Cmerkwan

27-year-old cold case murder solved

2008-12-17T02:54:48Z

The New York Times reported that the murder case of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old that influenced the show “America’s Most Wanted,�? was solved on Tuesday.
“Today is a reaffirmation of the fact that he didn’t die in vain,�? an emotional Adam’s father and host of “America’s Most Wanted�? John Walsh said. “For all the other victims who haven’t gotten justice, I say one thing: ‘Don’t give up hope.’ �? (NY Times).
MSNBC reported that the killer was Ottis Toole, a serial killer who died in prison ten years ago (NY Times reported he died in 1996); Toole was in prison because he was a convicted serial killer (MSNBC and NY Times). According to Toole’s niece, Toole confessed he killed Walsh’s son on his death bed (MSNBC).
"Who could take a 6-year-old and murder and decapitate him? Who?" Walsh said at Tuesday's news conference. "We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey's over." (MSNBC).
Adam went missing on July 27, 1981, his decapitated head was found two weeks later and the rest of his body was never found (NY Times).
Chief Chadwick E. Wagner of the Hollywood Police Department said he regretted that the case had not been closed earlier. “This is a day that’s long overdue,�? he said. “This case could have been closed years ago.�? (NY Times).
Wagner admitted the department made mistakes in the investigation of Adam’s death. Authorities lost the bloodstained carpeting in Toole's car — preventing DNA testing — and the car itself (MSNBC).
MSNBC reported that Toole confessed to killing Adam twice but recanted it. In October 1983, Toole told the police that he had abducted Adam from the mall and decapitated him (NY Times).
Wagner said announcing the case closed on Tuesday was not the result of anything new. “What was there was everything that was in front of our face for years,�? he said (NY Times).
After learning of his son’s death, Walsh helped put faces on milk cartons, shopping bags and mailbox fliers, started fingerprinting programs and increased security at schools and stores to help other missing children (MSNBC). Also, Walsh started the program “America’s Most Wanted�? and was the host of the show (MSNBC).
The killer, Toole, was a partner of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Toole was serving five life sentences for murder when he died of liver failure at the age of 49 (MSNBC).
"We believed for years that Ottis Toole killed Adam," Walsh said (MSNBC).

Sister of missing NW Minnesota woman dies in car crash

2008-12-13T16:27:23Z

The Star Tribune reported Gina Anderson’s, who has been missing since Oct. 23, younger sister died in a car crash on Sunday.
"The family is in agony," said Eric Pagel, who is married to the Lappegaards' middle daughter, Jackie, 29. "They feel they're being picked on -- that God doesn't like them."(Star Tribune).
Anderson’s sister, Jill Lappegaard, was 22. The sisters are from Thief River Falls and Lappegaard was living with her parents (Grand Forks Herald).
Along with Anderson’s other sister, Jackie Pagel of Minnetonka, Lappegaard was helping the fundraisers to help find Anderson (Grand Forks Herald).
The family buried Lappegaard on Wednesday, and they continued with the benefit for Anderson, 32, which Lappengaard helped plan (Star Tribune).
The benefit will go on, said Steve Lappegaard, but he and his wife won’t be able to attend now (Grand Forks Herald).
"They knew Jill would want it that way," Pagel said. "She worked so hard on it." (Star Tribune).
Anderson was last seen Oct. 23 by a construction worker, leaving her house in her yellow car at 2:30 pm (Star Tribune). Anderson left behind her purse, credit cards, passport and anti-seizure medication (Star Tribune).
Anderson’s husband, Jeremy Anderson, has been ruled out as a suspect by Thief River Falls police investigator Jim Van Schaick. "We didn't suspect him to begin with because we established he'd been where he said he was that day," Van Schaick said. "But we offered him the polygraph anyway, to formally clear him and prevent any rumors." (Star Tribune).
Lappengaard was driving to a friend’s house at 1:30 am Sunday; she was not wearing a seatbelt when the accident happened and she was ejected through the windshield (Star Tribune). The accident was a single-car accident, and authorities are not sure what caused the accident (Grand Forks Herald and Star Tribune).
"I couldn't believe it," Van Schaick said. "One daughter missing, and one dead. It goes beyond what most people could handle." (Star Tribune).

Governors’ offices around the country receiving envelopes with white powder

2008-12-11T15:31:10Z

The Star Tribune reported that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty office received a letter with an unknown powder on Monday; a spokesman for the Governor said the powder was harmless.
Alaska’s Gov. Sarah Palin’s office also received a similar letter on Tuesday, making it the eighth letter containing the powder and postmarked from Texas (USA Today). The letter was addressed to Palin's predecessor Gov. Frank Murkowski, who left office two years ago (USA Today).
Pawlenty’s office reported that the letter was postmarked specifically from Dallas (Star Tribune).
The other six states that were delivered these letters were Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Rhode Island (USA Today).
In Missouri, a chemical analysis by the state health lab found the powder appeared to be bleached flour, spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said Tuesday (USA Today).

70-year-old East Indian woman gives birth

2008-12-11T14:58:02Z

The Star Tribune reported Tuesday that a New Delhi woman gave birth to her first child at the age of 70.
The mother is Rajo Devi who delivered a baby girl by Caesarean on Nov. 28 (Star Tribune and New York Times Magazine).
“We longed for a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one,�? Devi told the The Hindustan Times.
Devi and her husband of 50 years have been trying to have a baby but never having success; she entered menopause 20 years ago (NY Times Magazine).
The Hindustan Times reports Devi as the oldest woman to ever give birth, the former title holder being Adriana Iliescu, a Romanian give birth at the age of 67 in 2006. (The Star Tribune reported that Iliescu was 66 and gave birth in 2005 rather than 2006).The Star Tribune reported that it is difficult to confirm that Devi is the oldest woman to give birth because Devi does not have a birth certificate.
The baby was conceived through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): a donor egg that was injected with Devi’s 72-year-old husband’s sperm (NY Times Magazine).
“Rajo Devi and Bala Ram approached the Centre for treatment and the embryo transfer was done on April 19. The baby girl was born on November 28. Both the mother and child are in good health,�? Dr Anurag Bishnoi said (Hindustan Times).

New York teacher binds black students during history lesson on slavery

2008-12-06T18:45:24Z

The Star Tribune reported that a white social studies teacher discussing slavery to a seventh-grade class bound the hands and feet of two black girls. The New York Daily News reported that the teacher also made the girls crawl under desks representing slave ships.
“My daughter didn't volunteer for this. My daughter was embarrassed. She's extremely uncomfortable," mother Christine Shand said of her daughter 13-year-old Gabrielle Shand. The other girl who was bound did volunteer (NY Daily News).
The teacher, Eileen Bernstein, apologized to Shand but Shand said Friday she thinks the teacher should be removed from the class (Star Tribune).
"I think the teacher should have gotten some discipline," Shand said. "I know if that was me, I would be uncomfortable going back to that class. Why should my daughter have to switch?" (Star Tribune).
"We encourage our teachers to deliver the curriculum in a variety of ways, to go beyond just reading the textbook," superintendent Brian Monahan of the North Rockland School District said. "We don't want to discourage creativity. But this obviously went wrong because the student was upset," (Star Tribune).
The New York Daily News reported that Bernstein said that she had done the lesson before. Wilbur Aldridge, head of the local NAACP chapter, said he feared that the teacher still "didn't get it" after their meeting. He said the teacher apologized "because Gabrielle was upset, not because she admitted she did something wrong." (Star Tribune).
"Are you telling me when you do a section on the Holocaust, it's okay to simulate an oven and have a grandchild of someone who was a survivor just get in the oven?" Aldridge asked. "That makes no sense." (NY Daily News).

Icelanders protest banks

2008-12-06T17:40:40Z

The Star Tribune reported that Icelanders stormed the central bank on Monday to demand the ouster of bankers and several hundred they blame for the Iceland’s economic meltdown.
The banks and currency have collapsed while prices and unemployment rise (Star Tribune). CNN Money reported that the cause of the country’s economic meltdown was that Iceland’s three main private sector banks had become so large that their assets amounted to more than ten times the gross domestic product of the country and the stock market has lost 90% of its value.
"The government played roulette and the whole nation has lost," writer Einar Mar Gudmundsson told an anti-government rally of several thousand people in downtown Reykjavik (Star Tribune).
After the rally, protesters went to the central bank and demanded the firing of its chief, David Oddsson (Star Tribune). The rally was held inside the bank's lobby; the protesters sang songs and chanted "Out with David" and "Power to the People." The protest ended when police and protesters agreed to withdraw (Star Tribune).
Iceland, after failing to receive help from allies, turned to Russia for help. "We knew that talking to them would create a shock, and that was partly the point," says a senior Icelander involved in the demarche (CNN Money).
"Of course we would not have accepted any political strings," Prime Minister Geir Haarde tells Fortune. "This loan would not have indicated any change in our foreign or security policy." (CNN Money).
Haarde said on Saturday that Iceland's economy would get even worse next year, with a "severe drop" in GDP and rising unemployment (Star Tribune).

Craigslist babysitter admits child pornography use

2008-12-06T17:21:46Z

The Star Tribune reported the 23-year-old Little Canada man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Minneapolis.
The woman who hired the babysitter, Andrea Bang of St. Paul, said she interviewed him and watched him care for her children twice in her home before hiring him (KARE-11).
"I really never saw any red flags at all," Bang said (KARE-11).
The babysitter, Aaron Jay Lemon, was charged Aug. 5; the incident took place in August 2007 in St. Paul (Star Tribune). Lemon pleaded guilty to making a pornographic video of a two-year-old girl for whom he was babysitting; that incident happened about a month before Bang hired Lemon to watch her kids (KARE-11).
"I just feel horribly sick that I put my kids in a position that they could have been harmed," Bang said (KARE-11).
Lemon could face a maximum of 30 years in prison (Star Tribune). Bang said her daughter does not remember anything bad happening when Lemon babysat, but Bang wants police to check to see if Lemon has any inappropriate videos or photos or her children (KARE-11).
This is the second time a crime has been linked to Craigslist and babysitting. Katherine Ann Olson, 24, was killed in October 2007 after she answered a Craigslist ad for a babysitter. Michael John Anderson, 20, of Savage, is scheduled to stand trial in her death sometime next year (Star Tribune).

Suspect arrested in murder of Arkansas TV anchorwoman

2008-11-30T19:54:51Z

The Associated Press reported that police arrested a suspect after being tipped to his location after police.
The victim was 26-year-old anchorwoman Anne Pressly who died on Oct. 25, five days after being severely beaten in what police described as a random attack at her home (AP).
Pressly’s mother found her in bed, bloodied and beaten almost beyond recognition; she died of blunt-force trauma having never regained consciousness (NY Times).
The New York Times reported that the police provided the Pressly’s employer and its competitors their lead story on Wednesday’s 10 p.m. newscasts, giving the suspect’s name and picture which resulted in tips and 90 minutes later the suspect, Curtis L. Vance, surrendered to officers who had surrounded a house in a Little Rock neighborhood.
Police did not disclose what led them to suspect Vance, but Lt. Terry Hastings said previously that DNA and other evidence from the scene gave police a portrait of the person they were looking for, though they did not have a name until this month (AP).
"We're going to be very tightlipped on this case, pretrial," Hastings said. Police did not say how they obtained the DNA (AP).
At the news conference where Vance's picture was distributed by police Pressly's father, Guy Cannady, said, "It's very difficult to look at the picture, just knowing what Anne went through, that that was the last guy that Anne saw in her life," (AP).
“I know this sounds stupid, but we never even lock our doors,�? said Zoe Oakleaf, who lives with her husband and daughter across the street from Pressly’s house. “Well,�? Oakleaf added after a moment, “we used to not lock our doors.�? (NY Times).

Hastings hospital workers walk out

2008-11-30T19:49:11Z

The Pioneer Press reported that more than 230 workers at Regina Medical Center were planning a two-day strike on Monday, to protest what they view as unfair labor practices. On Monday the Star Tribune confirmed that the workers walked picket lines and rallied outside the center.
"How can they expect that we can afford this package when we're earning only $14 to $17 an hour?" said Karen Martineau, who spent six hours on the picket lines. "It's a challenge, especially as a single parent, to make ends meet," (Star Tribune).
The Pioneer Press reported that the current contract ended Oct. 31; the contract includes nursing assistants, physical therapy aides, housekeepers, dietary workers and other caregivers.
The union called for a two-day strike to take a stand for working families, said Ryan Nagle, a union spokesman (Star Tribune).
The strike was the first at Regina in more than 20 years (Star Tribune). The hospital is seeking to reduce its retirement contribution for all union and non-union employees between one and two percent, depending on how long they have worked with the hospital (Star Tribune). The hospital is offering a 3 percent wage increase for each of the next three years, Misencik said (Star Tribune).
"All we want for Christmas is my pension saved," one placard read. "Regina's CEO: Why don't you give up your golf play time?" read another (Star Tribune).

Thailand cabinet imposes state of emergency at two airports

2008-11-30T19:37:07Z

The Associated Press reported that the Thailand Cabinet was weighing whether to impose a state of emergency Thursday to try to end airport protests that have left thousands of travelers stranded for two straight days. MSNBC confirmed that Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency on Thursday.
MSNBC reported that Deputy Agriculture Minister Thirachai Sankaew said police would be in charge of the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports blockaded by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). "The cabinet agreed to use the emergency decree at the two airports to bring the situation back to normal," Sankaew said.
The state of emergency comes after protesters occupied Bangkok's international airport since Tuesday night and demanded the resignation of the prime minister, forcing the cancellation of all flights. On Thursday, they also forced the domestic airport to close in a bid to prevent government ministers from getting to the cabinet meeting (AP).
The PAD refuses to end their protests. "We will not leave. We will use human shields against the police if they try to disperse us," PAD leader Suriyasai Katasila said (MSNBC).
The Associated Press reported that thousands of foreign tourists have been stranded, including Americans heading home for Thanksgiving.
MSNBC reported on Sunday that the protesters set off explosions wounding 51 people.Thousands of government supporters wearing red shirts, headbands and bandanas joined Sunday's rally against the protest alliance (MSNBC).

Dog drives van into coffee shop

2008-11-21T03:12:09Z

The Star Tribune reported that a dog that was left in a running van and it put the vehicle in drive and ran the van into a coffee house in Long Island on Wednesday.
Suffolk County police said no one was injured in the incident, but the glass window and some patio furniture from the coffee shop were damaged (Star Tribune).
The New York Daily News reported that the dog named Bentley, a 50-pound boxer and Shar-Pei mix, is owned by musician Bryan Maher.
"I ran inside the coffee house to sign up for open-mike night, and I left my car running because it's cold outside and I didn't want my dog to freeze," said Maher, 60. "The next thing I knew, I looked up to see my van coming at me in the window, with Bentley in the driver's seat grinning at me." (NY Daily News).
The coffee shop, Cool Beanz, owner Patricia McCarthy was not upset about the accident. "Bentley was driving a '92 Ford van!" marveled McCarthy, 57. "I was astonished, very much so." (NY Daily News).
Maher said he will try to keep his dog warm without leaving the vehicle on. "This is the first and last time I'll ever put the car in park," he said. "He's a smart dog - obviously, he can drive a van." (NY Daily News).

St. Paul murder suspect surrenders

2008-11-21T03:07:56Z

KARE-11 reported that the 19-year-old St. Paul suspect of shooting his 15-year-old friend turned himself in on Thursday.
St. Paul Police say the suspect, Alfredo Gutierrez-Gonzalez, killed his friend Jacob MacKenzie, who died in his St. Paul home Sunday (KARE-11).
Police say investigators found what they believe is the murder weapon, a semi-automatic rifle, dumped on Highway 52 (KARE-11).
Family members and friends of MacKenzie had pleaded Gutierrez-Gonzalez to turn himself in (Star Tribune).
"I have no remorse for him," MacKenzie’s mother Michelle Olson said. "I hate him for what he did -- accident or not." (Star Tribune).
Gutierrez-Gonzalez turned himself in three days after his girlfriend, Jayna Emerson, who also is MacKenzie’s cousin, made a tearful public plea (Star Tribune). He turned himself in the same day of the victim’s visitation service (Star Tribune).
No matter what the motive was, Olson hopes Gutierrez-Gonzales is charged with murder. She believes it was an accident because she believes no one would ever have cause to kill her son (Star Tribune).

Knife attacks in Japan may be linked to lost pension records

2008-11-20T17:32:28Z

The Star Tribune reported that bureaucrats in Japan losing millions of government pension records may be tied to the stabbings taking place this week.
"It is not clear that the two cases are somewhat linked or not linked," Prime Minister Taro Aso said. "I'd like to pray for the souls of the dead people and recovery of the injured." (CNN).
Former Vice Health Minister, in the pension division, Takehiko Yamaguchi, 66, and his wife Michiko Yamaguchi, 61, were found dead on Tuesday at their home (CNN). The Star Tribune reported that Yamaguchi was head when the national pension system underwent a major record-keeping overhaul in 1985.
Also on Tuesday, the wife of a former pension bureaucrat was stabbed in the chest in her home. The woman was 72-year-old Yasuko Yoshihara, whose husband is Kenji Yoshihara, 76; the wife said that the man who stabbed her said he worked for a parcel delivery service (Star Tribune). CNN reported that the man posed as a parcel delivery serviceman and then attacked her. Authorities said the wife is in the hospital and is in serious condition (CNN).
Both Takehiko Yamaguchi and Kenji Yoshihara are credited with crafting the current framework of Japan's financially troubled pension system, which is on the verge of collapsing (CNN). The Star Tribune reported that Kenji Yoshihara's job in the mid-1980s coincided with the mistakes in computerization of Japan's pension records.
Japanese security is now being tightened around other officials, including the Prime Minister (CNN).

Potential cure for HIV discovered

2008-11-14T03:31:37Z

The Star Tribune reported Wednesday that an American man who had HIV seems to have been cured after 20 months of receiving a bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia.
The Wall Street Journal (who broke the story a week earlier) reported that doctors, a 42-year-old American who lives in Berlin, have been unable to detect the virus in his blood anymore. The Star Tribune reported that the patient has had HIV for more than a decade.
"We waited every day for a bad reading," Dr. Gero Hütter said (Star Tribune). "I was very surprised.�? (WSJ).
The Wall Street Journal reported that Hütter, who is not an AIDS specialist but a hematologist, replaced the patient’s bone marrow cells with those from a donor who has a naturally occurring genetic mutation that renders his cells immune to almost all strains of HIV.
The mutation, CCR5 mutation, prevents a molecule called CCR5 from appearing on the surface of cells; CCR5 acts as a kind of door for the HIV virus, so Dr. Hütter looked for a donor who had inherited the CCR5 mutation from both parents (WSJ).
The patient’s tests have shown no signs of the virus, and the patient has been off all of his AIDS medication; normally when a person with AIDS discontinues medication the virus takes over their body within weeks or days (WSJ).
Dr. Andrew Badley, director of the HIV and immunology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, said those tests have probably not been extensive enough. "A lot more scrutiny from a lot of different biological samples would be required to say it's not present," he said (Star Tribune).
Dr. David Baltimore, who cautions that the Berlin case could be a fluke, deemed it "a very good sign" and a virtual "proof of principle" for gene-therapy approaches (WSJ).

New pyramid in Egypt discovered

2008-11-14T01:35:15Z

The Star Tribune reported that archeologists discovered a new pyramid in Egypt Tuesday that is believed to be 4,300 years old.
The pyramid was discovered under the sands of Saqqara which is an ancient burial site; the pyramid is believed to have belonged to Queen Sesheshet, the queen mother of the founder of Egypt's 6th Dynasty (Star Tribune).
"I always say you never know what the sands of Egypt might hide," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (National Geographic).
The Star Tribune reported that the pyramid is now 16 feet tall that was been buried under 65 feet of sand. National Geographic reports that the pyramid was once five stories tall (they also reported that remained was buried 23 feet under sand).
Hawass’ team had been excavating at the site for two years, but only determined two months ago that the structure was the base of a pyramid (Star Tribune).
"This might be the most complete subsidiary pyramid ever found at Saqqara," Hawass said (National Geographic).
Based on an angle on the pyramid base, Hawass’ team determined that the pyramid was originally 46 feet tall and about 72 feet square at its base (National Geographic).
"One hundred years ago they used to take sand and put it in unexcavated areas," Hawass said. "The archaeologists in the past used this area as a location for the sand. No one could think there is anything here." (National Geographic).
Archeologists discovered a shaft that they believe gave access to tomb robbers; because of the robberies, archeologists do not expect to find Sesheshet's mummy when they reach the burial chamber weeks from now (National Geographic).
"To find a new pyramid is always exciting," Hawass said. "And this one is magical. It belonged to a queen." (Star Tribune).