Tag: u.s. & world
Man who murdered college student transported body in Lyft vehicle
A Philadelphia man is charged in the murder of a Temple University student and is accused of transporting her body to his apartment using a Lyft car.
Joshua Hupperterz, 29, of Philadelphia, was charged Sunday with the murder of 22-year-old Jenna Burleigh, who had been missing since early Thursday morning. He was also charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and possession of an instrument of crime. Investigators said on Saturday he had admitted to elements of the crime. A coroner said Burleigh died from blunt trauma and strangulation. The manner of her death has been ruled a homicide.
Burleigh, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, was last seen in the area of Pub Webb near Temple University’s campus around 2 a.m. Thursday. Police believe Burleigh and Hupperterz had just met before they left from the bar. Investigators say there is no indication of a prior relationship between the two.
Police said in a statement released Sunday morning, “Hupperterz informed him that he had been so drunk when he left the bar he had no recollection of who he had been with.”
Police sources say Hupperterz transported Burleigh’s body using a vehicle operated by Lyft between two residences.
Investigators processed a vehicle with a Lyft sticker late Saturday afternoon at police headquarters.
“Lyft” released a statement:
“The allegations are devastating. We stand ready to work with the authorities in their investigation.”
On Saturday afternoon, police discovered a body believed to be Burleigh on the lakefront property of Hupperterz’s grandmother in Paupack Township.
Police believe Burleigh was murdered in Philadelphia, then her body was transported to the Jenkintown home, then to Wayne County.
Sources say Hupperterz’s roommate told police he came home to cleaning products and it appeared someone tried to clean up blood.
Our sister station WPVI learned that after a search warrant was executed, blood and drugs were found inside.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said, “We still have a lot of work to do to include trying to figure out, who else may have been involved.”
Burleigh had just started at Temple. A longtime neighbor of the Harleysville native says she was always looking out for others.
“She was a great person, always happy, always energetic. She would advocate for anything you could think of, she was all about equality,” said Julie Hiltner of Lower Salford Township, Pa.
Hupperterz is a former Temple student. Court documents show he was charged with DUI, theft and burglary in 2013.
Charges against other individuals are possible, police said.
Burleigh’s father reacted to the news of her death on his Facebook page Saturday afternoon.
In a statement, the Temple Student Government said:
Those that knew Jenna described her as “big hearted,” “hilarious,” “fiercely feminist,” “unapologetically herself,” and “an incredibly woke young woman.” She spent much of her time combating racism and sexism, as well as defending the rights for LGBTQIA+ community.
Four charged in vicious Albion child abuse investigation
ALBION — Just one meal a day, doused with hot sauce.
That’s what four Albion adults allegedly allowed a 10-year-old child who the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office says was forced to work outside all day without food, water or bathroom access, tied to the back of a vehicle and dragged, and subjected to repeated physical abuse with what the suspects referred to as “the beating stick.”
Gary Bubis Jr., 37, Shawn Whaley, 23, and Brandy Shaver, 18, all of 393 Albion Cross Road, Albion, face second-degree assault charges.
The 34-year-old mother of the 10-year-old faces a count of endangering the welfare of a child in connection to the investigation, which also involves a 3-year-old who still suffers burn wounds from Bubis allegedly forcing its hand into a container of scalding water, deputies said.
According to the sheriff’s office, the 10-year-old fled to a neighbor’s residence Wednesday morning, reporting harrowing allegations of physical abuse since at least April.
“After seeing the condition of the child, (the neighbor) immediately called 911,” said Undersheriff Eugene Sullivan in an interview.
Deputies responded at 11 a.m. and noticed the alleged victim had suffered physical injuries warranting immediate medical attention, Sullivan said.
The 10-year-old was admitted and remains at Golisano Children’s Hospital, Sullivan said, where further investigation allegedly revealed injuries that corroborated the child’s accusations.
Deputies say the 10-year-old was the target of repeated abuse by the adults: Whereas other children in the house were allegedly given regular meals, clothing and proper bedding, the 10-year-old was allegedly deprived of food, slept on a couch, worked outside all day clearing brush at the property and hadn’t been allowed a bath for almost a month.
The sheriff’s office said a 12-year-old at the home was an unwilling participant in the alleged abuse, forced to beat the 10-year-old with a makeshift device the suspects called “the beating stick,” which deputies said was tightly rolled up newspaper wrapped in electrical tape.
The 10-year-old was allegedly struck with open hands, closed fists and kicked repeatedly in alleged abuse that escalated for months, according to the sheriff’s office, which notes the investigation is ongoing and more charges are likely.
The assault charges for Whaley and Shaver stem from a recent incident in which they allegedly took the 10-year-old to Happy Valley Game Management Park in the middle of the night and “forced (the child) to run with weighted backpacks,” according to a sheriff’s office press release.
“The victim was followed and struck by the motor vehicle for running too slow,” deputies wrote. “The victim was tied to the rear of the vehicle by a rope for running too slow and was dragged.”
The assault charge for Bubis stems from allegations he forced a 3-year-old’s hand into a container of hot water. The child’s hand still showed injuries Wednesday and it remains unclear whether the child ever received medical attention after the alleged incident, according to deputies.
Bubis, Whaley and Shaver were arraigned early Thursday morning in Williamstown Town Court, according to chief assistant district attorney Mark Moody.
All were remanded to the Oswego County Correctional Facility in lieu of Moody’s recommended bail of $25,000 cash or $50,000 bond.
The mother was released on her own recognizance and her next court date was unavailable by press time.
Whaley and Shaver must appear in Williamstown Town Court Sept. 9 at 7 p.m., while Bubis is due in Albion Town Court Sept. 18 at 6 p.m.
Moody noted a Williamstown judge issued an order of protection barring the defendants from any contact with the alleged victims.
Sullivan said it was his understanding the children who lived in the home have been taken in by relatives.
Anyone with more information is urged to contact investigators at 315-349-3411.
UNDERCOVER AGENTS FIND REGISTERED CHURCH TO BE SEX CLUB
Undercover inspectors have determined that a building registered as a church was being operated as a sex club.
WTVF-TV reports that the city of Nashville has filed a complaint against the owners for “maintaining a public nuisance by permitting acts of lewd conduct” and violating a state law banning sex clubs from operating within 1,000 feet of a school.
The longtime downtown swingers club underwent a conversion in 2015 when it relocated to a run-down office park in the community of Madison, calling itself a church because the new location is near the back of the private Goodpasture Christian School.
Two codes inspectors paid $40 to enter the facility in March and filed affidavits detailing sex acts they witnessed within.
The city is seeking to close the club.
via: http://abc7chicago.com/news/undercover-agents-find-registered-church-to-be-sex-club/1988838/
BOY, 8, BULLIED AT SCHOOL DAYS BEFORE KILLING HIMSELF
The 8-year-old hanged himself with a necktie in the bedroom of his Cincinnati home on Jan. 26. School officials called the boy’s mother the day her son was bullied and said he had fainted, attorney Carla Leader told The Associated Press.
“They didn’t tell her the whole story,” Leader said. “The school also said his vitals were fine and he was alert.”
The mother learned of the bullying and the surveillance video after her attorneys obtained a Cincinnati police investigative file over her son’s death. The file included a copy of a Feb. 3 email from a homicide detective to an assistant principal at Carson Elementary School and other Cincinnati school officials describing what he saw on the video obtained from the school district’s security department.
Cincinnati Public Schools, in a statement issued Thursday, did not address the allegation that officials at the elementary school didn’t tell the boy’s mother what had happened. School district spokeswoman Janet Walsh said the detective “mischaracterized the events in the video,” the existence of which was first reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Leader said she watched the surveillance video and that it shows another boy acting aggressively toward students. When the 8-year-old approached him and tried to shake his hand, the boy threw him against the wall, knocking him unconscious, Leader said.
Other students stepped over the boy while others poked him with their feet as he lay unconscious for 7 minutes before an assistant principal and then a school nurse came to his aid, Leader said. The mother came to get the 8-year-old after the school called her.
The mother took him to a hospital that evening after the boy vomited and complained of stomach pains. Doctors said he had a stomach virus and sent him home. Neither doctors nor the boy’s mother knew what had happened earlier that day, her attorneys said.
The ages of the other children involved or present at the attack were not immediately available. The elementary school’s website shows that it serves children from prekindergarten through the sixth grade and has 750 students.
The Cincinnati Public School statement provides a different version of events. It says that “while we are concerned about the length of time that (the boy) lay motionless and the lack of adult supervision at the scene,” school administrators followed protocol by having the nurse evaluate him. The boy’s mother was asked to pick him up and take him to a hospital “to be checked out,” the statement said.
The mother’s attorneys said her sister, who was caring for the boy while she was at work that night, called to tell her the boy had been vomiting.
Leader described the boy as a “happy-go-lucky kid” who had shown no signs of mental issues. Leader said the boy came home from school on Jan. 26, spoke with his mother and went into his bedroom. She later discovered him hanging from his bunk bed.
The email from the homicide detective, which was shared with The Associated Press, describes what he saw in the surveillance video. The detective said it appeared that the “primary agitator” hit one child in the stomach, sending him to the floor on hands and knees. The 8-year-old then approached the aggressor and tried to shake his hand but was pulled to the floor, the detective wrote.
The aggressor “appears to celebrate and rejoice in his behavior as (the boy) lay motionless. For many minutes, many students step over, point, mock, nudge, kick” the boy, the email said.
The detective told school officials that while he had concerns about the bullying, which could be considered a criminal assault, he added that the school would be better suited to handle the situation because of the children’s ages.
Meanwhile, the coroner has reopened its investigation into the boy’s suicide, and his school district is expected to release video showing the incident.
A Hamilton County coroner’s office spokesman said Friday that new evidence has prompted the reopening of the case, but he wouldn’t say what that evidence is.
A Cincinnati schools spokeswoman says the video might be released Friday.
WOMAN CLAIMS FITBIT EXPLODED ON HER WRIST ” I got pieces of plastic burned into my arm”
Diana Mitchell had only owned her Fitbit Flex 2 for two weeks when the alleged incident occurred as she was reading a book. She said there was no indication that there was anything wrong with the device.
“The Fitbit itself is totally melted. The bracelet melted, and I got pieces of plastic burned into my arm,” she told WTMJ-TV.
Mitchell said her doctor had to pick pieces of plastic out of her wound. A local emergency care provider confirmed that Mitchell was treated the day after she said the explosion occurred.
The Fitbit does come with a warning, cautioning consumers that “the device contains electrical equipment that could cause injury if not handled properly.”
Fitbit officials have issued a statement saying that they are investigating the incident. They said they are not aware of any similar complaints.
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.