The Crime Ledger: October 2, 2026

Santiago: First Guilty Verdict in Ronald Ojeda Kidnap-Killing

Chile has its first conviction in the killing of Ronald Ojeda. On Thursday, Santiago’s Second Oral Criminal Trial Court found Venezuelan national Maickel David Villegas Rodríguez guilty as one of the perpetrators of the kidnapping with homicide of the former Venezuelan army lieutenant, the South Metropolitan Regional Prosecutor’s Office said. Ojeda, a political refugee and opponent of the Venezuelan government, was kidnapped in February 2024. NTN24 reports that men posing as police officers took him from his apartment in Independencia.

Prosecutors say Villegas carried out surveillance and helped secure the operation run by the “Piratas de Aragua” group, which is linked to the Tren de Aragua gang. He fled Chile and was extradited from Costa Rica. Prosecutors are asking for 20 years, and the sentence will be read on Oct. 15.

NTN24 reports that this trial did not establish that the killing was ordered by the Venezuelan government. Regional prosecutor Héctor Barros said that remains a line of investigation. A second trial, of 18 defendants, is set to open on Oct. 20. Villegas retains appeal rights.

Dallas: Amber Guyger Granted Parole in Botham Jean Murder

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole on Thursday to Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering her neighbor Botham Jean, 26, inside his own apartment in 2018. She was sentenced to 10 years in 2019. Her first bid for parole was rejected in 2024.

A board spokesperson said her record showed no documented pattern of violence and a “satisfactory institutional adjustment,” and that she had completed a treatment plan, The Dallas Morning News reports. The paper says it wasn’t clear when she would be released, a process that can take weeks to months.

Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Jean’s family, said: “We are deeply disappointed by the decision to grant parole to Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering Botham Jean.” Dallas police said parole decisions are outside the department’s authority. NBC DFW reports that Guyger’s attempts to appeal and overturn her conviction were denied.

Belfast: Murder Conviction Quashed for Woman Who Killed Abusive Partner

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal on Friday overturned Julie Ann McIlwaine’s conviction for murdering her partner. The judges ruled that the jury had been misdirected on her loss-of-control defence. McIlwaine, 35, had been serving a minimum term of 12 years, and she wept on the video link from Hydebank as the ruling was read.

She admitted killing James Joseph Crossley, 38, as he slept at her former home in Dunmurry in March 2022, but she denied murder. At the time, Crossley was on bail for an alleged assault on her and was under a restraining order barring any contact with her. The trial judge had asked jurors whether someone like her “would” have reacted the same way. The appeal court held that the correct test was “might.”

“The misdirection we have identified was highly material, given the uncontradicted expert evidence,” the Lady Chief Justice said. The case was adjourned to Oct. 16, and prosecutors must tell the court then what steps they want to take.

New Delhi: Court Halts Hanging of Ahmedabad Blasts Convict

India’s Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of Ahmed Bawa, alias Abbu Abubakar Barelvi, one of 38 people sentenced to death over the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts. Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Augustine George Masih issued notice to the Gujarat government on his challenge to the July 2026 Gujarat High Court judgment that upheld his conviction and death sentence.

The blasts on July 26, 2008, killed 56 people and injured more than 200, LiveLaw reports. A special court convicted 49 people in February 2022, sentenced 38 to death and 11 to life, and acquitted 28. The Times of India describes Bawa as an operative of the Indian Mujahideen. He remains under a sentence of death, the execution is stayed while his appeal is heard, and he retains appeal rights.

Alderney: Man Charged With Murder of Wife Found Below Cliffs

Guernsey Police have charged Simon Benfield, 44, an Alderney resident, with the murder of his wife, Hannah Benfield, née Cox. He appeared at Guernsey Magistrates’ Court on Friday and was remanded in custody until his next appearance on Oct. 28, the BBC reports. No plea has been reported.

The inquiry began early on Monday, Sept. 28, after a search and rescue operation near the cliffs known locally as The Guns. Hannah Benfield, 34, was found dead in the sea at the base of cliffs in the west of the island. Her family, who run the Alderney Farm Shop, thanked islanders for their support during an “unimaginably painful week.”

Police officers will stay on the island over the coming days. Benfield is presumed innocent.

Thane: Two More Arrested in Shiv Sena (UBT) Leader’s Killing

A Thane police special investigation team on Thursday arrested Nikhil Yadav and Nitesh Pawar near Raigad, on the Mumbai-Goa highway. That brings the arrests to three in the killing of Pradeep Purnekar, a Shiv Sena (UBT) office-bearer who was shot and stabbed in his office in the Manpada area on Tuesday night, Sept. 29.

The Indian Express reports that two more accused are still at large. An SIT officer refused to say which suspect fired and which one used the knife until the others are caught. Police Commissioner Ashutosh Dumbare said the SIT is led by Deputy Commissioner Amarsinh Jadhav. All of the accused are presumed innocent.

Sheffield: Mother Among Four in Court Over Newborn’s Murder

Four adults charged with murdering a newborn girl appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday. They are the baby’s mother, Andrea Skopova, 20, along with Peter Horvath, 19, Peter Horvath, 38, and Nina Horvathova, 37. All four are Slovak nationals. No pleas were entered, and Judge Jeremy Richardson remanded them in custody until a further hearing on Dec. 14.

The four are also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child, and with perverting the course of justice by cleaning the scene of the alleged crime. A 15-year-old girl, who can’t be named, is charged with perverting the course of justice and was remanded into youth custody. The baby was found at a house in Holywell Heights, in Wincobank, on Aug. 30, the day she was born. An inquest opened on Thursday and was adjourned until March 25. All five defendants are presumed innocent.

Rome: Five Inmates Arrested Over Cellmate’s Beating Death at Rebibbia

Five inmates at Rome’s Rebibbia prison were arrested at dawn on Friday over the death of a fellow prisoner, RAI reports. The custody order was carried out by the Central Investigative Unit of the Penitentiary Police and coordinated by the Rome prosecutor’s office. The allegation includes the aggravating circumstance of futile motives.

Investigators say the five organized a punitive attack in June 2025 and beat the man repeatedly as he lay in bed. RAI identifies him as Francesco Valeriano, 45, from Fondi, who was serving a sentence of two and a half years. He suffered severe head trauma and died after about six months in a coma. The five are presumed innocent.

Dublin, Calif.: Couple Delay Pleas in Son-in-Law’s Killing

The pleas will have to wait. This case continues from The Crime Ledger: October 1, 2026. Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang, both 77, appeared briefly in court on Thursday and asked for more time before entering formal pleas, AP reports. They are charged with murder in the shooting of their son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey, 40, in the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds on Saturday.

Curtis Briggs, a court-appointed attorney assigned to Chen on Thursday, said she plans to plead not guilty and will focus her defense on abuse allegedly committed by McKinsey. “Court documents show Mr. McKinsey was extremely violent and dangerous to his family,” he said. Public defender Jennie Otis asked for Zhang to be medically evaluated, without saying why.

Prosecutors allege that the couple lay in wait and that both of them fired. Patch reports that, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, “If convicted as charged, Zhang and Chen face life in prison without the possibility of parole.” AP reports that McKinsey had pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor child-abuse charges. No date for the pleas has been reported. Both are presumed innocent.

Osnabrück: Life Sentence for Triplets’ Father Who Killed His Wife

On Friday, the Osnabrück Regional Court sentenced a 46-year-old man from Wallenhorst to life in prison for murdering his wife, NDR reports. He had admitted the killing. The court found the murder element of treachery, ruling that the attack took her by surprise.

The court said she had accused him of being an incapable father, and he then stabbed her at least 10 times. She was 39 and the mother of primary-school-age triplets who need care. She died on Feb. 12. His defence had argued for manslaughter and no more than eight years. German media don’t name him. He retains appeal rights.

Nairobi: Cohen Trial Hears of Five Unknown DNA Profiles

The forensic evidence in Tob Cohen’s murder trial now points to five unidentified men. Former Government Analyst John Mungai told the High Court that tests produced DNA profiles of five unknown men from items collected at the Dutch businessman’s Kitisuru home and from his vehicles, including pillows, a steering wheel, a metal door and a white towel, The Standard reports.

Sarah Wairimu Kamotho is on trial, charged with murdering her husband, before Justice Diana Kavedza. This week a musician, Haston Kombe, testified that Cohen sang “Love Gone Sour” with his band at Plums Hotel on July 19, 2019, shortly before he disappeared. Wairimu is presumed innocent.

Queens, N.Y.: Murder Charge in Unprovoked J Train Stabbing

Jyrell Thomas, 25, of the Bronx, is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in Wednesday’s fatal stabbing of Mesias Lojano, 59, on a northbound J train, police said. Lojano was found unresponsive at the Woodhaven Boulevard station and was pronounced dead in hospital. CBS New York reports he was a married father of six.

Police first spoke of a verbal dispute. They now say the attack was unprovoked and that the two men had no prior interaction. Bystanders chased the suspect onto a rooftop, where officers took him into custody. ABC7 reports he was taken to Jamaica Hospital on Thursday for a psychiatric evaluation. Thomas is presumed innocent.

Duque de Caxias: Suspect Held in Killing of Firefighter, Boyfriend

Rio de Janeiro civil police arrested Elias Araujo Lourenço on Wednesday on a temporary arrest warrant, finding him as a patient at the Adão Pereira Nunes municipal hospital. He’s suspected of involvement in the shooting deaths of military firefighter Pedro Ernesto dos Anjos Rodrigues, 24, and his boyfriend, medical student Pedro Henrique Araújo Machado, 26.

The two men were shot on the night of Sept. 23 on Rua João Raimundo, in the Pantanal neighborhood. Police are keeping the motive and how the crime unfolded under seal, and they’re still looking for others. He is being held on a temporary arrest order and is presumed innocent.

Córdoba: Court Orders Detention for Husband in Wife’s Car-Fire Death

Gerardo Gasparutti, 43, a nutritionist and university program director, is detained and charged with aggravated homicide based on the relationship (homicidio calificado por el vínculo) in the death of his wife, academic María Lucila Pagani, 47. A Córdoba court ordered preventive detention on Sept. 29 after Prosecutor Liliana Copello sought the measure, citing risks such as flight, Clarín reports.

The car Gasparutti was driving caught fire on Route E-53 on June 14. Pagani was badly burned and died three days later. He had said her phone exploded while charging. Clarín reports that the fire department’s report found no explosion and detected traces of sprayed gasoline. His defence calls the accusation “absurd,” Página 12 reports. He is presumed innocent.

Plymouth, Mass.: Judge Refuses to Acquit Lindsay Clancy

The murder charges against Lindsay Clancy still stand. On Thursday, Judge William Sullivan denied a defense motion to find her not guilty of killing her three children in 2023. He wrote: “There was evidence introduced, both physical and circumstantial, that would permit a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of the charge of murder.”

Her first trial ended in a mistrial in September. The Guardian reports that the jury split 11-1 in favor of acquitting her of the murder charges. Her defense argues that Clancy, 36, a former labor and delivery nurse, is not criminally responsible because of postpartum psychosis. She is presumed innocent.

L’Aigle: Inmate Charged With Murder After Dismembered Body Found

A 44-year-old man who was already in prison in Le Mans was charged on Thursday with “murder and violation of the integrity of a corpse,” the Caen prosecutor’s office said. The body of a man was found in September in an empty house near a pond in L’Aigle, in Normandy’s Orne department. Paris-Normandie identifies the victim as Yannick Liger, 41.

“The victim is believed to have died by strangulation, after an altercation over hurtful words that are said to have been exchanged,” Caen prosecutor Joël Garrigue said. The suspect is presumed innocent.

Paris: Co-Defendant Appeals 19-Year Term in Aramburú Killing

Romain Bouvier, 35, has appealed against the 19-year sentence the Paris assize court gave him on Sept. 25, his lawyer said on Friday. Bouvier was convicted of attempted murder of former Argentine rugby international Federico Martín Aramburú and of unauthorized possession of weapons. He’ll be retried before the Paris appeals assize court.

His co-defendant, Loïk Le Priol, was convicted of Aramburú’s murder and sentenced to 26 years. L’Indépendant reports that he hasn’t yet decided whether to appeal. Aramburú, a former Biarritz player, was shot dead in Paris on March 19, 2022, after an altercation at a Saint-Germain-des-Prés brasserie. Bouvier’s conviction is not final while his appeal is pending, and Le Priol retains appeal rights.

Ipoh: Woman Charged With Mother’s Murder Sent for Psychiatric Assessment

Chew Loong Thye, 49, was charged on Friday in the Ipoh magistrates’ court with murdering her 70-year-old mother at a house in Taman Wang, Menglembu, between 7.15 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. on Sept. 27. The charge was read to her in Cantonese. No plea was recorded because murder falls under the High Court’s jurisdiction.

Magistrate Norizan Riduan ordered a psychiatric assessment under Section 342(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code to decide whether she is fit for trial, Bernama reports. The prosecution told the court that the pathology and toxicology reports are still pending and that no bail was offered. Chew is presumed innocent.

Bournemouth: Murder Charge Added Over Woman Found Dead in July

Dorset Police have charged Richard Sean Ball, 56, of Bournemouth, with the murder of Mackala Higgins, 51. He had already been charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body, and the Crown Prosecution Service has now authorised the murder charge. Police were called to an address in Paddington Grove at 2.25 a.m. on July 1, after a report that a woman’s body had been found.

Ball appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Friday and did not enter a plea. He is due at Bournemouth Crown Court for a pre-trial review on Nov. 27, the Bournemouth Echo reports. A woman in her 30s, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, remains released under investigation. Ball is presumed innocent.

London, Ont.: Quebec Man, 21, Charged in Downtown Shooting Death

Aziz Soumahoro, 21, of Laval, Que., is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Robert Rico Rivard, 48, of London, near Central Avenue and Richmond Street. He also faces firearms charges and a count of breaching a release condition that bars him from having weapons.

“The victim and the accused were known to each other,” London police spokesperson Sgt. Sandasha Bough said Thursday. Soumahoro appeared in court on Wednesday and was remanded in custody until Oct. 7, The London Free Press reports. He is presumed innocent.

Eskişehir: Father Arrested 14 Years After Toddler’s Death

A reopened investigation in Turkey has led to an arrest. A 2½-year-old boy disappeared on May 8, 2012, in the rural Doğançayır neighborhood of Seyitgazi district, and his buried body was found on Sept. 20, 2012. Gendarmerie JASAT teams, working under the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, reopened the file.

His father, identified only by the initials A.B., was taken into custody, referred to court and formally arrested, Turkish outlets report. Investigators found that the family had left their workers’ tents for another area around the time of the disappearance. He is presumed innocent.

Bareilly: Police Say Son Killed Mother to Frame Rivals

Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district say a trader killed his 60-year-old mother in her sleep to pin the crime on his rivals, The Indian Express reports. “We found Mahendra Singh’s involvement in the case and arrested him on Thursday,” said Inspector Sanjay Dheer, who leads the special investigation team.

Police say the arrest clears five people who were first named in the case. They say polygraph tests and the postmortem report were key, and that Singh, 35, confessed when confronted with the evidence. Police link the case to a long-running family dispute over a ration shop. Singh is presumed innocent.

Boksburg: Bail Bid in Killing of Ninth Ekurhuleni Woman

Tsakane Msithini and Fortunate Masilela, charged with premeditated murder and with defeating or obstructing the course of justice, are applying for bail in the Boksburg Magistrates’ Court. They are accused of killing Jabulile Ntimba, whose body was found in Villa Liza, near Dawn Park, on Sept. 17. IOL reports that she was the ninth woman found murdered in Ekurhuleni since July, and that a third suspect was released for lack of evidence. The Citizen reports that the bail hearing was postponed to Oct. 12.

Testifying on Oct. 1, Sgt. Prince Mbonambi said the first accused had allegedly confessed, and that both women told police they had visited a traditional healer to be cleansed of what they believed were dark spirits and bad luck, Daily Sun reports. IOL reports that the two “will have to convince the court that exceptional circumstances exist before they can be granted bail, according to the Criminal Procedure Act.” Both are presumed innocent.