Tag: murder

‘I Didn’t Ask For This’: Second Daughter of Accused Serial Killer Speaks Out

SUSAN STUDEY HAS been wanting to defend her father’s reputation since her sister Lucy Studey’s claims that he was a serial killer blew up in the news more than a month ago. “The entire time, I knew it wasn’t true,” Susan tells Rolling Stone. 

In October, Lucy said in an explosive Newsweek interview that she believed her father, Donald Dean Studey, had murdered as many as 70 of people over three decades and buried them on the family property in the Green Hollow area of Southwest Iowa. Law enforcement had opened an investigation, lending credence to her claims, and an initial sweep of the property with cadaver dogs had indicated that human remains could be present. 

At the time, members of the sheriff’s department told the press they believed human remains were buried where Lucy said they were. “I believe her 100 percent that there’s bodies in there,” Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said in Newsweek. “It’s hard for me to believe that two dogs would hit in the exact same places and be false. We don’t know what it is. The settlers were up there. There was Indian Country up there as well, but I tend to believe Lucy.” Furthermore, Deputy Michael Wake told local news station KMTV that he’d grown up in the area hearing stories about “bodies in a well,” so he thought Lucy’s claims were “worth looking into.” 

As law enforcement agencies prepared to dig for potential remains, the story took off. Donald Studey, who died in 2013, was suddenly all over the internet. On TikTok, #donalddeanstudey drew 3.2 million views on videos from true crime accounts sharing the story of the investigation and the cadaver dogs’ hits. Susan told Newsweek her sister had made it up, but the story was already spreading, bolstered by the sheriff department’s confidence in the investigation. Now, law enforcement has declared they’ve found no bodies, and Susan, 55, who asked to be identified with her maiden name Studey, has spoken exclusively with Rolling Stone, rebutting her sister’s allegations.

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Idaho Police Warn of ‘Criminal Charges’ for Web Sleuths Engaged in ‘Harassing’ Amid ‘Misinformation’

Police urged the internet’s true crime community to tone things down Friday, nearly four weeks after the unsolved slayings of four University of Idaho students captured national attention.

“Investigators have been monitoring online activity related to this ongoing and active case and are aware of the large amount of rumors and misinformation being shared as well as harassing and threatening behavior toward potentially involved parties,” Moscow police said in a statement Friday afternoon.

They did not identify the “potentially involved parties.”

Police say Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were killed in a rental house on King Road just steps off campus between 3 and 4 a.m. on Nov. 13.

Closing in on a month later, police have not publicly named any suspects or persons of interest – and they released few details before Wednesday, when they asked the public for help finding the occupant or occupants of a white 2011 to 2013 Hyundai Elantra seen near the victims’ home around the time of the slayings.

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Alleged satanic cult killer Ethan Myers arrested after chilling ‘human sacrifice’

Three people believed to be satanic cult members have been arrested for the gruesome alleged murder of a woman as part of a “human sacrifice”.

Sarah Hopson was found brutally slain at her mobile home in Texas, USA, last Sunday during a welfare check, according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

The 36-year-old had allegedly been bashed in the head with a rock, while her fingers, toes and ears had been cut off and placed in a plastic bag.

She had large wounds to the right side of her head and forehead, while her lifeless body was reportedly wrapped up in a carpet.

Police arrested Ethan Kyle Myers, 26, on Thursday, after two people – who were also arrested in connection to the murder – asked police to check on the woman.

The pair, Allen Price and Teresa Louviere, reportedly told officers that “Ethan Myers had done something to Sarah Hopson”.

They allegedly told officers that he was staying in their home and had been “acting strange” before fleeing their house covered in blood.

Mr. Price reportedly also told police that Ethan had been involved in “cult activity”.

This claim was also backed up by Ethan’s mother, who allegedly revealed to officers that her son was “hearing voices” and was “satanic” and that he was hiding out in the woods to avoid being arrested.

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California megachurch leader, grandparents charged with murder, torture in death of 11-year-old daughter

A California megachurch leader and her parents have been arrested on charges including murder and torture in the death of the woman’s 11-year-old daughter.

Leticia McCormack, a leader at Rock Church in San Diego, founded and led by former NFL player Miles McPherson, was booked in jail Monday on a charge of murder, three counts of torture, and three counts of willful cruelty to a child in the death of Arabella McCormack, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office reported.

On Thursday, McCormack’s leadership profile had been removed from the megachurch’s website.

Arabella was initially fostered before being adopted by Brian and Leticia McCormack, officials said.

The 49-year-old church elder’s father, Stanley Tom, 75, was also charged with murder, three counts of torture, and three counts of willful cruelty to a child, according to a news release from the department. Arabella’s grandmother Adella Tom, 70, was booked on three counts of torture and three counts of willful cruelty to a child.

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JonBenet Ramsey Murder Now Under Investigation By Cold Case Team Examining DNA Remnants

In yet another effort to discover the murderer of 6-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey, who was found bludgeoned and strangled in her family’s basement in 1996, local police are now going to work with a review team to use new technology to find the killer.

The girl was reported missing the day after Christmas 1996 after JonBenet’s mother Patsy found a handwritten ransom note demanding nearly $118,000; her father John found her body later that day. For years, John, as well as Patsy, who died of cancer in 2006, were suspected by the public of killing their daughter, but in 2008 they were officially cleared.

“The amount of DNA evidence available for analysis is extremely small and complex. The sample could, in whole or in part, be consumed by DNA testing,” the Boulder Police Department and Boulder County District Attorney’s Office stated in a news release.

“The Boulder Police Department will be consulting with the Colorado Cold Case Review Team in 2023. The Cold Case Review Team is comprised of professional investigative, analytical, and forensic experts from across the state,” the district attorney’s office added.

Last May, John Ramsey asked Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) to move the case from the Boulder police to an independent agency.

“Anyone who would do this to a child is just beyond sick. He may be still out there, and if he is, he’s probably killed other children,” Ramsey said, according to Inside Edition, adding that new technology should be used to identify his daughter’s killer. “Technology has advanced so far in 25 years, that to not go back and apply the latest technology is just foolish.”

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Mystery as landscapers find car filled with bags of concrete BURIED in backyard of Facebook engineer’s $15m Silicon Valley mansion: Cadaver dogs ‘indicate possible human remains’ in decades-old vehicle as its registered owner is investigated

Police in Silicon Valley are working to unravel a potential murder mystery after a wealthy couple performing renovations on their yard unwittingly dug up a car filled with concrete that also may contain human remains. 

Paul Saab and Christal Condon Saab live in the $15million home with their three young kids. Paul is a software engineer at Facebook and Christal is an angel investor. Records show that they bought the property in 2020. 

Yesterday, while digging up the yard to perform renovations, the couple’s team of contractors discovered a car buried deep in the ground behind the house.  Cadaver dogs were brought in and detected a ‘slight’ possibility of human remains. 

The car was registered to a previous owner of the home and police believe it is from the 1990s. That owner has not yet been named, but police are working to track them down for an interview. 

DailyMail.com has viewed property records which indicate the Lew family lived in the home between 1990 and 2014.  

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Missing Paris girl, 12, found dead in suitcase with numbers ‘placed’ on body

A 12-year-old girl was found stuffed in a suitcase in Paris with her throat slashed and a bizarre, chilling clue — the numbers 1 and 0 “placed” on her corpse, authorities said.

The hands and feet of the French child, who was not named, were bound with tape, and she appeared to have died from asphyxiation, according to Fox News and the Independent.  

At least four people have since been taken into custody for questioning in the case, but no arrests have been announced.

The girl’s parents notified police when their daughter didn’t come home after school in the French capital Friday, the outlet said.

The girl’s father, who is a caretaker in their building, told police he saw his daughter with a woman in her 20s on video footage from the building — with the woman later emerging on the footage carrying a suitcase.Cops later found evidence of a kidnapping in the basement of the building.

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California serial killer: Police arrest man suspected in Stockton murders

Police in Stockton, California announced that a suspect has been arrested in relation to six murders and one shooting since April 2021.

Stockton Police Department Chief Stanley McFadden announced that Wesley Brownlee, 43, was arrested while he was armed and on a “mission to kill” another victim.

McFadden said that police followed Brownlee while he was driving on Saturday morning, and while watching his “patterns,” officers determined that “he was on a mission to kill” and he was “out hunting.”

When police officers made contact with Brownlee at around 2 a.m. after stopping him, they observed he was wearing a mask around his neck with dark clothing, McFadden said, adding that he was armed when taken into custody.

“We are sure we stopped another killing,” McFadden said.

Brownlee was arrested in relation to the fatal shootings of Salvador Debudey Jr., 43; Paul Yaw, 35; Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21; Juan Cruz, 52; and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, which all took place over the last three months.

Police earlier said that the suspect is being linked to several additional incidents dating back to April 2021, which include the shooting of a 46-year-old Black woman  who was unarmed on April 16, in addition to the fatal shooting of a 40-year-old Hispanic man who was also unarmed on April 10.

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MISSING MURDERS: Latest FBI homicide numbers OMIT New York and LA

On Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released their national crime statistics report for 2021. However, that report leaves out key data from Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and other high-crime locales.

That report revealed that the murder rate had increased compared to the previous year.

According to a press release, the estimated number of murders nationwide increased from 22,000 in 2020 to 22,900 in 2021, a 4.3 percent jump.

The FBI explained that while murder and rape went up in 2021, robbery was down 8.9 percent, balancing things out, which they say resulted in a relatively consistent violent and property crime rate compared to 2020.

“It is important to note that these estimated trends are not considered statistically significant by NIBRS estimation methods,” they wrote, adding that “the nonsignificant nature of the observed trends is why, despite these described changes, the overall message is that crime remained consistent.”

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, however, the FBI’s latest report should be viewed with caution for a number of reasons.

Firstly, they explained, law enforcement agencies across the country have had to transition to the new National Incident Based Reporting System, which not all have done.

This has left sizable gaps in the reporting, including a lack of information from places known for having a higher than average crime rate.

Among the areas that have not switched over to the new system, and thus were not included in the 2021 report, are New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, which has stated that they don’t plan on making the shift until 2025.

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North Dakota official says ‘no evidence’ supports suspect’s claim teen was Republican ‘extremist’

A North Dakota official said that there’s “no evidence” supporting Shannon Brandt’s claim that 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson was part of a “Republican extremist group” before he allegedly used his car to hit the teenager, who later died.

Brandt, 41, is being charged with criminal vehicular homicide, as well as leaving the scene of a crash involving a death after the incident in the early Sunday morning hours. He was held in the Stutsman County Jail until Tuesday, when he posted a $50,000 bond and was released.

The incident happened after a “street dance” in McHenry, North Dakota and Brandt told state first responders’ radio that he struck the pedestrian with an SUV because the pedestrian was threatening him,” a probable-cause affidavit states. The document also states that Brandt fled the scene, but later returned and called 911.

Brandt also thought that Ellingson was part of a “Republican extremist group,” and then allegedly hit him, according to the court document. 

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