Girl found ‘brutally murdered’ at home after texting mother about someone knocking at door
A 12-year-old girl was “brutally murdered” in her house after texting her mother to tell her there was someone knocking at the door.
Yhoana Arteaga was found bludgeoned to death in her family’s mobile home with her clothing “in disarray”, police said.
Detectives believe the killer may have been known to the girl, who was on crutches after being injured roller-skating the previous day, but they have few leads.
There was no evidence of forced entry to the trailer in Nashville, Tennessee.
“This is a horrible, brutal thing. I’ve never seen anything this brutal in my entire career,” said Sergeant David Kautzman, of Nashville Police Department.
Yhoana was last seen by her mother at 12.30pm on August 10. She was left at home alone and sent a text at 5.30pm saying someone was at the door.
She was found dead when her mother returned home from work with two of her other children at 6.45pm.
The girl had suffered blunt force trauma to her body, police spokesman Don Aaron told a press conference. She had not been shot or stabbed.
Despite police appeals investigators said they have “very limited” information to follow up, reported news channel WKRN.
“She was brutally murdered, and if anyone has any information whatsoever that could help in this investigation, please contact us,” Mr Aaron said.
“We believe there are persons in this community who have knowledge of a person who may be responsible for this.
“Please, for the family’s sake, for the sake of this 12-year-old deceased girl, let us know.”
He said the absence of signs of forced entry “would seem to indicate she would know the person responsible”.
“We haven’t confirmed that yet, but it’s a good possibility,” the spokesman added.
Officers have been questioning neighbours about any suspicious activity in the area. A detective said police had some persons of interest but declined to elaborate.
Yhoana’s school, Liberty Collegiate Academy, paid tribute to the “treasured” seventh-grade pupil.
“Our hearts are broken as we mourn the loss,” the school said on Facebook.
“Our thoughts are with Yhoana’s family during this incredibly difficult time. Grief counsellors will be on site at Liberty next week to support teachers and students. We love you, Yhoana.”
via: https://www.yahoo.com/news/girl-found-apos-brutally-murdered-144049612.html
Son arrested after allegedly strangling mother in Orange CA, police say
A man was arrested Monday afternoon after he called 911 and said he had strangled his mother during a domestic dispute, authorities said.
The call was made at 2:45 p.m., prompting officers to respond to the 5800 block of Ridgemont Court, where they found the suspect’s mother dead, according to a news release from the Orange Police Department.
The son was taken into custody at the scene, the statement said. Police homicide detectives assumed the investigation.
The names and ages of the victim and suspect were not immediately released.
via: http://abc7.com/son-arrested-after-allegedly-strangling-mother-in-orange/2308131/
Houston TX Hours-old baby found covered in ants
Good Samaritans discovered a newborn baby in the bushes early Thursday at an apartment complex in northwest Harris County.
“Bro…that’s crazy. Somebody left their baby out here…you gotta call 911, bro,” John Baldwin said as he recorded the moments after the discovery:He was among two men walking to work around 5 a.m. at the complex off Red Oak Drive.
“It’s like they just left the baby out there like it was trash,” said Baldwin.
Another passerby first heard the baby’s muffled cries.
“I heard like a baby, like a cat cry, like, meow…”, said eyewitness Albert Peterson. He said he yelled for his wife to call 911 as he ran to find something to get the baby warm and clean.
He told Eyewitness News the newborn was covered in afterbirth and insects. “I saw ants and stuff all over. I picked her up, cleaned her off, put her in a sheet and took her in my house,” he said.
Authorities said the newborn was less than an hour old, full-term and healthy with the umbilical cord still attached. Investigators were able to track down the woman they believe to be the mother at a nearby apartment.
Detectives said if it were not for the Good Samaritans, the baby girl might not have survived.
“I just did my job. That’s what God wanted me to do,” said Baldwin.
The mother has been detained and is undergoing a psychological and medical evaluation. As things stand, no one has been arrested or charged, though the investigation is still underway.
Child Protective Services said they will try to place the infant with a relative or close family friend, at least temporarily. If none can be found, the baby could eventually be placed up for adoption.
Child Protective Services will hold a hearing on Friday to request temporary custody of the baby.
There is a Texas law that allows new parents, under certain conditions, to give up their child. The Safe Haven or Baby Moses law gives parents who are unable to care for their child the right to leave the child somewhere like a fire station or hospital without prosecution.
Anybody who would like to offer assistance should visit adoptchildren.orgor call Marty Votaw at 832-454-4163.
via: http://abc7chicago.com/hours-old-baby-found-covered-in-ants/2293111/
Bullies Leave Plank of Wood Nailed to 9-Year-Old Boy’s Head in England
A mother in England says a group of bullies threw a wooden plank with a nail in it at her son, who has autism.
According to the Daily Mail, as 9-year-old Romeo Smith was trying to get away from the bullies, they threw the plank with a nail sticking out of it at him. The nail embedded in the back of the boy’s skull.
“As Romeo was walking away one of the lads came running up behind him and threw a bit of wood with a nail in it,” the boy’s father, Craig Smith, told the BBC. “I saw it just stuck there, in the back of his head, and then Romeo started screaming and running towards me.”
The boy was rushed to the hospital where doctors gave him morphine and removed the nail, that bent when it hit his skull, his mother said.
Doctors also gave Romeo antibiotics because the nail was dirty.
Remarkably, the 9-year-old appears to already be on his way to a full recovery, according to the Daily Mail. His mother, however, said she’s concerned about the long term effects of the attack on her son.
Nottinghamshire police continue to investigate, but said they may pursue “restorative justice” rather than criminal charges.
“In cases such as this, where genuine remorse is shown and there is an understanding of the consequences of their actions, we try to mediate between both parties to avoid progressing down the criminal justice route,” police said in a statement obtained by the BBC.
via: http://ktla.com/2017/08/11/bullies-leave-plank-of-wood-nailed-to-9-year-old-boys-head/
Girl severely burned by boiling water poured on her at sleepover
NEW YORK — An 11-year-old girl has been severely burned after another girl poured boiling water on her during a sleepover, police said.
Jamoneisha Merritt was at a sleepover at a friend’s home in the Bronx early Monday morning when the attack occurred, police said.
Police said a 12-year-old girl at the sleepover boiled water and then poured it on Merritt while she slept on a couch.
Merritt was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition. Authorities said the 11-year-old victim suffered second-degree burns to her face, shoulders, neck and chest.
Police said the 12-year-old girl who is accused in the attack has been charged with felony assault.
Merritt’s family is devasted. They said her burns are so bad, they are life-changing and doctors and family members don’t want the child to see herself yet.
Merritt’s cousin said she couldn’t spend too much time in the girl’s hospital room without crying.
“Her and her friend got into an argument and she told her if she go to sleep, they were going to do something to her,” Merritt’s cousin said. “She said she was screaming that she was burning.”
A so-called “hot water challenge” has been proliferating online, apparently pushing people to boil water and toss the scalding liquid on unsuspecting victims.
Last week, an 8-year-old girl in Florida died from her injuries five months after she drank boiling water through a straw on a dare.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/08/10/girl-severely-burned-after-boiling-water-poured-on-her-at-sleepover/
‘I have a rotting corpse inside of me’. ‘Pump Doctors’ offer cheap and dangerous injections
“Here I am walking and breathing, not knowing that I have a rotting corpse inside of me.”
For ten years, transgender woman Taliyah Cassadine got silicone injections once every other week. Despite crippling medical issues, she kept going back.
Cassadine says illegal silicone injections have become widely available in Atlanta. The so-called “pump doctors” offer a cheap and dangerous alternative to traditional plastic surgery.
It was a risk Cassadine was willing to take.
“I always felt like I had to be better in my looks. I didn’t think I could accomplish my goals if I didn’t look the part,” she said. She started getting the injections in her breasts, buttocks, and cheeks in 2004.
Despite near daily fevers, and almost losing her left leg, she kept going back.
“I was so used to feeling bad that it became normal,” she said.
She drove to Albany, Ga. weekly to get injections from Miesha Santiago, her “pump doctor”.
“I laid across her bed, and received the injections there.” There was no sanitation, no anesthesia, no aftercare. Santiago was no doctor.
While she was still a customer, Santigo went to prison for murder after another woman she injected died. Cassadine testified against her, and eventually stopped getting the injections.
Real doctors have been able to remove 90% of the silicone in her body, but it wasn’t pretty. The substance was clear when it went in, but was like black tar when it came out. Cassadine said doctors and nurses were gagging and had to leave the room during the removal procedures.
Even the high-profile trial wasn’t enough to stop a close friend and mentor, who died last week after getting silicone injections in Tampa.
“If she only knew there were people who thought she was perfect,” Cassadine said. “She was perfect to me.”
Cassidine started a Facebook group to speak out against the illegal practice, and she talks to people considering getting it done honestly. She contacts police every time she has information to help them track down an illegal ‘pump doctor’. Every time one is arrested, another one goes into business. She calls it an epidemic in Atlanta.
“I’ve gotten to the point of removing my shirt and showing people my scars,” she said. “Because people need to see the ugly side.”
She wants to see police crackdown on the practice, and for people to stop getting these illegal silicone injections.
“It’s time for people to stop dying to be beautiful,” she said.
Two South Carolina Men Charged for Forcing Alligator to Drink Beer
Two South Carolina men each face a harassment charge after pictures surfaced on social media showing them pouring beer down the throat of an alligator, authorities saidJoseph Andrew Floyd Jr., 20, and Zachary Lloyd Brown, 21, both of Ridgeland, are accused of harassing wildlife, the state’s Department of Natural Resources said in a news release.
The incident took place on Wednesday in Jasper County, located in the coastal region in the southernmost part of the state.
The men admitted to investigators that they picked up the juvenile alligator after they saw it crossing a road, forced beer down its throat and watched it swim away in a nearby pond, according to the release.
Pictures posted on social media alerted officials the next day.
“We started receiving a lot of e-mails and phone calls about this. People had taken screen shots from Snapchat accounts,” the agency’s spokeswoman Kyndel McConchie told CNN.
In one of the six photos obtained by CNN from authorities, the alligator’s neck is being squeezed and a beer can is pressed against its snout. The text on the photo says “Gator Shotgun.”
Other photos show beer being dripped into its mouth while its neck is held tightly. Another picture shows smoke being blown onto the face of the gator.
Besides the state misdemeanor charge of harassing wildlife, Floyd and Brown also face a maximum fine of $300.
There is federal protection in place to ensure alligators are legally harvested for international trade. But for a case like this, no federal protection applies, the Department of Natural Resources said.
“Alligators are protected under state law and even federal law where they are still listed as threatened solely due to their similarity of appearance to other endangered crocodilians worldwide,” SCDNR Alligator Program Coordinator Jay Butfiloski added.
via: http://ktla.com/2017/05/27/two-south-carolina-men-charged-for-forcing-alligator-to-drink-beer/
2 Texas Toddlers Die in Hot Car; Mom Says They Took Her Keys, Phone and Locked Themselves in
Two young children were found dead Friday in Parker County, Texas, in what appeared to be a hot car incident.
According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, the mother of the children — a 2-year-old girl and a 16-month-old boy — found them in a locked vehicle.
The Tarrant County medical examiner’s website identified the children as Juliet and Cavanaugh Ramirez.
Parker County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Arnett told CNN that according to the mother, the children were playing in a back room of their home when they disappeared. After searching the home, the mother began looking outside, where she eventually found them locked inside the car.
She told investigators that when she found them, one of the children had her cellphone and car keys, Arnett said.
She reportedly broke a window to reach the children, but both were unresponsive, according to the news release. She added that the children had gotten into the car and locked themselves inside.
“The question is, can a 2-year-old open a car door and a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old climb inside and lock it,” Arnett said. “In the course of the investigation, if charges are warranted, I’m sure the district attorney’s office will bring them.”
Authorities were alerted to the incident just after 4 p.m., the news release said, when the temperature outside had reached 96 degrees. The children were pronounced dead.
The ongoing investigation is a joint effort between the Parker County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangers, Arnett told CNN.
“This case is in the early stages of the investigation,” Sheriff Larry Fowler said in the release. “Any comment regarding this case at this time would be an assumption until all of the facts are gathered.”
Parker County is west of Fort Worth.
Utah Mother Arrested After Allegedly Locking Children in Trunk of Car While She Shopped at Wal-Mart
A mother was arrested on suspicion of child abuse Thursday after a witness saw her lock her 2 and 5-year-old children in the trunk of a car in a Wal-Mart parking lot while she went shopping, KTLA sister station KSTU reported.
According to police, several people helped the children escape from the locked trunk before Tori Castillo, 39, surfaced from the store.
Heidi, who wanted to keep her last name anonymous, was one of those people.
She said she and her friend were unloading groceries nearby when she heard noise coming from the trunk. She walked over and put her ear against the car.
“I could hear some kids crying,” she recounted. “I turned to my friend and I’m like, ‘There’s people in this trunk. There’s kids in this trunk!'”
Heidi said she and her friend, as well as two other women, started trying to help the girl inside. She said one of the women had seen the mother put the children in the trunk, before walking into the store.
“I started talking to the little girl that I could hear screaming,” Heidi said. “She was (yelling), ‘Mom, let me out! Let me out! Mom! Help!” She was screaming, crying.”
At that point, Heidi said she started yelling back at the girl, guiding her on how to open the truck with the emergency latch.
The trunk popped open. Heidi said the children were scared, and sweating from the heat.
“Both kids just came out… they just jumped out at us,” Heidi said. “One lady took the 2-year-old, I took the 5-year-old.”
While they waited for police, Heidi said the mother emerged from the store.
“The only explanation she had was, ‘My babysitter didn’t show up,'” Heidi said.
According to the Riverdale Police Department, Castillo was booked into the Weber County Correctional Facility in Ogden. She faces four counts of child abuse with physical injury and one charge of theft.
The Division of Child and Family Services responded, “and the children were turned over to a responsible party,” according to a news release.
Heidi still can’t believe the shocking scene she witnessed.
“It was kind of heartbreaking to see that somebody could do something so cruel,” she said.
2 Students Arrested in Plot to Bomb, Shoot up Savanna High in Anaheim
Two high school students were planning to place bombs and commit shootings at their campus in Anaheim, police said in announcing the students’ arrest Thursday, which marked the last day of school.
Administrators at Savanna High School, at 301 N. Gilbert St., contacted the Anaheim Police Department Thursday morning after learning about threats that had been posted online, police said in a news release.
Police worked with school personnel to identify the students allegedly behind the plan.
The unidentified students were found and arrested before classes began. They were being held on suspicion of making criminal threats and were set to be booked at Orange County Juvenile Hall.
No information about the students was provided by police.
Graduation was held for Savanna High seniors on Thursday, which marked the end of the semester, according to the school calendar.
The school is part of Anaheim Union High School District.