AMERICUS, GEORGIA — A 20-year-old Georgia beauty queen is facing a murder trial this week, accused of beating her boyfriend’s 18-month-old son to death inside her college dorm room after allegedly telling friends she “hated” the child and resented his presence. Prosecutors say the boy, known as Romeo “J.D.” Angeles, died from catastrophic injuries while…
MASON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA — A West Virginia woman who admitted helping dispose of a woman’s body in a deep water well after a fatal shooting has been sentenced to life with mercy, four years after the disturbing death of 35-year-old Cheyenne Johnson. Prosecutors say 33-year-old Virginia Smith assisted her then-boyfriend in the killing and…
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO — An Ohio mother has been sentenced to probation after her 11-year-old son told police he was tied up in the basement, beaten with electrical cords and metal pipes, and left restrained for hours before being found wandering alone inside a Target store. The disturbing claims led to a criminal case that ended…
BOON TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN — A 22-year-old pregnant woman missing for weeks was found murdered in the Manistee National Forest, and prosecutors say the people responsible were the two individuals she trusted most — her mother and stepfather. Authorities allege the pair forced her into the woods, stabbed her, and cut out her unborn baby in…
CORDOVA, TENNESSEE — A Tennessee man who crashed his pickup truck off the roadway late last week had already suffered life-threatening stab wounds moments earlier — injuries investigators say came from his wife during an argument after the couple left a funeral. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has charged Sheila Ann Curtis, 56, with second-degree…
BIBB COUNTY, ALABAMA — A 57-year-old Alabama man has been indicted on capital murder-for-hire charges after prosecutors say he helped kill a man, burn his body along with his pickup truck, and bury both together in a massive hole dug with a backhoe. John Wesley Collum, accused of killing 36-year-old Oscar De Santiago Soto for…
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — A 52-year-old Texas man is behind bars after police say he barricaded himself inside his home for hours and threatened to dismember his roommate and “feed him to the cat” during an explosive confrontation sparked by accidentally released pets. Bobby Rocha surrendered to police Sunday following a seven-hour standoff at his…
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — A Texas man is facing serious charges after police say he spent Thanksgiving Day calling a law-enforcement tip line and threatening to carry out a mass shooting at the San Antonio River Walk and a San Antonio Spurs NBA game. 31-year-old Christopher Stowe is accused of making terroristic threats after a…
WACO, TEXAS — A 52-year-old Texas man is facing three felony counts after police say he whipped, beat, and violently threatened his young grandchildren — including smashing a child’s hand onto a table and tackling another — during a pattern of escalating abuse inside the family home. Cody Wayne Ainsworth was arrested on three counts…
CULLMAN COUNTY, ALABAMA — A 74-year-old Alabama attorney is facing attempted murder, elder abuse, and domestic violence charges after prosecutors say she tried to kill her husband three different times in September by putting fentanyl into his food and drinks — and even plotted the attacks with at least one other person. Authorities say one…