Colorado mom who tossed her newborn over a fence and left her to die convicted of murder “I just had to get rid of it.”
(CNN) — A Colorado mother who smothered her unnamed newborn daughter and then flung her over a fence into a neighbor’s backyard was convicted of murder on Tuesday.
The disturbing case dates to the early morning of January 2, 2018, when Camille Wasinger-Konrad, 25, gave birth in her bedroom to a baby girl, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said she covered the baby’s mouth and nose to stop her from crying and keep her from waking anyone. She then carried the baby to the back deck and threw her into a neighbor’s backyard, the office said. The neighbor found the dead newborn at 9:48 p.m. that night and called police.
When police came to investigate, Wasinger-Konrad said that she woke up that morning with bad stomach cramps, and “the baby just came out,” according to CNN affiliate KDVR.
“I just got rid of it,” she said in an interview recorded on a deputy’s body camera, KDVR reported.
A jury found Wasinger-Konrad guilty of first-degree murder of a child by a person in a position of trust, first-degree murder after deliberation, and tampering with physical evidence, the district attorney’s office said.
“This tiny baby was smothered by her mother, flung over a neighbor’s fence and left to die by the only human she had ever known,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Gallo said in closing arguments. “This defendant hurled her newborn 11 feet over an 8-foot fence, knowingly consigning her to her death. This little girl died in the cold without the dignity of even a name.”
Deputy District Attorney Valerie Brewster told the jury that the newborn was left there for a total of 948 minutes.
Sentencing is set for November
“This defendant went about her day, knowing her unnamed daughter was there, helpless. She thought and made that choice,” Brewster said, according to the district attorney’s office.
District Attorney George Brauchler said in a statement that the case was “disgusting.”
“Of all the many emotions of the magical first moments of a baby’s life, of all the many tender moments a mother shared in that first embrace with a completely helpless and fragile life, smothering a newborn and pitching its body over a fence in the cold of January is impossible to understand,” Brauchler said.
Wasinger-Konrad was represented in court by two attorneys from the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office. The office did not respond to an email and a call requesting comment.
She faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, and the sentencing is set for November 15.
Photo Credit: Douglas County Sheriff
2-Year-Old Girl Dies After Store Display Falls on Her at Chicago-Area Mall
A 2-year-old girl is dead after part of a store display fell and hit her on the head in Orland Square Mall in Orland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday.
Police said Alexa Martinez was with her grandmother, aunt and four other children in an Akira store when the incident occurred. Witnesses said the child was climbing on a temporary wall in the shoe department when it came down on top of her.
A doctor and a nurse rushed to help the child and performed CPR. The toddler began breathing and regained a pulse by the time first responders got there, but she died from her injuries after she was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to police.
“People pulled the partitions off of the child and a doctor and nurse came over right after,” Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy said in a news conference. “Everything that could have been done was done under the circumstances.”
Several people called 911 to report the accident.
“We’re getting numerous calls about a large metal object falling on a baby at Akira in the mall,” one dispatcher said in a call.
Eric Hsueh, one of the three co-owners of Akira, said in a statement to CNN affiliate WLS-TV that the company is “devastated by this tragic event. We are working to collect all the details.”
The clothing portion of the store is open, but the shoe department is closed until a building inspection can be completed, police said.
The investigation is ongoing and police are waiting on the medical examiner’s report for a final cause of death.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Man allegedly beat mom to death, tells neighbor he had to ‘put down’ mother
KANSAS CITY, MO (KSHB) — An Independence man faces a first-degree murder charge after he allegedly told a neighbor he had to “put down” his mom.
Independence police responded Monday the 9500 block of East 14th Street, where they found a woman — later identified as Tamera Rainey — dead inside a house.
Jackson County prosecutors charged Lucas Mauritzen, 38, with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
In an interview with detectives, Maurizen admitted to beating Rainey, who has been identified as his mother, for several hours.
Police described the scene inside the house as covered in blood in every room from floor to ceiling.
Mauritzen is a registered sex offender dating back to statutory rape offense in 2006.
Prosecutors have requested a $350,000 bond.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Man accused of putting fatal dose of heroin in his wife’s cereal
A Michigan man has been arrested and charged with trying to hire someone to kill his wife and then fatally poisoning her cereal with heroin in 2014, authorities said.
Jason T. Harris, 44, was arrested Tuesday and is being charged with three felonies, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton announced at a news conference filmed by CNN affiliate WJRT. Leyton said the charges include premeditated first-degree murder and solicitation of murder, both of which can result in a life sentence, and delivery of a controlled substance causing death.
“We believe Jason Harris murdered his wife,” Leyton said. “We believe he put heroin into her cereal and milk the night she died after getting it from someone. …”
Jason Harris’s attorney, Nicholas Robinson, told CNN that his client has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is in custody at the Genesee County Jail.
Robinson said Jason Harris has been cooperating with state police and has been mourning his wife since she died.
“We were very surprised and frankly saddened to learn the original determination of accidental overdose has been overturned and that has led to these charges,” Robinson said. He declined to respond further to the prosecutor’s allegations.
Authorities originally ruled the death of Christina Ann-Thompson Harris was an accidental homicide, Leyton said, but the medical examiner amended the ruling to homicide after a deeper investigation.
At the news conference, Leyton said police were dispatched to a home in Davison, Michigan, on September 29, 2014, where Christina Harris was found dead.
According to Leyton, a neighbor told police that Jason Harris said Christina had been “fighting a cold” and had been treated for asthma, according to Leyton. He said police learned he had fed Christina cereal and milk the night before her death.
Leyton said Jason Harris’s brother and sister went to police a few days later and told them Jason had “made comments in the past about, quote, getting rid of Christina Harris.” He said they also felt Jason Harris was seeing other women prior to his wife’s death.
During the investigation, according to Leyton, some former coworkers of Jason’s told police that Jason Harris asked them what kinds of pills are tasteless and odorless, and that he offered one of them $5,000 to kill his wife. The co-workers said Jason Harris told them he did pay a man $5,000 to kill his wife, but the man was arrested for a parole violation before he could do it, Leyton said.
Leyton said Jason Harris was fired from his job for a “pattern of positive drug testing” and collected a total of $120,000 in life insurance money for his wife’s death.
Christina Harris, Leyton said, had recently been promoted to manager of Genesee County’s busiest Subway restaurant, where said she was a mentor and friend to her coworkers. She had given birth in May to her second child with her husband and was an “incredibly loving mother,” according to Leyton.
He said Christina never tested positive for any drugs at doctors’ visits during her pregnancy. Leyton said investigators were able to obtain samples of breast milk that Christina had frozen prior to her death, and found no controlled substances.
Jason’s next court appearance is scheduled for September 5.
John Potbury, deputy chief assistant prosecutor, said the Harris children went into the care of Child Protective Services within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/28/man-accused-of-putting-fatal-dose-of-heroin-in-his-wifes-cereal/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Teacher fights to get job back after being videotaped mowing yard naked
PORT ORANGE, Fla. – A Florida teacher who was caught on camera mowing his lawn while nude is fighting to get his job back, according toWESH.
The teacher was demoted to a non-teaching position after he was recorded, but the teachers’ union says the punishment does not fit the crime, Volusia United Educators President Elizabeth Albert said.
Albert said that when longtime teacher Brian Wheeler mowed the yard naked at his Port Orange home in 2017, he made a very poor decision.
A neighbor recorded Wheeler and filed a police complaint.
According to documents obtained by WESH, Wheeler believes the neighbor has issues with him.
Wheeler was charged with exposure of sexual organs and disorderly conduct. The exposure charge was dropped and the disorderly conduct dismissed in a deferred prosecution agreement. Wheeler was not convicted of a crime.
“This is a man who has over two decades of history teaching children in our community and successfully teaching them,” Albert said.
Wheeler was working at Cypress Elementary in Port Orange when he was removed. He was a tenured teacher with an unblemished record.
According to documents WESH obtained, many parents and colleagues supported him, however, a handful of families of young children did not.
School district officials, who gave Wheeler a written reprimand along with a demotion out of the classroom, refused to reconsider.
In addition to Volusia County, the Florida Department of Education investigated and just this past May found probable cause in Brian Wheeler’s case to pursue disciplinary action. The complaint will be heard in October.
However, Albert said a settlement has been reached in Wheeler’s case and the October hearing is just a rubber stamp.
According to Albert and the paperwork she showed us, Wheeler will be fined but will retain his teaching credential.
Allowing Wheeler to keep his credential would “infer that officials feel that he is still of the caliber that is able to work with our kids and teach,” Albert said.
Albert said that since the school district has so far refused that, the union will arbitrate on his behalf.
Wheeler never lost his teaching certificate, so he’s had the option to teach elsewhere in Florida, but union representatives say he’s committed to Volusia County.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
13-year-old boy gets 78 stitches after being slashed by 11-year-old boy in Brooklyn
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, Brooklyn — A 13-year-old boy was slashed in the face by an 11-year-old boy in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning, an NYPD spokesman said.
They had a dispute of some kind on MacDonough Street near Marcy Avenue around 7:30 a.m., officials said. The victim was slashed in the left side of the face.
He ran into MS 258 around the corner for help, police said.
The teen got 78 stitches at Maimonides Medical Center. He’s since been released.
Police took the 11-year-old boy into custody. Charges have not yet been filed. His name will not be released because he’s a juvenile.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
TSA bans Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge ‘thermal detonator’ Coke bottles
- TSA will not permit the stylized Coke bottles from Galaxy’s Edge on flights.
- The souvenir has been banned because its looks like a replica explosive.
- Travelers who visit the planet of Batuu are permitted to bring hand-built lightsabers and astromech droids sold at the Black Spire Outpost in carry-on and checked bags.
As Disney prepares to open its Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge park in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday, TSA is cracking down on one of its most collectible items — its $5 Coke bottles.
There are more than 1,000 unique items that parkgoers can purchase at Galaxy’s Edge, and one of the most popular (and cheapest) is the bottles of Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite that have been stylized to fit in the world of Batuu. The sodas are reminiscent of thermal detonators from the Star Wars films and feature the name of each brand in Aurebesh, the fictional language of Star Wars.
Fans became enamored with these plastic bottles even before the California iteration of Galaxy’s Edge opened in May. Many have collected the bottles and brought them home from the park to display on shelves or, in some cases, turn into Christmas tree ornaments.
However, the Transportation Security Administration has banned the souvenir from flights because it looks like an explosive.
A reply Tweet from a TSA-verified Twitter account posted in early August was first spotted by The Orange County (Calif.) Register.
Fans were quick to ask if removing the cap from the bottle and transporting them separately would allow them to bring the bottles on flights or stow in their luggage. However, the TSA was quick to squash that loophole.
“Even with a normal bottle cap, this item is still considered a replica and is not allowed in carry-on or checked bags,” a tweet from the account said Tuesday. “If our officers discover a replica item during screening and believes it’s real, the item will be treated as such until advised otherwise by law enforcement.”
Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Travelers who visit the planet of Batuu are permitted to board flights with hand-built lightsabers and astromech droids sold at the Black Spire Outpost.
The TSA’s “What Can I Bring” guide even has a sense of humor about it, saying: “Sadly the technology doesn’t currently exist to create a real lightsaber. However, you can pack a toy lightsaber in your carry-on or checked bag. May the force be with you.”
Looks like fans will have to get creative if they want to take home the unique Coke bottles. Or hit up a local post office in Orlando or Anaheim, California, before heading home.
Article via CNBC
Champagne cork splits reality star’s eye in half
LONDON — British reality TV star Theo Campbell had his eye split in two after an accident involving a champagne cork.
Campbell, known for “Love Island” and the upcoming season of “The Challenge,” said on Instagram that he had to have two eye surgeries and seven stitches after getting hit by a champagne cork.
Article via Fox5
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Kim Kardashian Copies Beyonce Again
Kim Kardashian is arguably one of the most famous women in the world. When Keeping Up With the Kardashians first premiered back in 2007, Kardashian was pretty much the only relevant sister. She set the stage for the rest of her family to become famous, and a dozen years later, it seems the Kardashians are everywhere. But some think she’s taking on a new image that greatly resembles Beyoncé’s — and to fans, Kardashian’s recent Vogue Arabia cover only proves it.
Kardashian has taken a step back from modeling
When Kardashian first rose to fame, she was frequently modeling for various high-end brands. It helped her make millions of dollars before any of her siblings caught up. But in recent years, she’s taken a step back from modeling to focus on other parts of her career. She recently launched KKW Beauty, a makeup line that originally focused on contour kits. She married Kanye West in 2014, and the two have four kids together, all of whom have become another major priority for Kardashian. Her recent Vogue Arabia cover finally allowed her to step back into modeling for a bit.
Fans have accused her of copying Beyoncé’s style
Kardashian’s look has changed a lot through the years; her hair and makeup is different now than it was back in the late 2000s, and her style is much more polished. But not everyone has seen Kardashian’s style change as a positive; some think she’s started copying the looks of music icon Beyoncé. Kardashian’s recent Instagram photos have shown her face with a new makeup style — one that makes her look far different from how she once did. One Twitter user posted a side-by-side comparison of one of Kardashian’s recent selfies and one of Beyoncé’s selfies, and even we have to admit that the resemblance is uncanny.
People once again saw Beyoncé vibes in Kardashian’s recent Vogue Arabia cover
Kardashian recently published photos to social media of her photoshoot with Vogue Arabia, and though plenty of fans were thrilled to see her modeling and loved the photos, there were still quite a few comments suggesting Kardashian was doing her best to once again look like Beyoncé. “I love you as you can’t imagine, but I think this is a 100% copy paste of Beyoncé style (very formation)!!!,” one user commented. Others weren’t as nice with their accusations. “Beyoncé inspired… She’s obsessed,” another user wrote. “This is [the] style of Beyoncé,” someone else commented.
Some have said she looks completely unrecognizable
Recently, Kardashian appears to have dramatically changed the look of her face, despite always denying any plastic surgery. She has said in the past that she’s had fillers in her face as well as Botox, but she has remained adamant that she hasn’t had any reconstructive surgery done. However, fans have said that she doesn’t even look recognizable in recent photos compared to how she once did. The Kardashian-Jenners have never been shy about using Botox and fillers to enhance their looks, though some think in Kim Kardashian’s case, there was more done than she’s admitting.
Article via CheatSheet