Tag: human remains found
Woman accused of fatally shooting sleeping boyfriend, cutting up body with a machete
A Texas woman fatally shot and then dismembered her boyfriend with a machete before leaving his remains in dumpsters of her apartment complex, court documents allege.
Cierra Alexis Sutton has been charged with murder in connection with the death of Steven Coleman, who was last seen on the evening of Aug. 16 in Baytown.
According to investigators, Sutton admitted to others that she had shot Coleman in the head as he slept after an argument. Because his body was too heavy for her to carry, Sutton allegedly hacked it into smaller pieces with a machete and then disposed of the smaller pieces in various local dumpsters.
On Sunday, Coleman’s close friend Dominique Clark spoke to Eyewitness News about Sutton’s arrest.
“Devil. That’s the mind of a bad spirit,” Clark said. “That’s not a normal mind. That’s not a mind of God. That’s not one of God’s children.”
On Aug. 22, a male torso was found in a Chambers County landfill that receives trash from dumpsters throughout Baytown and Pasadena. While the torso has yet to be definitively identified as Coleman’s, investigators say some key physical characteristics do match.
Before the torso was found, Clark said Sutton stayed with Coleman’s family as they looked for their missing loved one.
“She played the role of an innocent person,” Clark said. “She played the role of an innocent person, and she played it to the fullest.”
Coleman’s credit cards were used at a Harris County Walmart after he went missing, according to investigators, and the woman caught on surveillance camera buying duct tape and a mattress pad with Coleman’s card closely matched Sutton’s description.
Witnesses reported seeing Sutton and other men moving furniture out of Coleman’s apartment on Aug. 20; by the time investigators searched the apartment on Aug. 24, most of the furniture had been removed from the unit, but crime scene investigators did find blood in several rooms, including the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Investigators said they also found blood in Sutton’s Jeep.
In an interview with detectives, one of Coleman’s friends told detectives that Coleman “told her on numerous occasions if he was ever to go missing, she needed to make sure police looked into [Sutton] as the cause,” according to court documents.
Investigators say they had attempted to interview Sutton about Coleman’s disappearance, but she failed to show up for interviews. A third party tipped authorities off after Sutton allegedly spoke openly about the crime to others.
As Coleman’s family and friends wait for justice, they can’t help but think back on the man they lost.
“He was an original,” Clark said. “He was a unique guy. One of those you walk in the room and you can’t help but notice.”
Now he’s hoping the person who took his friend away will spend years behind bars.
“I thank God every day for even giving me the opportunity to experience a person like that,” Clark said. “I will never meet a person like that ever again.”
According to Baytown police, Sutton was taken into custody on Thursday in Louisiana.
via: http://abc7ny.com/woman-allegedly-shoots-boyfriend-cuts-up-body/2427137/
MAN HID MOTHER’S BODY PARTS IN REFRIGERATOR, COURT DOCUMENTS SAY
A Hawaii man accused of killing his mother months ago stuffed her dismembered body parts in seven plastic bags in the kitchen freezer of the Waikiki apartment they shared, according to court documents made public Monday.
Yu Wei Gong has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Liu Yun Gong.
He called 911 on April 11 and said: “‘I killed my Mom,'” according to a detective’s affidavit supporting an arrest warrant. When officers arrived and could not find the woman, Gong told them she was “in the fridge,” the complaint said.
An officer found what appeared to be body parts.
“Another covered object in the freezer felt to a different officer like a human leg and foot,” the complaint said.
Yu Wei Gong didn’t speak or enter a plea during a brief court appearance Monday. Deputy Public Defender Diamond Grace requested a Mandarin interpreter for his preliminary hearing, scheduled for Wednesday. He remained in custody with bail set at $2 million.
Grace didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment after the hearing.
Authorities say Yu Wei Gong told officers that he accidentally killed his mother in September after she became angry when the 26-year-old said he wanted to work instead of going to school.
Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Rachel Lange determined Liu Yun Gong had suffered blunt force injuries to the head, the complaint said. Her identity was confirmed by comparing fingerprints to those on file under her Hawaii driver’s license.
The manager of the apartment building where they lived told police he had not seen the man’s mother since before Christmas, the complaint said.
It said Liu Yun Gong did not show up for work on Aug. 21, 2016. When a supervisor called her phone, it went unanswered. Yu Wei Gong called the supervisor the next day, saying his mother was on another Hawaiian island and had left her phone at home.
Three women watched the hearing and said outside court they wanted to support Gong spiritually because he had attended their church.
Gong and his mother, who they knew by different names, attended Waipahu United Church of Christ, said former pastor Norma Desaegher.
“He has nobody. No family as far as we can tell,” she said, adding that it’s been several years since she last saw him. “We wanted to give him that spiritual support.”
Gong moved to Hawaii from China when he was 19, after his mother married an active church parishioner she met online, the women said. Mother and son stopped going to church after the man died in 2014.
The women said Gong took English classes at the church and moved with his mother and step-father to Waikiki so she could pursue a massage business.
“We just wanted people to know they were a good family” Desaegher said.