Missouri Woman Indicted in MySpace Cyber-Bullying Case That Ended in Teen’s Suicide

Thursday, May 15, 2008  

Such s sad and senseless tragedy my heart goes out to Megan’s family and friends.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted a Missouri woman Thursday for her alleged role in a MySpace hoax on a teen neighbor who committed suicide after being spurned by the “boy” in the fake profile.

Lori Drew, of Dardenne Prairie near St. Louis, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress on the girl.

Drew allegedly helped create a false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named “Josh Evans.”

Megan, 13, hanged herself at home in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Drew’s attorney, Jim Briscoe, did not return FOXNews.com’s requests for comment about the indictment.

Click here to read the indictment.

Drew has denied creating the account and sending messages to Megan.

U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien said the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used before to address Internet hacking, but this was the first time it has been used in a social-networking situation.  [For full Article]

Boyfriend of Woman Who Died Falling Off Cruise Ship Back in the U.S.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Source of Article is Fox News

Boyfriend returns after 5 days

Boyfriend of Mindy Jordan who died falling off the cruise ship has returned to New Jersey

Five days after Mindy Jordan fell from the cruise ship her boyfriend, Jorge Caputo is back in New Jersey.

At this time the FBI continue to investigate to rule out foul play although at this point they do not suspect foul play.

“Our objective is first to rule out whether or not there was a crime here,

To read the rest of article [ CLICK HERE ]

Surveillance Footage Reportedly Shows Cruise Passenger Falling Overboard

Wednesday, May 14, 2008   

         Accident, Suicide or Homocide????…Flagranny2

          Mindy Jordan and Jorge Caputo

A missing New Jersey woman thought to have fallen overboard Sunday from a Norwegian Cruise Line ship was caught by ship surveillance cameras alone in her room when the incident happened, the cruise line said in a statement released Wednesday.

The footage reportedly shows Mindy Jordan, a 46-year-old nurse, falling from her balcony two hours after boarding the ship in New York with her boyfriend, Jorge Caputo.

 The cruise line said Jordan and Caputo had dined that evening with friends before returing to their rooms at about 7:30 p.m. Minutes later, Caputo left Jordan alone to visit with the friends next door, the company said.

Surveillance footage from the exterior of the ship shows Jordan falling overboard into the water about 15 minutes later, according to Norwegian Cruise Line, and an emergency call was made from the friends’ room.

The cruise line said the initial indication was that Jordan fell as she tried to reach from one balcony to another on a windy night. The Coast Guard had given up its search Tuesday for her in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast.

Jordan’s family fears, though, that her fall was not only tragic but also criminal, and the FBI is investigating.

To continue reading this article and related ones [CLICK HERE]

‘D.C. Madam’ Debra Palfrey Commits Suicide in Apparent Hanging according to Florida Police

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Thanks to Fox News for this article….flagranny2

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the 52-year-old woman known as the “D.C. Madam,” committed suicide Thursday morning at her mother’s home in a trailer park in the Tampa area, Tarpon Springs Police told FOXNews.com.

• Click here for photos.

“It was her, and she’s deceased,” said Frank Ruggiero, a public information officer with the Tarpon Springs Police Department. “There’s no question that it was a suicide.”

Palfrey apparently hanged herself with a nylon rope that she wrapped around a metal beam in a shed on the property, according to police.

Authorities said her 76-year-old mother, Blanche Palfrey, positively identified the dead woman as her daughter.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey was found guilty on April 15 by a D.C. jury on charges of racketeering and money laundering related to her operating a prostitution ring.

• ‘D.C. Madam’ Deborah Jeane Palfrey Found Guilty on All Counts

She had threatened to reveal the names of her clients — many believed to be high-profile political and business figures — if prosecutors went forward with their case.

Ruggiero said police arrived at the scene at 10:52 a.m. Thursday and Palfrey was pronounced dead a short while later.

She was reportedly staying at the mobile home of her mother Blanche, who awoke from a nap and searched the premises before noticing that a bicycle had been moved. She went to the shed to investigate and found her daughter hanging from a ceiling beam, according to police.

A man answering the phone at Blanche Palfrey’s residence who identified himself as a family spokesman said she wasn’t able to speak to the media.

“We have no comment at this time,” he told FOXNews.com. He declined to give his name.

A statement released earlier by Tarpon Springs Police said the victim was found in a small storage shed located on the west side of the mobile home.

“Handwritten notes were found on scene that describe the victim’s intention to take her life, and foul play does not appear to be involved,” said Capt. Jeffrey P. Young.

Pinellas County Medical Examiners will determine the official cause of death, and are working with the FBI on the case.

The medical examiner’s office said Thursday that it wasn’t releasing any information on the case.

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and former deputy secretary of state Randall L. Tobias both were tied by investigators to Palfrey’s high-end prostitution ring.

She had repeatedly denied the escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge.

Palfrey faced a maximum of 55 years in prison and was free pending her sentencing July 24.

Click here for more on this story from MyFOXTampa.com.

FOXNews.com’s Catherine Donaldson-Evans in New York and Sharon Liss in D.C. contributed to this report.

Austrian Man Confesses to Keeping Daughter, Her Children Captive in Cellar

Monday, April 28, 2008

AMSTETTEN, Austria —  A man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless cell with a soundproofed door and fathering seven children with her including three who “never saw sunlight,” police said Monday.

The man, now 73, also told investigators that he tossed the body of one of the children in an incinerator when the infant died shortly after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs.

“We are being confronted with an unfathomable crime,” Interior Minister Guenther Platter said.

The daughter, who is now 42, had been missing since 1984 and was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday evening after police received a tip. She and her children have been placed in psychiatric care.

Police on Monday released several photos showing parts of the cramped basement cell, with a small bathroom and a narrow passageway leading to a tiny bedroom. Investigators said an electronic keyless-entry system apparently kept the daughter from escaping from the cell, which was made of solid reinforced concrete.

• Click here to see photos of Josef F. and the “House of Horrors.”

For full story click [ HERE  ]

 

DA: Wisconsin Parents Who Prayed as Daughter Died to Face Murder Charges

Monday, April 28, 2008

Madeline — called Kara by her parents — died Easter Sunday at the family’s rural Weston home. An autopsy determined she died from undiagnosed diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body.

WESTON, Wis. —  Parents who prayed as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes will be charged with second-degree reckless homicide, the Marathon County district attorney said Monday.

“It is very surprising, shocking that she wasn’t allowed medical intervention,” District Attorney Jill Falstad said.

She announced the charges Monday during a news conference at the Everest Metro Police Department with Police Chief Dan Vergin. Vergin has said Dale and Leilani Neumann told investigators their daughter Madeline last saw a doctor when she was 3 to get some shots.

The couple face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

The couple and their lawyer did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

Falstad said the Neumanns have cooperated with investigators and are not under arrest. They have agreed to make an initial court appearance Wednesday, she said.

For the complete story click [ Here ]

Polygamist Sect’s Mothers, Young Children to Be Separated

Saturday, April 19, 2008

This article on foxnews.com was provided by The Associated Press

SAN ANGELO, Texas —  Adult mothers who have been allowed to stay with their young children since theywere taken from a polygamous sect will be separated from them after DNA sampling is completed next week, a child welfare official said Saturday.

State District Judge Barbara Walther late Friday ordered that parents and children of the Yearning For Zion Ranch submit DNA samples to help sort out family relationships that have confounded authorities since 416 children were taken into state custody two weeks ago.

Sampling is to begin Monday and will probably take several days to complete, said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for Child Protective Services. Results could take more than a month.

Once sampling is complete, the agency will begin moving the children from the San Angelo coliseum and fairgrounds to other sites.

Child welfare officials allowed adult mothers with children ages 4 and younger to stay together when the state took custody of the rest of the children from the ranch. Now, only mothers younger than 18 will be allowed to remain with their children once the sampling is complete. The welfare agency will also try to keep siblings together, he said.

For the full article and related ones click [ Here ]

Connecticut Driver Caught Speeding Blames an Oreo

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Police say a man’s excuse for speeding through a small Connecticut town takes the cake — or, at least, the cookie.

A state trooper who stopped the 1993 BMW says its driver, 28-year-old Justin Vonkummer of Millerton, N.Y., blamed the driving problems on an errant Oreo.

Police say Vonkummer told the trooper that an Oreo had just slipped from his fingers as he dunked it in a cup of milk, and that he was trying to fish it out when he lost control of his car.

The alleged incident occurred last fall in Salisbury, but came to light in Bantam Superior Court this week.

That’s when prosecutors learned Vonkummer had been charged with speeding and driving under a suspended license — not driving under the influence, as a clerk had mistakenly noted in the court records.

Vonkummer’s attorney would not comment. The case is pending

Police: Sandra Bullock’s SUV Hit by Drunk Driver

Saturday, April 19, 2008
FOX NEWS

Gloucester, Mass-Sandra Bullock was involved in an accident Friday night in which a drunk driver’s station wagon jumped lanes and hit the “Speed” actress’ car, police said. 

No one was injured in the crash in Gloucester, Mass., where Bullock, who is in the area shooting a movie, was being driven in a private car to her hotel around 11 p.m., MyFOXBoston.com reported. Her husband Jesse James, host of “Motorcycle Mania,” also was in the car.

The driver of the Subaru that hit Bullock’s vehicle, Lucille Gatchell, 64, had an alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, police said. She was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of liquor, and marked lanes violations, MyFOXBoston.com reported.

Click here to read more on this story from MyFOXBoston.com.

Breaking News >> Actor Charlton Heston Has Died, Family Members Say

Sunday, April 06, 2008
Associated Press

Charlton Heston Dead at 84

 

LOS ANGELES  —  Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing “Ben-Hur” and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the ’50s and ’60s, has died. He was 84.

Heston spokesman Bill Powers says the actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia was at his side.

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease, saying, “I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure.”

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past. “I have a face that belongs in another century,” he often remarked.

For Full Article [ continue ]

“I considered Heston one of my favorite actors especially in Ben Hur and Birdman of Alcatraz.   He was an actor who will be truly missed.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family…..flagranny2″