'Rambo' arrested in murder for hire

Thai policemen escort Joseph Hunter, a former U.S. Army sergeant nicknamed Rambo, as he arrives at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand on September 27, 2013. A former U.S. Army sergeant nicknamed "Rambo" who prosecutors say supervised an international band of hit men and mercenaries was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for conspiring to kill a federal drug agent and an informant.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said Joseph Hunter, 51, deserved a lengthy sentence given the "grave and serious" crimes he committed and his guilty plea to charges including that he conspired to murder a law enforcement officer.
"The crimes you committed are serious, and the sentence you received today reflects that," Swain said.
Hunter, a former Army sergeant with over 20 years of military experience, apologized in court, saying he would still be with his family "if I only asked myself what God would have wanted me to do."
The case stemmed from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation that followed the arrest in Liberia in 2012 of Hunter's boss, Paul Le Roux, the Zimbabwe-born head of a multinational criminal organization.
Le Roux subsequently agreed to cooperate with authorities, admitting to his involvement in shipping drugs and weapons around the world and to having ordered various murders, according to court records.
Le Roux also helped authorities pursue cases against others, including Hunter, who prosecutors said had performed and overseen contract killings and other violent crimes for him.
During a sting operation, Hunter, at Le Roux's request, assembled a team of former soldiers to provide security to DEA informants posing as Colombian drug traffickers, according to court papers.
Hunter's mercenary squad used Thailand as its base and performed several tasks in 2013, including assisting a purported 300-kilogram cocaine transaction in the Bahamas, prosecutors said.
For $800,000, Hunter and two ex-soldiers, Dennis Gogel of Germany and former U.S. Army Sergeant Timothy Vamvakias, also agreed to assassinate a DEA agent and an agency source in Liberia, prosecutors said.
No murders occurred, though prosecutors said Hunter previously had organized seven murders-for-hire, including of a Philippines woman whose death is the subject of a related case.
Hunter was arrested in Thailand in 2013, and authorities also arrested Gogel, Vamvakias and two other members of Hunter's team, Slawomir Soborski of Poland and Michael Filter of Germany.
The defendants later pleaded guilty. Vamvakias and Gogel were sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Filter received an eight-year term. Soborski's sentencing is set for June 10.

Women stop possible date rape

Three women are receiving a ton of attention after they prevented a potential date rape as told by one of the women in a now-viral Facebook post.

Friends Sonia Ulrich, Monica Kenyon and Marla Saltzer were dining at Fig at the Fairmont in Santa Monica on Thursday night when Kenyon spotted a man at a nearby table putting something inside his date’s drink.
HERE'S THE POST:

Sonia Ulrich
GUESS WHO STOPPED A RAPE LAST NIGHT?! THESE GALS!

Ok, so we're still recovering from the events, but we wanted to tell the story. And if it seems like the photo is making light of a heavy situation, it's because we know FB prioritizes pics AND we needed to get your attention. This is no joking matter.

Monica, Marla, and I were at Fig at the Fairmont for their delicious happy hour ("Fig at 5." Treat yourself). I was going on about something and saw Monica staring behind and making a funny face. I stopped. "What's going on?" After a few second she said "That guy just put something in her drink."

Now, Fig is a nice restaurant. We were enjoying our charcuterie platter and some fancy cheeses. That type of place. They had a bottle of wine they were splitting. It seemed like a first or second or third date. After a few "Oh god. What do we do"s, I got up to find her in the bathroom to tell her. Warn her. Tell her to get up and leave this creep. Make him drink it. Something.

So, after feeling awkward hanging out by the sinks in the bathroom til she was done, I approached. "Hey! Um, this is kind of weird, but, uh, we saw the guy you were with put something in your drink."

"Oh My God." She said. Shocked, kind of numb, so I babbled "Yeah, my girlfriend said she saw him put something in your drink and we had to say something. Woman to woman...you know. We had to say something. How well do you know that guy?" I was expecting to hear "We just met," but I got:

"He's one of my best friends."

Shit. Yeah. One of her best friends. They had known each other for a year and a half. They worked together.

I continued to talk for a bit and said she could ask "the one with the short blond hair" any questions since she was the one who saw it and then left her to return to the table.

When I got back, Marla was talking to the server about what happened. Seeing if he or the manager could do anything. Monica filled us in on more of what she saw.

"He pulled her glass toward him, kind of awkwardly, then he took out a little black vial. He opened it up and dropped something in. Then he tried to play it cool, like checking his phone and hiding the vial in his hand and then trying to bring it back down slyly." He apparently saw Monica looking. Marla said she was just going to lean over to Monica and say "that guy is acting really creepy" when she saw Monica already looking. Witnessing.

It only took a minute for the manager to walk to their table, see if everything was ok, allowed the girl to order a sparkling water. All super cool. He stopped by our table and said he couldn't do much because he didn't see it. But he did let security know.

The poor woman had to sit through 40 more minutes, sitting across from "one of her best friends" knowing that he was trying to drug her. Marla noticed him several times chinking his glass to hers to get her to drink. She played it cool. Mostly, I believed, just stunned. The staff wanted to jump in and dump the glass, dump him, do something! I was going through fantasies of walking up and demanding he drink the tainted glass of wine. Eventually, they finished up dinner. There was a delay getting their bill "The computer is down" is what the waiter kept saying to him. Then, in walks Santa Monica PD. They say "Come with us" and he doesn't protest. Doesn't ask why. Doesn't seem surprised.

The head of security came by and said that because we notified them immediately, they were able to go back and review the footage from the security camera.

They got him on tape. They had proof of him drugging this girl. They took the glass away as evidence. They kept us for statements. We asked the girl if she had a ride home. "My car is at his place. In his building. We came together." Part of a plan. We were blown away. She was still in shock.

But it wasn't over.

From every table In our section, from through out the restaurant, people came by to thank us for taking action.

"It happened to my sister...I'm glad I was there to take her home."

"It happened to my roommate at a producer's party. He's still messed up from it."

"It happened to me. At a backyard barbecue."

"It happened to me. At a bar I worked at."

"Some Heroes don't wear capes. Thank you. It happened to me. Thank you."

"Fuck yeah you guys! You fuckin rock!"

At least 10 stories of being personally affected buy someone like this. Something like this. Those were only the ones who knew what went down. I am sure there were tons more stories through out the restaurant and the hotel.

We kept thanking the manager for taking action. We are well aware how many people would not have taken what we said seriously. Not taken action. Said their hands were tied.

So thank you, everyone at Fig and Fairmont in Santa Monica for keeping this guy from harming someone.

And thank you in advance to everyone who sees this and shares this and reminds each other that yes, you SHOULD say something. Even if it's awkward or weird or just uncertain if anything can be done. 

Boy of 7 left in woods by parents as punishment

  Searchers in northern Japan spent a third day on Monday looking for a seven-year-old Japanese boy who went missing after his parents left him in a forest to teach him some discipline.At least 130 firefighters and police officers were scouring the woods near Nanae town in Hokkaido, looking for Yamato Tanooka, media reported.
Tanooka's parents initially told police they were picking wild plants when Yamato went missing on Saturday.
However, they later admitted to police they had intentionally left the boy in the forest to discipline him after he threw rocks at people and cars earlier in the day, Japanese television stations reported.
Tanooka's parents said they drove about 500 metres (yards) away and when they returned shortly after they couldn't find their son, who was last seen in a t-shirt and jeans.
Media reported that overnight temperatures in the forest have dropped to 7 degrees Celsius (45°F).

Man pays speeding tickets with what!?!?

  Brett Sanders of Frisco, Texas was found guilty of speeding after contesting a ticket has taken out his anger by paying the fine with about 22,000 pennies.
In a dramatic video he created to document his vengeful act with small change, Brett Sanders of Frisco is seen going to the extra effort of branding his buckets with the slogans "Policing for profit" and "Extortion money."
"I'm not a big fan of extortion," Sanders explains in the video he posted to YouTube. "I was convicted by a jury for driving 39 in a 30 and was subject to $212 at the barrel of a gun."
In his 5-minute video, Sanders then fills up the buckets with pennies using a shovel before hauling them down to a county clerk to pay the fine.
As the camera rolls, Sanders lifts up his buckets one after the other and dumps the hundreds of dollars in pennies on the desk.
The clerk, unsurprisingly, looks displeased.
“It felt great. It really felt great,” Sanders told NBC Chicago, who reported that the clerk's employees used a local CoinStar machine to count the change.
It took them three hours. By the end of it, it apeared Sanders had overpaid by $7.81.
He said the clerk's office could keep the extra.

Repo man faces manslaughter after late night car repo

A Utah repossession agent was charged with manslaughter after prosecutors said he forced a mother from a road in her SUV during a reckless, high-speed pursuit while trying to take back the vehicle.

Defendant Kenneth Drew appeared in court Wednesday in Provo after being charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of 35-year-old Ashleigh Best, a mother of two who died after crashing into a tree.
Loni DeLand, an attorney for the 49-year-old Drew, declined comment.
Prosecutors say the crash occurred on May 17 in Pleasant Grove, south of Salt Lake City, when Drew went to Best's house around midnight after she fell behind on title loan payments.
Best's husband Brennen Best stepped between the tow truck and SUV, and the two men argued until Drew agreed to leave the SUV alone to allow the couple time to make a payment and return with proof, charging documents show.
A short time later, Best got in her SUV and drove away. Her husband told police he had instructed her to drive the SUV to her mother's house.
Drew later told police he was angry about the deception and sped after her in his tow truck with his girlfriend in the passenger's seat. A neighbor's security camera shows Drew trying to force Best against a curb as both cars accelerated.
Later in the chase, prosecutors say Drew drove alongside Best's SUV, grinding his rear right tire into her door. Going faster than 50 mph, Best jumped a curb and smashed into a tree. She died a short time later.
A phone listing for the Best family couldn't be found.
Drew told investigators he was just following Best to keep an eye on the SUV, charging documents show.
Investigators, however, say evidence, including pictures and GPS data from the tow truck, show Drew's story doesn't match what happened.
"He was chasing Mrs. Best recklessly and the inconsistencies in his account indicate that he was aware of wrongdoing and trying to mitigate his liability," prosecutors wrote in the charging documents.
Police say it's illegal for repo men to use force to reclaim vehicles.

Bay Area woman and daughter killed by train

A mother and her child died Tuesday after an Amtrak train crashed into their SUV in the San Francisco Bay Area, authorities said.
The front of the SUV was crushed beneath the train in San Leandro, where the crash occurred Tuesday afternoon.
The crash occurred at a railroad crossing, Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said. She did not know whether the arms were down.
There were 39 passengers on the train bound for Sacramento from San Jose. None of them was injured, Graham said.
The train is allowed to go up to 79 mph through the area. Graham said she didn't know how fast it was going.
The scene might have been confusing for the driver of the SUV, San Leandro Police Lt. Robert McManus said. "There is a construction zone which could have created some confusion," McManus told KNTV-TV.
But another TV station, KTVU-TV, reported the SUV was stopped on the tracks because of traffic.
Paul Wilke, a passenger on the train, told the news station that the train was moving at normal speed when he heard a long whistle and felt the train slow down and crash before stopping quickly.
Firefighters responded after receiving a report of a train crash with people trapped in the vehicle, Alameda County fire spokeswoman Aisha Knowles said.
The deaths were the fourth in two days from Amtrak trains in the Bay Area after two pedestrians were killed in separate incidents Monday.

Teen kills couple that raised him as a grandson

Robert and Patricia Cogdell helped raise Justin Staton.
They were the teen’s legal guardians, a role they took on even after learning that Staton wasn’t their biological grandson.
But in 2015, the Cogdells were fatally shot, their bodies found near their Arkansas home, and Staton, at the age of 14, was among those charged in their killings. The plot was a “robbery-and-murder scheme,” concocted with other teens during a stint in juvenile jail.
This week, Staton, who is now 15, pleaded guilty to a handful of charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, according to court documents.
“I hope every day for the rest of your life, you think about them,” Faulkner County Circuit Court Judge Troy Braswell told Staton in court. “Because they loved you and took care of you … and the thanks you gave them was murder.”
Staton, who was charged and tried as an adult, was sentenced to a 35-year prison term.
“This is tragic for everybody,” his attorney, Gina Reynolds, told The Post. “My client has provided information to the prosecutor and in exchange for that, he was offered this plea deal. We hope that this eventually manages to give the family some peace.”
Staton agreed to testify against the others charged in the shootings — a group that includes Hunter Drexler, who was 17 at the time of the crime. The newspaper reported that Staton also turned over the passcode for an Apple device that contains text messages exchanged with Drexler.
“The state believes it has determined what the appropriate pyramid of culpability is related to the 4 defendants in the case and the Staton plea is the first step pursuing that theory of the case,” 20th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said in an email to The Post. “As the result of information obtained from the plea, the state hopes to bolster its position relative to the other defendant(s) in this matter and hopefully bring some measure of justice in the death of two of people whose only crime was loving their grandson.”
The case was detailed in a brief document filed on the same day as the plea.
The court filing alleges that Staton — along with Drexler and another teen — plotted to kill the Cogdells “in order to get money to help them run away from Arkansas.”
Drexler brought the firearms, the court documents allege, and both he and Staton were “armed with guns in the killing of Robert and Patricia Cogdell.”
“After the Cogdells were shot, Hunter Drexler wrapped the body of Robert Cogdell in a rug and Justin used a front loader to move his body to the tree line on the property,” the document states.
The machine was also used to move the body of Patricia Cogdell, according to the filing.
“Both bodies were dumped in the woods,” the document states.
Drexler and Staton then drove to a Walmart, where Drexler “paid over $700 in cash for a cell phone and prepaid minutes,” using money that had been taken from Robert Cogdell, the document alleges.

Drexler faces several charges, including two counts of capital murder, court records indicate.
The Cogdells became Staton’s legal guardians a few years ago.
Staton was raised as their grandson, even though testing eventually determined that they weren’t genetically related.

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Handcuffed and shackled, Staton wiped away tears as he took the witness stand. His face unshaven and at times quivering with emotion, Staton answered Judge Troy Braswell’s questions softly, directly and without elaboration. The boy declined to make a statement of his own.

“I hope that nobody would ever judge somebody by the worst thing they ever did,” Reynolds told The Post, speaking generally about defendants that she has represented. “You may not understand or it may not be explainable, but people do bad things sometimes.”
She later added: “Any parent wants to say, ‘Oh my child would never be in this situation,’ but I’ve been doing this for a little while, and you can never tell.”

Baby tethered to rock while parents work

Barrier tape is tied around 15-month-old Shivani's ankle to prevent her from running away, while her mother Sarta Kalara works at a construction site nearby, in Ahmedabad, India, April 19, 2016. Kalara says she has no option but to tether her daughter Shivani to a stone despite her crying, while she and her husband work for 250 rupees ($3.80) each a shift digging holes for electricity cables in the city of Ahmedabad.
Sarta Kalara also feeds Shivani as one end of a barrier tape is tied to Shivani's foot and the other end to a stone to prevent Shivani from running away, in Ahmedabad, India, April 19, 2016. Barefoot and caked in dust, the toddler spends nine hours a day in temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) attached to the 4.5 foot (1.4 meter) tape marked "caution."
"I tie her so she doesn't go on the road. My younger son is three and a half so he is not able to control her," said the 23-year old, covering her face with her sari. "This site is full of traffic, I have no option. I do this for her safety."
Prabhat Jha, head of child protection at Save the Children India, said childcare facilities were rare, and usually cost. "There should be creche facilities, either from the government or the construction companies. There should be a safe place for these children. They are at real risk of being hurt," Jha said. Parents said their children usually stayed with them until they are seven or eight, when they are sent to live with grandparents in poor tribal villages in a neighboring state.
Kalara, said managers had turned a blind eye to her plight. "They don't care about us or our children, they are only concerned with their work."

Student of the year banned from graduation march over beard

The “Student of the Year” at a Louisiana High School was not allowed to get his diploma at the graduation this week after running afoul of the district’s policy against student facial hair.
Senior Andrew Jones wore a beard all year at Amite High School and it never stopped him from earning As in all his classes, excelling in sports, or being awarded a college scholarship.
The commencement was Wednesday night and when Jones arrived beforehand he was stunned to learn that he wouldn’t be allowed to go up on the stage with the beard, according to the station.
The Tangipahoa Parish School System has a policy ban on facial hair on students, according to the station.

Jones and other graduating seniors with facial hair were given an ultimatum: if they didn't shave, they couldn't receive their diplomas up on the stage, the station reported.
Jones shaved the hair covering his cheeks but refused to shave his goatee. He had to turn in his cap and gown, Fox 8 reported.
“I feel they should have let me march,” Jones told the station. “The hair on my face has nothing to do with school. I wasn’t distracting anybody.”
WWL-TV reported that 13 in Jones' class agreed to shave. He was the only one who refused.
“What was the real issue that he couldn’t walk with his class?” his aunt Sabrine Davis wanted to know. “He was top of his class, you know. That moment was the most important of his life.”
Tangipahoa Superintendent Mark Kolwe told WWL that Amite's principal had gone up to Jones to ask him to shave.
He defended the policy but said he would make sure administrators know that it has to be enforced starting on the first day of school.

Chicago officer quits after killing unarmed teen girl #FDP

A Chicago police officer whom the department was trying to fire after he fatally shot an unarmed 22-year-old woman in 2012 has decided to resign from the force rather than fight to retain his job.The city's police board said Tuesday that Dante Servin, who was off duty when he killed Rekia Boyd, had quit. It came two days before Servin was to appear for a hearing at which the board was to decide if he should be fired, as former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy recommended last year.
Boyd and a group of people were hanging out in Douglas Park in March 2012 when Servin, angry about noise they were making, got into a shouting match with a man in the group. Prosecutors say Servin fired five shots over his shoulder, hitting Boyd in the head and grazing another person.
Servin said he saw a person in the group moving toward him with a gun. Police found only a cellphone.
Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter, though a judge later dismissed the charges.

The Independent Police Review Authority recommended Servin be fired in September -- five months after the charges were dismissed, according to the station. But following the resignation of Servin, officials plan to withdraw all charges against him.
"The Board will then take that motion under advisement and take action at its regular monthly public meeting on Thursday, May 19th," Police Board Executive Director Max Carponi said in a written statement to CBS Chicago

Man dumps dead woman on random lawn

Police have captured a man they say was seen wheeling a woman's dead body on a dolly and leaving it on the front lawn of a New York City home.
The suspect, 31-year-old Anthony Lopez, was apprehended Saturday following a manhunt using helicopters and dogs.
The NYPD says Lopez fled on Friday morning after an off-duty detective saw him wheeling the corpse, covered with a sheet, on Staten Island and tried to question him.
Police say that acting on a tip, officers located the suspect in Manhattan and arrested him after a brief foot chase. They say he had shaved his head.
The medical examiner will determine what caused the death of the unidentified woman.
It wasn't immediately clear if Lopez has a lawyer.

Teen robbed by the "escort" he hired

A Florida teen was robbed at gunpoint then dumped on the side of the road after calling an escort service for a night of companionship, authorities say.
Austin Young, 18, of Port Charlotte called a Fort Myers area number in search of an escort in the early morning hours of May 8, police say.
Young negotiated with a woman who police have identified as 25-year-old Kimberly Ann Brown.
Brown allegedly then picked up Young at his home and drove him to a remote area near his house.

But cops say Young got more than he bargained for.

That's when police say a man who'd been hiding in the rear passenger seat placed what Young told police he thought was a gun to Young's head.
The man allegedly demanded all Young's valuables then ordered him out of the car before driving off.
Brown was arrested on on Thursday following an investigation by the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
Brown has been charged with felony armed robbery.
The male suspect has not yet been identified.

5 year old girl shoots self

A 5-year-old Louisiana girl is dead after she fatally shot herself with her father's gun.

Haley Moore of LaPlace was playing with her disabled military veteran's father gun on Saturday when it discharged, wounding her in the chest.
At least one of Haley's siblings witnessed the tragedy, which occurred before 10 a.m.
Haley, who was visiting her father for the weekend as part of her parents' shared custody, was rushed to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"The father said he was taking a shower when he heard a gunshot," Lt. Greg Baker with the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office said. "He got out of the shower, and that's when he discovered that his daughter had accidentally shot herself."
Detectives said the gun hadn't been securely stored.
However, Moore's neighbor said that the devoted father normally took gun safety very seriously.
Along with a school photo she posted to Facebook of her daughter, Haley's mother Cori wrote following the tragedy:
"RIP Baby Girl MOMMY loves you and will always remember you. YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN…"
St. John Parish School Superintendent Kevin George said counselors would be on hand at the elementary school that Haley attended with her brother and sister to tlak to students about the shooting.
In a statement, police declined to provide any additional details of the incident, which they said is "still under investigation."

Uncle charged with murder in nephew's beating death over stolen cake

The uncle of a 9-year-old Maryland boy who was fatally beaten over a missing piece of birthday cake is asking a judge to throw out his statement to police.
The hearing for 24-year-old Jacob Barajas (bah-RAH'-hahss) ended Tuesday in Hagerstown with no immediate ruling. Barajas is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse stemming from Jack Garcia's death last July.
Hagerstown Police Detective Anthony Fleegal testified Barajas was not considered a suspect when he told investigators he handcuffed Jack to a chair as punishment for stealing. Barajas told police Jack was then beaten by the mother's boyfriend, Robert Wilson. Wilson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March.
Defense attorney Stephen Sacks contends the questioning of Barajas amounted to an interrogation, so Barajas should have been read his rights

Bus overturns injures women on religeous retreat

A shuttle bus carrying nearly two dozen people returning from a women's church retreat overturned Sunday on a highway in Southern California's San Bernardino Mountains, leaving six people seriously injured and 14 with more minor injuries.
The bus turned on its side across State Route 330 shortly after 2 p.m., San Bernardino County Fire Capt. Jeremy Kern said.
The bus carrying 22 people was one of several buses transporting about 200 women who were returning from an annual mountain retreat to their church in Downey, California, a church official said.
"We got the news right after regular Sunday Service," Robert Acosta, assistant to the senior pastor at Iglesia de Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final, told the San Bernardino Sun. "It was unnerving, but we immediately pulled together."
All 20 of the injured were taken to hospital by ground ambulance and all were expected to survive, Kern said. Two people aboard were not injured. Authorities had initially reported an overall injury toll of 26.
At one point as it was coming down the mountain, the 2000 El Dorado bus made contact with a Nissan Versa sedan, California Highway Patrol spokesman Juan Quintero said. No one in the car was hurt.
The CHP is investigating the cause.
The highway was shut down for hours for a 16-mile stretch near Highland. The bus was lying on its right side diagonally across the road and blocking the entire highway.
The crash site is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles and about 20 miles from the site of a 2013 bus crash on another highway in the San Bernardino Mountains. Eight people were killed in that crash of a tour bus from Tijuana, Mexico.

Texas teen 18 shoots 3 year old boy dead

An 18-year-old Texas man is facing capital murder charges after police allege he fatally shot his 3-year-old stepson in the head when the child wouldn't stop jumping on his bed, PEOPLE confirms.
According to court records obtained by PEOPLE, George Coty Wayman's arrest occurred Wednesday morning – not long after the child, Dominic Castro, died from a single gunshot wound.
Investigators claim in court records that Wayman pointed a gun at Castro while ordering him off the bed he'd been jumping on. But the boy didn't listen, according to police.
The alleged shooting was reported to police at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Officers responded to Wayman's mobile home, located in a remote area of Texas' Clay County.
Castro was airlifted to an area hospital Tuesday afternoon and died the following morning.
Police were initially told that the child had accidentally shot himself. But court records indicate that several eyewitnesses to the shooting accused Wayman of purposely pointing the weapon at the child, and firing off on round.
Wayman is being held on $550,000 bail. Court records did not indicate whether he has retained a lawyer.

Police taser man to death

As Chase Sherman was returning home with his parents and fiancée from his brother’s wedding in November, he began to hallucinate. Apparently reacting to synthetic marijuana he had taken days earlier, he bit his girlfriend and tried to jump out of the back seat of the car as the family drove through Georgia toward Florida.
About an hour outside Atlanta, at mile marker 55 on Interstate 85, his fiancée pulled over the car and his mother called the police, hoping they would help calm Mr. Sherman, 32. Less than a half-hour later, Mr. Sherman, who worked at a family-owned parasailing business on the Gulf Coast, was dead.
He was stunned numerous times with Taser guns carried by two sheriff’s deputies, while handcuffed in the back seat of a rental car.
Like other recent episodes involving the police, this one was captured on video, in this case by body cameras worn by the sheriff’s deputies as they tried to subdue Mr. Sherman. Prosecutors in Coweta County, Ga., where the intervention took place, declined to release the video from the two cameras, despite requests from Mr. Sherman’s family and the news media.
The video, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, is similar to ones that recorded fatal incidents involving law enforcement officers in Chicago; North Charleston, S.C.; and Staten Island. Each one depicts in stark terms a response from officers that resulted in a death. In this instance, there are no racial overtones — both the Sherman parents and the deputy sheriffs are white.
The footage from Georgia shows the sheriff’s deputies struggling to subdue Mr. Sherman as he tried to get out of the car, stunning him repeatedly with their Taser guns while he was handcuffed, and reacting frantically after realizing he was dead.
Mr. Sherman’s death was a homicide due to “an altercation with law enforcement with several trigger pulls of an electronic control device,” his death certificate, issued in Georgia, says. The certificate said that he had been shoved to the floor of the car and that his torso was compressed “by the body weight of another individual.”
“How can they do this when they know someone is having a breakdown?” said L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for the Sherman family. “Once they started shocking him, how can someone comply when they’re being electrocuted over and over again?”
Kevin and Mary Ann Sherman, Chase Sherman’s parents, said they were not sure what had caused their son’s odd behavior. They said they first became concerned when he began acting erratically while they were in the Dominican Republic for the wedding. Chase told his mother that he had taken synthetic marijuana the day before they traveled there.
“He was scared when we were down there,” Ms. Sherman said. “He said he heard different bad things were happening in different countries. He would see a couple of things that weren’t there. He thought people were watching him, and he didn’t want to go anywhere without his mom and dad or brother.”
But his parents said that he had seemed fine on the flight back to Atlanta, where they were to change planes and continue their journey home to Destin, Fla. Then, as they waited at the Atlanta airport, Mr. Sherman grew agitated. The family decided it would be better to drive the rest of the way, so they rented a car.
Not long into the drive, Mr. Sherman began trying to jump out of the car.
“I couldn’t keep him in the car — he didn’t know where he was and was disoriented,” Kevin Sherman said. “I couldn’t keep him in the car by myself, so we needed to call for medical assistance.”
A body camera worn by one of the deputies started recording while en route to assist the Shermans. By the time he reached their car, parked on the shoulder of the highway, another deputy was already grappling with Mr. Sherman, who was handcuffed, in the car’s back seat. On the video, Mr. Sherman seems alternately calm and desperate to get out of the car.
To try to stop him, one of the deputies took out a Taser gun and pointed it at him, telling him to stop moving. Mr. Sherman grabbed the Taser gun, and a fight for it ensued.
With Mr. Sherman’s mother and fiancée, Patti Galloway, watching from the front of the car, the deputy shot him several times with the Taser, and the second deputy punched him in the head.
The deputies then told the two women to get out of the car, and Ms. Sherman pointed her finger at the two men, pleading with them not to stun her son.
Mr. Sherman was stunned again, and then he appeared to wrestle away control of the Taser despite still being handcuffed.
Moments later, an emergency medical technician had arrived at the scene, and he tried to help subdue Mr. Sherman.
“O.K. I’m dead, I’m dead,” Mr. Sherman said as he was shoved to the ground and wedged between the front and back seats. “I quit, I quit,” he can be heard saying.
He could be heard making calls of anguish.
“I got all the weight of the world on him now,” the medical technician can be heard saying as he pushed down on Mr. Sherman’s body.
Mr. Sherman was shocked again.
Suddenly realizing that Mr. Sherman was not breathing, the deputy sheriffs and the medical technician pulled him out of the car and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation while his parents and Ms. Galloway watched. The lawyer, Mr. Stewart, said, “There was no way for him to resist.”
“For four minutes and 10 seconds after he said ‘I quit,’ they still tased him and kept him on the ground,” he added. “That’s torture, and they killed him.”
Mr. Sherman’s death was initially investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which made the evidence it collected available to the district attorney of Coweta County, Peter J. Skandalakis.
Mr. Stewart said the prosecutor’s office told him this week that the deputies had not been suspended and were still working.

Elderly man kills sick wife

An elderly Florida man was in jail on Thursday after he said he fatally shot his ailing wife because her medications were no longer affordable and she was in pain.
William J. Hager, 86, was being held without bond in jail after telling responding authorities on Monday that he had shot his wife, Carolyn, in the head as she slept that morning in their home in Port St. Lucie, according to an arrest affidavit released by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
Hager called the 911 emergency line at 1 p.m., several hours after the fatal shooting, the affidavit said. Hager told authorities that after the shooting he went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, and called his daughters to tell them what he had done.
"I want to apologize I didn't call earlier. I wanted to tell my kids what happened first," Hager told authorities, according to the affidavit.
Hager told authorities that he had been thinking of killing his wife, 78, for several days because she was in pain, the affidavit said. While she had told him that she wanted to die in the past, she never asked him to kill her, according to the affidavit.
A dispatcher at the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said Hager remained in jail on Thursday on a charge of first-degree, premeditated murder after an initial court appearance on Tuesday.
Hager could not be immediately reached on Thursday evening and it was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Local broadcaster WPTV reported that the couple had filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and that Carolyn Hager had been suffering from severe arthritis and other medical issues for 15 years.
The AARP, a non-profit advocacy organization for people 50 years and older, said in a report last November that increasing costs for certain specialty prescription drugs have put them out of reach for many people and that Medicare does not necessarily make those drugs affordable.
Authorities did not say what specific drugs Carolyn Hager was taking nor what kind of insurance the couple may have had.
A search of records at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement does not show a prior criminal history for William Hager. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Sandra Maler)

San Jose man arrested for shooting at police

San Jose police released the identity of a suspect in an officer-involved shooting this morning in San Jose as 24-year-old San Jose resident Steven Pedroza. Officers responded at 3:23 a.m. to a 7-Eleven store at 1430 Fruitdale Ave. on a report of a person firing a gun toward others.
The officers said they saw Pedroza leaving the store parking lot in a vehicle with two others inside. The officers attempted to stop Pedroza at Meridian and Fruitdale avenues, according to police.
Allegedly, Pedroza stopped the vehicle, leaned out of the driver’s side window and fired a gun at officers, hitting one of the patrol cars, police said.
Three officers shot back and at least one of the shots hit Pedroza.
Pedroza was arrested and taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, according to police.
Officers also arrested, questioned and released a woman passenger in Pedroza’s vehicle.
Pedroza was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer and unlawful discharge of a gun, police said.

Person struck by Hayward BART train

A person struck by a BART train in Hayward this morning has been taken to a hospital and BART has resumed partial service on the Fremont line, BART officials said.
The person was hit between the Hayward and South Hayward stations at 10:13 a.m., BART spokeswoman Denisse Gonzalez said.
The person was taken to a hospital with undisclosed injuries.
BART service was stopped between the two stations for about 30 minutes, causing major delays on the Fremont line, Gonzalez said.
As of about 10:45 a.m., BART resumed service on one track between the stations, but the investigation continues on the other trackway and delays persist, Gonzalez said.
Bus service is also available via Alameda-Contra Costa Transit bus No. 99. Service along BART’s other lines is unaffected.

Man kills cousin and faces family

A man sent to prison for killing his cousin faced the victim's immediate family Thursday in court.

Gabriel Maravilla sat with his waist and ankles shackled, and was forced to look at a slideshow of the woman killed. Through a victim's rights advocate, the family of Teresa Maravilla went after the admitted murderer.

"I feel that you should know that you are not a man," the victim's husband said in a letter read aloud in court by an advocate. "You are a coward, a criminal that left three young girls without their mother."

Then, in the midst of a sobbing courtroom, a letter from the victim's twin 10-year-old daughters.

"My family and I are really saddened about my mom's death," the daughters said in a letter read in court by an advocate. "I miss her up to the stars."

Gabriel Maravilla plead guilty to killing his cousin two years ago. No motive was ever revealed.

On Thursday, he listened without expression, tapping his foot throughout the testimony.

"Their mother won't be there the day they graduate from high school," said Heidi Ortez, the victim's niece. "She won't be there to see her daughters walk down the aisle."

Gabriel Maravilla was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He did not speak in court. The victim's father said he is struggling to make ends meet as a single dad and raising three little girls.

Body found in van diven by man who was shot after shooting at police

Hayward BART police discovered this evening a dead man inside a U-Haul truck that was used by the man who allegedly shot a BART police officer in the arm at the Hayward BART station Thursday morning, according to police. The body was discovered as investigators were conducting a forensic analysis of the suspect vehicle, police said.
At 11:11 a.m., an officer noticed a man acting suspiciously in the BART station parking structure. The man was walking around the parking structure and had been seen earlier driving a U-Haul truck, according to police.
The officer called for assistance.
When the suspect walked away from the parking structure, the officer followed him as he walked on Grand Street, police said.
While the officer ran his name through police dispatch, he learned the suspect was on probation with a search clause, according to police.
When the officer went to search the suspect, the suspect resisted and reached for his waistband. The suspect then pulled out a gun and shot several rounds, police said.
One officer was shot in the arm. Another officer returned fire, wounding the suspect, according to police.
Both the suspect and the injured officer were taken to the hospital.
The officer suffered injuries not considered life-threatening and has since been released from the hospital, police said.
The suspect underwent surgery for his injuries and is currently in stable condition, according to police.

Young woman killed by police in stolen vehicle

Uniformed officers spotted a stolen vehicle with one female occupant inside, according to police Chief Greg Suhr. The two officers, both from the Bayview Station, were part of a grant-funded special detail focusing on vehicle theft. The officers attempted to make a traffic stop, but the driver attempted to drive away. She made it only a short distance away on Elmira Street before she crashed, striking a truck, according to police.
The officers got out of their vehicle and attempted to detain the woman. A witness told police that as the officers were trying to detain her, she was trying to drive the vehicle forward and backward, Suhr said.
One of the officers, a sergeant whose name has not yet been released, fired a single shot that struck the woman, Suhr said.
Police said they had not yet interviewed the officers involved as of this morning and did not know whether the woman had a weapon or posed a threat to the officers.
Officers performed CPR on the woman and took her to San Francisco General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her name is not yet being released.
The shooting comes at a politically difficult time for Suhr and Mayor Ed Lee. The San Francisco Police Department is already under intense scrutiny following the fatal shooting of Mario Woods in December and the fatal shooting of Luis Gongora in April, as well as two recent scandals involving racist text messages exchanged among officers.
Activists for months have been calling for Suhr to be fired.
Supervisor Jane Kim, David Campos, Eric Mar and John Avalos joined those calls for Suhr’s removal last week following the release of a critical report on the department by a blue-ribbon panel commissioned by District Attorney George Gascon.
Lee has stood by Suhr so far, pointing to reform efforts launched since December including a review of use of force policies, increased officer training in areas including implicit racial bias and a review of policies and procedures being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services.
Suhr Thursday called the shooting:

“… tragic. … This is exactly the type of thing that we, with all of our reforms, are trying to avoid.”

Suhr noted that the department did not want any contacts with police to end in an officer-involved shootings.
The department’s critics were quick to renew their calls for Suhr’s removal Thursday, with Campos asking on Twitter:

“How many more of these do we need before Chief Suhr goes?”

A rally has also been announced at San Francisco City Hall at 5 p.m. by organizers of a group that staged a hunger strike and multiple protests in recent weeks calling for Suhr’s removal.
Public Defender Jeff Adachi has not called for Suhr’s firing, but has repeatedly called for an independent outside investigation of the department by the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division or by state Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Adachi said in a statement Thursday:

“It is unacceptable for police encounters with unarmed citizens to end in bullet wounds and body bags. … While details are still scarce, I am deeply disturbed by reports that the young woman gunned down today was driving away from officers. She was entitled to due process and, above all, she was entitled to her life.”

Adachi added:

“Police reforms and policy changes are meaningless if they aren’t accompanied by a major shift in police culture, away from shooting first and asking questions later.”

Supervisor Malia Cohen, the supervisor for the Bayview District, has not called for Suhr’s removal, but has worked on reform measures including Proposition D, a June ballot measure that would require the Office of Citizen Complaints to investigate all officer-involved shootings.
Cohen Thursday said in a statement that she was:

“… saddened, deeply troubled and frustrated about the incident that occurred this morning on Elmira Street.”

She noted that it was unclear whether it was necessary for the officer to fire his gun, given a new department policy prohibiting officers from firing at moving vehicles:

“What we do know is a woman tragically lost her life today.”

Cohen said she will be asking the OCC to investigate the shooting.
In addition to the Police Department, the district attorney’s office is investigating Thursday’s shooting. Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice also responded to the shooting scene this morning, according to Suhr.

3 people crash stolen vehicle, one steals police car, one flees, one captured

At 7:50 a.m., officers responded to a report of a possible auto theft happening in the 700 block of Sharmon Palms Lane, according to police. Another caller told police they witnessed suspicious activity possibly related to the auto theft in a nearby parking lot at 2875 S. Winchester Blvd.
When officers arrived at the parking lot, they located a silver Acura MDX and white Acura Integra. The white Acura was the same vehicle reported stolen from the Sharmon Palms Lane location, police said.
The silver Acura then accelerated toward the police patrol car and intentionally rammed the vehicle’s front end, causing major damage.
The silver Acura caught on fire and Santa Clara County firefighters were called to the scene.
Two male suspects fled on foot and officers pursued them, according to police.
A female suspect, who was inside the silver Acura, then exited the vehicle and got into a Campbell police patrol vehicle, which had been left unoccupied by an officer who was pursuing the male suspects.
The female suspect then closed the vehicle’s door and an officer attempted to stop her. The woman then accelerated the patrol car in reverse, causing the officer to be dragged by the vehicle for short distance before being thrown to the ground.
The female fled in the police vehicle and another police car pursued her. Police lost the suspect and the vehicle near Prospect Road and Lawrence Expressway.
The officer sustained head injuries and scrapes. He was taken to the hospital and has been treated and released.
Police were able to catch one of the male suspects who fled on foot. He’s been identified as 22-year-old Anthony Reyes from San Jose. Reyes has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, burglary and conspiracy.
Officers are still looking for the second male suspect, identified as 35-year-old San Jose resident Christian Hernandez.
The stolen patrol car was later located at around 10:23 a.m. near Parkmoor and Meridian avenues.
The female suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Itse Murillo of San Jose.
Police have confirmed the silver Acura that initially struck the patrol car was reported stolen out of San Carlos. Officers also said the suspects were involved in multiple burglaries in Los Gatos and Campbell earlier this morning.
Murillo is described as a Hispanic woman, 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighing 110 pounds. She has brown hair, brown eyes and multiple facial tattoos.
Hernandez is described as a Hispanic man, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes and a receding hairline.
He was last seen wearing a dark top and gray sweatpants.

Man identified in hit & run that killed a lady

A 67-year-old woman who was fatally struck by a hit-and-run motorcyclist while walking in San Francisco’s Sunset District on Thursday evening has been identified, according to the medical examiner’s office. A motorcyclist struck San Francisco resident Bonnie Lien near 24th Avenue and Noriega Street at about 6:50 p.m. Thursday.
The suspect, identified by San Francisco police as Wayne Valairs, a 59-year-old San Francisco resident, surrendered to officers Saturday after police identified him as the suspected driver of the motorcycle.
San Francisco police said it appears that Lien was crossing the street in the middle of the block when Valairs drove by a double-parked vehicle and struck her.
Lien fell to the ground and Valairs apparently fled from the scene of the collision. Lien was taken to San Francisco General Hospital where she died, according to police.
Officers arrested Valairs on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, vehicular manslaughter and speeding, police said.

Man seeking housing killed by police

The 27-year-old San Francisco man who was fatally shot by officers in San Francisco’s Mid-Market neighborhood last week was, along with his mother, struggling to find a place to live the day that he was killed. Herbert Benitez was fatally shot by a police sergeant on Oct. 15 shortly after noon on Eighth Street between Market and Mission streets after he allegedly took another sergeant’s firearm, according to San Francisco police Chief Greg Suhr.
Benitez’s mother, Sylvia Benitez, 62, said in a phone interview today that she and her son were having trouble finding work and a place to live.
Sylvia Benitez said she came to the United States from El Salvador in 1982.
She said her son, who was born in San Francisco and went to high school in Daly City, had an internship and then a job as a bank teller at Washington Mutual Bank after his high school graduation. He also worked as a tutor to children in need of homework help.
The bank ceased operations in 2008. More recently, Herbert Benitez had been working as a dishwasher at a restaurant, but then lost that job and failed to find another, his mother said.
Rosa Seagraves, a family friend to the Benitez family, spoke about the family’s struggle today at a vigil for Benitez held on the street where he died.
Seagraves, a Daly City resident, is allowing Benitez’ mother to stay in her home.
Seagraves said she met the pair about seven years when they moved into a home in Daly City. She said their rent rose so high so fast that after a couple years they were forced to move. Since then they have struggled to keep permanent housing.
The pair has been moving from hotel to hotel. The day Benitez died, the pair wasn’t sure they’d be able to scrape enough money together to get a hotel room, Seagraves said.
Julio Escobar, with the San Francisco Archdiocese’s Restorative Justice Ministry, stood near Benitez’ place of death today and explained that the family cannot, at this point, afford to have a burial or funeral ceremony.
Police said Benitez had been with his mother at the San Francisco Public Library’s main branch just prior to being killed.
Suhr said that on the day of his death, at 12:06 p.m., a construction worker saw Benitez throwing glass bottles into the street and asked him to stop, fearing that the broken glass would puncture truck tires as they entered and exited the construction site.
Apparently, Benitez did not verbally respond, Suhr said, but instead mumbled in an inaudible manner.
Suhr said Benitez continued to throw bottles, at which point a construction worker told Benitez he would call police. Benitez apparently told the construction worker to go ahead and make the call.
A group of construction workers then flagged down a marked SFPD patrol car heading south on Eighth Street, Suhr said.
The driver of the patrol car is a 29-year veteran of the police department who’s been a sergeant for 14 years. The passenger is a 17-year veteran of the department who’s been a sergeant for seven years.
According to police, the first sergeant got out of the driver’s side and made initial contact with Benitez while the other sergeant acted as cover.
Benitez apparently told the sergeants, “Don’t talk to me, people are watching me,” and then said, “Don’t f-cking touch me.” The first sergeant attempted to gain control of Benitez by his arms “at which point he became combative,” Suhr said. That sergeant then attempted to give Benitez distance so that he might calm down.
However, Benitez apparently came closer to the first sergeant and then reached his hand toward the sergeant, locking onto the sergeant’s vest, Suhr said:

“Benitez then took the sergeant to the ground, slamming him into the curb and landing on top of him.”

Benitez then attempted to take the first sergeant’s gun, at which point the first sergeant told the second sergeant, “He’s getting my gun.” Suhr said Benitez was able to get the gun from the sergeant’s holster and point it into the face of the first sergeant.
Suhr said a struggle ensued “with the sergeant looking down the barrel of his own gun, yelling now to his partner, ‘He’s got my gun. Shoot him.'”
Fearing for his life and the life of his partner, Suhr said, the second sergeant stopped trying to pull Benitez off his partner and fired two shots, striking Benitez.
Police said the officers called for an ambulance and began first aid before paramedics arrived, but Benitez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Suhr said the sergeants were transported to a hospital in stable condition. The first sergeant suffered a bruised rib with injuries to his face and knee, while the second sergeant suffered a bloody nose from being hit in the face.
On Monday, as with all fatal officer-involved shootings in the city, Suhr held a town hall meeting to discuss the incident.
Many of the Tenderloin residents who spoke at the meeting said they weren’t too surprised to hear about violence at that intersection.
They said the intersection by the library, which is also home to a Burger King and the Orpheum Theatre, is commonly the site of fights, public intoxication and illegal activities such as drug dealing and selling of stolen items.
Community member Angela D. said she was concerned that the police sergeants hadn’t received critical intervention training. She said she didn’t understand why the officers were unable to use de-escalation methods instead of violence against Benitez.
Suhr insisted that, although neither sergeant was certified in critical intervention training, their actions were consistent with the training.
Benitez’ death is being investigated as a homicide caused by gunshot wounds to the torso, deputy medical examiner administrator Chris Wirowek said, adding that a final autopsy report is underway.
Benitez’ death is being investigated by the San Francisco medical examiner’s office as well as police internal affairs and homicide investigators, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and if a complaint is lodged, the Office of Citizen Complaints, police said.

CHP officers stolen gun recovered

Police conducting a traffic stop in San Francisco’s Mission district Friday evening allegedly found a firearm that had been reported stolen from a law enforcement officer’s parked car.
Officers initiated the traffic stop at 5:36 p.m. in the vicinity of South Van Ness Avenue and 26th Street after noticing a damaged brake light.
Sergio Manriquez, a 29-year-old San Francisco resident, was found to be driving without a license. He was also on probation, according to police.
During a search of his vehicle, officers allegedly found a gun that had been reported stolen from an off-duty law enforcement officer Oct. 17.
The weapon was apparently stolen from a locked vehicle in the 1200 block of Howard Street, police said.
Manriquez was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property, weapons and traffic violations, as well as violating the terms of his probation.

Man leaves 5 year old granddaughter with a loaded handgun

The bizarre case of an Arizona grandfather who left his 5-year-old granddaughter alone in the desert with just a gun came to a close this week after Paul Rater was sentenced to jail for felony child abuse.
Rater made national headlines in November after his granddaughter was reported missing only to later be found in the desert armed with a loaded handgun while Rater was later found eating and drinking at a restaurant.
On Monday, Rater reportedly pleaded guilty to child abuse and sentenced to six months in prison, according to Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
According to Maricopa County authorities, the trouble began when Rater took the girl for a ride in his new truck. They reportedly got lost in the desert and then the truck somehow became stuck.
After the two were forced to set out on foot, prosecutors say Rater left the girl behind after she was unable to walk any further.
Authorities became aware of the missing girl when her mother reported she was gone.

According to the incident report, the victim told her grandmother, "I don't know why papa left me. I was calling out for him. He took me by some bushes, gave me a gun and left," it was reported.

Cops ended up using a helicopter to track her down, but it was a firefighter on an ATV who ended up hearing her cries. When they finally caught up with her, she was holding the 45-caliber handgun, which was loaded and cocked, authorities said,

Rater was quickly tracked down at a local store, and he admitted to abandoning his grandchild in the desert, KPHO reported. He reportedly said he went for a few drinks and a cheeseburger after leaving her there.

Man kills his own brother over a cheeseburger!?!

A Florida man was behind bars after police say he shot and killed his brother in a beef over a cheeseburger.
Benjamin Angus Middendorf, 25, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his older brother Thursday.
Nicholas Middendorf, 28, was killed after being shot once in the chest, it was reported.
“We were in a fight and I grabbed a gun and I shot him. Oh my God!” Benjamin Middendorf says in a 911 call released by the St. Cloud Police Department.
“My son shot my son,” his mother says to the dispatcher during the 911 call.
“Where is your son who shot your other son?” the dispatcher asks the woman.
She replies, “Right here holding my son,” and then is overheard saying, “I hope you go to jail.”
Police responded to the 911 call around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Fox 35 reported.
“I can tell you that there was some sort of argument -- sadly over a cheeseburger, whether he wanted one or not," police spokesperson Sgt. Denise Roberts told Fox 35.
“He admits that he does own a 9-mm. gun and he obviously puts himself on scene," Roberts said. "He picked up the phone. They called 911, cooperated fully. But as far as a full confession, no. At this point he said he didn't recall."
An arrest affidavit says Benjamin Middendorf, his brother and their mother had been drinking with friends, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, it was reported.
Benjamin Middendorf told detectives he was not drinking, the station reported.
He was denied bail during a court appearance Saturday.

College students face trial in murder of 13 year old girl

Prosecutors may reveal more details Friday in the case against two former Virginia Tech students accused of plotting to kidnap and murder a socially awkward 13-year-old girl who authorities say climbed out a window to rendezvous with them after midnight last January.
David Eisenhauer, 18, is charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Blacksburg seventh-grader & major surgery survivor Nicole Lovell. Natalie Keepers, 19, is charged with being an accessory to kidnapping and murder and with helping hide the body.
Their hearing Friday will be in Montgomery County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt said at a February bond hearing that the college students from Maryland met at a fast-food restaurant on Jan. 26 to plan Nicole's death, and bought a shovel and cleaning supplies at separate Wal-Mart stores. She said they decided together that Eisenhauer would cut Nicole's throat.
She said Eisenhauer initially denied involvement when police found his messages on Nicole's phone, but eventually said he drove to the girl's home and watched her climb out of her window before they drove off to pick up Keepers. The prosecutor said Eisenhauer and Nicole last made contact by phone at 12:39 a.m. Jan. 27.
Pettitt said Keepers is adamant that she was not present at the killing. But once Nicole was dead, the prosecutor said, Keepers helped load her body into Eisenhauer's Lexus. Nicole's remains were eventually found in a remote spot in North Carolina, about two hours south of the campus.
The biggest unanswered question surrounding Nicole's death remains: Why?
A friend of Eisenhauer whose cellphone was recently seized by police provided the first possible answer. Bryce Dustin of Pulaski told The Roanoke Times earlier this month that Eisenhauer texted him about meeting a teenage girl at a party and later learning that she was underage. Eisenhauer feared the girl would "expose" him and asked if Dustin knew where he could hide a body, Dustin told the newspaper.
Pettitt declined to comment on the possible motive and the search warrant for Dustin's phone. She also would not say who will testify at Friday's hearing or describe what new information they will reveal.
Defense attorneys could waive the preliminary hearing, conceding that there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. But the prosecutor said she is preparing for the hearing. Defense attorneys, who have consistently declined media interviews, did not return telephone messages.