The Crime Ledger: November 2, 2026

Plymouth, Massachusetts: Judge Floats March 2027 Retrial for Lindsay Clancy but Holds Off Ruling on Bid to Throw Out Murder Charges

Location: Plymouth County Superior Court, Massachusetts, USA; case arises from the deaths of three children in Duxbury in January 2023

Legal status: Charged with three counts of first-degree murder; first trial ended in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury in September 2026; defence motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds under advisement; presumed innocent

Back in court. Lindsay Clancy, the former labour and delivery nurse charged with murder in the strangling deaths of her three young children, returned to court in Massachusetts on Monday, Nov. 2, two months after her first trial ended without a verdict. Her lawyers asked Judge William Sullivan to dismiss the case outright, arguing that the way the deadlocked jury was handled means she cannot be tried again. Prosecutors asked the judge to deny that motion and to impose a gag order on what they called prejudicial statements made outside court. Fox News, the New York Post and the BBC all covered the hearing live.

The charges. Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children Cora, 5, Dawson and Callan, the youngest just 8 months old, at the family home in Duxbury in January 2023. Prosecutors say she strangled the children and then tried to take her own life. She survived, and her husband found the scene when he returned home and called 911. At trial, her lead lawyer Kevin Reddington argued that she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis combined with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, pointing to her many attempts to get mental health treatment in the months before the killings.

How the first trial ended. The jury deadlocked in early September. According to the jury notes argued over on Monday, the foreperson told the judge on Sept. 3 that a member of the jury was “unable to follow the instructions regarding reasonable doubt,” and a later note said one juror “has made statements acknowledging doubt, but refuses to apply it to the verdict.” After the mistrial, jurors said publicly that 11 of them were prepared to find Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity. The lone holdout, since identified in the media as Michael Desronvil, has said he had no doubt about her guilt.

The defence argument. Clancy has added two lawyers to her team. Martin Weinberg, a Boston criminal and appeals lawyer, argued the motion to dismiss. He told the court that Clancy had a right to 12 impartial jurors “not just 11,” and that the notes should have triggered a deeper, probing inquiry into whether the holdout was following the law. Sullivan pushed back. “Didn’t I do that? Didn’t I do a voir dire?” the judge asked, noting he had questioned each juror one by one about whether they could follow his instructions on reasonable doubt, and all said they could. A second new lawyer, Laura McConnell, was introduced to argue against the gag order.

A clash over the juror’s name. Reddington argued for access to confidential records about the holdout, said he had evidence the man lied on his juror questionnaire and may have a criminal record, and named him in open court. Sullivan tried to cut him off. “No, you’re not going to stop me,” Reddington replied, according to both Fox News and the Post. The judge said the man would be referred to as “Juror Doe” from then on and called a private sidebar. Desronvil has previously told Fox News he answered the questionnaire truthfully and that a 2021 dispute with his wife, in which charges were dropped, had been “blown out of proportion.”

The prosecution’s reply. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague told the judge that Massachusetts’ highest court has warned trial courts to avoid coercing a lone dissenting juror. “It is clear that the juror didn’t refuse to deliberate. He refused to agree,” she said, as quoted by the New York Post. She argued that what jurors said in the media after the mistrial is “completely irrelevant,” and that it is not for a trial judge “to choose sides in a deadlocked jury.”

No ruling yet. Sullivan did not rule on the motion to dismiss on Monday and set another hearing for Nov. 16, People reported. He floated March 2027 as a possible start date for a second trial, ahead of his retirement in June, but acknowledged that both sides needed to check their calendars and that he first had to rule on the motion. No date has been set.

Retrial undecided. Sprague said the prosecution currently intends to retry Clancy, but would not fully commit until Sullivan rules on three pending motions, including the request to dismiss, Mediaite reported. Prosecutors also have not said which charges they would bring at a second trial. They renewed their request for a gag order covering themselves and Reddington, accusing the defence of speaking to the media in a way “calculated to affect the public’s perception of the case.” Clancy is held at Tewksbury Hospital, a state hospital, where a lawyer in her separate civil case told CBS she is under constant one-to-one watch. She remains presumed innocent of the charges.

Sources

• Lindsay Clancy prosecutors could ask judge for murder retrial in children’s killings, Fox News, Nov. 2, 2026
• Lindsay Clancy court hearing live updates: Defense makes surprise move, judge plans to set retrial date, New York Post, Nov. 2, 2026
• Lindsay Clancy back in court after murder trial fell apart ‐ follow live, BBC News, Nov. 2, 2026
• Lindsay Clancy Could Face Second Murder Trial in March, Judge Says, People (via Yahoo News), Nov. 2, 2026
• Prosecution Refuses to Fully Commit to Retrying Lindsay Clancy Until Judge Rules on Murder Charges, Mediaite, Nov. 2, 2026

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Mother Charged With Murder After Her 10-Year-Old Son Shoots Teen Neighbour Keinerlein Rangel

Location: 200 block of Tennessee St. NE, north of Central Ave., Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Legal status: Elaina Gomez-Villeda charged with murder and other counts; held at the Metropolitan Detention Center; presumed innocent. The 10-year-old has not been charged

The charges. Albuquerque police have arrested Elaina Gomez-Villeda, 40, and charged her with an open count of murder in the shooting death of her 16-year-old neighbour, Keinerlein Rangel, who police say was shot by Gomez-Villeda’s 10-year-old son during a fight over loud music on Saturday, Oct. 31. The Albuquerque Journal reported that she also faces counts of child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, negligently making a firearm accessible to a minor, battery and receiving a stolen firearm. Police said they asked prosecutors to add a count of conspiracy to commit murder. She is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center and is presumed innocent.

The boy. Police have not named the boy. “The 10-year-old boy is not being identified because he has not been charged with a crime,” police spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said on Sunday. Detectives are working with the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office and state officials “to determine potential criminal charges because of his age,” he said.

The fight. According to the criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court and quoted by the Journal, Rangel and her mother, Susana Rangel, were listening to music when Gomez-Villeda knocked on their door at the shared apartment complex and told them it was too loud. A few minutes later, while mother and daughter were installing a security camera, Gomez-Villeda came out and punched both women “an unknown number of times,” the complaint says. The boy tried to break up the fight, and police allege his mother told him to go inside and get her handgun. He came back out and shot Keinerlein in the head, the complaint states. She died at the scene; officers found her body outside the residence.

The 911 call. Police said Gomez-Villeda took her son back into the apartment, texted her husband “I’m probably going to jail right now,” and called 911 at about 4:02 p.m., telling dispatchers she had been “jumped” and that one of the girls had been shot. “It was advised that the caller’s son shot the victim,” the complaint says. While she was on the phone, Keinerlein’s father tried to pull open her door and broke a window, and police say she grabbed a gun and fired to scare him off. “I thought we were gonna die; these people, they do this a lot, and I didn’t think I was gonna be the target, but it is what it is,” she later told police, according to the complaint.

An officer fires. When officers arrived they saw someone shooting from inside the apartment and took cover, police said. Three people came out, followed by Gomez-Villeda holding a gun. One officer fired toward her and missed; the bullets struck a pillar, Gallegos said. The Multi-Agency Task Force is reviewing that officer’s use of force, while homicide detectives continue to investigate Keinerlein’s death.

The gun. Police later found the firearm used to kill Keinerlein outside Gomez-Villeda’s apartment. It had been reported stolen in Santa Fe, according to the complaint. “Elaina’s reported instruction to her 10-year-old son to retrieve a firearm during an active physical confrontation, the child’s easy access to that firearm, and his subsequent use of it to fatally shoot Keinerlein, which ultimately resulted in her death, are all elements of this dangerous behavior,” police wrote.

What comes next. No next court date had been reported by Monday. Whether the boy will face any charge under New Mexico’s children’s code remains under review.

Sources

• APD charges mother of 10-year-old who allegedly killed teen during fight over loud music, Albuquerque Journal, Nov. 2, 2026
• Albuquerque police arrest mother of 10-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting teen girl, Yahoo News, Nov. 2, 2026
• 10-year-old boy shoots, kills teen neighbor fighting with his mom over loud music, New York Post, Nov. 2, 2026

Boise, Idaho: Lori Vallow Daybell Asks Idaho Supreme Court to Overturn Murder Convictions

Location: Idaho Supreme Court, Boise, Idaho, USA; convictions from Fremont County case tried in Ada County

Legal status: Convicted in 2023 of murdering two of her children and conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell; serving life sentences; appeal argued Nov. 2, 2026, decision pending

The appeal. Lori Vallow Daybell, serving life in prison for the murders of two of her children and for conspiring to kill her new husband’s former wife, asked the Idaho Supreme Court on Monday, Nov. 2, to throw out her convictions. Oral arguments were scheduled for 11:15 a.m. in Boise, according to IBTimes, and the Associated Press reported that the hearing was set for that day. The justices are not expected to rule from the bench.

The crimes. Her son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, went missing in 2019. Their bodies were found buried in 2020 on rural property in eastern Idaho belonging to Chad Daybell, an author of religious novels about prophecy and the end of the world, whom Vallow Daybell had married just weeks after his wife Tammy Daybell died. Vallow Daybell holds apocalyptic religious beliefs and claimed people in her life, including her children, were possessed by evil spirits, the AP and Straight Arrow News reported. A jury convicted her in 2023 of murdering both children and conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell, and she received life sentences. Chad Daybell was convicted separately of all three murders and sentenced to death.

Five grounds. Her appellate lawyer, Craig Durham, filed an opening brief on May 30, 2025, setting out five arguments, as summarised by IBTimes. The first is that the trial court violated her Sixth Amendment right to the lawyer of her choice when it disqualified her retained attorney, Mark Means, in December 2021 over a conflict of interest, because Means had also represented Chad Daybell. Means said that work was limited and brief and that both clients waived any conflict. The second is that Means was shut out of the hearings that led to his removal, which took place in Chad Daybell’s case. The third is that the court took up matters affecting her while she had been declared incompetent to stand trial, between June 2021 and April 11, 2022. The fourth is that jurors should not have heard about two Arizona shootings, and the fifth is that the wait of nearly two years from her indictment on May 25, 2021, to the start of trial on April 3, 2023, breached her right to a speedy trial.

The Arizona shootings. Months after he filed for divorce, her estranged husband Charles Vallow was shot dead in Chandler in July 2019 by her brother, Alex Cox, who claimed self-defence, a claim investigators later questioned. Nearly three months later, someone in a Jeep fired at Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece, as he pulled up to his home in Gilbert; the bullet narrowly missed him. Prosecutors identified Cox as the shooter in that attack. Cox died in December 2019 of a blood clot in his lungs. Vallow Daybell was convicted in Arizona of conspiring with Cox to murder Charles Vallow, which prosecutors said was to collect life insurance money and marry Chad Daybell, and of conspiring to murder Boudreaux. She received two more life sentences there and has appealed those convictions too. Monday’s hearing concerned only the Idaho case.

The state’s position. The Idaho attorney general’s office has rejected every claim, IBTimes reported. It argues that Means was removed to protect her right to effective counsel, that the disqualification hearing happened in her co-defendant’s case and caused no reversible error, that the Arizona evidence was admitted for purposes other than showing a propensity to commit crimes, and that most of the delay before trial was caused by the defence, including her competency proceedings, and by the complexity of the case and the volume of evidence.

What comes next. If the court agrees with any of her arguments, it could order a new trial; if not, the life sentences stand. The court will issue a written opinion at a later date. Vallow Daybell remains in custody.

Sources

• Court hears Lori Vallow Daybell’s appeal in Idaho killings of 2 of her children, romantic rival, Associated Press via AOL, Nov. 2, 2026
• ‘Doomsday mom’ Lori Vallow Daybell appeals murder convictions to Idaho Supreme Court, Straight Arrow News, Nov. 2, 2026
• Why Is Lori Vallow Daybell Appealing Her Murder Convictions? 5 Arguments Explained, IBTimes Singapore, Nov. 2, 2026

Cleveland, Ohio: Khalil Woods Jr., 18, Charged With Aggravated Murder in Killing of Shaker Heights Senior Jaiden Tunson; Second Man Surrenders

Location: Buckeye-Shaker neighbourhood, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States; Shaker Heights and University Heights; Cleveland Division of Police

Legal status: Khalil Woods Jr., 18, of East Cleveland, charged with aggravated murder; arraigned Nov. 2, 2026, bond set at $1.5 million; a 19-year-old surrendered Nov. 2 with charges pending; both presumed innocent

In court. Khalil Woods Jr., an 18-year-old from East Cleveland, appeared in court on Monday, Nov. 2, charged with aggravated murder in the shooting death of Jaiden Tunson, a 17-year-old senior at Shaker Heights High School, News 5 Cleveland reported. A judge set his bond at $1.5 million. He is presumed innocent.

A second suspect. On Monday morning Cleveland police released photos of another man they said was connected to the killing and asked the public to help identify him. Shortly afterward police announced that a 19-year-old had turned himself in, News 5 reported. Police said charges against him were pending, and he has not been publicly named.

The arrest. Woods was arrested on Saturday, Oct. 31, in University Heights. He was riding in the passenger seat of a grey Kia that University Heights police stopped early that morning for running a red light near Warrensville Center Road and Hillbrook Road, and officers found he had an open warrant for aggravated murder, according to a University Heights police press release quoted by News 5. He was handed over to Cleveland police.

The shooting. Tunson died at the scene on Monday, Oct. 26, following an altercation in front of 2880 S. Moreland Blvd. at Buckeye Road in Cleveland, according to Christopher Harris of the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, as reported by the Cleveland Jewish News. State Rep. Darnell Brewer said he was killed “in broad daylight near E. 130th and Buckeye.” The Shaker Heights police statement quoted by the Jewish News said officers responded at 7:30 p.m. that day to reports of gunshots in the 3700 block of Sudbury Road; police have not publicly explained how the two locations connect, and the Ledger reports both as given. Police have not described a motive.

The school. Shaker Heights High School, Shaker Heights Middle School and both branches of the Shaker Library closed on Oct. 27 so students could meet grief counsellors. “We are devastated by this loss to our school community,” Superintendent David Glasner wrote to families. A district statement said Tunson “had close relationships with many students and staff members and was well known in our school community.”

The family. On Monday morning Tunson’s family joined community members and city leaders at Mt. Sinai Friendship United Church in Cleveland. Organisers said the family wants justice, not retaliation, and called for investment in groups that work to prevent violence and support grieving families. “Before there was a headline, before there was a police report and before this press conference there was Jaiden,” Brewer said. “A young man with a life, a high school senior at Shaker Heights High School with a family, a future and people who loved him.”

Guns and children. Myesha Watkins, administrator of the Cuyahoga County Office of Violence Prevention, said gun violence should not be the leading cause of premature death for children. “When you think about how hard it is for young people to get a bus pass, a ride to school, quality education, but it’s so easy for them to go to an alley to get a firearm. What do we need to do?” she said. “Thoughts and prayers are just becoming another hashtag. It’s not enough.”

Sources

• Jaiden Tunson’s family calls for justice, unity and action against gun violence, News 5 Cleveland, Nov. 2, 2026
• Arrest made in connection to Shaker Heights teen’s murder, News 5 Cleveland, Oct. 31, 2026
• Shaker Heights student, 17, killed in Cleveland shooting, Cleveland Jewish News, Oct. 27, 2026

Dallas, Texas: Yella Beezy Capital Murder Trial Over Killing of Rapper MO3 Enters Second Week

Location: Dallas County criminal court, Dallas, Texas, USA; shooting on Interstate 35, Dallas, November 2020

Legal status: Markies Conway (Yella Beezy) charged with capital murder; pleaded not guilty; jury trial in progress; presumed innocent

Week two. The capital murder trial of Dallas rapper Markies Conway, known as Yella Beezy, entered its second week on Monday, Nov. 2, with prosecutors continuing to call witnesses in their case that he paid a gunman to kill rival rapper MO3. FOX 4 and NBC 5 DFW reported that testimony resumed Monday morning. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

The charge. MO3, whose real name was Melvin Noble, was shot 11 times and killed in an ambush on Interstate 35 in Dallas in 2020. Prosecutors allege Conway hired Kewon White to carry out the killing because of a feud between the two rappers that NBC 5 said dated back to 2017. Conway has pleaded not guilty to capital murder and denies involvement. He is presumed innocent.

The gunman’s case. In September, a jury found White guilty of capital murder and he was sentenced to life in prison after jurors saw video and heard testimony about the shooting. Prosecutors at that trial also presented evidence of an alleged payment from Conway to White. Conway’s own trial was delayed by a month so his lawyers could get a copy of White’s trial transcript, FOX 4 reported. A third man, Devin Brown, is also charged with capital murder.

The first week. Witnesses described a chaotic scene of gunfire on the freeway as the prosecution opened its case, NBC 5 reported. On Friday, Oct. 30, Theodore Thomas, a childhood friend of Conway also known as Jose Bodega, returned to court after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination the previous day, but did not take the stand. Prosecutors called the situation “very fluid,” asked that Thomas’s lawyer be sworn in as a witness, and asked both to return on Wednesday, according to FOX 4.

The money. Joseph Catania, a director with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, testified about tracking the serial numbers on two $100 bills in evidence that were linked to cash shipments in Florida and Dallas. He acknowledged that the Federal Reserve cannot follow cash once it is spent and recirculated. The defence pointed out that the district attorney’s office first contacted the Federal Reserve only in April 2025, and drew attention to non-standard coloured rubber bands on the bundles of cash.

The hotel stay. Timothy Glenn, head of security at the Mondrian hotel in West Hollywood, testified about Conway’s stay there in November 2020. The state had suggested a 26-night booking; the defence showed it was first booked for three nights and extended bit by bit.

The traffic stop. Mount Pleasant police narcotics Sgt. Juan Hernandez described a high-speed traffic stop of White on Nov. 23, 2020. A search of the vehicle turned up $9,670 in bundled cash, marijuana, THC edibles, promethazine syrup, a fake grenade and three loaded guns, including an AK-47 style rifle and a Glock handgun, FOX 4 reported. Lt. Travis Nichols testified about White’s recorded calls from the Titus County jail and property seized from him, saying that someone carrying more than 300 $5 bills was remarkably rare in his career. Jurors also heard about jail call recording and the extraction of phone data before being sent home early for the weekend.

What comes next. Thomas and his lawyer are due back on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The trial continues this week.

Sources

• Yella Beezy murder trial enters its second week of testimony, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, Nov. 2, 2026
• What happens next as the Yella Beezy murder trial enters week two, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Nov. 2, 2026

Schenectady, New York: Raymond Wright Jr. Convicted of Murdering Samantha Humphrey, Who Vanished at 14 in 2022

Location: Schenectady, Schenectady County, New York, United States; Schenectady County Court; Riverside Park and the Mohawk River

Legal status: Raymond Wright Jr., 18, convicted Nov. 2, 2026, of second-degree murder as a juvenile offender; faces up to 15 years to life; sentencing set for Jan. 20, 2027

The verdict. A Schenectady County jury on Monday, Nov. 2, convicted Raymond Wright Jr., 18, of second-degree murder in the death of his on-again, off-again girlfriend Samantha Humphrey, when both were 14, the Times Union reported. The jury deliberated for less than five hours and returned its verdict at noon, after a trial of nearly two weeks. It had the option of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter and chose the higher count.

In the courtroom. Wright fell forward onto the defence table as the verdict was read, and one of his attorneys, Karen Crandall, gripped his arm, the Times Union reported. Some onlookers sobbed. Both families had attended throughout the trial. His mother, Kristi Kenyon, arrived as the verdict was delivered and said afterward that someone else killed Humphrey, pointing to another person’s DNA found on the girl’s coat near where she vanished.

The sentence he faces. Adults convicted of second-degree murder in New York face 25 years to life. Because Wright was 14 at the time, he was charged as a juvenile offender and faces a maximum of 15 years to life, the Times Union reported. WAMC reported that he was tried in Schenectady County Court. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 20.

The disappearance. Samantha Humphrey vanished on Nov. 25, 2022, after she was last seen in Riverside Park. Her disappearance led to months of searching and public pleas from her family; at one point her father put up billboards in Schenectady seeking information and offered a $10,000 reward. Her body was found in the Mohawk River on Feb. 22, 2023, near where she went missing. Police focused on Wright almost immediately, the Times Union reported, but he was not arrested and charged until May 2025.

The prosecution case. Prosecutors said Wright strangled Humphrey and put her body in the Mohawk River after the two walked late at night from their homes to the river. Their meeting was heated because Humphrey had said she might be pregnant. The jury asked during deliberations to review the phones’ search histories: hers on pregnancy symptoms, and his seeking information on how a body decomposes in water, the Times Union reported. WAMC reported that the evidence also included searches mentioning abortion. GPS data from both phones traced their path through the Stockade neighbourhood to the river near a train bridge. Prosecutors also relied on DNA on both teenagers’ clothing, items belonging to Humphrey found on a wooded path, and witness testimony.

Wright’s account. Wright testified that they fought physically and that he hit her, but said he left her alone and alive that night. In closing arguments on Friday, Christina Tremante-Pelham, the county’s deputy chief assistant district attorney, accused him of changing his story about her death several times.

The defence. Wright’s attorneys argued that the evidence did not rule out other explanations. Peter Lynch, a former New York State Supreme Court justice, told jurors that another person’s DNA had been found on Humphrey’s clothing and suggested investigators ignored a potential suspect. The defence also argued she may have taken her own life, pointing to testimony about her mental health treatment; the cause of death had been contested at trial. The jury rejected those arguments. Prosecutors scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon.

Sources

• Raymond Wright Jr. convicted of killing Samantha Humphrey, Times Union, Nov. 2, 2026
• Schenectady teen convicted in Samantha Humphrey murder trial, WAMC, Nov. 2, 2026

Burnaby, British Columbia: Two Charged in Homicide of Kai Pavlovic, 11, Missing Since September 2025, as Police Confirm His Remains Were Found

Location: Burnaby, Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada; Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT); Burnaby RCMP Serious Crimes Unit

Legal status: Branko Bijelic, 51, charged with second-degree murder and indignity to human remains; Sarah Bijelic, 46, charged with manslaughter; both arrested Oct. 30, 2026; publication ban on court proceedings; presumed innocent

The charges. Homicide investigators in British Columbia announced on Monday, Nov. 2, that two Burnaby residents have been charged in the death of Kai Pavlovic, an 11-year-old boy reported missing in Burnaby in September 2025. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said Branko Bijelic, 51, is charged with second-degree murder and indignity to human remains, and Sarah Bijelic, 46, is charged with one count of manslaughter, the Williams Lake Tribune and Castanet reported. KelownaNow reported that both were arrested on Friday, Oct. 30. Both are presumed innocent.

The remains. Police said the investigation led to the discovery of Kai’s remains, Castanet and KelownaNow reported. Investigators did not say when or where the remains were found, or when they learned that he was no longer alive. Police have not publicly described any relationship between the two accused and the boy.

A publication ban. KelownaNow reported that a publication ban is in place on the court proceedings, and that police will not release further information because the matter is before the courts. The Ledger reports only what police announced.

The police statement. “It is with heavy hearts that we share this update in the investigation into Kai’s death,” said Sgt. Freda Fong of IHIT. “There are no words to accurately express the sadness surrounding the circumstances. We recognize the concern this investigation has caused within the community, and our thoughts are with Kai’s loved ones and those affected by this tragedy.” She called the charges “a significant milestone following more than a year of investigation,” adding that “our work continues as the case moves through the prosecution process.” IHIT scheduled a media availability for 2 p.m. Pacific time.

How the case began. Burnaby RCMP received a request on Sept. 26, 2025, to check on Kai’s well-being. He was last known to be living with family in Burnaby. KelownaNow reported that the request came from family members living overseas, who suggested he was “staying with a caretaker.” Despite what police called significant efforts over several days, officers could not find him, and the case was escalated to a high-risk missing person investigation led by the Burnaby RCMP Serious Crimes Unit.

The caretaker appeal. In October 2025, Burnaby RCMP launched a province-wide billboard campaign, CBC News reported at the time. Const. Joelle Kerridge said investigators had spoken with the family and had “reason to believe that he is still with a caretaker,” whom police could not identify. “If you have Kai in your care, you need to come forward and contact the RCMP,” she said. Police also issued a Serbian-language release because the family has close ties to the Serbian community. No Amber Alert was issued; police said the case did not meet the criteria, which in B.C. require a child believed abducted and in imminent danger, with enough identifying information for an alert to work.

The homicide team. Over the following months the Serious Crimes Unit followed up information from family members and the public. IHIT took over the investigation on June 25, 2026, while continuing to work with Burnaby investigators, police said. Kai was described in 2025 as about five feet tall, with a thin build and brown hair.

Sources

• 2 charged in homicide of 11-year-old Burnaby boy reported missing in 2025, Williams Lake Tribune, Nov. 2, 2026
• Murder charge laid in death of 11-year-old boy reported missing in Burnaby, B.C., Castanet (The Canadian Press), Nov. 2, 2026
• 2 arrested and charged in death of 11-year-old BC boy reported missing last year, KelownaNow, Nov. 2, 2026
• RCMP launch province-wide billboard campaign to find missing 11-year-old Kai Pavlovic, CBC News, Oct. 17, 2025

Moncton, New Brunswick: Dying Man Who Murdered and Dismembered Wife Marlene Crossman Faces Sentencing

Location: Court of King’s Bench, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; killing at the couple’s King Street home in Sackville, N.B., Oct. 12, 2023

Legal status: Pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and indecently interfering with human remains; automatic life sentence; parole eligibility to be set by the judge; sentencing hearing opened Nov. 2, 2026

The hearing. Roger Hilyard Crossman, the Sackville, N.B., man who has admitted murdering and dismembering his wife, Marlene Cheryl Crossman, is dying in hospital, his lawyer told a Moncton court on Monday, Nov. 2, at the start of his sentencing hearing. Defence lawyer Martin Siscoe said Crossman is a patient at The Moncton Hospital under guard, has been told he has stage-four lymphoma, intends to refuse treatment and plans to seek medical assistance in dying. He is expected to have only six to eight weeks to live without treatment, Siscoe said, according to the Telegraph-Journal.

The judge’s response. Justice Maya Hamou said she was “perturbed” that Crossman was not present in any form and that no medical evidence had been filed about his condition. “You don’t get to get out of your sentencing hearing (by opting for medically assisted death),” she said. Hamou said she would proceed without him only if it proved impossible to have him attend by phone or video, because the victim’s family has a right to see him sentenced and for him to hear their impact statements. She adjourned until later in the day so Siscoe could go to the hospital and try to arrange a remote appearance. Prosecutor Martine Cormier asked that sentencing go ahead on Monday in any event. “It’s been a long time waiting for the family members,” she said, as several of Marlene Crossman’s relatives sat behind her.

The sentence at stake. Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence; the judge sets parole eligibility at between 10 and 25 years. Siscoe told the court the Crown is seeking 20 to 25 years before parole, but that Crossman told him not to make submissions because of his pending death. Eleven victim impact statements had been requested, CBC News reported when he pleaded guilty.

The killing. In agreed facts read in court in September, Cormier said that sometime after 7 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2023, at the couple’s King Street home in Sackville, Crossman, “meaning to cause the death of Marlene Cheryl Crossman, his wife, inflicted three sharp force injuries to her chest and abdomen.” He then dismembered and mutilated her body, removing her head, her left hand and her left eye and mutilating her breasts and genitals. RCMP officers doing a well-being check at the home at about 4:15 p.m. found her body. Just over an hour later, a man turned himself in at the Antigonish RCMP detachment in Nova Scotia, about 230 kilometres east of Sackville, CBC reported. Crossman has been in custody ever since.

Marlene Crossman. She was 59. Her obituary said she was born in Amherst, N.S., and that her two sons were her greatest joy. She had managed the Amherst Theatre, which wrote after her death that she was “kind, loving, thoughtful, caring, and strong” and “could light up a room with her smile on the darkest of days.”

A long road to sentencing. Crossman was charged with first-degree murder. His jury trial was first set for the fall of 2025, then moved to the spring, then delayed again when he changed lawyers in April. A five-week trial was due to start on Oct. 19 in Moncton, but on Sept. 25 he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and to interfering with the remains. Sentencing set for Oct. 27 was then pushed to Nov. 2 because a pre-sentence report was not complete. Reports of the hearing’s outcome had not been published by Monday afternoon.

Sources

• Man who killed, dismembered wife has weeks to live, court hears, Telegraph-Journal, Nov. 2, 2026
• Sentencing delayed a week for man who murdered, dismembered wife, CBC News, Oct. 23, 2026
• Sackville man admits 2023 murder, dismemberment of wife, CBC News via Yahoo, Oct. 2, 2026

Sakumono, Ghana: Samuel Christopher Osei Anto, 72, Arrested Near Ejisu Over Shooting of George and Irene Atuguba

Location: NTHC Estate, Sakumono, Greater Accra Region, Ghana; arrest at Tikrom, near Ejisu, Ashanti Region

Legal status: Samuel Christopher Osei Anto arrested Nov. 1 and in police custody assisting investigations; Beatrice Mumuni, 47, arrested earlier; no charges reported yet; both presumed innocent

The arrest. Police in Ghana have arrested Samuel Christopher Osei Anto, 72, the man they had declared wanted over the shooting deaths of George Atuguba, 57, and his niece Irene Atuguba, 47, at their home on the NTHC Estate in Sakumono on Friday, Oct. 30. The Ashanti Regional Police Command said in a statement on Monday, Nov. 2, that officers acting on intelligence about his whereabouts arrested him at his hideout in Tikrom, near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, on Sunday, Nov. 1. “During the operation, a Smith & Wesson pistol together with seven (7) rounds of live ammunition was retrieved from him,” the command said. “Acting on intelligence regarding the suspect’s whereabouts, a police team proceeded to his hideout and successfully apprehended him,” the statement said. He is presumed innocent.

The names. The police statement, as quoted by Modern Ghana, spelled the victims’ surname Atuguba, as did the Daily Guide. GBC, MyJoyOnline and Adomonline spelled it Atubiga.

The killings. According to the police, the shooting followed a dispute over a debt of 500,000 Ghana cedis. Preliminary investigations suggest Osei Anto had borrowed the money from George Atuguba and failed to repay it, GBC and MyJoyOnline reported, citing the police statement. Modern Ghana, however, described the money as “allegedly owed him by George Atuguba,” and the accounts conflict on which way the debt ran. An earlier police account said Osei Anto went to the residence with a 47-year-old woman, Beatrice Mumuni, over repayment of the money, and that a misunderstanding escalated into the shooting. The Daily Guide reported that both victims were shot in the head.

The manhunt. Mumuni was the first person arrested. The Daily Guide reported police believe she led the principal suspect to the victims’ home; she has not been reported charged and is presumed innocent. Osei Anto was declared wanted, and police offered a reward of 100,000 cedis for credible information leading to his arrest. The Ashanti command said its statement followed an Accra Regional Police Command press release issued on Oct. 30 about the killings, which named the victims as “Irene Atuguba, aged 47, and George Atuguba, aged 57.” The Daily Guide reported that he was picked up after “intensive intelligence operations” following the bounty.

Where it stands. Osei Anto is in police custody “assisting investigations,” and the recovered pistol and ammunition are being kept as exhibits, the command said. Police said investigations are continuing. The reports did not say when he would be brought before a court, whether he will be moved to Accra, which command will lead the prosecution, or whether the pistol recovered in Tikrom has been linked by testing to the shooting in Sakumono.

Why it matters. The killing of an uncle and niece at home over a private loan, followed by a three-day manhunt across two regions for a man in his seventies, drew wide coverage in Ghana. Every major Ghanaian outlet that reported the arrest relied on the same police statement, and none had reported comment from the victims’ family, from Osei Anto or from any lawyer acting for him by Monday.

Sources

• Sakumono murder suspect, 72, arrested in Ashanti Region, GBC Ghana Online, Nov. 2, 2026
• Sakumono murder suspect is 72 years old; police retrieved a pistol from him after his arrest in Ashanti Region, MyJoyOnline, Nov. 2, 2026
• Police arrest 72-year-old man over murder of two relatives in alleged GH¢500,000 debt dispute, Modern Ghana, Nov. 2, 2026
• Police Arrest Key Suspect In Sakumono Double Murder, Daily Guide, Nov. 2, 2026

Uruapan, Mexico: One Year After Mayor Carlos Manzo’s Murder, Prosecutors Report 34 Detained and Blame CJNG Revenge

Location: Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico; Michoacán State Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General del Estado)

Legal status: 34 people detained, at least 29 formally ordered to stand trial (vinculados a proceso); no convictions reported; arrest warrant outstanding for former security chief; all presumed innocent

One year on. A year after Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, the mayor of Uruapan, was shot dead, Michoacán’s state prosecutors say 34 people have been detained in the case and that the killing was revenge by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) for his crackdown on organised crime, not a political crime. The update was released to mark the anniversary of the killing on Nov. 1, Sociedad Noticias and Eje Central reported. The prosecutors’ office put progress in the investigation at about 90 percent; Sociedad Noticias reported a figure of 92 percent.

The motive. Israel Vega Rodríguez, acting head of the state prosecutor’s office, said the lines of investigation had so far found no sign of a political motive. He linked the attack to security operations Manzo led against criminal groups in the municipality and region, and in particular to the arrest of an alleged cartel member known as “El Rhino,” Sociedad Noticias reported. Eje Central said the prosecutors’ office had concluded the murder was likely CJNG revenge and was not planned to stop his political activity.

The detainees. Of the 34 people detained, at least 29 have been “vinculados a proceso,” meaning a judge found enough grounds to send them toward trial; that is not a conviction, and all remain presumed innocent. Among them is Ramón Ángel Álvarez Ayala, known as “El R1,” whom authorities describe as an alleged regional CJNG leader and the probable mastermind of the killing. Seven members of Manzo’s own security detail have also been detained and ordered to stand trial over their possible involvement, the prosecutors’ office said.

Two loose ends. The office says two steps remain. One is the arrest of José Manuel Jiménez Miranda, a former soldier who headed Manzo’s bodyguards and against whom an arrest warrant is outstanding. The other is getting the former mayor’s mobile phones, which prosecutors say are held by his widow, the current Uruapan mayor Grecia Quiroz García. The office says it has asked three times for the devices so experts can analyse them. The dispute became public after the former state prosecutor, Carlos Torres Piña, now on leave, said in June that the phones were not relevant. Quiroz García has rejected the accusations as part of a political campaign. “They thought that by killing Carlos Manzo they would end his fight,” she has said.

The scale of the inquiry. The prosecutors’ office reported 3,500 investigative acts, 3,000 forensic actions, analysis of 1,200 hours of video, 120 court hearings and 72 data extractions from devices.

What the figures mean. Eje Central stressed that being ordered to stand trial is a stage in Mexican criminal procedure in which a judge decides there is enough to continue a judicial investigation against a person; it does not mean guilt has been proven. The prosecutors’ office’s own description of the case as roughly nine-tenths complete also means, the outlet noted, that the investigation is not finished and that responsibility for the killing has not been fully established.

What comes next. The investigation remains open, and the state says it is still working to establish the individual role of each detained person. None has yet been convicted.

Sources

• Fiscalía suma 34 detenidos por asesinato de Carlos Manzo, Sociedad Noticias, Oct. 31, 2026
• Asesinato de Carlos Manzo: Fiscalía de Michoacán apunta a venganza del CJNG y descarta crimen político, Eje Central, Nov. 1, 2026

Ventersdorp, South Africa: Five Suspects Arrested After Farmer Donovan Marx Was Shot and Mutilated in Farm Attack

Location: Syferfontein, between Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom, North West province, South Africa; South African Police Service

Legal status: Five suspects aged 26 to 56 arrested; expected in the Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom magistrate’s courts on Nov. 3 on charges of house robbery, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition; suspects not named; all presumed innocent

The arrests. Police in South Africa’s North West province have arrested five suspects in the attack on Donovan Marx, a 50-year-old cattle farmer who was shot and severely injured on his property in Syferfontein, near Ventersdorp, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, the Sowetan and Briefly News reported. Two suspects were arrested in the Ventersdorp area on Saturday, and police recovered the farmer’s vehicle. Three more were arrested on Sunday, Nov. 1, during an operation in Promosa, near Potchefstroom, carried out by Ventersdorp detectives with support from the Provincial Anti-Gang Unit. Police have not named any of the five, who are aged between 26 and 56. All are presumed innocent.

Firearms seized. Police said they seized four firearms in the Promosa operation, two of which have been linked to the attack on Marx, along with clothing items and jewellery, according to the Sowetan and Briefly News. The suspects are expected to appear before the Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom magistrate’s courts on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Both outlets reported that they face charges of house robbery, attempted murder and the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

What police say happened. According to police, as reported by the Sowetan, three men wearing balaclavas and carrying firearms first accosted a farm employee, who was tied up and taken to the back of the house. Marx was attacked when he arrived at the house. He was shot and dragged inside, where he was assaulted. The robbers ransacked the house and took three firearms from a safe before fleeing in the farmer’s red Isuzu bakkie, a pickup truck. Police have described the case as a farm robbery and attempted murder.

His injuries. In a statement issued through a law firm at the weekend, Marx’s family set out the extent of his injuries in order to correct what they called falsehoods circulating on social media, the Sowetan reported. They said he had a gunshot wound in his back, with the bullet passing through his kidney; an injury to his colon that led to part of it being surgically removed; a knife wound to his leg; and the traumatic amputation of both his ears, which could not be surgically saved. Sunday World reported that he remains in intensive care at Mediclinic Potchefstroom in a stable condition, and that the family rejected a specific social media rumour about further mutilation as false.

The family. Marx’s wife, Louise, and his extended family said they were grateful for his progress and for his medical care, but that his injuries remain serious and his recovery will take time. They thanked people across South Africa for prayers, messages and offers of help, asked the public to tone down comments about the crime online, and said they had full confidence the investigation was being handled with the necessary seriousness and thoroughness.

Police response. North West Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen Peter Adams announced the first arrests at a media briefing at the provincial police offices in Potchefstroom, Sunday World reported. “The investigating team is commended for its dedicated and coordinated efforts to ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” he said. Police said investigations into the full circumstances of the attack are continuing.

Political reaction. The attack drew condemnation from Freedom Front Plus leader Corné Mulder, who called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to prioritise the safety of farming communities, Briefly News reported. The civil rights group AfriForum sent a formal demand to Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia calling for urgent and targeted action against farm attacks.

A second case. The Sowetan reported that this was the second serious farm attack in North West province in October, after the robbery and murder of Hannetjie van Zyl, 55, near Ottosdal. Two suspects have been arrested in that case and police are searching for a third.

What comes next. The five suspects are due in court on Tuesday. Police have not said whether further arrests are expected.

Sources

• Five suspects arrested, firearms seized after brutal farm crime, Sowetan, Nov. 2, 2026
• Brutally assaulted: SAPS share significant update after horror farm attack, Briefly News, Nov. 2, 2026
• Suspects arrested after savage attack on Ventersdorp farmer Donovan Marx, Sunday World, Nov. 1, 2026

Tralee, Ireland: Man, 49, Charged With Murdering Muhudin Osman Suleyman in Stabbing at Ballymullen Barracks Asylum Centre

Location: Ballymullen Barracks International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre, Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland; Killarney District Court; An Garda Síochána

Legal status: A 49-year-old Somali national charged with murder and with assault causing harm; remanded in custody; due before Tralee District Court by video link on Wednesday, Nov. 4; presumed innocent

The charge. A 49-year-old man was charged on Sunday, Nov. 1, with the murder of Muhudin Osman Suleyman, a resident of the asylum-seeker accommodation centre at Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee, who was stabbed to death there early on Saturday, Oct. 31, RTÉ reported. The accused, a Somali national, was also charged with assault causing harm to a second man at the same place, contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. He is presumed innocent. RTÉ published his name; The Irish Times reported that he “cannot be named for legal reasons,” so the Ledger does not name him.

The night. Gardaí and the National Ambulance Service were called to the former army barracks shortly after 5:20 a.m. on Saturday after reports of a disturbance. They found a man with serious injuries; he had been stabbed and was pronounced dead a short time later. A second man, in his 40s, was taken to University Hospital Kerry with a number of stab wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening. A third man was hurt and treated at the scene by paramedics, The Irish Times reported. The dead man, the two injured men and the man arrested were all understood to be Somali nationals, the paper said.

The arrest. A man in his late 40s was arrested at the scene and held for questioning at a Garda station in Co Kerry under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. The Irish Times reported that gardaí began taking statements from other men who were on the property when a row broke out and the men were stabbed. The scene was sealed for forensic and technical examination by the Garda Technical Bureau, a senior investigating officer was appointed, and an incident room was set up at Tralee Garda Station.

The post-mortem. The dead man’s body was taken to University Hospital Kerry, where State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis carried out a post-mortem examination that confirmed he had died a violent death, The Irish Times reported. The full findings have not been released.

In court. At a special sitting of Killarney District Court at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Detective Sergeant James Hurley of Tralee Garda Station gave evidence that, with a Somali interpreter, he arrested the accused at the station at 3:22 p.m. for the purpose of charge and charged him at 3:56 p.m. with both offences. The accused made no reply to either charge. The District Court has no power to grant bail on a murder charge, and Judge Joanne Carroll remanded him in custody on the State’s application, to appear at Tralee District Court by video link on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Defence solicitor Nuala Liston asked only that her client be medically assessed in prison; she said he was not on any prescription medication. The judge directed the prison governor to ensure he was assessed on admission and given any medical care he needed. The proceedings were translated to him by a Somali interpreter.

The centre. The Department of Justice has used the former barracks since May 2024 to house up to 50 single male international protection applicants, under a one-year licence from the Department of Defence. The department said it was responding to a “critical incident” but could not comment while a Garda investigation was under way. The Irish Mirror reported that recorded critical incidents in IPAS centres rose from 14 in 2021 to 55 in 2024 and 62 in 2025, as the number of centres grew. Anti-immigration demonstrations were held at Ballymullen when it opened.

The appeal. Tralee mayor Angie Baily asked people not to spread unverified claims on social media. “This is quite an emotive topic and we need to be quite careful about how we speak about this because a life has been lost,” she said. Gardaí asked anyone with information to contact Tralee Garda Station on 066 7102300 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.

Sources

• Man charged with murder after stabbing at IPAS centre, RTÉ News, Nov. 1, 2026
• Man charged with murder of Somali national at Kerry Ipas centre, The Irish Times, Nov. 1, 2026
• One dead, two injured after multiple stabbing incident at Kerry Ipas centre, The Irish Times, Oct. 31, 2026
• Man charged over murder of IPAS resident in Tralee, Irish Mirror, Nov. 1, 2026

Rome, Italy: Prosecutors Reopen Investigation Into 1975 Murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini

Location: Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office (Piazzale Clodio), Rome, Italy; killing at the Idroscalo, Ostia, night of Nov. 1 to 2, 1975

Legal status: New investigation opened; no suspects named; Giuseppe “Pino” Pelosi was definitively convicted in 1979 and died in 2017

A new file, 51 years on. The Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened a new investigation into the murder of the poet, novelist and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was killed at the Idroscalo in Ostia on the night between Nov. 1 and 2, 1975. The case has been assigned to deputy prosecutor Silvia Santucci, Il Messaggero and Il Foglio reported on Monday, Nov. 2, the 51st anniversary of his death. Pasolini was 53.

Who asked for it. The new inquiry follows a complaint filed by lawyer Stefano Maccioni, who once represented a cousin of Pasolini and now acts for the Lazio Order of Journalists, the director David Grieco and the writer Giovanni Giovannetti. “The new petition, submitted in November 2025 and then supplemented in May 2026, is based on new elements gathered by this defense,” Maccioni said, according to Il Messaggero. “We trust that the Rome Prosecutor’s Office will finally be able to provide the answers we have been seeking for so many years and at the same time, we invite all those who have so far preferred to remain silent about what they know to come forward and speak.” He said he could not hide his “emotion and satisfaction” at the decision.

The new evidence. According to Il Foglio, the request was made in order to interview a new witness. Maccioni has said the evidence emerged partly from viewing footage supplied by the state broadcaster Rai from news programmes of the time, “but above all” from an analysis of all the data gathered so far, which he said “leads to a single conclusion: it is not certain that Pelosi was alone on the evening of the murder, so it is essential to establish who was with him that evening.” Earlier requests to reopen the case, in 2016 and 2023, were rejected. An investigation against persons unknown, launched in 2010, was closed in 2015 after five years without identifying any new suspects.

The original case. Giuseppe “Pino” Pelosi, then 17, confessed to the killing the day the body was found. He told investigators he had met Pasolini on the night of Nov. 1 at Termini station, got into his car, and after dinner at a trattoria near the Basilica of San Paolo drove with him after midnight to the waste ground at Ostia. There, he said, he refused a sexual encounter, Pasolini chased and hit him with a stick, and he responded with violence, Il Messaggero recounted. The first-instance verdict came on April 26, 1976, and the appeal ruling on Dec. 4, 1976. The original court found that Pelosi had not acted alone, but the appeal court, which upheld his conviction, did not confirm a role for any accomplices, ANSA reported. The Court of Cassation made the conviction final on April 26, 1979. Pelosi received nine years and served about seven before parole.

The recantation. In May 2005, on the Rai programme “Ombre sul giallo,” Pelosi said: “I was not the one who killed Pasolini.” He said he had confessed under pressure, reviving the long-held theory that Pasolini was beaten to death by a group of attackers who wanted to “teach him a lesson.” Asked why he had waited 30 years, he said: “Because I am alone, I have no family anymore, my relatives are dead. I am 46 years old and I will always pay for that murder. And also because those people are probably dead by now.” Pelosi died of cancer in 2017, aged 58.

What comes next. Prosecutors have not said who the new witness is or when they will be questioned. No one other than Pelosi has ever been charged in the killing.

Sources

• Reopening the Pasolini Murder Investigation, Il Messaggero, Nov. 2, 2026
• The public prosecutor’s office has reopened the investigation into the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini. A new witness is to be interviewed, Il Foglio, Nov. 2, 2026
• Rome prosecutors reopen case into director Pasolini’s murder, UA.News, citing ANSA, Nov. 2, 2026

Gjilan, Kosovo: Grandfather Arrested on Suspicion of Aggravated Murder After Man, 27, and Baby Daughter Found Dead in Demiraj

Location: Village of Demiraj, Gjilan municipality, Kosovo; Basic Prosecution Office and Basic Court, Gjilan

Legal status: Suspect, identified by initials B. Demiri, arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder; held 48 hours on prosecutor’s order; first court hearing on a detention request Nov. 2, 2026; presumed innocent

The discovery. A 27-year-old man and his three-month-old daughter were found dead in a house in the village of Demiraj, in Kosovo’s Gjilan municipality, on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 1. Kosovo Police were alerted at about 8:47 a.m. that two bodies were suspected to be in the house, “a male person born in 1999 and an infant,” the Gjilan police spokesperson said in a statement quoted by CNA. Police units, a state prosecutor and an emergency medical team went to the scene, and the doctor found that both had died.

The arrest. After initial investigative steps, police arrested the 27-year-old’s father, the baby’s grandfather, on suspicion of the double killing. “From the initial investigations at the scene, it is suspected that the incident occurred within the family,” the spokesperson said. The prosecutor ordered him held for 48 hours and the case was classified as aggravated murder, Albeu reported. Sot.com.al identified the suspect by the initials B. Demiri. Reports give his age as 65; the police statement quoted by CNA described him as 66. He is presumed innocent.

In court. The Basic Prosecution Office in Gjilan is leading the investigation. The suspect’s first hearing was held on Monday, Nov. 2, after prosecutors asked the court to impose a security measure, a request for him to be kept in detention, Sot reported. The court’s decision had not been reported by Monday afternoon.

What was found. According to Kosovo media cited by Sot, a rope was found at the scene, and investigators suspect it was used in an attempt to stage the circumstances of the deaths. The same reports say the two victims are suspected of having been strangled with a rope, and that signs of violence were found on the bodies of both the arrested man and his 27-year-old son, suggesting a struggle. Police have not officially confirmed the cause of death. Both bodies were sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsies, and the full circumstances remain unclear, Albeu reported. Neither victim has been named by police.

Reaction. The mayor of Gjilan, Alban Hyseni, offered condolences to the family. He said the loss of two lives in circumstances not yet clarified is a tragedy that touches every citizen, and called on the police and the judiciary to commit fully to establishing what happened. Kosovo’s justice minister, Donika Gërvalla, said the family should be the safest place for a person, a place of love, harmony, care and protection, and called for a full investigation without delay so that the truth can be established and the responsible institutions can act as the law requires.

A family case. Both bodies were found in the same home, and police have said they suspect the killing happened within the family, CNA reported. Investigators are working to establish what led to the deaths and who is responsible for each. No other suspects have been reported.

What comes next. The court must decide on the prosecutor’s request for a detention measure, and autopsy results are expected to set out how the man and the baby died. The investigation continues.

Sources

• Suspected of killing son and baby, 65-year-old man appears in court in Gjilan, Sot, Nov. 2, 2026
• Two found dead in Demiraj, Gjilan: what is known about the 27-year-old and the three-month-old baby, Albeu, Nov. 2, 2026
• Double murder in Kosovo/ The perpetrator, the father and the grandfather of the baby are arrested, CNA, Nov. 1, 2026

Ħal Far, Malta: Former Soldier Lorin Scicluna Acquitted of Lassana Cisse Murder; Police Chief Calls Verdict “Demoralising”

Location: Criminal Court, Valletta, Malta; shooting on Triq il-Ġebel between Ħal Far and Birżebbuġa, April 6, 2019

Legal status: Lorin Scicluna acquitted 8-1 of murder and three attempted murders; convicted of grievous bodily harm on May Malimi and using a vehicle without registration plates; submissions on punishment Wednesday, Nov. 4; remanded in custody

The verdict. A nine-person jury on Sunday evening, Nov. 1, acquitted former Armed Forces of Malta soldier Lorin Scicluna of murdering Lassana Cisse, a 42-year-old father of two from Ivory Coast who was shot dead in a drive-by on April 6, 2019, Times of Malta reported. The jury voted 8-1 to clear him of murder and of the attempted murders of Ibrahim Bah and Mohammed Jallow that night and of May Malimi several months earlier. By 6-3 votes it also cleared him of grievous bodily harm on Jallow, slight bodily harm on Bah and possession of a firearm during a crime. It convicted him by 6-3 of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Malimi, and unanimously of using a vehicle without registration plates. Scicluna sobbed as the verdicts were read.

The killing. Cisse was walking home after watching a football match when he was shot on Triq il-Ġebel, the road linking Ħal Far and Birżebbuġa. Prosecutors described the case at the opening of the trial as “racial hatred with a fatal outcome.” Investigators had identified Scicluna’s white Toyota Starlet through CCTV footage.

The defence. Scicluna, represented by Edward Gatt and Kris Busietta, denied all nine charges and told jurors that his friend and fellow former soldier Francesco Fenech fired the shots. Fenech faces separate criminal proceedings over the same killing and is presumed innocent. On the witness stand, Scicluna admitted that he and Fenech had previously driven around Ħal Far looking for Black people to harass, and admitted involvement in an earlier incident in which a Black man was struck by a car, while insisting Fenech was driving. He said that on the night Cisse died the pair went out to shoot cats, having removed his car’s plates and left their phones behind, and that Fenech unexpectedly opened fire. The prosecution pointed to his changing accounts in police questioning.

The plea deal. Times of Malta reported on Monday that Scicluna’s lawyers had secured a 30-year plea bargain on the murder days before the trial, but that he refused it and chose to go to trial.

What he faces. The Attorney General’s bill of indictment sought 18 months to nine years for grievous bodily harm aggravated by racial hatred; Times of Malta said the Malimi conviction carried that aggravation. Grievous bodily harm normally carries up to seven years, but Article 83 of the Criminal Code allows a harsher term for racially motivated crimes. Submissions on punishment are set for Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 12:30 p.m., and Scicluna remains in custody.

Reaction. Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà called the acquittal “demoralising” on Monday. “When the sentence does not reflect what you’ve worked for, and you know in your conscience it should have been a different result, yes, it’s demoralising,” he said, adding that the requirement to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt is “a hurdle.” Home Affairs Minister Glenn Bedingfield said such verdicts leave “a certain taste” but declined to comment further before sentencing. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation called for reform of the jury system, Matthew Caruana Galizia called for it to be scrapped, and academic Maria Pisani, who accompanied Cisse’s body to Ivory Coast for burial, said “decades of institutional racism” had indirectly led to the acquittal.

Sources

• Lorin Scicluna acquitted of Lassana Cisse murder, Times of Malta, Nov. 1, 2026
• Lorin Scicluna was offered a 30-year plea deal, but refused it, Times of Malta, Nov. 2, 2026
• Police chief: Lassana Cisse murder acquittal is ‘demoralising’, Times of Malta, Nov. 2, 2026
• ‘It’s Demoralising’: Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà Reacts To Lassana Cisse Murder Acquittal, Lovin Malta, Nov. 2, 2026

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Suspect in Killing of Hajar, 29, Found in Suitcase at Amsteldijk, Held 90 More Days as Prosecutors Say Phone Footage Made Witness a Suspect

Location: Amsterdam (RAI, Buitenveldert, Amsteldijk in Zuid) and Spierdijk, Koggenland, North Holland, Netherlands; Openbaar Ministerie (Public Prosecution Service)

Legal status: Abdi A., 23, suspected of murder or manslaughter; pretrial detention extended by 90 days on Nov. 2, 2026; has invoked his right to remain silent; presumed innocent

The ruling. A closed chamber of the Amsterdam court decided on Monday, Nov. 2, that Abdi A., the 23-year-old man suspected of killing a 29-year-old Amsterdam woman named Hajar, will stay in custody for 90 more days, AT5 and NOS reported. Dutch media identify suspects by first name and last initial under national convention. He is presumed innocent. The Openbaar Ministerie (OM) told NOS that he is invoking his right to remain silent and does not want to say anything.

Witness to suspect. In a press release issued the same day, the OM said A. was first questioned by police as a witness, and became a suspect only after footage was found on his phone. Prosecutors would not describe the footage. NH Nieuws reported that the phone was seized after he had been interviewed as a witness the evening before, and that what was found on it has not been made public. It is expected to become clearer at the first pro forma hearing, which must take place within the 90-day extension.

Why police first looked elsewhere. Hajar was last seen on Oct. 4 near the RAI exhibition centre, cycling toward the Buitenveldert district with a man who later turned out to be A., according to NOS. A family member reported her missing. Camera footage showed her with the 23-year-old, but other witnesses told police they had seen her later, at other places, including once with a man who looked different from A., NH Nieuws reported. That suggested he was not the last person she had been seen with, so police treated him as a witness and set out to identify the other man. Further investigation showed those witnesses had probably seen a different woman, or had seen Hajar at a different moment, the OM said.

The discovery. On Oct. 16 Hajar’s body was found in a suitcase in the water along the Amsteldijk in Amsterdam Zuid, and police opened a death investigation. Investigators concluded that she had been killed in an “antikraakpand,” a vacant building occupied by temporary guardians, in Buitenveldert, AT5 reported.

The arrest in Spierdijk. A. was arrested on Oct. 20 after he was detained in the North Holland village of Spierdijk, in Koggenland, for attacking a man at a home, AT5 reported. That man is believed to be his foster father. Police had already issued an alert for his arrest in the Hajar inquiry.

The suspicions. According to NOS, A. is suspected of the murder or manslaughter of Hajar, the attempted murder or attempted manslaughter of a man, believed to be his foster father, threatening a woman in Koggenland, and concealing Hajar’s body. Dutch prosecutors often frame charges in the alternative, as “moord dan wel doodslag,” until the case is set for trial.

Who he is. A. is a Somali national who came to the Netherlands at age six and has no fixed address, AT5 and NOS reported.

Restrictions lifted. Until Monday, A. was held under full restrictions, meaning he could have contact only with his lawyer. Those restrictions were lifted on Nov. 2, which is why the OM released the additional information, NH Nieuws reported. The OM has not said when the case will go to a substantive trial.

Sources

• Getuige werd verdachte in onderzoek naar dood Hajar na vondst beelden op telefoon, NOS, Nov. 2, 2026
• Abdi A. van getuige naar verdachte moord op Hajar, omdat anderen haar gezien dachten te hebben, NH Nieuws, Nov. 2, 2026
• 23-jarige verdachte moord Hajar blijft 90 dagen langer vastzitten, AT5, Nov. 2, 2026

Murcia, Spain: Man, 45, Detained After Woman Is Stabbed to Death on a Street in La Fama; Police Rule Out Gender Violence

Location: Calle Santa Rita, barrio de La Fama, Murcia, Region of Murcia, Spain; Policía Nacional, Brigada Provincial de Policía Judicial

Legal status: A 45-year-old man detained Nov. 2, 2026, as the presumed perpetrator; held in police custody pending appearance before a judge; not yet charged; presumed innocent

The killing. A woman was stabbed to death in the street on the morning of Monday, Nov. 2, in La Fama, a working-class district of the city of Murcia, and a man was arrested about two hours later, the Policía Nacional said. A neighbour called the 112 emergency line at about 9:34 a.m. after hearing shouting from an argument on the public road, The Objective reported, citing police. Medical crews from the Murcian Health Service’s mobile emergency unit could only certify her death from a knife wound.

The scene. EFE, via Infobae, placed the attack on Calle Santa Rita, beside a four-storey block, and reported that the man stabbed the woman several times and fled. La Opinión de Murcia reported that her body lay on the pavement between two parked cars, and that forensic officers worked the scene for close to two hours before the body was taken to the Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine. Onda Cero, citing EFE police sources, gave the street name as Calle Calí Josefa Fernández Romero; the other outlets say Santa Rita.

The arrest. The Brigada Provincial de Policía Judicial took over the case and located and arrested the suspect, who had allegedly fled the scene, The Objective reported. He remains in police custody until he is brought before a judge, EFE said. Onda Cero gave his age as 45. Police have not released his name, which is normal in Spain before a court appearance. Both he and the victim are Spanish nationals, EFE reported.

Not gender violence. Investigators from the provincial homicide group ruled out a gender violence motive after their first inquiries, sources at the Government Delegation in the Region of Murcia confirmed. Police said the two had no romantic relationship, which in Spain removes the case from the specialised gender violence courts and statistics. EFE reported that investigators do not rule out that the motive was linked to drug use.

The victim. Police have not named her. Onda Cero described her as about 30; one regional wire item carried by The Objective gave 45, the same age reported for the suspect, and the Ledger treats her age as unconfirmed. Onda Cero reported that she had been sleeping rough for several months and worked as an informal car park attendant to earn a little money, and that both she and the suspect were habitual drug users. Neighbours who spoke to La Opinión de Murcia, most refusing to be identified, said she had given birth a few months ago and was known in the street for singing as she walked.

Witness accounts. A neighbour told La Opinión de Murcia she had a neck wound that was “very hard” to stop bleeding, Onda Cero reported. Other witnesses, quoted by La Verdad and cited by Onda Cero, alleged that the suspect had tried to sexually assault the woman and stabbed her when she refused. Police have not confirmed that account. “We heard nothing. If we had heard loud screams, nothing would have happened, because we would all have come out of the flats at once to defend her,” one resident said.

A district on edge. La Fama is associated with social conflict and street drug dealing, EFE reported. Onda Cero said it was the second killing in the district in five months: at the end of June a 27-year-old man was stabbed by a group of three men as he went to cross a street, a case that remains unsolved. “There is no security, knowing what these neighbourhoods are like,” a man standing behind the regional Education Department building told La Opinión.

Sources

• ‘Ha sido a la morenica, a la que tuvo a la cría hace poco’: conmoción vecinal por el último asesinato en La Fama, La Opinión de Murcia, Nov. 2, 2026
• Qué se sabe del asesinato de una mujer en Murcia: la Policía descarta que sea un caso de violencia de género, Onda Cero, Nov. 2, 2026
• Detenido un hombre por el asesinato de una mujer con arma blanca en Murcia, The Objective, Nov. 2, 2026
• Descartan que el asesinato de una mujer en Murcia sea un caso de violencia machista, Infobae (EFE), Nov. 2, 2026

Southampton, England: Police Chief Admits Force “Failed” Murdered Student Henry Nowak as Family Say They Were Misled

Location: Southampton, Hampshire, England; Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary; Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)

Legal status: Vickrum Digwa convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years; IOPC gross misconduct investigation into two officers ongoing; Home Office review and inquest pending

The admission. The chief constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has admitted for the first time that his force “failed” Henry Nowak, the 18-year-old Southampton student who was stabbed to death in December 2025 and then handcuffed by officers as he lay dying, ITV News reported on Monday, Nov. 2. “I am incredibly sorry that in his final moments, when he needed us most, we failed him,” Chief Constable Alexis Boon said in a statement. “Henry deserved better. His family deserved better.”

The family’s account. In an interview with ITV News UK Editor Paul Brand for an ITV Tonight documentary, “Dear Henry: Our Fight For Justice,” Henry’s father Mark, his stepmother Katie, his mother Lucy Ross and his older sister Olivia said police gave them changing accounts of what happened and at first portrayed Henry as the aggressor. “I fear that we may have been manipulated in our darkest hours,” Katie Nowak said. “I fear that some decisions were made to try and protect the police and their reputation rather than help us as a family.” Mark Nowak said the family were first told officers had given Henry first aid, before police admitted he had been handcuffed and arrested instead. “The story was evolving every time we had an interaction,” he said. “We felt we were being hoodwinked.” He said that on his way back from identifying his son’s body he was asked to approve a draft press release that depicted Henry as the aggressor, the Mirror reported.

The night he died. Henry was walking back to his student accommodation after a night out when Vickrum Digwa, 23, stabbed him with a ceremonial sword. Digwa lied to police that Henry had carried out a racist attack, and officers disbelieved Henry’s repeated pleas that he had been stabbed. In body-worn camera footage shown at Digwa’s trial, Henry can be heard repeating “I’ve been stabbed,” and an officer replies, “Don’t think you have, mate.” “Henry told the police nine times that he can’t breathe, he can’t breathe and he’s been stabbed. What more do you want?” his mother said. “My poor little boy needed help and he didn’t get it.” The family only saw the bodycam footage on the first day of the trial, ITV reported. Digwa was convicted of murder in May and jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years on June 1.

The watchdog. The force made a mandatory referral to the IOPC after Henry’s death. The family said the IOPC wrote in April that no officers would face a criminal investigation because there were “no concerns identified in relation to officer actions.” That changed in July, after the footage became public, when the watchdog said two officers were under investigation for potential gross misconduct. The IOPC is due to report early next year. Its director of engagement, Derrick Campbell, said it was committed to establishing the full circumstances, including whether any officer should face disciplinary proceedings.

The review. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has ordered an independent review of the whole case, including the IOPC’s role, led by former lord chancellor Alex Chalk, which will look at “any missed opportunities to intervene.” “I will follow the evidence without fear or favour, and I will draw robust conclusions,” Chalk told ITV News. An inquest is also pending. Boon said the force is co-operating with the reviews, the IOPC and the coroner, “But I will not wait for their findings to make changes.”

What comes next. The documentary airs at 9 p.m. UK time on Thursday, Nov. 5, on ITV1 and ITVX.

Sources

• Police chief admits force ‘failed’ Henry Nowak in dying moments, ITV News via Yahoo, Nov. 2, 2026
• Family of murdered student Henry Nowak believe they were ‘manipulated’ by cops, Mirror, Nov. 2, 2026

St Helens, England: Jury Selected in Murder Trial of George Gordon Over Delia McInerney, Whose Body Was Found in a Freezer

Location: Liverpool Crown Court, Liverpool, England; remains found at a flat on Gerards Court, St Helens, Merseyside, Jan. 8, 2026

Legal status: George Gordon charged with murder and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal; denies both; has admitted concealing the body, obstructing a coroner and fraud and theft counts; trial under way; presumed innocent of murder

The trial opens. The murder trial of George Christopher Gordon, 65, accused of killing Delia McInerney, a 64-year-old artist from Anfield whose remains were found in a freezer at his flat in St Helens, opened at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, Nov. 2. A panel of 20 potential jurors, 12 men and eight women, was selected from 40, with the final jury of 12 and two reserves to be sworn in on Tuesday, the Liverpool Echo reported. The trial is listed to run for about six weeks, until around Dec. 11, before Mr Justice Goose, a High Court judge.

The charges. Gordon, of Gerards Court, St Helens, denies murdering McInerney “on or before April 12, 2023.” He also denies a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal; the particulars are that he killed five guinea pigs between April 10, 2023, and Jan. 8, 2026. He is presumed innocent of both charges.

What he has admitted. At earlier hearings, Gordon pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body and obstructing a coroner by concealing a body between April 2023 and January 2026, Yahoo News reported in May, when reporting restrictions on those pleas were lifted. He also admitted three counts of fraud by false representation and theft, which are said to relate to McInerney.

The discovery. Merseyside Police went to an address on Gerards Court on Jan. 8 this year after reports of concern for a person’s safety and found human remains inside a freezer. Forensic officers spent several days at the block of flats and an evidence tent was put up at the rear of the building, the Echo reported. The concealment count Gordon has admitted covers the period from April 2023 to January 2026, nearly three years.

In court. Gordon was brought into the dock in a wheelchair, wearing a grey jumper and glasses, and confirmed his name, according to the Echo’s live coverage. Members of McInerney’s family sat in the public gallery. Martin Reid KC and Katy Appleton are prosecuting; Gordon is represented by Gordon Cole KC and Philip Tully. Reid told potential jurors they would hear about two places in particular: Gordon’s flat on Gerards Court and McInerney’s home on Douglas Road in Anfield. The judge told the panel the case would start “effectively tomorrow” and warned them not to discuss it with anyone. He told the panel the trial would be longer than the two weeks they had expected to serve, and asked anyone who knew the people or places named to come forward. After jury selection, the court adjourned for legal discussions and is due to resume at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Delia McInerney. In a tribute released after her death, her sister Rita McInerney described her as “a great artist, a free spirit, really ‘out there’. A rebel. Intelligent with a dynamic personality. Kind, caring and helpful.”

What comes next. The prosecution is expected to open its case to the jury once it is sworn in. The Echo is reporting the trial live. Gordon was originally due to stand trial on Oct. 12, according to the May report.

Sources

• Man to face murder trial LIVE after woman’s body found in freezer in St Helens, Liverpool Echo, Nov. 2, 2026
• Man admits hiding woman’s body but denies murdering her and killing five guinea pigs, Yahoo News, May 1, 2026

Warburton, England: Driver Who Dragged Headteacher Michael Mullins Under His Car for More Than a Mile Jailed for Life

Location: Warburton and Lymm, near Altrincham, Greater Manchester and Cheshire, England; Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court; Greater Manchester Police

Legal status: Simon Richardson convicted of murder by a jury last week; sentenced Nov. 2, 2026, to life with a minimum term of 25 years and banned from driving for life

The sentence. Simon Richardson, 35, was jailed for life at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday, Nov. 2, and told he must serve at least 25 years before he can be considered for release, for the murder of Michael Mullins, the 56-year-old headteacher of Stretford Grammar School. Richardson was also banned from driving for life, Altrincham Today reported. A jury of six women and six men found him guilty of murder last week after deliberating for 10 hours and 55 minutes, according to the Westmorland Gazette.

The collision. Mullins was cycling home from the school on the evening of April 20 when the Volvo XC90 that Richardson was driving failed to give way at a junction on Paddock Lane in Warburton, Trafford, and hit him. The court heard the car had been driven erratically before the junction and that Richardson’s front-seat passenger, his cousin Gabrielle Debotte, shouted “bike” three times before the impact. Mullins struck the bonnet and windscreen, then went under the front of the car and became entangled in the suspension near the front left wheel.

What was said in the car. Debotte, giving evidence for the prosecution, told the jury they both heard “moaning” from beneath the vehicle as Richardson drove away, and that he said: “He’s under the car.” The Gazette reported that he drove at times at around 60 mph. Prosecutor Phil Barnes KC told the jury Richardson knew the man was trapped “and he inevitably knew what the consequences of driving on would be, and he did it anyway.” Richardson denied knowing anyone was under the car and, through his barrister, denied getting out of it.

The farm track. Richardson drove about 1.3 miles into Lymm and stopped for around two minutes at the junction of Wet Gate Lane, the court heard. Debotte said he got out and twice tried to pull Mullins free and failed. He then got back in, drove up a country lane, swerved sharply from side to side and mounted a grass verge to dislodge him. When Mullins came loose, Richardson reversed over him and drove off. The court heard Mullins suffered crushing injuries from being run over and heavy blood loss from dragging injuries. A motorcyclist followed a trail of blood from the junction to Wet Gate Lane and found him alone on the verge, barely breathing. He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m.

The escape. Richardson drove on to a petrol station and a salon in Lymm, dropped his cousin at her home in Altrincham, and swapped the Volvo for a friend’s silver Transit van at a nearby pub, the Gazette reported. The court heard a man named Daniel Richards coached the pair on what to tell police. The next day officers spotted the van on the M60 and followed it to Oldham, where it sped off. Richardson abandoned it, ran, and was found crouched behind a vehicle.

The judge. Mrs Justice Brunner KC said Richardson showed an “astonishing degree of disregard for human life.” She told him: “For every moment you carried on, you were knowingly using your heavy vehicle to cause serious injury to a man who was trapped, injured and completely helpless as a result of your actions. You did that because you decided escaping from the scene of an accident was more important than a human life.” Barnes told the court Richardson had 28 previous offences, including failing to stop after an accident in 2011, drink driving and driving while disqualified in 2012, and driving without a licence or insurance in 2023.

The family. Sarah Mullins, his wife of 27 years, told the court: “He didn’t just die; he was killed. The fact that Michael had to endure such a violent and painful death is a wound that will not heal.” Mullins had led Stretford Grammar School for 17 years after taking it over in special measures in 2009. Detective Chief Inspector Louise Edwards said Richardson took his life “in one of the most horrific ways I have ever seen.”

Sources

• Driver who dragged cyclist under his car jailed for life for murder, The Guardian, Nov. 2, 2026
• Tributes paid to Cumbrian teacher after driver who murdered him jailed for 25 years, The Westmorland Gazette, Nov. 2, 2026
• Driver jailed for life for murder of headteacher Michael Mullins, Altrincham Today, Nov. 2, 2026

Choutuppal, India: Two Men Arrested Within Hours After Priest Rallabandi Sudhakar Swamy Found Bound and Stabbed

Location: Markandeya Nagar, Choutuppal, Yadadri-Bhongir district, Telangana, India; accused intercepted on NH-44 in Nirmal district

Legal status: Pawan Kumar and Harsh Santhosh Pandey arrested over the murder and robbery; under investigation by Yadadri-Bhongir police; not yet tried; presumed innocent

The arrests. Police in Telangana arrested two men within about three hours of the killing of Rallabandi Sudhakar Swamy, a ritual priest found dead in his home in Choutuppal in the early hours of Sunday, Nov. 1, after tracking his stolen Tata Safari up the NH-44 highway, The Hindu reported. Yadadri-Bhongir Superintendent of Police Akshansh Yadav identified the men as Pawan Kumar, 21, of Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, and Harsh Santhosh Pandey, 24, a native of Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh who was living in Satna, Madhya Pradesh. The Deccan Chronicle, citing its own reporting, described the pair as natives of Assam and gave the second man’s name as Harshu alias Harshit. Both men are presumed innocent.

The victim. Sudhakar Swamy earned his living performing religious rituals and poojas, for which devotees gave him cash and gold, the SP said. The Deccan Chronicle reported that he was 45, came from Puttapaka in Sansthan Narayanapur mandal, performed pujas at Yellamma and Mutyalamma village festivals and gave predictions, and that locals said he was unmarried and had adopted two children from among his relatives. His nephew, Gurram Suresh, 29, told police Swamy had brought him up.

How the accused knew him. According to the Deccan Chronicle’s account of the investigation, Swamy regularly visited the Kamakhya temple in Assam, where he met Pawan about two years ago. Pawan later visited Choutuppal several times and eventually brought Harsh with him; the two gained Swamy’s trust and became his disciples.

The night of Oct. 31. Suresh and his wife visited Swamy and talked with him until about 9:30 p.m. When Suresh called at around 11 p.m. to ask whether he had gone to sleep, Swamy said Pawan and his friend Harsh had arrived and that he would sleep after talking with them, the SP said. At about 12:38 a.m. on Nov. 1, Suresh received two WhatsApp voice messages from his uncle’s phone, each about five seconds long, which police say warned him not to report the murder. He found the home’s CCTV cameras were not working, went to the house, and found the main gate and the upper floor mesh door open and the Tata Safari gone. He called the 112 emergency line at about 1:36 a.m.

What police found. Choutuppal officers found belongings scattered and Swamy dead on a bed in a first-floor bedroom, his hands and legs tied with sarees. The Hindu reported stab injuries near his right elbow and on his back; the Deccan Chronicle reported police saying he was also strangled.

The chase. Investigators traced the SUV through its registration, GPS data and toll payment alerts heading toward the Nagpur highway, and toll plazas along NH-44 were warned. Nirmal district police stopped the vehicle at about 4:05 a.m. The Hindu named the stop as Ganjal Toll Plaza; the Deccan Chronicle named it Soan Toll Plaza. The men were handed to Yadadri-Bhongir police.

What was recovered. Police said they recovered about 1.319 kg of gold valued at about 1.30 crore rupees, about 3.6 kg of silver worth about 3.60 lakh rupees, 9,03,300 rupees in cash, mobile phones, a knife and the Tata Safari, valued at about 30 lakh rupees. The Hindu put the total at 1,73,63,300 rupees; the Deccan Chronicle reported about 1.72 crore. Police said neither man had a known criminal record.

Sources

• Murder-robbery cracked within three hours, two held in Telangana’s Nirmal while fleeing in SUV, The Hindu, Nov. 2, 2026
• Jogini Sudhakar Case Solved, Nirmal Police Arrest 2 Men from Assam, Deccan Chronicle, Nov. 2, 2026

Meerut, India: Ravita and Amardeep Appeal Death Sentences in Snakebite Cover-Up Murder of Amit Kashyap

Location: Allahabad High Court, Prayagraj; killing in Akbarpur Sadat village, Barwah police station area, Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh, April 17, 2025

Legal status: Ravita and Amardeep convicted of murder Oct. 7, 2026, and sentenced to death Oct. 16, 2026; separate appeals filed in the Allahabad High Court; death sentences require High Court confirmation

The appeals. Ravita and Amardeep, sentenced to death last month for murdering Ravita’s husband Amit Kashyap and staging his death as a snakebite, have filed separate appeals in the Allahabad High Court seeking to overturn their convictions and set aside the death penalty, the news agency ANI reported on Monday, Nov. 2, via Devdiscourse. The appeals are expected to go before a Division Bench. The High Court will decide whether the trial court’s findings and sentences are upheld, modified or set aside.

The killing. According to the prosecution, Kashyap was killed on the night of April 17, 2025, at his home in Akbarpur Sadat village in Meerut district. Zoom News, reporting on the sentencing, said the prosecution case was that after Kashyap fell asleep, Amardeep entered the house and Ravita held her husband’s hands while Amardeep pressed on his neck, mouth and nose until he suffocated.

The snake. To mislead investigators, the prosecution said, Amardeep bought a live snake from a snake charmer for 1,000 rupees, and it was left beside the body so the death would look like a venomous bite during sleep. When the body was found the next morning, marks resembling a bite were visible and a live snake was close by. The post-mortem examination found that Kashyap had died of strangulation and suffocation, not snake venom. Accounts of the snake differ: ANI reported that police found its venom glands had been removed, while Zoom News reported that snake charmers who examined it found it had no teeth. Call detail records, ANI said, revealed the relationship between the two accused and supported the prosecution’s conspiracy case.

The trial. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ-12) Jaiveer Singh Nagar convicted both of murder on Oct. 7 and, on Oct. 16, classed the killing as “rarest of rare” and sentenced both to death. Before sentencing, the judge heard both by video link. Ravita broke down and pleaded that she had three small children to care for; Amardeep wept and asked the court to consider his elderly parents. The court rejected leniency. According to Zoom News, the judge observed that killing one’s husband is equivalent to killing dharma, describing a husband as “Parameshwar.” The court also directed the District Magistrate to arrange care and education for Ravita’s three children.

On death row. Rediff reported after sentencing that the two had broken down in a packed courtroom as people outside chanted slogans praising the judiciary. Both were moved to separate barracks in the Chaudhary Charan Singh District Jail; Ravita was given prisoner number 399/2026 and placed in Barrack 12A, and Senior Jail Superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma said nobody had visited either of them. Police cited the case, decided within 18 months of the killing, as a result of the state’s “Operation Conviction” drive.

What comes next. In India, a death sentence imposed by a sessions court cannot be carried out unless the High Court confirms it, and the convictions remain under appeal. No hearing date for the Division Bench had been reported.

Sources

• Meerut snake murder case: Ravita, Amardeep move Allahabad HC against death sentence, Devdiscourse (ANI), Nov. 2, 2026
• Meerut Court Sentences Wife And Lover To Death In Amit Kashyap Murder Case, Zoom News, Oct. 16, 2026
• Death Row Convicts Ravita And Amardeep Shifted To New Barracks, Rediff, Oct. 17, 2026

Skardu, Pakistan: Woman’s Uncle Arrested as Main Suspect in Killing of Muhammad Aslam, His Wife Hania and Their Two Young Children

Location: Madina Colony, Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan; Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Gilgit-Baltistan Police

Legal status: Main suspect Rajab and an alleged accomplice arrested; police say evidence points to five people involved; FIR names the woman’s father, brothers and an uncle; no charges reported in court yet; all presumed innocent

The arrests. Police in Gilgit-Baltistan said on Monday, Nov. 2, that they had arrested the main suspect in the killing of a couple and their two young children in Skardu, a man identified as Rajab, along with an alleged accomplice, ARY News and The Nation reported. ARY and Dialogue Pakistan said Rajab is the murdered woman’s uncle; ARY described him as her paternal uncle. Police said the suspects had gone into hiding in Kurram district, the tribal district that includes Parachinar, and that raids were under way for the others. Investigators have found evidence suggesting five people were involved, police said. Both men are presumed innocent.

The victims. Police identified the dead as Muhammad Aslam, his wife Hania Aslam, their four-year-old son Mehdi and their two-year-old daughter, named Zahra in the Monday reports and Dua Zehra by Dawn. Dawn reported that Aslam, 35, was from Talobarq in the Roundu Valley of Skardu district, and that Hania, 30, was originally from Parachinar. Dunya News gave the children’s ages as five and two and a half; the police figures cited by the other outlets are used here.

The killings. The family was killed inside their home in Madina Colony on the night of Thursday, Oct. 29, Dawn reported, citing the initial investigation. DIG Baltistan Arif Mohmand told reporters that all four were killed with a sharp-edged weapon, which police recovered on Friday morning. Police said the attackers entered the house.

A marriage against her family’s wishes. The couple married in Karachi, about six years ago according to ARY and The Nation, or about seven years ago in a court marriage according to Dunya News, and later moved to Skardu. From the start, police said they suspected so-called honour as a motive. Dawn reported that the family had no known enmity with anyone, but police suspected the woman’s relatives. A case was registered on the complaint of Khadim Hussain, Aslam’s brother. The First Information Report (FIR) names the woman’s father, her brothers and an uncle as suspects; The Nation and ARY described that uncle as maternal, while ARY also called Rajab the paternal uncle, a discrepancy the Ledger cannot resolve. The complainant told police that Aslam had previously received serious threats over the marriage.

Police and government. DIG Gilgit-Baltistan Asif Mehmood said all aspects were being investigated, including a link to the couple’s marriage, and that all available resources would be used to arrest those involved. The Gilgit-Baltistan inspector general of police ordered the regional police officer to establish the motive and ensure arrests, and the region’s chief minister called the killings an extremely tragic and unbearable incident and sought a detailed report, Dawn reported. Police set up checkpoints at Skardu’s entry and exit points after the killings. Dialogue Pakistan reported that police had earlier registered a murder case and arrested 10 people; it was not clear how many of them remain in custody.

Protests. Relatives of the dead staged a sit-in that blocked a road in Skardu’s Gamaba area to demand arrests, Dawn reported, and the killings set off wider protests in the town, with residents demanding justice for the family.

Sources

• Skardu: Main suspect in murder of couple, two children arrested, ARY News, Nov. 2, 2026
• Main suspect arrested in killing of four family members in Skardu, The Nation, Nov. 2, 2026
• Man accused of killing family of four in Skardu arrested with accomplice, Dialogue Pakistan, Nov. 2, 2026
• Four of a family found dead in Skardu home, Dawn, Oct. 31, 2026
• Couple, two children killed in suspected honour killing in Skardu, Dunya News, Oct. 29, 2026

Telok Blangah, Singapore: Gabriel Foong Shi Cheng, Charged With Murdering Tham Nam Poh, 73, Taken Back to Void Deck

Location: Block 57, Telok Blangah Heights, Singapore; police first called to Block 61, Oct. 5, 2026

Legal status: Gabriel Foong Shi Cheng charged with murder Oct. 7; remanded for psychiatric evaluation; next court date Nov. 4; presumed innocent

The scene revisit. Gabriel Foong Shi Cheng, 32, who is charged with murdering 73-year-old Tham Nam Poh at a Telok Blangah housing block, was taken back to the alleged crime scene on Monday morning, Nov. 2, AsiaOne and Mothership reported. Foong arrived at about 9:15 a.m., escorted by six police investigators, wearing a red polo shirt, navy shorts and transparent slippers, with restraints on his wrists and ankles. Police had cordoned off the area around the block beforehand.

What happened there. Investigators walked him along the first-floor void deck, stopping at spots marked with evidence markers, while he recounted the events of that day, AsiaOne reported. He was seen pointing at the ground and speaking to the officers, who took notes as crime scene specialists photographed the area. AsiaOne said he kept his head up and appeared sombre; Mothership described him as expressionless. AsiaOne put the visit at about 10 minutes and Mothership at around 15, after which he was driven away in a police vehicle.

The charge. Foong was charged on Oct. 7, by video link from Central Police Division, with one count of murder for causing Tham’s death at about 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 5, at the void deck of Block 57, Telok Blangah Heights, The Straits Times reported. He is represented by Josephus Tan, Cory Wong and Devlin Mohyong of Invictus Law. The court ordered him remanded at the Changi Prison Complex Medical Centre for an evaluation by the Institute of Mental Health, and listed his case for mention again on Oct. 28. In Singapore, murder carries the death penalty on conviction. He is presumed innocent.

The attack. Police said they received multiple calls for help near Block 61 at about 6 p.m. on Oct. 5, and found Tham lying motionless on the ground floor and a 53-year-old man injured nearby. Both were taken to hospital, where Tham, the older man, later died; police at first identified the two only by age and ethnicity, and Tham was named in the charge sheet two days later. A doctor from a nearby general practice clinic who attended to Tham told Mothership he had injuries to his neck and chest; the 53-year-old, who has not been named, had a wound to his left shoulder and was conscious when taken to hospital. Eyewitnesses told Mothership the two injured men ran from the direction of Block 56 toward the coffee shop at Block 61, where help was sought from the clinic doctor.

Surrender. In that Oct. 5 news release, police said a 32-year-old Chinese man subsequently called them to surrender and was arrested near the scene. He is believed to have acted alone, and police said there was “currently no evidence to suggest that it is a religiously motivated attack or an act of terror.”

What comes next. Foong is due back in court on Wednesday, Nov. 4. No motive has been disclosed, and no relationship between Foong and either man has been reported by police. The outcome of the psychiatric evaluation ordered at his first appearance has not been made public. Police said in their first statement on Oct. 5 that investigations were ongoing.

Sources

• Telok Blangah murder: Man charged with killing 73-year-old taken back to crime scene, AsiaOne, Nov. 2, 2026
• Telok Blangah Heights murder: Man, 32, accused of stabbing man, 73, to death brought back to crime scene, Mothership, Nov. 2, 2026
• Telok Blangah incident: Man charged with murder of 73-year-old, The Straits Times, Oct. 7, 2026