Texas family says funeral home put wrong body in father’s casket, dressed him in father’s clothes
(Meredith) — A Texas family is heartbroken and outraged after they say a funeral home delivered the wrong body to their loved one’s memorial service.
Making matters worse, their relative’s chosen clothes were on the stranger’s body.
Cordova – a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather – was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in May. He spent his last two weeks at home with his family.
The day of the funeral for Nati Cordova, immediate family members gathered for a special but socially-distanced service.
The casket was late, but Cordova’s daughter Maria Vasquez said she didn’t mind its tardiness – until she opened it. The body of a man Vasquez had never seen before was lying in place of her father. He was wearing her father’s special Mexico soccer jersey that she had picked for her father to wear.
“You go up to the casket to just tell him ‘I love you’ before anybody comes in, and you’re touching the wrong person with your dad’s clothes… it’s not OK,” Vasquez told KPRC.
Cordova’s other daughter Susana Montelongo said the incident was traumatizing.
“It was just horrible, like, we are living in a nightmare movie, it was just very traumatic to us and to our family,” Montelongo told KPRC.
Eventually, the situation was resolved more than two hours later, with the family finally being able to say their goodbyes to Cordova.
“Instead of having good memories of a perfect funeral for our father because he deserved the best, we are having a nightmare,” Montelongo told KPRC.
The family says the funeral home refunded their money, but they plan on filing a lawsuit.
Photo Credit: dailymail.co.uk
Mom killed by ex-boyfriend during daughter’s online class, police say
INDIANTOWN, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man stormed into a house and fatally shot his ex-girlfriend as her 10-year-old daughter took an online class, with the girl’s teacher and other students hearing part of the commotion before the slaying, authorities said.
The school year’s first day of instruction had just begun when a Warfield Elementary School teacher heard some kind of domestic disturbance from the girl’s video chat Tuesday morning, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said during a news conference.
The teacher muted the girl’s audio but then saw the girl cover her ears before the screen went blank; investigators later said the computer had been struck by a bullet. Schools in Florida that have reopened are fully or partly doing online classes because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Donald Williams, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Maribel Rosado Morales, 32. Investigators said Williams shot the woman twice in the chest at her Indiantown home in front of her four children and their two cousins.
“There was some type of argument. He went in and confronted her with something to do with a video,” Snyder said. “He says she actually started to smile at him, and he became enraged and shot her.”
An arrest report shows that one of the victim’s sons tried to stab Williams with a kitchen knife after the shooting, but he fell during the attempt. The boy told detectives Williams pointed his gun at him, so he dropped the knife and raised his hands.
The children in the house were not injured.
Williams then fled on a bicycle and went to a nearby laundromat, officials said. He then boarded a commuter bus, but his erratic behavior prompted the driver to leave the bus and call 911, Snyder said. Williams was arrested shortly after that.
Martin County school officials said Wednesday the teacher and students who heard the commotion are meeting with counselors.
Besides the murder charge, Williams also faces two counts of aggravated assault, one count of burglary and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was being held without bond. Jail records didn’t list whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
Florida prison records show Williams served two years for burglary, being released in 2014.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Chicago driver hit pedestrian, circled back for fatal blow, police say
CHICAGO — A man was ordered held Wednesday for using an SUV to strike and kill a pedestrian and injure her daughter while they walked along a Chicago street.
During a bond hearing, Cook County prosecutors said they haven’t come up with the motive of Edgar Roman, 25, in using his vehicle to strike and kill Zoraleigh Ryan, 55, of Chandler, Arizona and injuring her 20-year-old daughter.
Prosecutors said Roman struck the two women as they crossed a street with his SUV before circling back and striking one of them again, killing Ryan. Roman is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, filing a false police report and leaving the scene of an accident.
It was not immediately known if Roman entered a plea. Roman’s lawyer told the Chicago Sun-Times that his client lived with his parents and worked at a restaurant and as a delivery driver. He was ordered held in lieu of $2 million.
Authorities say Roman was driving on the city’s near North Side late Monday when his vehicle struck Ryan. They said Roman got out of his vehicle and looked at the women on the ground before he climbed back in, made a U-turn and struck Ryan again, “dragging her several feet and causing her death.” The daughter was treated at a hospital and released.
The incident was caught on police cameras and surveillance video from nearby buildings, prosecutors said.
Police allege that Roman sped off and eluded a police officer who tried to pull him over when he spotted him driving erratically. Police alleged that Roman abandoned the SUV. He was later arrested when he showed up at a police station near his Chicago home to report the vehicle stolen.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/13/chicago-driver-struck-pedestrian-twice-killing-her-police-say/
Photo Credit: Chicago Police Deparatment
Man commits suicide in Brooklyn Sears parking lot
A man committed suicide in the parking lot of a Sears in Brooklyn, police said Wednesday.
The man, whose name and age were not yet confirmed by cops, was found by a passerby in the parking lot of the Flatbush store near Bedford Avenue and Beverley Road just before 9 a.m., cops said.
A gun was recovered at the scene, according to police.
According to police sources, a suicide note was also found on the man.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/12/nyc-man-commits-suicide-in-brooklyn-sears-parking-lot/
Photo Credit: Paul Martinka
Bodycam video shows Utah cops order dog to attack black man on his knees
Newly released police bodycam video shows cops in Salt Lake City order a police dog to maul a black man in his own backyard.
The disturbing footage, obtained by the Salt Lake City Tribune, shows Jeffery Ryans, 36, approached by police officers while he’s smoking in his yard before heading off to his job as a train engineer on April 24.
“Get on the ground! Get on the ground or you’re going to get bit,” one cop is heard yelling while the K9 can be heard barking.
A startled Ryans then gets on his knees and raises his hands — but the cop still releases the dog, Tuco, giving him the “hit” order to attack.
“I’m on the ground, I’m on the ground,” Ryans yells as the dog latches onto his leg. “Why are you biting me? I’m on the ground. Stop. Ow.”
“What the f–k,” he’s heard saying. “Why you guys doing this? Why? Why? What the f–k did I do?”
The canine officer is heard telling Tuco “good boy” while Ryans continues to scream.
The officers then handcuff Ryans while he is on the ground face down.
Police said they responded to the home because Ryans’ wife had filed a protective order in December, and court records show he was hit with a domestic violence charge around that time, although details were not available, the Tribune reported.
But Ryans is planning to file a lawsuit against the Salt Lake City Police Department, filing a “notice of claim” — the first step in suing.
“I felt like a chew toy,” he told the Tribune. “I didn’t know why this was happening to me. That’s what was going through my mind. Why?”
His lawyers claim Ryans suffered nerve and tendon damage from the attack, and contracted an infection that may still require his leg to be amputated.
They claim the officers, who are white, ordered the attack because Ryans is black.
“What’s the difference between the two of us that could make this happen to him but I couldn’t imagine happening to me?” his attorney, Gabriel White, who is white, told the newspaper. “No one’s ever shown up at my house.”
Police are conducting an internal affairs investigation into the incident.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/12/bodycam-video-shows-cops-order-dog-to-attack-black-man-on-his-knees/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
11-year-old Florida girl goes missing after taking out the trash
An 11-year-old girl disappeared in Miami, Florida, after she went to take out the trash and never returned, according to her family.
Jayla Jones was last seen Monday morning at her home, wearing a pink shirt and blue shorts, news station WPLG reported.
The girl told her mom she was going outside to take out the garbage, but didn’t come back, the outlet reported.
“Her grandma is crying, her mother is crying. We love her,” Jayla’s mother, Nakia Jones, told the outlet.
Her great-aunt, Doris Jones, said they don’t believe that Jayla left with anyone the family knows.
“She’s not with a family friend. She’s not with anyone we know of,” she told the outlet.
“Nobody should be sleeping, because if it was somebody else’s kid, they’d want everybody in the world to help them find them.”
Police have issued a missing child alert for the girl and have been searching the area for her, according to WPLG.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/11/florida-girl-11-goes-missing-after-taking-out-the-trash/
Photo Credit: Miami Police Department
Michigan man accused of sexually assaulting 96-year-old neighbor
A Michigan man allegedly climbed through a window to sexually assault a 96-year-old neighbor in her home, police said.
Dejon Dejor Lynn, 25, was arrested Saturday in an Aug. 4 attack at the Colonial Square Cooperative in Ann Arbor, a townhouse complex where both he and the elderly victim live, MLive.com reports.
Ann Arbor cops and the Michigan State Police crime lab processed evidence at the woman’s residence that led them to Lynn. Police then went to Lynn’s home one day after the attack to execute a search warrant, but he was not home.
Investigators were able to track him to a residence in Belleville, where he was taken into custody, MLive.com reports.
Lynn has been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree home invasion in the attack, the Detroit Free Press reports.
He remains held without bond at the Washtenaw County Jail.
The victim, known to other residents as a spry and friendly woman, is continuing to recover from the attack, neighbors told WDIV.
“It is amazing,” neighbor Gary Ball told the station. “I was just seeing her walk a day before by the office area and she is quite active.”
The woman is as mobile “as someone in their early 60s,” Ball said.
“You have to be sick, deranged or on drugs,” Ball said of the attack.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/12/michigan-man-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-96-year-old-neighbor/
Photo Credit: Ann Arbor Police Department
Tyra Banks sparks engagement rumors with massive ring
Tyra Banks sparked engagement rumors after the model was spotted sporting what appears to be a massive diamond ring on her left ring finger.
Banks, 46, was spotted wearing the new sparkler as she exited her theme park, ModelLand, with boyfriend Louis Bélanger-Martin in Santa Monica over the weekend.
Banks and Bélanger-Martin coordinated their incognito look in black joggers, dark sweatshirts, and face masks as they made their way down the street.
Page Six exclusively reported that Banks was dating the Canadian businessman in October 2019 after the couple was spotted having a romantic dinner together at Upper East Side hotspot Hutong.
“The two were definitely on a romantic date,” a source told us at the time, adding, “But [they] kept the PDA low-key.”
Since then, the couple has been spotted all over LA together, even spending time with Banks’ son, York, whom she shares with ex-boyfriend Erik Asla.
The pair have moved in together, we reported in November 2019, and earlier this year an insider told Page Six Banks and Bélanger-Martin are “very, very much in love.”
Meanwhile, Bélanger-Martin shares a young son with his ex Valérie Martin Scraire.
A spokesperson for Banks told Page Six last year, “[Scraire and Bélanger-Martin] are divorced, they have an amicable relationship and [are] harmoniously co-parenting their child.”
Banks had to postpone the opening of ModelLand over coronavirus concerns, however, big things are clearly on the way for her.
Banks’ rep did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Photo Credit: pagesix.com
National Media Silent After Black Man Executes 5-Year-Old White Boy In Front Of His House
Where is the national media outrage, the chants, the marches, the sympathy after a 5-year-old white child was shot and killed by a black man for no apparent reason?
These are among the questions we are asking after 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant was shot and killed as he was playing on his bike outside of his house on Sunday, WTVD reported.
The suspect, who has been apprehended after a manhunt, Darius Nathaniel Sessoms, 25, who is facing a first-degree murder charge.
“Really everybody just wants answers as to why this was done. There will be justice,” his uncle, Allan Wooten, said to WSPA.
The family of the victim says they have known the man for a long time as they have lived near each other.
“We used to play together and I never thought he’d kill someone. A mother now has to lay her son to rest at 5 years old which she should never have to do. He’ll never be forgotten,” Hinnant’s mother’s cousin, Rachel Pipkin, said.
Carlton Stevens, the mayor of Wilson, came to pay his respects to the family and said he was shaken by the tragedy.
“I have a child that’s 5-years-old. My heart broke right then. I went home right then and I took my baby and just hugged her,” he said.
Photo Credit: thefederalistpapers.org
Family sues LAPD officer accused of fondling dead woman’s breasts
A 27-year-old Los Angeles police officer accused of fondling a dead woman was sued Tuesday by her family, court documents show.
The lawsuit accuses Officer David Rojas of fondling 34-year-old Elizabeth Baggett’s breasts and “feeling her nipples, without limitation,” as well as showing the body camera video of it to others. The lawsuit alleges invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, mishandling of human remains and other offenses.
Baggett’s family filed the lawsuit against the city, Rojas and defendants Does 1-20 in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking unspecified damages in a jury trial.
“I just want justice for my daughter because of this horrible disgusting act,” Baggett’s mother, Janet Bagget said. “I live in fear that the video will surface and another devastation will be added to what is already unbearable.”
The family’s attorney, Gloria Allred, read a statement from Baggett’s 15-year-old son during a news conference Tuesday announcing the lawsuit.
“My trust in the police to do the right thing has been violated by this disgraceful act that was my mother,” the statement said.
Rojas, who has been on the force for four years, remains employed by the Los Angeles Police Department. But he has been suspended, LAPD spokesman Officer Mike Chan said. The department did not have a comment on the lawsuit, which does not name the agency as a defendant.
Rojas, 27, allegedly touched Baggett’s breast while he was alone in the room with the corpse on Oct. 20. He and his partner had responded to the downtown Los Angeles home where she died.
Rojas had allegedly disabled his LAPD body camera, but the act was caught on video when he turned it back on because the devices have two-minute buffering periods to capture what happens right before they are activated, according to a person briefed on the incident who previously spoke to The Associated Press. The person wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the case and previously spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Rojas was charged in January with having sexual contact with human remains without authority. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to three years in state prison if convicted. He is out on bond and scheduled to return to court Sept. 15, online records show.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, has declined to pay for Rojas’ legal bills. The officer’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
via: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/family-sues-lapd-officer-accused-of-fondling-dead-womans-breasts/
Photo Credit: buzzfeednews.com