Tag: manslaughter
Boston College student accused of driving boyfriend Alexander Urtulam to suicide
A Boston College student repeatedly urged her boyfriend to kill himself — telling him the “world would be better without him” before he jumped to his death on the morning of his graduation in May, according to a new report.
Suffolk County prosecutors on Monday announced Inyoung You, 21, had been charged with involuntary manslaughter over the suicide of her boyfriend, fellow Boston College student Alexander Urtulam, the Boston Globe reported.
The suspect psychologically and physically abused Urtula during their 18-month relationship — repeatedly encouraging him to kill himself despite being aware of his “spiraling depression,” District Attorney Rachael Rollins said at a press conference.
The pair exchanged 75,000 text messages in the two months before Urtula took his own life, with You telling him “go die” and “go kill yourself,” prosecutors said.
The 21-year-old has returned to her native South Korea but will be extradited to the US if she does not voluntarily return to face the charges, Rollins said.
“This case is a tragedy but it’s just one example of a systemic epidemic [of domestic violence],” Rollins said.
“Domestic violence may not look the same [in every instance] but it is always about power and control,” she added.
Urtula, of Cedar Grove, NJ, jumped to his death from the Renaissance parking garage in Boston on May 20, the same day he was supposed to graduate with a biology degree.
You isolated her boyfriend from his family and friends and tracked his location on her phone. Chillingly, You was present at the parking garage when Urtula leaped to his death, Rollins said.
A grand jury handed up the indictment on Oct. 18, finding You was “wanton and reckless” and created “life-threatening conditions for Mr. Urtula that she had a legal duty to alleviate,” according to court documents obtained by the Globe.
The case echoes “suicide text” girlfriend Michelle Carter, the Massachusetts woman who was convicted of urging her boyfriend via text messages to kill himself in July 2014.
According to the Boston Herald, You sent Urtula, 22, more than 780 “manipulative and threatening” text messages each day in the months leading up to his death.
The suspect also used threats of self-harm to control her boyfriend and manipulate him.
Urtula killed himself just two hours before he was supposed to walk in his graduation ceremony — his family traveling from New Jersey to Boston for the event.
“His family never got to do so,” Rollins said Monday.
His girlfriend was studying economics and was scheduled to graduate in May 2020 but withdrew from classes in August, three months after Urtula died, a Boston College spokesperson told The Globe.
Urtula was remembered as a “gifted student” and was involved in many groups, including the Phillippine Society of Boston College.
He had been working as a researcher in a New York hospital and according to his LinkedIn, also worked as a researcher at a women’s hospital in Boston in the hematology department.
Rollins told reporters domestic violence “does not discriminate” — noting it affected people regardless of their race, sexual orientation or age.
“Domestic violence may not always looked the same, but it is always about power and control,” she added.
Photo Credit: Suffolk County District Attorney
Father charged after leaving son in hot SUV for nearly six hours
A 4-year-old Minnesota boy died after his father left him inside a hot SUV for nearly six hours while he worked, authorities said.
Kristopher Alexander Taylor, 26, of Apple Valley, was charged Monday with second-degree manslaughter in the death of his son, who was found “stiff” to the touch when Taylor returned to his SUV on Saturday after working at the Minnesota Monthly 8th Annual Grillfest at CHS Field in St. Paul, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Star Tribune.
Taylor parked the vehicle in a spot “entirely exposed” to sunlight and told police he cracked just one of its windows roughly one-quarter to one-half inch for the boy. Taylor said he gave his son a handheld video game to pass the time and last checked on him at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday before returning nearly six hours later at 5:15 p.m., the complaint reads.
The boy — identified by a family friend as Riley Taylor — was left in Taylor’s care at about 2:30 a.m. Friday while his mother went to work. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital after Taylor returned to the SUV and found him unresponsive, the Star Tribune reports.
Temperatures during the nearly six-hour span ranged from 64 to 70 degrees, with partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies, according to National Weather Service data. But reps from a national nonprofit advocacy group told the newspaper that children have died from heatstroke inside cars while temperatures dipped below 60 degrees outside.
“A vehicle acts like a greenhouse, heating up to deadly temperatures within minutes, even on a mild day,” KidsandCars.org told the Star Tribune in a statement. “Contrary to popular belief, cracking the windows does nothing to decrease the maximum temperature reached inside a vehicle. Additionally, a child’s body temperature rises 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s.”
A preliminary ruling from the medical examiner reported that Riley died of hyperthermia. A total of 52 children died inside cars due to excessive heat last year, making 2018 the deadliest year on record for such deaths. On average, 38 children die in hot cars annually — or one every nine days, according to the group, which has tracked data for more than 20 years.
Taylor, who was arrested at the hospital, told police he couldn’t find anyone to watch his son while he worked and didn’t think it was too hot to leave his son behind, citing prior instances, KSTP reports.
“Taylor said he had done it once in the past about a year ago and nothing bad happened to the boy on that occasion, but he admitted he had left the window entirely down that time,” the complaint reads.
Jan Null, a meteorologist at San Jose State University, said Riley is the fifth person nationwide to die inside a hot car this year. The interior of a vehicle in direct sunlight could exceed temperatures of 130 degrees if the outside temp is roughly 71 degrees, Null told the station.
Taylor, who has been released from custody after posting $25,000 bail, is scheduled to return to court on Friday.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/07/father-charged-after-leaving-son-in-hot-suv-for-nearly-six-hours/
Photo Credit: Facebook; St. Paul Police Department
Woman charged with killing roommate while cleaning gun
A Georgia woman is accused of fatally shooting her roommate while cleaning a gun.
Keely Kilpatrick 26, was still at the Wynhall Drive home in Gwinnett County — about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta — when police responded at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday and found her roommate, Dixie Cowe, 43, with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said.
Police determined that Kilpatrick had told her mother, who also lived at the residence, that she was going downstairs to clean a firearm when the mom heard a “loud noise sounding like a gunshot,” cops said in a news release.
She ran downstairs to check on her daughter, who “immediately told her that the gun accidentally went off and struck [Cowe],” the release continued.
Cowe later died from her injuries at a hospital.
Kilpatrick and her mother are cooperating with investigators, police said. Kilpatrick was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter and remains held without bond at the Gwinnett County Detention Center, jail records show.
Brianna Johnson, Kilpatrick’s friend, told WSB-TV she believes that the shooting wasn’t intentional.
The charges are the latest legal trouble for Kilpatrick, who has been arrested on a variety of charges since 2010, including DUI, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm or knife during the commission or attempt to commit certain felonies. Her latest arrest marked the third time she had been arrested this year, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/01/woman-charged-with-killing-roommate-while-cleaning-gun/
Meek Mill Concert Shooting Victims’ Families Asking For $6 Million Settlement
Two wrongful death lawsuits loom over Meek.
The Blast got their hands on court documents that were filed on November 21 by the estates for Jaquan Graves and Travis Ward. The families of both victims claim they are willing to settle in the case. Of course, their price isn’t cheap, as each family is asking for $3 million. Still, that may be cheaper than battling in court. Both families are suing separately over a shooting at a 2016 Meek concert in Connecticut that left two dead.
The estates of Graves and Ward are blaming Meek for the carnage, claiming that his lyrics incite violence and there have been incidents at his past shows. The Oakdale Musical Theatre Company and Live Nation are also named in both lawsuits for being negligent in attaining security at the concert. Meek has already denied all involvement and allegations, claiming the situation was out of his hands and unfathomable.
Article via HotNewHipHop
Popstar Nadine Samuels, 27, who toured with Little Mix, sobs as she’s jailed for killing mum-of-three cyclist in roundabout crash
NADINE Samuels, who toured with Little Mix wept as she was caged for eight months for killing a mum in a horror crash.
The singer – member of girl group M.O – failed to look while at a roundabout and smashed into Debbie Mills as she cycled in Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
The mum-of-three, 54, suffered traumatic brain injuries after being flung on to the windscreen and road and died in hospital shortly after.
Samuels was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court after she pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
The 27-year-old, who is good friends with Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock, wept as Debbie’s son paid tribute to his mum, who ran a cake shop.
Josh said his mum was a valued member of the community who had taken up cycling as a hobby. He added: “We will miss her dearly”.
Read more via TheSun
Caregiver who left 4-year-old girl to die in hot car fined just $25
A Pennsylvania caregiver who left a 4-year-old child to die in a hot car two years ago was fined just $25.
After deliberating for three hours last Friday, jurors acquitted Brittany Borgess, 30, of Williamsport, of the most serious charges against her, the AP reported.
Borgess, who prosecutors said left family friend Samaria Motyka in an SUV with the windows closed for over six hours in July 2016, was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and reckless endangerment.
Lycoming County Senior Judge Dudley Anderson found Borgess guilty of the summary charge of leaving a child unattended in a car. She fined her $25.
Upon hearing the verdict, several of the victim’s family and friends exploded with rage and were escorted from the courtroom for screaming profanities, Penn Live reported.
Defense attorney Peter Campana called Borgess’ actions on the day of the child’s death an “autopilot mistake.”
On the day of the tragedy, Borgess dropped her 2-year-old son, Isaac, off at his daycare. Instead of dropping family friend Samaria off at her daycare, Borgess drove straight to work, leaving the girl strapped to a booster seat in the back of the car. Williamsport temperatures hit 97 degrees that day, and Borgess parked the sweltering car in an area with no shade.
Six and a half hours later, Samaria was found unresponsive on the floor of the car with her head on the front passenger seat. She managed to get out of her booster seat, police said. Samaria’s internal temperature reached 110 degrees, according to an evaluation at Williamsport Regional Medical Center.
Campana argued Borgess was sleep deprived and stressed because she was about to get married and that she “didn’t want this to happen.”
Friends of the victim’s family started a GoFundMe page after her death. It raised $820 of its $1,000 goal.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/13/caregiver-who-left-4-year-old-girl-to-die-in-hot-car-fined-just-25/
Anaesthetist killed wife and daughter ‘with gas-filled yoga ball’
An anaesthetist gassed his wife and daughter to death using a yoga ball filled with carbon monoxide, a Hong Kong court has heard.
Prosecutors told the High Court that Khaw Kim-sun left the inflatable ball in the boot of a car where the gas leaked out and killed them, according to reports from court Wednesday.
His wife and 16-year-old daughter were found on a roadside in a locked yellow Mini Cooper in 2015, in a case which initially baffled police.
The pair were certified dead at the same hospital where Khaw worked and a post-mortem concluded they had died from inhaling carbon monoxide.
Police found a deflated yoga ball in the back of the car.
Khaw cried Thursday as the pathologist who examined the bodies was called to testify and began to give details about the autopsy he carried out on his daughter, according to an AFP reporter in court.
Khaw has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
Prosecutors had said Wednesday that Khaw, a 53-year-old Malaysian national, was having an affair with a student and his wife would not grant him a divorce.
They accused him of hatching a deliberate plot to murder his wife, the South China Morning Post reported.
Prosecutors said it was likely that Khaw had not intended to kill his daughter.
The court heard that in a police interview, Khaw had said he had urged his younger daughter to stay at home and finish her homework on the day of the deaths, according to Apple Daily.
Khaw had been seen filling two balls with carbon monoxide at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he was an associate professor, reports said.
He told colleagues he planned to use the gas on rabbits but later told police that he had taken it to get rid of rats at home.
The family’s domestic helper Siti Maesaroh told the court Thursday that the couple’s three other children had gone to school on the day of the deaths, but Lily was having a holiday.
She said the children had a good relationship with their parents.
Siti added that Khaw and his wife had separate bedrooms and cooked their meals separately, but said she did not know anything about their relationship.
The couple’s eldest daughter is due to testify Friday.
Article via: Anesthetist killed wife and daughter ‘with gas-filled yoga ball’
Shooter charged with manslaughter in Clearwater stand your ground case
Prosecutors charged Michael Drejka, the man accused of killing Markeis McGlockton in a shooting that has reignited a debate over Florida’s stand your ground law, with manslaughter Monday.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Drejka was taken into custody Monday morning. He was being booked about 12:20 p.m. into the Pinellas County Jail, where he will be held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
“It’s about time,” said McGlockton’s father, Michael McGlockton, adding that he was ecstatic. “This is exactly what I wanted. This is exactly what me and my family wanted was to get this guy behind bars.”
Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe said Monday that his office “reviewed everything, and we filed the charge we think we can prove.”
“I’m comfortable that we moved expeditiously to review the case,” he said.
Drejka, who turned 48 since the shooting, had avoided arrest since he shot 28-year-old McGlockton on July 19 because of the controversial self-defense law that eliminated one’s duty to retreat before resorting to force.
Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced July 20 that his agency was precluded from arresting Drejka because evidence showed it was “within the bookends of stand your ground and within the bookends of force being justified,” which provides immunity from arrest, the sheriff said. He forwarded the case Aug. 1 to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office to make a final charging determination.
Article via: Shooter charged with manslaughter in Clearwater stand your ground case
Woman dies after man fondles, punches her
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Authorities say a man fatally punched a woman who tried to prevent him from re-entering a bar where he had fondled her against her will.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports 35-year-old Michael Lamothe was arrested on aggravated battery charges after the incident at Oyster Bay pub in Daytona Beach early Sunday. The charge was upgraded to manslaughter after 54-year-old Debra Jost died.
The newspaper says police found Jost on the floor with a cut to the back of her head and blood coming from her nose and mouth.
Witnesses told investigators Lamothe walked up behind her, hugged her and grabbed her breasts. He left the bar and Jost tried to close the door when he attempted to return.
Lamothe remains in jail without bond. Jail records don’t list an attorney.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/02/woman-dies-after-man-fondles-punches-her-cops/
Brooklyn day care worker beats her 4-year-old son to death with stick for dropping egg on floor
Strangers trust Zarah Coombs to care for their children — never suspecting that the Brooklyn day care worker could be capable of savagely killing her own son.
An enraged Coombs beat her 4-year-old son Zamair to death with a broomstick after the preschooler accidentally broke an egg on the floor of their Brooklyn basement apartment, sources said.
Coombs — who worked in a family-owned Bushwick day care center — waited 20 minutes with the dying boy stashed inside a water-filled plastic storage bin before finally calling 911 for help, according to a source. The 26-year-old Coombs confessed to the Wednesday night beating and was charged with murder. She was led away in handcuffs as tears rolled down her face.But neighbor Ray Moore, 18, said the cold-blooded Coombs showed no such remorse as medics tried to save her son’s life
“She was just standing there like she just don’t care,” said Moore, who lives one floor up from the murder suspect in Brownsville. “I know if it was me, my mother would’ve been in the ambulance.
“That’s when you know something wasn’t right.”
Coombs was later placed on suicide watch. The brutal killing occurred while Coombs was home alone with Zamair and two younger kids, waiting for her boyfriend to return from buying marijuana, sources said.
When the egg slipped from the small child’s hands, the mom lost her mind, grabbed the broomstick and beat the helpless little boy until he fell silent, sources said.
She then put the unconscious Zamair in the large bin inside the apartment bathroom, according to sources.
Coombs — raised in a family of 15 kids and the mother of four children — only summoned help when her live-in boyfriend, Jamari Richardson, returned home shortly before 9 p.m., cops said.
When cops arrived, they found the battered Zamair unable to breathe and foaming at the mouth, according to police and a relative. He was pronounced dead about five hours later at Brookdale University Hospital.
Cops said the boy had cuts, bruises and abrasions on his neck and body. The medical examiner, in ruling the case a homicide, found the cause of death was multiple blunt-impact injuries.
The city Department of Investigation immediately announced plans for a probe into the little boy’s death and whether the city Administration for Children’s Services played any role.
Hours after Zamair died, an Investigation Department summary report ripped ACS for botching the case of another Brooklyn boy, 3-year-old Jaden Jordan, who was beaten to death last month.
Coombs’ brother said ACS officials had stopped by the apartment several times before the death.
Police remove evidence from the Brooklyn home where Zamair Coombs was beaten to death.
According to sources, ACS investigated a pair of allegations against the mom in 2015: Failure to provide medical care in March and inadequate supervision three months later. Both were deemed unfounded. Details of the beleaguered agency’s investigations were not revealed.
Police sources said there were also three prior domestic incident reports involving the mother — in 2002, 2006 and 2011.
Coombs’ family ran four day care centers, and state officials confirmed Zarah Coombs had been employed by their Leading Star Academy since February 2014.
A source indicated Coombs told investigators the fatal assault began because she was stressed out while caring for the victim’s two younger siblings — ages 1 year and 1 month.
Coombs’ brother said ACS officials had stopped by the apartment several times before the death According to sources, ACS investigated a pair of allegations against the mom in 2015: Failure to provide medical care in March and inadequate supervision three months later. Both were deemed unfounded. Details of the beleaguered agency’s investigations were not revealed.
Police sources said there were also three prior domestic incident reports involving the mother — in 2002, 2006 and 2011.
Coombs’ family ran four day care centers, and state officials confirmed Zarah Coombs had been employed by their Leading Star Academy since February 2014.
A source indicated Coombs told investigators the fatal assault began because she was stressed out while caring for the victim’s two younger siblings — ages 1 year and 1 month.In a series of 2014 Facebook posts, the murder suspect wrote about her doomed son Zamair — in one case, adding a now-chilling photo in which he ate a breakfast of egg whites, toast and blueberries.
Coombs initially claimed Zamair died after she left him unattended inside the storage bin where her boyfriend found the child’s limp body, the sources said. She claimed she was tending to one of the smaller kids when he was injured.
Richardson tried unsuccessfully to perform CPR on the boy before police and EMTs arrived. Coombs was arrested after coming clean with detectives about what really happened, the sources said.
“I don’t even know how I feel, part of me is like, Zamair is going to come from around the corner and say, ‘Daddy.’ ” Richardson told The News. “Since I’ve been in the picture, there has been no foul play with these kids and if I had seen something that I didn’t think was right, I would of said something about it.”
Coombs’ brother Michael Thomas offered little support after the arrest.
“This is unacceptable, intolerable for you to kill a 4-year-old,” said Thomas. “A sister or not, she has to be held accountable.”
Thomas described the grim scene outside the apartment when he arrived amid the flashing lights and howling sirens of police cars and medical personnel.
“They were pumping on his chest,” Thomas, 53, said of his nephew. “When I saw them inserting the breathing tube, you know that’s bad. He was foaming at the mouth.”Thomas said he was initially told the little boy took a spill and cracked his head after stepping on some loose towels in the bathroom.
Coombs, who tried to hide her face behind her dredlocks at her arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court late Thursday, was also charged with manslaughter, acting in a manner injurious to a child and criminal possession of a weapon. She was granted emergency psychiatric care and placed on suicide watch. She must undergo a 30-day mental health observation.
The mom’s two youngest kids were both fathered by her current boyfriend, while Zamair and a 9-year-old child have different dads, sources said. Both dads are in jail.
The boy’s grandfather said he was kept away from Zamair by Coombs and Richardson. Asked if the couple were good parents, the grandfather demurred.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t want to get into that.”
via: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/mom-admits-fatally-beating-4-year-old-boy-brooklyn-home-article-1.2956011