Counselor at Westdale Middle found dead after misconduct texting allegations

Authorities say the Westdale Middle staffer died at a shuttered school campus as an arrest warrant was issued the same day. BATON ROUGE, La. — A Westdale Middle Magnet School counselor was found dead Wednesday inside an unused building at the former Glen Oaks Middle School, hours after a warrant was filed accusing him of sending inappropriate messages to a 14-year-old former student, police said. The death closes a fast-moving case that roiled a Baton …

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Woodstock police hunt suspect in fatal shooting of 18-year-old

Investigators say a brief gunfight occurred inside the Riverstock Apartments, where an 18-year-old was found shot Monday evening. WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Police are searching for the person who shot and killed 18-year-old Matthew “Pete” Milner inside his unit at the Riverstock Apartments around 5:30 p.m. Monday, authorities said. Officers found Milner wounded after a 911 call and he later died at a hospital. Detectives with the Woodstock Police Department say evidence points to an exchange …

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Judge imposes 45-year term in Portland gunpoint rape case

Damani Anderson, 19, admitted to a series of assaults after luring victims online, prosecutors said. PORTLAND, Ore. — A Multnomah County judge on Thursday sentenced Damani Anderson to 45 years in prison for a series of rapes and kidnappings that prosecutors said he carried out after contacting women and girls on social media and dating apps and forcing four at gunpoint. The sentence capped a plea and sentencing process that moved quickly this month. Anderson …

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Police: Florida mom suffocated son, then stabbed herself

Police say Diana Elizabeth Cullom suffocated her 4-year-old son with a plastic bag inside the family’s northeast St. Petersburg home. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A judge on Wednesday ordered Diana Elizabeth Cullom held without bond and barred her from contacting her teenage daughter after police accused the 43-year-old mother of killing her 4-year-old son at their home on Tanglewood Drive NE. Officers were called around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday after the 16-year-old returned from school and …

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O.C. dancer accused in 55-year-old boyfriend’s decapitation

Authorities say a San Ysidro border handoff brought an Anaheim murder suspect back from Mexico. ANAHEIM, Calif. — After five months on the run, a 23-year-old woman accused of decapitating her boyfriend was arrested in Mexico and transferred to Orange County to face a murder charge, investigators said Thursday. Officials identified the suspect as Alyssa Marie Lira of Anaheim. The victim, 55-year-old Enrique Gonzalez-Carbajal, was found Aug. 25 in Lira’s home during a welfare check, …

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Groom indicted for murder in fatal wedding shooting of stepfather

Aaron White is charged with felony murder in the death of his bride’s stepfather, Jason Maughon, during a Butts County wedding. JACKSON, Ga. — A Butts County grand jury has indicted Aaron White, 33, on felony murder and aggravated assault in the July 2024 shooting death of his bride’s stepfather, 44-year-old Jason Daniel Maughon, at the couple’s wedding in rural Georgia, authorities said Thursday. Prosecutors say new ballistics testing and a site visit led them …

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Two dead, one arrested after SUV with suspected burglars hits Broward lake

Officials say a 21-year-old survived and was arrested; two men, ages 20 and 22, were found dead in the water. DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — The Broward Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday identified three suspected car burglars tied to a pre-dawn crash that sent an SUV into a Deerfield Beach lake on Tuesday, killing two occupants and leaving a third under arrest on multiple burglary charges. Investigators said the incident began just before 4 a.m. on Tuesday, …

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Oklahoma teen detained after mother discovered dead in neighborhood trash bin

Officials say 49-year-old Spring Weems was discovered outside her home; one of her adopted sons is held on a murder complaint. LOGAN COUNTY, Okla. — State and county investigators on Thursday identified the woman found in a trash bin outside a home near Edmond as Spring Weems, 49. One of her adopted teenage sons is being held at a juvenile facility on a first-degree murder complaint while detectives continue interviews and await autopsy results. Authorities …

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Son interrupts attack, saves 71-year-old father in Houston robbery

Surveillance video shows the suspect placing the older man in a chokehold before the son intervenes at a southwest Houston complex. HOUSTON — A 71-year-old man was assaulted during a robbery outside his southwest Houston apartment this week, police said, until his adult son sprinted into the frame and forced the attacker to let go. The suspect fled moments later as neighbors looked on. Houston police said the case is being investigated as an aggravated …

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Police probe shooting of Berkeley man investigating blaring car alarm

The shooting, revisited by a local investigative program, remains unsolved. BERKELEY, Mo. — A man wounded by gunfire after stepping outside to check his car alarm is still waiting for answers, as Berkeley police review tips and area video in an aggravated assault case that drew renewed attention this month. The incident occurred late at night near Thanksgiving several years ago, according to the man and family members interviewed in the broadcast. The victim, identified …

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