Daily Breaking True Crime Briefing
As of: September 18, 2026 (evening ET)
Scope: Worldwide sweep — last ~24 hours preferred; major court and investigative moves stretched to ~48. Portland, Claiborne County, Cuautla, Chatsworth, Brentwood, Taunton, Westminster, Drancy, Glen Alpine, Nottingham, Fairmont, Lake Ronkonkoma, Clarence-Rockland, Greenacre, Curitiba. First stops: LawAndCrime (Iowa daycare newborn charge and North Olmsted fratricide among today’s posts), People.com/crime hub (Calhoun sixth indictment and Junior Burdynski cold-case cards live; article bodies paywalled to fetch), New Yorker (Rachel Aviv on the Lucy Letby / Thirlwall report — England, not re-led as a U.S. card). Tabloid tips confirmed through police, court, prosecutor, AP/wires, or independent locals.
Multnomah County put a sixth woman’s name on Jesse Calhoun’s docket — Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson, still missing — while Mississippi’s multi-agency sweep locked up a dozen people in the killing of Claiborne County Deputy Terrian Bailey. In Morelos, Mexico, prosecutors booked Francisco Javier “N” for the femicide of Spanish exchange student Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera and said they’ll ask for seventy years. Los Angeles County’s DA has Bailee Lynn Rios on two murder counts for the Chatsworth Metro crash; her Friday arraignment slid to Monday. Prince George’s County and the FBI finally charged Joseph Lynch in the 1993 disappearance of ten-year-old George “Junior” Burdynski. Bristol County held Matthew Cruz without bail after Shannon Smith died at the base of his Taunton stairs. Across the Atlantic, an Old Bailey judge gave Sulaiman Tajzai life with a twenty-five-year minimum for the Westminster ambush of Farmanullah Sherzad, a Nottingham jury convicted Jack Preston of shotgun murder, and Bobigny’s prosecutors opened a double homicide file after a twenty-nine-year-old woman and her two-month-old daughter were found stabbed in Drancy. New South Wales charged two teenagers in the mistaken-identity killing of student Marco Tapia. That was Friday’s board.
Portland: Calhoun Indicted Over Sixth Woman
Multnomah County prosecutors announced a first-degree manslaughter indictment tying Jesse Lee Calhoun, already charged in five Portland-area murders, to the presumed November 18, 2022 death of Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson, 32.
Gibson’s remains have never been recovered. A friend reported her missing in March 2023; DA Nathan Vasquez and Senior Deputy DA Melissa Marrero said detectives only recently locked the evidence they needed. The other named victims in the murder counts are Ashley Real, Kristin Smith, Charity Lynn Perry, Joanna Speaks, and Bridget Leanne Webster. Arraignment on the new count is set for Monday, September 21, at 1:30 p.m. Indictments are accusations. Calhoun is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- Multnomah County District Attorney — Jesse Calhoun Indicted for the Death of a Sixth Woman
- NBC News — Oregon man accused of killing five Portland-area women faces new charges
- KTRE / KPTV — Suspected serial killer now connected to the deaths of 6 women
Claiborne County: Twelve Arrested in Deputy Killing
Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Friday that twelve people are in custody in the fatal shooting of Claiborne County Deputy Terrian Bailey.
Bailey was shot in the early hours of September 7 while trying to break up a large crowd after a festival near Hermanville. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Each of the twelve faces first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and conspiracy to commit murder: Adolphous Butler, 26; Demond Hunt, 19; Emanuel Jackson, 21; Jordan Lighter, 24; Yehoiada Marshall, 24; Keith Miller, 23; Marqueese Richards, 19; Eli Okonner Robinson, 19; Kearuis Stimage, 24; Alvin Truitt, 20; Shedrick Wallace, 18; and Zander Cornell Butler, 21, who was still wanted when the first wave of arrests went out and was taken into custody later Friday. The sweep pulled in Hinds Metro SWAT, local sheriffs, Mississippi Highway Patrol and Bureau of Investigation, FBI, ATF, and U.S. Marshals. The case is open and will go to the DA. All twelve are presumed innocent.
Sources:
- WLBT — 12 arrested in fatal shooting of Claiborne County deputy
- WAPT — 11 suspects arrested in Claiborne County deputy killing
Cuautla: Arrest in Spanish Student Femicide
Mexican federal and Morelos state forces arrested Francisco Javier “N,” also called Javier “N” and “El Trompas,” on Thursday in central Cuautla in the killing of Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera.
Tacoronte, 21, a Universidad de Granada student on exchange at UAEM, was stabbed the night of September 12 near the Casa de Cultura after a medicinal-plant fair. She died of her wounds. Fiscal Fernando Blumenkron Escobar said the pattern of injuries supports a feminicidio charge and that prosecutors will seek the state maximum of seventy years; he said a cellphone was taken but discarded a sexual motive. Omar García Harfuch confirmed the arrest. The body was to be turned over to her family Friday. The accused is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- El Financiero — Captura de ‘El Trompas,’ presunto feminicida de Claudia Tacoronte
- El Informador / EFE — Fiscalía busca 70 años por feminicidio de Claudia Tacoronte
- KVIA / CNN en Español — Detienen en Morelos al presunto feminicida de Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera
Chatsworth: Rios Murder Arraignment Slips to Monday
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman charged Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, on Thursday with two counts of murder, felony DUI causing injury, and misdemeanor reckless driving in Tuesday’s Chatsworth crash into a Metro Line 166 bus.
Prosecutors say she was drug-impaired, speeding the wrong way on De Soto Avenue, ran a red light at Nordhoff, and slammed the bus, killing Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31; five others were hurt. Bail is $4.1 million. On Friday she was in the San Fernando courthouse but did not appear in Department S; Judge Patrick Hare found good cause and pushed arraignment to Monday at the defense’s request. Narcotics were found in her Ford Expedition; the DA has not publicly named the drug. She is not charged in the separate NBC helicopter crash that killed three nearby. Charges are allegations. She is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- Los Angeles County District Attorney — Driver in Deadly High-Speed Metro Crash in Chatsworth Charged with Murder
- MyNewsLA — Arraignment Moved for Woman Charged in Deadly Chatsworth Bus Crash
Brentwood: Charge in 1993 Junior Burdynski Case
Prince George’s County Police and the FBI announced Thursday that Joseph Lynch, 61, has been charged with second-degree murder and sex offenses in the May 24, 1993 disappearance of George “Junior” Burdynski, 10, of Brentwood, Maryland.
Junior was never found. Cold-case detectives said a witness who was thirteen at the time — now about forty-seven, not charged — told them Lynch ordered him to sexually assault the boy and that Junior was killed during the assault; Lynch allegedly helped dispose of the body. Lynch was already jailed this year on other child sex-abuse counts from the same probe and had a 1990s conviction in a neighborhood child-sex ring that did not then name Junior. He waived a bond review Friday. He is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- WTOP — FBI, Prince George’s Co. police announce charges in 1993 missing child case
- NBC Washington — Man arrested in murder of 10-year-old boy who disappeared from Maryland in 1993
Taunton: Boyfriend Held Without Bail
Matthew Cruz, 37, was arraigned Friday in Taunton District Court on a murder charge in the Thursday death of Shannon Smith, 37, of Bridgewater.
Bristol County prosecutors say Smith was found unresponsive at the base of the stairs at Cruz’s Alcott Circle townhome just before 1 p.m. and was pronounced dead at Morton Hospital. Cruz called 911 and first claimed she threw herself down the stairs; investigators say biological evidence and injuries point to a fight that started upstairs, a chokehold, and possible dragging. A not-guilty plea was entered. The judge held him without bail. He has a prior assault conviction and restraining-order history, prosecutors said. He is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- NBC Boston — Taunton, MA man faces murder charge in girlfriend’s death
- Boston.com — Taunton man charged with killing girlfriend
Westminster: Life Term for Leeds Ambush Murder
At the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Angela Rafferty KC sentenced Sulaiman Tajzai, 18, to life with a twenty-five-year minimum for the March 27 ambush murder of shop worker Farmanullah Sherzad, 26, outside Sherzad’s Abbey Orchard Street home in Westminster.
Tajzai pleaded guilty to murder and possessing a knife. The court heard he travelled more than 150 miles from Leeds after reconnaissance, waited in a face mask and gloves, and stabbed Sherzad at least ten times. The judge called the attack “exceptionally violent” and said he stalked Sherzad “like prey” over a false grudge. Met Police investigated. Sherzad’s family said they were deeply shocked and angered.
Sources:
- BBC — Teenager jailed for life over ambush murder
- Metropolitan Police — Man convicted for Westminster murder
Drancy: Mother and Infant Found Stabbed
Bobigny prosecutors opened a voluntary aggravated homicide investigation after a twenty-nine-year-old woman and her two-month-old daughter were found dead of edged-weapon wounds in their Drancy home on the afternoon of September 17.
A relative discovered blood and called police. The woman’s partner — the infant’s father — and one other person were placed in garde à vue. Prosecutor Alexandre de Bosschère said there was no preferred theory yet. Brigade Criminelle of the Paris judicial police is leading; autopsies were set for Friday. Names of the dead have not been released in the AFP-fed coverage. Everyone in custody is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- La Dépêche — Une femme de 29 ans et son nourrisson de 2 mois retrouvés morts à Drancy
- BFMTV — Une femme et son bébé de deux mois tués par arme blanche à Drancy
Glen Alpine: Teens Charged in Mistaken Student Killing
NSW Police charged boys aged fourteen and sixteen with murder in the September 1 mistaken-identity shooting of Marco Tapia, 23, a UTS biomedical engineering student, at a Glen Alpine address in Sydney’s south-west.
Coverage Friday also said four Victorians were being extradited on related Turrella/Hurstville shooting counts; police allege the same firearm later turned up in the Tapia killing. Organized-crime feud context has been reported; the people who pulled the trigger are still sought. Youth names are withheld. All accused are presumed innocent.
Sources:
- Sydney Morning Herald — Two teens charged with murder of student in mistaken identity shooting
- ABC News — NSW police want to extradite woman in Marco Tapia shooting probe
Nottingham: Guilty Verdict in Meadows Shotgun Murder
A Nottingham Crown Court jury on Thursday found Jack Preston, 34, guilty of murdering Coel Tainton, 24, with a double-barrelled shotgun at Preston’s Ryeland Gardens home in The Meadows on February 28.
Preston first told 999 a masked intruder had burst in. He later claimed self-defence. Police said DNA on the gun, a video of him handling it about an hour earlier, and cartridges under the stairs collapsed those stories. He had already admitted possessing a shortened shotgun and assaulting an emergency worker. Sentencing is set for September 24. East Midlands Special Operations Unit led the case.
Sources:
Fairmont: Ex-Girlfriend Charged After Double Shooting
Fairmont Police in Robeson County, North Carolina, charged India Walters with first-degree murder and attempted murder after a Thursday shooting near Main and Pine that killed Ronnie Scott and wounded Saqua Locklear in the chest.
Scott, Walters’s former boyfriend, was found with multiple gunshot wounds at his home. Locklear’s condition was not released. Walters is held without bond at the Robeson County Detention Center. Investigation continues. She is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- WFXB — Woman Arrested After Shooting Leaves One Person Dead, One Hurt
- WPDE — Man killed, woman hurt in Robeson Co. shooting, police say
Lake Ronkonkoma: Son Indicted in Father’s Stabbing
Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney announced Friday that Sage Arias-Brown, 33, of Lake Ronkonkoma, has been indicted for second-degree murder in the September 7 stabbing death of his father, Edward Brown, 69, in Mastic.
A 911 call captured Brown screaming that he was being murdered and naming Sage. Autopsy findings cited roughly forty stab wounds. Officers arrested Arias-Brown walking about half a mile from the scene. He was arraigned September 17 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz, remanded, and is due back October 21. He faces twenty-five years to life if convicted. He is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- LongIsland.com / Suffolk DA — Lake Ronkonkoma Man Indicted on Murder Charge in Death of His Father
Clarence-Rockland: Five Now Charged in River Killing
Russell County OPP said two more people bring the Robert Prévost homicide file to five accused.
Prévost, 63, went missing in March 2025; his body was recovered from the Ottawa River area in May. Newly named Friday’s cycle: Mathew Blake, 23, of Arnprior (second-degree murder, indignity to a dead body, obstructing a peace officer) and Sébastien Boucher, 47, of Rockland (obstructing a peace officer, obstructing justice, accessory after the fact). Three others were already on the board. Investigation continues. All five are presumed innocent.
Sources:
- Ottawa Citizen — Two more charged in death of Clarence-Rockland man
- CityNews Ottawa — Two more people facing charges in murder of Clarence-Rockland man
Greenacre: Manslaughter Sentence After Husband’s Death
Justice Peter Hamill on Friday sentenced Nirmeen Noufl, 55, to six years and three months with a three-year non-parole period for the manslaughter of her husband, Mamdouh Noufl, 62, whose body was never recovered.
She had pleaded guilty on an excessive self-defence basis after a May 2023 stabbing in south-west Sydney; the court heard the body was later dismembered and disposed of in bins. A murder trial had been discontinued. NSW Supreme Court case.
Sources:
Curitiba: Dance-Hall Strangling Suspect Caught in São Paulo
Paraná and São Paulo civil police on Friday arrested Joanderson Santos Silva, 26, as the suspect in the killing of Maria Fernanda Naiser Fragais, 43.
CCTV showed the pair leaving a Pinheirinho dance hall around 03:26; he returned alone minutes later. Her body was found September 15 in a ditch with strangulation signs. He was already wanted on domestic-violence warrants involving another woman. He is presumed innocent.
Sources:
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