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The Crime Ledger: September 17, 2026

THE CRIME LEDGER cover for September 17, 2026. Distressed noir dossier with gothic skyline and evidence scraps for Ekurhuleni, Philadelphia, Feltham, Chatsworth, The Hague.

Daily Breaking True Crime Briefing
As of: September 17, 2026 (evening ET)
Scope: Worldwide sweep — last ~24 hours preferred; major court and investigative moves stretched to ~48. Ekurhuleni, Philadelphia, Feltham, Chatsworth, Pietracatella, The Hague, Perry, Karachi, Samoa/Vietnam, Toronto, Austin, Doral, Armadale, Railton, Bogotá, Millington. First stops: LawAndCrime (homepage amplified older OKC truck-bed and Birmingham cold-case arrests — not re-led here), People.com/crime (Horsch Olney write-up live Thursday), New Yorker (no crime lede). Tabloid tips confirmed through police, court, prosecutor, AP/wires, or independent locals.

South African police pulled a ninth woman’s body out of the Ekurhuleni east-of-Johannesburg cluster, three finds this week alone, while commanders still won’t call it serial. Philadelphia and the FBI briefed on seven missing women tied to an Olney pornographer’s house — five of them looking lifeless on digital files — and still have no homicide charges. Hampshire identified remains from a Feltham wildfire as Joanne Sheen, missing since 2019, and locked a Southampton man on conspiracy suspicion. Los Angeles County’s DA said Bailee Lynn Rios will face two second-degree murder counts for the Chatsworth wrong-way bus crash. Italian labs and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute flipped a Christmas “food poisoning” into a ricin double homicide. The Hague’s Kosovo Specialist Chambers gave Hashim Thaçi 25 years for war crimes that include 96 murders. A Perry, Iowa, daycare worker was charged with first-degree murder in a newborn’s death. Karachi’s DIG West named Humayun in the Surjani Town killings of Mehwish and her three children. Samoa and the AFP charged a New Zealander and a Samoan national over the alleged conspiracy behind Australian Lorenzo Lemalu’s Vietnam shooting. Toronto booked a 16-year-old on first-degree in Cashie Auguste’s Jane–Finch killing. Austin charged two people with murder after St. Edward’s student Ethan Westgard died of a fentanyl cocktail. ICE grabbed Ecuador’s Villavicencio co-accused Xavier Jordán in Florida. And Scotland, Tasmania, Bogotá, and a U.S. Marshals capture in Slovenia rounded out the board.

Ekurhuleni: Ninth Woman Found Dead

On Thursday, SAPS recovered a ninth woman’s body near a construction site in the Boksburg area of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg. She was about 30, stabbed and beaten, partially naked; a throat injury was noted pending formal cause of death.

That makes nine women in roughly two months. Three of those finds landed this week, and Kempton Park has been under lockdown-style roadblocks. One foreign suspect is already in the system for the July 15 first killing and appeared in court Wednesday. Deputy police chief Tebello Mosikili said investigators are still weighing a single offender against copycats. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said someone has “declared war.” The R400,000 police reward (plus a DA top-up) stays on the table.

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Philadelphia Home Links Seven Missing Women

Philadelphia police and the FBI briefed Wednesday (coverage rolling into Thursday ET) on the Olney house tied to Eugene Horsch, 44 — already in federal custody on gun and fake-credential charges — and his late father Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, a violent-porn producer who died in 2025.

More than a million digital files are under review; about 30 percent done. Seven women are now linked to the property. Images and video appear to show five unconscious or lifeless. Named connections include Gabrielle Amarando (22 when she went missing in 2012), Maribel Fresses (27, 2018), Nicole Fusaro (27, 2018 — video reportedly shows R.C. zip-tying her neck until she goes limp), Blair Tonzelli (35, 2023; her ID was used during Eugene’s June arrest), and Amy McHale, R.C.’s ex-wife, missing since 2016. Two more injured or lifeless women appear in the material (one identified, not named; one still unknown). No bodies recovered. Five urns of ashes sit in evidence — some believed to be family or friends; two still being ID’d. Basement chemicals are at a Chicago lab. Another search is planned for late September. Eugene Horsch faces no homicide charges yet. Police have also flagged that some imagery may be staged “playacting.” He is presumed innocent of any killing.

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Joanne Sheen Remains ID’d; Man Held

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed Thursday that human remains found Aug. 12 in shrubland at Padstow Walk / Bedfont Pits (“The Pits”) in Feltham, southwest London — after an early-August wildfire — belong to Joanne Sheen.

Sheen was 44, a mother of three, last seen Dec. 5, 2019, travelling Fareham to Southampton; reported missing February 2020. Identification came through forensic DNA work. The Met handed the file to Hampshire. A 56-year-old Southampton man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and remains in custody. DCI Toby Elcock leads Major Crime; Crimestoppers reinstated a £20,000 reward. Earlier 2020 conspiracy arrests never produced charges. The man in custody is presumed innocent.

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Chatsworth Bus Driver Facing Murder Charges

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Thursday that Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, will be charged with two counts of second-degree murder, DUI, and reckless driving in Tuesday’s Chatsworth crash.

Prosecutors allege she was drug-impaired, speeding the wrong way on De Soto Avenue, ran a red light, struck a vehicle, then slammed a Metro Line 166 bus, killing Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31; six others were hurt. Narcotics were found in her Ford Expedition (the DA has not publicly named the drug). Bail sits around $4.0–4.1 million. Court Friday — she missed Thursday on medical grounds. MyNewsLA noted charges had not yet been formally filed as of the Thursday afternoon conference.

A separate NBC news helicopter covering the wreck killed reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw, and ground victim Edy Gutierrez Mejia. NTSB is investigating those deaths; Rios is not charged in the chopper crash. She is presumed innocent.

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Italy: Christmas Poisoning Ruled Ricin Murders

ANSA’s English desk reported Thursday that Italian labs and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute now give “certain” indications that Sara Di Vita, 15, and her mother Antonella Di Ielsi, 50, were deliberately poisoned with ricin on Christmas Eve 2025 in Pietracatella, Campobasso province.

The deaths were first treated as spoiled food. Husband and father Gianni Di Vita, 50 — a former mayor and accountant — recovered. Police are weighing him as a possible culprit (a smaller dose to cover tracks) against a third party, and are also checking friends and acquaintances. Investigators are on a premeditated-murder track; a Dark Web purchase has been posited. Five doctors remain under probe for negligence. Di Vita’s lawyer has urged police not to exclude accident. No named charges yet. Everyone under scrutiny is presumed innocent.

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Thaçi Gets 25 Years for War Crimes

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday found former president Hashim Thaçi criminally responsible for war crimes from the 1998–99 KLA period: murder of 96 people, torture of 303, cruel treatment of 49, and arbitrary detention of 385, framed as a joint criminal enterprise.

Co-defendants: Jakup Krasniqi, 25 years; Kadri Veseli, 18; Rexhep Selimi, 13. Crimes-against-humanity counts were dropped — the chamber said a widespread or systematic attack on civilians was not proven. This is a first-instance judgment; appeals are expected. Kosovo’s Kurti and Osmani governments, and Albania’s Rama, pushed back hard. A separate witness-intimidation trial is due later this month. Defendants are entitled to appeal.

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Perry Daycare Worker Charged Infant Murder

Stephanie Ubaldo, 20, of Perry, Iowa, was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder. Perry PD and Iowa DCI say Ubaldo — an employee at Acorns and Oaks Christian Daycare — told ER staff Tuesday she gave birth in the daycare bathroom and put the baby in the bathroom garbage.

Officers found a fully developed baby girl with umbilical cord in a trash bag in the daycare trash wagon. The infant was dead with head injuries. Court records allege Ubaldo said she intentionally injured the baby’s face to stop crying so she could return to work. She is held without bond at Dallas County Jail and presumed innocent.

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Surjani Town: Arrest in Mother-and-Children Killings

Bodies of Mehwish, 34, and her three minor children were found Monday in Sector 7-D, Surjani Town, Karachi — head trauma. DIG West Irfan Baloch told a Thursday presser that suspect Humayun, of New Karachi, who works in catering, was held after spending roughly two hours inside the house.

Police allege an attempted sexual assault, then iron-rod killings staged as robbery. The weapon was discarded in a drain (recovery accounts conflict between outlets — treat carefully). Geo-fencing, CDR, CCTV, and forensics are ongoing. Physical remand is expected around Sept. 18. Humayun is presumed innocent.

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Samoa Charges Pair Over Lemalu Vietnam Plot

Samoa Police and the Australian Federal Police said Thursday that a New Zealand national, 31, and a Samoan national, 33, were charged Sept. 10 with conspiracy to murder under Samoa’s Crimes Act 2013 (maximum life). They appeared in a Samoan court Wednesday and got conditional bail.

Australian citizen Lorenzo Lemalu (also reported Lorenzo Lemalu Tovia) was shot dead in Ho Chi Minh City on May 21; a second Australian was seriously injured. Vietnam arrested two Samoan nationals on May 24. The AFP assisted with a search warrant, financial inquiries, witness interviews, and forensic review of electronics. The allegation is that the pair charged in Samoa conspired with the men arrested in Vietnam. AFP’s joint release does not name the accused. They are presumed innocent.

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Toronto Teen Charged in Cashie Auguste Shooting

Toronto police on Thursday charged a 16-year-old boy with first-degree murder and fail to comply with a probation order in the death of Cashie Auguste, 17.

Auguste was shot about 3:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, at Jane Street and Finch Avenue West in North York and died in hospital — the city’s 24th homicide of 2026. He attended C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute; his father, Lucas Auguste, spoke at a vigil. The accused’s identity is withheld under the YCJA. Bail court was Thursday. He is presumed innocent.

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Austin Pair Charged in Student Overdose Murder

Austin Police said Thursday that Jordan Breck, 22, and Alysia Rodriguez-Mabry, 27, have been charged with murder after Ethan Westgard, 19, was found unresponsive June 11 in a St. Edward’s University residence hall and later pronounced dead.

Autopsy listed toxic effects of fentanyl, mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, alprazolam, buprenorphine, and gabapentin. Investigators say the drugs were given by Breck and Rodriguez-Mabry. Both were arrested this week by U.S. Marshals. APD counts it as Austin’s 40th homicide of the year. They are presumed innocent.

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ICE Holds Xavier Jordán in Villavicencio Case

Xavier Jordán Mendoza — one of seven people Ecuador’s Fiscalía has accused as alleged intellectual authors of the Aug. 9, 2023, assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio — was detained by ICE in Doral, Florida, on Wednesday with his spouse and is held at Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana.

Ecuador’s CNJ lodged an extradition request July 14, 2026, tied to the Metástasis organized-crime case; he also faces a preventive-prison order in the Magnicidio FV file alongside figures linked to Serrano, Aleaga, Salcedo, and Los Lobos. Ecuador’s interior minister said the U.S. path — deportation versus extradition — is still open; another accused, Serrano, was ICE’d then deported Aug. 28. Defense lawyers say asylum is pending a May 2027 hearing. Jordán is presumed innocent.

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Armadale: Man Charged in Billy Watson Shooting

A 57-year-old man has been charged over the death of Billy Watson, 35, after police were called to Harestanes Road, Armadale, West Lothian, about 11:50 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Watson died at the scene. Post-mortem findings were consistent with a firearm; Police Scotland is treating it as a targeted murder.

The accused is due at Livingston Sheriff Court Friday. Linked inquiries cover a nearby car fire at Netherhouses and a derelict-house fire on Wotherspoon Crescent. Officers want information on a blue BMW and a black Vauxhall Mokka, and on four men seen in the area. Det Supt Michelle Findlay and Supt Jocelyn Thomas are on the file. The charged man is presumed innocent.

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Railton Assault Upgraded to Murder

About 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Tasmania Police responded to an alleged assault at a private residence in Railton, south of Devonport. Victim and alleged offender knew each other; police said there was no wider public threat.

A 42-year-old Tarleton man left the scene and was arrested nearby. He was first charged with an unlawful act intended to cause grievous bodily harm. The victim, a 48-year-old Railton man, died at Royal Hobart Hospital Thursday evening, and the charge was upgraded to murder. He appeared at Devonport Magistrates Court Thursday night and was due back Friday afternoon. He is presumed innocent.

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Bogotá: Arrest in Ana Lucía González Killing

Venezuelan girl Ana Lucía González Mendoza, 9, visiting her sister in Mosquera, was reported missing Monday, Sept. 14, after the sister’s partner allegedly took her on a motorcycle following an argument. Her body was found Tuesday in a drain in Ciudad Bolívar, Bogotá (JJ Rendón sector).

José (Shenner José) Rojas Larez, 29, Venezuelan — the sister’s partner — was captured Wednesday night near URI Paloquemao. Fiscalía plans to present him to a control judge; contemplated charges include aggravated homicide and sexual offenses against a minor under 14, pending forensics. CCTV reconstruction runs Porvenir Río to Fontibón. He is presumed innocent.

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Millington Fugitive Caught in Slovenia

U.S. Marshals said Seth Walls, 23 — wanted for second-degree murder and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon in the Sept. 11, 2022, shooting death of 15-year-old Haley Reedy in Millington, Tennessee — was arrested Sept. 12 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, under an assumed name after Interpol fingerprint matches.

He is in custody pending extradition coordinated by the Shelby County DA and Sheriff. The case was adopted by the Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force after Walls fled when charges were elevated. He is presumed innocent.

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THE CRIME LEDGER cover for September 17, 2026. Distressed noir dossier with gothic skyline and evidence scraps for Ekurhuleni, Philadelphia, Feltham, Chatsworth, The Hague.

The Crime Ledger: September 17, 2026

South African police pulled a ninth woman’s body out of the Ekurhuleni east-of-Johannesburg cluster, three finds this week alone, while commanders still…

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