Tag: crime

Woman sets out to solve 100-year-old cold case MURDER of her great-great-grandmother – after her family spent years being plagued by the mysterious death and the wild WITCHY conspiracy theories surrounding it

A woman has set out to investigate the 100-year-old cold case murder that has plagued her family for decades.

Jo Piazza, from Philadelphia, had grown up being told that her great-great-grandmother Lorenza Marsala was killed in Sicily before she could join the rest of the family on their move to America.

The mom-of-three, who is an author and podcast creator, was forced to unravel a whole host of wild theories about the death – including speculation that the village had turned on her because she was a witch or that she owned land the mafia wanted to get their hands on.

Jo said that members of her family had tried to warn her off delving into the case at the risk of ‘opening old wounds’ – but she was undeterred. 

The intriguing tale began after Jo’s father passed away back in 2015.

She was pregnant at the time, newly married, had recently relocated and lost her job, telling Today: ‘I didn’t have time to grieve… All of it is a blur.’

The doting daughter was forced to clear out some of his belongings so her mom could have a fresh start – with one item being his computer.

But Jo came to regret throwing it out after coming across some emails from her dad when she was cleaning out her inbox a few years later.

She said that she had responded to most of them at the time but there were a handful that had gone unopened.

‘One caught my eye. It was his grandfather’s birth certificate. He had remarked on the fact that the mother’s name, Lorenza, was so beautiful. “She was the one who was murdered,” he reminded me in all caps,’ she shared.

Jo revealed that her father had become ‘obsessed’ with discovering the truth about her death – even making several trips back to the island.

However, he eventually had to limit his research to that which she could do online after suffering a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

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In California and Elsewhere, Fear of Crime Drives the Surveillance State

Did somebody say something about never letting a crisis go to waste? That may well have been on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mind when he announced the installation of hundreds of surveillance cameras in Oakland to address public concerns about crime. Whether or not robberies and assaults decline because of police monitoring, you can bet those cameras will remain in place long after everybody has forgotten the reason for their existence.

“Building on public safety investments in Oakland and the East Bay, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has entered into a contract with Flock Safety to install a network of approximately 480 high-tech cameras in the City of Oakland and on state freeways in the East Bay to combat criminal activity and freeway violence,” the governor’s office announced Mar 29.

The surveillance plan essentially bypasses local authorities, involving a contract between the California Highway Patrol and Flock Safety to install and maintain 290 cameras along surface streets and 190 cameras along state highways. Still, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, a Democrat, embraced the announcement, saying “this new camera network will help us stop crime and hold more suspects accountable.”

Discussing crime rates is a good way to start an argument. Data is self-reported by law enforcement agencies and always about a year out of date. Polling finds a majority of Americans concerned about crime, while the FBI reports most violent crimes declining as of 2022 (the most recent data) after a surge during the chaos of 2020 that broke from decades of declining rates. Robbery and property crimes, on the other hand, spiked upwards, according to the FBI. Evidence suggests further reductions in violence in 2023, though the data isn’t yet complete.

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Two Chicago Men Accused of Luring Children for Sexual Abuse Released Thanks to No-Bail, SAFE-T Act

Two men arrested for allegedly trying to lure children into a van were let go after a Chicago area judge released them under the impression that the recently posted no-bail SAFE-T Act prevented the men from being held.

The two men detained by police in Cicero were also charged with violating parole and probation, according to CWB Chicago.

The two suspects, Kenchi Edwards, 60, and Kraig McCauley, 55, allegedly tried to lure several 14-year-old children into their van with promises of “games” and the promise of meeting a “famous athlete.”

The children did not get in the van, and the police were called by a parent.

The police soon detained the two men and reportedly found a mattress in the van along with a used crack pipe, “numerous condoms, lubricant and binoculars,” and several open bottles of alcohol.

Then men were arrested and charged with two counts of child luring by a person older than 21 and two counts of attempted child abduction. They are also in trouble over their parole and probation violations.

During their first hearing, though, Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Dale-Schmidt mistakenly advised Judge Susana Ortiz that the offenses were not detainable.

The judge wanted to make special note of the situation.

“I want to note for the record that as to each of these defendants, child luring and attempted child abduction are not enumerated offenses on which the People can seek detention,” Ortiz said, according to court records. “I want to note that attempted animal cruelty is one where detention can be sought but not attempted child abduction, for whatever that’s worth, I want that to be reflected on the record.”

Ortiz then ordered both men to go on electronic ankle monitoring so they could be released. She did, however, bar the men from “free movement” days, which most people on ankle monitors are allowed to have so they can leave their home two times a week.

CWB Chicago asked several sponsors of the law if the SAFE-T Act should have allowed these men to be assigned ankle monitoring and release based on their offenses.

Democrat Rep. Kam Buckner insisted that attempted child abduction is a detainable offense and the two suspects should have been held on those charges.

“Child abduction and attempted child abduction are 100% detention eligible,” Buckner told CWB. “It’s both named in the statute, and even if it wasn’t, there’s a catch all that makes detention eligible for any felony that includes the threat or infliction of great bodily harm or disability or disfigurement.”

Democrat Sen. Elgie Sims, another SAFE-T Act sponsor, agreed that the court was wrong about the case.

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Recommended reading…

Get it HERE.

“Just days before Kurt Cobain’s body was discovered on April 8, 1994, Courtney Love hired private investigator Tom Grant to locate him. In The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain Tom Grant takes readers behind the scenes of the investigation. Here, you can read a day by day account of Grant’s investigation and learn about the evidence for murder regarding Kurt Cobain’s death. There are many new details contained in The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain, including new transcripts of recorded telephone conversations with Courtney Love and others, as well as an updated list of “persons of interest” in the crime. In this book, you will get a clear picture of 1) Why Kurt Cobain was killed and 2) Who is responsible for his death. The book also contains a compelling account of Tom Grant’s struggles to blow the whistle on the botched investigation into Cobain’s death. Did Kurt Cobain really commit suicide? Or was he murdered? You won’t be able to honestly answer that question until you read The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain.”

South LA Man Is 13th To Be Exonerated For Murder In LA County Since 2020

It took only a single eyewitness testimony to convince a jury to wrongfully convict Stephen Patterson to a 50-year life sentence for shooting and killing 16-year-old Yair Oliva in 2005. That witness was 200 yards away, inside her home in South Los Angeles and peering through closed blinds.

Other witnesses contradicted that testimony or could not identify Patterson, who was only 19 at the time. Investigators also ignored that the gun used in Oliva’s killing showed up at another crime scene six weeks later.

But on Wednesday, Patterson was declared innocent after spending nearly half his life behind bars. His exoneration marks the 13th under Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s tenure. According to his office, those 13 people collectively add up to nearly 300 years of wrongful incarceration.

Gascón is running for reelection and touting his work on criminal justice reform that his competitors have criticized as being soft on crime.

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US Navy Veteran Who Feds Say Rammed FBI Headquarters Had QAnon-Linked Online Presence

A former Navy submarine technician was arrested after law enforcement says he drove an SUV into the FBI headquarters near Atlanta on Monday afternoon. It is still unclear why the suspect, Ervin Lee Bolling, attempted to force entry into the headquarters, but research conducted by the nonpartisan public-interest nonprofit Advance Democracy and shared exclusively with WIRED has found that accounts believed to be associated with Bolling shared numerous conspiracy theories on social media platforms, including X and Facebook.

Just after noon on Monday, Bolling rammed his burnt-orange SUV with South Carolina license plates into the final barrier at FBI Atlanta’s headquarters, wrote Matthew Upshaw, an FBI agent assigned to the Atlanta office, in a sworn affidavit on Tuesday. Upshaw added that after Bolling crashed the SUV, he left the car and tried to follow an FBI employee into the secure parking lot. When agents instructed Bolling to sit on a curb, he refused and tried again to enter the premises. The affidavit also stated that Bolling resisted arrest when agents subsequently tried to detain him.

Bolling was charged on Tuesday with destruction of government property, according to court records reviewed by WIRED.

Advance Democracy researchers identified an account on X with the handle @alohatiger11, a reference to the Clemson University mascot which Bolling has expressed support for on his public Facebook page. The handle is similar to usernames on other platforms like Telegram and Cash App, and also bears similarities to a Facebook page with Bolling’s name. The profile picture used in the X account also resembles a picture of the same man shown in Bolling’s public Facebook profile. The X account is currently set to private, but dozens of its old posts are still publicly viewable through the Internet Archive.

In December 2020, the X account responded to a post about a federal government stimulus bill that stated, “Wonder what it will take for people to wake up.” The X account believed to be associated with Bolling responded, “I’m awake. Just looking for a good militia to join.”

Around the same time, social media accounts seemingly associated with Bolling repeatedly boosted QAnon content and interacted with QAnon promoters, including by posting a link to a now-deleted QAnon-associated YouTube channel alongside the comment: “Release the Kraken”—in direct reference to Sidney Powell’s failed legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

On what’s believed to be Bolling’s Facebook account, there were various posts related to anti-vaccine memes as well.

The accounts also posted in support of former president Donald Trump. In December 2020, “I love you” was posted in response to a post on X from Trump that falsely claimed the election had been rigged by Democrats.

Courtney Bolling, who is identified as the suspect’s wife on Facebook, did not respond to requests for comment via phone or messages sent to her social media profiles. No legal counsel is listed on record for Bolling.

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Illegal immigrant squatters released without bail after arrest on drug, gun charges near Bronx school

Six of the illegal immigrant squatters who were arrested last week in the Bronx have been released without bail, sparking outrage and raising concerns about public safety in the neighborhood.

The eight squatters were apprehended on charges of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and acting in a manner injurious to a child. On the property, located next to a school, authorities found a seven-year-old child in the basement.

Hector Desousa-Villalta, who allegedly brandished a gun on the property, was released on supervised release by a Bronx Criminal Court judge, despite the district attorney’s request for bail set at $150,000 cash or $450,000 bond. Subsequently, five more squatters were released after their arraignments, according to the New York Post.

Despite the severity of the charges, the six individuals were granted release without bail, with law enforcement failing to clarify why some men were being held and others were let go. 

The lack of clarity surrounding the rationale behind some individuals’ release while others remain in custody, despite facing identical charges, has added to the frustration. Neighbors, who had witnessed the troubling events unfold, expressed their frustration with the entire situation.

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NHS hippy crack heists: Hospitals are warned thieves are now stealing nitrous oxide ‘laughing’ gas to order – after law change made the canisters illegal

Nitrous oxide suppliers have warned the NHS to review their security after a spike in incidents of thefts since the gas was banned and reclassified as a class C drug.

BOC, the UK’s leading supplier of medicinal gasses, sent a letter to NHS staff revealing they have ‘received a number of reports of thefts related to medical nitrous oxide cylinders in recent weeks’.

The firm warned: ‘In light of the recent reclassification of nitrous oxide under the Misuse of Drugs Act, we feel it is important to draw your attention to the possibility that legitimate users of medical nitrous oxide may become a target of further thefts.’

In the letter, which MailOnline has seen, the supplier urged NHS hospitals and their customers to review their medical gas cylinder security to deter any potential misuse or theft.

It comes after a new law introduced in November classified nitrous oxide as a Class C drug and made it illegal to possess it for the purpose of getting high.

But youngsters were undeterred and vowed to carry on using it, with their demand now fueling cannister thefts from NHS hospitals across the country.

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Police Take 4 Hours to Respond to Looting of Walgreens in San Francisco

Underscoring how the problem has become so endemic, police waited four hours before bothering to respond to the looting of a Walgreens in San Francisco, at which point the store was closed anyway.

Video shot by a producer at CBS San Francisco who was shopping with his girlfriend shows a number of black youths wearing masks sweeping through the store, thieving items and throwing them into bags before leaving.

The group didn’t care that they were being recorded by surveillance cameras or the CBS producer filming them on his phone.

“End of the day on Easter Sunday should have been pleasant. Instead I was shocked to see looters taking what they pleased with no regard for the law, or those around them, real-life smash and grab,” he said.

The incident happened at the Walgreens store at 9th and Market Streets at about 4:30pm on Easter Sunday.

However, the police didn’t even bother to respond until over four hours later.

“San Francisco police said in an emailed statement that officers responded at about 8:38 p.m. to a report of a group of people stealing from a business on the 1300 block of Market Street. Officers arrived to find the business was closed and no one was there to report the incident,” reports CBS News.

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Three Pennsylvania men who have spent decades in prison for rape and murder of elderly woman in her home have their convictions overturned

Three Pennsylvania men who were imprisoned for decades in the 1997 slaying of a 70-year-old woman – despite their DNA never matching that found at the scene – have had their convictions overturned by a judge.

The Delaware County judge threw out the convictions for Derrick Chappell – who was 15 when he was arrested – and first cousins Morton Johnson and Sam Grasty. The District Attorney is now reviewing the case to see if a new trial is necessary.  

Chappel, Johnson, and Grasty were each convicted in separate trials for the murder of Henrietta Nickens, a 70 year old woman who was brutally killed at her home in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 1997.

Nickens was savagely beaten and had had her underwear removed. Investigators found her home ransacked and blood on the walls and bedding. 

A mysterious green jacket, in the pocket of which was cocaine, was found on top of Nickens’ television set.

Investigators discovered semen in the woman’s rectum. They tested the semen and found that it didn’t belong to any of the three arrested individuals.

The prosecutors, who have been characterized as pugnacious, sought to separate the recovered semen from the crime. They affirmed that the semen might have originated from consensual intercourse and was unrelated to the murder. 

Nickens had been chronically ill and had no known sexual partners. 

The prosecution’s case against Chappel, Johnson, and Grastly hinged on the testimony of key witness Richard McElwee, who was 15 years old at the time of the crime.

McElwee testified that he functioned as a lookout while the three older boys pilfered Nickens of $30.

In exchange for his testimony, McElwee pled guilty to third-degree murder, as well as other charges. He was sentenced to serve six to 12 years in prison in 1999.

In 2000 and 2001, Chappel, Johnson, and Grasty were each convicted of second-degree murder, and they were sentenced to life in prison.

Over the course of their more than two decades-long prison stint, the three men have continued to protest their innocence.

Each of them filed pro se petitions in federal court over the years saying they were wrongly convicted, but their petitions were denied.

The fate of Chappel, Johnson, and Grasty drew the attention of many organizations dedicated to freeing wrongly convicted men and women.

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