Tag: homicide

Former Pentagon official murdered, tossed into trash

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I wonder if he had any political enemies?

Delaware authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the recent discovery of the body of a former Pentagon official in a landfill…

The Delaware medical examiner’s office has ruled the death of 66-year-old John P. Wheeler a homicide.

Wheeler was discovered at Wilmington’s Cherry Island Landfill on December 31.

Wheeler, who lived in New Castle, worked under three Republican presidents — Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He served as a special assistant to the Air Force secretary from 2005 to 2008.

Among other things, he also served as head of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and was the first chairman of Mothers Against Drunk Driving…

“We are asking for the public’s assistance” in the case, Newark police spokesman Lt. Mark Farrall told CNN. “We don’t know where the crime scene occurred. The body was dumped within our jurisdiction.” Newark is about 12 miles southwest of Wilmington.

Farrall noted that Wheeler’s body was seen jutting out of a garbage truck at the landfill by a spotter whose job it is to ensure that hazardous material is not dumped there.

Police believe Wheeler’s body was most likely picked up by the truck at one of the first of ten specially designated dumpster pick-up spots before heading to the landfill.

What Wheeler “cared about was civic values and civic virtue,” wrote James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic.

“He was a complicated man of very intense (and sometimes changeable) friendships, passions, and causes. … I feel terrible for his family and hope they will eventually find comfort in knowing how many important things he achieved.”

I have no idea where this tale is going. But, this may turn out to be a relevant placeholder.

Good thing the local landfill had someone looking for hazardous waste. They seem like really handy places to dispose of a body – or other evidence of crime.

CSI sleuths target 16th-century Italian murder

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As seen on TV

Police in Sicily have called in an international team of forensic scientists and criminologists to help solve the case of a murdered Baroness, 447 years after the crime.

The investigation in Carini — a small town near Palermo — centers on the castle where Baroness Laura Lanza was killed in 1563 with her lover Ludovico Vernagallo when they were caught in bed together…

The Baroness’s father Cesare confessed to the honor killing in a letter to the king, which is currently archived in the Chiesa Madre church in Carini.

“Legend has it, however, that Cesare Lanza did not act alone, but was helped by his son-in-law, Don Vincenzo La Grua,” said the Mayor…

“The idea for the investigation began as a joke,” Marco Strano told Reuters. “I visited Carini in June and when I met La Fata I teased him for not having resolved the murder yet, so he challenged me to solve it.”

And the tourism biz can always use a boost.

LA coroner rules on Michael Jackson’s death – Homicide!

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Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Michael Jackson’s death has been ruled a homicide.

Eight weeks after the King of Pop was found unconscious, a search warrant of his doctor’s office revealed Monday what had long been suspected – that Jackson was given “lethal levels” of a dangerous anesthetic.

Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, the target of a manslaughter probe, told Los Angeles cops that he had been treating the singer for insomnia for about six weeks, according to the document…

On the morning Jackson died, Murray told cops he tried again to get the singer to sleep without using propofol, the records state.
Murray said on that fateful night he first gave Jackson valium at 1:30 a.m. When that didn’t work, the doctor said he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2 a.m.

An hour later, Jackson was still awake so Murray said he gave him midazolam. Still, Jackson could not sleep.

Finally, at 10:40 a.m., and after Jackson insisted on the propofol, Murray said he caved and gave into the singer’s demands.

And Jackson was doomed.

I wonder if there will be a trial verdict, say, before the next presidential election?

Guilty of Homicide! Prayer is no substitute for medical care

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Murdered!
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care has been found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.

Dale Neumann was convicted in the March 23, 2003, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn’t walk, talk, eat or speak. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family’s rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing.

Neumann’s 41-year-old wife, Leilani, was convicted on the same charge in the spring and is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 6. Both face up to 25 years in prison.

Their case is believed to be the first in Wisconsin involving faith healing in which someone died and another person was charged with a homicide…

Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified Thursday that he believed God would heal his daughter and he never expected her to die. God promises in the Bible to heal, he said. ..

Doctors testified that Madeline would have had a good chance of survival if she received medical care, including insulin and fluids, before she stopped breathing. They said the 911 call came too late.

We get all the usual crapola after the fact. Oh, the father is distraught over what happened. Oh, the father and mother were only going by what their religion taught them.

Guess what? We all live in a nation with a code of laws. No matter where you live, you find out what the laws are before you do something you know damned well is critical.

Ignorance is a terrible excuse for killing your child.

UPDATED: 8-year-old boy charged in double homicide

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It’s a crime that police officers in a small eastern Arizona community can hardly fathom yet have to deal with: an 8-year-old charged in the fatal shootings of his father and another man.

“Who would think an 8-year-old kid could kill two adults?” said St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick.

The crime that unfolded Wednesday evening sent shock waves through St. Johns, a community of about 4,000 people northeast of Phoenix. The boy had no disciplinary record at school, and there was no indication he had any problems at home, prosecutors said.

“It was such a tragedy,” said the boy’s defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer. “You have two people dead; you have an 8-year-old in jail. It tugs at the heart strings. It’s a shocker, no doubt about it.”

On Friday, a judge determined there was probable cause to show that the boy fatally shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos with a .22-caliber rifle. The boy faces two counts of premeditated murder.

Melnick said officers arrived at Romero’s home within minutes of the shooting Wednesday. They found one victim just outside the front door and the other dead in an upstairs room…

The boy went to a neighbor’s house and said he “believed that his father was dead,” said Apache County attorney Brad Carlyon. Police later obtained a confession from the boy, Melnick said.

Brewer said police overreached in questioning the boy without representation from a parent or attorney and did not advise him of his rights.

“They became very accusing early on in the interview,” Brewer said. “Two officers with guns at their side, it’s very scary for anybody, for sure an 8-year-old kid.”

A judge has ordered a psychological evaluation of the child, who was being held at the Apache County juvenile detention center.

Prosecutors aren’t sure where the case is headed, Carlyon said.

A lot more information in this updated story. I still wonder what details will come out about this?