The Crime Ledger: October 16, 2026

Bend, Oregon: Police Name Former Student, 16, as Gunman Who Killed Three Children and a Teacher at Silver Rail Elementary

Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were shot dead inside Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 15, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said. A 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to St. Charles Medical Center in critical condition. The gunman, a 16-year-old Bend resident, was shot and killed inside the school by a community member who had followed him in. At a news conference on Friday, Oct. 16, Krantz identified him as Griffin J. John II, a former Silver Rail student, and said all of the victims were shot in the same classroom, the Associated Press reported.

The first 911 call reached Deschutes County dispatch at 12:59 p.m. It came from a man in a pickup in the school parking lot who had seen someone carrying a long gun toward the building and confronted him; the teen fired several times at the man and his truck, shattering the rear window, Krantz said. One witness said he saw the shooter throw his gun over the school fence and jump over it. Dozens more calls followed reporting that he was inside. Krantz said he forced his way in by “shooting at locked doors.” Inside, Krantz said Friday, a teacher threw her phone at the gunman, then tackled and fought with him, likely saving lives; he called her actions “heroic” and said she was not injured.

The school was ordered into lockdown at 1:01 p.m. and the first officers arrived about a minute later, within three minutes of the first call. By then, an officer reported, the suspect had been shot by a bystander who “pursued him into the school and engaged him.” Officers found the teen dead and four victims dead inside, then cleared the building room by room and moved children to a reunification site at Journey Church. Law enforcement sources told CBS News and the AP the weapon was a pump-action shotgun bought by his mother; KTVZ, citing NBC News, reported she bought it in August around his birthday. No motive has been given.

The FBI is assisting. Police have not released the victims’ names. The father of the youngest, Kelik Summer, said on Facebook that his 5-year-old son, Rhoam, was killed, The Bulletin reported. The wounded teacher was identified by her family as Becky Drury, who was recovering from surgery to her left arm and right hand, the AP reported. The bystander’s mother, Kenda Freeman, identified him as her son, Kaylub Giamanco, a lifelong Bend resident with two daughters at the school, who “is not seeking recognition.” All Bend-La Pine Schools classes and activities were canceled Friday. “Today, an unthinkable tragedy happened at Silver Rail Elementary School,” Superintendent Steven Cook said.

Gatesville, Texas: Amber Guyger Released From Prison on Parole Seven Years After Killing Botham Jean

Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger left the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville on parole before 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 16, seven years into the 10-year sentence she received in October 2019 for murdering Botham Jean, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told FOX 4.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved her release earlier this month (NBC 5 reported Oct. 7; FOX 4 reported Oct. 1). It cited her lack of a documented pattern of violent arrests or convictions, “satisfactory institutional adjustment” and completion of the programs in her treatment plan. The same board turned her down in 2024, when Jean’s family, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and more than 6,000 petition signers opposed release.

Jean, 26, an accountant, was on his couch eating ice cream in his fourth-floor South Side Flats apartment on Sept. 6, 2018, when Guyger, off duty but still in uniform after a long shift, walked in and shot him. She lived on the third floor and testified she believed she was in her own apartment and that he was a burglar. “The loss of Botham has left our family forever dismembered,” the family said in a statement.

London: Norwegian Teen “Hitman” Recruited by Iran-Backed Foxtrot Network Gets 20 Years

Johannes Natland, 19, of Norway, was sentenced to 20 years’ detention at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, Oct. 16, after a retrial jury unanimously convicted him of conspiracy to murder, BBC News reported. He had admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition.

The court heard he was recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organized crime group sanctioned by the UK and US for its links to the Iranian government, and offered 270,000 Norwegian kroner, about £21,000, to kill a target in England. He flew into Manchester Airport on an emergency passport on March 17, 2025, shortly after turning 18, and followed videos on Signal to Huddersfield, where two guns, a stolen car and cash had been hidden.

Norwegian police arrested the teenager who recruited him and found messages about the UK plot on his phone, setting off a race to find Natland. Officers caught him at the Briar Court Hotel with two working handguns under the bed and 19 rounds; when he saw them at the door, he mimed shooting one with his hands. Police still do not know who the target was. “You agreed to assassinate another human being, a stranger to you, in a foreign country,” Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him.

Richmond Hill, Queens: Mother Charged With Murder After 911 Call Saying “I Killed My Daughter”

NYPD detectives charged Francis Cabello, 32, with murder late Thursday, Oct. 15, a day after her 5-year-old daughter, Fabiana Cabello, was found unresponsive and bleeding from her nose and mouth in an upstairs bedroom of the family’s home on 110th Street in Richmond Hill, police said.

Police said Cabello called 911 just before 7 p.m. Wednesday and told the operator, “I killed my daughter.” Officers found her downstairs; she told them, “She’s upstairs, not breathing.” Fabiana was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital just before 7:30 p.m. The medical examiner has not yet released a cause of death, and police are treating it as a homicide.

Cabello was taken for psychiatric evaluation. Police sources told the Daily News officers had been to the home at least once before this year, when she was taken to a hospital for observation in an incident that was not violent and did not involve the girl, and relatives said she had recently been hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. Fabiana’s grandfather, Franklin Cabello, said he was home and saw nothing until police arrived. Her father, Kuldeep Singh, said he never saw anything in the mother’s behavior that worried him. She is presumed innocent.

Montreal: Man Charged With First-Degree Murder of CRA Worker Leïla Ben Salem, Killed During Video Meeting

Youcef Moussaoui, 33, arrested by Montreal police on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 15, was charged on Friday, Oct. 16, with first-degree murder in the death of Leïla Ben Salem, 45, a Canada Revenue Agency employee, the Montreal Gazette reported. He appeared by video before Quebec Court Judge Sonia Mastro Matteo; the Crown opposed his release and he was ordered held, with the case due back in December. He does not enter a plea until the case reaches Superior Court.

Ben Salem was reportedly in a virtual meeting with colleagues when she was killed on Sept. 22. Police found her unresponsive inside an apartment building on René-Lévesque Boulevard near St-Christophe Street after a well-being check call shortly before 3:30 p.m. Police said the killing was not domestic and that the motive will come out in court. Prime Minister Mark Carney paid tribute to her in the House of Commons. Moussaoui is presumed innocent.

Mirandola, Italy: Son Held After Elderly Couple Found Tied and Beheaded in Their Home

Police in Modena detained Daniele Tavoni, 54, early on Friday, Oct. 16, on suspicion of the aggravated murder of his mother, Vincenza Giannini, 74, and her husband, Pietro Ferdinando Casari, 82, whose decapitated bodies were found in their home on Via Imperiale in Mirandola, ModenaToday reported, citing the Polizia di Stato.

A neighbor called 112 at about 7:30 p.m. on Thursday because she had not seen the couple for days. Officers and firefighters found both bodies on the floor, bound, mutilated and beheaded, with the heads in the house and the room in chaos, La Nazione reported. In Tavoni’s home next door, investigators found tools they believe were used in the killings, covered in blood. Tavoni, Giannini’s son from her first marriage, was found at the scene in a near-catatonic state. He is held in Modena’s Sant’Anna prison pending a hearing before a judge and is presumed innocent.

Vannes, France: Christophe Raule Gets Life for Abduction, Rape and Murder of Iris Coëtmen

The Morbihan assize court in Vannes on Friday, Oct. 16, convicted Christophe Raule, 53, of abducting, confining, raping and murdering Iris Coëtmen, 23, in Lorient in 2023, and sentenced him to life with a 22-year minimum term, the maximum penalty, France 3 Bretagne reported.

Coëtmen had been out drinking with friends in Lorient on May 27, 2023, when she was abducted; her naked body was later found on the banks of the Blavet at Lanester. CCTV shown at trial captured Raule picking her up from the ground, drunk, outside the Lorient sub-prefecture, the last images of her alive, and his DNA was found under her fingernails, ici Bretagne reported. He had been sentenced in 2015 to nine years for raping a student, an attack in which he put a cord around the young woman’s neck, and was still under court supervision when Coëtmen died.

At the end of the trial Raule said: “I never wanted it to happen like that in the end. I ask the whole family’s forgiveness.” The presiding judge said the maximum sentence reflected his legal status as a repeat offender and his lack of empathy.

Braintree, England: Two Women Jailed for Life for Stabbing and Smothering Helen Bloomfield, Then Eating Cheerios

Amy Keely, 40, and Charlotte James, 29, were jailed for life with a minimum of 19 years each at Chelmsford Crown Court for murdering their friend Helen Bloomfield, 52, in her one-bedroom flat on Aetheric Road in Braintree, BBC News reported.

The attack happened at about 1 a.m. on March 20, 2024. Keely repeatedly stabbed Bloomfield while James smothered her with a pillow, and afterward the pair helped themselves to Cheerios, the court heard. Judge Christopher Morgan said Bloomfield suffered 44 injuries, including stab and cut wounds from a knife and possibly a screwdriver. She lay on a bloodstained mattress for a month before she was found in April 2024, while her family desperately tried to reach her.

Jurors took 23 hours and three minutes to reach majority verdicts. Keely’s barrister, Sasha Wass KC, said there appeared to be “no motive whatsoever” and that the killing was “almost certainly fuelled by the consumption of Class A drugs.”

Glasgow: Jack Dragsnes, 22, in Court Charged With Stabbing Jack Mellon, 17, to Death in Milton

Police Scotland have named the 17-year-old who died after a disturbance on Ashgill Road in the Milton area of Glasgow as Jack Mellon and confirmed they are treating his death as murder, BBC News reported. On Friday, Oct. 16, Jack Dragsnes, 22, from Possilpark, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court charged with murder, attempting to pervert the course of justice and having a knife in a public place. Court papers allege he got into a stand-up fight with Mellon and a 16-year-old boy, presented a knife and repeatedly stabbed Mellon on the body, then hid or destroyed the knife. He made no plea, was remanded in custody and is due back within eight days. He is presumed innocent.

Mellon was found fatally injured at about 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and pronounced dead at the scene. “We know the loss of a young life is felt within our communities,” Ch Insp Mhairi Crawford said. Officers remain in the area.

Lauderdale Lakes, Florida: Two Women Charged in 2007 Robbery Killing of Leon Heron After Prison Tip

Broward Sheriff’s Office cold case detectives have charged two women with first-degree murder in the May 13, 2007, killing of Leon Heron, 34, who was shot during a robbery in a Lauderdale Lakes apartment complex parking lot, CBS News Miami reported.

Det. David Towsley said a tip from a Florida prison in April 2023 led to inmate Brittany Hanfield. She first claimed she was only a witness, then laid out what happened: two 17-year-olds were driving around Broward County in a stolen SUV “looking for someone to rob,” and one had brought a handgun. Heron was confronted after getting out of his car, demanded to hand over his things, and fought back. “At some point he started getting the best of them physically; that’s when one of them decided to shoot him,” Towsley said.

Hanfield was arrested on a first-degree murder charge on Nov. 10, 2025, and a Broward County grand jury indicted a second woman, Sheila Arstil, on a first-degree murder charge on Oct. 7, the Sheriff’s Office said. Both were 17 at the time and are now adults charged under their own names. Both are being held without bond at the Broward County Jail and are presumed innocent. Heron’s family is “extremely happy to know finally what happened to him,” Towsley said.

Dolly Sods, West Virginia: Man Arrested in 2016 Killing of Ivan Perlis, Shot Three Times in the Head

Richard William Nichols has been arrested in Indiana and charged in Grant County, West Virginia, with first-degree murder in the 2016 death of Ivan “Vanya” Perlis, WDTV reported, citing a criminal complaint filed May 7 that issued the warrant.

A hunter found human remains off Brushy Ridge Road in Dolly Sods near Maysville on Nov. 12, 2016. They were identified as Perlis. The complaint says his skull showed three gunshot wounds to the back of the head, and ballistic testing identified the fragments as three .22-caliber bullets.

Both men had been living on property in the Dry Fork area of Tucker County, Perlis in a garage and Nichols in a camper. Investigators say Nichols’s account of when he last saw Perlis changed repeatedly, and a May 2017 polygraph indicated deception on whether Perlis was alive the last time he saw him. A witness later told investigators he watched the two leave together in Nichols’s truck toward Dolly Sods, saw Nichols come back alone hours later in different clothes, and heard Nichols say he had put three bullets in Perlis’s head and burned his bloodstained clothes, according to the complaint. Nichols is presumed innocent.

Miami: Man Whose Brother Was Killed in 2004 Charged in Murder of “Wheels Up, Guns Down” Founder Dwight Wells

Miami police arrested Jamar Lionel Jenkins, 39, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, on a second-degree murder charge in the Oct. 10, 2025, killing of community activist Dwight Wells, 40, an arrest report said. Wells, founder of the “Wheels Up, Guns Down” youth initiative, was playing dominoes outside his restaurant, Winning and Won Turkey Legs on Northwest 17th Avenue, when a gunman in a face mask, hoodie and gloves walked up and shot him several times.

Five casings recovered at the scene matched a separate 2024 case in North Miami involving Jenkins and his brother, according to the warrant. Investigators learned Wells had been convicted in the 2004 killing of Jenkins’s brother, Anthony Jenkins, served a 10-year sentence and was released Oct. 1, 2013. Another brother, James, told police several family members, including Jamar, were still upset with Wells over that killing, the warrant says. Jenkins denied in a February interview knowing Wells had been convicted in his brother’s death.

He was held without bond and is presumed innocent. “Screamer got justice!” Wells’s mother, Mary Brown, said at a family gathering in Charles Hadley Park.

North Miami: Man Charged After Fake “Police” Crew Handcuffed Eddrick Bethune and Killed Him

Devorise Carl Johnson, 21, of southwest Miami-Dade, was arrested Wednesday, Oct. 14, on charges including first-degree murder after being discharged from HCA Florida Aventura Hospital, where he had been treated for gunshot wounds, according to a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report cited by Local 10.

Investigators say Johnson and four other men arrived at the Aliro apartment complex at 14040 Biscayne Boulevard around 9:41 p.m. on Oct. 3 and waited for Eddrick Malik Bethune, 22. Around midnight he walked into the parking lot and the men pulled up in a gray 2026 Toyota Camry with flashing red and blue lights. Two got out armed, in black long-sleeved shirts with “POLICE” on the back, ordered Bethune to the ground and handcuffed him, and tossed his keys and phone aside, the report says. He was later shot to death in southwest Miami-Dade County.

The other four men have not been publicly charged in the report. Johnson is presumed innocent.

Atlanta: Rappers Nino Paid and Warhol.SS Charged With Felony Murder in Keion Borders Shooting

Atlanta police have charged rappers Nino Paid, whose real name is Jacquawn Andrews, and Warhol.SS, whose real name is Zahair Myles, with felony murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault in the April 2026 shooting of Keion Borders, who later died in hospital, Pitchfork and Stereogum reported, citing the Atlanta Police Department. Myles also faces a count of criminal attempt to commit a felony.

Andrews was reportedly identified through Ring doorbell footage as an accomplice. He was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol at the Canadian border on Sept. 1 as he tried to re-enter the country after a show in Toronto, was held in Michigan’s Wayne County Jail and was later extradited to Atlanta. Myles allegedly surrendered to police on Sept. 14.

Police have not released a motive, and no one else has been charged. Both men were being held without bond, and Andrews had a bond hearing set for Thursday, Oct. 15. Both are presumed innocent.

Angoulême, France: Appeal Court Raises Mickaël Falou’s Sentence to Life for Stabbing Sandra Pla About 60 Times

The Charente assize court, hearing the case on appeal, found Mickaël Falou guilty early Friday, Oct. 16, of the premeditated murder of his former partner, Sandra Pla, 31, and sentenced him to life with a 22-year minimum term, Sud Ouest reported. At his first trial in Bordeaux in early 2025 he received 30 years.

Pla was killed on July 2, 2021, in Bordeaux with about 60 knife blows to the face and neck. The sentence matches what the advocate general sought and includes 10 years of judicial supervision after release. Falou showed no reaction, as at his first trial.

Carpentras, France: Father Charged With Murder After Wife and Daughter, 10, Die in Apartment Fire, Then Released

A 35-year-old father was placed under formal investigation on Thursday, Oct. 15, for murder by a spouse, murder and attempted murder of minors under 15 and arson, after his wife and 10-year-old daughter died from a fire in the family’s apartment in Carpentras, the Avignon prosecutor’s office said, TF1 Info reported. He denies it. Prosecutors asked for him to be held in custody, but he left the Avignon courthouse free and without judicial supervision after 48 hours in police custody, La Provence reported; prosecutors have 10 days to appeal his release. His lawyer said the cause of the fire is still unknown and that “no serious and corroborating evidence” shows it was set; lab results could take weeks or months, and an investigating judge now leads the case.

The fire broke out early on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the first-floor apartment above the Le Petit Serrois bar in the Serres area of Carpentras. The mother, Cynthya, 35, and her daughter died in hospital on Thursday. Their 5-year-old son was pulled out by firefighters and is no longer in a life-threatening condition at La Timone hospital in Marseille, La Provence reported. The father was the only one outside when the fire started and was found “slightly intoxicated by smoke,” prosecutors said. He is presumed innocent.

Lyon, France: Seven Arrested in Kidnapping and Burning of “Jefe Mafia” Leader Jessim L.

Seven suspects were arrested at dawn on Monday, Oct. 12, mostly in Lyon’s 8th arrondissement, in the investigation into the murder of Jessim L., 26, self-styled leader of the short-lived “Jefe Mafia,” and four have been placed under formal investigation for murder by an organized gang, Le Figaro reported, citing the Lyon prosecutor’s office.

On March 2, Jessim L. was chased on the A7 motorway near Saint-Fons. After crashing, he jumped from a bridge to escape but was caught and abducted in front of witnesses, some of whom filmed it. His burned body was found hours later in Ternay. He had made himself known weeks earlier by posting videos of doorstep arson attacks used as intimidation in the drug trade. Lyon Capitale reported that four suspects admitted a secondary role and that more are sought, one abroad; the prosecutor has not confirmed those details. All are presumed innocent.

Santiago, Chile: First Man Convicted at Trial in Kidnap-Murder of Venezuelan Dissident Ronald Ojeda Gets 20 Years

Santiago’s Second Oral Criminal Trial Court on Thursday, Oct. 15, sentenced Maickel Villegas to 20 years for kidnapping with homicide in the February 2024 killing of former Venezuelan army lieutenant Ronald Ojeda, La Nación reported. He is the first person convicted at oral trial in the case. Ojeda was abducted from his apartment in the Independencia district and later found dead in an encampment in Maipú.

The court found Villegas handled logistics, gathered information beforehand and helped the killers escape. Judge Gloria Canales said life imprisonment was considered, but the extradition treaty under which Costa Rica sent him to Chile bars life sentences and the death penalty, making 20 years the maximum. According to the PDI anti-kidnapping brigade, Villegas used his car to cover the abduction site while captors posing as police burst into the apartment, then trailed their vehicles “simulating a police vehicle” along the Costanera Norte motorway. Prosecutor Alex Cortez said lines of inquiry remain open, “among them the political motive.”

Hamburg, Germany: Two Men Jailed for Iran-Directed Plot Against Jewish Leader Josef Schuster

A Hamburg court on Thursday, Oct. 15, convicted two men of espionage and attempted murder for plotting attacks on Jewish leaders in Germany on behalf of Iran, DW reported. The alleged mastermind, a 54-year-old Dane of Afghan origin, got eight and a half years; a 43-year-old Afghan living in Denmark got four and a half.

Prosecutors said the older man took orders directly from the Quds Force, the foreign arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and recruited the other to carry out one attack or find someone who would, and to obtain a weapon. The court found the targets included Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The 54-year-old had also prepared an arson attack on a kosher deli in Berlin, prosecutors said. Danish police arrested both in Aarhus last year and extradited them.

Kyoto: Yakuza Boss Acquitted of 2013 Murder of Gyoza no Ohsho President Amid Claims He Was Framed

The Kyoto District Court on Friday, Oct. 16, acquitted Yukio Tanaka, 59, a senior member of an affiliate of the Kudo-kai crime syndicate, of murdering Takayuki Ohigashi, 72, president of Ohsho Food Service Corp., operator of the Gyoza no Ohsho restaurant chain, Kyodo News reported. Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment.

Ohigashi was shot in the abdomen and chest in front of the company’s headquarters in Kyoto’s Yamashina Ward at about 5:45 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2013, and bled to death. The prosecution’s circumstantial case rested on a cigarette butt near the scene with DNA matching Tanaka, a stolen motorcycle with gunshot residue and security camera footage. The defense argued no ash was found at the scene and the butt had been planted. The court said it could not rule out that the butt was brought from elsewhere, and that the person on camera could not be identified as Tanaka.

Meerut, India: Wife and Lover Sentenced to Death for Strangling Husband and Leaving a Snake in His Bed

A Meerut district court on Friday, Oct. 16, sentenced Ravita Kashyap and her lover, Amardeep, to death for murdering her husband, Amit Kashyap, and staging it as a snakebite, Deccan Herald and The Times of India reported. Additional District and Sessions Judge Jaiveer Singh Nagar had reserved the verdict.

Amit was found dead on a cot at home in Akbarpur Sadat village, Bahsuma area, on April 13, 2025, with a live snake beside him. Prosecutors said the couple strangled him the night before because he had learned of the affair and objected. His family first believed it was a snakebite and opposed a postmortem, but police sent the body for autopsy, which found injuries to the neck and nose consistent with strangulation. His brother Monu filed the police complaint on April 16. Ravita asked for leniency citing her three young children. The sentence came two days after another Meerut court condemned a woman and her lover in the “blue drum” killing of her husband.

Davenport, Iowa: Father, 22, Charged With First-Degree Murder After Baby Dies of Fractured Skull

Bryan Robert Wayne Jr., 22, of Davenport has been charged in Scott County District Court with first-degree murder in the death of his 6-month-old child, the Quad-City Times reported, citing police and court records. He also faces counts of child endangerment resulting in death and neglect of a dependent person. In Iowa, first-degree murder carries automatic life without parole on conviction.

According to the arrest affidavit, police and firefighters were sent at 9:12 p.m. on Sept. 26 to an apartment in the 3500 block of North Marquette Street for a child who was not breathing. Wayne told police he woke up at 9 p.m. and found the baby that way. Doctors at MercyOne Genesis Medical Center and then the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics found a fractured skull and a brain bleed. The child died Oct. 1.

Wayne was first arrested Sept. 29 on a charge of child endangerment causing serious injury. He was being held without bond and was expected to make a first appearance on the new charges Friday, Oct. 16. He is presumed innocent.

Mesa, Arizona: Boxer, 23, Indicted for Murder of Girlfriend’s Son, 2, Whose Pancreas Was Severed

A Maricopa County grand jury has indicted Kishawn Porter, 23, a local boxer, on charges of first-degree murder, child abuse and dangerous crimes against a child in the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Oct. 15, FOX 10 reported.

Mesa firefighters were called around 4 a.m. on Sept. 29 to an apartment near Country Club Drive and Brown Road. The boy died at a hospital, where doctors saw suspicious bruising and alerted police. At Porter’s first appearance, prosecutors listed “healing and acute rib fractures, a lacerated liver, a lacerated stomach, torn blood vessels in the intestines and a transection of the pancreas.” Police said the toddler was hit and punched. Prosecutors also said Porter has a violent juvenile record and is accused of abusing his own child.

His next court date is Dec. 1, with trial set for June 2027. He is presumed innocent.

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Husband Charged With Shooting Soraya Cordy and Staging a Suicide

Jacob J. Soboski, 40, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 15, and charged with criminal homicide in the March 14 shooting death of his partner, Soraya Cordy, 42, at their home at 55 Puritan Lane, FOX56 reported. Investigators allege he shot her in the head and staged the scene to look like suicide.

Officers originally responded to a report of a possible self-inflicted shooting. When they moved Cordy to give aid, they found a handgun beneath her, a spent casing nearby and damage to a wall later identified as the bullet’s resting place, according to the affidavit. The Luzerne County Coroner’s Office later ruled the death a homicide.

Soboski told investigators he was downstairs with the couple’s children when he heard what he thought was a gunshot, took the children to a neighbor and came back to find her. Detectives say 911 recordings and forensic testing conflicted with parts of that account. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Thomas Malloy, is held without bail in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, and has a preliminary hearing on Oct. 28. He is presumed innocent.

Pinebluff, North Carolina: Autopsy Finds Niece Was Pregnant in Moore County Triple Killing

An autopsy has confirmed that Trinity Thomas, 20, was pregnant when she was killed in August alongside her grandmother Christina Aggelis, 62, and step-grandfather Bobby Farris, 63, at their home on Ryder Cup Boulevard in Pinebluff, WRAL reported.

Demetrius Aggelis, 40, Christina Aggelis’s son, is charged with three counts of murder and first-degree burglary; investigators say he admitted the killings. He first told investigators he had gone to the house to drive his stepfather to the airport and found all three unresponsive. Surveillance video, however, showed an armed man entering shortly after 3:30 a.m., and a Flock license-plate camera about a mile away recorded a vehicle linked to him heading toward the house minutes earlier and leaving minutes later.

Court records show earlier violent offenses including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. He is held without bond in the Moore County Detention Center with a court date in November, and is presumed innocent.

Ticonderoga, New York: Montreal Father Gets 25 to Life for Killing Melina Frattolin, 9, and Hiding Her Body

Luciano Frattolin of Montreal was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Essex County Court to 25 years to life for killing his 9-year-old daughter, Melina, and concealing her body in Ticonderoga in July 2025 on their way home from vacation, WCAX reported. A jury convicted him in August.

Prosecutors said cellphone and car data put Frattolin in the Ticonderoga area the night Melina was killed, even as he insisted she had been kidnapped and denied being there. A trail of evidence led investigators to her body near a pond, covered with a rock. The district attorney pointed to notes he wrote about “ending the madness” and making a decision about Melina, whom he claimed was mentally ill.

“The greatest accomplishment of your life could have been to be a great father,” Judge Tatiana Coffinger told him. Frattolin declined to address the court and maintains his innocence; his lawyers have signaled an appeal.

Richfield, Minnesota: Life Without Parole for Man Who Killed Kayli Arseth After She Rejected Him

Jose Luis Lopez Xique, 27, was sentenced Thursday, Oct. 15, to life in prison without parole for the June 2025 murder of Kayli Arseth, 22, in her Richfield apartment, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said. A jury convicted him of first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree intentional murder and aggravated harassment with a dangerous weapon.

Arseth was found shot dead on June 17, 2025, after a welfare check. The charges say that in the days before, Lopez Xique, whom she had met on a dating app, kept pushing for a romantic relationship and she told him she only wanted friendship. Her family said he had also been stalking her parents and siblings.

“Kayli should still be with us, enjoying music, art, and restoring her motorcycle,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said, calling such “rejection killings” part of a broader pattern of violence against women.

Norridgewock, Maine: Daniel Markey Gets 45 Years for Shooting Girlfriend’s Son Four Times

Daniel Markey, 60, was sentenced on Thursday, Oct. 15, to 45 years in prison for murdering Christopher Nickerson, 38, his girlfriend’s son, WMTW reported. In August a jury took 40 minutes to convict him and reject his self-defense claim.

Police were called to the home on River Road just before 9 a.m. on March 1, 2025. Nickerson had been staying at the house, owned by Markey and Nickerson’s mother, Kathleen Nickerson. Court documents say Nickerson had confronted Markey about how he spoke to his mother when Markey shot him four times. Markey claimed Nickerson attacked and was beating him.

“What makes this even harder is that this was done by someone who claimed to love me,” Kathleen Nickerson wrote in a letter read in court by a victim advocate.

Palatka, Florida: Caylen Deller Convicted of Luring and Shooting Ex-Boyfriend Chad Mullen, Gets Life

A Putnam County jury found Caylen Deller, 32, of San Mateo, guilty on Thursday, Oct. 15, of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and failing to report a death in the killing of her ex-boyfriend, Chad Mullen, 52, of Palatka. She was sentenced to life in prison, the Palatka Daily News reported.

Mullen was shot twice on Sept. 9, 2024, at Deller’s business, Stormy’s Stables, in San Mateo. Deller testified in her own defense on Wednesday that he was choking her against the driver’s seat of her truck, then swung a hammer at her after she pulled a gun from under the seat, and that she fired out of fear for her life. Prosecutors argued she lured him to the property. More than 20 witnesses testified over the three-day trial.

“I’ve been to two weddings since my dad passed away,” Mullen’s daughter, Holli, 21, told the court after the verdict. “Watching my friends get to walk down the aisle and have their first dance with their dads is something that stays with me.”

Okeechobee, Florida: Grandson Arrested After Chase in Killing of Veteran Paul Baker, 88

Earl Douglas Wadlington III, 35, was taken into custody around 4 a.m. after deputies chased him through a Walmart parking lot in Indian River County, hours after his grandfather, Paul Eugene Baker, 88, a longtime Okeechobee County resident and veteran, was found dead on his property, Okeechobee County officials said at a Thursday press conference, WFLX reported.

Baker’s daughter-in-law had not heard from him for several days. When she went to his home she found it in disarray and called for a welfare check, Chief Deputy Michael Hazellief said. Deputies obtained a search warrant and found Baker dead on the property; the manner and location of his death made it “immediately evident” it was a homicide, investigators said.

“What started off as a simple welfare check of an 88-year-old veteran in our county has turned into a tragedy and a family tragedy,” Hazellief said. Wadlington is presumed innocent.

Lexington, South Carolina: Judge Lets Murdaugh Defense Test Unknown Male DNA From Maggie Murdaugh’s Fingernails

Alex Murdaugh, 58, was back in court at the Lexington County Courthouse on Friday, Oct. 16, for a pretrial hearing ahead of his retrial in April on two murder charges in the June 2021 shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at the family’s Colleton County home, the Associated Press reported.

The state Supreme Court overturned his 2023 convictions earlier this year, ruling that a court clerk had influenced jurors by telling them to watch his body language and not be fooled when he testified. He remains in prison on a lengthy sentence for stealing from clients.

Circuit Judge Debra McCaslin ruled that the defense may run its own tests on unidentified male DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails and on swabs of her phone, over prosecutors’ objection that the tests would use up what is left of the samples. “They have every right to test it, and I’m going to let them test it,” she said. She refused the defense request to test every casing and bullet from shootings in eight surrounding counties involving the same type of gun as one of the murder weapons, calling it a fishing expedition, and told both sides, “This isn’t a sound bite.” The retrial is set for April 5, 2027, in Sumter County, WIS reported. Nothing was said Friday about the defense question of whether prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate a police officer who was Murdaugh’s friend. He is presumed innocent.

Melbourne, Florida: Supreme Court Tosses Henry Lee Jones’s Death Sentence Over Withheld DNA Records

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, Oct. 15, set aside Henry Lee Jones’s conviction and death sentence for the 2003 murder of Carlos Perez, 19, and ordered a new trial, ruling that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have helped his defense, News 6 reported.

Perez was found dead in a Melbourne motel room on Aug. 27, 2003, strangled and stabbed repeatedly in the neck. Prosecutors argued Jones befriended him, tied him up, sexually assaulted him and killed him, and pointed to similarities with the killings of Clarence and Lillian James in Tennessee, for which Jones was convicted.

The court found the state never gave the defense Florida Department of Law Enforcement records about another woman’s DNA found on Perez’s body. The records showed FDLE analysts considered it “highly unlikely” the DNA had transferred from an unwashed motel comforter and thought direct contact more likely.

London: “Fantasist” Deepak Sandhu Convicted of Murdering Xiaoqing Ke at Earl’s Court Airbnb

An Old Bailey jury took two hours on Thursday, Oct. 15, to convict Deepak Sandhu, 24, of murdering Xiaoqing Ke, 39, at an Airbnb in Earl’s Court on Dec. 10, and of perverting the course of justice by trying to flee the country, BBC News reported.

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC described Sandhu, a university dropout who claimed to be a model and actor and whose student visa had been revoked, as a “fantasist” and an “obsessed, manipulative young man who could not accept her rejection of him.” Their relationship collapsed after Ke demanded back £500 he had stolen and told him she did not want to see him again. He bought knives at Asda and traveled to Earl’s Court, where he carried out “a brutal and fatal revenge attack,” the prosecutor said. Sandhu denied it, claiming she was alive when he left. He will be sentenced later.

Manchester: Alisha Samuels, 26, Stabbed to Death on Newton Heath Street; Arrested Man No Longer a Suspect

Greater Manchester Police have named the woman killed in a street stabbing on Dorking Avenue in Newton Heath as Alisha Samuels, 26. She was pronounced dead at the scene after officers responded to a “disturbance” at about 2 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, BBC News reported.

A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder, and a 61-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. On Friday, Oct. 16, Greater Manchester Police said the 25-year-old was no longer treated as a suspect in her death and had been released on police bail pending inquiries into other matters, BBC News reported. No one has been charged. Det Chief Insp Justin Bryant said detectives were “continuing to seek those outstanding individuals believed to have been involved” and urged people not to speculate. Det Insp Paul Costello had called it an “awful and tragic attack.”

Mallow, Ireland: Man Jailed for Stabbing Paula Canty Through the Chest Days Before Her 32nd Birthday

Joseph Butler, 43, of the Belfry, Bridewell Lane, Mallow, was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on Friday, Oct. 16, to 12 years with the final two suspended for the manslaughter of his brother’s girlfriend, Paula Canty, 31, RTÉ reported.

Canty, a mother of two from Kinsale, spent the night of Jan. 2, 2025, drinking at her Mallow apartment with her boyfriend, his brother and another woman. During a row, Butler took a kitchen knife and stabbed her once in the chest, leaving a wound 11.5 centimeters deep. She collapsed and died, three days before her 32nd birthday. Butler told gardaí it was an accident and that she was “grand” when he left, still carrying the knife, which he dumped in a nearby laneway.

He was first charged with murder and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The court heard he has more than 50 previous convictions, including for assault and knife possession.

Dundalk, Ireland: Carer Tells Louth Triple-Murder Trial She Mistook Bloodied Body for a Halloween Decoration

A carer told the Central Criminal Court in Dublin that she mistook a body lying “drenched in blood” in a front garden for a Halloween decoration, at the trial of Robert O’Connor, 32, accused of murdering his parents and brother at their home in Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, Dublin Live reported. Another witness said that when she asked O’Connor whether the sirens they could hear were for him, he replied: “Yes, I killed them.”

O’Connor has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, or guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, to the murders of Louise O’Connor, 56, Mark O’Connor, 54, and Evan O’Connor, 27, between Sept. 28 and 29, 2025. The jury has been told he accepts causing their deaths; the three had a combined 139 stab wounds.

Prosecutor Roisin Lacey SC said O’Connor had episodes of psychosis from a young age and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2018, and that the “battleground” is whether he qualifies for the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial continues.

Clacton-on-Sea, England: Man Arrested on Suspicion of Murder After Man Found Dead in Caravan

Essex Police arrested a 39-year-old man from Ingatestone on suspicion of murder after a man in his 40s from Frinton-on-Sea was found injured inside a caravan at Valley Road Caravan Park in Clacton-on-Sea and pronounced dead at the scene, BBC News reported.

Officers were called at about 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14, to reports of a man making threats. The suspect was also arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and was taken to hospital for a hand injury. Det Insp Tim Coyles said the two men are believed to have known each other and there is no wider risk to the public. The arrested man has not been charged.

Mataporquera, Spain: Neighbor Arrested After Two Stepbrothers Hacked to Death With a Machete on Their Landing

The Guardia Civil arrested a 52-year-old man at his home in Mataporquera, Cantabria, at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, about four hours after two stepbrothers, aged 24 and 26, were killed with a machete on the landing of their building on Calle Libertad, El Diario Montañés reported.

The attack happened at about 4:30 a.m. One victim was wounded in the chest and the other in the arm. The suspect was a neighbor with no family tie to them and had several complaints against him over previous incidents in the town, the paper reported. He was admitted to the psychiatric unit of Valdecilla hospital. He is presumed innocent.

Sabiote, Spain: Life Term for Man Who Raped and Strangled Sleeping Woman, 74, Then Doused Her in Bleach

The Audiencia of Jaén has sentenced a 41-year-old man to permanent reviewable prison, Spain’s maximum sentence, for the murder of a 74-year-old woman in her home in Sabiote between the night of May 6 and the early hours of May 7, 2024, plus 25 more years for sexual assault, robbery and vehicle theft, Europa Press reported. A jury found him guilty unanimously on Sept. 24.

According to the facts proven in the ruling, he climbed over the top of the town wall and entered through an open terrace window, found the woman asleep alone, put a plastic bag over her head, beat her and stabbed her left shoulder with a sharp object, then sexually assaulted her. Because they lived less than 200 meters apart and she would recognize him, he strangled her so hard he fractured her thyroid cartilage. He then poured bleach on her body and the room, stole jewelry, watches, a grill, three jugs of oil and an imitation pistol, and drove off in her Peugeot 306.

Georgetown, Guyana: Fugitive Convicted in Absentia of Killing Alicia Faye Arrested After Two Years

Dane Langhorne, 29, a French national sentenced in his absence in June to 30 years for the 2021 murder of Alicia Faye in French Guiana, was arrested on Sunday, Oct. 11, near Georgetown, Guyana, under an Interpol-circulated warrant, Sud Ouest and La 1ère reported. He had been on the run in Guyana since his release from prison in 2024 on a procedural flaw.

Faye, 25, from Bordeaux, had been drawn into a cocaine trafficking network between French Guiana and mainland France, Sud Ouest reported. Langhorne appeared on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Georgetown under fugitive offenders law, where bail was refused, and is due back on Oct. 23, Guyanese outlet HPG TV reported. The family’s lawyer said he will be extradited and retried by the Cayenne assize court, because he was tried in his absence.

Vyshkovo, Ukraine: Former Priest Charged With Murdering Three in Village Shooting

Police in Zakarpattia have notified a 45-year-old former clergyman of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) that he is suspected of the intentional murder of three people and the attempted murder of two others in a shooting on Oct. 15 in the village of Vyshkovo, Khust district, UA.News reported.

Investigators say he first shot a married couple in the yard of their home, then opened fire on passersby. Two people were wounded. Police seized an unregistered firearm in searches of his home and the grounds of the church where he served. He is suspected of murdering two or more people for “hooliganistic” motives under Article 115 of the Criminal Code and is presumed innocent.

Mqabba, Malta: Son, 47, Held in Hospital After Mother Mary Grace Cassar Killed and Father Stabbed

John Cassar, 47, suspected of killing his mother, Mary Grace Cassar, 72, and seriously injuring his father, 74, at the family home on Triq Valletta in Mqabba remained in hospital on Friday, Oct. 16, TVMnews reported. He surrendered at his home in Ħal Farruġ after more than two hours of negotiations with police on Thursday.

Mary Grace Cassar was found dead in the kitchen with several injuries; her husband was found outside with a chest wound and is stable. TVMnews was told the suspect had taken a large quantity of drugs in recent days and was being monitored until doctors cleared him for questioning, with arraignment planned for Saturday, Oct. 17, before his 48-hour arrest period expires. Police are also examining messages he posted on social media while on the run. A magisterial inquiry led by Magistrate Renata Farrugia is underway. Lovin Malta reported that he is the brother of Roderick Cassar, who is serving 40 years for murdering his wife, Bernice Cilia. He has not been charged and is presumed innocent.

Latakia, Syria: Military Court Sentences Two Assad Loyalists to Death Over 2025 Coastal Massacres

Syria’s military criminal court on Thursday, Oct. 15, sentenced Maher Ali and Al-Waddah Ismail, affiliated with the former Assad government, to death by hanging on charges including fomenting sectarian fighting and leading armed gangs during the March 2025 violence on the country’s coast, Alhurra reported. By most estimates more than 1,400 Alawites and 238 members of the security forces were killed.

Defense Ministry members got far lighter terms: Mohammed Bakour 20 years for intentional murder, Maher Othman 12 years, Ammar Abdel Aal three years, Capt. Mustafa Shannan and Khaled al-Hamid two years each, and Mahmoud Shaheen two months. Two others were acquitted for lack of evidence. Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the disparity “raises questions.”

La Plata, Argentina: Man Says He Strangled Partner, Drove Their Baby to Jujuy, Then Came Back to Confess

José Martín Burgos, 48, walked into a La Plata police station on Thursday, Oct. 15, and confessed to killing his partner, Gabriela Patricia Martínez, 39, in the house they shared on Calle 39 between 121 and 122, El Litoral and Minutouno reported. Officers found her body with signs consistent with mechanical asphyxiation.

He told police he strangled her with his hands on Monday, Oct. 12, then traveled to Jujuy province with their 18-month-old son and left him with his sister, which police confirmed by phone before he returned. Her body lay in the house for more than three days. Neighbors told police they had not seen the woman or the child for days. Prosecutor Eugenia Di Lorenzo of UFI No. 17 is investigating it as a femicide; the motive is unknown and the autopsy is pending. Burgos is detained and presumed innocent.

Medellín, Colombia: Alleged Getaway Rider Jailed in Killing of Coca-Cola Sales Chief Esteban Ramírez

Police captured Yohandri Eduardo Rodríguez Aular, 21, known as “Waoo,” in Medellín’s Aranjuez district, and a judge sent him to jail as the first alleged participant in the killing of Esteban Ramírez Parra, 37, a Coca-Cola sales manager, El Colombiano and MiOriente reported.

Ramírez was getting into his sister’s car at Calle 30 and Carrera 70 in Belén Rosales at about 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, when two men on a motorcycle cut them off, faking a traffic accident. The passenger got off with a gun and demanded money, phones and jewelry, and shot Ramírez in the forehead; he died hours later. The Fiscalía says Rodríguez drove the motorcycle and parked near the restaurant while his companion picked out the victim. He is presumed innocent. “We’re going after all the others,” Mayor Federico Gutiérrez posted.

Germiston, South Africa: Father Arrested After Daughters, 1 and 11, Die From Sleeping Pills in Family Food

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police officers arrested a 34-year-old man on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 15, at the corner of Lambert and Prince streets in Germiston over the deaths of his daughters, aged 1 and 11, IOL reported.

EMPD spokesperson Chief Superintendent Kelebogile Thepa said that on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the man allegedly poured sleeping pills into his family’s food. Two daughters were declared dead at the scene, while his wife and another daughter survived, and he fled. He faces two counts of murder and two of attempted murder and is expected to appear in Germiston Magistrate’s Court. He is presumed innocent.

Gqeberha, South Africa: State Links Hawks Officer to Ransom Cash and Gun Used to Kill Prosecutor Tracy Brown

Prosecutors opposing bail for Xolani Busakwe, a member of the Hawks’ Digital Forensic Investigation Unit, told Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, Oct. 15, that he booked leave twice last year to join a kidnapping syndicate abducting two women for ransom in Nelson Mandela Bay, Daily Maverick reported.

State advocate Marius Stander said Busakwe spent his share of the ransom on a luxury car parked at a house in Motherwell, where police found close to R200,000 in marked ransom notes and a firearm used in the assassination of Gqeberha prosecutor Tracy Brown. Busakwe faces charges including kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, robbery and organized crime counts; some of his six co-accused, including his brother Ayabulela, also face murder charges. On Friday, Oct. 16, closing arguments on bail were due, but the matter was postponed to Monday, PE Express reported; in an affidavit read by his advocate, Busakwe denies gang links and involvement in the murder. He is presumed innocent.

Palakkad, India: Seven Arrested After Mob Stones and Beats Unidentified Man to Death

Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told the state Assembly on Friday, Oct. 16, that seven people have been arrested and a 10-member special investigation team formed after a mob killed an unidentified man, estimated to be 35 to 40, in a Palakkad district village on the Tamil Nadu border, India Today and Outlook reported, citing PTI.

The attackers pelted the man with stones and beat him with wooden sticks, the minister said, and a postmortem at Thrissur Medical College Hospital showed signs of murder. The attack allegedly followed claims that he had exposed himself to local women; Chennithala said no allegation could justify it. Police have asked Tamil Nadu for help identifying the victim, who had been seen wandering the border area. The arrested men are presumed innocent.

Kingston, Jamaica: Man, 19, Charged in Kidd Lane Shooting and Arson That Killed Two Women and a Baby

Police charged Dante Davis, 19, on Thursday, Oct. 15, with three counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, arson and firearms offenses over the deaths of Kimesha Gibson, 39, Lashea Ellis, 30, and 1-year-old Khael Daley on Kidd Lane, Kingston 13, the Jamaica Observer reported.

Residents heard explosions around 11:45 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, and called police, who found the home engulfed in flames. Gibson was found at the back of the house with gunshot wounds. The charred remains of Ellis and the baby were found after firefighters put out the blaze. Davis, whom police describe as from the community, was taken into custody the same day. A court date is being set. He is presumed innocent.

Toronto: Man Arrested in Halifax Charged With First-Degree Murder of Christopher Gordon; Second Suspect Sought

A 31-year-old Toronto man arrested by Halifax RCMP on Oct. 8 has been brought back to Toronto and charged with first-degree murder and obstruction of justice in the death of Christopher Gordon, 34, Toronto police said, CBC News reported.

Gordon was found with traumatic injuries inside an apartment building near Flemington Road and Blossomfield Drive in North York on Oct. 4 and pronounced dead, the city’s 30th homicide this year. Police are still looking for a 32-year-old Timmins man on a Canada-wide warrant and say he is “considered to be armed and dangerous.” The arrested man is presumed innocent.

Sydney: Jury in Beau Lamarre-Condon Double Murder Trial Walks Through Paddington Terrace

The 15 jurors in the trial of former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, visited the terrace on Brown Street, Paddington, where he is alleged to have shot Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, ABC News reported. They arrived by bus from the King Street courthouse shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, with Justice Natalie Adams, Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC and defense barrister John Stratton SC. Senior Sergeant Bronwyn Lansley, who earlier testified about what police found in the house, was also present. Lamarre-Condon did not attend.

He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of aggravated break and enter, and his lawyers will argue self-defense. Evidence resumes next week. He is presumed innocent.

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