers intensive case management to help “extremely vulnerable individuals” overcome barriers. Under the plan they receive emergency housing support, medical screening, work authorization applications, school enrollment, cultural orientation, legal assistance, mental health services and other costly benefits. Incredibly, the federal agency wants more money from Congress to expand services to a broader range of applicants despite record spending. This includes the same Medicaid and foster care services that American children get for illegal immigrant minors, legal assistance to Ukrainian and Afghan children to ensure permanent residency, cash assistance to full-time college or technical school students for refugees and removing the requirement that refugees obtain economic self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

    Adding to the problem, investigators found a potential conflict of interest between the leadership at ORR and the agency’s largest grant recipients. The report discloses that for decades ORR’s deputy assistant secretary for humanitarian services, Robin Dunn Marcos, was employed in executive positions by two nonprofits that received the largest grants for refugee and entrant assistance. Before joining ORR in 2022 Marcos spent more than two decades at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) where she eventually became Senior Director for Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration. She also spent four years at Church World Services. Both groups have been among the biggest recipients of refugee and entrant assistance grants over the years, the report reveals.

    Source

  • California man who beheaded his ex-girlfriend with samurai sword is sentenced

    SAN MATEO, Calif. (TCD) — A man who was found guilty last year of beheading his ex-girlfriend with a sword during a fight has been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison.

    San Mateo County records show Jose “Rafa” Landaeta was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 30, to 26 years to life in state prison for the murder of Karina Castro. He received a 25-year sentence for murder and an additional one year for a sentencing enhancement of use of a deadly weapon.

    Landaeta pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder charge, but a jury determined otherwise in November when they convicted him.

    On Sept. 8, 2022, a witness flagged down a San Mateo County deputy to report an assault in progress, and when they arrived, they found Castro deceased in the street.

    According to the Redwood City Pulse, Landaeta was upset with Castro because she allegedly made comments about him on social media and claiming he was a pedophile. Prosecutors said Landaeta attacked Castro with the samurai sword, which caused her “head to be almost severed.” His attorneys argued he killed her in self-defense because she attempted to stab him in the heart.

    Landaeta and Castro have one child together.

    At the sentencing hearing, Judge Lisa Novak said she would have sentenced Landaeta to a longer prison term, but it was the maximum allowed by California law.

    NBC Bay Area reports Novak told Landaeta during the sentencing, “This is by far the most difficult trial I’ve ever presided over because of the horror of the crime you committed in butchering Karina Castro.”

    She continued, “I have no discretion, so it is a sentence based on the verdict of the jury. What the community needs to understand is that this incredible act of violence is not related to untreated mental illness.”

    Landaeta’s attorney reportedly argued during the trial that he was on medication for paranoid schizophrenia, but he was not taking it at the time of the attack.

    Redwood City Pulse reports Novak told Landaeta, “It is an affront to those who have a mental illness that suggests that somehow your culpability should be limited because you have a mental illness. You are clever enough and manipulative enough to have utilized your mental illness to relieve yourself from the criminal liability. It was not successful.”

    San Mateo Assistant District Attorney Sean Gallagher said, “We think it is a horrifying crime that happened in the middle of the day, and we share the judge’s views that the sentence is woefully inadequate for the violence he perpetrated on the victim and the trauma her family has to live with merits more than somebody who deserves a chance for parole.”

    MORE:

    • The People of the State of California vs. Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta
    • Man convicted in San Carlos beheading murder is sentenced to 25 years – NBC Bay Area
    • San Carlos samurai sword slayer sentenced to 26 years to life – Redwood City Pulse
    • Calif. man convicted of beheading the mother of his child with samurai sword, 11/23/2023 – TCD
    • Man found guilty of first-degree murder in beheading case, 11/20/2023 – Redwood City Pulse

    TRUE CRIME DAILY: THE PODCAST covers high-profile and under-the-radar cases every week. Subscribe to our YouTube page and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our True Crime Daily newsletter.



    Source