Lauren Astley’s Ex Charged After She’s Found Dead With Gaping Neck Wound
July 6, 2011 at 10:42 am by Morbid
WAYLAND, Mass. — Nathaniel Fujita, 18, has been charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, 18-year-old Lauren Astley.
Astley’s father became concerned when his daughter did not check in with him after leaving work Sunday night and began calling her friends. Not long after, her Jeep Grand Cherokee was found at the Wayland Town Beach, but there was no sign of Astley.
On Monday morning, a bicyclist discovered Astley’s body in a marshy area off Water Row Road and called police. When police pulled Astley from the water, she had a bungee cord wrapped around her neck to go along with a “gaping, significant, and horrendous” neck wound.
On Tuesday, Middelex County DA Gerry Leone stated Astley was killed by strangulation from “a ligature and a wound to her neck using a sharp object.”
It didn’t take long for police to zero in on Fujita. He had dated Astley for three years and she had recently broke things off. Astley’s friends told police Fujita been calling her at work Sunday night and she had told them she was stopping by his house after work.…
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Columbia, SC – Carol Kring Ross, 68, has been accused of killing her quadruple-amputee husband by overdose, according to the local sheriff’s office. Larry Ross died on May 4. Carol and Larry Ross had been married for 48 years.
According to police, the couple’s adopted 12-year-old daughter described coming home from school on May 4 to find her parents screaming at each other. The daughter also reportedly said her father told her “your mother gave me too many pills.”
Sheriff Leon Lott said a call was then received from Carol Ross, who threatened to commit suicide. When deputies responded to the Ross’ home, Larry Ross was found in bed unresponsive. Rescuers took him to the Veterans Administration Hospital where he died. Police say a toxicology report showed Larry Ross, who had been bed-ridden for five years after his arms and legs were amputated, died of an overdose of pills which had been prescribed to him and his wife.
Carol Rosses’ attorney reportedly said that Carol Ross had been a nurse for more than two decades and was the sole caregiver for Larry Ross.…
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Martinsville, IN — An 11-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the shooting death of his 6-year-old brother, Andrew Frye. It is believed that he is the youngest person to face a murder charge in the state of Indiana for nearly 90 years.
According to authorities, the two were home alone Thursday evening when the older boy called 911 to report the shooting. When police arrived on scene, Andrew was found in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died a short time later.
Initially thought to be nothing more than a tragic accident, further investigation revealed the shooting wasn’t purely accidental.
“Upon further reflection and detective work, forensic work, we sometimes end up with evidence different than we expect and that’s our job as investigators, professionals, is to keep an open mind,” Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega said. “Murder can be knowingly or intentionally. There is a slight difference. Knowingly means when you engage in conduct you know there is a high probability of the outcome.”
Police said the boys lived with their mother and her boyfriend, who arrived at the hospital before the boy died.…
Continue ReadingDrunk Driver Tasered 4 Times After Killing Man In 100MPH Rear-End Collision
June 30, 2011 at 4:31 am by kniption
Kalamazoo, MI — 30-year-old Bret Frame’s blood-alcohol level was reported to be .263 four hours after allegedly killing Justin Bailey, 23, and seriously injuring a passenger in Bailey’s car. Deputies estimated Frame was traveling about 100 miles per hour when he allegedly hit Bailey’s car from behind and “sent it flying airborne into a tree.”
According to police, after the accident deputies went to Frame’s parents’ house to arrest him on suspicion he had caused the wreck. The 240-pound Frame was reported to have been hit with a Taser three times by deputies, with no effect.
The police report said Frame continued to yell, “I’m going to kill you,” and tried to grab a deputy’s gun belt, possibly to get his gun. Police Tasered him again, and that time it seemed to work.
Police dashcam video released Wednesday shows Frame in the back seat of a patrol car headbutting the protective barrier and yelling at police.
“You’re a b—-,” he’s seen on tape saying. “Bring it on, b—-.”
Frame’s criminal record includes assault, theft and a May 2010 incident for drunken driving.…
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Chicago, IL — Toyrianna Smith, 20, is accused of killing her 3-month-old baby boy, then toting his body around in a BabyBjorn carrier while she went shopping.
According to prosecutors, Smith took the infant, Ken Blackman Jr., and her 3-year-old daughter to a friend’s house Wednesday night and spent the evening hanging out, getting her hair did and drinking vodka. When the festivities were over, Smith and her little family retired to a guest room for the night.
At some point during the night, the baby began to cry. Smith reportedly told police she placed a blanket over the infant’s head and smacked him in the face three or four times to quiet him. Oddly enough, it worked…but much like the snooze on alarm clock, it only works for a little while.
Some time later, Ken Jr. began squawking again – because that’s what babies do – disturbing his mother’s slumber once more. Instead of popping a bottle or a tit in the kid’s mouth, Smith again covered his face with a blanket and smacked him around a few times.…
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HOUSTON, TX – James John Onak, 49 is currently in jail after police say he struck a man with his car, severing one of the victim’s legs, then drove around with the man’s body in his car after it was sent through the windshield.
Eleven minutes after hitting the 32-year-old motorist whose car had broke down on the Gulf Freeway, he was spotted by police a couple miles away driving erratically and pulled over. That’s when the officer made the gruesome discovery lying on the passenger side floorboard and informed Onak he had picked up a hitchiker.
But unlike Chante Mallard and Vincent Riojas, both of whom knew they had hit someone and then left the victim’s to die horrible deaths after crashing through their windshields, Onak reportedly had no clue he had picked up a motorist who had been walking to a nearby service station.
“He was kind of oblivious to it, actually. Once the deputy got the gentlemen out of the car it became obvious that there was, in fact, a deceased body on the passenger floorboard,” said Captain Jason Finnen with the Precinct 8 Constable’s Office.…
Continue ReadingBoy Murdered After Living In Dog Crate Wrote About Wanting To Die
June 28, 2011 at 10:41 am by Morbid
Gary, Indiana – Some of you may remember the extremely depressing story of Christian Choate. He was the 13-year-old boy whose body was found underneath a concrete slab in a trailer park a couple months back. That’s where some of his family had buried him after they murdered him two years earlier.
What made the story even worse than the fact that a 13-year-old boy could be murdered and no one even miss him was the revelation of the years of abuse this boy suffered at the hands of his father, stepmother and his siblings leading up to his death. Aside from the physical abuse the boy was forced to live in a cage like a dog every day for the last year of his life.
Impqueen stated in her article that the boy’s death was probably a sweet release and now it seems as if she was right. The Northwest Indiana Times is reporting that letters have been found, written by Christian, in which he talks about wanting to be liked by his family and how he wanted to die.…
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – What’s up with all the breast milk in the news today? We’ve got one story where someone used it as a weapon, and now we have one in which it killed an infant.
Back in November, police found 37-year-old Stephanie Greene’s six-week-old infant, Alexis, dead at her home after responding to a 911 call. They didn’t know the cause of death at the time, but after a six-month investigation Greene has been charged with murder or homicide by child abuse or neglect.
Turns out she had been abusing painkillers while breastfeeding her daughter, and the high levels of morphine in her breast milk is what killed her daughter.
On top of the murder charge, Greene is also facing facing 38 counts of violating state drug distribution laws.
Police found that for about a year prior to her daughter’s death, Greene was scamming doctors with fake prescriptions to get obtain the drugs, including oxycodone and hydrocodone. At the time Alexis was born, Greene was taking pills and using illegally obtained patches containing morphine.…
Continue ReadingMan Gets Two Life Sentences For Baptizing Friend And Her Daughter To Death
June 26, 2011 at 4:20 am by kniption
Jacksonville, FL — Andrew Michael Gomez, 20, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for murdering his life-long friend Tiffany Sue Cecconi, 18, and her 18-month-old daughter, Kaylani. This story was written up on D’D shortly after it happened. The account described the killing as “puzzling.” It still is.
Gomez and Cecconi had been friends since kindergarten and sometimes referred to themselves as cousins. Court testimony described Cecconi helping Gomez as he tried to fit in at school. Cecconi’s mother, Linda Sykes, described Gomez as being ‘like a son.’
“Tiffany loved Andrew but he murdered her,” Sykes said to the judge.
In July 2009, Gomez, Cecconi, and her daughter went to a subdivision community pool. They were the only ones there. Investigators say Gomez and Cecconi got into a fight while Gomez was holding Kaylani in the water. Jacksonville Police Sgt. Mark Romano said the two did not appear to have any problems before that moment.
The account, provided largely by Gomez, describes Cecconi entering the water to retrieve her daughter from Gomez and instead being forced to fight Gomez while the 18-month-old was cast aside.…
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Bangor, ME — Roxanne Jeskey, 48, was arrested Wednesday night in connection with the brutal torture and murder of her husband, 53-year-old Richard Jeskey. And she didn’t murder him just a little bit either…
According to the police affidavit, Richard’s naked, beaten and bloodied body was found in the bathtub on June 13. An autopsy conducted the next day revealed extensive multiple blunt and sharp force injuries to the head, neck, torso, and limbs…
“These included nose fractures, loss of an eye, rib fractures, rectal incised wounds, and internal hemmorhage from an instrument(s) pushed through his scrotum into his abdomen,” Bangor police Detective David Bushey wrote in the affidavit. “Further, Mr. Jeskey was strangled with sufficient force to break the hyoid bone of his neck.”
Roxanne reportedly admitted to police that she assaulted her husband with various weapons including pliers, a box cutter and a plastic baseball bat.
She described to detectives how she used a pair of pliers to injure Richard’s genitals, stating that as he sat in the bathtub, presumably bleeding from his baby-maker, he “made a statement concerning the fact that she had hurt him,” to which she replied, “Now you know how I feel.”
Roxanne told police she exited the bathroom and left Richard sitting in the bathtub.…
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Melbourne, Australia — A man accused of killing his openly gay roommate by bashing his head in with a 17-lb platypus statue was found guilty of murder for the second time.
Back in September of 2006, 29-year-old Aaron James Johnstone went apeshit when his gay roommate, 46-year-old Phillip William Higgins, walked out of his room naked and expressed a desire for some oral sex.
Johnstone’s idea of oral was markedly different from Higgin’s I suppose as it didn’t include any sucky-sucky, just a hell of a lot of punching, kicking, an office chair and eventually a hefty platypus statue to the noggin.
Both men were extremely intoxicated at the time, and while Johnstone admitted to assaulting his roommate, he says he had no desire to kill him. But the prosecution countered that Higgin’s broken neck, as well as the new hat Johnstone thoughtfully dropped on Higgin’s head, proved he was either trying to kill the guy or really, really mess him up.
A jury agreed and found Johnstone guilty of murder for the second time.…
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BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. — After a three day manhunt, police have arrested married drug addicts in connection to the execution style shooting of four at the Haven Drugs pharmacy.
Moments after police stormed the home of Pam Laffer, they were bringing out her pill-popping son, 33-year-old David Laffer and his pill-popping wife, 29-year-old Melinda Brady. Using surveillance photos and good police work, detectives were able to zero in on the couple as suspects in the cold-blooded murder of four innocent people.
Laffer has been charged with first-degree murder and resisting arrest, accused of killing pharmacist Raymond Ferguson, 45, store clerk Jennifer Mejia, 17, customers Bryon Sheffield, 71, and 33-year-old Jamie Taccetta, inside the neighborhood drug store while robbing it of 10,000 hydrocodone pills. All four had been shot at close range and had offered no resistance.
Brady’s role in the robbery\murder has not been completely revealed, but she has been charged with robbery and obstructing governmental administration. ”I’m sorry he did all of this,” she said to reporters as she was being lead out of police headquarters this morning. ”He was doing it because he lost his job and I was sick.”
Interesting to note, it’s being reported that this is the worst mass killing in Suffolk County since the 1974 DeFeo murders in Amityville.…
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Franklin, NJ – Got some updates to a couple of our recent stories, including an arrest being made in the death of 23-year-old Tiffany Jantelle. She was the young woman who was struck and killed by a lifted truck while she was trying to help an injured dog.
Brian McCauslin, 38, was arrested Tuesday night on a count of knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death. The arrest came less than four days after Jantelle was struck and killed by his vehicle as she tended to a dog in the road who had been hit by a vehicle earlier.
Witnesses at the scene described the truck to police, a lifted, rolling penis extension with vertical exhaust pipes behind the cab, and also described how after hitting Jantelle, the driver stopped, got out to see what he’d done, got back in and proceeded to exit stage left.
After fielding a slew of tips from the community along with the hard work of detectives, the passenger of the truck was identified on Tuesday.…
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Knotts Island, NC — Rebecca Blackmore, 16, is facing charges of first-degree murder after police say she stabbed her newborn daughter to death shortly after squishing her out.
As is the case in most of these types of stories, Blackmore showed up at the emergency room after delivering the child, but had no baby. When questioned, she reportedly told police the child was stillborn and they could find the body in her bedroom closet.
Well, she was honest about one thing…there was a dead baby in her closet, but the autopsy showed the baby girl was not stillborn, she was alive at birth and for a short time thereafter. She’d probably still be breathing were it not for all those pesky stab wounds…
Though it was a relative that escorted Blackmore to the emergency room, it is unclear whether the family knew of Blackmore’s pregnancy.
Blackmore is currently behind bars on a $500,000 bond. In North Carolina, suspects 16 and older are charged as adults regardless of the crime.
And just in case you were wondering, North Carolina does have a Safe Haven Law.…
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NORMAN PARK, GA — Police have arrested a 46-year-old woman after she admitted drowning her 6-year-old granddaughter in a pond.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says that on Monday evening, Virginia Sims took her granddaughter, Alexis Walker, to a pond and drowned her in it. She then walked to a nearby neighbor’s house and asked them to call 911. You can listen to the call here.
Neighbors say they’ve heard the little girl was acting up and Sims wanted to ‘teach her a lesson,’ but police say Sims often threatened to hurt the kid anytime she got into an argument with her husband.
This was allegedly another one of those occasions and Sims had planned on drowning the girl before killing herself. I’m sure regular readers of D’D are not surprised that when it came to the latter part of that plan, she had a change of heart.
What I was surprised to find out is that isn’t the first time Sims has been in trouble with the law and in the news for trying to kill the child and herself.…
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Sacremento, CA – I was wondering when we would get another one of these stories. Police have arrested a 29-year-old woman, accusing her of killing her 6-week-old infant by cooking her in a microwave.
On Tuesday, Ka Yang was taken into custody and charged with one count of murder and one count of assault leading to the death of a child under age 8. These charges come after a three-month investigation into the death of her daughter, Mirabelle Thao-Lo. The baby was found dead in her home with “extensive thermal injuries” on March 17.
Yan initially claimed her daughter’s death was caused by a seizure, some saying they heard she had accidentally dropped the baby. But early on it was apparent the infant had suffered horrendous burns and investigators suspected all along it was caused by the microwave.
“She had some really deep tissue burns, fourth-degree burns. It was probably the worst case I’ve seen,” said Sacramento County Coroner’s Office spokesman Ed Smith.
It took three months for them to file formal charges because they wanted to compare the infant’s injuries with injuries suffered by other infants whose parents treated them like a Hot Pocket, including:
- The 1999 death of 5-week-old Joseph Lewis Martinez in Virginia.…
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OSKALOOSA, IA — In what could best be described as a scene right out of a horror movie, a 6-foot tall, 300-pound man has been charged with murdering his mother’s boyfriend with a medieval-style battle axe.
Police say 25-year-old Bradley Arterburn had a collection of knives and axes in the basement, and used one of them to attack 58-year-old Robert Horovitz, his mother’s boyfriend of about three weeks. They think he first used the tip of the axe to stab the man in the back before using the double-blades.
“He started hitting him with the ax. He had back, shoulder, neck, head injuries, arm injuries,” Oskaloosa Police Chief Jake McGee said.
When police responded to the scene, they found Horovitz dead in the living room. Afterburn was outside on the deck smoking a cigarette. He was also suffering from self-inflicted stab wounds. Arterburn had to be tackled and subdued by police after he lunged at them. He has been charged with first-degree murder. Police have no idea what triggered the attack.
Afterburn’s neighbors describe him as a quiet man who mostly kept to himself.…
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BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. — Talk about absolutely senseless. Police are looking for a man who walked into a New York pharmacy on Father’s Day and then shot four people to death before leaving with prescription drugs.
Police were called to Haven Drugs after someone called about hearing gunshots around 10:30 Sunday morning. Inside police would find Raymond Ferguson, 45, and Jennifer Mejia, 17, who both worked for the pharmacy, as well as customers Bryon Sheffield, 71, and Jamie Taccetta, 33. They were all shot dead, execution style.
Surveillance video captured images of the alleged gunman and police describe him as is white, about 5’8? with a thin build, short dark hair and dark facial hair. He was carrying a black backpack. A source told the New York Post that police had already identified the man but have not released his identity. He did not take any money, opting only for ”Oxycodone-like” medications.
The store’s owner, Vinodu Kudchadkar, arrived after the shooting and had to be taken to the hospital after fainting from seeing all the blood in his 30-year-old family-owned drug store.…
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Franklin, NJ – Franklin police would like some help trying to find the jackass driving a lifted Dodge truck as it was involved in a hit and run that claimed the life of a Good Samaritan early Saturday morning.
Tiffany Jantelle, 23, and several others were on Weston Canal Road assisting a dog that had been hit by a vehicle earlier when a lifted, black Dodge pickup struck Jantelle. She would die the next day from head injuries.
Hitting someone in the middle of the road is an accident and if that’s all that had happened, you’d probably never have read about Jantelle on this site. But witnesses at the scene said that the two white guys in the truck stopped briefly after hitting Jantelle, but then drove away.
Driving off may make the driver a jackass, but if laws in New Jersey are setup the way they are in a lot of states, it’s actually to his benefit to leave the scene if he was driving under the influence. That way he will probably receive a lighter punishment whenever he’s eventually found.…
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Seagrove, Fla. – What are the odds of two stories featuring a teen girl murdered by a homeless man in one day?
A 21-year-old homeless man has been charged with murdering 15-year-old Courtney Wilkes who was vacationing at Seagrove Beach with her parents and two younger siblings.
Wilkes was reported missing when she did not return back from a walk with Steven Cozzie, a local resident staying at a nearby campsite the family had met while staying in the Beachcrest condominiums while on vacation from Georgia.
Deputies found her dead body in a wooded area 500 yards away from where her family was staying. They were led there by a friend of Cozzie’s who informed police that Cozzie told him he had murdered the girl with a stick and that it was premeditated. Incident reports show Wilkes was murdered in “an extremely violent encounter” and suffered blunt force trauma.
Walton County Sheriff Adkinson also added that he has not admitted guilt to them, and has shown no remorse. The picture of him smiling?…
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