Tag: murders
Woman’s head found with note: ‘My husband refused to pay ransom’
A Mexican woman’s decapitated head was found in a trash bag with a note that said she was murdered because her husband “did not want to pay” her ransom, according to local reports.
The remains of businesswoman Susana Carrera were found last Wednesday in a parking lot in the city of Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, local outlets reported.
She’d been kidnapped a week ago, while going to pick up her daughter from a friend’s house.
Video posted to Twitter shows Carrera outside her friend’s home ringing the doorbell and her kidnappers pulling up and throwing her into a car.
The captors asked for 4 million pesos or about $207,000, but the family told the Heraldo de Mexico they couldn’t afford it.
The note found with her decapitated body read: “This happened to me because my husband played the tough guy and didn’t want to pay my ransom.”
Carrera and her husband, Luis Manriquez, owned an aluminum company called Pexaliminio.
Hours after Carrera’s remains were found, her husband wrote a message on social media confirming her death, according to reports.
“Thank you very much to everyone for your prayers and wishes for my wife Susana Carrera to return home. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to and she passed away.”
Coatzacoalcos has seen a recent increase in violence with 49 kidnappings and 160 murders there in 2018, according to the BBC.
via: http:// https://nypost.com/2019/02/19/womans-head-found-with-note-my-husband-refused-to-pay-ransom/
Judge: Black men are ‘more effective’ at killing each other than the KKK
A white Tennessee judge is under fire for a courthouse tirade in which he denounced black-on-black crime by comparing it to the Ku Klux Klan.
Montgomery County Judge Wayne Shelton was overseeing the preliminary hearing for Vincent Merriweather, accused of a homicide that occurred in Clarksville last November. While addressing Merriweather last week, Shelton launched into a racially charged speech, saying he was “sick and tired” of black men shooting each other.
“I don’t understand it,” Shelton is heard saying in audio posted to Instagram. “I grew up in a time where people wore white robes and they shot at black people. And now we see young black men wearing black hoodies shooting at black men. And doing a much more effective job than the Klan ever thought about doing.”
While some on social media condemned Shelton’s words as racist, others have come to his defense. Jimmie Garland, president of the Clarksville branch of the NAACP, initially felt that the judge was “on point.”
“He’s telling the young people, ‘Stop killing yourself. Stop doing the job that, back in the early ’30s and ’20s and ’10s, they did wearing robes and wearing pointed caps. You don’t have to do that,’” Garland told WSMV.
The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle noted that this is not the first time Shelton has invoked race, or the Klan, during a courtroom speech. In 2015, two teenage brothers were accused of gunning down a man after a high school graduation party, allegedly over a gut reaction of perceived “disrespect.”
Shelton compared that murder to Klan killings, saying KKK members would often kill black men whom they perceived to be disrespectful.
“That’s the absolute tragedy,” the judge said at the time. “It’s black men killing black men.”
“The Klan doesn’t exist anymore. Who doesn’t care about black lives now? I’ll let you answer that. I’m tired of black men killing black men. If I offended anyone … I can’t help it.”
Shelton told the Leaf-Chronicle that while he “might look like the whitest man in the room,” he isn’t — saying that his great-great-great-grandfather was a free man of color in the 1860s.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/01/08/judge-black-men-are-more-effective-at-killing-each-other-than-the-kkk/
Girl, 14, shot ‘point blank’ by mom after calling 911
A woman bound the ankles and wrists of her 14-year-old daughter with zip ties — then fatally shot the girl between her eyes at “near point-blank range’’ as the brave youngster was on the phone with 911 pleading for help, police said.
The horrific murder took place Tuesday in the Seattle, Wash., suburb of Renton.
Before the gun was fired, the dispatcher heard someone shout, “You called 911” and something that sounded like “blow your head off,” ABC News reported.
Authorities say the mom, 52-year-old Svetlana B. Laurel, who is separated from her husband, Michael Gulizia, went to his home on Tuesday, according to ABC.
He recently had been awarded custody of the girl, Natalie, and her 12-year-old brother. Laurel was told she could make only supervised visits.
Laurel arrived on her unsupervised visit while her daughter was upstairs and Gulizia and the boy were out, The Seattle Times reported.
Around that time, she called a friend in New York and spoke to him in Russian. The friend said the call was “strange,” noting Laurel told him she had amended her will to include him. The pal, fearing she’d commit suicide, called Renton cops and asked them to check on her. They didn’t get the chance.
When her husband and son arrived home, she allegedly tied up the boy, jammed a sock into his mouth and threatened to use a stun gun on him.
Laurel got the drop on her husband, used her zip ties to restrain him and zapped him with the stun gun, according to the Times.
When she heard the commotion downstairs, the daughter dialed 911 and was shot to death. Laurel then allegedly tried to kill Gulizia with her pistol — but it misfired, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
As Svetlana was struggling to clear the malfunction, Gulizia rammed her into the wall with his shoulder and was able to grab the weapon.
Officers arrived too late to save the daughter.
Laurel, who had no police record, was charged with numerous crimes and could be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Both Gulizia and his wife worked at Boeing.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/12/23/girl-14-shot-point-blank-by-mom-after-calling-911/
Boy, 15, and best friend found dead in apparent murder-suicide
A Houston mother found her teen son and his best friend fatally shot Thursday in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.
The boy and his friend, both 15, were found dead inside the upscale Park at River Oaks apartment complex by his mother when she came home around 5 p.m., police told the Houston Chronicle.
It’s unclear which of the boys shot the other before turning the gun on himself. But the mom who discovered the grisly scene told investigators that her son was “going through chronic mental issues,” according to Assistant Police Chief Henry Gaw.
The boy’s mother had spoken to him earlier Thursday and nothing seemed to be off. He lived in the apartment with his mother and older brother, and the firearm used in the shooting belonged to the family, Gaw said.
Investigators wouldn’t say whether there were signs of a struggle prior to the shooting or whether a note was left behind, KTRK reports.
“It’s a very sad scene,” Gaw told the station. “You have two 15-year-olds who are dead.”
The teens attended Lamar High School, where crisis counselors were expected to help students start the grieving process on Friday, according to the station.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to each student’s family and friends, as well as the school community,” Houston Independent School District officials said in a statement.
A medical examiner is expected to perform autopsies on Friday, KPRC reports.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/09/boy-15-and-best-friend-found-dead-in-apparent-murder-suicide/
Woman kills husband at Walmart in front of their 3 kids
A mother of three from Louisiana gunned down her estranged husband in the parking lot of a Walmart while their three children watched, cops said.
Kayla Coutee, 31, is facing murder charges in the second-degree for the Saturday morning shooting, according to Alexandria Police.
She allegedly killed her husband, Thomas Coutee Jr., 30, after agreeing to meet him at a Walmart to exchange custody of their children — ages 7, 5 and 2.
Kayla pumped a single round into Thomas’ chest and then sat and waited for police to arrive, cops said.
She was later taken into custody without incident. The children were not injured and safely transported to APD headquarters. The Department of Children and Family Services was contacted soon after.
“Based on the information detectives learned in their investigation, Kayla Coutee was arrested and charged with Second Degree Murder,” cops said in a press release. “She was transported to the Rapides Parish Detention Center and booked.”
Thomas Coutee reportedly filed for divorce from Kayla, though it’s unclear when. A police spokesperson told ABC News that their children are now in the custody of family members.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/woman-kills-husband-at-walmart-in-front-of-their-3-kids-cops/
Ex-con allegedly disemboweled wife, called victim’s baby daddy to gloat
A Bronx ex-con disemboweled his wife Monday, then calmly called his parole officer to report the murder — and his dead victim’s baby daddy to gloat, sources told The Post.
“Go get your daughter — I just killed her mother,’’ 58-year-old Virgil Solis allegedly told his wife’s former lover.
“And [Solis] kept calling’’ the distraught man, telling him, “I’m coming to the funeral’’ — even as the man was at the police precinct talking to cops, said the victim’s pal, Sasha, 54, to The Post.
In a separate phone call to his parole officer, Solis also admitted, “I killed my wife. Come get her,” a law enforcement source added.
The ex-con was still being monitored by the state Department of Corrections after spending 18 years in custody for a brutal 1998 assault when he stabbed his wife, Valerie, 53, inside her Tremont apartment, sources said.
Another person in the building apparently heard Solis attacking his wife and called 911 around 10:19 a.m., according to police.
Responding NYPD officers discovered Valerie inside the seventh-floor apartment on Southern Boulevard near East 180th Street with a severe stab wound to her stomach and pronounced her dead at the scene. She had been disemboweled, a law enforcement source said.
Meanwhile, her killer was nowhere to be found.
He was eventually nabbed by cops Monday evening in downtown Manhattan, sources said.
According to records from state Corrections and Community Supervision, Virgil Solis had previously been arrested numerous times for assaults.
He served at least 18 years after cops caught him roughing up a woman who refused to have sex with him, sources said. He hit and choked the woman — leading cops to arrest him for rape, assault and aggravated sex abuse — although he was only convicted of assault in the first degree, sources said.
At one point during his incarceration, he landed in a mental facility, sources said.
Additional reporting by Chris Perez
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/ex-con-allegedly-disemboweled-wife-called-victims-baby-daddy-to-gloat/
Wife admits fatally poisoning ‘unfaithful’ hubby with eye drops
A Bible-studying South Carolina woman who once griped online that her hubby was unfaithful was charged with murder — after admitting to poisoning him with eye drops, officials said.
Lana Clayton, 52, was booked Friday after an autopsy uncovered a high amount of tetrahydrozoline in her husband’s body, officials said.
The chemical is found in over-the-counter drops, such as Visine, and reduces redness by restricting blood vessels. But when it’s swallowed, it acts as a neurotoxin and attacks the nervous system.
Lana Clayton admitted to spiking her husband’s water with eye drops over a three day span, between July 19 and 21, the York County Sherriff’s office said.
Steven Clayton, 64, was found dead July 21 in their palatial home, worth over $800,000, in Clover, South Carolina, about 30 miles southwest of Charlotte, N.C. It appeared he had fallen down the stairs.
The home was designed as a copy of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, and Steven Clayton had carefully worked to restore his property, according to The Herald of Rock Hill, S.C.
An accountant, Steven Clayton was the founder of Physical Therapy Resources, a national company with branches throughout the United States. He retired in 1995, according to his obituary in the Herald.
His funeral was held in the home’s back yard on Aug. 4, before the autopsy results revealed the cause of death, according to WSOC-TV in Charlotte.
One neighbor said she knew Lana Clayton from a neighborhood Bible Study group.
A friend told a local newspaper that Lana worked in nursing for the VA hospital in Charlotte. Police have not released a motive for the crime.
She posted a comment on what appears to be her little-used Facebook page in March 2010 that suggested her husband was unfaithful. “My husband is not a drunk he had an affair. However, he is the father of my children and my kids look at my Facebook. Soooo. I do appreciate the support though.”
She had already started legal action concerning the estate, which also included a lot next door to the home worth nearly $400,000, the Herald reported.
Neighbor Ken Sanford told the Rock Hill, S.C., Herald that “seemed like a sweet lady,” and “Steven was very proud of her accomplishments.”
“I am just stunned,” Sanford said.
Lana Clayton was also charged with unlawful malicious tampering of food. Because she is charged with murder, she will not be released on bond. It’s unclear if she has yet named a lawyer.
An Oklahoma native according to her Facebook page, she has no prior criminal record in South Carolina, the Herald reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/01/wife-admits-fatally-poisoning-hubby-with-eye-drops-cops/
Man walks into police station, says he chopped off girlfriend’s head
A man strolled into a Tribeca police station house this week and said, “I have to make a confession” — then admitted to chopping off his girlfriend’s head four years ago, authorities said Friday.
Ricky Gonzalez, 34, told First Precinct cops Tuesday that he fatally stabbed 58-year-old Maria Quinones inside their Bushwick, Brooklyn, apartment in 2014 in a dispute over money. He said he then dismembered her body and disposed of it in the garbage, according to court documents.
Gonzalez told police he followed Quinones that day into the bathroom of the apartment they shared on Wilson Avenue near Himrod Street and plunged a large knife into her chest while standing behind her, according to the documents.
Gonzalez then dragged her body into the bathtub and grabbed a butcher knife and blade sharpener, he said.
He beheaded Quinones’ corpse, chopped off her hands and feet and cut her torso into two pieces, according to the documents.
He then stuffed her body parts into trash bags and put the sacks out on the curb to be picked up for garbage collection, authorities said.
Gonzalez and Quinones had met in a drug-treatment program, police sources said.
Quinones’ sister reported her missing in September 2014, telling police she had not seen her since March of that year.
Gonzalez, who lives in upstate Beacon, was arrested after his confession and hit with charges of murder and concealment of a corpse.
He was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court and ordered held without bail. His attorney did not return requests for comment.
The suspect’s grisly confession came a day before a couple was charged with beating a 25-year-old woman to death and dismembering her body in the bathtub of their apartment in the Longwood section of The Bronx.
Daquan Wheeler, 31, allegedly beat Lisa Marie Velasquez to death with a hammer Aug. 22 and ordered his girlfriend, Ciara Martinez, to help him dismember her, sources told The Post. The couple then put the body in plastic bags and scattered them in Crotona Park.
Wheeler became enraged after Velasquez called 911 out of fear he would hurt Martinez, police said.
Martinez and Wheeler were charged Thursday with murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/08/31/man-walks-into-police-station-says-he-chopped-off-girlfriends-head/
Man claims he killed pregnant wife after she strangled their kids
The Colorado man accused of murdering his entire family told police that his pregnant wife is actually the one who killed their two young daughters — and he simply strangled her after finding out.
Christopher Watts, 33, said he “went into a rage” and took his wife Shanann’s life after finding their oldest daughter “sprawled” out on her bed “and blue,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Watching from a baby monitor, Watts told police that he saw Shanann “actively strangling” their other daughter, Celeste, just moments before setting upon her. He claimed that the children, ages 3 and 4, were both dead already by the time he got to his wife.
“[Watts] said he loaded all three bodies onto the back seat of his work truck and took them to an oil work site,” the affidavit states. “[Watts] said he buried Shanann near two oil tanks and dumped the girls inside the oils tanks.”
The North Carolina native — who was living in Frederick, Colorado — was arrested last week and formally charged on Monday with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of murdering a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased body. He remains held without bail.
According to the affidavit, Watts had been looking to leave his wife and was discussing it with her.
A two-day investigation revealed he was “actively involved in an affair with a co-worker” — and wanting to file for a separation. Watts told cops that he informed Shanann about his plans right before she strangled their two kids. However, he denied having the affair.
Watts, at first, claimed during police interviews that he and his wife discussed the possibility of getting a separation, and everything was fine.
“[Watts] stated it was a civil conversation and they were not arguing but were emotional,” the affidavit says.
He wound up changing his story, however, on the second interview after being allowed to speak with his father.
“[Watts] stated after he told Shanann he wanted a separation he walked downstairs for a moment and then returned to his bedroom to speak with Shanann again,” the affidavit says. “While in the bedroom, via baby monitor located on Shanann’s night stand, he observed Bella ‘sprawled’ out on her bed and blue and Shanann actively strangling Celeste.”
Watts later identified the three locations where he hid the bodies and was placed under arrest on Wednesday night. He is expected to appear in court Tuesday.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/08/20/man-claims-he-killed-pregnant-wife-after-she-strangled-their-kids/
Teen suffocated nephew after he asked to play video games
A Colorado teen girl faces murder charges after she allegedly suffocated her nephew then hid his body inside a closet, according to authorities.
Jennie Bunsom, 16, was identified as the suspect in the death of 7-year-old Jordan Vong, who was reported missing Aug. 6 before his body was found at his Denver home, according to the Denver Post.
Bunsom allegedly killed the boy, who asked her to play video games with him, wrapped his body in a blanket and stuffed it in her bedroom closet.
Police obtained a warrant the next day to enter the family’s home and discovered the boy’s body hidden, according to officials.
“[Bunsom] didn’t tell any of her family what she had done to Jordan because she was afraid,” a probable cause statement obtained by the Denver Post said. “Nor did she tell any of her family where she had hid Jordan.”
The teen girl appeared in court Tuesday morning where it was ruled that she will face first-degree murder charges as an adult.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/08/14/teen-suffocated-nephew-after-he-asked-to-play-video-games-da/