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The Crime Ledger: October 28, 2026

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Naples leads the board, where two men were arrested 17 years after the Sanità café killing of Mariano Bacioterracino, whose CCTV video went around the world. In the United States, a Manhattan grand jury indicted retired NYPD detective Victor Romero on a murder charge in the George Washington Bridge road-rage killing of Koran Irvine, a rabbi was charged with murder in Camarillo, California, after a line painter was struck at a new Costco, an unsealed affidavit in Orlando laid out the police theory of Michelle Parker’s 2011 death, a jury in Walland, Tennessee, convicted Johnny Ray Wilburn of killing three members of the Farley family, and Emonnie Branch pleaded not guilty in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to a capital murder charge in the killing of Trooper Hayden Phillips. Canada adds a verdict in Calgary, a life sentence in Oshawa and a jail-cell murder charge in Roberval. Latin America, Africa and the Middle East bring a hanging in Karaj, Iran, a body count that has reached 20 in Greater São Paulo, a Guatemala City judge jailing seven police officers accused of planting a rifle, two killings in Tayibe and Arraba as Israel voted, not guilty pleas from five people charged with murdering lawyer Kyalo Mbobu in Karen, Kenya, and a 202-year sentence in Coacalco, Mexico. In Europe, a Southampton jury convicted Marcin Buryta of a murder with a part 3D-printed Glock, Rome sentenced Mark Antony Samson to life for killing Ilaria Sula, Amine Kessaci testified in France at the trial over his brother’s killing, and arrests followed killings in Peja, Milan and Monza. Asia and Oceania close it out with the detention in Taiwan of a husband over his wife’s stabbing at a lakeside hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Japan, Greg Lynn refused bail in Victoria, the Abby Choi murder jury in Hong Kong and arrests from Lucknow and Rawalpindi to Madiun and Bang Pa-in.

This Ledger covers 121 cases from 48 countries with new developments since the evening of Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, from verdicts, sentences and appeal rulings to charges, arrests and cold-case breaks. Anyone charged but not convicted is presumed innocent.

Times are Eastern (ET) unless stated. Allegations come from prosecutors, police and court records as reported and are unproven unless a court has ruled.

The Lead Case

Naples, Italy: Two Arrested 17 Years After the Sanità Café Killing of Mariano Bacioterracino, Whose CCTV Video Went Around the World

Evening view down a street in the Rione Sanità from the Sanità bridge
The Rione Sanità in Naples, seen from the Sanità bridge. Photo: Alexandre / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Rione Sanità, Vergini area, central Naples, Campania, Italy

Legal status: Oscar Pecorelli, 47, and Ciro Culiersi, 39, are in custody in prison under an order from a Naples preliminary investigations judge (gip), issued at the request of the Naples anti-mafia directorate (Dda). Both are accused of aggravated murder with the mafia method. They have not been tried and are presumed innocent. The gunman has never been identified in a final ruling.

The 2009 killing. Mariano Bacioterracino, 53, a man with a past as a robber, according to Fanpage, was shot dead in May 2009 at the Antica Caffetteria in the Vergini area of the Sanità district. La Repubblica, Tgcom24 and the Dire agency give the date as 11 May 2009; Il Mattino and Il Roma give 12 May. Surveillance cameras recorded the attack. La Repubblica described the gunman, armed with a pistol and his face covered by a cap, firing and then finishing the victim with a shot as he lay wounded on the ground. Dire said the gunman fired several shots to the head and lungs before fleeing.

The video. The footage became one of the best known pieces of evidence in Italian crime reporting. Unable to identify or trace the gunman, Naples prosecutors decided to make the video public in the hope that someone would put a name to the man in the cap, Fanpage and Il Mattino reported. Tgcom24 said the film, released to the media some months after the killing, quickly went around Italy and the world.

The man who was acquitted. Costanzo Apice, named by collaborating witnesses as the gunman, was arrested in November 2009 and sentenced to life in prison at first instance and on appeal, Fanpage reported. The Court of Cassation then acquitted him. His lawyers, Claudio Davino and Michele Caiafa, argued that the images, the main evidence against him, did not allow him to be recognised beyond reasonable doubt, and that the man in the video, though similar, differed in height and stride. Il Mattino and Il Roma said the court found no sufficient anthropometric match between the figure in the film and Apice.

The arrests. On Tuesday 27 October 2026, carabinieri of the Napoli Vomero company executed the custody order. According to the Dda, Pecorelli, a boss already held under the strict 41 bis prison regime, devised and organised the killing, handling its preparation and the links between those involved. Il Mattino and Il Roma reported that he was already detained in Milan. Culiersi is accused of driving the scooter that brought the gunman to the scene. Tgcom24 and Fanpage reported that he had walked free from San Gimignano prison on 16 October, after finishing a previous sentence, only eleven days before his arrest. Both are considered linked to the Lo Russo clan, according to La Repubblica and Fanpage. Prosecutors allege they acted with a third suspect, since deceased, and with other people not yet identified. The investigation was led by Dda prosecutor Maria Sepe.

The witness. The case was reopened on the strength of statements from several collaborating witnesses, including what Dire called the decisive account of a criminal figure who began cooperating with the judiciary in February 2026.

The alleged motive. Investigators believe the killing was revenge. Bacioterracino had been tried over the killing of Gennaro Moccia, head of a Camorra group in Afragola, and acquitted along with the other defendants, Fanpage reported. Fanpage dates the Moccia killing to 3 May 1978, while La Repubblica gives 1976. According to the prosecution, the 2009 killing relied on logistical and operational support from the Camorra in the Sanità district, at the time under the strong influence of the Lo Russo clan, known as the “Capitoni”. La Repubblica said investigators also see a role for the Sacco-Bocchetti clan. The motive and the roles alleged will have to be tested in court.

Sources

United States and Canada

New York City: Grand Jury Indicts Retired NYPD Detective Victor Romero on Murder Charge in George Washington Bridge Road-Rage Killing of Con Edison Worker Koran Irvine

Steel tower and roadway of the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River on a clear day
The George Washington Bridge, seen from New Jersey. Photo: John O’Connell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: George Washington Bridge, Manhattan, New York; case in Manhattan Criminal Court

Legal status: Victor Romero, 62, was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, on a charge of second-degree murder, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said. He previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He is free on $1 million bail and is due to be arraigned on the indictment on November 23. He is presumed innocent.

The shooting. Koran Irvine, 46, a Con Edison worker and married father of two, was driving home from work on Tuesday, October 20, when he was shot on the George Washington Bridge. According to a police affidavit cited by ABC News, Irvine and Romero’s vehicle nearly collided as both merged into the same lane on the Manhattan side of the bridge. Security video showed a black Range Rover, belonging to a company Romero works for as a chauffeur, speeding up and tailgating Irvine’s Volkswagen Golf before a single shot went through the car’s rear window and struck Irvine in the back of his right shoulder, the affidavit says. Irvine’s car crashed into the center median and the Range Rover sped away.

At a court appearance last week, Assistant District Attorney Matt Sears said the near collision happened near the entrance to the bridge at around 7 p.m., that Romero fired from the driver’s seat several minutes later, and that he then kept driving into New Jersey, Gothamist reported. Fox 5 New York reported that both men lived in Rockland County.

The arrest. Investigators used the video to identify the Range Rover’s owner and found Romero at his workplace the day after the shooting, according to the affidavit. He surrendered a loaded revolver that he told officers he always carries and was arrested after questioning at the 33rd Precinct in Manhattan, ABC News reported. Fox 5 described a manhunt of nearly 24 hours. Fox 5, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Romero was a narcotics detective in Brooklyn until he retired in 2001.

The charge, down and back up. Romero was first arrested on a murder charge. Prosecutors then reduced it to first-degree manslaughter, and he pleaded not guilty to that count. The downgrade angered Irvine’s family, co-workers and union. CBS New York reported that Frank Morales, president of Irvine’s union, wrote to District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday urging a second-degree murder charge. Romero posted bail on Friday, according to Gothamist.

On Tuesday, Romero appeared for a brief hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court, where a prosecutor told the judge that a grand jury was hearing evidence. Dozens of Irvine’s co-workers lined up outside as Romero walked in alongside his own security, and four rows of colleagues and friends sat inside, CBS reported. Fox 5 said co-workers shouted at him as he left. Police found Irvine behind the wheel of a blue Volkswagen with what proved to be a fatal gunshot wound to his shoulder, Fox 5 reported, and the shooting shut down the bridge. That afternoon the district attorney’s office announced the murder indictment, saying it followed “an extensive ongoing investigation.” Prosecutors said his bail status did not immediately change, Gothamist reported.

What the family said. Irvine’s widow, Patricia Irvine, told WABC on Monday she could not understand how Romero was allowed home on bail, ABC News reported. Keith White, a lawyer for the family, told CBS they would push for his bail to be revoked. Nick Liakas, also identified as the family’s lawyer, told Gothamist the indictment was “an important step toward accountability,” adding that the family “deserves a prosecution that reflects the gravity of this tragedy.” At a rally on Tuesday afternoon, Irvine’s aunt, Gail Forde, said, “We are crying for the justice of Koran Irvine,” CBS reported. Romero’s lawyer, who called him a “hero police officer” with a “sterling record” last week, did not comment on the new charge.

Sources

Camarillo, California: Rabbi Charged With Murder, Accused of Deliberately Driving Into Worker Painting Lines at New Costco

Aerial view of Camarillo and the Oxnard Plain in Ventura County, with brown hills, farm fields, housing tracts and the Pacific Ocean in the distance
Camarillo and the Oxnard Plain from the air, Ventura County, California. Photo: Alfred Twu / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: Costco parking lot, 400 block of West Ventura Boulevard, Camarillo, Ventura County, California, United States

Legal status: Abba Avrohom Bryski, 35, of Agoura Hills, is charged with murder, with a special allegation that he personally used a deadly weapon, and with resisting, delaying or obstructing a peace officer, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced on Monday, October 26, 2026. He appeared in court that day, and his arraignment was continued to November 18 at 1:30 p.m. in Ventura County Superior Court. He remains in custody without bail. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

What prosecutors allege. At about 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20, Bryski drove his Infiniti Q60 coupe at Nicholas Lang and intentionally hit him, according to the district attorney’s office. Lang, 28, of Modesto, was painting stripes on the pavement of the Costco parking lot in Camarillo when he was struck, prosecutors said. He was taken to Ventura County Medical Center, where he died. The criminal complaint lists the 2017 Infiniti as the deadly and dangerous weapon in the special allegation, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The district attorney. District Attorney Erik Nasarenko called it a devastating and senseless loss of life. In the office’s statement, he said Lang was at work painting lines on a new parking lot when his life was cut short by someone whose alleged actions showed a shocking disregard for human life, and that his office would pursue justice for Lang and his loved ones. Senior Deputy District Attorney David Russell of the office’s Homicide Unit is prosecuting.

The scene. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to the parking lot after learning a man had been hit by a car, CBS Los Angeles reported. The warehouse store was still under construction ahead of its opening, according to CBS; the Los Angeles Times said the store’s planned opening date was October 30 and that its 32 pump gas station had been operating since May, with the collision happening near the gas pumps. Witnesses pointed deputies to Bryski, who was detained at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. Jail records show he was arrested at 8:40 p.m. that Tuesday and booked shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Times.

The accused. Jail records list Bryski’s occupation as “Educator/Rabbi,” the Los Angeles Times and CBS Los Angeles reported; no place of work was listed. Prosecutors have not said what led to the collision, KABC reported. His attorney could not be reached for comment by the Times, and representatives of Costco could not immediately be reached either, the paper said. As of Friday, October 23, the Ventura County medical examiner’s office was unable to provide details about Lang’s cause and manner of death, the Times reported.

The investigation. The sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau is investigating the death as a homicide. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Erik Hernandez at 805-384-4729 or Detective Gerardo Cruz at 805-384-4726.

The sheriff’s account. According to a posting on the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office website, the sheriff’s communications center received a call at about 8:37 p.m. on October 20 reporting that a man had been struck by a vehicle in the Costco parking lot near the gas pumps. Witnesses directed arriving deputies to the driver of the vehicle, who was detained and identified as Bryski, the office said. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and Bryski was later arrested and booked into the Ventura County Jail on one count of murder. The district attorney’s release lists the court case number as 26CF102767 and says the continued arraignment will take place in Courtroom 13 of Ventura County Superior Court.

Sources

Orlando, Florida: Unsealed Affidavit Lays Out Police Theory That Michelle Parker Was Choked to Death in 2011

The Orange County Courthouse tower in downtown Orlando, Florida
The Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, where a judge ordered the Smith arrest affidavit released. Photo: christian bueno / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Orlando, Orange County, Florida, United States

Legal status: Dale Smith Jr., also identified in court records as Dale Smith II, is charged with second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. Michelle Parker’s body has never been found.

Fifteen years after Michelle Parker vanished, the public can finally read the case Orlando police built against the man they say killed her. A 46-page arrest affidavit for her former fiancé, Dale Smith Jr., was released on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 27, after an Orange County judge ordered it unsealed at a hearing the day before. Police and state prosecutors had fought to keep it sealed, FOX 35 Orlando reported, citing the ongoing investigation and possible effects on a future jury pool. WKMG News 6 said it had fought to have the document opened.

Parker, a 33-year-old Orlando mother, disappeared on Nov. 17, 2011. That was the same day a nationally broadcast episode of “The People’s Court” aired showing her and Smith fighting over an engagement ring. Smith had sued her for $5,000, claiming the ring was thrown from a hotel balcony after a breakup, according to FOX 35. The couple shared twins. Parker’s car turned up the next day. She never did.

The theory. Detectives now allege that Smith killed Parker inside his home after she arrived to drop off the children. The affidavit, as quoted by FOX 35, says “it is believed the suspect choked the victim to death,” and ties that theory to days of hostile texting, the airing of the television episode and Parker’s threat to restrict his access to the children. WFTV stressed that this is the investigators’ account, not a finding of guilt, and noted that the affidavit itself concedes a search of Smith’s home on Nov. 18, 2011, found nothing directly linking him to her disappearance.

The phones. The heart of the document is cellular data that was collected in 2011 but, according to the affidavit, was likely unreadable to detectives at the time. A police homicide analyst who went back through the records this year found more precise location and messaging information, WFTV reported. CBS News, summarizing the affidavit, said Parker’s phone entered the cell coverage nearest Smith’s home around 3:15 p.m., 45 minutes before the time Smith gave police, and stayed about an hour. Neighbors’ video showed her vehicle at his home for at least an hour and 10 minutes after he said she left.

At 4:26 p.m., in reply to her brother asking where she was, Parker’s phone answered with a single word: “Waterford.” Her family took that to mean the Waterford Lakes shopping area. Detectives say the phone was actually pinging a tower near Hoffner Boulevard, about 11 miles west, and never traveled near the shopping center. Investigators allege Smith likely sent that reply; WFTV pointed out that the affidavit does not rest that claim on any admission from him.

The affidavit says the two phones then moved together toward Nela Avenue at Lake Conway. Parker’s phone was later recovered from the lake there. CBS News reported that Smith’s phone went unused from 4:45 to 9:45 p.m. that night, that he went on to his parents’ house, and that he was home again shortly after 10 p.m. Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 17, 2011, the pair exchanged 1,013 text messages. After Nov. 17, Smith never contacted her phone again.

Scratches no one asked about. Photos taken after Smith’s police interview on Nov. 18, 2011, show scratches near his mouth and lower lip, on his left wrist and forearm, and abrasions on both elbows. Detectives now describe them as defensive wounds. There is no record that anyone asked him how he got them, according to the affidavit. WKMG reported that photos of Parker’s vehicle show dark mud on the tires and inside the car, a detail her family says they were shown only recently and that would not normally have been there.

The affidavit also recounts a 2001 military domestic violence conviction against Smith’s first wife and allegations from a later former fiancée that he choked her and threatened to make her and her father disappear. A friend of Parker’s told police in 2026 that she had seen bruises on Parker’s arms, neck and cheek. None of those allegations has been tested in this case.

Smith was arrested on Oct. 14. He has consistently denied involvement and has entered a not guilty plea.

Sources

DeBary, Florida: Husband Charged With First-Degree Murder in 2024 Disappearance of Maria Gaminde, Body Not Found

DeBary Hall, a white two-storey historic mansion with wraparound porches and palm trees, in DeBary, Florida
DeBary Hall, DeBary, Florida. Photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: DeBary, Volusia County, Florida; investigation also carried out in the Philippines and Japan

Legal status: Epifanio IX Ramos Gaminde, of DeBary, was indicted by a Volusia County grand jury on Monday, October 26, 2026, and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Maria Gaminde. His arrest was announced on Tuesday, October 27. He is held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail and on an immigration detainer. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The announcement. Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood announced the arrest at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, joined by State Attorney R.J. Larizza and FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal. While they spoke, detectives were executing a search warrant at Gaminde’s home, the Seventh Circuit State Attorney’s Office said in a release. “What mother of a five-year-old or 11-year-old just disappears?” Chitwood asked, according to WKMG News 6.

The disappearance. Maria Gaminde’s family reported her missing after having no contact with her since January 2024, the sheriff’s office said, according to FOX 35. WKMG described her as a teacher at University High School. Her husband told people she had left their home voluntarily and moved overseas, to the Philippines or Japan. The State Attorney’s Office alleges that he killed her in late December 2023 and then tried to cover up her disappearance by making it appear she had moved abroad and was still alive.

The messages. Over the following months, the family received sporadic text messages and emails, and there were credit card purchases overseas, WKMG reported. Investigators said the texts family members received from Maria did not seem authentic, FOX 35 reported. Detectives found no flight records showing that she had ever left the United States, according to WKMG.

The investigation abroad. The sheriff’s office coordinated with federal agencies and with organizations in Japan and the Philippines, and Volusia investigators and members of the State Attorney’s Office traveled to the Philippines to collect evidence, FOX 35 reported. Chitwood said detectives interviewed Gaminde’s niece there, who admitted to making the purchases and communications intended to make Maria appear alive, all at the defendant’s direction, WKMG reported. Investigators said they found evidence of a deliberate effort to make it look as though Maria was alive and well. Chitwood told WESH that the niece kept Maria’s bank accounts active and that her credit cards and driver’s license were sent to the niece, with instructions on “where to go to Japan and shop, where to go to the Philippines and shop.” State Attorney Larizza said the niece is not facing charges and is cooperating with investigators, WESH reported.

No body. Maria Gaminde’s body has not been recovered. The sheriff said she may have been buried at the home being searched, WESH reported. Larizza said the outcome of Tuesday’s search would not change the decision to prosecute. “We are fully prepared to move forward without the body, and I have complete and total confidence in our ability to prosecute this case with the prosecutor we’ve assigned to it,” he said, according to his office. Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak is assigned to the case. The case was investigated by the sheriff’s office with State Attorney investigators, FBI Jacksonville and partners in Japan and the Philippines.

The dates. The family’s missing person report and the sheriff’s office describe a disappearance in January 2024, while the prosecutors’ release refers to a killing in late December 2023. The sheriff’s office said it will release more information but did not say when. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Sources

Panama City, Florida: Judge Keeps Life Sentence for Rebecca Falcon in 1997 Killing of Cab Driver Richard Phillips

The columned front of the Bay County Courthouse in Panama City, Florida
The Bay County Courthouse in Panama City, Florida. Photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Panama City, Bay County, Florida, USA

Legal status: Rebecca Lee Falcon was convicted of first-degree murder in 1999 and resentenced to life in 2020. On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, a circuit judge denied her request for a sentence modification.

The ruling. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark on Tuesday rejected Rebecca Lee Falcon’s bid to reduce her life sentence for the 1997 murder of cab driver Richard Phillips, State Attorney Larry Basford announced. It is the second time in six years that Falcon, now 44, has been denied a reduction, WJHG reported.

“Based on review of the entirety of the record in the present case, this Court believes the sentence of Life imprisonment imposed at Defendant’s July 2020 resentencing remains the most appropriate sentence,” Clark wrote, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

The killing. Falcon was 15 when she shot Phillips in the back of the head on November 19, 1997. According to the State Attorney’s Office, the evidence at trial showed that she got a pistol from a co-defendant, test-fired it several times and said she wanted to shoot someone in the back of the head. She and her co-defendant flagged down a cab driven by Phillips, with Falcon sitting in the back. A short time later she shot him and ran. Prosecutors said she at first denied the shooting and then laughed about it.

She was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1999 and she was sentenced to life in prison. Years later, the U.S. Supreme Court held that juveniles sentenced to life are entitled to present mitigating factors. At a resentencing in 2020, Falcon again received life.

The 25-year review. Florida law entitles people sentenced to life for crimes committed as juveniles to a sentence review after they have served 25 years. Falcon’s review hearing was held over two days in February. In those hearings the court weighs whether the offender shows maturity and rehabilitation, whether she remains the same level of risk as at the original sentencing, and whether she has shown sustained and sincere remorse, the State Attorney’s Office said.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet argued that Falcon’s displays of remorse, maturity and good behavior matched what she thought she had to show to get out of prison and were not genuine. “Over the years she has sought to excuse her behavior, blaming the cab driver and others for her plight,” Overstreet said. “While the Defendant has apologized to the victim’s family for killing him, she has not fully acknowledged why or how she committed this horrific murder.” He asked: “How do you rehabilitate a person who chooses to kill another?”

What the judge found. Clark wrote that Falcon “continues to minimize her actions and refuses every opportunity ‘to state exactly what she had done.'” He added: “This Court cannot find that Defendant has shown sincere and sustained remorse for shooting and killing the victim.” The judge acknowledged that Falcon is more mature now, but wrote that taking part in programs is not the same as rehabilitation, and noted that most of her program work came just before hearing and resentencing dates and then tapered off.

“At best, Defendant has demonstrated that she understood her only opportunity for release required her to behave as a model inmate,” Clark wrote. “As a result, the Court determines Defendant has not demonstrated rehabilitation.”

“We hope that this order allows Mr. Phillips’ family to finally get the closure they deserve,” Overstreet said.

Sources

Orlando, Florida: Jaylen Edgar Sentenced to Life for 2024 Halloween Mass Shooting That Killed Timothy Schmidt Jr. and Tyrek Hill

Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando lined with trees, shopfronts and an office tower
Orange Avenue, downtown Orlando. Photo: Miosotis jade / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Orange Avenue at Central Boulevard and at Washington Street, downtown Orlando, Florida; sentencing in Orange County

Legal status: Jaylen Edgar, 19, convicted in August 2026 of two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, by Judge Keith Carsten. He has 30 days to appeal, and his attorney told FOX 35 that he will.

The sentence. Edgar was 17 at the time of the shooting and was not eligible for the death penalty, FOX 35 reported. WKMG News 6 reported that Carsten ordered three life sentences to run consecutively and that, while Edgar may become eligible for parole, his confinement would not end for at least another 75 years. Spectrum News 13 reported that the judge said he had considered Edgar’s history of trauma and his mental health, and called the case a dark part of Orlando’s history. “Nearly two years ago this week, you terrorized Orlando,” Carsten told Edgar, according to WKMG.

The shooting. Just after 1 a.m. on November 1, 2024, while an estimated 75,000 people were downtown for Halloween, Edgar opened fire, Spectrum News 13 reported. A first emergency call reported several people shot near Central Boulevard and Orange Avenue, and a second reported more gunfire near Washington Street and Orange Avenue, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said after the shooting, according to WKMG. Timothy Schmidt Jr., 19, a University of Central Florida student, and Tyrek Hill, 25, were killed. Seven other people were wounded.

The trial. Prosecutors argued that Edgar went downtown armed and intending to kill, FOX 35 reported. The defense did not dispute that he fired the shots but argued the state had not proved premeditation. After about three hours of deliberations in August, the jury found him guilty on all counts, Spectrum News 13 reported. Five of the seven wounded survivors testified for the state, WKMG reported. Anthony Berry testified that he saw Edgar push past people in the crowd, pull a gun from his waistband and start shooting. Berry was shot in the head. Jonathan Valle, shot in the head and foot, testified that he still suffers vertigo and seizures.

In court Tuesday. Defense attorney Junior Barrett called psychologist Jacquelyn Olander, who spoke about Edgar’s documented history of ADHD and the loss of close family members and friends, WKMG reported. Edgar read a letter apologizing for the pain and trauma he caused, while maintaining that he has little or no memory of that night. “I just want to apologize to everyone involved in this case,” he said. “I hate that any of this happened.”

Survivor Jessica De Carvalho gave the only victim impact statement from a survivor. “I’ve tried to understand how someone has the capability to do something like this, but every time, I find myself without a justification or explanation that makes sense to me,” she said, according to WKMG. Hill’s mother, Teresa Clinton, called her son a gentle giant and said that at 25 he was the patriarch of the family. “No apology, nothing in this court could bring back my son,” she said, according to Spectrum News 13. Timothy Schmidt Sr. said his son “gave more to this world in 19 years than most people give in a lifetime,” WKMG reported. Clinton and Schmidt Sr. have grown close since the shooting, the station said.

State Attorney Monique Worrell said in a statement that no sentence can undo the pain suffered by the victims and their families, but that the outcome ensures accountability. She added that the shooting has also had a profound impact on Edgar’s own family.

Sources

Boulder City, Nevada: Affidavit Says Man Who Claimed Self-Defense in 2021 Killing Mocked Police Over Missing Video

A white gazebo on the lawn beside Boulder City Town Hall in Nevada
The grounds of Boulder City Town Hall. Boulder City police reopened the Dingman shooting in 2025. Photo: Noah Wulf / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Fairway Drive near Pueblo Drive, Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada, United States

Legal status: John Powell Morgan III, 40, is charged with open murder with a deadly weapon. Bail was set at $1 million; his lawyer says he posted bond on Oct. 27. He says he acted in self-defense and is presumed innocent.

For more than five years, the shooting of Scott Dingman on a Boulder City street was officially self-defense. The man who fired the shots admitted it from the start. Now a police affidavit made public on Tuesday, Oct. 27, lays out why detectives changed their minds, and it includes an allegation that he laughed about the evidence they never collected.

Boulder City police arrested John Powell Morgan III, 40, on Saturday, Oct. 24, at a Henderson car dealership, KTNV and the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. He is charged with open murder with a deadly weapon. At a Monday hearing, a justice of the peace set bail at $1 million, citing risk to the community. Morgan’s attorney, Louis Schneider, told the Review-Journal his client posted that bond on Tuesday.

The night of May 31, 2021. Dingman, 40, and Morgan were acquaintances. According to the arrest report described by the Review-Journal, the two men drank shots for hours at Morgan’s home, both brandished guns, joked and argued, and the confrontation ended in the street near Fairway and Pueblo drives. Police found Dingman in the road with a Springfield Armory Hellcat pistol under his left hand. Nine spent casings from Morgan’s gun were recovered. None came from Dingman’s.

Morgan told police that Dingman came at him with a fist while reaching for his waistband, and that he drew and “fired first.” He was released without charges. Investigators did not collect surveillance video from his home at the time, the affidavit acknowledges.

What changed. The case was reopened in 2025. A former girlfriend told detectives that Morgan had shown her security camera clips from that night and “laughed while mocking investigators for not reviewing and/or collecting the videos as evidence,” police wrote. In April 2025, officers seized USB drives, laptops, hard drives and phones from his home. They found thousands of clips from the night of the shooting, but two minutes shortly after the gunfire are missing. Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Giles told the court on Monday that video “has been deleted and or renamed in order to try and throw off the investigators.”

A longtime friend of Morgan’s who was at the house that night told police last week that Morgan removed the magazine from Dingman’s gun before the shooting and later asked for it back along with a towel, according to the affidavit. A confidential source said that friend had once described Morgan placing Dingman’s gun in his hand before police arrived. A blood spatter analyst concluded that stains on the pistol grip did not fit Morgan’s account. The man who called 911 that night told police he saw Morgan close the distance on Dingman and shoot him. That witness has since died, which KTNV reported had earlier led prosecutors to decline the case.

The defense. Schneider says the new evidence is not credible and that home video shows Dingman holding a gun to the back of Morgan’s head in a headlock. “John is half of Scott Dingman’s size,” he told the Review-Journal. “John was in fear for his life.” Maggie McLetchie, who represents the Dingman family in a federal civil suit against Boulder City police, called that portrayal misleading and said the video shows “horseplay.”

Dingman’s widow, Ashley Dingman, told KTNV that “it should not have taken five years to get here.”

Sources

Walland, Tennessee: Jury Convicts Johnny Ray Wilburn of Killing Three Farleys and Burning Their Home

The brick Blount County Courthouse in Maryville, Tennessee
The Blount County Courthouse in Maryville, where jurors returned the verdicts. Photo: Brian Stansberry / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Location: Payne Hollow Road, Walland, Blount County, Tennessee, United States

Legal status: Convicted Oct. 27 on 38 of 39 counts, including first-degree murder. Jury imposed life without parole on the murder counts. Acquitted of aggravated animal abuse. Sentencing on the remaining counts set for Jan. 7.

A Blount County jury needed less than six hours on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to decide that Johnny Ray Wilburn killed three members of the Farley family inside their Walland home and then set it on fire. The panel then went back out and returned a second answer: Wilburn, 59, will never be eligible for parole.

The victims were Norma “Kaye” Farley, 65; her husband, Delmar “Marty” Farley, 59; and Marty’s brother, Cas Ivan Farley, 61, The Daily Times of Maryville reported. Their bodies were recovered on Jan. 20, 2025, from the house on Payne Hollow Road after firefighters put out a blaze that nearly destroyed it.

A family connection. Wilburn was not a stranger. Relatives told WVLT after the killings that he was the son of Kaye Farley’s former husband. At the end of the trial, a prosecutor told jurors that Wilburn had lived with the Farleys and knew about Cas Farley’s disabilities, making him a vulnerable victim under the law.

Prosecutors told jurors the motive was money. According to The Daily Times, the state argued that Wilburn killed the three in hopes of stealing enough cash to keep himself, his girlfriend and two friends in a room at the Alcoa Inn through a cold January weekend, then set the fire to keep investigators from linking him to the deaths.

The verdicts. Wilburn faced 39 felony counts. Jurors convicted him of 38, including 12 counts of first-degree murder covering the three deaths, The Daily Times reported. WVLT and WIVK both reported that the only acquittal was a single count of aggravated animal abuse.

Because Tennessee law requires jurors to weigh aggravating factors before a life without parole sentence, the case moved straight into a penalty phase. Blount County District Attorney General Ryan K. Desmond’s office argued that three statutory factors applied. “The state would submit that the evidence which has been put forth (proves) Johnny Wilburn is a mass murderer,” a prosecutor told jurors, according to The Daily Times, pointing also to Cas Farley’s vulnerability and to what a forensic pathologist described as thermal damage to the bodies. “What aren’t just names on a paper but of Marty, and Cas, and Kaye Farley,” the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Rick Owens asked jurors to weigh mitigating evidence, including his client’s documented illiteracy. The jury was not persuaded. WVLT reported that jurors set the sentence at life in prison without the possibility of parole on the three murder counts. The judge will sentence Wilburn on the remaining 35 counts on Jan. 7.

“A whole family.” In the months after the fire, relatives described the Farleys as people who took others in. “They’d give you the shirt off their back if you needed a place to stay; they would invite you into their home,” Stephanie Cook, who lost her aunt, her uncle and her aunt’s brother-in-law, told WVLT in 2025. “It’s a huge loss. I mean it’s a whole family we lost on both sides.”

The trial opened on Monday, Oct. 19, in Maryville. WIVK called the case the culmination of a long investigation into one of the county’s deadliest residential fires in recent years. WIVK reported that the deaths shocked the Walland community.

Wilburn can appeal. For the Farleys’ relatives, the verdict closes a trial that put the last day of three lives on the record, and ends with a jury ruling that the man who once shared their home will die in prison.

Sources

Cleveland, Ohio: Akron Arrest, $2 Million Bond in Union Miles Shooting That Killed Christopher Williams and Demetrius Pride

The Cuyahoga County Justice Center towers in downtown Cleveland
The Justice Center complex in downtown Cleveland, home to Cleveland Municipal Court. Photo: Warren LeMay / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: 4100 block of East 120th Street, Union Miles, Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Legal status: Fedrico Belton, 25, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder. Bond set at $2 million at his Oct. 27 arraignment in Cleveland Municipal Court. He is presumed innocent.

Two men were shot dead on the same stretch of East 120th Street on Sunday evening, one in the road and one on a front porch. By Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, the man police say pulled the trigger stood before a Cleveland Municipal Court judge, who set his bond at $2 million.

Police identified him as Fedrico Belton. Court records show he faces two counts of aggravated murder, WKYC reported. Cleveland 19 reported that the man arrested was 25.

The shooting. Officers from the Cleveland Police Fourth District answered a report of shots fired and a person down at about 6 p.m. on Oct. 25 in the 4100 block of East 120th Street, in the Union Miles neighbourhood on the city’s East Side. In the street they found Christopher Williams, 34, of Cleveland, with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers gave first aid until EMS arrived and took him to University Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead, according to Cleveland 19.

Officers also found Demetrius Pride, 28, also of Cleveland, lying on the front porch of a home with gunshot wounds. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Tracked by camera. Detectives turned to the department’s Real Time Crime Center and its network of automated license plate readers, police said. Those tools pointed to a potential suspect and showed he had left Cleveland, possibly for Akron. With help from Akron police and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, he was taken into custody within hours of the killings, according to WKYC.

Neighbours. Police said Belton fatally shot the two men, his neighbours, during a verbal argument before fleeing to Akron, according to a summary of the Advance Local (Cleveland.com) report. The Akron Beacon Journal, citing a release from Cleveland Police public information officer Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz, reported that the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation. Cleveland 19 reported on Monday that no motive had been released.

The victims. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the men as Christopher Williams, 34, and Demetrius W. Pride, 28, both of Cleveland, WKYC reported. Williams was found in the street and died at the hospital; Pride was found on the porch and died there.

The name. Police and Cleveland Municipal Court records, as reported by WKYC, spell the accused’s first name Fedrico. The Akron Beacon Journal spelled it Federico. Belton is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The arrest on video. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, WKYC published video it said shows Akron police taking Belton into custody. The station reported that he faces two aggravated murder charges, according to Cleveland police. Police have not said what the argument was about.

The first hours. News 5 Cleveland, reporting on the night of the shooting, said Cleveland EMS confirmed it had found one man dead at the scene and had taken a second man, in his 30s, to University Hospitals in critical condition. Cleveland 19 later reported that Williams, 34, was the man taken to University Hospitals, where he died. A News 5 crew saw a large police presence at the intersection of East 120th Street and Miles Avenue that Sunday night, with East 120th Street closed off.

Sources

Beaumont, Texas: China Man Charged With Murder in Stabbing Death of Renee Nelson at Midtown Inn

The Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Beaumont, Texas
The Jefferson County Courthouse in Beaumont. Photo: JJonahJackalope / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Midtown Inn, 1295 North 11th Street, Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas, United States

Legal status: Travis Hall, of China, Texas, is charged with murder. Bail set at $1 million. He also faces an unrelated Dallas County warrant for sexual abuse of a child under 14. He is presumed innocent on both.

An employee at the Midtown Inn on North 11th Street found Renee Nelson dead in a room early on Tuesday, Oct. 27, according to police accounts reported by KFDM and The Examiner. She was 45. Within hours, Beaumont police had a man in custody, and before he was driven to jail he stopped to talk to the cameras.

“It was the worst mistake I ever made,” Travis Hall told reporters, according to KFDM. “For the family, I would say I’m sorry. It was a mistake. I was heavily under the influence. I made a bad decision and I’m sorry.” Those words are not a plea, and Hall has not been convicted of anything.

What the affidavit says. KFDM obtained the probable cause affidavit from a Jefferson County justice of the peace. Officers were called to the motel at about 1:35 a.m. after an employee found a woman’s body, and she had an apparent stab wound. Beaumont EMS pronounced her dead at 2:15 a.m., the affidavit said, according to 12News. The Beaumont Police Department said detectives examined the body and determined the death was a homicide, The Examiner reported.

Surveillance cameras told the rest. According to the affidavit as reported by KFDM, Nelson entered the room alone at about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25. At about 5:15 p.m., a man walked in. He walked out at 5:58 p.m. Nelson was never seen leaving after that, and police believe she was dead from that point.

The man on the video arrived and left in a blue Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the license plate was readable. Police tracked down the registered owner, who said the vehicle had been lent to Hall. Detectives then identified him as the man seen leaving the room and obtained a murder warrant.

Two warrants. KJAS reported that Hall’s arrest was not first made on the murder case. Police initially picked him up on the Dallas County warrant charging him with sexual abuse of a child under 14, then took evidence to a judge and obtained the murder warrant a short time later. Police credited the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Warrant Division with helping make the arrest. China is a small community west of Beaumont. Jail records show Hall was booked at about 2:54 p.m. Tuesday on a first-degree felony murder charge, the East Texas Banner reported. A police representative told the Banner that the department’s Real Time Crime Center helped identify him. “We have multi-agency task forces that already work well together, and that’s exactly how we are solving these cases,” the representative said.

Bail conditions. Magistrate Marc DeRouen set bail on the murder charge at $1 million, KFDM reported. If Hall is able to post it, he must have no contact with Nelson’s family, stay under home confinement and wear a GPS monitor. A justice of the peace ordered an autopsy.

Police have not publicly described any relationship between Hall and Nelson or a motive. Beaumont police asked anyone with information to call the department at (409) 832-1234 or Southeast Texas Crime Stoppers at (409) 833-8477.

Sources

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Mother Who Police Say Told Her Teenage Son to Shoot Richard Powell Gets 11 Years

The Bernalillo County Courthouse building in downtown Albuquerque
The Bernalillo County Courthouse in downtown Albuquerque. Photo: teofilo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Apartment complex on Indiana Avenue between Bell and Trumbull, southeast Albuquerque, New Mexico

Legal status: Munah Green pleaded no contest in September 2026 to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder; sentenced to 11 years in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. Her son, who was 17 at the time, has entered a similar plea.

An Albuquerque woman was sentenced on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to 11 years in prison for her role in the April 2025 shooting death of Richard Powell, a man police say she ordered her teenage son to shoot.

Judge Jennifer Wernersbach imposed the sentence after Munah Green pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, KRQE and KKOB reported. Before the hearing, KOB 4 reported that Green faced 12 years.

The night of April 24, 2025. The shooting happened at an apartment on Indiana Avenue between Bell and Trumbull in southeast Albuquerque, KOB 4 reported. A woman who lived there told detectives she was with her child at around 9 p.m. when she heard someone banging on the doors and windows. She called 911 and realized who was outside.

KOB 4 reported that the woman was Green’s cousin. Her boyfriend, Powell, went out and told the group to leave. According to police, Green then told her 17-year-old son, “Get him son, shoot him, shoot him.” Investigators say the teen pulled a gun and shot Powell several times. Police said Powell fell to the ground and the shooter moved closer and fired more shots, KKOB reported. Powell, 32, died at the scene.

Two pleas. KKOB reported that police said the group outside the apartment included Green and members of her family. Her son was also charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy, and he entered a no-contest plea about three months before his mother did, according to KOB 4. Green entered her plea in September.

The complaint. Officers responding around 9 p.m. found Powell dead from multiple gunshot wounds in the courtyard of the complex, in the 500 block of Indiana SE, southwest of Zuni and Louisiana, according to a criminal complaint reported by the Albuquerque Journal in April 2025. Powell’s girlfriend, who is Green’s cousin, told police she watched through the window as Powell walked up and told the pair to go away, and that after the first shots, as Powell struggled to get up, the teen walked up close and shot him “a bunch of times,” the Journal reported. She also told police she had kicked Green out of the apartment earlier that day, and that before leaving Green asked, “Should I go get a gun?”

The ankle monitor. The teen was on probation and wearing an ankle monitor, and investigators used its GPS location to place him at the scene minutes before Powell was killed, the Journal and ABQ Raw reported. Mother and son were arrested the next day, April 25, 2025, near the 900 block of Edith Avenue SE after a brief SWAT standoff in which both surrendered peacefully, ABQ Raw reported. KOAT reported at the time that Green, then 44, was initially charged with an open count of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was held in custody after her first court appearance. Prosecutors moved to detain her until trial, arguing that no release conditions could ensure public safety, according to the Journal.

Before the shooting. Court records showed that less than two weeks before the killing, Green’s mother had filed a restraining order against her, alleging that Green was living on the streets, using drugs and had destroyed property, the Journal reported.

Sources

Atlanta, Georgia: Mother’s Friend Charged With Child Cruelty and Concealing a Death After Colby Cooks, 4, Is Found Dead in Southwest Atlanta Townhome

The tan brick Wilkes County Courthouse in Washington, Georgia, with a red roofed turret and clock tower
The Wilkes County Courthouse in Washington, Georgia, the town where the suspect was arrested. Photo: TampAGS, for AGS Media / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: A townhome in the Aviary Park Townhomes, a gated community in the 3500 block of Cardinal Drive SW, near Barge Road and Campbellton Road, southwest Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Arrest in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia.

Legal status: Jasmaine Smoak, 32, is charged with second-degree cruelty to children and concealing the death of another, according to Atlanta police. She has not been charged with murder by Atlanta police and is presumed innocent.

The welfare check. Atlanta police officers and an Atlanta Fire Rescue crew went to the townhome for a welfare check and forced their way inside “based on information received during the welfare check,” police said. Inside they found a child who had died. Emergency medical crews tried life-saving measures without success, police said. FOX 5 Atlanta put the call at about 7:20 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, 2026, while Atlanta News First, WRDW and WJCL reported that officers responded on Monday night, October 26.

The victim. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the boy as Colby Cooks, 4. Investigators have not released a cause of death or said where in the home he was found, FOX 5 reported.

Flight and arrest. Police said Smoak had left the home with three children before officers arrived. Detectives used license plate reader technology, including Flock cameras according to FOX 5, to track her vehicle to Washington, Georgia, more than 100 miles east of Atlanta. Wilkes County Sheriff Darrell Powers said his deputies worked closely with Atlanta homicide detectives, and Smoak was arrested without incident and booked into the Wilkes County Detention Center. WRDW and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the arrest on Tuesday morning, October 27; FOX 5 described it as overnight Monday. All three children were recovered, and police said one of them was injured and was taken to a hospital near Wilkes County. Police have not described that child’s injuries.

Who she is. An Atlanta police spokesperson told the Journal-Constitution that Smoak “is not related to the child but is a friend of the child’s mother.” Atlanta News First reported that the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office had earlier told WRDW that Smoak was the boy’s mother, and that the sheriff’s office had also said she was charged with murder; Atlanta police’s account lists the two lesser charges. A source told WRDW’s News 12 that Smoak had been caring for five children of two different mothers. Authorities have not said where the boy’s mother was when Smoak left the home.

Investigators. “Right now, we’re still investigating the circumstances that surround the death of that child,” Atlanta homicide commander Lt. Christapher Butler said late Monday, according to Atlanta News First.

Neighbors. Amber Burks, who lives two doors down, told FOX 5 she remembered two young children playing with her dog on Sunday and feared one may have been Colby. “It’s heartbreaking because it’s a child,” she said. “You never know what is happening in somebody’s home.” Other residents of the gated community told FOX 5 they often saw several children at the home and were stunned by the allegations. She told WRDW she heard officers banging on the door and watched the police response from her home. “It’s definitely left me a little shaken up,” she said. Burks told WRDW she recorded the police response on her phone and stayed until a stretcher was brought in and the child was carried out.

What is not known. Police have not disclosed the nature or extent of the injured child’s injuries, how they were sustained, or the condition of the other two children found in the car, FOX 5 reported. They also have not said what prompted the welfare check. The charges are accusations, and Smoak has not been convicted of anything.

Sources

Bloomington, Illinois: Georgia Man Sentenced to Life for Killing Peoria Teen Kany’e Stowers at a House Party

The domed old McLean County Courthouse in downtown Bloomington, Illinois
The old McLean County Courthouse in downtown Bloomington. Photo: Matt Turner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: 400 block of East Mill Street, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois

Legal status: Tomiyale M. Anderson, 23, of Hampton, Georgia, convicted in August 2026 of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm; sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. A motion for a new trial was denied.

Kany’e Stowers was a month away from graduating from Peoria’s Richwoods High School when he was shot dead at a house party in Bloomington in April 2022. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, the man a jury convicted of killing him was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison.

McLean County Judge Jason Chambers sentenced Tomiyale M. Anderson, 23, to life, 25News Now reported. Before the sentence, the judge denied a defense motion for a new trial, which the station noted is typically a first step toward an appeal.

The shooting. Prosecutors said Anderson killed the 17-year-old at a residence in the 400 block of East Mill Street on April 8, 2022, WGLT reported in August. WGLT said Stowers died just after midnight on April 9 and was pronounced dead at the scene; an autopsy found he died of a gunshot wound.

In a statement at the time of the verdict, McLean County State’s Attorney Erika Reynolds said police found two 9mm casings at the scene, both fired from the same gun, and an unfired 9mm bullet in front of the house. According to Reynolds, Anderson was part of a group of four to six people who wanted Stowers’ gun, “which was actually a look-a-lik BB gun.”

The gun. Reynolds said cellphone data showed a friend of Anderson’s video calling him from the spot where Anderson allegedly got rid of the gun. A message from that friend told Anderson “don’t say [expletive] blood abt unit,” and officers determined the friend often called a firearm a “unit,” WGLT reported. Weeks later, police found the car Anderson allegedly used to flee, with an unfired 9mm bullet on the floor, and its driver admitted Anderson had been in it, Reynolds said. Anderson had been in McLean County custody since his arrest in December 2023.

A rap song as evidence. At trial, prosecutors argued that surveillance video, social media posts, witness testimony and a rap song by Anderson proved he was the shooter, 25News Now reported. The defense said the case rested on speculation, pointed to witnesses who could not remember details of the night, and questioned whether video, cellphone location data and ballistics could place Anderson as the shooter. His attorney also argued that violent rap lyrics do not prove he was the killer. He faced 45 years to life, WGLT reported.

The verdict. The jury convicted Anderson on August 17 after about two hours of deliberation, 25News Now reported. “Kany’e’s smiling. All that fighting, from 2022 and its 2026, it was worth it,” his mother, Tomeka Love, told the station that day. She remembered him as a boy who was active in school, laughed often and had a passion for making music. “He’ll give you the shirt off his back,” she said. Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington commended officers and prosecutors, saying, “The loss of a son and loved one is the most painful experience a family can face.”

“There is nothing the McLean County State’s Attorney’s Office can do to lessen the loss felt by the victim’s family and friends in this case,” Reynolds said after the sentencing. “However, we are hoping that our efforts in removing Anderson from the community will provide some peace.”

Sources

Bowling Green, Kentucky: Emonnie Branch Pleads Not Guilty to Capital Murder Charge in Killing of State Trooper Hayden Phillips on I-65

Red brick Warren County Justice Center with a domed glass rotunda
Warren County Justice Center, Bowling Green. Photo: OPMaster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Warren Circuit Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky; the shooting took place on northbound Interstate 65 north of Bowling Green, Warren County, USA

Legal status: Emonnie Dion Branch, 51, of Portland, Tennessee, was arraigned in Warren Circuit Court on the morning of Tuesday, October 27, 2026. He pleaded not guilty, through his lawyers, to murder of a first responder (peace officer), possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and tampering with physical evidence, all returned by a Warren County grand jury. He is presumed innocent. A status conference on the exchange of discovery evidence is set for February 12, 2027, at 10 a.m.

In court. Branch spoke only to tell Warren Circuit Judge J.B. Hines that he understood his rights and wanted a lawyer appointed, the Bowling Green Daily News reported. Sara Zeurcher and Ty Howorth of the Department of Public Advocacy entered the plea for him. Hines granted a defense motion ordering the preservation of all physical evidence in the state’s custody and requiring the Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office to tell the defense about any seized evidence or property that has been released to third parties, destroyed or consumed. Members of Phillips’ family and law enforcement officers attended. At his October 2 court appearance, Branch was seen in a wheelchair; on Tuesday he stood and walked on his own, WBKO reported.

Possible penalty. Under Kentucky law, murder of a peace officer is a capital offense, punishable by death or life without parole, the Daily News reported. WBKO reported that prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the death penalty. Possession of a handgun by a convicted felon carries up to 10 years in prison under state law, and tampering with physical evidence up to five years, the Daily News reported. The October 2 appearance was an extradition hearing, and Branch will remain in Kentucky as the case proceeds, according to WBKO.

The traffic stop. Kentucky State Police said Trooper Hayden Phillips, 28, stopped a car on northbound I-65 shortly after 2 p.m. Central time on Monday, September 28, and was fatally shot by the driver, who fled. KSP placed the stop near mile marker 39; court records cited by the Daily News say near the 38 mile marker. According to the criminal complaint, Phillips stopped a Honda Civic with an expired temporary tag and approached from the passenger side. His in-car camera recorded two shots fired from the Civic, after which he collapsed and the car merged back into traffic, the complaint says.

The arrest. Investigators traced the tag to a woman with an Alabama address living at a Tennessee address linked to Branch, who confirmed the car was his and gave police his phone number, according to the complaint. A passing motorist had called 911 to report the shooting, the Daily News reported. KSP said its Critical Incident Response Team was asked by Post 3 Bowling Green to investigate, and that witness information along with Phillips’s dash camera and body-worn camera footage helped investigators identify the suspect vehicle. The agency said it does not release specific details until vital witnesses have been interviewed. WLKY and WKYT reported that police pinged the phone; the Daily News reported that license plate reader cameras helped locate the car. Shortly after 5 p.m. Central time, Louisville Metro Police stopped the Civic with a grappler device on Dixie Highway near Burwell Avenue, KSP said. WLKY reported officers saw a shell casing and blood on the passenger side.

The trooper. Phillips, of Glasgow, was a three-year KSP veteran who earlier served with the Glasgow and Russell Springs police departments and was a volunteer firefighter and EMT in Russell County. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Sources

Charlotte, North Carolina: Man Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder in Wingstop Shooting of JoJo Clesca, 19

Sign outside the Mecklenburg County Courthouse in Charlotte
The Mecklenburg County Courthouse in uptown Charlotte. Photo: City Dweller 2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Wingstop, Beatties Ford Road, northwest Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States

Legal status: Justin Jones pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Oct. 27 under a plea deal and was sentenced to at least 13 years in prison. A conspiracy charge was dismissed. He receives credit for just over a year already served.

Joelle Clesca’s grandfather walked into a Mecklenburg County courtroom on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and told the young man who killed his grandson that he forgave him. Then he walked out and told reporters the sentence was not enough.

“I still think that my grandson’s life was worth way more than that,” Kobie Emmanuel said after Justin Jones pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, as reported by both WBTV and WSOC. “I might be dead and gone, but I can never get JoJo back.”

The killing. Clesca, 19, known to family as JoJo, was inside the Wingstop on Beatties Ford Road on Oct. 12, 2025, when a masked man walked in, shot him once in the chest and ran out, WSOC reported. WBTV reported the same sequence from prosecutors: Jones entered, fired once and fled.

In court, prosecutors said Jones had sent text and social media messages beforehand saying he was going to “catch a body at Wingstop” and calling the victim “an opp.” A few days after the shooting, they said, he tried to sell a Glock 19. WSOC reported that Jones was also 19, and that the shooting grew out of a disagreement whose details no one has been able to explain.

The plea. Under the agreement, the state dismissed a conspiracy charge, according to WBTV. The judge’s sentence was reported by WBTV as 13 to 16 years, and by WSOC as at least 13 years. Jones will get credit for just over a year he has already spent in jail.

“Violence don’t make you strong.” Emmanuel, whose name WBTV also spells Emanuel, said his grandson had turned his life around. “Joelle meant the world to me,” he told WSOC. “He turned my whole life around.”

He used the moment to speak to other young people in Charlotte. “Young kids are running around wanting to be baddies and feel like I can knock you off. I get a body that makes me grown,” he said, according to WBTV. “Violence don’t make you grown. Violence don’t make you strong. Violence makes you sick and weak, and it makes your whole family sick and weak.”

Explaining his forgiveness, he told WSOC: “I can’t hate that guy. He’s a little, young kid. He’s the same age as my grandchild, so I had to forgive him in order to learn to live again.”

He was blunt with the system too. “The bottom line is he was assassinated. Point blank. Senseless,” he told WBTV. “We have to find a way to get the young people to see from a different lens, because the lenses they’re looking in is bad choices.” Young people, he said, think they can “come down here, and the judge is gonna pat them on the hand.” “Patting on the hand time should be over,” he told WBTV, “because going to the mortuary to the grave site, to the hospital, watching your loved one on a breathing machine. It’s just too much for the city of Charlotte.”

The family’s losses are ordinary ones, he said. “We can never go out to eat together. We can never go to the park together.”

WBTV reported that Emmanuel planned to go home that night and talk to his grandson, his guardian angel, as he always does.

Sources

Chesnee, South Carolina: Lenny James Presnell Jr., 39, Shot Dead at Car Wash as Man Allegedly Attacks Four People Near Food Lion

Downtown intersection in Chesnee, South Carolina, with red brick storefronts, traffic lights and highway signs
Downtown Chesnee, South Carolina. Photo: Ken Lund / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Food Lion at 712 South Alabama Avenue, the nearby Hardee’s and the Chesnee Car Wash, Chesnee, Spartanburg County, South Carolina

Legal status: Noah Ashton Kowalewsky, 24, is charged with murder, attempted murder, two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime, felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of third-degree assault and battery, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said. At a preliminary bond hearing on Wednesday morning, October 28, 2026, he was denied bond on all charges and ordered to have no direct or indirect contact with the victims or their families, FOX Carolina reported. He is due in general sessions court on December 17. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The attack. At about 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday, October 27, Chesnee police officers and sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a disturbance involving a weapon at the Food Lion that anchors a strip mall on South Alabama Avenue, the sheriff’s office said in a release. Before deputies arrived they were told a man had physically attacked people in the parking lot, hitting one woman in the head with a pistol and shooting another. Officers found and detained Kowalewsky in the Food Lion parking lot.

Four victims at three sites. Investigators found victims at the Food Lion and at Hardee’s, and found one man shot dead at the Chesnee Car Wash, the sheriff’s office said. In all, it counted four victims: the man killed at the car wash; a person who was shot and struck with the gun at the Food Lion; and two people who were pushed near the Hardee’s. The person shot at the Food Lion was taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery. The State reported there was no word on whether the two people pushed needed treatment. Because the case is a homicide, Chesnee police asked the sheriff’s office to lead the investigation.

The victim. The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office identified the man who died as Lenny James Presnell Jr., 39, of Chesnee, FOX Carolina and WYFF reported. FOX Carolina said Presnell was known to many as “The Wheelie Man,” and his friend Christopher Jolley described him as always friendly and someone who loved life.

The accused. Kowalewsky pleaded guilty to a strong arm robbery charge in 2025, according to Spartanburg County court records cited by The State. The State reported that no information was available on a motive or on whether he knew any of the victims.

The bond hearing. At Wednesday’s hearing, Solicitor Barry Barnette said the attacks appeared completely random and that the victims and their families did not know why they had been targeted, FOX Carolina reported. Members of two victims’ families attended. Presnell’s father and brother gave emotional statements asking the judge to deny bond, the station said, as did the daughter and brother of a Food Lion employee who, according to the account given at the hearing, was assaulted while she waited in her car for the store to open. The judge set a general sessions court date of December 17 at 9 a.m. and said Kowalewsky has 10 days to request a preliminary hearing. The sheriff’s office said it is continuing to lead the investigation.

The store. Food Lion kept the Chesnee store closed for the rest of Tuesday. “As this is an active law enforcement investigation, we are directing all questions regarding the incident to law enforcement,” a company spokesperson said in a statement reported by FOX Carolina. WSPA reported that the sheriff’s office described the Food Lion victim as having been pistol whipped and shot, and the two people at the Hardee’s as having been assaulted in that restaurant’s parking lot. Kowalewsky was held at the Spartanburg County Detention Facility ahead of the Wednesday hearing, which was set for 11 a.m. The accusations against him have not been tested in court, and he is presumed innocent.

Sources

Chicago, Illinois: Man Killed by Off-Duty FBI Agent in Pilsen Identified as Oscar Isaya-Corrales, 27; Alderman Seeks Independent Probe

Elevated Dan Ryan Expressway structure over the 18th Street onramp with road construction signs
The 18th Street onramp beneath the Dan Ryan Expressway, near where the shooting happened. Photo: AlphaBeta135 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Location: 1700 block of South Union Avenue near West 18th Street, beneath the Dan Ryan Expressway, Pilsen, Chicago, Illinois

Legal status: No one has been charged. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man who died as Oscar D. Isaya-Corrales, 27, and ruled his death, from multiple gunshot wounds, a homicide, a classification that does not by itself mean a crime was committed. The FBI said its Inspection Division is reviewing the agent’s use of force. The FBI’s account that Isaya-Corrales was firing at people has not been tested in any court.

What the FBI says happened. At about 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026, an FBI agent driving home alone in a bureau-issued vehicle saw a man “discharging a firearm into a group of innocent people,” the agency said in a statement released Tuesday evening. The FBI said at least two shots were fired before the agent engaged the man “to stop the ongoing threat.” The agent was not hurt and no one else was reported injured. A senior official told ABC News the group was a homeless encampment, ABC7 Chicago reported.

What police records show. Chicago officers answering an officer-in-distress call found the agent, 41, aiming at the wounded man, according to a police report cited by the Chicago Sun-Times. A handgun was found under a bicycle, the report said. Video obtained by CBS News Chicago showed the agent with his gun drawn at a man on the ground near an e-bike before other officers arrived and the agent holstered his weapon. Isaya-Corrales had wounds to both legs, his chest and right flank, and was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital less than an hour later, the Sun-Times reported.

Who he was. The FBI said Isaya-Corrales was from Venezuela, was in the country without legal status, and had been taken into custody at the southern border in 2023 and released. Court records show a May 2026 retail theft arrest at a Nordstrom store on Grand Avenue and a June warrant after he missed court, several outlets reported. A manager at the Pacific Garden Mission shelter told the Sun-Times he lived there from January to March and for a few weeks in May; a man who helps with translation there remembered him as a nice guy who struggled with addiction and came to the shelter to try to improve his life.

Calls for an outside review. Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) said neighbors told him of roughly nine to ten shots and possibly two rounds of gunfire minutes apart. He said the FBI cannot credibly investigate itself and asked the Illinois Attorney General and the Cook County State’s Attorney to conduct an independent investigation, and asked police to preserve body camera footage and witness statements. Investigators returned Tuesday, closing part of Union Avenue and the 18th Street exit of the Dan Ryan and using metal detectors. City workers removed tents from an encampment near the scene early Tuesday, ABC7 reported, and sheriff’s deputies were seen speaking with unhoused people in the area. “It is really concerning that we have an FBI shooting of that nature and we’re demanding a full investigation into what prompted this shooting,” Sigcho-Lopez said, according to ABC7.

The neighbors. A 41-year-old man who lives nearby told the Sun-Times he was finishing dinner with family when he heard a “loud bang” followed by a barrage of gunfire. “We hit the deck. We got down,” said the man, who asked not to be named. He said that when he got back up he saw an officer in an unmarked car taking cover behind it with his gun drawn, and he called 911 after seeing a man lying unresponsive on the sidewalk. Joe Ramirez, 77, who has lived in Pilsen for 46 years, told the paper that drug dealing, thefts and the shooting had him thinking about selling his home. The Sun-Times also reported that the police report listed a Guatemalan passport that officers said did not belong to him in the May theft case, and that an earlier case accusing him of damaging a windshield was quickly dropped.

Sources

Columbus, Ohio: Man Charged With Murder of Samir Mayes, 22, Shot From His Balcony While Watching a Car Theft in May; Bond Set at $1 Million

Tall stone clad tower of the Franklin County Government Center with a skywalk in downtown Columbus
The Franklin County Government Center, downtown Columbus, Ohio. Photo: Ɱ / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Apartment complex in the 4000 block of Migration Lane, Northeast Side, Columbus, Ohio

Legal status: Amari Cross, of Reynoldsburg, is charged with murder. He was arrested on Monday, October 26, 2026, and arraigned in Franklin County Municipal Court on Tuesday, October 27, where his bond was set at $1 million, Hoodline reported. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 5. He is held in the Franklin County jail. He is presumed innocent.

The shooting. Just before 4:15 a.m. on May 20, 2026, Columbus police officers were called to a report of a shooting at an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Migration Lane on the city’s Northeast Side, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Hoodline noted that NBC4 gave the location as the 4100 block and the time as just after 4 a.m.

According to a criminal complaint filed by homicide detectives, several people were trying to steal a woman’s vehicle when she and Samir Mayes, 22, stepped out onto a balcony and saw them. The people in the parking lot opened fire on them, the complaint says, and Mayes was hit. The woman had minor injuries. Mayes was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:55 a.m., police said. The suspects fled. The complex sits off Stelzer Road, 10TV reported.

The investigation. Detectives reviewed video and identified the getaway vehicle as a Toyota RAV4 that had been stolen in Groveport a couple of hours before the shooting, the complaint says; Hoodline, citing NBC4, put the theft at around 2 a.m. The RAV4 was recovered later that day in South Linden, where surveillance cameras recorded the suspects walking away from it. Hoodline, citing NBC4, said the footage showed four people walking along Brooks Avenue after the vehicle was left there.

Detectives then obtained search warrants for three cell towers and found that Cross’s phone was in South Linden, in Groveport and on the Northeast Side at the times the crimes were committed, according to the complaint as reported by the Dispatch. Police also found a device used to break car windows that carried Cross’s DNA, the complaint says. Hoodline reported that the window punch was recovered at the scene of the shooting.

The arrest. An arrest warrant was issued for Cross on October 26, and a Columbus police SWAT team arrested him that day without incident, police said. The Dispatch gave his age as 22, while 10TV reported that he is 19.

The victim. Mayes graduated from Beechcroft High School in 2022 and had one daughter, according to his obituary, as reported by the Dispatch. The obituary said he had a passion for cars, especially antique classics and high-performance vehicles.

Another account. 10TV, citing an affidavit, reported that Mayes and another resident had each stepped out onto their second-floor balconies when they saw Cross and at least one other suspect trying to steal a vehicle in the complex’s parking lot, and that the suspects opened fire on the residents before driving away. The station said Cross was taken into custody by SWAT officers, appeared in court on Tuesday, when a judge set his bond at $1 million, and is due back in court on November 5.

The charge. Hoodline noted that under Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.02(B), a person can be charged with murder when a death results as a proximate consequence of committing or attempting a first- or second-degree violent felony, even if killing was not the aim of the underlying crime. Felony cases filed by Columbus police begin in Franklin County Municipal Court before they are sent to a grand jury, Pique reported. No other suspect has been publicly identified or charged, and the allegations against Cross have not been tested in court.

Sources

Concord, California: Thomas Iovenitti, 40, Charged With Murdering Wife Alisha While Out on Bail in Domestic Violence Case

Sunset sky over trees and streetlights in Concord, California
Dusk over Concord, California. Photo: Checkingfax / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: A house in the 2300 block of Panoramic Drive, Concord, Contra Costa County, California

Legal status: The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office filed charges on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, against Thomas John Iovenitti, 40, of Concord. He is charged with murder, dissuading a victim or witness from reporting a crime, willful disobedience of a court order, four counts of child endangerment, assault with a deadly weapon, and corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant, with additional enhancements, according to Concord police. He is held without bail and was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, October 28, in Superior Court in Martinez, KTVU and the Contra Costa Herald reported. The outcome of that hearing had not been reported at the time of writing. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

The victim. Prosecutors identified the woman killed as his wife, Alisha Iovenitti. Her age has not been released. According to the charging document, as reported by the Contra Costa Herald, the couple’s children are a son, 10, and twins, a boy and a girl, 8. The district attorney’s office said three of the four child endangerment counts relate to October 23 and one relates to the May 9 incident.

The 911 call. At about 8:51 p.m. on Friday, October 23, Concord police dispatch received a 911 call from the Panoramic Drive house reporting a disturbance between a man and a woman, and that the man was armed with a knife, police said. Officers arrived, spoke with several witnesses and, when no one inside answered, forced their way into the home. They found a man and a woman with apparent stab wounds. Officers gave first aid before paramedics arrived, but the woman died at the scene. The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said. Police said there were no outstanding suspects and no ongoing threat.

The case goes to prosecutors. Detectives from the department’s Investigations Division took over, interviewed witnesses and referred the case to the district attorney on the morning of Tuesday, October 27. Charges were filed the same day. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Justin Wilson at (925) 603-5859 or the anonymous tip line at (925) 603-5836.

Out on $1,000 bail. According to prosecutors, Iovenitti was out of custody on bail in a pending domestic violence case when the attack occurred. On May 9, 2026, he was charged in that case with assault with a deadly weapon or by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, corporal injury to a spouse, and false imprisonment. The district attorney’s office objected to the $1,000 bail a judge set, prosecutors said, but the court instead issued stay-away orders barring him from contacting his wife or returning to the residence. Those earlier allegations have not been proven either.

The complaint. In a statement by spokesperson Ted Asregadoo published by the Contra Costa Herald, the district attorney’s office said the complaint alleges that Iovenitti personally used a knife in the killing. Besides murder, it charges three other felonies: dissuading a witness from reporting a crime on October 23, and assault with a deadly weapon and corporal injury to a spouse tied to the May 9 incident. Five misdemeanor counts include a violation of a court order and the child endangerment counts. The office said the judge set the $1,000 bail on May 19 over its objection. KRON reported that, according to prosecutors, Alisha Iovenitti had an active domestic violence restraining order against her husband at the time of the attack. The new complaint, which the Contra Costa Herald published, alleges that the May 9 assault on her was also committed with a knife. He was scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. on October 28 in Department 6 of the Superior Court annex in Martinez and remains held without bail at the Martinez Detention Facility. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 29 years to life in prison.

Sources

Eugene, Oregon: Man, 35, Charged With Murder After Fatal Shooting Near West 10th Alley and Grant Street

Stone-faced entrance of the Lane County Public Service Building at 125 East 8th Avenue in downtown Eugene, with traffic signals in the foreground
The Lane County Public Service Building, Eugene. Photo: Another Believer / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Near West 10th Alley and Grant Street, west Eugene, Oregon

Legal status: Eugene police have arrested Zachary Dale Hardie-Brazille, 35, who has been charged with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the shooting, KVAL and KEZI reported. No court appearance or plea had been reported. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The shooting. Officers responded to multiple 911 calls reporting gunshots shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, near West 10th Alley and Grant Street, according to Eugene police as reported by KVAL and KEZI. KVAL reported the shooting was called in at 5:28 p.m. Officers found a man with a gunshot wound and gave him care at the scene. A second person was suffering from an apparent drug overdose and recovered after receiving Narcan, Lt. Jeremy Williams said. The department said Violent Crimes detectives were sent to the scene and asked people to avoid the area. KEZI described the shooting as fatal, and police are now investigating it as a homicide.

The victim. Police have not released the victim’s name, saying it is being withheld until next of kin are notified.

The investigation. In the first hours, police detained at least one person, described by KVAL as a witness, for questioning, and were looking for more witnesses; Williams said at that stage that no weapon had been recovered, KVAL reported. The arrest of Hardie-Brazille was announced in an update. The department said there is no ongoing threat to the community.

Self-defense not ruled out. Williams told KEZI that investigators were taking their time to understand what happened. He said the investigation was at an early stage and that the shooting could turn out to be a case of self-defense, adding that police were wary of rushing to judgment before they had enough evidence to be confident about what took place.

What comes next. Police have not said what led to the shooting, how the two people found at the scene were connected, or whether the man arrested knew the victim.

Booking and record. Lookout Eugene-Springfield reported that police confirmed the death early Wednesday, October 28, and that Hardie-Brazille was booked into the Lane County Jail that morning, where jail records also showed him held on a suspected parole violation. According to court records cited by Lookout, a Lane County grand jury indicted him in 2023 on a charge of first-degree assault over an allegation that he injured someone with an ax in November 2023; he pleaded guilty in 2024 to a lesser charge of attempted first-degree assault and was sentenced to three years in prison. On Tuesday evening, Williams described the man who was shot only as an older male, said the details of the shooting were unknown at that point, and asked anyone with video or information to call the department’s non-emergency line, 541-682-5111, Lookout reported.

The alley. The shooting happened in an alley off Grant Street that a neighbor told Lookout was a frequent gathering place for drug use, and police tape closed Grant Street at 10th Avenue by 6:30 p.m. The neighbor, Carson Quam, 36, said police once had a camera positioned nearby, “but it’s like the resources just aren’t there to actually fully mitigate the problem.” He said neighbors had submitted a report to the Eugene police auditor this summer about a lack of police response to past complaints in the neighborhood. Another neighbor told the outlet she heard at least three loud bangs. Lookout reported it is the second homicide Eugene police have investigated this year.

Sources

Huntsville, Texas: Woman Indicted for Murder in Stabbing Death of Boyfriend Found Weeks Later in His Kitchen

The two story brick Walker County Courthouse in Huntsville, Texas, with a green metal roof, front steps and cars parked along the street
The Walker County Courthouse in Huntsville, Texas. Photo: Michael Barera / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: 700 block of Boettcher Mill Road, Huntsville, Walker County, Texas, United States

Legal status: Dorane Lynette Williams, 45, has been indicted by a Walker County grand jury and is charged with murder, a first degree felony, in the death of Howard Glenn Bundage, 65. The indictment was among those announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, by Walker County Criminal District Attorney Will Durham, The Huntsville Item reported. An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Williams is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The discovery. Bundage was found dead on August 7, 2026, inside his home on Boettcher Mill Road, after a family member asked for a welfare check and told police he had not heard from Bundage in several weeks, according to The Huntsville Item and News 24 Texas. News 24 Texas, citing arrest affidavits, reported that officers noticed a strong odor at the mobile home and forced their way into the locked residence with help from the fire department and the landlord. Bundage was found face down in the kitchen, and officers documented blood on the front door and on a pantry door near his body.

The injuries. The Fort Bend County Medical Examiner’s Office identified multiple sharp force injuries, including stab wounds to the chest and abdomen, according to both outlets. News 24 Texas reported that the medical examiner notified Huntsville police of those findings on August 11, and that the affidavit also lists a severe wound to an ear and injuries to the palm, leg and back.

Before the death. According to the affidavit as reported by News 24 Texas, Bundage last reported to work on July 29. Two days earlier he told his supervisor that Williams had come back and that he planned to let her stay because she had nowhere else to go. A witness told investigators the last time he saw Williams, she was walking away from the home carrying bags, about four or five days before Bundage was found. Williams was on community supervision through Walker County Adult Probation, and her probation officer reported that she emailed him early on August 9 asking for her probation to be transferred to Polk County, the outlet reported.

The arrest. Williams was arrested in Polk County on an unrelated charge on August 20 and was later interviewed by investigators, The Huntsville Item reported. News 24 Texas said a Texas Ranger and Huntsville police conducted that interview. According to the murder arrest affidavit cited by both outlets, Williams told investigators that she and Bundage had a bad fight and that she blacked out, and that she later saw him on the floor and noticed blood on herself. The Item said the affidavit also describes statements in which she suggested she might have stabbed him. News 24 Texas reported on August 27 that Williams, then listed as 44 and from Livingston, Texas, had been booked into the Walker County Jail on a murder warrant issued by a Walker County justice of the peace court, with bond set at $100,000.

A 2024 case. On January 1, 2024, Huntsville police responded to a domestic disturbance at the same residence and found Williams with a knife, according to an earlier affidavit described by News 24 Texas and cited by The Item. Bundage told officers he was hurt while trying to take the knife from her and feared for his life; Williams said he had cut himself by accident. Police identified her as the primary aggressor and arrested her on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. That charge did not proceed: News 24 Texas reported that the district attorney’s office declined to prosecute it, and The Item described it as dropped while noting it had not independently verified the circumstances. A separate obstruction or retaliation charge filed that same day, over alleged threats toward jail staff, was pending in the 12th State District Court, according to News 24 Texas.

What comes next. If convicted of murder, a first degree felony in Texas, Williams would face five to 99 years or life in prison, The Item reported. No arraignment date had been reported.

Sources

Ignacio, Colorado: Husband Arrested on Suspicion of First-Degree Murder After Herberta Lynn Salazar, 31, Is Found Dead During Welfare Check

The brick La Plata County Courthouse in Durango with its clock tower, behind green trees
The La Plata County Courthouse in Durango, where the suspect’s next hearings in two other cases are set. Photo: Jeffrey Beall / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Location: 600 block of Shoshone Drive, Ignacio, La Plata County, Colorado

Legal status: Blas Salazar, 59, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. Formal charges will be decided by the Sixth Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He is presumed innocent.

The arrest. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), assisted by the Ignacio Police Department, said it arrested Salazar in connection with the death of his wife, Herberta Lynn Salazar, 31. According to the CBI, as reported by KRDO, officers conducting a welfare check at about 5:05 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, found her body inside a home on Shoshone Drive. The CBI said her fatal injuries were determined to be the result of a homicide.

Salazar was found at about 1:04 a.m. on Sunday, October 25, off County Road 521 in La Plata County with what appeared to be self-inflicted injuries, the CBI said. The Durango Herald and The Journal reported that he was arrested by the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office and taken to Mercy Hospital, and that an affidavit says he was later moved to a hospital in Denver for further surgery.

The welfare check. The following details come from an arrest affidavit as reported by Jane Rooney of the Durango Herald, whose story also ran in The Journal. A family member called police twice after not hearing from Herberta Salazar for several days, and a neighbor reported that her dogs had not been fed. The first call came at 9:50 a.m. on Saturday. Officers answering the second call forced entry into the home and found her dead in the primary bedroom. The affidavit gives that time as 4:58 p.m.

The affidavit says Blas Salazar was known to live with her, had recent domestic violence charges naming his wife as the victim, and was under an active restraining order limiting his contact with her. Investigators reported suspected blood stains in the kitchen and bedroom and signs that the bedroom door may have been pried. The affidavit says every circuit breaker in the house had been switched off by hand, which shut down the device recording the living room security cameras. Bloodstained blue jeans were found in a laundry basket, and investigators believed someone had changed pants before leaving.

The search. According to the affidavit, Salazar sent a family member a photo of himself at 10 p.m. Saturday showing a serious cut to his neck, apparently taken in a vehicle with the seat reclined. Police could not pin down his location by pinging his phone. They then asked OnStar, the GM emergency service in his 2025 white Chevrolet Silverado, for the truck’s location at about 12:22 a.m., citing the injuries shown in the photo.

The affidavit says Ignacio Police Chief Wes Crume spoke with Salazar in the back of a patrol car, and notes that another officer present did not hear a Miranda warning before the questioning. Salazar allegedly mentioned a knife on the floor without being prompted, the Herald reported.

What comes next. The CBI said it is still gathering evidence to determine whether there is probable cause for additional charges. Salazar has hearings in two other cases at 9:30 a.m. on November 4 at the La Plata County Courthouse. As of Tuesday afternoon, no filing date for the murder case was on the court docket, the Herald reported.

Sources

Natchitoches, Louisiana: Man Wanted Since January in Killing of Curtis Doty, 19, Arrested After Caller Reports Him Knocking on a Door

Historic brick buildings with iron balconies along Front Street in downtown Natchitoches
Downtown Natchitoches, Louisiana. Photo: amanderson2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Dorothy Street, Natchitoches, Louisiana; arrest on Deer Creek Road near Natchitoches

Legal status: Daren D. Vaughn, 24, of Natchitoches, was arrested on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, on a Natchitoches Police Department warrant and booked on charges of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. He is held at the LaSalle Corrections/Natchitoches Parish Detention Center. He is presumed innocent.

The killing. At about 10:44 p.m. on Saturday, January 10, 2026, Natchitoches police officers were sent to the 800 block of Dorothy Street for a report of a gunshot victim. They found Curtis Doty, 19, of Natchitoches, with several gunshot wounds and began giving aid while other responders arrived. The Natchitoches Parish Coroner’s Office pronounced him dead, according to police accounts reported by KSLA and the Natchitoches Parish Journal.

In January, police said detectives had spoken with several witnesses, which led to more evidence being collected at the scene and through a search warrant, and that the evidence would go to the crime lab, the Natchitoches Parish Journal reported. On January 29, police publicly named Vaughn, then 23, as a suspect wanted for second-degree murder, illegal use of a weapon and obstruction of justice. They described him as armed and dangerous and told the public not to try to detain him.

Nine months later, a suspicious person call. According to the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies were sent at about noon on October 27 to a suspicious person complaint in the 100 block of Deer Creek Road near Natchitoches. The caller told dispatchers that a man in a black shirt and blue shorts had been knocking on the door and acting aggressively, KALB reported.

Deputies found a man matching the description and identified him as Vaughn. A local warrants check and a National Crime Information Center check showed he was wanted by the city police in the second-degree murder investigation. He was taken into custody without incident and handed over to the police department for booking, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“This is an excellent example of how a concerned citizen reporting suspicious activity can make a significant difference in keeping our communities safe,” Sheriff Stuart Wright said, according to KALB. “Because of that call, our deputies were able to locate and apprehend an individual wanted in connection with a serious violent crime. We encourage citizens to remain vigilant and never hesitate to report suspicious persons or activity in their neighborhoods.” KTBS described the call as coming early Tuesday; the Sheriff’s Office account cited by KALB put it at about noon. The Sheriff’s Office said the police department would release more information about the investigation and the charges. Police have not publicly described a motive or said how Vaughn is alleged to have known Doty.

The charges and the case detective. When police named Vaughn as a suspect in late January, KSLA reported, he was wanted on three counts: second-degree murder, illegal use of a weapon and obstruction of justice. The booking charges reported after Tuesday’s arrest list second-degree murder and obstruction of justice; police have not said whether the weapon count will also be pursued. The case is assigned to Detective Charles Cassels of the Natchitoches Police Department, who asked in January for anyone with information to contact him at 318-357-3858. Tips can also go to the department at 318-352-8101 or anonymously to Natchitoches Crime Stoppers at 318-238-2388 or through the P3 Tips app; according to KSLA, tips leading to an arrest could earn a reward of up to $5,000.

Sources

Patillas, Puerto Rico: Man Extradited From Philadelphia and Jailed in January Shooting Death of Jadiel Rivas Laboy

Lago Patillas, a reservoir surrounded by green forested hills under a blue sky with white clouds
Lago Patillas, the reservoir in the municipality of Patillas, Puerto Rico. Photo: Guaraguao / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: PR-3, kilometer 126.4, barrio Cacao, Patillas, Puerto Rico

Legal status: Keimy Feliciano Colón Medina, 25, is charged with first degree murder and three weapons law violations. After his extradition from Philadelphia, he was booked into jail in Bayamón on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, when he did not post $2 million bail, El Nuevo Día reported. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

This week. Agents from the Guayama area Intelligence and Arrests Division served the arrest warrant on Tuesday afternoon at the San Juan courthouse, according to police as reported by El Nuevo Día on Wednesday, October 28. There, Judge Alfrida Tomey Imbert read him his legal warnings and ordered him jailed because he had not posted the bail set in the case, the newspaper said.

The killing. According to police, the shooting happened on January 28, 2026, on highway PR-3 at kilometer 126.4 in barrio Cacao, Patillas, which The Philadelphia Inquirer described as a beach town on the southeast corner of the island. Police allege that Colón Medina fired a gun several times at Jadiel A. Rivas Laboy, 22, who died at the scene, El Nuevo Día reported.

The warrant. On June 9, Judge Cynthia Vázquez Peña of the Guayama court found probable cause to arrest Colón Medina in his absence and set his bail at $2 million, El Nuevo Día reported at the time. Police said then that agents of the Arrests and Extraditions Division, working with the Guayama Criminal Investigations Corps, were trying to locate him.

The Philadelphia arrest. The U.S. Marshals Service said Colón Medina was arrested on Thursday, July 9, on the 500 block of East Godfrey Avenue in the Crescentville section of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The murder warrant had been assigned to the U.S. Marshals Puerto Rico Fugitive Task Force, and the arrest was carried out by the Marshals Service with Philadelphia police, according to the agency. He was later extradited to Puerto Rico to face the charges, El Nuevo Día reported.

The night of the shooting. A call to the 911 emergency system alerted police to a person with a gunshot wound at about 9:26 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, Radio Isla reported the next day. Officers who arrived found the young man dead on PR-3. According to the police report cited by Telemundo Puerto Rico and Radio Isla, he was riding a Veloce motorcycle along the highway when he was shot, and he died at the scene. In those first reports, police gave his first name as Yadriel; the later court and police accounts published by El Nuevo Día and ES Noticia PR use Jadiel. Agent Carlos De León Vázquez of the Homicide Division of the Guayama Criminal Investigations Corps took charge of the case with prosecutor Yohaira Rodríguez Pagán, Radio Isla reported. ES Noticia PR said agents Iris M. Green Luciano and Axel Rivera served the warrant this week under the supervision of Sergeants Harold Ortiz Amadeo and Eduardo Nazario Pérez.

Custody and the charges. ES Noticia PR, citing police, reported that the warrant issued by Judge Cynthia Vázquez of the Guayama court includes one count of first degree murder and three counts under the Weapons Law, and that Guayama intelligence and arrests agents took custody of Colón Medina at the San Juan courthouse before he was taken to the Bayamón jail. Telemundo 62 in Philadelphia gave his age as 28 at the time of the July arrest, while the U.S. Marshals Service and Puerto Rico outlets gave it as 25. The case will continue before the courts.

Sources

Phoenix, Arizona: Man Who Shot Officer Tyler Moldovan Eight Times Gets Two Life Sentences

The Maricopa County Superior Court tower in downtown Phoenix against a blue sky
The Superior Court of Maricopa County building in downtown Phoenix. Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA

Legal status: Essa Williams was convicted in August 2026 of the attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and aggravated assault. He was sentenced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

The sentence. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers sentenced Essa Williams on Tuesday afternoon to life in prison for the December 14, 2021, shooting of Phoenix police Officer Tyler Moldovan. The Arizona Republic reported that Myers imposed life with the possibility of release after 25 years, plus a 25-year sentence to be served consecutively, meaning Williams will not be eligible for release for at least 50 years. AZFamily described the sentence as two consecutive life terms plus 25 years.

The shooting. Moldovan was 22 and had been on the force for about nine months when he and his partner, Officer Zachary Johnson, answered reports of cars doing doughnuts near 19th Avenue and Camelback Road. They went into a nearby apartment complex to look for a matching car. The Republic reported that body-camera video shown to jurors showed Moldovan approaching Williams on an apartment patio, asking about weapons and telling him to show his hands, before Williams stood, pulled a handgun and opened fire. Prosecutors said he fired 15 rounds. Moldovan was hit eight times, including in the head.

“I turned around; I didn’t see my partner,” Johnson testified at the July trial, according to AZFamily. “I sprinted back to where I last saw my partner in the direction of the gunshots, and that’s where I see him on top of my partner.” The jury also convicted Williams of aggravated assault against Johnson, KTAR reported.

“Not one part of me.” Moldovan, now 26, used a walker to reach the stand. “Everything from my vision and my hearing to my sensation and balance, not one part of me was left unaffected. The burdens are so heavy. The problems are so big,” he said, according to FOX 10. He told the court he had spent the years since “relearning basic functions like blinking, breathing and eating,” the Republic reported. His father, Dan Moldovan, said doctors once gave his son a 1 percent chance of survival.

His wife, Chelsea, said she had become his full-time caregiver and spent their first Christmas as a married couple in an ICU recliner. “He deserves the maximum time because our life sentence started the minute he raised his gun,” she told the judge, according to AZFamily.

Forgiveness. His mother, Adina Moldovan, spoke directly to Williams. “I forgive you. We forgive you. We do not hate you, not because what you did was acceptable; it was not. Not because the pain is gone; it is not. Not because there shouldn’t be consequences; there must be,” she said, as quoted by FOX 10. Williams’ mother, Erika Williams, asked the judge for mercy. “Essa is more than the charges against him,” she said, the Republic reported. She was sentenced in 2023 to 10 months in federal prison for illegally giving her son a firearm, though KTAR and AZFamily reported that the guns at issue in those cases were not used in the shooting.

The defense. In a speech of nearly 20 minutes, Williams told the judge he had acted out of fear and in self-defense. “I watched him reach for his weapon and me to defend my life,” he said, according to AZFamily. He said he was sorry it had happened. His attorney, Dave Erlichman, called the hearing “a police religious ceremony,” the Republic reported. Myers said he was “a little disappointed” in Williams’ remarks. “This was a public trial,” the judge said. “Certainly the jury saw a very different set of events than what was described by Mr. Williams.”

Reaction. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said she had been one of the prosecutors called to the scene. “It is amazing that he was not killed,” she said, according to KTAR, adding that Williams, who was on probation for felonies at the time, “should not have been on the streets.” Phoenix police Chief Matt Giordano said, “Today, the man responsible is finally facing the consequences of his actions, and justice has been served.”

Sources

Pine Bluff, Arkansas: Man Found Wrapped in a Tarp Behind a Vacant Home Identified as Dirk Hartwick, 56; Second Suspect Arrested, Third Sought

The white Jefferson County Courthouse in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with a clock tower and gold dome
Jefferson County Courthouse, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Photo: Brandonrush / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: South Orlando Street, Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas

Legal status: Aubrey Smith, 47, arrested Thursday, October 22, 2026, is held at the W.C. “Dub” Brassell Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree murder, with a $500,000 cash bond set at a probable cause hearing on Friday, October 23. His arraignment is scheduled for December 28. Keri Young, 39, was arrested on Monday, October 26; her specific charges were not immediately available, The Pine Bluff Commercial reported. Heather Shepherd, 34, is wanted. All are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The victim. Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley confirmed to The Pine Bluff Commercial that the man found on October 22 was Dirk Hartwick, 56, of Pine Bluff. Police said his body had been in the backyard of a vacant South Orlando Street home for some time, wrapped in a tarp and covered with leaves and wood, KATV reported.

The tip. According to court documents obtained by the Commercial, the investigation began on October 19, when a woman contacted the Pine Bluff Police Department and said her incarcerated boyfriend had information about a homicide. She initially sought his release in exchange for the information, the documents say. The jailed man directed police to a property on Orlando Street and told them the victim had bleach poured down his throat before his throat was cut. He also described a woman he said was involved, and told investigators the killing may have stemmed from a dispute over pornographic DVDs. None of those allegations has been tested in court.

The search. On October 21, detectives found a woman matching the description outside a FoodSmart store. She acknowledged knowing about an incident at the Orlando Street property, told investigators about the property’s former owner, who died in July, and another man who had been staying there, and gave investigators an address on West 25th Avenue where she said she was staying, according to the documents. That evening officers searched vacant homes on Orlando Street, found pornographic material in one and noticed a strong odor of decomposition near a pond, but darkness stopped the search.

Detectives returned shortly before noon on October 22, police said. The property’s caretaker told them he had called 911 several times about suspicious activity and a smell, and had seen a blue tarp. In the backyard, investigators found a blue tarp with what appeared to be a shoe protruding from one end. Inside was Hartwick’s body, with apparent injuries to the head and neck that investigators said were consistent with what they had been told.

The arrest. Detectives then went to the West 25th Avenue address, where they found three men, including Smith. The woman they had spoken to the day before fled through the back of the house as officers entered, the documents say. Smith declined to give a statement. Two other people told police they had overheard Smith and the woman discussing their involvement, and alleged that Hartwick had been beaten with a baseball bat, had bleach poured down his throat and had his throat cut, the Commercial reported.

The names. Police and KATV spell Young’s first name Keri; the Commercial and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette spell it Kerri. The day before Young’s arrest, on October 26, police had asked the public to help find both women, saying each had outstanding warrants unrelated to the homicide and was believed to be homeless, the Commercial reported; the department did not specify their alleged roles. Shepherd remains wanted, police said; no charge against her in the killing has been reported. Anyone with information is asked to call the detective tip line at 870-730-2106, the detective office at 870-730-2090 or the dispatch center at 870-541-5300, THV11 reported.

Sources

Queens, New York: Ex-Boyfriend Charged With Murder of Seraphina Pereira, 35, Found Shot in Shallow Grave in Rockaway Park

Aerial view of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens, with the beach and ocean on the left and housing and bay on the right
The Rockaway peninsula, Queens, from the air. Photo: Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Rockaway Community Park near Beach 58th Street and Almeda Avenue, Edgemere, Queens, New York City; the victim lived in NYCHA’s Ocean Bay Apartments on Beach 54th Street

Legal status: Rogelio Lozano-Garita, 26, of Queens, was charged on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence, the NYPD said. He was taken into custody on Monday, October 26, and was brought to Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday for arraignment. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent. Diario al Día reported that he said he was innocent as officers walked him out of the 101st Precinct.

The disappearance. Seraphina Pereira, 35, was reported missing from her home in the Ocean Bay Apartments on the morning of October 19, the NYPD said, according to Gothamist. Law enforcement sources told the New York Post she was last seen alive that day with Lozano-Garita at her Beach 54th Street home. Family members posted flyers and searched for her, ABC7 reported.

The discovery. Her body was found just before 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, buried in a shallow grave near a cricket field in Rockaway Community Park, about half a mile from her home, officials said. On Monday the city’s chief medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and said she had been shot in the head, neck and torso, Gothamist reported. ABC7 initially reported a single gunshot wound to the head.

What investigators allege. According to law enforcement sources quoted by the New York Post, video shows Lozano-Garita pushing a wagon loaded with large garbage bags out of Pereira’s building about two hours after the pair were seen together, and later pulling the wagon into the wooded area at Beach 58th Street and Almeda Avenue. Diario al Día, citing the New York Daily News, put the timing at about 2 a.m. for their entry and about 5 a.m. for his exit, and said footage appears to show him leaving the wooded area roughly 30 minutes later without the cart. None of this has been tested in court.

The arrest. On Monday night police and hostage negotiators went to the Ocean Bay complex looking for a man connected to the case, ABC7 reported; the apartment was empty, and he was found and detained nearby. Diario al Día reported, citing amNewYork, that Lozano-Garita had initially reported Pereira missing himself.

Her family. Pereira was a mother. Reports differ on the details: Gothamist and a neighbour quoted by ABC7 say she had three children, Diario al Día says four, and outlets differ on whether Lozano-Garita is the father of one or two of them. Her sister, Davonna Gray, 41, told the Daily News that Pereira was trying to end the relationship, according to Diario al Día, and described her as devoted to her children and fond of dancing and travel. Gray, who lives in Albany, travelled to Queens when she learned her sister was missing and joined the search, including at a beach Pereira liked to visit. The family had lost Pereira’s mother four years ago, and the father of her two older children died of a heart condition about six years ago, Gray said. Police said there was no record of earlier domestic incidents between the two, Diario al Día reported, citing the Daily News.

The defence view. His brother, Carlos Lozano, 27, came to court to support him and told reporters he believes his brother is innocent, Diario al Día reported. He said the last time he saw the couple together was at a child’s birthday party in early October, and that they seemed normal. Lozano-Garita himself said he was innocent as officers walked him from the 101st Precinct to court on Tuesday, the outlet reported.

Help. In New York City, the 24-hour Hope Hotline for people affected by domestic violence is 1-800-621-4673.

Sources

Rapid City, South Dakota: Two Men Sentenced in Chain and Boot Beating Death of Michael Ladeaux, 24

The stone Pennington County Courthouse on St. Joseph Street in Rapid City
The Pennington County Courthouse in Rapid City, where both men were sentenced. Photo: Jeffrey Beall / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Location: Oxford Square Apartments, Rapid City, Pennington County, South Dakota, United States

Legal status: Joshua Thunder Hawk, 25, sentenced to 40 years and Dustin Yatsayte, 35, to 15 years, each for aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter under plea deals. Charges against a third man were dismissed without prejudice.

“No justice is being served here today,” one of Michael Ladeaux’s grandfathers told a Pennington County judge. The court sentenced the two men who beat the 24-year-old to death anyway, within the terms of plea deals his family opposed.

Circuit Judge Joshua Hendrickson called the killing “senseless” and carried out in a “brutal fashion,” the Rapid City Journal reported, but found the agreements fair. He sentenced Joshua Thunder Hawk, 25, to 40 years in prison and Dustin Yatsayte, 35, to 15 years. KOTA reported that each man got the maximum his deal allowed. The separate hearings took place at the Pennington County Courthouse; the sentences were reported on Oct. 27.

The attack. Police found Ladeaux with severe injuries in a hallway at the Oxford Square Apartments around 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2025, after an assault call. He died at the hospital. Assistant Attorney General Olivia Siglin told the court it was not a split-second decision but an ongoing attack, with both men kicking him and striking him with a chain in the face and abdomen. Ladeaux’s DNA was found on both men’s clothing and on a chain Yatsayte was carrying, she said.

The state named Thunder Hawk the primary aggressor. Witness accounts of Yatsayte’s role conflicted, Siglin said: some said he hit Ladeaux several times, others once, and one told officers he tried to stop the beating. In his plea, Yatsayte admitted kicking Ladeaux at least once, KOTA reported.

The deals. Both men were indicted for aiding and abetting second-degree murder, which carries mandatory life in South Dakota. In September, both pleaded to the lesser manslaughter count. Thunder Hawk’s deal also wiped out a burglary charge and a dozen petty theft and trespass warrants in exchange for restitution, and capped the state’s request at 40 years. Yatsayte, who was on parole for 2023 and 2020 Minnehaha County convictions at the time, saw a habitual offender enhancement dropped and a 15-year cap.

Thunder Hawk’s lawyer, Todd Love, said his client struggles with alcohol and was too drunk that night to remember much, and asked why the state wanted 40 years for one man and 15 for the other. Yatsayte’s lawyer, Ellery Grey, said his client was candid with police from the start.

A third man, Tyler Ironboy, 31, was charged at first, but the case was dismissed without prejudice. Siglin told the Journal there was not enough evidence to prove he contributed to the death.

The family. Siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents filled the courtroom. Ladeaux’s sister said he dreamed of starting a family and a food truck business. “It’s really hard watching a young man with so much potential be taken so soon in such a violent way,” relative Mike Red Cloud said. Dean LoveWar, a father figure to him, told the court, according to KOTA, “I just ask for justice today.” Another relative questioned whether prosecutors would have tried harder for a victim who was “blonde-headed and with blue eyes.” The state did not respond to that remark in court.

Sources

Round Top, Texas: Man Sought in Killing of Antiques Dealer Arik Lerner Forces Rideshare Driver to Church at Gunpoint, Dies After Standoff

The restored yellow and red wooden Henkel apothecary building on Henkel Square in Round Top, Texas
Henkel Square, Round Top, Texas. Photo: Ernest Mettendorf / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Location: 2200 block of South State Highway 237 and St. Martin’s Catholic Church on State Highway 237, near Round Top, Fayette County, Texas

Legal status: No one has been charged. The person investigators wanted to question, a 56-year-old Houston man, died by suicide on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at the end of an armed standoff, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said. He has not been named, pending notification of his family, and he was never charged or tried. The homicide investigation remains open.

The killing. At about 7:44 a.m. on Thursday, October 22, deputies were called to a report of an unresponsive man lying in a driveway in the 2200 block of South State Highway 237, north of Round Top, Sheriff Keith Korenek said, according to CBS Austin and KBTX. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Fayette County Record, which put the location near the intersection of SH 237 and Hills Road and the time at about 7:48 a.m., reported that he was Arik Lerner, an antiques dealer from San Diego, California. The sheriff’s office described him as a 59-year-old California man. An autopsy by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office found a preliminary cause of death of a gunshot wound, and the death was ruled a homicide. Texas Rangers James Sears and Eric Zane were assigned to the case with the sheriff’s office, the Record reported.

The ride. On Tuesday, investigators learned that the 56-year-old man they wanted to question was in Houston and planned to travel by rideshare to a historic church near Round Top, the sheriff’s office said. After dropping him off, the rideshare driver contacted authorities and reported that the man had held him at gunpoint and forced him to drive from Houston to the church along State Highway 237, according to KBTX. The driver was released and was not physically hurt.

The standoff. Deputies found the armed man inside St. Martin’s Catholic Church, KBTX reported. Texas Rangers and a regional Special Response Team of tactical officers from Fayette, Austin and Colorado counties joined them. Negotiators talked with him for several hours before the standoff ended when he took his own life, the sheriff’s office said. Korenek said there was no danger to the public. Fayette County EMS, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Round Top and Warrenton fire departments assisted.

The church. KBTX reported that St. Martin’s is widely known as the world’s smallest active Catholic church, seating about 20 people in six rows of pews, and has been a place of worship since 1888. The original church was established as a mission of St. John the Baptist Church in Fayetteville, and the current chapel was built in 1915 from building materials left over from a school project there, the station said.

Unanswered. Investigators have not disclosed the man’s relationship to Lerner or a possible motive, KBTX reported, and his identity has not been released pending notification of his next of kin. The Fayette County Record reported that Texas Rangers James Sears and Eric Zane are investigating Lerner’s death with the Sheriff’s Office. Round Top is known nationally for its spring and fall antiques shows, the station noted.

Other accounts. The Houston Chronicle, citing the Texas State Historical Association, described St. Martin’s as one of the smallest active Catholic churches in America and said it was constructed in 1888, a date KBTX gave for the start of worship there rather than for the current chapel. The Chronicle reported that the sheriff’s account came in a Facebook post by Korenek and that State Highway 237 was closed to the public during the standoff and reopened Tuesday night. Officials gave no further detail about how the man died, the Chronicle said. ABC13 in Houston reported that detectives had identified the 56-year-old as a person of interest during the investigation, and that the inquiry remains ongoing.

Sources

San Francisco: Driver With Prior DUI Convictions Charged With Murder After Pedestrian Struck in Crosswalk Dies

Color coded district map of central San Francisco showing SoMa, Civic Center and the Financial District
Districts of central San Francisco. The Hall of Justice, where the arraignment was scheduled, is on Bryant Street in SoMa. Map: Stilfehler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Moscow Street and France Avenue, near Crocker Amazon Playground, San Francisco, California

Legal status: David Maldonado Sanabria, 29, of San Francisco, is charged with second-degree murder, driving under the influence causing a fatality with reckless disregard for human life, fleeing the scene of an injury collision, fleeing the scene of a fatal collision, and violating probation, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. He was scheduled to be arraigned that afternoon at the Hall of Justice. Prosecutors are seeking to hold him without bail. He is presumed innocent.

The crash. At about 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, San Francisco police were called to Moscow Street and France Avenue on a report of a hit-and-run involving a pedestrian, the San Francisco Police Department said. Paramedics took the victim, a 43-year-old man, to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. SFGate, citing Bay City News, said the intersection is near the Crocker Amazon Playground; SFist placed it in the Excelsior neighborhood.

Prosecutors said Maldonado Sanabria’s truck hit the man in the crosswalk and the man fell backward onto the street. Maldonado Sanabria then allegedly slowed, looked down at him and accelerated away. SFist reported that this account came from a witness. That witness chased the truck and photographed its license plate, Jenkins said, according to KRON4.

The arrest. Officers obtained a photo of the fleeing vehicle’s license plate, which SFist said a witness had taken. The police department’s Real Time Investigation Center ran the plate through automated license plate readers, and a short time later plainclothes officers found the vehicle about three miles from the crash and detained the driver without incident, police said. Officers carried out a DUI investigation and booked him into San Francisco County Jail.

From DUI to murder. The man died in the hospital while Maldonado Sanabria was still in custody. Police said they were notified of the death on October 19. SFGate, citing Bay City News, reported he died on October 18. His name had not been released by the Medical Examiner’s Office, SFGate reported.

Investigators, working with the District Attorney’s Office, found that Maldonado Sanabria had multiple prior DUI convictions, police said. Jenkins said at a news conference on Tuesday that he has two, and that those prior convictions led to the murder charge, SFist reported. Police said they booked him on the murder count on October 22, citing the fatality, the prior convictions and toxicology results. Police cited People v. Watson, a 1981 case, and described the murder count as driving under the influence and causing a death with conscious disregard for human life. The booking also listed gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the combined influence of drugs and alcohol causing injury. The DA’s DUI count carries allegations that his blood alcohol level was over 0.15 percent and that he refused a chemical test, KRON4 reported.

“This is a tragedy,” Jenkins said, according to SFist. “This man was just over 40 years old who died. And lost his life just walking down the street.” She said her office would ask that he be held because of the “significant risk to public safety” he poses, and urged people celebrating Halloween, which falls on a Saturday this year, to use transit, a rideshare or a sober driver.

Jodie Medeiros, executive director of the advocacy group Walk San Francisco, said in a statement last week that streets along Crocker Amazon Park and around nearby Guadalupe Elementary School are too dangerous for pedestrians, SFGate reported. “Too many drivers speed on these streets, and pedestrians don’t have enough protection when crossing these wide streets,” Medeiros said.

Sources

San Pablo, California: Man Found Dead in His Car Identified by Family as Luis “Luigi” Ramirez, 33

The green arched Welcome City of San Pablo sign spanning San Pablo Avenue between two cream towers under a partly cloudy sky
The welcome arch over San Pablo Avenue in San Pablo, California. Photo: LPS.1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: 1600 block of 16th Street near Sutter Avenue, San Pablo, Contra Costa County, California, United States

Legal status: No one has been arrested or charged. San Pablo police are investigating the death as a homicide and have not named any suspects. Police have not released the man’s name or a cause of death; his identity comes from family, friends and his employer.

What police found. Officers were sent to the 1600 block of 16th Street at about 2:27 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, 2026, after a report of a man who was possibly dead inside a parked vehicle, according to the San Pablo Police Department as reported by Richmondside and ABC7. The block sits near Sutter Avenue, just east of Rumrill Boulevard and a couple of blocks from Downer Elementary, Richmondside reported.

“Upon arrival, officers located a 33-year-old San Pablo resident inside a red Toyota,” San Pablo Public Information Officer James Laughter wrote in a Monday press release quoted by Richmondside. “The male was unresponsive and had apparent injuries.” Officers and Contra Costa County fire personnel gave him medical aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not said how he was hurt, Bay Area Brief reported.

The victim. Family and friends told ABC7 that the man was Luis Ramirez, who went by “Luigi,” and that he moved to San Pablo from El Salvador 14 years ago. Richmondside, which published his identification on Tuesday, October 27, reported that social media posts named him as an immigrant from El Salvador who attended Iglesia Pentecostal Vida Nueva in Richmond and worked at Balompie Sports Bar and Grill, a Salvadoran restaurant that opened in September in Richmond’s Hilltop mall neighborhood.

Balompie posted a tribute on Instagram on Tuesday. “His joy, kindness, and dedication left a special mark on our team,” the post reads, according to Richmondside. “He was a hardworking person with a big heart, always wearing a friendly smile that endeared him to his coworkers and our customers alike. His passing reminds us that it does not take a long time to leave a lasting impact on the lives of others.” A coworker, Amber Galvez, told ABC7 he was “full of joy, full of life” and was already going to church. “It’s very unfortunate, everything that has happened, especially the way that it happened,” she said.

His church also mourned him on Facebook, Richmondside reported. “It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the passing of our beloved brother and friend, Luigi Ramirez, who was a part of our congregation and whom we will remember with great affection,” the church wrote, alongside photos that appeared to show his baptism. Kate Rauch, a Richmondside reporter who met him briefly while writing about the restaurant’s September opening, said in an email, “He was so warm and friendly, smiling at me.”

Support for the family. A GoFundMe campaign posted Tuesday by Maria Ramirez, who said she is his sister, aims to raise $26,000 for funeral costs. She wrote that he was well known to many people in San Pablo and Richmond and wrote, “Sadly, someone took his life in a very tragic way, and one is never prepared for this kind of pain and the process that follows,” Richmondside reported. Food sales were organized to support the family, including a pupusa sale at the church at 3725 Macdonald Avenue, and the restaurant planned a benefit for his family on Wednesday, ABC7 reported.

Appeal. Police ask anyone with information to call the San Pablo Police Department at 510-215-3150.

Sources

Springwater, New York: Man Charged With Murder in Shotgun Killing of Girlfriend Shannon Knapp; Sheriff Calls Case “Complicated”

Red brick Livingston County Courthouse with white columns and cupola behind a lawn
Livingston County Courthouse, New York. Photo: Jim.henderson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Straight Road, Town of Springwater, Livingston County, New York

Legal status: Christopher H. Smith, 26, of Springwater, is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree criminal use of a firearm, both felonies, and second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor. He was arraigned and is in the Livingston County Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday, October 29. He is presumed innocent.

The shooting. At about 11:07 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, Livingston County sheriff’s deputies were sent to a home on Straight Road in Springwater, in the Finger Lakes region, for a report that someone had been shot. They found Shannon Knapp, 42, who lived at the home, outside the house. She had been shot and was dead at the scene, the Sheriff’s Office said.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, an altercation had taken place outside the home involving three other people, and during it a 12-gauge shotgun “had been introduced” and discharged, striking Knapp. Investigators worked through the night and the next day, and on Monday, October 26, arrested Smith at his home. Sheriff Thomas Dougherty described Smith and Knapp as boyfriend and girlfriend. Investigators also recovered weapons believed to have been involved, the office said.

“Not a whodunit.” At a news conference on Tuesday morning, October 27, with District Attorney Ashley Williams, Dougherty said four people were at the home that night: Knapp, Smith, Knapp’s roommate and Knapp’s estranged husband, the Evening Tribune reported. Smith and the estranged husband left before deputies arrived. The husband went to the Sheriff’s Office voluntarily to speak with deputies soon after, Dougherty said. Two people who were there witnessed the shooting.

“This one is a complicated one,” Dougherty said, according to the Tribune, adding that it was not a “whodunit.” He told 13WHAM that having witnesses who were involved helps the investigation and prosecution, and that more details would come out as the case moves forward. He called it an isolated incident with no threat to the public. “It is absolutely a big deal,” he told the station. “We lost a life. And any time we lose a life, we’re going to do everything we can to have justice served for them.” Neither official disclosed a motive, citing the active investigation.

Dougherty told the Tribune no other charges were pending. He told 13WHAM that the shooting remains under investigation and further charges are possible. Williams said that if new evidence warrants more charges, her office and the Sheriff’s Office would decide at that time.

Custody. Smith was arraigned in Livingston County’s centralized arraignment court before Town of Springwater Justice Johnson. The Sheriff’s Office said he was remanded without bail. 13WHAM, however, reported that the District Attorney’s Office said bail was set at $500,000 cash or a $2 million partially secured bond.

The complaint and the grand jury. WHEC reported that the criminal complaint also accuses Smith of pointing a gun at Justin Knapp, which underlies the menacing count. According to WHEC, Dougherty said the roommate was the other person at the scene when deputies arrived and was the one who called 911. “Friends and family of Shannon are going to have questions,” Dougherty said, adding that investigators must protect the integrity of the case so that justice is served for her. Williams said she could not discuss a motive because a grand jury presentation is still pending, WHEC reported. The station said Smith is held without bail after an arraignment on Monday night, and that his next court appearance is set for Thursday in Springwater. The Evening Tribune described that Thursday, October 29, appearance as a preliminary hearing. The Sheriff’s Office said its Criminal Investigations Division, Forensic Identification Unit and Patrol Division worked the case with the District Attorney’s Office.

Sources

Syracuse, New York: Man Returned From South Carolina Arraigned in Warner Avenue Killing of Deron McGee That Also Wounded a 10-Year-Old

Domed neoclassical Onondaga County Courthouse with a wide stone staircase in Syracuse
The Onondaga County Courthouse, Syracuse. Photo: Andre Carrotflower / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: 200 block of Warner Avenue, South Side, Syracuse, New York

Legal status: Divinetae Toatley, 23, of Syracuse, has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Deron McGee, 39. Syracuse.com reported that he was brought to the Onondaga County Justice Center jail on Monday night, October 26, 2026, after his return from South Carolina, was arraigned on Tuesday, October 27, and is held without bail, according to Crime Talk Network’s account of that report. A plea was not reported. A second man, Shaquan Hyppolite, 27, of Syracuse, faces the same charges. Both are presumed innocent.

The shooting. Syracuse police responded to the 200 block of Warner Avenue at about 3:02 p.m. on April 8, 2026, for reports of gunshots, CNY Central reported. Officers found McGee with a serious gunshot wound and a 10-year-old boy with what police described as a minor gunshot-related injury. Both were taken to Upstate University Hospital, where McGee died despite lifesaving efforts; the boy was treated and listed in stable condition. A criminal complaint filed in Syracuse City Court says police found 18 shell casings and several projectiles embedded in the ground, and that at least one vehicle was hit, syracuse.com reported, according to Crime Talk Network.

The arrests. Police said homicide detectives conducted numerous interviews, canvassed the neighborhood and the city, and executed several search warrants before identifying Toatley as a second suspect, after nearly six months of investigation. A U.S. Marshals Service task force took him into custody on Wednesday, October 7, in Columbia, South Carolina, police said. Hyppolite had been arrested earlier by police in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was extradited in June; he is held at the Jamesville correctional facility, according to Crime Talk Network’s summary of syracuse.com and CNY Central reporting. Police said the investigation remains ongoing.

Conflicting details. Reports in May, when police were still searching for him, spelled the accused’s first name Divintae and gave his age as 22; October reports use Divinetae and 23. Accounts of the wounds also vary: CNY Central said in May that McGee was shot in the chest, after reporting a wound to the upper body in April, and syracuse.com reported that the boy’s leg was grazed by a bullet, according to Crime Talk Network’s summary.

The scene. Callers told the Onondaga County 911 Center that a group of people ran after the shots and that a man was seen fleeing with a gun, syracuse.com reported, according to the same summary. That is a dispatch account, not an identification of the shooter. Sgt. Thomas Blake, a Syracuse police spokesperson, confirmed the Marshals task force arrest, the paper reported. Police said evidence recovered during the investigation was processed and analyzed, and that the investigation remains ongoing, CNY Central reported.

The victim. Syracuse police released McGee’s name the day after the shooting, identifying him as Deron L. McGee, 39, of Syracuse, CNY Central reported on April 9. He had been shot in the upper body, the station said, and members of the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office were inside the taped off scene at Warner and Webster avenues that afternoon. When police announced the first arrest in May, CNY Central reported that McGee was the father of Deron McGee Jr., a 15-year-old who was shot and killed in Syracuse on August 12, 2024, a separate case that is still awaiting trial.

The first arrest. Police announced Hyppolite’s arrest in May, saying he had been found in New Jersey and taken into custody by the Jersey City Police Department, and that he was being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending extradition, CNY Central reported. At the time, police released a photograph of Toatley and asked for help finding him. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Syracuse Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 315-442-5222.

Sources

Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico: Woman Convicted of Killing Her Partner in the Dominican Republic Arrested Working as a Caregiver

An old steel truss bridge among trees and green lawns in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
A historic bridge in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. Photo: Norma Arbelo Irizarry / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5

Location: Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico; the original killing took place in Hostos, Duarte province, Dominican Republic

Legal status: Ana Tahiri Acevedo Brito was convicted in the Dominican Republic in December 2022 and sentenced to 15 years for the killing of Willy Rafael Cruz Zapata. She was arrested in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. She is also suspected of financial exploitation of older adults in Puerto Rico; no charges on that suspicion have been announced, and she is presumed innocent of it.

The arrest. Agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Ana Tahiri Acevedo Brito, 28, in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, working with the U.S. Marshals Service and Enforcement and Removal Operations, the agency announced. “WANTED FOR MURDER. LOCATED IN PUERTO RICO. ARRESTED,” HSI San Juan posted on social media, saying she was wanted on a murder arrest warrant in the Dominican Republic and was the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice. El Nuevo Norte and Presencia reported that she was detained in Trujillo Alto.

According to HSI, Acevedo Brito entered Puerto Rico illegally after evading Dominican authorities and found work as a caregiver in a private home. The agency said she is also suspected of the financial exploitation of vulnerable older people, though it gave no further details, Diario Libre reported. KLK New York noted that the announcement did not say how many people may have been affected, what amounts were involved, or whether charges have been filed.

HSI San Juan said in its statement, reported by Primera Hora, that it continues to work with federal and international agencies to find and arrest people wanted for serious crimes. The agency urged families and businesses to check the background and work authorization of anyone they hire for their homes.

The killing in Hostos. In December 2022, the First Collegiate Court of Duarte province sentenced Ana Tahiri Acevedo to 15 years in prison for killing her partner, Willy Rafael Cruz Zapata, according to a report published at the time by elCaribe and republished by Dajabón 24 Horas. The case file said that on May 21, 2021, Cruz Zapata was spending time in front of a cafeteria on Calle Principal in the La Isleta area of the municipality of Hostos when she arrived dressed in black and wearing a wig. Catching him off guard, she wounded him with a bladed weapon, and he later died of the wound.

She ran, and as she ran she lost the wig, which allowed local residents to identify her, the report said. She was later arrested in the Seiba de los Pájaros section of the municipality of Villa Rivas, where the weapon was also recovered. The court ordered her to serve the sentence at the prison in Hermanas Mirabal province.

A fugitive since 2025. KLK New York reported that a wanted notice issued by the Dominican National Police’s Central Investigations Directorate (DICRIM) lists Acevedo Brito as convicted of voluntary homicide of Cruz Zapata under Articles 295 and 304 of the Dominican Penal Code. According to that notice, the Sentence Enforcement Court of the San Francisco de Macorís judicial department issued an order on May 6, 2025, for her capture so she could serve the sentence.

It is not yet known how or when she left the Dominican Republic, how she reached Puerto Rico, or when she will be returned. El Seis reported that she remains in federal custody while her legal situation and eventual transfer are decided. A Red Notice is a request to police worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action, Primera Hora noted. ENN said it was not yet clear whether the 2022 sentence had become final or whether appeals had been filed.

Sources

Zapata, Texas: Charge Upgraded to Murder After 16-Year-Old Abigail Lizette Flores Dies of Stab Wounds

The tan and brick Zapata County Courthouse with an arched entrance with the United States and Texas banners flying in front, under a cloudy sky
The Zapata County Courthouse in Zapata, Texas. Photo: Billy Hathorn / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: 2400 block of Carla Street, Zapata, Zapata County, Texas, United States

Legal status: Francisco Javier Torres Jr., 20, is charged with murder in the death of Abigail Lizette Flores, 16. He was taken into custody immediately after the stabbing and was first charged with aggravated assault of a family or household member with a weapon causing serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony, Captain Andrew Treviño of the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office said, according to El Tejano. The sheriff’s office announced on the morning of Tuesday, October 27, 2026, that the girl had died and that the charge had been upgraded to murder, the Laredo Morning Times reported. Torres is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The victim. Abigail Lizette Flores lived in Laredo and had traveled to Zapata before she was stabbed, her mother and aunt told the Laredo Morning Times. Her grandmother, María Flores, told El Diario de Nuevo Laredo that Abigail was very sweet, always cheerful, and loved to cook. Her obituary lists visitation and funeral services in Laredo on November 2 and 3, with burial on November 3 at Laredo City Cemetery, the Laredo Morning Times reported.

The stabbing. According to the sheriff’s office, as reported by the Laredo Morning Times, Flores was stabbed in the 2400 block of Carla Street in Zapata at about 8:18 p.m. on Sunday, October 25. KGNS reported the stabbing happened around 2 p.m. that day. Deputies found her with life-threatening injuries. She was taken to a hospital in Laredo and then flown by helicopter to a hospital in San Antonio, El Diario de Nuevo Laredo and KGNS reported. She was initially listed in critical but stable condition, the Laredo Morning Times said.

Her final hours. Her family told KGNS that she was stabbed multiple times, about 18 times by their count. An uncle, Juan Flores, told the station that detectives said she had wounds to her cheek, nose, hands, neck, chest and abdomen. He said she died after surgery that began around 4 a.m. Monday. Her grandmother told El Diario de Nuevo Laredo that doctors first said the surgery had gone well, and that minutes later she went into cardiac arrest and her heart stopped. María Flores said Abigail had also lost vital signs for about 45 minutes during the helicopter flight and was revived before surgery began at about 4:30 a.m. She also said her granddaughter was not treated until about 6 or 7 p.m., a timeline authorities have not confirmed.

The relationship. The sheriff’s office has confirmed only that the victim and the suspect knew each other, KGNS and El Tejano reported. Her mother and aunt told the Laredo Morning Times that Torres was her boyfriend. Juan Flores told KGNS that the family had noticed bruises and signs of jealousy later in the relationship and that the two argued the night before the stabbing. Another uncle, Jorge Flores, told El Diario de Nuevo Laredo that the couple had been having problems, though authorities have not confirmed that. These are the family’s accounts and have not been tested in court.

The investigation. The Texas Department of Public Safety’s Texas Rangers are assisting the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office. A motive has not been released, and authorities have not said what led to the stabbing, the Laredo Morning Times reported.

Support for the family. The family set up a GoFundMe campaign for funeral expenses. Its page says Abigail’s family is grieving deeply and that everything happened so suddenly, the Laredo Morning Times reported. Relatives also planned a plate sale on Saturday, October 31, starting at 11 a.m. at 820 Guadalupe Street in Laredo, according to El Diario de Nuevo Laredo. Sister Rosemary Welsh of Casa de Misericordia, a Laredo group that works with abuse survivors, urged anyone in a troubled relationship to seek help from the organization, police, the sheriff or a school, the paper reported.

Sources

Calgary, Alberta: Shaun Folk Guilty of Second-Degree Murder in Christopher Stevenson’s Death

The glass towers of the Calgary Courts Centre seen from the east
The Calgary Courts Centre, where the four-week jury trial was heard. Photo: Ultimateshot / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: East Village, Calgary, and an acreage near Balzac, Rocky View County, Alberta, Canada

Legal status: Shaun Folk convicted of second-degree murder; Ali El-Sayed convicted of accessory after the fact to murder. Verdicts returned the evening of Oct. 26. A date for sentencing submissions is to be set on Nov. 13. Kenedee Taylor previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

A Calgary mother sobbed in the gallery as jurors found the man who lured her son to a downtown condo guilty of his murder, CBC News reported. Shaun Folk buried his head in his hands.

The jury in the Court of King’s Bench convicted Folk of second-degree murder in the death of Christopher Stevenson, who disappeared in the early hours of Aug. 24, 2023. His co-accused, Ali El-Sayed, was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact for helping move and destroy the body. The verdicts came on Monday, Oct. 26, after a day of deliberations, the Herald reported.

A debt in a stolen car ring. The men knew each other through crime. Folk and Stevenson were involved in a scheme to steal cars and change their vehicle identification numbers before reselling them, CBC reported, and Stevenson owed Folk about $1,500. The Calgary Herald reported that Stevenson went to Folk’s East Village condo around 4 a.m. to talk about Folk’s worry that he was messing up the operation.

Once inside, Folk beat Stevenson and ordered that he be given a “hot shot” of fentanyl, according to the evidence summarized by CBC. Several people were in the unit. They wrapped Stevenson’s body in garbage bags and scrubbed blood from the floors and walls.

Kenedee Taylor, a third person charged in the case, had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The Herald reported that she admitted preparing the fentanyl syringe at Folk’s request but could not inject it, and that another person in the condo completed the injection. On the stand, Taylor said she was high on fentanyl herself and did not know what happened in the unit. In her closing, Crown prosecutor Katherine Love conceded she could not prove exactly how Stevenson died, only that it was at Folk’s hands. Jurors accepted that argument.

The burn barrel. Within hours, El-Sayed arrived in a rented minivan, CBC reported. He and Folk drove the body to rural land in Rocky View County, which the Herald placed near Balzac, and burned it in a large cement burn barrel. Folk filmed part of it on his phone. In the recording, later found by Calgary Police Service investigators, he can be heard taunting the dead man, saying “barbeque” and, among other things, “How do you like that? Goof.”

Folk was charged about a year after the killing.

What comes next. Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence in Canada, with parole eligibility set by the judge somewhere between 10 and 25 years. Justice Shane Parker will hear arguments on that range from defence lawyers Pawel Milczarek and Rahul Nanda and prosecutors Love and Donna Spaner. The Herald reported that a date for those submissions will be set on Nov. 13. The jury finished with 11 members after one juror was excused for illness on the final day.

Before sending them home, Justice Parker thanked the jurors. “You’ve made a significant contribution to the administration of justice in this province,” he said, as quoted by CBC. “The system works much better when we have people in the community as part of our justice system.”

Sources

Oshawa, Ontario: Mark Gordon Gets Life, No Parole for 21 Years, for Killing Andrieana and Patrick Montgomery

King Street looking east in Oshawa, Ontario, with office buildings and a bank on a sunny day
King Street, Oshawa, Ontario. Photo: Frunze103 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: Glenforest Street, Oshawa, Ontario; sentencing in an Oshawa courtroom

Legal status: Mark Gordon, 33, who pleaded guilty in September 2025 to two counts of second-degree murder, was sentenced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, by Justice Michelle Fuerst to two concurrent life sentences with no eligibility for parole for 21 years, Global News reported from the courtroom.

The sentence. Gordon sat quietly in the prisoner’s box of a packed courtroom as the sentence was read, Global News reporter Catherine McDonald wrote. Assistant Crown prosecutors Gregory Black and Kylie Buker had asked for 23 years before parole eligibility. Defence lawyer Daisy Bygrave proposed 15 to 18 years. Fuerst said 23 years would give too little weight to the guilty plea and to Gordon’s status as a first-time offender, while 15 to 18 years would fail to reflect the aggravating features of the case. Gordon has been in custody since his arrest on July 13, 2024.

The victims. Andrieana Montgomery, 42, was a Bowmanville teacher. Patrick Montgomery, 42, her former husband, was a former Oshawa Generals hockey player. They were the parents of two sons, aged 10 and 12 at the time, Global News reported.

The killings. According to the agreed facts read in court, around noon on July 13, 2024, Gordon drove to the Glenforest Street home where Patrick Montgomery lived and knocked on the door. The 12-year-old son recognized him as the man who lived in the basement unit at his mother’s address. The two men spoke in the driveway for about 15 minutes before the boy looked out and saw Gordon pointing a handgun at his father. The boy heard his father say “please don’t” before Gordon fired. Patrick Montgomery was shot nine times, four of them in the back. As Gordon left, the facts state, he looked at the boy, who put his hands up believing he was going to be shot.

Gordon then drove about 400 metres down Glenforest Street to the home where Andrieana Montgomery rented the upstairs unit. She was standing at the sink washing dishes and looking out the front window. He fired six shots from outside, then went inside and fired three more. She was shot four times, including once in the head.

The dispute. Gordon rented the basement unit below Andrieana Montgomery’s home, where he lived with his partner and a three-year-old boy. The neighbours argued for months over noise, and in the winter of 2023 Gordon told her he had a gun. He was the lawful, licensed owner of a Glock 17 handgun and several rifles, kept in a safe in the unit. She told the landlord she was afraid, and told her sons not to trust him. On May 8, 2024, she reported to the City of Oshawa that the basement did not meet the legal requirements for a basement suite. The landlord chose to evict Gordon, who was served with an eviction notice on July 12, 2024, the day before the shootings. Gordon told the author of a pre-sentence report that the eviction notice was the “last straw,” Global News reported.

The judge’s reasons. Fuerst called the attack extremely violent and said Gordon knew he was leaving two children without parents. “The callousness of his decision to act as he did in the face of that knowledge is immense,” she said. She found it highly aggravating that the victims were defenceless and that Patrick Montgomery was killed in front of his son. “Even Mr. Montgomery’s words, ‘Please don’t’, had no effect on him,” she told the court. As mitigation, she noted that Gordon left the handgun in plain sight, waited outside for police and immediately admitted the shootings to the first officer who arrived. Gordon apologized in court and said he alone was to blame.

Sources

Roberval, Quebec: Cellmate Charged With Second-Degree Murder in Jail Death of Marc Gilbert

The Roberval courthouse building in Quebec
The Palais de justice de Roberval, where the accused is expected to appear. Photo: Fralambert / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Établissement de détention de Roberval (Roberval prison), Roberval, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada

Legal status: Alexandre Lemay-Séguin, 34, is charged with second-degree murder under section 235 of the Criminal Code. He is presumed innocent and was expected to make a first appearance at the Roberval courthouse.

Marc Gilbert was waiting in a Roberval jail cell to learn whether he would face a jury for murder. On the night of Sept. 30, he was killed there. Nearly a month later, the man who shared his cell has been charged with killing him.

An arrest warrant came down in the late afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 27, Le Quotidien reported. The charge reads that Alexandre Lemay-Séguin, “on or about Sept. 30, 2026, at Roberval, in the district of Roberval, caused the death of Marc Gilbert, thereby committing second-degree murder.”

The night in the cell. The Sûreté du Québec told Noovo Info at the time that a 51-year-old inmate died after an altercation with a 34-year-old inmate during the night of Sept. 30 to Oct. 1. Badly injured, he died on the way to hospital. The provincial police’s crimes against the person division took over the case. Investigators met the other inmate that Thursday, Noovo Info reported, but no charge was laid then. Le Quotidien identified the dead man as Gilbert and reported that he and the other inmate were held in the same cell. As of early October, Le Quotidien reported, no details had been released on the motive or on how Gilbert was killed.

The accused. Lemay-Séguin, 34, has been in custody for several months, Le Quotidien reported. He had been scheduled for trial on Nov. 2 at the Chicoutimi courthouse on charges including three gasoline thefts, theft of cigarettes and of a garbage bin, possession and use of counterfeit money and possession of documents not in his name. He was released on those charges, then arrested again in August and charged with assault and assault causing bodily harm, accused of using a nail bar against his victim. None of those charges has been proven. His lawyer in that matter is Olivier Théorêt.

The victim, himself accused. Gilbert, of Jonquière, had been charged with the first-degree murder of a woman, who was stabbed in the throat in an apartment on rue de la Loire on July 7, 2026. Radio-Canada reported that Saguenay police were called around 5 p.m., that the suspect barricaded himself in the apartment and was arrested around 9:30 p.m., and that a second person was injured. He was first charged with attempted murder and armed assault, then formally charged with premeditated murder about nine days later. His lawyer, Gitane Smith, had been weighing a request for a psychological assessment, and the case was set to return to Quebec Superior Court in December. Gilbert died presumed innocent of that charge.

Crowded jails. After Gilbert’s death, the president of Quebec’s correctional officers’ union, Mathieu Lavoie, told Le Quotidien that violence in prisons is everywhere. “There is overcrowding in detention and that creates tension and pressure,” he said, adding that many facilities are short-staffed and that the government has not invested much in detention centres over the years. Yannick Dion, a former deputy director of criminal investigations at the Sûreté du Québec, told Noovo Info that rising access to drugs inside detention centres and mental health problems are factors in prison violence, and that better intelligence and physical measures to stop drugs getting in could help.

Sources

Latin America, Africa and the Middle East

Karaj, Iran: Amrollah Seiri Hanged After 14 Years in Prison as Rights Groups Log a Run of Unannounced Executions

Snow-covered high-rise blocks of Karaj seen from a hillside in winter
Karaj in winter. Photo: M@mad / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Karaj and Kashan, Iran

Legal status: Amrollah Seiri was executed at dawn on 28 October in Karaj and Davoud Rakhbin on 27 October in Kashan, according to two rights groups, HRANA and Hengaw. Both had been sentenced to death on murder charges. Iranian authorities have not announced either execution.

Two Iranian human rights groups have reported that a man who had spent 14 years in prison on a murder charge was hanged at dawn on Wednesday in Karaj. The execution of Amrollah Seiri was one of at least six that the groups recorded on 27 and 28 October, none of which had been announced by the authorities at the time of their reports.

Amrollah Seiri. HRANA reported that Seiri was hanged at dawn on 28 October and confirmed his identity. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights also reported his execution in Karaj that morning. According to Hengaw, Seiri, also known as Hadavandi, was a Lor man from Pakdasht County in Tehran Province. Informed sources told Hengaw that he was arrested 14 years ago over the alleged murder of a person surnamed Gholamhosseini and was later sentenced to death. Hengaw reported that he was moved to solitary confinement on Monday 26 October, ahead of his execution.

HRANA reported that a second man, identified only by the surname Shokri and from Markazi Province, was hanged in the same prison at the same time. HRANA said both men had been arrested on murder charges in separate cases and sentenced to death by criminal courts.

Davoud Rakhbin. Both groups also reported the execution of a 40-year-old married man from Kashan on 27 October. Hengaw named him as Davoud Rakhbin and said he was executed at Kashan Central Prison. HRANA, citing the group Iran Human Rights, named him as Davood Rokhbin and said he was executed in Kashan Prison. Both groups said he had been arrested on a murder charge following a group altercation and later sentenced to death. Hengaw said the sentence was imposed under qisas, Iran’s law of retribution.

Other executions reported. Hengaw reported several more executions over the two days that HRANA had not reported at the time. It said Reza Talebi, the father of a young daughter, was executed on 28 October in Sabzevar Central Prison. He had been arrested three years ago over the alleged murder of Mohsen Barzoui and sentenced to death under qisas, Hengaw reported.

Hengaw also reported that Habibollah Davoudi, a 26-year-old Baloch man and father of four originally from Zahedan who lived in Mashhad, was secretly executed at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad at dawn on 27 October without being allowed a final visit from his family. He had been arrested in 2023 on drug-related charges, the group said, and was moved to solitary confinement the day before his execution without his family being told. Hengaw added that Iranian media, including the state-affiliated Rokna news agency, had reported the execution of an unidentified prisoner at Lakan Prison in Rasht on 27 October. That prisoner had been arrested in Rasht in 2023 on charges of murder and theft, and Iran’s Supreme Court had upheld his sentence.

The wider count. HRANA said that between 10 October 2025 and 8 October 2026 it documented at least 2,003 executions across Iran, based on 1,857 reports. That was an increase of about 29 percent on the previous reporting period, the group said. Over the same period it documented 230 death sentences.

Both groups said that the executions of Seiri and Rakhbin had not been announced by prison authorities, state media or outlets linked to the judiciary at the time they reported them. Neither group gave details of the evidence in the murder cases or of any appeals.

Sources

Hamoud, Jordan: Jordan Admits Civilian Deaths in Syria Strikes It Tied to the Church Funeral Attack, as the Case Against Three Suspects Moves Toward Court

A crenellated stone building on a hillside in the old town of Karak, Jordan, above a wide valley
The old town of Karak, the governorate where the funeral attack took place. Photo: Freedom’s Falcon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: St George’s Greek Orthodox Church, Hamoud, Karak Governorate, Jordan (the attack); Daraa and Suwayda provinces, southern Syria (the strikes)

Legal status: Three Jordanian men were arrested on 26 October and named by the Public Security Directorate as the suspected attackers. No charge or court referral had been reported by the time of writing. Officials said the investigation file was being completed so the case could be sent to the judiciary. All three are presumed innocent.

The case so far. Gunmen opened fire on mourners at a funeral at St George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hamoud, in the southern governorate of Karak, on Friday 23 October, killing nine people and wounding 34, according to figures from Jordan’s director of public security. Before dawn on 26 October, three men were arrested after a gun battle in which all three were wounded, and Major General Obeidallah al-Maaytah named them as Hazza’ Zaidan Muhammad, whom he called the planner, his brother Mish’al Zaidan Muhammad, and Ahmad Sami Hussein, a relative by marriage. The attack and the arrests were covered in the catch-up ledger for October 23 to 27. No court has examined the evidence against the three men.

The strikes. On the evening of Monday 26 October, Jordan’s air force struck targets in southern Syria. In a statement reported by BBC Arabic, the army called the operation “Jordanian Deterrence, Hamoud”, after the village, and said the attackers were linked to the groups it had hit. Syria’s Civil Defence said its crews recovered the bodies of seven people from at least four sites in rural Daraa and Suwayda, Al Jazeera reported. Five were members of one family, a man, a woman and three children, killed in a strike on a tent in Daraa province. Three other members of the family were wounded. An 80-year-old man was killed in Al Shayyah, and a 60-year-old man in Shahba, in Suwayda. France 24 reported that Masoud al-Salim lost his wife, his son and three grandchildren when a strike hit his home in the border village of Al-Tuff. “I came running and found there was no house anymore, no tent, nothing,” he said.

What Jordan said on Tuesday. On 27 October, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said the strikes had killed more than 20 Islamic State fighters and destroyed a large weapons depot, BBC Arabic and Al Jazeera reported. He also expressed regret over the civilian deaths. He said the operation was based on field intelligence about “confirmed threats” and planned attacks against Jordan. An unnamed Jordanian source told BBC Arabic that the family’s tent was not a target. The source said the family were living beside a small concrete building where an Islamic State member was hiding, and that the blast from the strike on the building killed them. Syria’s state news agency SANA, quoted by BBC Arabic, later put the death toll in Daraa at eight, including three children and a woman.

Syria’s response. Syria’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes “in the strongest terms” on 27 October, France 24 reported. It called them an unacceptable breach of Syrian airspace carried out without prior coordination. Jordan’s army had said the strikes were coordinated with Damascus. Syria closed the Nassib crossing, the only passenger and commercial crossing between the two countries, after the strikes. Syrian border authorities said traffic would return to normal from the morning of Wednesday 28 October, BBC Arabic reported.

A joint committee. In a phone call on 27 October, Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, and his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani, agreed to set up a joint security committee to examine the strikes and improve field and intelligence coordination, CNN Arabic reported, citing SANA and Petra. Safadi offered condolences for the civilian dead.

A false claim. On 28 October, the Syrian verification platform Verify-Sy said posts claiming that the suspects were Druze and that the attack was planned by Israel’s Shin Bet were false. It found that Jordanian authorities had given no religious affiliation for the suspects and had made no such link.

What comes next. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said anyone involved in planning, inciting, helping or facilitating the attack would be held to account under the law. Terrorism cases in Jordan are normally heard by the State Security Court.

Sources

São Paulo, Brazil: Three Suspects Held and One Indicted for Homicide as Police Count Rises to 20 Bodies Dumped Across Greater São Paulo

Aerial view of dense neighborhoods of São Paulo's north zone spreading up to the forested hills of the Serra da Cantareira
São Paulo’s north zone and the Serra da Cantareira from the air. Photo: Pedu0303 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: São Paulo and its metropolitan region, Brazil, including Jaçanã in the north zone and the Rio Pequeno area of the west zone

Legal status: São Paulo’s Polícia Civil said on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, that three suspects are in custody in connection with separate killings in the series of bodies found dumped in the city and its suburbs. One of them, a 39 year old man, was formally indicted by police for homicide on October 27. None of the three has been named; the state Public Security Secretariat (SSP) did not release their identities, UOL reported. In Brazil a police indictment (indiciamento) is not a conviction or a court charge, and every suspect is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

What is new. Police in São Paulo now say they have three people in custody over separate killings in the run of bodies dumped across the city and its suburbs, and one of them has been formally indicted for homicide. The official count has also climbed. When this series was last covered here, the tally stood at 17 deaths recorded between September 5 and October 22. A Polícia Civil survey released on Tuesday, October 27, puts it at 20 bodies found between September 5 and October 26 in cases being investigated as homicides, CNN Brasil, Folha de S.Paulo and Metrópoles reported.

Where the bodies were found. Fifteen of the 20 were in the capital and five in the metropolitan region: two in Itapecerica da Serra and one each in Embu das Artes, São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema, according to the police survey. Embu das Artes appears on the list for the first time. Police described them as cases in which the bodies were transported and abandoned in public places after the killings, and said the victims were linked to various criminal activities, such as drug trafficking and robbery, CNN Brasil and Metrópoles reported. CNN Brasil noted that its own running tally had reached 24 bodies, and said the official figure is lower because not every body found belongs to the group of homicides police are investigating in this context.

The Jaçanã arrest. The most recent arrest came on Monday, October 26, according to the state Public Security Secretariat (SSP). A 44 year old man was detained on suspicion of taking part in a homicide recorded on October 19 in Jaçanã, in the city’s north zone, UOL, CNN Brasil and Folha reported. Neither the man nor the victim in that case has been publicly identified.

The indictment. The third suspect, 39, had been in custody since October 15. He was first held for using a false document, which officers discovered while investigating a death that occurred two days earlier, on October 13. Over the past week, investigators from the homicide department (DHPP) gathered evidence that police say shows his involvement in that killing, asked for his arrest on the homicide as well, and indicted him on Tuesday, UOL and CNN Brasil reported. The second suspect in custody is the 40 year old man arrested on October 23 in the Rio Pequeno case covered in the earlier ledger.

Seven more sought. Investigators have identified seven other people they believe were involved, CNN Brasil reported. Five are adults with arrest warrants already authorized by the courts, and two are adolescents for whom police have requested detention orders. UOL described all seven as fugitives; Folha said none had been located. In total, police say ten people have been identified as involved in four of the homicides.

Motives. The SSP repeated that it has no evidence linking all the cases or pointing to a single perpetrator, CNN Brasil reported. Investigators are weighing different motives, including revenge, debts and organized crime disputes, UOL said, adding that in one of the cases the victim had a drug debt. The SSP did not release the identities of those arrested, so their lawyers could not be reached, UOL said. The state has not released forensic reports on the deaths, Folha reported.

What officials said. DHPP director Ivalda Aleixo said each case requires its own inquiry, with analysis of traces, images and statements, and that identifying suspects is an important step but the work will continue until all the circumstances are clarified and those responsible are brought to justice. Public Security Secretary Osvaldo Nico Gonçalves described the arrests as concrete results. “Nosso objetivo é esclarecer cada ocorrência, cumprir as medidas judiciais e garantir que os responsáveis respondam pelos crimes,” he said, as quoted by UOL. The investigations are led by the DHPP in the capital and by local police units in the suburbs.

Sources

São Paulo, Brazil: Husband Arrested Four Weeks After Young Man Was Found Dead in Motel Bathtub, Police Point to Life Insurance Worth Millions

Commercial buildings and apartment towers seen across a divided highway in the Barra Funda district of São Paulo under a clear blue sky
The Barra Funda district in the west zone of São Paulo. Photo: FernandoSantos / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: A motel on Avenida Marquês de São Vicente, Barra Funda, west zone of São Paulo, São Paulo state, Brazil

Legal status: Fernando Curti Tavares, 39, was arrested on the morning of Wednesday, October 28, 2026, under a temporary detention order (prisão temporária) as a suspect in the death of his 21-year-old husband, Metrópoles and NC News reported. He has not been formally charged. Temporary detention is a precautionary measure and does not mean a conviction; he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The death. In the early hours of Thursday, October 1, a 21-year-old man was found dead in the hot tub of a suite at a motel on Avenida Marquês de São Vicente, according to G1, CNN Brasil and Metrópoles. Authorities have not released his name. The couple had checked in at about 10 p.m. on September 30, and Tavares paid for an overnight stay, Metrópoles reported. Military police were called at about 12:20 a.m., and the ambulance service SAMU, whose crew attempted resuscitation according to CNN Brasil, confirmed the death at the scene, G1 reported. The case was first handled by the 7th Police District in Lapa, G1 reported. Military police said at the time there were no signs of violence on the body, and both men’s phones were seized, according to G1. G1 and CNN Brasil reported the case was registered as a suspicious death, while Metrópoles said it was first recorded as accidental. CNN Brasil reported that Tavares was questioned and released as a person under investigation.

The suspect’s account. According to police records cited by Metrópoles, Tavares told officers he had gone to shower on the lower floor of the two-level suite and returned about 20 minutes later to find his partner unconscious in the tub. Investigators later found that the tub sat on a mezzanine behind glass and could be seen from the door of the bathroom where Tavares said he had been, Metrópoles and NC News reported.

The forensic findings. The initial autopsy gave drowning as the cause of death, which investigators found odd because the tub was less than 70 centimetres deep, Metrópoles reported. Later findings showed defensive injuries to the young man’s fingers, hands and forearms, wounds inside his mouth and deep bleeding in the neck, according to police. In the police document quoted by Metrópoles, investigators wrote that the forensic evidence points, in theory, to the victim being restrained and held under water until he died.

The insurance policies. Police found that the young man held more than three life insurance policies worth between 2 million and 10 million reais each, with clauses that doubled the payout for accidental death, Metrópoles and NC News reported. Tavares, who police say married him in June, was the only beneficiary and allegedly moved to claim the policies a few hours after the death. NC News said there was no confirmation that any payout had been made. The young man’s mother told police she knew nothing of the relationship, the marriage or the policies.

The phone. When Tavares learned his phone would be seized, he wiped it and restored it to factory settings, police said, which raised investigators’ suspicions, according to Metrópoles.

The investigation. The state homicide department, DHPP, asked a court for the temporary detention on October 15, citing evidence of intentional homicide, flight risk and destruction of evidence, and also sought searches of Tavares’s address and extraction of data from his devices, Metrópoles reported. NC News said investigators now plan to examine the insurance documents, relevant bank records, his electronic devices and the forensic results, and to compare the statements already given with the evidence from the suite. It noted that temporary detention is a precautionary measure and not a conviction.

Sources

Guatemala City: Judge Jails Seven Police Officers and Binds Them Over in Case of Rifle Allegedly Planted on Two Delivery Workers After the Killing of Former Prosecutor Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa

Aerial view of the Campo Marte sports grounds in Zone 5 of Guatemala City, surrounded by dense trees with the city and mountains behind
Campo Marte, the sports complex in Zone 5 of Guatemala City where Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa and Gustavo Adolfo Aguilar Gamarro were shot on October 17. Photo: Gobierno de Guatemala / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Location: Torre de Tribunales, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Legal status: Seven officers of Guatemala’s National Civil Police (PNC), arrested on October 23, face accusations of abuse of authority, simulation of a crime, obstruction of criminal proceedings and illegal transport of firearms. At their first-declaration hearing on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, the Public Ministry asked Judge Julio Vásquez Xol of the Third Criminal Court to bind them over for prosecution. The hearing was suspended without a ruling on Tuesday. When it resumed on Wednesday, October 28, the judge bound all seven over for prosecution (ligados a proceso) on those four offences and ordered them held in pretrial detention at Mariscal Zavala prison, Emisoras Unidas and Chapin TV reported. Being bound over is not a finding of guilt. The officers have not been convicted of any crime and are presumed innocent.

The killing that started it. On the morning of Saturday, October 17, armed men walked onto a soccer field at the Campo Marte sports complex in Zone 5 of Guatemala City and opened fire, Infobae reported. They killed Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, 43, a former official of the Public Ministry and former head of the tax authority SAT, who was known for leading investigations into customs fraud networks and political corruption. The shots also killed Gustavo Adolfo Aguilar Gamarro, 52, a member of the national Judo Federation who was at the complex. The search for the gunmen and for whoever ordered the attack continues, and the investigation is under seal, according to Infobae.

Two delivery workers. Minutes after the shooting, police arrested two brothers, Rigoberto and Daniel Zaqueo Choc Toz, on the San Isidro boulevard in Zone 16, Infobae reported. Officers said the two delivery workers were carrying an assault rifle, ammunition and a ballistic vest. A judge found no grounds to hold them in less than 24 hours, ruling that there was no evidence linking them to the killings or to the weapon officers said they found in a delivery backpack, Chapin TV and TN23 reported. Both brothers were released. According to Infobae, forensic findings determined the items had been placed in their delivery bag.

The accused officers. The seven are from Police Station 13: a commissioner, an inspector, a third officer and four agents, Chapin TV and Infobae reported. Court records identify them only by first name and surname initial. Investigators found that the officers drove the brothers in a patrol car to a police substation and made unauthorized transfers between vehicles instead of taking them directly to the court, Infobae reported. Esvin Jacinto Quiché, then the PNC deputy director of operations, acknowledged before members of Congress that those detours broke the chain of command, the outlet said.

Inside the courtroom. None of the seven officers gave a statement to the judge, Chapin TV and TN23 reported. Six lawyers are defending them, according to Chapin TV. One defense lawyer argued that prosecutors had built a case on collective rather than individual responsibility and had not shown when, how or by whom the weapon was placed in the backpack. He said his client had only carried out a police procedure and that the evidence of planting had not been proven. Another defense lawyer said the case was at an early stage and that the judge would rule on the evidence presented by prosecutors. A lawyer for two of the officers told reporters that he had been unable to speak privately with his clients in the courthouse holding cells, Chapin TV reported. The officers have been held in those cells since Friday.

The president speaks. At his weekly press conference at the National Palace on Tuesday, President Bernardo Arévalo said the government deeply regretted that the brothers had been victims of what was clearly the planting of a weapon, Infobae reported. He said he was glad they were freed in under a day and that those believed responsible now have to answer before the law. He said the state would offer an institutional apology through the channels set by law. Arévalo also confirmed the departure of PNC Director General David Custodio Boteo and Deputy Director of Operations Esvin Jacinto Quiché, while backing Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda, according to Infobae.

The ruling. The hearing resumed on Wednesday morning in the courthouse’s largest hearing room and was held behind closed doors because the case is under seal, Emisoras Unidas reported. After the parties set out their arguments, Judge Vásquez Xol found there were sufficient indications to issue an order of prosecution against the seven officers, accepting the Public Ministry’s request that they be investigated for abuse of authority, simulation of a crime, obstruction of criminal proceedings and illegal transport of firearms, according to Emisoras Unidas and Chapin TV. None of the officers testified in their own defence, Chapin TV reported. The judge ordered them moved from the courthouse holding cells, where they had been since their arrest on Friday, to pretrial detention at Mariscal Zavala, the prison in Zone 17 of Guatemala City, on the ground that there was a risk they could obstruct the investigation or flee, the station said.

What comes next. Prosecutors were given two months to complete their investigation, Emisoras Unidas and Chapin TV reported. According to Chapin TV, the results are due to be discussed in the second week of January 2027, when the court is expected to decide whether the officers will stand trial over the capture of the brothers and the weapon allegedly planted in their delivery backpack. Detention will remain in place while the investigation continues, Emisoras Unidas said. The officers remain presumed innocent.

Sources

Tayibe and Arraba, Israel: Two Arab Men Shot Dead Within a Day as Israel Votes, One Killed in Front of His Brother

Dense rooftops, a minaret and a domed building in the centre of Tayibe
The centre of Tayibe, in Israel's Central District. Photo: סהיר דיוואני / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5

Location: Tayibe, Central District, and Arraba, Lower Galilee, Israel

Legal status: Police have opened investigations into both killings. No arrests had been announced in either case by midday on 28 October 2026.

Alaa Jabali, 25, also named in reports as Mansi, was shot dead in Tayibe at lunchtime on Tuesday 27 October, election day in Israel, and his brother, who worked with him, was wounded. Less than a day later, before 6am on Wednesday 28 October, Maarouf Yahya Kanaana was shot dead in Arraba in the Galilee while on his way to work. The two killings took the number of people killed in Arab communities in Israel this year to 171, according to the count kept by the Arab48 news site; Hebrew and other outlets gave higher running totals.

Tayibe. Magen David Adom said its Yarkon region call centre received the report at 12:36pm. Paramedics found two people with penetrating wounds, one unconscious and the other fully conscious. “We saw the wounded, one of them unconscious and the other fully conscious, suffering from penetrating injuries to their bodies,” MDA medic Ulfat Abu Gweid said. “We gave them life-saving medical treatment and evacuated them in MDA intensive care ambulances to the hospital.” Both were taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, where doctors declared Jabali dead a short time later. Ynet reported that he was shot during his working day in front of his brother, who worked alongside him. Mako reported that a masked gunman riding a motorcycle arrived armed with a 9mm pistol, fired at Jabali from close range and fled, and that the brother suffered light injuries; police described the second man’s condition as moderate.

Police response. Officers from Tayibe station, part of the Central District, began searches and an investigation, and Central District commander Amir Cohen headed to the scene, police said. “The background and circumstances of the incident are still under examination, and at this stage there are no indications of any connection between the incident and the elections,” the police statement said, as quoted by Panet. Ynet said the killing appeared to stem from a local dispute; Maariv reported that it was suspected to have a criminal background and that investigators were looking for security cameras that might have filmed the shooting.

Arraba. MDA received the call about the Arraba shooting at 5:49am on Wednesday, Arab48 reported. Medics found a man lying on the ground unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing. “We immediately began advanced resuscitation, then took him to hospital while continuing resuscitation, and his condition was very critical,” the medical team said, according to Kul al-Arab. He was taken to Poriya hospital in Tiberias, where his death was declared. Kul al-Arab gave his age as 47; Arab48 and i24NEWS said he was about 50. Police said they had opened an investigation and initial assessments pointed to a criminal background, Kul al-Arab reported. Arab48 said no arrests had been announced.

A vote held under the shadow of killings. As polls opened on Tuesday, Arab citizens received phone calls carrying a recorded message from Sawsan Sultan, whose sister Suzanne Bishara was murdered, Ynet and i24NEWS reported. “My sister cannot vote in the elections, I ask that you go out and vote in my sister’s name,” she said in the recording, part of a get-out-the-vote campaign run by the Standing Together movement. Arab48 noted continuing criticism of the police and government over their failure to curb illegal weapons, fight organised crime and bring killers to account.

Conflicting tallies. Arab48 put the toll at 170 after the Tayibe killing and 171 after Arraba. Ynet and Mako put the number killed in Arab society since the start of 2026 at 185 on Tuesday, and i24NEWS said the Arraba killing took it to 186. Maariv gave 174, which it said was 25 fewer than the 199 recorded in the same period last year.

Sources

Eldorado Park, South Africa: Stepfather Gets Two Life Sentences for Rape and Murder of Four-Year-Old Baby Nikita

Domed High Court building in Johannesburg
The High Court in Johannesburg. Photo: Barsov / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Location: Family home, Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa (Johannesburg High Court)

Legal status: Sentenced. On Tuesday 27 October 2026 Judge Peet Johnson imposed two life sentences plus terms totalling eight and a half years, to run concurrently, on a 34-year-old man who pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of his partner’s four-year-old daughter and to assaulting her younger brother. Leave to appeal the sentence was refused. The child’s mother is separately charged and has pleaded not guilty; she is presumed innocent. The man is not named in the reports.

A 34-year-old Eldorado Park man who admitted biting, beating, raping and drowning his partner’s four-year-old daughter has been sentenced to two life terms by the Johannesburg High Court. The girl, known in South African reporting as Baby Nikita, died in August 2025. Judge Peet Johnson said the man had acted in an extremely brutal manner and remained a danger to society, Eyewitness News, TimesLIVE and SABC News reported. His name is to be entered in the National Register for Sex Offenders, which restricts his access to children through employment.

What happened. Police found Nikita and her baby brother at their home in Eldorado Park in August 2025. Nikita was severely bruised. She was rushed to hospital and died of her injuries that month, Eyewitness News reported. In his plea, the man gave a detailed account of his actions, admitting that he had bitten her several times, beaten her, raped her and drowned her. He also admitted assaulting her brother, the three-year-old son he shares with Nikita’s mother, in March of the same year.

The judgment. The judge said the details were too disturbing to recount in full. “It is so gruelling in nature that the court would rather not sum it up,” he said. “All the court wishes to say is that your actions, especially the assault of the deceased, was a gruelling attack on her. And you showed no mercy to either the complainant and the deceased.” He imposed life imprisonment on count one and on counts two and three taken together, four years each on counts four and five, and six months on counts eight and nine taken together, all running concurrently with the life terms.

Drugs no excuse. The man told the court his actions were the result of drug abuse and asked for a lighter sentence in light of his guilty plea, his apology and his other children. The State argued that life imprisonment was appropriate and that his apology and personal circumstances did not justify a lighter punishment. The judge said being under the influence of drugs was no excuse and that he was obliged to impose life unless substantial and compelling circumstances existed. “Persons like you, in the court’s opinion, are a danger to society. And to prevent the community from taking the law into their own hands, offenders need to be punished appropriately,” he said. The defence then sought leave to appeal, arguing he was a first-time offender who had confessed and was remorseful. The court dismissed the application.

The mother’s case. Nikita’s mother faces charges of child abuse and failing to report sexual offences. Her case was separated from his, and her trial is expected in 2027, TimesLIVE reported. Eyewitness News said she intends to apply for bail.

Community. Cheryl Pillay, a community leader and women’s and children’s rights activist, welcomed the sentence. “It’s quite fitting for the crime, and not that it’s going to bring her back, but I think it sends out a strong message,” she told TimesLIVE, adding that the abuse happened “in a yard where there were many other people”.

Sources

Karen, Kenya: Rose Mbithe Mulwa, Her Two Children and Two Police Constables Deny Murdering Lawyer Kyalo Mbobu

Office towers of central Nairobi under a cloudy sky
The Nairobi skyline seen from Upper Hill. Photo: Lmwangi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Magadi Road near Brookhouse International School, Karen, Nairobi County, Kenya (High Court at Kibera, before Justice Diana Kavedza)

Legal status: Five accused charged with murder; pleas of not guilty entered on Tuesday 27 October 2026. All presumed innocent and remanded in custody to 24 November 2026, when bail will be argued. Prosecutors say a sixth suspect, police Inspector Kenneth Sang, arrested on 24 October, will be charged jointly.

Thirteen months after Nairobi advocate Mathew Kyalo Mbobu was shot dead in evening traffic on Magadi Road, five people pleaded not guilty to his murder before Justice Diana Kavedza at the Kibera High Court on Tuesday 27 October 2026. The accused are Rose Mbithe Mulwa, also known as Rose Mbithe Ndetei, the former wife of psychiatrist Professor David Ndetei; her children Chris Mulwa and Angela Mulwa; and police constables Julius Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Kennedy Kipkemboi Borboroi. The charge, according to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as reported by People Daily, is that they killed Mbobu on 9 September 2025 along Magadi Road near Brookhouse International School in Karen. Mbobu, a law lecturer at the University of Nairobi and an author of law books, was shot at about 5.30pm while driving home from his office in the Central Business District, the Daily Nation and Citizen Digital reported.

Linked to a second killing. The case is the second murder prosecution facing Rose Mulwa and her children. They are also charged over the killing of clinical psychiatrist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso, and defence lawyers told the court the accused have been in custody since 29 July 2026 in connection with that case. The two killings are now joined by a common suspect: prosecutors said Inspector Kenneth Sang, who had been on the run since the deaths of Mbobu and Dr Mutiso, will be charged with the five. Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jalson Makori told the court Sang was arrested on 24 October in Eldoret while trying to sell his car after he ran out of money, according to the Nation. Investigators have previously told the court that a firearm allegedly issued to Sang was linked by ballistic analysis to evidence in the investigations, Citizen Digital reported. On the same Tuesday, Sang appeared before Milimani Principal Magistrate Paul Mutai on a miscellaneous application and was detained for 14 days so detectives could complete inquiries. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations also wants him to undergo a mental assessment before plea.

“Go out and cool down.” The hearing turned heated over bail. Defence lawyers Joel Mbaluka and Black Omanga wanted to argue for release orally on the spot. When prosecutors Makori and Gikui Gichuhi asked for time to file an affidavit opposing bail, Omanga called the request illegal and unconstitutional. “I feel a bit offended the DPP is making the application to be allowed more time,” he said. Justice Kavedza cut in: “Omanga please stop being emotional, please go out all of you and cool down.” She recalled the lawyers ten minutes later. Makori said the prosecution was “getting new information” it wanted in the affidavit. Defence lawyer Kepher Ojijo complained that the prosecution had known about the plea date for three weeks.

Timetable. The judge ordered the defence to file a formal bail application within ten days, gave the prosecution three days to file an affidavit from Sergeant Joseph Omwenga and seven days for written submissions, and gave probation officers three weeks to interview the accused and the victims’ families. A virtual mention is set for 19 November and the bail hearing for 24 November. “These accused persons are just like any other remandees who are waiting for their matters to be determined,” the judge said. “Justice is blind and slow in Kenya.”

Sources

La Ceja, Colombia: Man Jailed Pending Trial in Killing of Trans Activist Yuliza Orozco, 46

The main plaza of La Ceja, Antioquia, with trees and the town church
The main plaza of La Ceja, in eastern Antioquia. Photo: JUANGO777 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Vereda Pantanillo, La Ceja (La Ceja del Tambo), Antioquia, Colombia

Legal status: Luis Alfonso Muñoz Garzón, 57, was charged (imputado) with aggravated femicide and illegal possession of a firearm. He did not accept the charges. A judge ordered him held in jail while the case proceeds. He is presumed innocent.

For ten months, the killing of Yuliza Orozco Orozco had no name attached to it. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación) announced that a 57-year-old man had been charged in her death and ordered held in jail.

Orozco, 46, was a well-known activist and leader of the LGBTIQ+ community in La Ceja, a town in eastern Antioquia. She was a trans woman. She was found with two gunshot wounds to the head in Pantanillo, a rural district of the municipality, in the early hours of Dec. 30, 2025, according to Infobae and the regional outlet MiOriente. Her family had reported her missing the day before.

The accusation. According to the Fiscalía, the man now charged, Luis Alfonso Muñoz Garzón, picked Orozco up in a private vehicle in the town center of La Ceja on Dec. 29, 2025, and drove her to Pantanillo, where she was later found dead. Investigators from the Fiscalía’s technical investigation unit, the CTI, and the National Police arrested him on Oct. 24, 2026. During the arrest, they seized a .38 caliber revolver that will undergo ballistic testing to see whether it was the weapon used, El Universal, Caracol Radio and Infobae reported.

At preliminary hearings, a prosecutor from the Antioquia office charged him with aggravated femicide and with manufacturing, trafficking, carrying or possessing firearms, parts or ammunition. Muñoz Garzón did not accept the charges. A judge of guarantees ordered him held in a prison facility while the case moves forward.

A secret relationship. In the hearings, prosecutors laid out a theory of motive, according to Infobae and MiOriente. They said the two had been in a relationship that was not public, and that Orozco wanted to make it known. That, in the prosecution’s account, may have set off the killing. MiOriente reported that relatives and friends of Orozco said the accused has a wife. The theory has not been tested at trial, and Infobae noted that pretrial detention is not a conviction.

“A gender focus.” After the killing, the advocacy group Caribe Afirmativo asked the Fiscalía to investigate with a gender perspective. “We deeply regret the murder of Yuliza, a trans woman, in La Ceja, Antioquia,” the group wrote at the time, according to Infobae. Colombia’s ombudswoman, Iris Marín, also condemned the killing and said that killings of trans women reflect levels of discrimination that should have no place in a democratic society.

Some local reports spell her first name Yulitza. The Fiscalía and most national outlets use Yuliza.

Reaction. Alerta Paisa reported that Caribe Afirmativo asked for the case to be handled with a differential approach, warning that the killing fits a recurring pattern of violence against LGBTIQ+ people in Colombia, and that ombudswoman Iris Marín also expressed solidarity with Orozco’s family and community. The outlet said the revolver seized at the arrest was sent for ballistic examination and that the prosecution’s theory of motive is part of the evidence that must be argued and proven at trial.

Sources

Maipú, Chile: Former Classmate Jailed in Killing of Benjamín Galdámez, 19, as Search for His Body Goes On

The concrete channel of the Zanjón de la Aguada in Maipú, with the Andes behind it
The Zanjón de la Aguada in Maipú, the canal where the accused told police Benjamín Galdámez’s body fell. Photo: Jorge Barrios Riquelme / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Maipú, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile

Legal status: A 20-year-old man, identified in court by the initials V.A.G.V., was formally charged on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, with simple homicide and carrying a firearm. He was ordered held in pretrial detention. He is presumed innocent.

The hearing. On Tuesday afternoon the Ninth Guarantee Court of Santiago ordered pretrial detention for the man accused of killing Benjamín Galdámez, a 19-year-old from Maipú who had been missing since Tuesday, October 20. Prosecutor Yasne Pastén of the Fiscalía Metropolitana Occidente formally charged him with simple homicide and carrying a weapon. The court gave investigators 90 days to complete the inquiry, and the accused will be held at the Santiago 1 pretrial detention center, Canal 9 reported.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office charged him with homicide and, because this is a crime that directly attacks the life of a person and given the severity of the penalty, we asked for pretrial detention,” Pastén said, according to Canal 9 and 24horas.

A case without a body. Benjamín’s body has not been found. Canal 9 reported that the defense argued the homicide had not been proven because there was no body, but the court found there was enough evidence to establish that Galdámez was dead. The court also heard that the accused had broken a nighttime house arrest order from an earlier case when the killing is believed to have happened, and that he has other criminal cases pending. The judge found that his release would be a danger to society, Canal 9 reported.

Old classmates. The two young men had known each other for years. “Both the victim and the perpetrator have known each other for many years. They were classmates in their school years,” PDI subprefect Tatiana García-Huidobro Ardiles told BioBioChile. “What motivated the homicide of this young man has yet to be established.”

BioBioChile reported that, according to investigators, Benjamín was waiting for a car he had ordered through a ride app when the suspect approached him, and that he was taken to a vacant lot near the Zanjón de la Aguada, where his trail ends. “According to the detainee’s own confession, Galdámez’s body fell into the Zanjón,” García-Huidobro said.

How the family found the lead. His family filed a missing-person report, and the search began with help from police. Prosecutor Pastén told La Nación how the case turned: “When the family files the missing-person report, they make posts on social media, and through those networks information starts to arrive that their son was dead, and that a person they called Vladi was involved.”

Benjamín’s mother told Teletrece, as quoted by La Nación, that she had spoken with the young man while she was searching. “I told him to help me look for him, where could he be, when was the last time he saw him. And he told me: ‘Auntie, I haven’t seen him, I saw him the other day, but that’s all.’ He gives me a kiss and tells me: ‘Anything you need, talk to me.'”

The gun. Pastén said the source of the weapon is still unclear. According to the accused, Benjamín had asked him for help getting a pistol because he wanted revenge on some people. “However, there is also a photograph from that same day in which he appears with a friend and the victim is holding a revolver,” she said, according to Canal 9. La Nación reported that the hearing was also shown social media posts in which the accused allegedly displayed firearms.

The search. Página 7, citing BioBioChile, reported that police began searching the canal on Saturday, October 24, but heavy rain had swollen the current. On Monday the PDI widened the search to the Mapocho River, which receives the Zanjón’s water, and brought in its underwater operations brigade. “There is information about areas where he could be, or where there could be something that might allow us, hopefully, to find the body,” PDI director general Eduardo Cerna said.

Benjamín’s father, Israel Galdámez, asked the public for help. “The anguish we are suffering right now is indescribable. I would not wish it on any father, on any mother,” he told BioBioChile. In an Instagram post quoted by La Voz de Maipú, he asked people living along the Zanjón de la Aguada and the Mapocho to watch the banks, all the way to the coast. Benjamín’s mother, Claudia Rojas, pointed searchers to the stretch of the canal near Casas de Lo Espejo.

Sources

Allen, Argentina: Man Who Surrendered in Shooting Death of Laura Gutiérrez, 35, Is Charged With Homicide and Held in Pretrial Detention Until February

White and grey facade of the Municipalidad building in Allen with wooden doors and an Argentine coat of arms
The municipal building of Allen, Río Negro. Photo: JPLema / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Near “la pasarela” footbridge, barrio Colonizadora del Sud, Allen, Río Negro province, Argentina; surrender at the Comisaría 3 in General Roca

Legal status: Mauricio Samuel Castillo, who turned himself in at the Comisaría 3 police station in General Roca on the morning of Tuesday, October 27, 2026, was formally charged on Wednesday, October 28, with homicide aggravated by the use of a firearm, together with carrying a weapon of war without legal authorization, at a hearing in the Roca judicial complex, LM Cipolletti and Río Negro reported. Judge of Guarantees Julio José Martínez Vivot accepted the charges as formulated by prosecutor Natalia Pascual and ordered him held in pretrial detention for four months, until February 2027, the same period set for the preliminary investigation. His lawyer argued that he acted in self-defense. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

The shooting. On Sunday, October 25, at about 4:20 p.m., officers from Allen’s Comisaría 33 went to a property near the pasarela, a hanging footbridge over the main irrigation canal, after a report of a disturbance, and found no direct assault, Diario Neuquino and LM Cipolletti reported. About 15 minutes later a second call reported gunshots at the same property. Neighbors said a man arrived by car, got out, fired several shots toward the home and fled, according to LM Cipolletti; ANR described the car as gray. Officers found Gutiérrez in the patio with a gunshot wound to the left side of her chest and drove her in a patrol car to the Ernesto Accame hospital, where she arrived without vital signs.

The victim. Gutiérrez, 35, was the mother of two young daughters, LM Cipolletti reported. She did not live at the house; she was visiting her partner, who lived there, according to Diario Neuquino and ANR. Several outlets said she was there by chance. Her family and friends have called for justice, NoticiasNQN reported. Her middle name appears as Estefanía, Estefany and Estefanis in different outlets.

A dispute over drink. A senior officer of the provincial police’s Second Regional Unit, commissioner inspector Freydoz (named Carlos by LM Cipolletti and Diario Neuquino and Ítalo by ANR), said in a radio interview that one line of inquiry is an argument about three days earlier, when the suspect allegedly tried to buy alcohol on credit at the house and was refused. Police described the house as a place where alcohol was allegedly sold without a license. ANR noted that it has not been confirmed that the argument motivated the killing. The case is registered as homicide with a firearm; NoticiasNQN filed its report under the heading femicide, a classification prosecutors have not announced.

The surrender. In its first report on Tuesday, LM Cipolletti said sources in the provincial prosecutor’s office (Ministerio Público Fiscal) had confirmed that the accused presented himself at the Roca station that morning and was held there. Freydoz had said the man had already been identified and that police were searching hard for him. The commissioner gave his account of the case on the radio station LU19, LM Cipolletti reported, and put the attack itself at about 4:30 p.m.

The investigation. Police sources quoted by LM Cipolletti said that as the hours passed, the progress of the investigation narrowed the suspect’s room to act, until he finally presented himself at Comisaría 3 in Roca. Río Negro reported that he arrived two days after the killing, that the inquiry had been run out of Comisaría 33 in Allen with the prosecutor’s office, and that the case file is registered as homicide with a firearm under Fiscalía 1. Mejor Informado reported that, for the prosecutor’s office, there were sufficient indications to treat him as a person of interest. Diario Neuquino said investigators are still working to establish whether the attacker meant to target Gutiérrez herself or whether the shots were tied to the earlier dispute, and that the alcohol theory remains a line of inquiry that has to be backed by witness statements and forensic work.

The hearing. At the charging hearing at midday on Wednesday, prosecutor Pascual told the court that at about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, near the pasarela at the corner of Cerros Colorados and Cerro Policía, the accused arrived in a Ford Fiesta Kinetic, carrying a 9mm firearm he was not registered to hold, got out of the car and fired at least two shots with intent to kill, LM Cipolletti reported. According to the prosecution, one shot struck Gutiérrez in the front yard of the house, behind the perimeter fence, and tore her thoracic aorta, and she bled to death while being taken to hospital. Deputy prosecutor Alejandra Poblete listed the evidence as the radio calls to police, interviews with witnesses at the scene, reports by the Allen judicial investigations division, security camera footage, a search in which cartridges and phones were seized, and the autopsy by the forensic body in General Roca, which prosecutors said also found abrasions indicating an earlier struggle between the accused and the woman. Mejor Informado reported that prosecutors explained the case was not classified as femicide because, although the two knew each other, no relationship that would justify that charge had been established.

Detention and defense. Pascual asked for four months of pretrial detention, arguing that there was a risk of interference with the investigation because the accused knows all the witnesses, and a risk of flight shown by his conduct after the shooting, LM Cipolletti reported. “Measures remain to be carried out, among them locating the murder weapon and the vehicle in which he was moving,” the prosecution said. Defense lawyer Martín Espejo Castro opposed detention and proposed less restrictive measures, and argued that Castillo acted in self-defense after being attacked from the house toward which he fired. Mejor Informado reported that the defense did not dispute the formulation of charges at that stage and asked for the two offenses to be treated as a single course of conduct rather than as separate offenses; the judge provisionally accepted the prosecution’s classification. According to Mejor Informado, the judge ruled out the risk of flight but ordered detention because of the risk of interference with witnesses. Río Negro reported that prosecutors are still waiting to locate the weapon and the Ford Fiesta in which the accused allegedly fled. Mejor Informado described him as a barber with a business in Allen.

Sources

Retiro, Buenos Aires: Man Charged in Killings of Two Women in Buenos Aires and Córdoba Refuses to Testify

Trees and lawns of Plaza San Martín in the Retiro district of Buenos Aires
Plaza San Martín in Retiro, where city police cameras tracked the suspect early on Oct. 25. Photo: Barcex / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Libertad street, Retiro, Buenos Aires, and the Cofico neighbourhood of Córdoba, Argentina

Legal status: Renato Iván Tabella, 28, is charged with femicide in the death of Tatiana Micaela Fernández and is also accused in the killing of Daniela del Milagro Villalba. He declined to testify on Oct. 27 and remains in custody. He is presumed innocent.

The man Argentine police say killed two young women in two cities in less than a week sat before a Buenos Aires judge on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and said nothing. Renato Iván Tabella, 28, refused to answer questions at his indagatoria, the formal questioning of an accused, before national criminal judge Guillermo Rongo, TN and La Nación reported. He stays in detention.

Two women, one phone line. Tatiana Micaela Fernández, 27, was found dead on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 25, in a short-term rental apartment on Libertad street in Retiro. According to the national prosecutors’ office news service, a friend who worked with her as an escort had been contacted the day before through an adult site by a man who called himself “Iván.” She passed the booking to Fernández. When Fernández stopped answering overnight, the friend went to the apartment, called a locksmith and found her on the bed, covered by a sheet. Her phone was gone and the safe had been tampered with.

Prosecutor Matías Di Lello asked the court to tap four phone lines, including the one the client had used. That is when a Buenos Aires homicide chief learned the same number was already tapped in a murder case in Córdoba.

There, prosecutor Pablo Camacho of Córdoba’s gender and family violence unit was investigating the death of Daniela del Milagro Villalba, 29. The prosecutors’ office said she was killed with a knife on Oct. 19 in her apartment on Boulevard Las Heras in Cofico, and that she had cuts to her neck and arms. Her phone was also missing. Sanitation workers had found a suitcase in her name in a nearby dumpster, holding her belongings and bloodstained clothes, and security cameras captured a man throwing it away. Tracking his phone placed it in Buenos Aires.

The cameras. City police reconstructed the suspect’s route on the night Fernández died, La Nación reported. Cameras placed him on Maipú near Avenida Santa Fe at 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 25. He entered the Libertad building at 12:43 a.m. and left at 1:59 a.m. Minutes later he was filmed walking, then running, through Plaza San Martín, and by 2:11 a.m. he was on Avenida Leandro N. Alem.

He was arrested that Sunday night, around 11 p.m., in a room at a hotel on Juan Domingo Perón street in the San Nicolás district, in a joint operation with Córdoba police. Officers seized two phones, cash, four SIM cards and clothing. Investigators believe one phone belonged to Fernández.

Autopsy. A preliminary autopsy delivered on Monday found that Fernández died of mechanical asphyxia by compression and had minor defensive injuries on her wrists, sources told La Nación. Toxicology and other tests are pending. Buenos Aires security minister Horacio Giménez said more than 17 traces of interest, including DNA, were lifted from the scene.

Córdoba security minister Juan Pablo Quinteros told reporters the suspect had no criminal record and had travelled to Buenos Aires on a regular intercity bus using his own national ID card. Córdoba authorities are now seeking his transfer to answer for Villalba’s death, TN reported, and La Nación said he was expected to be questioned in that case within hours.

Both women were sex workers. Both were found on a bed, under a sheet, with their phones taken.

Sources

Campo Novo do Parecis, Brazil: Timber Merchant Arrested After Police Investigator Emilson Ormond Souza, 56, Is Shot Dead in a Bar Following a Question About Politics

Aerial view of the Utiariti waterfall dropping into a forested gorge on the Chapada dos Parecis
Salto Utiariti on the Papagaio River, in the municipality of Campo Novo do Parecis, Mato Grosso. Photo: Caio Vilela / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: A bar on Avenida Brasil, Campo Novo do Parecis, Mato Grosso, Brazil; arrest at a rural property about 170 km away, in the municipality of Brasnorte

Legal status: A 59-year-old timber merchant, identified by Olhar Direto and PHD News as João Carlos Ventura, was arrested on Monday, October 26, 2026, under a temporary detention warrant. Police say he will be investigated for qualified intentional homicide and for attempted homicide of at least three other people. He has not been formally charged and is presumed innocent. Police did not release his identity.

The shooting. On Sunday night, October 25, 2026, shortly after election results came in, a man in a pickup truck stopped at a bar on Avenida Brasil in Campo Novo do Parecis, about 400 km from Cuiabá, G1 reported, citing the police incident report. According to that report, he asked a question of a political nature, and when he got an answer he opened fire on everyone at the establishment, then fled.

UOL, citing initial accounts that witnesses gave to police, reported that the man asked who in the bar was a “petista”, a supporter of the Workers’ Party, before drawing a gun and firing at the people there. Customers tried to hide. Emilson Ormond Souza, 56, a Civil Police investigator who was in the bar, fired back and was hit in the chest. He died of his wounds.

Accounts of the gunfire differ in detail. Olhar Direto reported that Souza, known as “Chibiu”, was hit by at least four shots and died at the scene. G1 and UOL said one other person in the bar was shot in the foot. The lead investigator later said there were at least three other victims identified so far, two of them grazed by bullets. PHD News reported that Souza fired back in an effort to defend the others.

The search and arrest. The suspect fled in his pickup, which helped police identify him, Olhar Direto reported. He was treated as a fugitive until Monday. The Civil Police said officers from the Campo Novo do Parecis police station and the Coordination of Special Operations and Resources (Core) found him late on Monday afternoon at a rural property about 170 km from the city that belongs to one of his brothers. UOL placed the property in the municipality of Brasnorte.

According to the Civil Police account published by Estadão Mato Grosso, officers were interviewing a caretaker at the property when the suspect drove up in his silver Toyota Hilux, and he was arrested. He had been hiding in a wooded area on the land, police said, and did not resist. Olhar Direto reported that he asked not to be handcuffed and that officers used restraint techniques to cuff him.

Police said they found the weapon in the woods where he had been hiding: a 9mm pistol with only three rounds left. Guilherme Kaiper Cruz de Faria, the police chief in charge of the case, said that indicates the suspect fired the rest of the ammunition at the time of the crime.

The suspect’s account. Olhar Direto reported that at the time of his arrest, the man said he had not meant to kill the officer and had been trying to shoot a sound speaker, but missed. The outlet noted that this version runs against the police account of a political motive. No defense lawyer had been identified; UOL said it could not reach his defense because police had not released his name.

The case ahead. The temporary detention warrant was granted by a judge at the request of the Civil Police, with the support of the state prosecutors’ office, police said. The suspect was taken to the Campo Novo do Parecis police station for questioning. The police inquiry is due to be completed within 30 days and may be extended for another 30.

The victim. Souza had 24 years in the Civil Police of Mato Grosso, 20 of them at the Campo Novo do Parecis station. He leaves four children. In a statement, the Civil Police offered condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

Sources

João Pessoa, Brazil: Police Arrest Digital Influencer and Others in Raids Over Execution of Former Bayeux Mayoral Candidate Glicério Feitosa

Skyline of high-rise buildings along the beachfront of João Pessoa, Brazil, seen across a calm turquoise bay with trees in the foreground
The João Pessoa waterfront, capital of the Brazilian state of Paraíba. Photo: Flaviohmg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil (the killing took place in the Geisel neighborhood; the October 28 raids were carried out in several other city neighborhoods)

Legal status: The people detained on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, were arrested under court warrants as part of a Polícia Civil investigation. No one has been reported as formally charged, and none of those arrested has been officially identified. Everyone detained is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The operation. The Polícia Civil of Paraíba launched an operation on the morning of Wednesday, October 28, to investigate homicides in the state capital, including the killing of businessman Glicério Oliveira Feitosa in May, G1 and ParaibaOnline reported. The online outlet Política & ETC said the action was called Operação Aurum. According to G1, the operation called for 18 court orders to be carried out, 12 of them arrest warrants.

How many were arrested. The reported number of people detained rose through the morning, and outlets gave different counts as the operation went on. Repórter PB, writing early in the day, said four suspects had been located and held. ParaibaOnline and Política & ETC reported six arrests. G1 and ClickPB reported that seven warrants had been carried out. Police also seized a motorcycle and a pickup truck, G1 reported. Política & ETC said the pickup was a Toyota Hilux, that watches and jewelry were also taken, and that the motorcycle was the one believed to have been used in the crime.

The influencer. Among those arrested was a woman described as a digital influencer. G1 reported that her identity had not been released. According to the Polícia Civil, as cited by G1 and ParaibaOnline, she is believed to have moved about R$ 3 million and is said to be the partner of one of the people under investigation for taking part in the businessman’s killing. Repórter PB described her as well known in João Pessoa.

Where the raids happened. G1 and ParaibaOnline said the operation took place in the Cruz das Armas, Paratibe and Muçumagro neighborhoods. Repórter PB, which described three simultaneous operations by different police units that morning, listed Cristo Redentor, Paratibe and Jardim Cidade Universitária. According to Repórter PB, the homicide unit was handling the warrants tied to the Feitosa killing, while the robbery and fraud units were pursuing separate targets. Those detained were being taken to the Cidade da Polícia Civil complex in Geisel to give statements, the outlet said.

The killing. Glicério Oliveira Feitosa was shot dead on the afternoon of May 14, 2026, in front of a vehicle dealership in the Geisel neighborhood of João Pessoa, G1 reported. Citing a lieutenant colonel of the Military Police’s 5th Battalion, G1 said the crime had the hallmarks of an execution. Two suspects arrived on a motorcycle, and one of them got off and fired several shots at the businessman. G1 reported that security camera footage showed Feitosa trying to fight back by reaching for a gun at his waist.

Who he was. Feitosa ran for mayor of Bayeux, in the João Pessoa metropolitan area, in the 2024 municipal elections as a candidate of the Partido Novo, G1 and ParaibaOnline reported. A native of Parambu, in the neighboring state of Ceará, he worked in the food and transport sectors, according to G1. In 2023 the Legislative Assembly of Paraíba granted him the title of honorary citizen of the state in recognition of his investments there.

What comes next. As of Wednesday morning, about half of the 12 arrest warrants had been carried out, according to the counts published. Police have not said publicly what role each detainee is suspected of playing, whether the people who fired the shots are among those held, or what motive investigators believe was behind the killing. ParaibaOnline said police are still investigating the circumstances of the crime.

Sources

Moita Bonita, Brazil: Husband Held in Preventive Detention Days After Cateane Santos Sampaio Is Stabbed to Death in Front of Her Daughter

Pink colonial era house front with shuttered windows and an iron grille door on a street in Itabaiana, Sergipe
A street in Itabaiana, Sergipe, where the suspect was taken to the regional police station after surrendering. Photo: Ridiculopathy / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: Moita Bonita, Sergipe, Brazil; surrender in Malhador

Legal status: A court ordered the preventive detention of the man named by police as the suspect, and the warrant was served on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. Police are investigating the killing as a feminicide. He has not been charged and is presumed innocent.

The arrest. Sergipe’s Civil Police served a preventive detention warrant on Tuesday on the man identified as the suspect in the killing of Cateane Santos Sampaio, 39, G1 Sergipe reported. He was arrested after he presented himself to police in the nearby town of Malhador. Portal ITnet reported that he arrived at the Malhador police station with a lawyer and was then sent to the regional police station in Itabaiana. G1 and AJN1 put the arrest on Tuesday afternoon; ITnet said he turned himself in Tuesday night.

The Moita Bonita police chief, delegada Mirna Mota, said the team began searching for the suspect as soon as officers learned of the crime, AJN1 reported. The court ordered his preventive detention, and he was in custody less than 48 hours after the killing.

The killing. According to the Military Police, as reported by G1, Sampaio was returning home from a party when she was surprised by her husband, who had been waiting on a lot next to the house. She was stabbed outside her home. Her daughter, a 15-year-old, witnessed the attack and told officers her mother was attacked with a knife right after she got back. The mobile emergency service, SAMU, confirmed her death at the scene. The suspect fled. Forensic teams examined the scene and the body was taken to the Instituto Médico Legal, G1 reported, and police asked anyone with information to call the Disque-Denúncia line, 181.

AJN1, citing the investigation, reported that the couple had argued hours before the crime. Portal ITnet reported that before the killing, the suspect allegedly assaulted Sampaio at an events venue beside the highway in the village of Candeias, and that security staff removed him. ITnet called her his former partner; G1 and AJN1 described him as her husband or partner. Reports differ on the timing: G1 first reported the attack in the early hours of Monday, October 26, while a later G1 report placed it on Sunday night, October 25.

The victim. Cateane Santos Sampaio worked as a kitchen assistant. She was waked at her family’s home and buried on Tuesday morning in the cemetery of the village of Capunga, in Moita Bonita, after a procession that left at about 7 a.m., G1 reported. She leaves four children.

G1 reported that her death brings Sergipe’s count to 22 feminicides this year. Another was recorded on Saturday, October 24, in Riachão do Dantas.

Other reports. Portal Sergipe News also reported that Sergipe’s Civil Police served the preventive detention warrant on Tuesday afternoon, October 27, and that the inquiry into her death is continuing. Empire Cidades, in a report written before the arrest was confirmed, said Sampaio was found lying in front of her home with wounds to her face and neck, and that the suspect had waited for her near the house after she came back from the party. Citing figures released by the state Public Security Secretariat, Empire Cidades also put the number of feminicides recorded in Sergipe in 2026 at 22, matching g1’s count. Before the arrest, police had asked the public to pass any information about the suspect’s whereabouts to the anonymous Disque-Denúncia line, 181.

Sources

Nova Iguaçu, Brazil: Military Police Corporal Sentenced to 14 Years for Point-Blank Killing of Painter Jorge Mauro Ruas de Paiva

Locator map of Nova Iguaçu with the Comendador Soares neighborhood highlighted in red
Locator map of Nova Iguaçu, with Comendador Soares, the neighborhood where the shooting happened, highlighted in red. Map: Roger Thunger / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Corner of Rua Santa Eugênia and Rua Manoel Henrique, Comendador Soares, Nova Iguaçu, Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

Legal status: Military Police corporal Vinícius Rodrigues Pacheco, known as “Lico,” convicted of qualified homicide and sentenced to 14 years in a closed regime by the 4th Criminal Court of Nova Iguaçu. The defense can appeal.

A security camera recorded the killing, and G1 and O Dia described the footage. A man in a tank top, shorts and flip flops walks through a crowded pagode party at a bar, a gun in one hand and a drink in the other. He walks up to a 51-year-old painter and fires at point-blank range. The painter, Jorge Mauro Ruas de Paiva, died on the spot.

The man in the video, Military Police corporal Vinícius Rodrigues Pacheco has now been sentenced to 14 years in prison for the killing. He was tried on Monday, Oct. 26, in the 4th Criminal Court of Nova Iguaçu and convicted of qualified homicide, G1, O Dia and Extra reported on Oct. 27. He must serve the sentence in a closed regime, Brazil’s most restrictive.

The killing. The shooting happened at about 2 a.m. on May 10, 2025, at the corner of Rua Santa Eugênia and Rua Manoel Henrique in Comendador Soares, a neighborhood of Nova Iguaçu in the Baixada Fluminense, O Dia reported. At least three shots hit de Paiva, according to O Dia. In G1’s description, the corporal appears calm before he shoots, in front of many people.

The shooter fled with friends, according to police. Three days later he turned himself in at the Baixada Fluminense Homicide Division (DHBF), after a court issued an arrest warrant at the division’s request. At the time he was assigned to the 41st Military Police Battalion in Irajá. He was already in custody when he was sentenced.

A disputed motive. According to the DHBF investigation, the corporal and de Paiva had been involved in a fight at a bar about two months before the shooting, and when he ran into de Paiva again at the party, he decided to kill him. The family has always rejected that account. Relatives say de Paiva did not know the officer and was attacked at random, G1 and Extra reported.

The judge. In her sentence, Judge Monalisa Renata Artifon stressed the gravity of the crime. “The circumstances reveal a gravity greater than is normal for the offense, given that the shots were fired near an event with a large concentration of people,” she wrote, as quoted by O Dia.

Still on the force? The Military Police told O Dia that its internal affairs office placed Pacheco before a disciplinary council in June 2025. “The process is in the final phase of analysis, but so far internal affairs has not received the conviction,” the force said, adding that the case would then go to the state security department to decide whether he stays in the corporation. Extra reported the Military Police had not said whether he remains an officer. O Dia said it was trying to reach the defense.

The defense’s position. Speaking to Band, the corporal’s defense said he acted in self-defense because he and his relatives were being threatened by de Paiva, and said it would appeal the decision. O Dia noted that the defense can still appeal. The court has not ruled on any appeal, and the threats the defense describes have not been independently confirmed.

Sources

Salvador, Brazil: Partner, 29, Held for Femicide After Confessing He Choked Verena Gomes Ferreira, 32, in Pero Vaz Home

Silhouetted rooftops of the Liberdade neighborhood of Salvador at sunset
Rooftops at sunset in Liberdade, Salvador, Bahia. Photo: Tiago Celestino / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: The couple’s home in the Pero Vaz neighborhood of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Legal status: Marcos Vinícius Conceição da Silva, 29, was arrested in flagrante and booked for femicide on Monday, October 26, 2026, after turning himself in, Bahia’s Civil Police said. Police asked the courts to convert the arrest into pretrial detention, and a custody hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, at the Sussuarana courthouse, Alô Juca reported. No ruling had been reported at the time of writing. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

The victim. Police identified the woman as Verena Gomes Ferreira, 32. Alô Juca described her as a homemaker and gave her age as 30. The pair had been dating for only three months, according to police information reported by Correio, and lived together in the Pero Vaz house.

What police say happened. The killing took place on Sunday, October 25, inside the home, during an argument, police said; Portal Salvador FM placed it on Sunday night. In a statement to investigators, the man said he choked her during the argument, police said. When he realized she had no vital signs he did not call for help and stayed in the house, seeking out relatives only the next day, according to the Civil Police. Correio, citing police, reported that he slept in the house and spent all of Monday there with her body. Neighbors told police the couple argued often despite the short relationship, Correio reported.

His account. According to the version he gave investigators, as reported by Alô Juca, Ferreira picked up a knife during the dispute and he used a chokehold to restrain her, which caused her death. That account has not been tested in court and was carried by one outlet.

Surrender. He went to the police station on his own, accompanied by a lawyer, police said. Camaçari Notícias, via CN1 and citing Informe Baiano, reported that he appeared on Monday night. Crime scene teams from the Silc unit and the Department of Technical Police examined the house, the couple’s phones were seized, and the body was taken to the Instituto Médico Legal for an autopsy.

Earlier record. Police said the man has a prior police record for insult and threats against another woman, from July 2023.

The custody hearing. At the hearing set for Wednesday morning at the Sussuarana courthouse, a judge was to review the legality of the arrest and decide whether to grant provisional release or to convert it into preventive detention, as the Civil Police requested, Alô Juca reported. No outcome had been reported by Wednesday afternoon. Until then he remained in custody at the disposal of the courts, police said.

The investigation. The case is being handled by the 3rd Homicide Precinct (DH/BTS), part of the Department of Homicide and Protection of the Person (DHPP). Officers from the 37th Independent Military Police Company guarded the scene until the forensic team arrived, Alô Juca reported.

A differing account. A report on the Salvador.com.br news site, citing Aratu On, gave a different version of some details. It said Ferreira died in the early hours of Monday, October 26, rather than on Sunday night, and that, according to initial investigations, the couple had been drinking all day before a heated argument over politics that night, and that he strangled her with his hands. That report said her death came to light when acquaintances noticed she was missing and went to the house, where they found her, and that officers of the 37th Independent Military Police Company were then called. Police have not publicly confirmed those details. Family and friends buried Ferreira at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, after the Department of Technical Police released her body, at the Campo Santo cemetery in Salvador, the site reported.

Sources

Santo Amaro, Brazil: Military Police Officer and Second Man Arrested in 2025 Killings of Councillor Gleiber da Mota Fernandes and Aide Diego Castro Reis

Green wooden doors and white stone frame on the yellow facade of a colonial church behind an iron fence
Igreja do Senhor Santo Amaro, Santo Amaro, Bahia. Photo: Paul R. Burley / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Rural property in Santo Amaro, Recôncavo region, Bahia, Brazil; arrests in Camaçari and Salvador

Legal status: Two men were taken into custody on the morning of Wednesday, October 28, 2026, on temporary arrest warrants (prisão temporária) in the investigation of the killings of Santo Amaro city councillor Gleiber da Mota Fernandes and his parliamentary aide Diego Castro Reis. Temporary arrest is a time-limited investigative measure; neither man has been charged in the killings, and both are presumed innocent. Police have not released their names. A third person under investigation is a fugitive, g1 Bahia reported. The case is under judicial secrecy.

The operation. The Bahia Civil Police called the operation Sombras da Madrugada (Shadows of the Small Hours). One warrant was served in Camaçari, in the Salvador metropolitan region, and the other in Salvador. According to g1, the man arrested in Camaçari is a 28-year-old Bahia military police officer, and the man arrested in Salvador is 27. The civil police told g1 the officer was also served three further arrest warrants related to other homicides in Santo Amaro. Investigators believe the double killing was carried out for a financial reward, g1 reported. Police also served three search warrants in Santo Amaro and Camaçari. The police statement carried by Bahia Notícias, R7 and InstantBA lists one pistol, three mobile phones and a vehicle seized; g1 reported a longer list, including ammunition, seven phones, two laptops, a flash drive and a memory card. The operation was run by the 3rd Regional Interior Police Coordination in Santo Amaro, supported by units from Feira de Santana and Santo Antônio de Jesus, the Metropolitan Police Department, the state Gaeco organized crime unit of prosecutors and the military police.

The killings. The two men were shot dead on November 9, 2025, at a rural property in Santo Amaro owned by the councillor’s family, reached by a dirt road with no nearby neighbors. Investigators found the two were asleep when the house was invaded, g1 reported. Hours earlier, the councillor had posted photos with friends at a party that Castro Reis also attended. Santo Amaro declared three days of official mourning.

The victims. Gleiber da Mota Fernandes, known as Gleiber Júnior, was 37, was serving his first term on the council of his hometown and led the Avante party in Santo Amaro. He left a daughter. Diego Castro Reis was 23 and, besides his work for the councillor, made comedy videos, with more than 18,000 followers on one social media account.

Earlier arrests. On December 23, 2025, police arrested a 41-year-old who also worked as an aide to the councillor, after contradictions in his statement, g1 reported. On February 9, 2026, a 20-year-old was arrested during a search tied to the investigation, for illegally holding a revolver.

Differing accounts. Jornal Correio reported that Gleiber had been re-elected to the council in 2024 with about 956 votes, while g1 described him as serving his first term. Correio also reported that court records at the Bahia Court of Justice show the councillor had himself been investigated in the past for threats, invasion of private property and receiving stolen goods. According to Correio, a threats case was archived by state prosecutors in 2022 for lack of evidence, a 2024 civil case accused him of invading a farm between Euclides da Cunha and Canudos, and he was arrested in Feira de Santana in 2019 on a receiving charge and released after paying bail of R$7,000. No report links any of those cases to the killings. The Santo Amaro council said in a statement after his death that he served with dedication to the people of the city, and it also mourned Castro Reis, who worked at the council.

Sources

Bogotá, Colombia: Woman, 28, Stabbed to Death at Partner’s Birthday Party in Suba; Man, 30, Captured Inside the Building

Map of the localities of Bogotá with Suba highlighted in red
Map of Bogotá with the locality of Suba highlighted. Map: Josegacel29 / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Location: Apartment in a residential complex in the Villa María neighborhood, Suba, Bogotá, Colombia

Legal status: A 30-year-old man, the victim’s partner, was captured by police on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, and placed at the disposal of the Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación). El Heraldo reported that he is to answer for the crime of femicide. Neither he nor the victim has been publicly named. No formal charge had been reported. He is presumed innocent.

The party. On the night of Monday, October 26, 2026, relatives and friends gathered in apartment 403 of a residential complex in Villa María, in the Suba district of northwestern Bogotá, to celebrate the birthday of a man who lived there with his partner, according to the late-night program El Ojo de la Noche, as reported by Noticias Caracol and Infobae. The evening began calmly, those outlets said.

Around midnight, according to the same reports, the man who was celebrating his birthday had been drinking heavily and started a fight with his partner. Some of the guests stepped in and took him out of the apartment to stop the argument and calm him down.

The attack. Within minutes, Noticias Caracol reported, he came back, saying he had left his cell phone inside. Instead, according to that account, he went to the kitchen, picked up a knife and attacked his partner. Blu Radio’s La Kalle reported that she had organized the party for him in her apartment, that the attack happened in front of the guests, and that they intervened again and pulled him away after he had already wounded her several times.

Neighbors and members of the community called police about a fight inside a home. Lieutenant Colonel Juan Arango, garrison officer of the Bogotá Metropolitan Police, said, as quoted by El Heraldo, that officers responding to a report of a fight inside a home found a woman with wounds that appeared to have been caused by a sharp weapon. She was taken immediately to a medical center, where she died because of how severe her wounds were.

El Heraldo reported that she had multiple stab wounds. She was taken to the Hospital de Suba and died there at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 27, according to Noticias Caracol and Infobae. She was 28, according to Caracol Radio as cited by El Tiempo and Infobae; El Heraldo attributed the same age to the authorities.

The capture. El Tiempo, citing Caracol Radio, reported that the suspect, 30, tried to hide inside the residential complex, and officers intercepted him before he could leave it. El Heraldo, citing police, said he tried to flee the scene. Guests at the party pointed him out to officers as the person responsible, Lt. Col. Arango said, according to La Kalle. Noticias Caracol and Infobae said he was captured by officers from the La Gaitana police post (CAI La Gaitana).

Authorities are investigating to establish the motive, El Heraldo reported. Infobae said the Fiscalía is to carry out the proceedings to determine the circumstances of the fight and his responsibility for the woman’s death.

Context. Infobae reported that, according to official records from Bogotá’s Secretariat for Women, the Fiscalía and the National Institute of Legal Medicine, femicide risk assessments in the capital rose by about 64 percent in the first five months of 2026, while killings of women classified as femicides fell to seven between January and May, compared with 10 in the same period of 2025. Assessments rated extreme risk rose from 441 to 688, El Tiempo reported. The local outlet Suba Alternativa noted that the case came shortly after the body of María Carolina Tardecilla, 27, who had been reported missing, was found in Aures II, also in Suba.

Sources

Ibagué, Colombia: Motorcycle Driver Sentenced to 22 Years for Shooting of Young Man Watching a Deportes Tolima Match

Large colourful letters spelling Ibagué in a planted park with trees, street lamps and low buildings behind
The Ibagué letters in a city park, Tolima, Colombia. Photo: Ridiculopathy / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: Las Delicias neighbourhood, upper Ambalá area, Ibagué, Tolima department, Colombia

Legal status: Camilo Andrés Tabares Cardona, 31, known by the alias “El Mecánico,” was sentenced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, to 22 years and 8 months in prison after accepting responsibility through a plea agreement with the Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía). A judge approved the agreement and found him responsible for aggravated homicide and for manufacturing, trafficking and carrying firearms, parts or ammunition. The ruling is at first instance and can be appealed.

The killing. On March 11, a 25-year-old man named Alirio, known as “Tito,” was watching a Deportes Tolima football match at a neighbourhood shop in Las Delicias when two men arrived on a motorcycle and shot him, El Nuevo Día reported. People tried to help him, but he died at a medical centre. La Voz del Pueblo, citing the Fiscalía, said he was shot in the chest; El Nuevo Día reported several shots.

The arrest. According to the Fiscalía, as reported by Noticias del Tolima and La Voz del Pueblo, Tabares Cardona was driving the motorcycle that carried the gunman, and the National Police caught him in the act. El Nuevo Día reported that the Ibagué Metropolitan Police set up a cordon after the attack and intercepted the motorcycle. The passenger jumped off when he saw officers and escaped on foot with the gun believed to have been used, the paper said. Background checks found prior records against Tabares Cardona for receiving stolen goods and illegal gun possession, according to El Nuevo Día.

The sentence. Besides the prison term, the court barred Tabares Cardona from holding public rights and office for 20 years and from owning or carrying weapons for 15 years. It denied him any benefits or alternatives to prison, so he must serve the sentence in a penitentiary, the outlets reported.

The night of the attack. In March, Caracol Radio reported that the killing happened in Comuna 6 and that police arrested the driver at a checkpoint as they responded. El Cronista, citing the Ibagué Metropolitan Police press office, reported on March 13 that police activated a cordon in the north of the city and, with help from LPR cameras and residents, intercepted him at Calle 100 and Carrera 3A in Villa del Sol. Colonel Edgar Fernando López, the city’s police commander, said the passenger, believed to be carrying the gun, abandoned him as patrols closed in. “We will move forward forcefully and quickly in gathering information to capture the other alleged perpetrator,” López said. El Cronista also reported that authorities were looking into unofficial accounts that the victim had received earlier death threats; that has not been confirmed.

The gunman. The judicial information released does not give the identity or whereabouts of the second man, El Nuevo Día reported. His responsibility remains to be established.

The victim’s name. Accounts differ on what the young man was called. El Nuevo Día gave his first name as Alirio. El Cronista, writing with information supplied by the Fiscalía’s press office, named him Jhon Martínez, 25, as did Caracol Radio in March, known to those close to him as Tito, and said he was shot in the chest.

How the case was built. The investigation was carried out by the Life Unit (Unidad de Vida) of the Fiscalía’s Tolima section, Integra Actualidad reported. According to the authorities’ reconstruction, the passenger got off the motorcycle and fired at the young man while he watched the match with other people in the shop. The evidence gathered during the case established Tabares Cardona’s part in the killing, the outlet reported, although he was not identified as the person who fired the gun. El Cronista said he accepted the plea agreement after his capture in the act and that the agreement was approved by a trial judge.

Sources

Playas del Coco, Costa Rica: Main Suspect Arrested After 11 Days on the Run in Killing of American Marc Walter Fleming

A blue and white fishing boat pulled up on the sand at Playas del Coco, with the bay and dry hills behind
The beach at Playas del Coco, Guanacaste. Photo: Gmendezg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Playas del Coco, Sardinal district, Carrillo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica; arrest in San Felipe de Alajuelita, San José

Legal status: A 22-year-old woman identified by her surname, Ortiz, was arrested on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, as the main suspect in the homicide. She has been placed at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will seek precautionary measures. She has not been charged and is presumed innocent. A second woman, surnamed Zeledón Abarca, was arrested on October 16 and ordered held for three months; she has not been convicted.

The arrest. Agents of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) arrested the woman on Tuesday in San Felipe de Alajuelita, south of San José. She had been on the run since October 16, when agents raided her home in La Capri de Desamparados and did not find her. La Nación, citing a police source, reported that she was found at the home of her romantic partner’s grandmother in a condominium complex, where she had been for four days after hiding in Los Guido, Desamparados. Q Costa Rica reported that agents carried out two raids that day, one in La Capri and one in the San Felipe 1 development.

The killing. Marc Walter Fleming, a U.S. citizen from California, was found dead with head injuries on September 27 in his apartment in Playas del Coco. Telediario and CR Hoy gave his age as 74. Investigators believe he was beaten with the glass jar of a blender. According to judicial information reported by Telediario, Fleming entered the condominium with the woman at about 4:50 p.m., and she later left alone.

La Nación reported that the two were together for about two hours in apartment N465 on the sixth floor, after arriving in Fleming’s Ford. The Tico Times reported, citing investigation details, that a camera captured Fleming’s cries for help from inside his apartment during the attack, and that footage showed a young woman matching the suspect’s description in the hallway outside, agitated and holding a phone, before she took the elevator and walked out alone. La Nación reported that she turned her face toward a camera as she left, as if she had noticed it.

The cards. After leaving the tower, the suspect and the second woman went into a small restaurant for a few minutes and then left the area by car, La Nación reported. Investigators say Fleming’s bank cards were then used along a route toward San José. The Tico Times reported purchases at supermarkets in Playas del Coco and Brasilito, a hotel in Flamingo and a store in Abangares. La Nación said OIJ footage includes images from an ATM camera. Investigators suspect Zeledón Abarca picked up Ortiz after the killing and went with her to businesses where the cards were used.

The Tico Times reported that the Liberia Criminal Court ordered Zeledón Abarca held in preventive detention for three months while the investigation continues.

The victim. Fleming had bought the apartment where he was killed in March of this year, in a complex where La Nación said units start at about $300,000 and the owners are almost all foreigners. Immigration records show he left Costa Rica on September 21 and returned from Nicaragua on September 24, three days before the attack, according to La Nación. The case is being handled by the Judicial Police office in Liberia.

The OIJ had released the suspect’s photo on October 16 and asked the public for help finding her. The case drew coverage from outlets in the United States and Britain, the Tico Times and Q Costa Rica reported.

Sources

Azua, Dominican Republic: Air Force Lieutenant Ordered Held Three Months in the Shooting Death of Mayra Alejandra Lara

Green, steep mountains rising above the rooftops and palm trees of a small town in Azua province, Dominican Republic
Mountains above the town of Guayabal in Azua province, Dominican Republic. Photo: Urbanist24 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Los Jovillos municipal district, Azua province, Dominican Republic

Legal status: Arcadio Montero D’Oleo, a first lieutenant in the Dominican Air Force (FARD), was ordered held in pretrial detention for three months on Monday, October 26, 2026, by Judge Dayana Gil of the Permanent Attention Judicial Office of the Azua judicial district. The ruling was first reported late that night. The Public Ministry has provisionally classified the case as aggravated feminicide under the new Dominican Penal Code, Law 74-25, and that classification may change as the case moves forward, Noticias SIN reported. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent. Some outlets spell his surname Montero de Oleo.

The victim. Mayra Alejandra Lara, 36, known as Tata, died of a gunshot wound, Diario Libre and Noticias SIN reported. The report of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif) found that a bullet struck her in the area of her right ear, and the medical and legal report cited by Noticias SIN noted an exit wound on the left side.

The night of the shooting. According to the prosecution’s request for pretrial measures, described by Noticias SIN, the shooting happened at about 11 p.m. on October 18 at Lara’s home on Luperón Street in Los Jovillos, where she was with her 15-year-old daughter. The document says Montero D’Oleo arrived at the house and argued with her. Later, as she was bringing him his dinner, he allegedly shot her, killing her. Diario Libre placed the crime at kilometer 7 of Los Jovillos and reported that it happened the week before the hearing. Prosecutors, investigators from the National Police and a forensic doctor went to the house afterward to process the scene and remove her body, Noticias SIN reported.

The relationship. Accounts of the relationship differ. Diario Libre and Canal 6 described Lara as the lieutenant’s former partner and reported that the two had been separated for some time. Noticias SIN referred to her as his partner.

The hearing. Prosecutor Franklyn Vicente presented the evidence gathered so far, which the Public Ministry says links the lieutenant to the killing, Noticias SIN reported. Judge Gil granted the prosecution’s request and ordered Montero D’Oleo to serve the measure at the kilometer 15 prison in Azua province, according to Diario Libre and Canal 6. The prosecution cited articles 91, 92, 93 and 94, paragraph 2, of the new code, and Noticias SIN noted that the legal classification could change as the case proceeds.

The family’s lawyer. Arcenio Jiménez, the lawyer representing Lara’s family, called the court’s decision appropriate and said the seriousness of the case calls for an exemplary sentence, Diario Libre reported. He said the woman was killed in front of a 15-year-old girl, which in his view makes the alleged crime more serious, and he said he would seek a 40-year prison sentence.

The first reports. Diario Libre’s first account, published the morning after the shooting, differed from the later court record on several points. It described the accused as a 44-year-old Army lieutenant, said Lara was hit by two bullets, and said he was under arrest by the National Police. Neighbours told the paper the couple had been separated for several months and that the shooting followed an argument at her home, and that the killing had shocked residents of Los Jovillos, where she was well known. Inacif staff removed the body in the presence of prosecutors and Dicrim agents and took it to the Inacif facility in Azua for an autopsy, the paper reported. Court reports from this week identify him as a first lieutenant in the Air Force and cite a single gunshot wound.

The investigation. The Public Ministry and criminal investigators are still working to establish the circumstances of the killing and what may have motivated it, Diario Libre reported. Canal 6 reported that prosecutors in Azua are working with the National Police’s Central Investigations Directorate (Dicrim) to gather witness statements, ballistics tests and physical evidence in order to build the formal accusation for the next stage of the case.

Sources

Santiago, Dominican Republic: Man Returned From Jamaica Ordered Held Three Months in Killing of Garbage Truck Driver Chased to Courthouse

Aerial view of high-rise apartment towers and treetops in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, with green mountains under a blue sky behind
Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic’s second city. Photo: Jabdiel Ventura / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Palace of Justice parking lot, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago province, Dominican Republic

Legal status: Jhovanny de Jesús Metz Cruz, known by the alias “Macho,” is being prosecuted as the main suspect in the death of garbage truck driver Deivy Carlos Abreu Quezada. On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, a judge of the Permanent Attention Court of Santiago ordered him held for three months in pretrial detention, Listín Diario and Diario Libre reported. Pretrial detention is a precautionary measure, not a finding of guilt. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court, and his lawyer says the defense will work to show he is innocent.

The ruling. Judge Wendy Tavárez ordered Metz Cruz to serve the measure at the El Pinito Correction and Rehabilitation Center in La Vega province while the case moves forward, according to Listín Diario. Diario Libre reported that the court granted the Ministerio Público’s request for the measure. When the case was first called on Friday, October 23, El Demócrata reported that prosecutors were asking for 12 months of pretrial detention. Neither Tuesday report explains the difference between that request and the three months imposed.

A delayed hearing. The coercion hearing was first scheduled for October 23 at the Federico Álvarez Palace of Justice. La Lupa del Sur reported that Judge José Rafael De Asís Burgos postponed it to Tuesday so that the defense lawyers could review the case file and prepare their arguments.

The killing. The attack happened in April of this year. According to Diario Libre, the incident began on Circunvalación Sur avenue in the Ensanche Bermúdez area, when a mob of motorcyclists tried to force Abreu Quezada to stop the garbage truck he was driving. He kept going because the group seemed violent, and the riders chased him for several kilometers until they cornered him in the parking lot of the Santiago Palace of Justice, where he had apparently tried to take refuge. There he was beaten and stabbed, and he died of his wounds. El Seis, citing the case file, reported that the confrontation began with an alleged collision on the avenue. Diario Libre reported that, according to the accusation, it was Metz Cruz who delivered the fatal stab wound. Abreu Quezada was 41.

Seven others already held. Metz Cruz faces the case alongside seven other men accused of taking part in the chase that ended in the driver’s death, Listín Diario and La Lupa del Sur reported. Diario Libre and El Seis reported that those seven are already in pretrial detention.

Months in Jamaica. Metz Cruz left the country after the killing, according to El Seis, which reported that Jamaican authorities found him in August over immigration irregularities and that Dominican prosecutors then sought his return through Interpol and the Dominican foreign ministry. The Santiago chief prosecutor, Quirsa Abreu, said he had entered Jamaica under a false identity to avoid Dominican justice, and argued that the way he came back showed he was a flight risk, Diario Libre reported. He was flown back to the Dominican Republic and arrived at Las Américas International Airport last week. Diario Libre and El Seis reported that he arrived on Tuesday, October 20, while El Demócrata said he was repatriated on Monday. He was then taken to Santiago to face the courts. El Demócrata reported that since his detention and return he has denied taking part in the crime.

Another pending case. Diario Libre and El Seis reported that Metz Cruz also has a separate pending case involving an armed attack on a member of the National Police, in which he was declared in contempt (rebeldía) after failing to appear in court.

What both sides said. Prosecutor Abreu said the investigation will continue so that the formal accusation against him can be completed and the case can move to its intermediate stage, according to Diario Libre. José Martínez Brito, the lawyer for the victim’s family, said he agreed with the measure. He said the three months would allow prosecutors to finish the accusation and seek a preliminary hearing with all of the defendants together, and that the case against the other men is well advanced, with Metz Cruz’s roughly seven months outside the country having slowed it. Defense lawyer Russell Aracena said the defense will file the legal remedies available to show his client’s innocence, and that the evidence tying him to the case must be clarified, Diario Libre reported.

What comes next. Metz Cruz remains in custody at El Pinito while prosecutors prepare the formal accusation.

Sources

Guayaquil, Ecuador: Lawyer Leonardo Toledo, Who Defended Metástasis Case Figure Mayra Salazar, Shot Dead; One Suspect Held After Chase

Rooftops and apartment towers of central Guayaquil seen from a high window at dusk
Guayaquil, Ecuador. Photo: Jordan Fischer / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Sauces 2, northern Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador; arrest in La Casuarina, northwest Guayaquil

Legal status: One man was arrested on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, after a police chase. Police have not said whether he took part in the shooting itself. He has not been named or charged and is presumed innocent. Other suspects escaped and are being sought.

The killing. Leonardo Toledo, a criminal defense lawyer, was shot dead on the morning of Tuesday, October 27, in the Sauces 2 neighborhood of northern Guayaquil. El Comercio and Vistazo reported that the attackers were riding a motorcycle and fled after firing at him.

Hours earlier, at about 1:45 a.m., men dressed in clothing similar to police uniforms and carrying heavy weapons entered Toledo’s home in what Vistazo described as a fake raid, captured by security cameras. El Comercio reported that the men posed as officers carrying out a formal operation, and that the break-in set off the police search that led to Tuesday’s arrest.

The chase and arrest. Walter Villarroel, the police commander for Zone 8, said investigators tracked a group of suspects wearing tactical jackets like those used by police investigation units. When they noticed officers, they tried to escape in a red Kia, and police chased them across the city to La Casuarina. Police believe the group was trying to reach the Socio Vivienda 2 area to hide.

The occupants fired at officers during the chase, Villarroel said. El Comercio reported that the patrol car was hit twice; Vistazo reported that an officer was wounded by two bullets. One man was detained. Villarroel said he has no criminal record. According to El Comercio, police believe he was the driver for the group that entered Toledo’s home that night.

Inside the car, which had been reported stolen four days earlier, police found four firearms, a 9 mm rifle and three pistols, along with clothing bearing police insignia and a metal battering tool known as a RAM, used to force doors during raids. Villarroel did not say whether the detained man is believed to have taken part directly in the killing, Vistazo reported. El Universo said his link to the murder will have to be established by the investigation, and that police are trying to identify the others who fled and any tie to organized crime groups. El Comercio reported that police believe the car was stolen specifically to carry out crimes disguised as fake police operations, that analysts are comparing ballistic evidence, and that investigators are tracing calls to find the others involved. The detained man and the evidence were handed to the authorities ahead of a court hearing, it said.

Who he was. Toledo became nationally known in 2024 as defense lawyer for Mayra Salazar, a former official of the Provincial Court of Justice of Guayas investigated in the Metástasis case, an inquiry into links between judicial, political and criminal figures. Vistazo describes Salazar as a cooperating witness in that case. In July 2024 the Attorney General’s Office opened a spinoff case, known as Implacable, over alleged influence peddling, in which Toledo and lawyer Francisco Fierro, who worked as outside counsel for a bank, were investigated, Primicias and El Universo reported.

On October 9, Toledo posted a photo on social media saying he would keep working to expose alleged front men for Xavier Jordán and a so-called “NarcoAlcalde” seeking reelection, Primicias and El Universo reported. El Universo noted that prosecutors consider Jordán one of the alleged masterminds of the killing of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Sources

Sefwi Awaso, Ghana: Two Men Remanded Over the Abduction and Murder of Toddler Denisah Neomina, Whose Mutilated Body Was Found in a Cemetery

Tall trees and dense green forest canopy in the hills of Ghana's Western North Region
Forest in the Afao Hills near Bibiani, in the municipality where the case is being heard. Photo: Ebd.alex / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Sefwi Awaso, Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Municipality, Western North Region, Ghana

Legal status: Sumaila Atta is charged with stealing a child and murder. Daniel Chimaobi is charged with abetting both offences. They were remanded into police custody on 27 October and haven’t entered pleas. The docket has gone to the Attorney-General for advice, and the case returns to court on 9 November. Both men are presumed innocent.

A Ghanaian magistrate has ordered two men held in police custody over the killing of Denisah Neomina. She was a little girl who disappeared from her home in Sefwi Awaso, in Ghana’s Western North Region. Days later she was found dead in a local cemetery, and parts of her body had been cut away.

The two accused, Sumaila Atta and Daniel Chimaobi, appeared on Tuesday, 27 October, before His Worship Lord Delvin Essandoh at the Bibiani District Court. Atta, the first accused, is charged with stealing a child and with murder. Chimaobi, the second accused, is charged with abetment of child stealing and abetment of murder. The court reports from Adom News, 3News, GhanaWeb and Insight Ghana all describe Denisah as two years old.

Docket to the Attorney-General. The magistrate directed the prosecutor, Detective Inspector Daniel Ansah, to send the case docket to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice. No pleas were reported. The hearing kept both men in custody while the state’s lawyers review the evidence. The case was adjourned to 9 November, when the prosecution is due to report back.

The disappearance. Adom News reported on 19 October that a man named as Sumaila Adu Atta, 31, allegedly took Denisah from her home in Sefwi Awaso on Saturday, 10 October. The court reports use the shorter form of his name. Kennedy Ayitey Wisdom, assemblyman for the Awaso Electoral Area, told Adom News that the disappearance was reported to police at Sefwi Bekwai.

A search party was formed, Adom reported. DSP Peter Nartey led it alongside the Bibiani District Police Command under ASP Sampson Abgeko. Angel Online reported that police and residents joined the search after her mother raised the alarm. The girl had gone missing while playing outside, the outlet said.

Camera footage. Two outlets reported that a security camera in the area had recorded the child being led away. Angel Online said the footage reportedly showed the suspect offering her a soft drink before taking her. GhanaWeb carried an 18 October social media post saying the footage showed a man identified as Sumaila picking the child up from a house. Wisdom told Angel Online that community leaders confronted the suspect. He admitted picking the girl up but claimed he’d left her nearby, the assemblyman said. Sefwi Bekwai District police then arrested him with the help of the footage, according to the outlet.

The discovery. According to Angel Online, Denisah’s body was found in a local cemetery on the morning of Saturday, 17 October. Every report agrees that her head and parts of her limbs had been removed. The outlets differ on exactly which limbs. Her body was taken to the Sefwi Anhwiaso Community Hospital morgue, where Angel Online said an autopsy would be carried out. No autopsy findings had been made public by 28 October. Police haven’t said publicly how she died or what motive they suspect.

Adom reported on 19 October that two suspects had been arrested to assist investigations. Published reports haven’t explained how Chimaobi came to be linked to the case or what part prosecutors say he played.

A frightened town. Nsowaa Mensah, the Abusuapanin, or traditional family head, of Sefwi Awaso, spoke for local leaders, Angel Online reported. He expressed deep sorrow and urged security agencies to question the suspect thoroughly to find out whether anyone else was involved. He also asked parents, guardians and schools to watch their children closely. Wisdom gave parents similar advice as the festive season approaches. Adom said the case has brought fear and panic to the community.

Sources

Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Two Alleged MS-13 Members Captured in Abduction and Killing of Víctor Isaías Sánchez Flores, 19

Dense cloud forest on a mountain slope in La Tigra National Park under a grey sky
Cloud forest in La Tigra National Park, near where the victim’s body was found. Photo: Jorge Luis Murillo Palma / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: El Hatillo, Distrito Central (Tegucigalpa), Francisco Morazán, Honduras; body found in Corralito, near La Tigra National Park; arrests in colonia Bella Vista, Comayagüela

Legal status: Two men, aged 20 and 23, were arrested and placed before the courts, police announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. On Wednesday, October 28, Tiempo reported that the Public Prosecutor’s Office had filed a formal charging request (requerimiento fiscal) against both men in the killing and also accuses them of criminal association. They have not been convicted and are presumed innocent. Police identified them only by their aliases.

The arrests. Honduras’s Police Investigations Directorate (DPI) said its specialists in crimes against life captured two men in connection with the abduction and killing of Víctor Isaías Sánchez Flores, 19. Prensa Libre Honduras and La Prensa reported that the arrests came during three court-authorized raids in colonia Bella Vista, in Comayagüela. Police identified the men by the aliases “El Chele” and “El Correcaminos” and said both are alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) who held the rank of gunmen in the gang.

DPI spokesman Wilfredo Maldonado said the arrests followed the investigation opened into the crime, El Mundo and Honduras al Instante reported. La Prensa reported that agents executed a preventive detention order and sent both men to the competent courts. According to the DPI, witness statements and technical and scientific evidence pointed to the two men.

The case. Sánchez Flores disappeared in early October while traveling in a pickup on the road leading south out of Tegucigalpa, La Prensa reported. His family lost contact with him and raised the alarm. Maldonado said the crime took place in the El Hatillo area of the capital. Reports differ on the date: El Mundo and Honduras al Instante, citing Maldonado, gave October 6, while Prensa Libre Honduras gave October 5.

His body was later found in the hamlet of Corralito, in the buffer zone of La Tigra National Park. HCH reported that a vehicle was first located in the Azacualpa area, prompting concern about a possible abduction, and that authorities later confirmed the body found in La Tigra was the driver of that vehicle.

The motive and the vehicle. Preliminary investigations point to money disputes between the victim and the suspects as a possible motive, the DPI said. La Prensa noted that the motive still has to be established in court. Maldonado said that after the crime the suspects allegedly moved the vehicle to another part of Tegucigalpa to avoid attention. The DPI said agents found a silver Honda CR-V with no license plates in the village of El Tizatillo, on the road to the El Cortijo poultry farm. Prensa Libre Honduras said the DPI did not specify how the vehicle is linked to the case.

The DPI said the file remains open to determine whether anyone else took part in the abduction and killing.

The prosecution’s account. According to the investigation as described by Tiempo, Sánchez Flores left a home in Bella Vista at about 10 p.m. on Monday, October 5, driving a pickup toward the El Picachito area, where he planned to meet the two accused, with whom he was friends. Months before his death, he had lent the two men about 100,000 lempiras, Tiempo reported, though authorities did not say whether the loan was directly connected to the killing. His family reported him missing when he did not come home. The next day investigators located the vehicle by GPS in El Tizatillo, on the road south of the capital, and his body was found on October 7 in El Corralito, in the La Tigra area, the paper said. The charges were brought by the prosecutors’ special unit for crimes against life.

Sources

Coacalco, State of Mexico: Man Sentenced to 202 Years for Opening Fire on Mourners at a Wake, Killing Four

Brick and arched facade of the Coacalco municipal palace behind a wide empty plaza
Municipal palace of Coacalco de Berriozábal, State of Mexico. Photo: Sxmuelfernandez / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Coacalco de Berriozábal, State of Mexico, Mexico

Legal status: César Rogelio Valdez Bermúdez was found guilty of homicide and attempted homicide and sentenced to 202 years in prison, the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office (FGJEM) announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. Two other men took part in the attack, according to prosecutors; the reports do not say whether they have been identified or arrested.

The attack. In September 2024, five people, three men and two women, were on the street in Coacalco when Valdez Bermúdez and two other men arrived and opened fire on them, prosecutors said. Four of the victims, three men and a woman, were killed. The fifth was wounded and survived. The FGJEM said the motive was an apparent rivalry over drug sales in the area. The victims have not been publicly named.

The shooting happened at a wake. When Valdez Bermúdez was ordered to stand trial in October 2024, the state prosecutor’s office said that on September 6, 2024, he and two other men went to a home on Calle Colima where mourners had gathered for a man killed the day before, and fired at five people outside, according to Digitalmex. Infobae reported that the attackers used high-calibre weapons and that more than 40 spent 9 mm and .223 caliber shell casings were found at the scene.

The killing before the wake. Prosecutors said in 2024 that on September 5, Valdez Bermúdez and another man intercepted a man on a street in the Los Héroes neighborhood of Coacalco and shot him dead, Digitalmex reported. Infobae identified that man by his nickname, El Chakalito, and reported he was shot eight times by two men on a motorcycle, and that he had been linked by authorities to killings in the fight for control of drug sales in Coacalco. At the time, Valdez Bermúdez was bound over for trial in both cases, on charges of aggravated homicide and attempted aggravated homicide, and a judge ordered him held in pretrial detention, Digitalmex reported. This week’s announcement covers only the sentence for the four deaths and one attempted killing at the wake; the reports do not say what became of the September 5 case.

The sentence. After his arrest on a warrant, Valdez Bermúdez was held at the Ecatepec prison. Prosecutors said they kept gathering evidence after he was bound over, and the court found him guilty on that basis. The 202-year sentence breaks down as 190 years for the four homicides and 12 years for the attempted homicide of the survivor. The FGJEM asked anyone who recognizes him as a possible participant in other crimes to report it.

A differing account of the earlier killing. Dominio Puebla, in its report on the sentence, placed the wake in the San Lorenzo Tetlixtac neighborhood of Coacalco, where the mourners were saying goodbye to an acquaintance. It also reported that during the trial the state prosecutor’s office established that Valdez Bermúdez had taken part in the earlier killing of the man known as El Chakalito, linking the two attacks to the same criminal group. The prosecutor’s office announcement, as reported by Infobae and El Universal Edomex, described only the sentence for the deaths and the attempted killing at the wake, and no separate conviction for the September 5 killing has been reported. Dominio Puebla also said he had been held in the Ecatepec prison since October 2024.

Sources

Córdoba, Veracruz: Partner, 52, Arrested in Feminicide of Guadalupe Espinoza Arispe, Found in a Ravine a Month Ago

Locator map of Mexico with a red dot marking Córdoba in the state of Veracruz
Locator map showing Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico. Map: Mixcoatl / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5

Location: Ravine near the victim’s home in the Los Carriles neighbourhood, Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico

Legal status: Ministerial Police officers executed an arrest warrant against Carlos “N”, 52, for the alleged feminicide of his partner, Guadalupe Espinoza Arispe, and placed him at the disposal of the judicial authorities, according to reports published on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. A judge will determine his legal situation. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in court.

The victim. Guadalupe Espinoza Arispe was 51. She lived with her partner, Carlos “N”, in Los Carriles, according to La Nigua, which published a report credited to GerardoLuna.mx.

The last visit. In his statement to prosecutors, her son, Héctor Díaz, 23, said the last time he had contact with his mother was on Thursday, September 17, at about 10:30 p.m., when she came to his home and told him she had argued with her partner, La Nigua reported. E-Veracruz gave the same account, saying she told her son about the argument the last night he saw her.

The search. With no word from her for several days, her son went to the state prosecutor’s office on September 22 to report her missing, and the State Search Commission then issued a notice seeking her whereabouts, Vanguardia de Veracruz reported. The next day, September 23, at about 2 p.m., he and other relatives began searching a ravine close to the home where she lived. A smell led them to her body, which was in an advanced state of decomposition, and they called the 911 emergency line, La Nigua reported. Civil Protection staff and personnel from the prosecutor’s office attended, processed the scene and began the investigation. E-Veracruz reported that police cordoned off the area and that forensic experts collected evidence before her body was taken to the forensic medical service.

The investigation. Investigators canvassed the area for footage from the state C4 command centre’s surveillance cameras and from private cameras at nearby homes, according to La Nigua, XEU and E-Veracruz. The evidence gathered led authorities to classify the death as a feminicide and to obtain the warrant against Carlos “N”, La Nigua reported. Reportaje Veracruzano noted that the arrest came more than a month after her body was found.

Where he is held. Vanguardia de Veracruz reported on Wednesday, October 28, that after his arrest Carlos “N” was presented to the regional prosecutor’s office and taken to the prison in Amatlán, at La Toma, where a supervising judge will determine his legal situation. Its account differs in some details from the others. Vanguardia said she was last seen on September 17 leaving her home in the Los Filtros neighbourhood and that she had argued with Carlos “N” the day before, while La Nigua placed the argument on the night she visited her son. Vanguardia also reported that the State Search Commission issued a missing person notice for her after her son’s report. Diario Gráfico, in a report carried by Lado.mx, gave the same account of the son’s statement as La Nigua and said the accused retains the presumption of innocence until a court rules.

What has not been released. None of the published reports gives a cause of death or the exact date of the arrest.

What comes next. The judicial authority will determine the legal situation of Carlos “N”, E-Veracruz reported, noting that the arrest is not a conviction. The case remains with the judicial authorities, La Nigua reported. Diario Gráfico, as republished by Lado.mx, noted that he keeps the presumption of innocence unless a sentence establishes his responsibility.

Sources

Mexico City: Two Men Sentenced to 40 Years for Strangling Two Businessmen at a Polanco Work Meeting; Third Accused Awaits Trial After U.S. Deportation

Office and apartment towers of the Polanco skyline in Mexico City above a line of trees
The Polanco skyline, Mexico City. Photo: rutlo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Colonia Polanco, Miguel Hidalgo borough, Mexico City

Legal status: Atzin “N” and Moisés “N” were convicted of aggravated homicide (homicidio calificado) and sentenced to 40 years in prison each, the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJCDMX) announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. A third man, Ricardo “N”, has been formally bound over for trial on the same facts and is held in pretrial detention. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent. Prosecutors identified the accused by first name only.

The killings. According to the prosecutors’ account, on December 20, 2024, the three men went to a property in Polanco for what had been arranged as a work meeting with two men, aged 72 and 49. During that meeting, prosecutors said, both men were beaten and strangled to death.

Excélsior identified the victims as Enrique Esnal Dubernard, 72, who the paper said was awarded Italy’s Order of Merit in 1994, and Alejandro Ballina Ortiz, 49.

The bodies went undiscovered for three days. On December 23, officers of the city’s Public Security Secretariat (SSC) went to the property after a relative asked for help because they had lost contact with one of the men. Officers found both bodies inside a pickup truck parked on the property. Excélsior reported that Esnal Dubernard was inside the vehicle and Ballina Ortiz was in its trunk.

How the case was built. Investigation Police (PDI) agents reviewed video from the city’s C5 surveillance camera network and from private cameras, and cross-checked digital and technical data. Prosecutors said that work let them reconstruct the movements of the three men and identify the vehicles they used, and the Public Ministry then obtained arrest warrants for all three.

PDI agents arrested Atzin “N” and Moisés “N” on March 10, 2025. A judge bound them over for trial on March 14, 2025.

The third suspect. Investigators established that Ricardo “N” was in the United States, and the city prosecutor’s office requested an Interpol Red Notice. After he was detained by U.S. immigration authorities, he was deported to Mexico and handed to the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR). With help from the Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office, PDI agents served the Mexico City arrest warrant on him in Matamoros on April 10, 2026. Prosecutors stressed that he must be considered innocent unless a court convicts him.

The sentence. Based on the evidence presented by the Public Ministry, the court found Atzin “N” and Moisés “N” guilty and sentenced each to 40 years. Each was also ordered to pay 542,850 pesos in compensation for the deaths and 6,514.20 pesos for funeral costs. None of the reports said what the work meeting was about or what motive prosecutors put forward at trial, and prosecutors did not say when the verdict was handed down.

Who the victims were. Agencia Reforma, in a report carried by El Diario de Chihuahua, said the two victims apparently worked in real estate and were brothers-in-law. El Universal identified them by first name as Enrique and Alejandro, consistent with the names Excélsior published. Infobae, citing the prosecutors’ office, said the two men were attacked until they died during the meeting, and Agencia Reforma quoted the office as saying the C5 footage let investigators reconstruct the escape route of the three accused. El Universal and Infobae both reported that Ricardo “N” remains in pretrial detention, and Infobae said he was formally bound over for trial after his arrest in Matamoros. Infobae and Agencia Reforma both noted that he is presumed innocent until a court rules otherwise. None of the reports said when his trial will take place.

Sources

Ostuacán, Chiapas: Suspect in Killing of Miriam Cruz Alpuche and Granddaughter Ariana, 12, Moved to State Prison After Surviving Lynching

A dry gravel riverbank with a fallen tree and forest beyond, in Ostuacán, Chiapas
Riverbank in Ostuacán, Chiapas. Photo: Juan Ortega / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Location: Ranch on the Tanchichal riverbank, about 30 minutes from the town centre of Ostuacán, Chiapas, Mexico

Legal status: Armando “N”, known as “El Melo”, was moved to a state prison on the night of Monday, October 26, 2026, and placed before the court on a feminicide charge, according to Milenio as published by Zócalo. Chiapas Attorney General Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca said prosecutors will seek the maximum sentence of 100 years. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in court.

The victims. Miriam Cruz Alpuche, 55, and her granddaughter Ariana Scarleth, 12, left their home in the San Miguel neighbourhood of Ostuacán at about 2 p.m. on Monday, October 19, and rode a four-wheeler to their ranch in Tanchichal to help a cow give birth, Milenio reported. When they did not return, relatives began searching on the Tuesday. Miriam’s body was found on the Wednesday and Ariana’s two days later, and the discoveries brought demands from residents that the killings be solved and punished, Infobae reported. Outlets spell the girl’s second name both Scarleth and Scarlett, and an early Azteca Noticias post gave her age as 10; later reports and the prosecutor’s office give 12.

Causes of death. Autopsy results released by the prosecutor’s office found that Miriam died from acute bleeding after wounds to the neck made with a sharp object, Milenio reported, and Infobae said her body had been left wrapped in plastic bags. The office said Ariana died of strangulation, had a severe head injury and defensive wounds, and had been sexually assaulted.

What prosecutors allege. Llaven Abarca said both men followed the victims to the place where they were killed and then fled. Prosecutors describe Armando “N” as the alleged planner and a second man, Andrés “N”, known as “El Cera”, as the one who carried out the killings. The motive they give is a personal grudge Armando “N” held over a sale of cattle. None of these claims has been tested in court.

The lynching. After the arrests were announced, residents forced their way into the cells at the municipal government building where the two men were held and attacked them, according to Milenio and Infobae. Infobae reported that residents wanted to stop the men being transferred to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, dragged them to the central plaza beside the town hall, threatened to set the building on fire, and that power was cut in the town. Andrés “N” was killed by the crowd; Infobae reported that he was beaten and then decapitated. Armando “N” survived and was rescued by security forces, Azteca Noticias reported. Accounts differ on the date: Milenio says the attack happened on the night of October 25, while Diario de Chiapas says it was the previous Saturday. Diario de Chiapas and Azteca Noticias give October 23 as the date of the crime, which differs from Milenio’s account of an October 19 disappearance.

Background on the dead suspect. Prosecutors said earlier that Andrés “N” had been arrested about three years ago for violent robbery in Pichucalco, and that witnesses described him as having a drug addiction, Infobae and Diario de Chiapas reported.

Official response. Governor Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar urged residents not to let anger over the killings lead to more violence and to trust the authorities. In a social media message quoted by Infobae, he said taking justice into one’s own hands does not bring back peace. Infobae noted that authorities still have to investigate the lynching and the violence in the town.

What comes next. Llaven Abarca said in a video that his office will follow the trial closely and, as announced, seek the 100-year maximum.

Sources

Dutsin-Ma, Nigeria: Ansaru Claims the Killing of Cleric Sheikh Yahaya Masussuka as His Family Rejects the Claim and Tinubu Orders a Probe

Single-storey post office building on Safana Road in Dutsin-Ma
The post office on Safana Road in Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State. Photo: Sabiu001 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Outside the residence of Sheikh Yahaya Ibrahim Masussuka, Dutsin-Ma Local Government Area, Katsina State, Nigeria

Legal status: No arrests reported. The Katsina State Police Command has deployed tactical and operational teams and appealed for information. A claim of responsibility attributed to the militant group Ansaru has not been verified by the authorities and is disputed by the cleric’s family.

The killing. Sheikh Yahaya Ibrahim Masussuka, a widely followed and controversial Islamic preacher, and his friend Adamu Abubakar were shot dead outside the cleric’s home in Dutsin-Ma on the evening of Monday 26 October. In a statement quoted by Daily Trust, the state command’s spokesman, DSP Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu, said two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on the two men in front of the residence and fled. BBC News Pidgin, citing the same statement, put the attack at around 7:30 pm at the gate of the house. The Divisional Police Officer for Dutsin-Ma led a team to the scene, and both men were rushed to the nearest hospital, where a doctor pronounced them dead. The cleric’s secretary, Dr Mustapha Haruna, told the BBC that he died at Dutsin-Ma General Hospital. The Dutsin-Ma police chief, CSP Auwalu Gwadabe, said he died of gunshot wounds. The State House described it as a drive-by shooting.

His final hours. Daily Trust reported on 28 October that hours before the attack Masussuka had spoken at a gathering at his father-in-law’s home, where relatives had assembled to mourn a family member, about the certainty of death and the need for people to live in harmony. A resident, Murtala Narega, recalled him saying that “Allah created people differently, but those differences should not be a reason for division or hostility.” He then returned to the studio at his residence from which he regularly delivered lectures online. His widow told Daily Trust that he spoke to her about the oneness of God before he stepped out. “Shortly after he left, I heard about four gunshots. Then I received the news that he had been killed,” she said.

Who he was. According to BBC News Pidgin, Masussuka was born on 19 September 1979 at Biyawa village, now part of Dutsin-Ma, studied in Qur’anic schools and at Al-Azhar University in Egypt and later in Oman, and had preached for more than 30 years. He had two wives and seven children. His Qur’an-centred teaching, which rejected many hadith traditions, drew sharp criticism from other scholars, particularly Salafi followers of the Izala movement, and the Katsina State Government summoned him in November 2025 over allegations of “harassing scholars and defaming the hadiths”. He owned radio and television stations and schools in Dutsin-Ma. Governor Dikko Umaru Radda called him a voice for peaceful coexistence and interfaith harmony who opposed violent extremism. FIJ reported that he had been honoured as a peacemaker by the Network for Good Governance and Transparency in May 2025.

The Ansaru claim. On Tuesday 27 October an audio recording was circulated online in which a man speaking in Hausa, claiming to represent Jama’atu Ansaril Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan (Ansaru), said the group had killed “the heretic Yahaya Masussuka and his close associate” at about 8:30 pm, Sahara Reporters reported. The speaker gave the day as Tuesday, although the killing took place on Monday. Security analyst Dr Audu Bulama Bukarti suggested on X, as quoted by FIJ, that the cleric may have been targeted because he was preparing to organise a major peace conference.

The family’s response. On 28 October the cleric’s successor, Abdurrashid Abdulkarim, speaking for the family in a video on Masussuka’s social media page, rejected the claim. “There are people who threatened him before his death, and we still suspect them,” he said, as reported by Daily Post. He challenged Bukarti to explain how he obtained the recording and pointed to the wrong day in the message as evidence of inconsistencies, urging that the claim not distract investigators.

Official reaction. President Bola Tinubu condemned the killings on 27 October as “heinous” and directed the Nigeria Police Force and other agencies to intensify the efforts of the Katsina command and ensure the perpetrators are apprehended. Commissioner of Police Ali Umar Fage vowed the command “will not relent”. Amnesty International and the Impacthive Centre for Accountability, Democracy and Rights called for a thorough investigation. Leadership reported that the burial rites were set for Friday 30 October, with a special prayer at the Emir’s Palace in Katsina.

Sources

Podor, Senegal: Boyfriend Arrested in a Daara Hideout Over the Killing of 17-Year-Old Student Aminata Sy

Old colonial buildings along the quay at Podor
The quay at Podor, on the Senegal River. Photo: Marcus30bucks / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Lao Demba neighbourhood, Podor, Saint-Louis region, Senegal; arrest at Ndiapandal Bou Ndaw, commune of Kaël, near Mbacké

Legal status: Karamo Cissé Ndiaye, 35, was arrested in the night of 26 to 27 October and handed to the gendarmerie. Senegalese outlets report he is being pursued for “assassinat avec actes de barbarie” (murder with acts of barbarity). He has not been tried and is presumed innocent.

The victim. Aminata Sy was a final-year student (Terminale) at the Lycée El Hadji Baba Ndiongue in Podor. Senego and Kewoulo give her age as 17, as do several other outlets; Dakaractu and Setal, both citing the daily L’Observateur, give it as 20. She had been reported missing the day before her body was found. Setal, citing L’Observateur, reports that she was found on Sunday in the Lao Demba neighbourhood. According to Senego, she was bound and placed in a sack and left behind an uninhabited house not far from the central market. On Monday 26 October, from 10 am, her classmates and teachers suspended lessons for a half day of mourning, Dakaractu and Setal reported. Her body was transferred to a health facility in Dakar for an autopsy.

The early investigation. The Podor gendarmerie brigade opened the inquiry, supported by the Section de recherches of Saint-Louis. Dakaractu reported on 27 October, citing L’Observateur, that several people had been questioned, among them a mechanic identified only as M. Guèye who had reportedly lodged the victim’s boyfriend. The paper stressed that this questioning did not in itself attribute any responsibility to him. By then the boyfriend, described as a trader, was being sought and his photograph was circulating on social media, PressAfrik reported.

The arrest. The National Police said officers of the Mbacké urban police station arrested a man suspected of the voluntary homicide of the Podor student during the night of 26 to 27 October. “Following the exploitation of operational intelligence reporting his presence in the area, an intervention team was dispatched. The suspect was surprised in his hiding place and placed in custody, pending his transfer to the competent services,” the police said, as quoted by Actusen. Seneweb, which first reported the arrest, named him as Karamo Cissé Ndiaye and said he was taken at about midnight in the village of Ndiapandal Bou Ndaw, in the commune of Kaël. PressAfrik, citing L’Observateur, said he had sought refuge at a daara (Koranic school) where he had studied as a talibé in his childhood, and that he had switched his phone off to avoid being traced, turning it on only briefly to call a contact there. The daara alerted the Mbacké police. Officers in an unmarked car went to the village and, through a relative, invited him to surrender discreetly, which according to a judicial source he did without difficulty. At about 10 am on Tuesday 27 October he was handed to the commander of the Mbacké territorial gendarmerie brigade and then escorted to the Podor investigators.

The suspect’s account. PressAfrik and Dakaractu report that Karamo Cissé Ndiaye is a 35-year-old seller of electronic equipment at the Ocass market in Touba. According to the account L’Observateur says he gave investigators, he met Aminata Sy on social media in 2021 while living in Turkey, and a marriage was discussed. Her mother reportedly made the marriage conditional on her passing the baccalauréat, and he says he paid an advance on the dowry of 300,000 CFA francs. After she failed the exam, the family postponed the wedding so that she could repeat the year. He told investigators he had returned to Podor for work and rented a room close to the family home. On the morning of her death, he said, she came to his room to reproach him, he demanded the 300,000 francs back, and she armed herself with a pointed object. “I dodged the blow and pushed her away vigorously. Her head hit the wall violently and she collapsed, injured at the nape of the neck,” he is reported to have said. He claims he tried twice to revive her with water before panicking and leaving by a back door. Seneweb separately quoted him as saying her family had refused the marriage after he had sent money to her and her mother during four years in Turkey, and that “she attacked me first”.

What the investigators found. Dakaractu, Senego and PressAfrik all report that the gendarmes’ initial findings, as described by L’Observateur, do not match a fall. The body is reported to have had deep wounds to the chest, the eyes and the mouth, and was found not in the rented room but in an adjoining house, tightly tied and packed into a sack. Dakaractu noted that these findings are central points the investigation must test against his statements. Dakarposte reported that investigators had at one point considered a ritual motive.

Sources

Lichtenburg, South Africa: Driver Charged With Murder of Police Warrant Officer Eunice Nortman as She Is Laid to Rest

Church spire and palm trees in Lichtenburg
Lichtenburg, North West province. Photo: South African Tourism from South Africa / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Lichtenburg Mall, Dr Nelson Mandela Drive, Lichtenburg, North West, South Africa (Lichtenburg Magistrate’s Court)

Legal status: Charged. On Tuesday 27 October 2026, Akilesh Gupta, 23, appeared on charges of murder, contravening the Immigration Act, driving without a valid licence and malicious damage to property. The charge was upgraded from culpable homicide. He has not pleaded. The case was postponed to 6 November 2026 for a Hindi interpreter and a possible bail application. He remains in custody and is presumed innocent.

A 23-year-old Indian national accused of driving over an on-duty police officer at a shopping mall in South Africa’s North West province now faces a murder charge. Akilesh Gupta made his second appearance in the Lichtenburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, where the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed that the original charge of culpable homicide had been upgraded to murder, TimesLIVE and the Taung Daily News reported. The officer, Warrant Officer Eunice Nortman, 53, was to be buried on Wednesday 28 October, Eyewitness News reported.

The crossing. Police said Nortman, who was attached to the North West provincial crime intelligence division in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district, was on duty on Monday 19 October when she was struck by a BMW SUV while crossing the driveway at Lichtenburg Mall on Dr Nelson Mandela Drive. “She was on duty during the incident and was transported to hospital by emergency medical services for medical treatment. Sadly, she succumbed to her injuries later that evening,” police said in a statement quoted by TimesLIVE. NPA North West spokesperson Lindiwe Mabasa said it is alleged that Gupta “was captured on video footage driving over an on-duty police officer.”

The footage. CCTV footage shared widely on social media appears to show Nortman approaching a pedestrian crossing after parking her vehicle, Briefly News reported. Eyewitness News said she warned the driver that she was about to walk over the crossing, and that the footage shows the vehicle accelerating into her. According to accounts accompanying the video, the white SUV struck her at speed, drove over her and stopped near a second car, leaving her unconscious as members of the public gathered.

Immigration status. “It is further alleged that Gupta is an Indian national who does not possess valid documentation authorising him to remain in South Africa. He allegedly entered the country on a visitor’s visa in 2024, which has since expired,” Mabasa said. Gupta first appeared in court on 21 October and was remanded in custody. North West Director of Public Prosecutions Dr Rachel Makhari said the NPA remained committed to vigorously prosecuting violent crime.

Friends at court. Friends and colleagues of Nortman gathered outside the court on Tuesday with placards and printed shirts calling for justice, and said they would oppose bail. “A very loving, caring person. Always willing to assist anybody,” Anton van Eeden told Eyewitness News. “She was a household name in Lichtenburg. It’s bad for us; some of the people don’t take it well,” he said.

A 34-year career. Nortman served in the South African Police Service for 34 years. This year she and her husband, also a warrant officer, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary, Eyewitness News reported. She was a mother of two. Briefly News reported that her husband was at home when his mother-in-law called to tell him about the crash, and that he rushed to the mall to find her lying on the ground surrounded by paramedics. Her eyes were open, but she seemed confused and did not respond when he spoke to her. She died hours later.

Sources

Barataria, Trinidad: Son, 20, Remanded on Charges of Murdering His Mother and Teenage Sister Before Their Home Burned

A residential hillside street in Barataria, Trinidad, looking down over rooftops and trees toward the plain under a cloudy sky
A street in Barataria, in the San Juan-Laventille region of Trinidad. Photo: Grueslayer / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Seventh Avenue, Malick, Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago

Legal status: Nicholas Ramlal, 20, has been charged with the murders of his mother, Rosanna Ramlal, and his 17-year-old sister. He made his first court appearance on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, before High Court Master Valene Guerra Abraham, was not called upon to plead because the charges were laid indictably, and was remanded into prison custody until February 22, 2027, the Trinidad Express and the Trinidad Guardian reported. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The fire. Police and firefighters responded to reports of a fire at the family’s home on Seventh Avenue in Malick, Barataria, at about 2:40 p.m. on October 16, according to the Trinidad Express. The Guardian reported that fire officers found the bodies of the mother and daughter after they put out the blaze, and that three spent shells were found near the bodies. Barataria lies along Trinidad’s east-west corridor, CANA News noted.

What the autopsies found. Post-mortem examinations at the Forensic Sciences Centre found that both women had been shot in the head before the fire was set, the Express and CANA News reported. The Guardian likewise reported that autopsies showed both had been shot in the head before they were burned.

The initial account. In the first reports, according to the Express and CANA News, Ramlal told police he had been at home playing video games when he heard noises from one of the bedrooms, and that when he went to look he saw four masked men assaulting the women and demanding money before shooting them both. He escaped with minor scratches, those outlets reported. The case was at first treated as a suspected home invasion, the Express said. The Guardian reported that Ramlal was detained by officers at the scene after claiming his relatives had been killed in a home invasion. Police investigations eventually led to the murder charges, the Express reported. Police have not publicly described the evidence behind the charges or any motive.

The first day. In its October 17 report, the Express said crime scene investigators recovered three spent 9mm rounds, that the fire had been contained to a bedroom on the southern side of the house, and that the son was swabbed for gunshot residue and had his clothing taken before he went to hospital. The Guardian reported that a tender from the San Juan Fire Station put out the blaze at the unfinished two-storey house, and that Wesley Ramlal had gone hunting in Rio Claro and had to be tracked down by friends and relatives. Senior Superintendent Claire Guy-Alleyne called the killings “tragic” and asked anyone with information to speak with officers at the Morvant Police Station, the Guardian reported.

The charges. The charges were laid on Monday, October 26, by Corporal Timothy of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations after advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, according to the Express and the Guardian.

The victims. Rosanna Ramlal worked as a doubles vendor, and her daughter was a student, the Express and CANA News reported. Reports differ on some details. The Express and CANA News gave Rosanna Ramlal’s age as 49, while the Guardian reported she was 46 and the Express’s first report said 47. The Express and CANA News gave the daughter’s name as Alina, while the Guardian and the Trinidad Tribune, which carried the same report, named her as Elena. Both are reported to have been 17 years old.

The family. The husband and father, Wesley “Fats” Ramlal, owner of Fats Doubles on Maraval Road in Port of Spain, was reportedly away on a hunting trip when the killings happened, the Express, the Guardian and CANA News reported.

What comes next. Ramlal remains in custody, with the matter adjourned to February 22, 2027, according to the Guardian.

Sources

Guayaguayare, Trinidad: Man, 49, Charged With Murder in Chopping Death of Fisherman Selwyn Soodeen at the Fishing Port

Atlantic waves rolling onto a sandy beach at Mayaro Bay with a forested headland behind
Mayaro Bay on the east coast of Trinidad. Photo: Kalamazadkhan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Guayaguayare Fishing Port, Guayaguayare, south-east Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago

Legal status: A 49-year-old man from Fishing Port, Newlands, Guayaguayare, was charged with murder on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, on the advice of Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Anju Bhola, according to the Trinidad Tribune. He was expected to appear before a Master of the Court. He is presumed innocent.

The killing. Selwyn Soodeen, a fisherman known as “Ratty” or “Rat”, was chopped to death during an altercation with another fisherman at the Guayaguayare Fishing Port on Sunday, October 18, 2026, the Trinidad Guardian reported. The Guardian said it happened sometime before 7 p.m. and that the other man was also chopped in the fight. The Trinidad Express reported that Soodeen was chopped multiple times near the port and was taken to the Mayaro District Health Facility, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Reports differ on his age. The Trinidad Express gave it as 40. The Trinidad Tribune, reporting the charge, gave it as 43.

A dispute over a bowl. A dispute over a bowl is believed to have led to the killing, the Express reported. Soodeen’s stepfather, Martin Safe, told the Guardian he had left his stepson and other fishermen at the port and gone home, and was later told the two men had argued over a bowl and things escalated. He said Soodeen had offered to buy the other man’s bowl back. Safe told the Express he had heard the attacker was waiting under an almond tree and struck at dusk, and that Soodeen tried to defend himself.

Safe told both papers his stepson’s wounds were severe. He told the Express Soodeen was cut across the chest and throat and on both hands, and told the Guardian, “The kind of chop I see, in my knowledge, he come to kill my stepson.” He said he believed Soodeen would not have survived even if an ambulance had arrived in time. He told the Express he believed Soodeen died in a car on the way to the hospital, and told the Guardian that Soodeen’s brother, who was at the port, held him as he struggled to breathe.

Other accounts differ. One resident told the Guardian the two men had an altercation earlier that day and claimed that Soodeen struck first. Another resident, who knew both men and asked not to be named, told the Express that they were ordinary fishermen who joked with each other all the time, and had been socializing and roasting fish on the beach together days before.

The investigation. After the killing, the suspect fled, and police followed a trail of blood into a bushy area of the village but could not find him, the Express reported. According to the Tribune, a man from the area was arrested the next day by an officer of the Mayaro Criminal Investigations Department. Advice to charge him with murder was received from the Acting DPP on Monday, October 26, and the charge was laid by an officer of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, Region II, the Tribune said.

The victim. Soodeen was a father of one and a grandfather of one, according to the Guardian and the Express. His stepfather told the Express he was hardworking and that the family was traumatized. The Guayaguayare Village Council posted condolences on Facebook to his family, friends and the fishing community: “May God grant them strength, peace and comfort as they navigate this unimaginable pain.” The Guardian reported last week that an autopsy was expected as homicide investigators continued their inquiries.

Sources

Pretoria, South Africa: Zimbabwe Magistrate Frees Vice President Chiwenga’s Ex-Wife From Seven-Year Attempted Murder Case

Hotel tower and palm trees in central Harare
Central Harare, the city where the case was heard. Photo: Gary Bembridge / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Location: Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, where the alleged attempt took place (Harare Magistrates Court, Zimbabwe)

Legal status: Removed from further remand on Tuesday 27 October 2026. Marry Mubaiwa was charged in 2019 with attempting to murder her then husband, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. She denies it. The ruling ends the current prosecution, but the State may still pursue the charge by summons. She has not been convicted of this offence.

After seven years, the attempted murder case against Marry Mubaiwa, the former wife of Zimbabwe’s vice president, has collapsed. On Tuesday Harare Regional Magistrate Musaiona Shortgame granted her application for refusal of further remand. The State had asked for the trial to be postponed to 25 November so the prosecution could engage witnesses. The magistrate refused and ruled that Mubaiwa had suffered “mental, physical and financial prejudice” during a trial now in its seventh year, the state-owned Herald reported. The Daily News said he criticised the State for repeatedly failing to move the case forward and found that the delays violated her right to justice.

The allegation. Mubaiwa was accused of trying to kill Chiwenga in July 2019 while he was a patient in a hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, iHarare reported. The Herald described the charge as attempting to kill him by unplugging his life support system. Africanews reported that Chiwenga’s doctor alleged she pulled an intravenous tube out of her husband’s chest. The BBC said Chiwenga had accused her of trying to impede his medical treatment. After Pretoria, the vice president went to China for four months of treatment. Mubaiwa was arrested in December 2019, remanded in custody and denied bail at the time.

What the ruling means. iHarare described the outcome as an acquittal. The Herald, the Daily News and ZimEye reported it as a removal from remand. ZimEye explained that the prosecution will have to proceed by way of summons if it wants to pursue the case. Mubaiwa’s lawyer told reporters outside court that the ruling was a victory that had come too late, because her client’s rights had been violated by the delay. She said that if the State moved for a new trial, the defence would deal with it when it happened, the BBC reported. iHarare identified the lawyer as Beatrice Mtetwa.

Outside court. Mubaiwa celebrated after the ruling. According to ZimLive, as quoted by iHarare, she said: “We won. Ms B has done a lot of work. She’s done very well. It’s been unfair, but today we got justice. I’m so proud of her.” Speaking to ZimEye’s Simba Chikanza, she insisted she never tried to kill Chiwenga and attacked his presidential ambitions. “Why was he punishing me for, he took everything from me and that’s the person who wants to be a President?” she said. “The President knows the truth, I never attempted to kill Constantino,” she added, referring to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. She also said: “Some men walked into my house while I was taking a shower.”

Seven years. iHarare reported that during the proceedings Mubaiwa lost her marriage to Chiwenga, access to her children, and her right arm and left leg to amputation, as well as money and property. She now uses a wheelchair. Over the same period she was convicted of marriage forgery in April 2022 and acquitted of assaulting her maid in October 2022. iHarare reported that she still faces other charges, including money laundering and exchange control violations. Chiwenga played a key role in the 2017 military intervention that removed President Robert Mugabe, and later became vice president.

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Europe

Rome, Italy: Mark Antony Samson Sentenced to Life for the Premeditated Murder of Ex-Girlfriend Ilaria Sula

Stone street sign reading Piazza Elio Callistio, formerly Piazza della Sedia del Diavolo
Street sign in Piazza Elio Callistio, in Rome's Quartiere Africano. Photo: Sissi83 / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Location: Apartment on Via Homs, Quartiere Africano, Rome, Lazio, Italy; body left in a ravine about 40 km east of the city (Rome Assize Court, Rebibbia bunker courtroom)

Legal status: Convicted at first instance on Tuesday 27 October 2026 of murder aggravated by premeditation, futile motives and the emotional relationship with the victim, and of concealing a corpse. Sentenced to life imprisonment (ergastolo). The defence says it will almost certainly appeal.

The Rome Assize Court on Tuesday 27 October 2026 sentenced Mark Antony Samson, 24, to life imprisonment for murdering his former girlfriend Ilaria Sula, a 22-year-old statistics student at Sapienza University, in March 2025. After three hours in chambers, the judges in the bunker courtroom at Rebibbia accepted every aggravating circumstance sought by prosecutors: premeditation, futile motives and the emotional relationship between killer and victim. Samson, an Italo-Filipino architecture graduate who confessed after his arrest, was not in court to hear the verdict.

The night in Via Homs. Ilaria Sula, originally from Terni in Umbria, shared a flat with other tenants in Rome’s Furio Camillo district. On the evening of 25 March 2025 she went out and did not come home, and she stopped answering her phone. According to the trial reconstruction reported by RomaToday, she went to the apartment in Via Homs, in the Quartiere Africano, where Samson lived with his family, and stayed the night. ANSA reported that Samson told police she had come to return some clothes and stayed so late she decided not to take a night bus home, and that the couple had recently broken up after a relationship of a few months with ups and downs. The next morning she was stunned with punches and stabbed repeatedly. La Nazione reported three stab wounds to the neck.

The suitcase. Her body was closed in a sack, then packed into a suitcase, driven out of the city and thrown down a ravine about 40 kilometres from Rome. Italian outlets describe the site as in the countryside east of the capital, with Il Post naming the Poli area. While she was missing, Il Post reported, Samson used her phone to message her relatives and friends so they would believe she had run off with another man. Suspicion fell quickly on him. Taken in for questioning, he confessed, and the body was recovered days after the killing.

Why premeditation stuck. Samson’s confession described an impulsive attack. Prosecutors, led by deputy chief prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini with prosecutor Maria Perna, said phone analysis showed otherwise, including messages Samson sent a friend announcing his intentions in advance, RomaToday reported. “This was not a crime of impulse,” Perna told the court in her final reply. “Samson never told the truth and kept on lying so as not to admit premeditation.” She added that he had never repented and still believed Ilaria “deserved that end”. The defence had asked the court to strike the three aggravating factors and to grant general mitigating circumstances.

His mother’s plea. The crime scene was cleaned with the help of Samson’s mother, according to the trial record. She testified in March as an assisted witness and accepted a plea bargain of two years for complicity in concealing a corpse.

“The real life sentence is ours.” Her father spoke as the verdict was read: “Justice has been done, but the real life sentence is the one we have, me and my wife. He still breathes, my daughter no longer breathes.” Her mother said: “Girls must be respected, they must be given love, not violence.” Sapienza students, the university joined as a civil party, sat in court and handed the family a letter. Defence lawyer Alessandro Pillitu, who represents Samson with Paolo Foti, said the finding of premeditation “surprises us a little” and that “we will almost certainly appeal”.

Sources

Southampton, England: Drug Dealer Marcin Buryta Convicted of Murdering Piotr Pruszak With Part 3D-Printed Glock

The Winchester Combined Court Centre building
Winchester Combined Court Centre, where the trial was heard. Photo: Chris Talbot / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Location: Conifer Road, Coxford, Southampton, Hampshire, England (Winchester Crown Court)

Legal status: Convicted by a jury of murder on Tuesday 27 October 2026. Had earlier admitted two counts of possessing a firearm and one count of possessing ammunition with intent. Remanded in custody; sentencing listed for Thursday 29 October 2026.

A jury at Winchester Crown Court on Tuesday 27 October 2026 found Marcin Buryta, 32, guilty of murdering Piotr Pruszak, 45, who was shot four times inside Buryta’s home on Conifer Road in the Coxford area of Southampton on the evening of 11 February 2026. The weapon was a Glock-style pistol, parts of which had been made on a 3D printer. Jurors were never asked to decide who fired the shots. Buryta admitted that. Their task was to decide whether his account of self-defence was reasonable, and they rejected it.

The call. Shortly before 8pm on 11 February, Buryta rang 999. In a recording released after the verdict and published by the Daily Echo, he told the operator: “Hello, uh, somebody came to my home with a gun. I shoot him in self-defense.” Asked where the man was, he said: “He’s laying on the ground. I think, I think he’s dead. Not sure.” He told the call handler that a fight had broken out and that he had turned the intruder’s own weapon on him. That account was later shown to be false. He kept hold of the pistol for part of the call, saying he was afraid someone else might be upstairs, before agreeing to put it on the bed and then being told to move away from it and leave the house to meet police.

The shooting. Officers and paramedics found Mr Pruszak with serious gunshot wounds, and he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 8.45pm. The court heard he had entered the property through an upstairs window. Buryta said he heard a noise upstairs, believed he was being burgled, loaded his handgun and went to investigate. Pathologist Dr Megan Jenkins told the jury Mr Pruszak died of multiple gunshot wounds to the jaw, chest, armpit, forearm and hip, and that one bullet passed through his lung and heart before leaving through his back. Ballistics expert Paul Olden said all four bullets recovered, three from the body and one from a wall, came from the same 3D-printed pistol. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said Buryta did not stop after the first shots but fetched more ammunition and fired again.

“Almost an armoury.” Prosecutor Paul Cavin KC told the jury that Buryta, who eventually admitted dealing drugs, was “armed to the teeth with illegal firearms and other deadly weaponry”, and that “whatever the reason was that Mr Pruszak entered the defendant’s home, Mr Pruszak ended up being shot four times by the Defendant without ever shooting back at him.” A police search found two 3D-printed handguns, a decommissioned handgun, a loaded crossbow, a machete, an axe, a dagger, knives, a knuckleduster and, in his car, a baseball bat. Buryta said he kept the weapons for protection because of the drug trade and also collected them as a hobby. Mr Cavin said the case was about “the streets of Southampton rather than Detroit”. In cross-examination he asked why Buryta had not simply left by the back door, suggesting: “It’s because you love guns.”

“Poison.” Buryta sold drugs through a Telegram account called “Poison”, the court heard, and messages about the prices of cocaine and ketamine kept going out from it during and after the shooting, including while he was on the phone to emergency services. He first said a friend ran the account, then admitted supplying drugs for about four years because, he said, he was in a bad financial situation.

A killing in Poland. The jury was told that at 19, in his native Poland, Buryta stabbed a man at a friend’s birthday party and was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death, serving one year and 11 months. He told the court he later posted videos titled “A murderer’s confessions” to scare off a gang he said had threatened his family, and that he moved to England for a fresh start, working in warehouses and on a pheasant farm before settling in Southampton.

Detective Chief Inspector Clair Trueman, the senior investigating officer, called Buryta “a man obsessed with weaponry” and said: “Any loss of life is a tragedy, and my thoughts are with Piotr’s family.” He returns to Winchester Crown Court for sentence on Thursday.

Sources

Seacombe, England: Court of Appeal Raises Minimum Terms for Parents Who Murdered 13-Week-Old Miguel Pirjani

Gothic facade of the Royal Courts of Justice in London
The Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, London, home of the Court of Appeal. Photo: Stephen Richards / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Location: Percy Road, Seacombe, Wallasey, Wirral, Merseyside, England (Court of Appeal, London; original trial at Liverpool Crown Court)

Legal status: Both parents convicted of murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent and sentenced to life on 23 March 2026. On Tuesday 27 October 2026 the Court of Appeal ruled the minimum terms unduly lenient and increased them: Klevi Pirjani to 21 years and 6 months, Nivalda Santos Pirjani to 17 years and 9 months.

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday 27 October 2026 added two and a half years to the minimum terms of a Wirral mother and father who murdered their 13-week-old son, Miguel Pirjani, after weeks of assaults that left him with 41 fractures. Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Hilliard, said the original sentences “significantly underestimated the aggravating factors, to the extent that not only do we consider that the minimum terms were unduly lenient, but that we should set them aside.” Klevi Pirjani’s minimum term rose from 19 years to 21 years and 6 months, and Nivalda Santos Pirjani’s from 15 years and 3 months to 17 years and 9 months. Both remain serving life sentences.

The referral. The case reached the appeal court because the Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, referred both sentences under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. Bill Emlyn Jones KC, for the Attorney General, argued that the terms imposed at Liverpool Crown Court did not “meet the justice of this terrible case”. Lawyers for the couple accepted the sentences were lenient but said they were not unduly so. Rupert Bowers KC, for Nivalda Santos Pirjani, said there was nothing to show the sentencing judge had gone “beyond the ambit of reasonableness”. Sarah Vine KC, for Klevi Pirjani, said his sentence was “undoubtedly lenient, but not unduly, and leniency in itself is not a vice.” The BBC reported that the couple watched by video link from HMP Wakefield and HMP Styal and showed no reaction.

Weeks of abuse. According to the Attorney General’s Office, Miguel spent the first month of his life in hospital before being discharged to his parents. Within days of going home he was assaulted for the first time and suffered two fractured ribs. The violence continued and escalated over the following weeks. Medical examinations later found 41 fractures in all, to his ribs, legs, arm, collarbone and spine, which the BBC reported were inflicted in at least four separate incidents, along with a fractured sternum. Lord Justice Baker described “routine” assaults of increasing severity culminating in a “particularly callous” murder.

The final assault. On 24 November 2024, his parents inflicted what the prosecution described as “a heavy blow, or series of blows, to the right side of his head”. They called 999 after he went into cardiac arrest at the family home on Percy Road, Seacombe. Paramedics arrived within two minutes and restarted his heart, but he never regained consciousness. Miguel was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital with a fractured skull and died there five days later, on 29 November 2024, the Manchester Evening News reported, citing Merseyside Police.

“A warped relationship.” At the original sentencing in March, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said it could not be established which parent inflicted the fatal injuries but that they were “in this together, encouraging each other”. He said the identity of whoever “fatally battered” the baby “remains the guilty secret of a warped relationship, in which you came first for each other to an unnatural degree.” Each also received concurrent terms for causing grievous bodily harm with intent: six years and six months for Klevi Pirjani and four years and six months for Nivalda Santos Pirjani.

After the ruling, the Attorney General said Miguel “was a defenceless baby who had an entire life to live, yet he suffered appallingly cruel violence at the hands of the two people who should have protected him.” Detective Chief Inspector Holly Chance of Merseyside Police said the force remained “committed to protecting children”.

Sources

Finglas, Ireland: Partner Charged With Murder of Pharmacy Worker Loredana Morosanu as Neighbours Hold Candlelit Vigil

Former Finglas Garda Station with a garda car outside
The former Finglas Garda Station on North Road, Finglas, Dublin. Photo: JP / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Location: Melville Terrace, Finglas, Dublin 11, Ireland (Dublin District Court special sitting; next appearance Cloverhill District Court)

Legal status: Charged. Daniel Simion Toader, 47, a Romanian national of Melville Terrace, was charged on Tuesday 27 October 2026 with the murder of Loredana Morosanu at their home on 26 October, contrary to common law. He made no reply to the charge, has not entered a plea and is presumed innocent. He was remanded in custody to appear by video link on 3 November.

Loredana Morosanu was 48. She came from Botoșani, in north-eastern Romania, and had lived and worked in Dublin for about a decade, most recently at a pharmacy. The Journal reported that her online profiles said she worked at Hickey’s Pharmacy. She had moved into the apartment complex on Melville Terrace only in recent weeks, having lived elsewhere in Finglas before, RTÉ and Dublin Live reported.

What gardaí found. Gardaí responded to a report of an incident at Melville Terrace shortly after 4.30am on Monday 26 October, the October bank holiday, and found Ms Morosanu fatally injured. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The scene was preserved for the Garda Technical Bureau, and officers searched the grass and bushes around the estate and gathered footage from the area. Gardaí said they believed she died violently. A man in his 40s was arrested at a different location at about 11am that day, RTÉ reported. Her body was taken to the city morgue at Whitehall, where a post-mortem examination was scheduled for Tuesday. Gardaí have appealed for anyone who was around Melville Terrace between midnight and 5am on Monday, including drivers with dash-cam footage, to contact Finglas Garda Station on 01 666 7500 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.

The court. Toader was arrested at Finglas Garda Station at 6.58pm on Tuesday and charged just under an hour later, at 7.56pm, Detective Sergeant Niall Murray told Judge Máire Conneely at a late special sitting of Dublin District Court at about 8.20pm. Asked to respond, he made “no reply”, the detective said. At the two-minute hearing the accused spoke only to a court-appointed Romanian interpreter, The Irish Times and The Journal reported. He had no lawyer in court. Most criminal defence solicitors in Dublin have withdrawn their services in a dispute over legal aid payment reforms introduced in July. The detective said the accused had eight consultations with a solicitor in custody and another just before court, and that the meaning of the charge, including for bail, had been explained to him “at length”. The District Court cannot grant bail on a murder charge, which requires an application to the High Court. “Hopefully that will be resolved soon,” the judge said of the legal aid row, the Irish Examiner reported. Judge Conneely remanded him in custody to appear again by video link before Cloverhill District Court on Tuesday, November 3, The Irish Times and IrishCentral reported. A murder charge cannot be tried in the District Court, and under the rules published by the Courts Service such cases are sent forward to a higher court for trial.

The vigil. About 50 people gathered on Melville Terrace at 7pm on Tuesday, some holding candles, IrishCentral reported, and flowers were left at the apartment, which remained taped off. Few had known her well. A Romanian man who had chatted with her briefly said he came from a city “not far away” from hers, and a local man laid a single red rose on the green at the centre of the estate. Independent councillor Gavin Pepper said: “The whole community is stunned today. Everyone is in shock. I am heartbroken and the community is heartbroken.” Fianna Fáil councillor Keith Connolly offered condolences to her friends and family. In Botoșani, local outlets reported the charge on Wednesday.

Sources

Manzano, Italy: Cassation Explains Why Paolo Calligaris Was Cleared of Killing Tatiana Tulissi After Seven Trials

A white villa behind a lawn in Soleschiano, Manzano
Villa Piccoli-Brazzà at Soleschiano, in the municipality of Manzano, Friuli. Photo: Dani 7C3 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Garden of the couple’s home in Manzano, province of Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy (Court of Cassation, Rome)

Legal status: Paolo Calligaris was definitively acquitted “for not having committed the act” by the Court of Cassation in May 2026, which annulled a 16-year sentence. The written reasons for that ruling were made public on Tuesday 27 October 2026. The killing of Tatiana Tulissi is legally unsolved.

Italy’s Court of Cassation has published the reasoning behind its May 2026 ruling that ended almost 18 years of prosecution of Paolo Calligaris, the partner of Tatiana Tulissi, who was shot dead in the garden of their home in Manzano, near Udine, on 11 November 2008. The reasons, first reported by the regional Rai newsroom TGR Rai FVG on Tuesday 27 October 2026 and carried by ANSA, turn on time: the judges found that too few minutes passed between Calligaris arriving home and the presumed shots for a quarrel that ended in murder to be a credible hypothesis. The ruling made his acquittal final. He had been convicted three times along the way.

The killing. Tatiana Tulissi was found dead in the garden of the house in Manzano that she shared with Calligaris. According to UdineToday and FriuliOggi, she had been stunned by a blow to the head and then killed with three shots from a pistol. The weapon has never been found. The case against Calligaris was, in the words of the regional press, “strongly circumstantial” from the beginning, and without the gun it never had a murder weapon to put before a court.

Seven rulings, two acquittals. The case moved between courts for the better part of two decades. In 2019 a preliminary hearing judge convicted Calligaris. In 2021 the Assize Court of Appeal in Trieste acquitted him on the ground that the crime as charged did not exist. In 2022 the Court of Cassation annulled that acquittal and sent the case to the Assize Court of Appeal in Venice, which in December 2023 imposed a 16-year sentence. The defence appealed again, the Cassation again annulled and sent the case to a different section in Venice, and in March 2025 that court confirmed the 16 years. In May 2026 the Cassation annulled the conviction without sending it back, making the acquittal definitive. FriuliOggi counts seven levels of judgment in all.

Two different acquittals. The wording of the two acquittals is not the same. Trieste in 2021 cleared Calligaris because “the act does not exist”, the formula Italian courts use when the charged crime itself is not proven as described. The final ruling clears him “for not having committed the act”, which leaves no doubt that Tatiana Tulissi was murdered but holds that the evidence never showed it was him.

The minutes that mattered. The prosecution theory, as summarised by the Cassation reasons reported this week, required an argument between the couple escalating to murder after Calligaris came home. The supreme court found the window too short for that sequence. Its reasoning, according to defence lawyer Rino Battocletti, goes further: he said the Cassation itself states the case “should never even have begun”.

“A judicial ordeal.” Battocletti described the decision as “a very guarantee-minded ruling, applying the principle of reasonable doubt, which puts an end to a judicial ordeal that lasted an unreasonable time” and “acquits Paolo Calligaris definitively for not having committed the act.” The regional reports carried no reaction from Tatiana Tulissi’s family to the published reasons, and none named any other suspect. With the acquittal final, the question of who fired the three shots in the garden in Manzano in November 2008 remains open.

Sources

Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, France: Amine Kessaci Testifies at Trial Over the Execution of His Brother Brahim Chabane

Aerial view of the rooftops and courthouse square of Aix-en-Provence
The Palais de Justice in Aix-en-Provence, seen from above. Photo: FrogsLegs71 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Rue des Mignonières, Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône, near Marseille, France; bodies found in burned-out cars in and around northern Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône assize court, Aix-en-Provence)

Legal status: Five defendants, including Amine Oualane, presented by investigators as a founding figure of the DZ Mafia, are on trial for the triple assassination of Brahim Chabane, Réda Khaldi and Nassim Loubani. All are presumed innocent. The trial opened on 19 October 2026; the verdict is expected on 6 November.

Amine Kessaci, the 23-year-old anti-drug-trafficking campaigner who is now a deputy mayor of Marseille and lives under permanent police protection, took the stand on Wednesday 28 October 2026 at the trial of five men accused of killing his older brother, Brahim Chabane, in December 2020. “It has been six years since Brahim was murdered and what I miss most is his voice,” he told the court, according to AFP. “The voice is something that memory forgets.” He spoke under the gaze of the five accused, among them Amine Oualane, described by AFP as a baron of Marseille crime who became one of the alleged leaders of the DZ Mafia gang.

The ambush. According to the prosecution case reported by AFP and 20 Minutes, Brahim Chabane, 22, and Réda Khaldi left the family home on the evening of 28 December 2020. The three victims, all involved in drug trafficking, knew their killers and walked into a trap in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, near Marseille. On 29 December a burned-out car was found in a motorway tunnel; in the boot and on the passenger seat were two charred bodies, each shot in the head: Brahim Chabane and Réda Khaldi. On 6 January 2021 a second burned car was found with a third body, charred and dismembered, in the boot: Nassim Loubani. 20 Minutes reported that Brahim Chabane had survived two attempts on his life in the summer of 2020, one of which left him with ten bullets in his body.

“A life sentence.” Kessaci described a brother who protected his siblings in a family raised by a single mother, “the one who made me laugh, the one who always encouraged me”, and who told them school was the only way out of Frais-Vallon “with your head held high”. He recalled the evening of 28 December, when Brahim left without him getting to kiss him goodbye. “For us, this 28 December, in the holiday season when everywhere people celebrate family and joy, is a life sentence. There are empty chairs at the table,” he said. He told the court he had promised his brother at the morgue that he would not stay silent. His younger brother Mehdi was shot dead in November 2025, a case still under investigation that 20 Minutes says may have been a mistaken target, since Amine Kessaci had been threatened after publishing his book “Marseille, essuie tes larmes”.

“Five accused, presumed innocent.” “I am not here for revenge but for justice,” Kessaci said. He added: “When people wanted to make this trial a duel of Kessaci against one of the accused, I always said there were five accused, presumed innocent. But my brother had no right to a defence.” Oualane’s lawyer, Inès Medioune, then told him her client “understands your pain”, having lost his mother and a sister killed in a femicide, and wanted to thank him for helping the mother of another murdered young man. Kessaci’s testimony was brought forward because a key witness, Oualane’s former partner, failed to appear on Wednesday morning; the court issued a warrant to bring her in.

A widow who backtracked. On Tuesday Brahim Chabane’s widow, called Tahira by 20 Minutes, a pseudonym, retreated from statements made in the first days of the investigation that her husband had taken over cocaine dealing in Frais-Vallon. Asked by the defence to say what she knew, she replied: “I don’t know if I can talk about it here, I value my life.” The court was also shown a Snapchat video from the eve of the killing in which Brahim and Réda zoom in on the Rue des Mignonières sign, where the shooting took place the next day.

Sources

Istanbul, Turkey: Three Men Sent to Court Over the Killing of an Alleged Gunman, as Footage Shows One Fleeing in a Waste Collector’s Clothes

Hillside apartment blocks above the waterfront at Büyükçekmece, Istanbul
The Büyükçekmece waterfront on the western edge of Istanbul. Photo: Enrique Carpio Fotógrafo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: A residential tower in Büyükçekmece and a parked car in Bağcılar, Istanbul; arrests in Edirne province, Turkey

Legal status: On 27 October 2026, three men identified only by their initials were referred to the courthouse on suspicion of intentional killing (“kasten öldürme”). Five other people detained in Istanbul were released by a court under judicial control. None has been tried. All are presumed innocent.

The referral. Istanbul police sent eight suspects to the courthouse on Tuesday 27 October in connection with two shootings that left two young men dead in the city on 21 October, the Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported. The three men caught in Edirne, named by police as Y.G., 32, K.K., 30, and S.C.B., 22, were referred on suspicion of intentional killing. The İhlas News Agency (İHA) said their processing at the Homicide Bureau of the Istanbul police public order branch had been completed before the transfer. According to DHA, the court released the other five under judicial control, a set of conditions that in Turkey can include reporting to police and a travel ban. The agency reports did not say whether prosecutors had asked for the three to be held in pre-trial detention, or what a judge decided.

Two deaths in one day. The case began in an apartment on the 17th floor of a residential tower in Büyükçekmece, on Istanbul’s western shore. Yasin Binarci, 26, was shot dead there and a 20-year-old man was wounded, the agencies reported. Police searching the flat recovered three handguns, a large quantity of ammunition and about two kilograms of drugs, according to DHA. The man police said had fired the shots, Mehmet Emin Yüksel, 22, was later found shot dead in a car abandoned in Bağcılar. DHA put the discovery five hours after the first shooting; İHA said it came the day after.

The police account. Interviews with the suspects at the public order branch produced a fuller picture, DHA reported. Five people had been staying in the flat. According to the police investigation as reported by İHA, Yüksel opened fire on Binarci and the younger man while they were asleep. Two of the others, K.K. and Y.G., were in another room. They locked the doors and telephoned a friend, S.C.B., for help, the agencies said. S.C.B. arrived and broke the door down with a sledgehammer, and the four, including Yüksel, left together. DHA reported that Yüksel came under the influence of drugs on the road and was then shot by the others in the car. The three left the vehicle with his body inside in Bağcılar and fled on foot, police said. İHA reported that police had learned the five people in the flat had more than 100 criminal records between them for various offences. DHA said the suspects blamed one another in their statements.

A change of clothes. Security camera footage released by police on Tuesday showed the men walking away from the car, DHA reported. Detectives noticed a detail in the recordings: S.C.B. appeared to persuade a man pushing a hand cart of collected waste to swap clothes with him, and walked on dressed as a waste collector. Following the footage, investigators found that the three took an unlicensed taxi, arranged through a social media app, to Tekirdağ and then to Edirne, the province bordering Greece and Bulgaria. There, police said, they made contact with people smugglers and were trying to cross into Greece when they were caught.

What comes next. No indictment has been reported. Under Turkish procedure, prosecutors decide after a referral whether to seek detention or other measures from a criminal judgeship of peace before drawing up any indictment. Police have not named the wounded man in full, and there is no report of his condition.

Sources

Peja, Kosovo: Brother-in-Law Arrested in Mountains After Three Days on the Run Over Axe Killing of Arlinda Zekaj, as Ex-Husband Is Detained and Protests Spread

Rooftops and a river running through the city of Peja
A view over Peja, in western Kosovo. Photo: Shkurte ramushi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Vitomiricë (Vitomirica), Peja, Kosovo; arrest in the Deçan area near the Beci mountains above Gjakova; protests in Peja and Pristina

Legal status: Albert Sylaj, the former brother-in-law of the victim, was arrested by Kosovo Police at around 23:40 on Tuesday 27 October 2026 in a case registered as aggravated murder. He has not yet been charged and is presumed innocent. Her former husband, Jeton Sylaj, was ordered held for one month by the Basic Court in Peja on 27 October on suspicion of contempt of court; he is not suspected of the killing and is also presumed innocent.

Arlinda Zekaj was killed with an axe outside her home in the village of Vitomiricë, near Peja, on the evening of Sunday 25 October, minutes after she had come back from the police station where she reported domestic violence. Prishtina Insight gives her age as 49. Three days earlier she had written to the chief prosecutor in Peja warning that her life was at risk. Her killing set off an extraordinary session of parliament, calls for ministers to resign and street protests, and in the past day the suspect has been caught and her former husband ordered held.

The arrest. Kosovo Police said Albert Sylaj was arrested at around 23:40 on 27 October in Deçan, after intensive operational and investigative work and with the cooperation of citizens, Balkanweb reported. Police gave no further details of the circumstances and said further procedural steps would be taken with the competent justice bodies. According to CNA and Gazeta Express, the operation involved several police units including the FIT special unit, and he had been located in the mountainous area of Beci, above Gjakova, where he is suspected of hiding during his time on the run. Both outlets reported that he had earlier sent police text messages saying he would not surrender alive, but that once located he said he was willing to give himself up if he could first speak to his family. “Just 10 minutes to talk to the family,” he is reported to have said; Gazeta Express said he made the request to his brother over an intercom. According to the same reports, before reaching the mountains he had gone to Gjakova to collect his sister’s car to continue his escape, but met opposition from his sister and her husband and fled towards Beci. Reports during the search had spoken of possible movements in Pristina and fears that he might cross into Serbia.

What was found at his home. CNA, citing the Kosovo Police 24-hour report, said officers searched his house in Vitomiricë on the night of 25 October and seized a hunting rifle, 153 cartridges, several magazines and weapon accessories, three knives, a bayonet, 115 bullet casings and an axe. Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla told parliament that the suspect “had a serious police record”, according to Prishtina Insight.

The night she died. Kosovo Police said they received a domestic violence report at around 7pm on 25 October, interviewed Zekaj and arrested her former husband, who was placed in 48-hour detention. “The victim was then taken to her home in the village of Vitomirica voluntarily,” the police statement said, adding: “At around 9:10 pm, we were notified that she had been found dead.” Her lawyer, Adelina Shala, wrote that “it wasn’t the victim’s will” to go home and that “the state killed Arlinda”, Balkan Insight reported. The Peja prosecution said on 26 October that a court had ordered on 16 October that her former husband let her return to and use the shared home, and had issued a six-month protection order. When she asked to return, the case prosecutor judged that an immediate return could endanger her life and told her to stay with her brothers, with a police patrol to stay near the house on her return. Koha Jonë reported that she had been offered a shelter but refused, insisting on going back to the home where her son and property were.

Former husband detained. Koha reported that the Basic Court in Peja accepted a prosecution request on 27 October and ordered one month of detention for Jeton Sylaj on grounded suspicion of contempt of court. According to the request, on 25 October at around 5:58pm in Vitomiricë he is suspected of breaching the court’s 16 October order by threatening her and taking clothes she had put in the washing machine and throwing them into the yard, CNA and Koha reported. Koha said the prosecution cited a flight risk, noting that he holds a US passport and has six open criminal cases on the police database, four of them from 2026. On the morning of the hearing a group of school pupils from Peja protested outside the court and the police station. “Justice for all the murdered women,” a teacher with them said.

Political fallout. At a government meeting on 28 October, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said there had been “a systemic chain of omissions” by the institutions responsible for security and justice and that the outcome was “unforgivable”. “Last night, shortly before midnight, the suspect in the killing, who had been on the run, was also arrested,” he said, according to his address published by Albeu. He said the justice and interior ministries had until 18:00 on Thursday to send detailed reports on every failure and that he would make them public. “The Republic of Kosovo needs no further proof to understand that justice reform is a national emergency,” he said. Justice Minister Donika Gërvalla had told an extraordinary parliamentary session that “unfortunately, Arlinda did not turn to the government” for help, remarks activists said shifted blame to the victim, and the feminist group QIKA placed signs at her ministry reading “Arlinda did what was needed, but you, Donika, did not. Step down,” Prishtina Insight reported. Opposition MPs have called for her and Sveçla to resign.

Protests. The Collective for Feminist Thought and Action called a protest for 16:00 on Wednesday 28 October at Zahir Pajaziti Square in Pristina, with a march towards the Ministry of Justice, the prosecutorial and judicial councils, police and government, and said it would keep blocking institutions on the following days, Gazeta Express reported. Balkan Insight said Zekaj was the seventh woman killed by a family member in Kosovo in 2026; Balkanweb put the figure at eight. Her 12-year-old son is in a state shelter, a Peja prosecution spokesman told Koha. She was buried on 27 October in the village of Radac.

Sources

Innsbruck, Austria: Prosecutors Drop Appeal, Making Acquittal Final in 2005 Stabbing of Student Daniela Kammerer

Long facade of the Innsbruck Regional Court with cars parked outside
Innsbruck Regional Court on Fallmerayerstrasse. Photo: Luftschiffhafen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Rapoldipark, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria (Innsbruck Regional Court)

Legal status: Acquitted. A jury cleared the 42-year-old defendant of murder by eight votes to none on Friday 23 October 2026. The Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday 27 October that it would not appeal, so the acquittal became final when the deadline expired at midnight. The killing remains unsolved.

The 21-year-old murder case of Daniela Kammerer is closed against the only man ever tried for it. On Tuesday 27 October, Hansjörg Mayr, spokesman for the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, told the APA news agency that prosecutors would not lodge any appeal against last Friday’s verdict. The deadline for an appeal ran out at midnight. The defendant’s lawyer, Mathias Kapferer, had already told the Kronen Zeitung that prosecutors would take no further action, “which means the verdict is final”, and Mayr confirmed it to the paper. The 42-year-old, a manager from Lower Austria who has lived in Australia for many years and was Kammerer’s fellow student, is now definitively acquitted. Austrian media have not published his name, and neither do we.

The killing. Kammerer, 19, a student from the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria, was stabbed in the early hours of 23 June 2005 outside a telephone box beside the Rapoldipark in Innsbruck. According to the indictment summarised by APA, she suffered two forceful stab wounds to the chest and back from a kitchen knife about 16 centimetres long. A pensioner found her body. Earlier that night she had been celebrating a passed exam with friends, including the defendant, and both had been drinking heavily.

Twice a suspect. Shortly before Christmas 2013, cold case investigators from Austria’s Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the man at Vienna Schwechat airport when he arrived from Australia. He was released seven weeks later for lack of conclusive DNA evidence, and the investigation was dropped in February 2014. In May 2026 prosecutors charged him again, Kurier reported, chiefly on the basis of a DNA trace on a cigarette butt left in the telephone box. He said he would travel back voluntarily to face trial.

The trial. The two-day hearing, held on Monday 19 October and Friday 23 October before presiding judge Andreas Fleckl, turned largely on DNA evidence. Kurier reported that the prosecution could not prove the defendant had been at the scene, and that several DNA traces on the victim’s clothing could not be matched to anyone. He protested his innocence throughout, at times in tears. The jurors needed only about an hour and a half to reach a unanimous verdict, the Kronen Zeitung reported, and Fleckl gave no oral reasons for the judgment, pointing to the clarity of the jury’s decision. The prosecutor made no statement in court on Friday and had three days to appeal.

What he said. After the verdict the man told the Tiroler Tageszeitung: “An endless weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It has been established that all these accusations were baseless. I can finally return without fear to the life with my partner and my son that was taken from us for so long.” The paper reported that he has suffered panic attacks since his arrest at Schwechat, and that he would spend a few days with his parents in Lower Austria before flying home to Australia.

Still open. The acquittal leaves one of the most notorious crimes in Tyrol’s history officially unsolved. The Tiroler Tageszeitung wrote that, for investigators, the search for Daniela Kammerer’s killer goes on.

Sources

Sofia, Bulgaria: Turkish Businessman Charged With Shooting Former MEP Slavi Binev Ordered Held in Custody

Neoclassical Palace of Justice in Sofia
Palace of Justice on Vitosha Boulevard, Sofia. Photo: Bin im Garten / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Binev’s home in the Pavlovo district, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sofia City Court)

Legal status: Eyup Temiz, a Turkish citizen, charged with the intentional killing of Slavi Binev on 24 October 2026. On Tuesday 27 October 2026 the Sofia City Court granted the prosecution’s request to hold him in custody. The ruling can be appealed. Presumed innocent.

Former Member of the European Parliament and businessman Slavi Binev was shot in the face at his home in Sofia’s Pavlovo district at about 10am on Saturday 24 October 2026, on the eve of the first round of Bulgaria’s presidential election. On Tuesday 27 October the Sofia City Court ordered that the only man charged, Turkish businessman Eyup Temiz, stay behind bars, accepting the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office’s request for the most severe measure, detention in custody, BurgasMedia and Dnes.bg reported. The judge called the case unusual because there were witnesses to such a crime and their accounts matched the physical evidence, leaving “almost no room for doubt” at this stage, BurgasMedia reported.

The prosecution’s account. Prosecutor Mariyan Aleksandrov said after the hearing that Temiz and two other men went to Binev’s home to settle a dispute over a business run by Temiz’s wife, in which Binev was meant to mediate between partners. Binev suggested meeting later that day; Temiz insisted on a meeting in Istanbul, which Binev refused because of a coming trip. After a phone call in Turkish, no date was agreed and the meeting broke up. As the visitors were leaving, prosecutors say, Temiz pulled a pistol and shot Binev, and the three men fled. The court found two witnesses sufficiently credible: one saw the body fall after the shot, and Temiz allegedly told the other that he had shot Binev. An expert report found that particles on Temiz’s fingers matched those on the casing of the bullet that killed Binev. The two men had been family friends for several years and had holidayed together. Aleksandrov said the motive was unclear and that there was no evidence Temiz had acted in a state of heightened emotion.

The defence. One of Temiz’s two lawyers told the court the facts pointed to events different from the prosecution’s version. She said witness statements showed unlawful pressure on his family and asked the judge not to fully trust the testimony of the man described as Temiz’s “driver-interpreter”. She argued that another witness had testified against him before his official questioning, so that account should carry less weight. On flight risk, she said Temiz is married to a Bulgarian, has a permanent address and three children in Bulgaria and no criminal record. The second lawyer said Temiz had been very irritated because Binev had insulted and threatened his wife, and that the evidence showed the threats were real. The court rejected the argument that he acted under outside influence, noting that the shot was aimed at the victim’s face, and said provocation had yet to be proved. Temiz’s wife, now in Turkey, is to be questioned by video link.

Open questions. Police initially announced three arrests about an hour and a half after a witness reported hearing the shot. The two other men were caught with Temiz on the Trakia motorway near Trayanovi Vrata. Only Temiz was charged; prosecutors said three people cannot fire one bullet, and the other two are now witnesses, the daily Sega reported. Interior Ministry chief secretary Lyubomir Nikolov said early on that unsettled financial relations, not a contract killing, lay behind the shooting. Sega questioned how a meeting described as spontaneous fitted with at least one visitor being armed. Novinite, citing the newspaper 24 Chasa, reported claims that Binev had received 500,000 euros from Temiz for mediating a property dispute. People close to Binev rejected reports that he had threatened anyone. A public farewell will be held at the St Sofia church on 31 October, the Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation and his family said.

Sources

Cassano Magnago, Italy: Ex-Partner Accused of Femicide in Head-On Crash That Killed Pierina Buffon Stays Silent Before Judge as Town Buries Her

Rooftops and church bell tower of Cassano Magnago at dusk with mountains behind
Cassano Magnago, in the province of Varese. Photo: Mariusx12 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: Cassano Magnago bypass (tangenziale), province of Varese, Lombardy, Italy (Busto Arsizio prison and Busto Arsizio court)

Legal status: Under investigation and in custody. Fulvio Ielmini, 73, of Gallarate, is accused by the Busto Arsizio prosecutor’s office of aggravated femicide and aggravated voluntary homicide over the death of Pierina Buffon on 16 October 2026. He has not been tried, denies deliberately causing the crash and is presumed innocent. On 28 October he declined to answer questions at his custody hearing; the judge reserved her decision on a defence request for house arrest.

Pierina Buffon was 69 and lived in Cassano Magnago in the province of Varese, north-west of Milan. She was the mother of six children. On Friday 16 October her Dacia was hit head-on on the town’s bypass by a Jaguar driven by her former partner, Fulvio Ielmini. She died at the scene. Ielmini was injured in both legs. What was first treated as a road accident is now being investigated as a femicide.

The prosecution case so far. According to the first findings reported by VareseNews, MALPENSA24 and Il Giorno, investigators believe the Jaguar reached about 140 kilometres per hour before the impact, and MALPENSA24 reported that the early survey found it had crossed into the opposite lane. Prosecutors suspect the collision was deliberate rather than accidental. Buffon had ended the relationship in June after about eight years, investigators say. Fanpage reported that GPS tracking devices were found, one in the victim’s car and another at Ielmini’s home, and that investigators are trying to establish whether he followed her movements without her knowledge in order to intercept her. According to the same report, one of her sons said a tracker had already been found in his mother’s car in August, and she had filed, through her lawyer, two formal warnings and a complaint for threats. Phones, computers and other personal effects were seized in searches of Ielmini’s home and car. Ielmini was placed under investigation the day after the crash, and after the autopsy the preliminary investigations judge (gip) of the Busto Arsizio court granted prosecutor Massimo De Filippo’s request for custody in prison. Carabinieri arrested him shortly before 3.15pm on Monday 26 October and took him to the infirmary of Busto Arsizio prison. The femicide charge carries the aggravating circumstance of futile motives.

The funeral. On Tuesday 27 October, Santa Maria del Cerro church in Cassano Magnago filled from 2.30pm, when people gathered to pray the Rosary, VareseNews reported; there were no seats left by the time the service began at 3pm. A rosette at the door carried a picture of Pierina smiling. Mayor Pietro Ottaviani attended wearing his tricolour sash. The provost, Don Andrea Ferrarotti, told mourners that “life is sacred, every man’s and every woman’s”, and that “against all those who attack the life of a human being, the judgement of the word of God is strong”. He said she had come before God “with her burden of pain and suffering, but also with the injustice of a life that was taken from her”. There was, he said, “a sense of justice that will have to be sought. It will take a long time, it will demand great effort and it will unfortunately bring more pain.” Her coffin left the church to Fiorella Mannoia singing “Combattente” (“Fighter”).

Her son speaks. On the day of the funeral her son Danny Ruocco spoke to the Canale 5 programme “Dentro la Notizia”. As quoted by MALPENSA24, he said: “One night he took her by the neck, he wanted to strangle her. I thought it was just a gesture out of jealousy. I didn’t believe he would go this far.” He said the couple often argued, split up and got back together, that his mother “felt too oppressed, too closed in”, and that “the relationship was over and he couldn’t make peace with it”. He said she had reported Ielmini after discovering that he was tracking her by GPS. “I thought I could stop him, but I couldn’t,” he said. “He wanted to kill her, I’m 100 per cent sure.” He put the length of the relationship at 12 years, longer than the eight years given by investigators. None of these claims has been tested in court.

Silence before the judge. On the morning of Wednesday 28 October, Ielmini was questioned in Busto Arsizio prison by gip Veronica Giacoia in the guarantee interview that follows a custody order, MALPENSA24 reported. He used his right not to answer, as his lawyer, Angelo Luini, had said he might. He can still later ask to be heard by the prosecutor. “He is not lucid, he continues to be confused and to say he found an obstacle on the road,” Luini said. Since the crash, Ielmini has maintained: “I found an obstacle in front of me and I went into it, I don’t remember anything else, I hit my head.” La Prealpina reported that he explains the seized GPS devices by saying he used them “to monitor the dog”, and that he revealed only on 27 October that he had suffered a stroke in September, which his former wife and family doctor are said to know about. The claim has yet to be checked against medical records. Luini said he was “more and more convinced” a psychiatric assessment was needed. He asked for house arrest, or failing that an electronic tag, or a transfer to a care facility, saying his client has both legs broken and in plaster, severe headaches and needs constant help “even for the most basic bodily functions”. The judge reserved her decision, VareseNews reported.

What comes next. On 27 October the prosecutor appointed an expert to reconstruct the crash, examining Buffon’s Dacia and Ielmini’s Jaguar. Il Giorno reported that the work begins on 5 November and that the report is expected in about sixty days. The defence has appointed its own technical consultant. The family’s lawyers, Cinzia Botta and Daniela Usuelli, have called a press conference for 30 October in Sala Crespi, which Katia Ruocco will attend on behalf of the family. No individual interviews will be given and no questions will be taken on the investigation. The lawyers said the children had been “severely tried” by the media and social media exposure and the leaked documents and photographs, and that from now on all communication on the victim’s side will go through them.

In Italy, the anti-violence and stalking helpline 1522 is free and open 24 hours a day.

Sources

Milan, Italy: Daughter, 56, Arrested After Former Film Critic Carlo Jacob, 87, Dies Bound and Gagged in His Bed

Green metro trains parked at the open-air Cimiano station in Milan
The Cimiano metro station in north-eastern Milan. Photo: Arbalete / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Via don Giovanni Calabria, Cimiano area, north-eastern Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Legal status: Giovanna Jacob, 56, was arrested in flagrante on suspicion of murder aggravated by the family relationship and taken to San Vittore prison. On Wednesday 28 October the preliminary investigations judge (gip) Sonia Mancini validated the arrest and ordered her held in pretrial custody at San Vittore, MilanoToday reported. According to the reports she has told investigators she did not intend to kill her father. She has not been tried and is presumed innocent.

The call. Shortly after 3 pm on Sunday 25 October, a woman called the 112 emergency number from a first-floor flat in a small block on via don Giovanni Calabria, on the north-eastern edge of the city between via Palmanova and the Lambro park. “Come quickly, I may have killed my father,” she said, according to the Corriere della Sera, which first reported the case late on 26 October, and Fanpage. Paramedics could only confirm the death of Carlo Jacob, 87. Carabinieri of the Radiomobile unit and the Porta Monforte company found adhesive tape, cotton and ties on the floor near the bed.

Who he was. Carlo Jacob was originally from Udine and had been a film critic, the Corriere, Messaggero Veneto and ANSA reported. Some years ago he contributed to FormaCinema, a digital magazine that tried to keep alive the memory of the historic Cinestudio Obraz in Brera, where he edited the page on science and science fiction films, the Corriere said. He lived with his daughter, who cared for him. She shared his passion for art and cinema, the Corriere reported. Il Giorno said she was unemployed; la Repubblica said she was born in Rome. Il Giorno described his illness as severe vascular dementia; other outlets called it senile dementia. He had problems walking and, according to Fanpage, could no longer get out of bed.

Her account. According to the reports, the daughter told carabinieri and the duty prosecutor at the Montebello barracks that her father had been ill for about a year and that his condition had worsened in recent weeks. “He screamed, he thrashed about, continually,” she said, as quoted by the Corriere. Neighbours had noticed the noise and asked her about his health, but there was no formal complaint and no call to police, the Corriere reported. Il Giorno said there had been arguments with other residents. She told investigators that, “to avoid problems with the other residents”, she had begun almost daily to restrain him: cotton in his mouth, tape over his lips and ties fixing his wrists and ankles to the bed. Il Giorno, citing her statement, said this had gone on for about twenty days and that the cotton was placed inside a latex glove.

The last afternoon. On Sunday, after another crisis, she allegedly left him restrained to do housework in another room of the three-room flat. Il Giorno said she was preparing lunch and emptying the washing machine and returned after about twenty minutes to find him dead. The Corriere said she tried to free him before calling for help. “This time something went wrong,” she added, according to Il Giorno, which said she appeared lucid, said only “I’m sorry”, and had no criminal record and no previous reports to the authorities.

Next steps. The prosecutor asked for the arrest to be validated, ANSA reported. Investigators of the Milan provincial command’s investigative unit carried out forensic examinations at the flat. At the validation hearing, held inside San Vittore on Wednesday 28 October, she made spontaneous statements confirming the account she had already given the duty prosecutor, MilanoToday reported. Judge Mancini then validated the arrest and ordered pretrial custody in prison, as investigators had requested. According to MilanoToday, prosecutors are pursuing voluntary homicide aggravated by the family relationship and by alleged earlier mistreatment, based on her own admissions that she had repeatedly tried to silence him to stop him screaming. Investigations are continuing.

Sources

Monza, Italy: Man, 38, Detained After Marco Manduci Is Stabbed at Least Eight Times in the Courtyard of His Via Pisacane Building

An empty residential street in Monza lined with old buildings
A residential street in Monza. Photo: Syrio / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Via Pisacane, Monza, Monza and Brianza province, Lombardy, Italy (San Gerardo hospital)

Legal status: A 38-year-old man of Ecuadorian origin with no fixed address was placed under a fermo (detention of a person suspected of a crime) by carabinieri of the Monza company in the early hours of Tuesday 27 October 2026 and taken to Monza prison at the disposal of the judicial authority. He has not been named or charged, the detention must still be reviewed by a judge, and he is presumed innocent.

Marco Manduci was 34 and lived in Monza. He died in the city’s San Gerardo hospital shortly after arriving there on the evening of Monday 26 October, having been found unconscious with deep stab wounds in the gravel courtyard of the building in via Pisacane where he lived. The killing was first reported on the morning of 27 October, once the suspect had been detained. Most reports date the attack to Monday evening; one MBNews account published on 28 October gives Tuesday 27 October.

The call. At around 8pm, neighbours alarmed by shouting coming from the building and its landing phoned the carabinieri operations centre to report a violent assault in progress, MonzaToday, Fanpage and Alphabetcity reported. When officers entered the courtyard they found Manduci on the gravel a few steps from the entrance hall. He was unconscious and had deep wounds from a bladed weapon. Paramedics from the 118 emergency service tried to resuscitate him at the scene before taking him in code red to the San Gerardo emergency department, where he was declared dead shortly afterwards.

The suspect. The man now detained had not left. According to the carabinieri reconstruction reported by Fanpage and MBNews, he was a short distance from the victim, was stopped by officers, had minor injuries to his hands and one leg, and appeared to be in an evident state of psychophysical alteration. Alphabetcity said it was not yet known how he came by those injuries. MonzaToday described him as a friend of the victim who had apparently been staying with him for a few days; Alphabetcity said the two had known each other for a long time and that the 38-year-old, who has no fixed address, had been Manduci’s guest for some days.

The reconstruction. Investigators believe the two men began arguing inside Manduci’s flat and that the quarrel continued on the landing of the building. At some point the 38-year-old is said to have left, gone into a nearby restaurant and come out with a knife, then returned and attacked Manduci on the landing. MonzaToday and Fanpage reported at least eight stab wounds; Alphabetcity said the exact number and order would be established by the post-mortem. A knife believed to be the weapon was found in a hedge near the building and seized; MBNews put it a few hundred metres away. Alphabetcity noted that blood was found in several parts of the building and that investigators still need to establish how Manduci got from the landing to the courtyard.

Forensics and motive. Specialists from the crime scene section of the investigative unit of the Monza Brianza provincial carabinieri command recovered blood and biological traces from the flat and the common parts of the building, MBNews and MonzaToday reported. The duty prosecutor from the Monza prosecutor’s office came to the scene, took charge of the steps connected to the detention and ordered a post-mortem, MBNews said. No motive has been given. Manduci was subject to the preventive measure of special public security surveillance; Alphabetcity said it had not been disclosed for what, and that nothing so far links that measure to his death. No funeral arrangements had been announced.

What comes next. Under Italian procedure a judge for preliminary investigations must decide whether to validate the fermo and whether to keep the man in custody. No date for that hearing had been reported by the time of publication.

Sources

Olbia, Italy: Young Egyptian Man Detained in Abandoned Seafront Villa Over Fatal Stabbing of Pietro Paolo Filippo Sciusco on Corso Umberto

The Gulf of Olbia seen from a ship leaving port
The approach to the port of Olbia, on the north-east coast of Sardinia. Photo: Gianni Careddu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Upper Corso Umberto I, Olbia, Gallura, Sardinia, Italy (Giovanni Paolo II hospital; suspect found in via Genova)

Legal status: Suspect detained (fermo). A young man of Egyptian nationality was detained by carabinieri late on the morning of Wednesday 28 October 2026 on suspicion of the killing and taken to barracks for questioning. L’Unione Sarda later named him as Mohamed Abdou Elchodary and reported that he denies the accusation and has been transferred to Bancali prison. He has not been charged, the detention has yet to be reviewed by a judge, and he is presumed innocent.

Pietro Paolo Filippo Sciusco was 42. He was born in Canosa di Puglia and lived in Barletta, on the Adriatic coast of Puglia, according to SassariToday, BariToday, La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno and BarlettaViva. Cagliaripad described him as having been in Olbia for some time without a fixed address. He died on the evening of Tuesday 27 October in Olbia’s Giovanni Paolo II hospital, about four hours after he was stabbed several times in the chest on one of the main streets of the Sardinian port city.

The attack. According to the first reconstruction by carabinieri of the Olbia territorial unit, reported by SassariToday and La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Sciusco argued with another man on Corso Umberto at around 5pm; Olbia.it put the start of the quarrel at about 4.30pm. The other man stabbed him repeatedly, the blade reaching his heart and lungs, and ran off on foot, leaving him unconscious on the pavement. Passers-by found him lying in a pool of blood and raised the alarm, Today and FoggiaToday reported. Paramedics from the 118 emergency service tried to resuscitate him; he went into cardiac arrest several times before and after he reached hospital, where surgeons operated in an attempt to save him. He did not survive. The motive was not known on Wednesday.

The place. The stabbing happened in the upper part of Corso Umberto I, about thirty metres from the level crossing, in front of a building that until June had been used as a night shelter by some homeless people, Olbia.it reported. The area had been cleared, cleaned and redeveloped after repeated complaints and returned to public use. The local site noted that the building is close to premises where a man had recently held a woman hostage, an unrelated case, and that the killing has revived debate about safety in the historic centre, which residents, shopkeepers and passers-by use every day.

The search. The suspect’s identity was already known to investigators on Tuesday, SassariToday reported. Carabinieri questioned several shopkeepers and gathered footage from surveillance cameras in the area, Today and BarlettaViva reported. The knife had not been found by Wednesday morning, Fanpage said. Officers searched through the night and the following morning, checking abandoned buildings across the city. Late on Wednesday morning, in a joint operation with firefighters and local police, they found the man inside an empty villa on via Genova, on the Olbia seafront, Olbia.it reported. The house, once the home of a lawyer, is unoccupied and due to be restored. Officers of the Radiomobile unit took him to the barracks, where he was being questioned by investigators, La Nuova Sardegna and Cagliaripad reported.

Who was detained. Accounts of his age differ. SassariToday and La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno said he was 30, while L’Unione Sarda described him as a young man a little over 20. All outlets agree he is of Egyptian origin. Under Italian procedure a fermo must be submitted to a preliminary investigations judge, who decides whether to validate it and whether to keep the suspect in custody. Cagliaripad stressed that his position and any responsibility are for further investigation and the judicial authorities to establish.

He denies it. On Wednesday evening L’Unione Sarda named the detained man as Mohamed Abdou Elchodary, describing him as a 20-year-old Egyptian. Questioned at the Olbia carabinieri barracks, he rejected all the accusations, the paper reported. According to what had emerged from the investigation, it said, he had come to Gallura from Rome a few months earlier and had no home and no job. Carabinieri investigators led by Colonel Nicola Pilia were still trying to establish the motive for the fight, and the paper said investigators had not ruled out that the two men argued under the influence of alcohol and drugs. His lawyers, Aurora Masu and Giuseppe De Meo, made no comment. He was transferred to Bancali prison near Sassari, and the investigation is coordinated by prosecutor Noemi Mancini, L’Unione Sarda reported. No hearing on the validation of the fermo had been reported by Wednesday evening.

At home. News of the death was carried in Puglia on Wednesday by BariToday, FoggiaToday, BarlettaViva and La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno all of which identified him as a son of Canosa di Puglia living in Barletta.

Sources

Turin, Italy: Judge Keeps Man in Jail Over the Parco Dora Stabbing of 19-Year-Old Saloum Fall as Defence Says He Was Unarmed

Tall steel pillars and lawns in Parco Dora
Parco Dora in Turin. Photo: Zairon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Parco Dora, on the north-western edge of Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Legal status: Dumitru Eusebiu Daviduta, 46, is under investigation for murder. On Wednesday 28 October a preliminary investigations judge (gip) validated his detention and ordered him held in prison. He denies the killing and is presumed innocent.

The killing. Saloum Fall, a 19-year-old from Senegal, was stabbed in Parco Dora late on the afternoon of Friday 23 October, il Giornale reported. He was found in agony beside an electric scooter with a deep wound to the abdomen. A resident who had seen the young man on the ground and a man running away raised the alarm. By the time paramedics reached him his condition was already critical, and he died in hospital shortly afterwards.

The arrest. Investigators coordinated by the Turin prosecutor’s office traced the suspect through surveillance cameras in the area, which recorded him as he fled, and through messages and calls on the victim’s phone, according to il Giornale. A witness reported seeing the fleeing man throw a phone to the ground, and the device was recovered. The paper said the man, a Romanian-born worker living in Turin, was taken from his home not far from the scene, did not resist, but then did not cooperate with investigators or make any admission. Quotidiano Piemontese reported that he was detained on Sunday 25 October. Il Giornale said the two men knew each other and that investigators believed the killing could be the outcome of an argument linked to the sale of drugs, while not excluding that a meeting to exchange drugs had turned into a robbery. Prosecutors were still working on the exact motive.

The phone in the backpack. On 27 October the defence gave its own account. Daviduta’s lawyer, Marco Guerrino Latella, told TorinoToday that a mobile phone found in Saloum Fall’s backpack belonged to his client, who had left it with the young man as security for a quantity of drugs. Daviduta was supposed to bring the money and get his phone back. According to the lawyer, the two met to discuss the payment, and Daviduta confirmed that there was a struggle but disputes the killing. “He said he was bare-handed. It was the other one who had something in his hand and, in the struggle, injured my client,” Latella said. The 46-year-old has a cut to his face, and the lawyer said it was not clear what had caused it.

The defence theory. The defence argues that Fall tried to rob Daviduta, and has raised the question of whether the young man might already have been wounded before the meeting. Latella called that “a hypothesis that must be fully examined”. He ruled out that anyone else intervened after the struggle, saying that the eyewitness heard by investigators described Fall collapsing a few minutes later. Quotidiano Piemontese stressed that the circumstances described by the lawyer represent the suspect’s version and will have to be tested against the evidence gathered in the investigation.

The custody ruling. At the validation hearing the Turin prosecutor’s office asked for him to be held in prison. The defence asked for a lighter measure, either an obligation to report to police or house arrest, arguing that he has a home with a regular rental contract that he has paid over time. On Wednesday 28 October, TorinoToday reported, the gip confirmed the validation of the detention and ordered custody in prison.

What comes next. The case remains at the preliminary investigation stage. The exact motive, the weapon and the origin of the wound to the suspect’s face have not been publicly established.

Sources

Ħal Far, Malta: Jurors Walk the Road Where Lassana Cisse Was Shot as Police Detail Ex-Soldier Lorin Scicluna’s Shifting Accounts

Columned facade of the Courts of Justice in Valletta
The Courts of Justice building on Republic Street, Valletta. Photo: CAPTAIN RAJU / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Triq Tal-Ġebel, Ħal Far, Malta (Criminal Court, Hall 22, Judge Natasha Galea Sciberras)

Legal status: On trial. Lorin Scicluna, 29, is charged with the murder of Lassana Cisse and the attempted murder of three other migrants. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. A second man, Francesco Fenech, 28, is awaiting a separate trial in connection with the case and is also presumed innocent.

On Wednesday 28 October, the ninth day of Malta’s first murder trial the prosecution has framed as racially motivated, the trial moved out of the courtroom. The judge, the jurors, the lawyers and the accused were taken to Triq Tal-Ġebel in Ħal Far, where Lassana Cisse, a 42-year-old from Ivory Coast, was shot dead late on 6 April 2019. Assistant Commissioner Keith Arnaud talked jurors through the prosecution’s sequence of events. He showed them the direction from which Scicluna’s white Toyota Starlet was approaching and where the shots are alleged to have been fired. Guarded by officers from Corradino Correctional Facility, Scicluna kept his head bowed, his hands in front of his face, and at times stopped on the road sobbing, TVM reported. The court then moved to the garage in Paola where he parked the car and a camera on Sisters Street, the last to record the car returning from Ħal Far. It ended at the Ta’ Kandja police complex, where the car is held.

The night. Testifying on Tuesday 27 October, Arnaud said Cisse was found lying in a pool of blood with three cartridge cases near his feet, still wearing headphones with music playing. That night two other men, Mohammed Jallow of Gambia and Ibrahim Bah of Guinea, were taken to Mater Dei Hospital with gunshot wounds. Scicluna is also charged with the attempted murder of May Malimi of Chad, struck by a car in an incident that February, TVM reported. Dr Saverio Francesco Bianco, then a house officer at Mater Dei, described the medical help he gave that night. CCTV caught Cisse walking at 10.51pm and a Toyota Starlet passing a minute later.

Tracing the car. Arnaud said investigators followed a white Starlet with no number plates and one headlight brighter than the other through Birżebbuġa, Tarxien and Paola, then narrowed it down through Transport Malta records to a car registered CCL 159 to Scicluna. Later footage showed it with a new side mirror, stickers and extra stripes. Scicluna held a firearms licence, and one of his registered guns was compatible with the cartridge cases. Some acquaintances told police he had made remarks about being annoyed by Black people.

Changing stories. Arnaud told jurors that Scicluna first denied involvement, then said he had lent the car out and modified it in a panic after media reports. In an 18 April 2019 statement, as Arnaud recounted it, Scicluna said he drove to Ħal Far with Fenech to target migrants, and that Fenech fired the shots. Arnaud said investigators found three cartridge cases where Scicluna described two shots. Scicluna also told police he threw ammunition into the sea at Delimara and bought a different brand of bullets so he would not be caught. Arnaud said forensic tests linked the cartridge cases to the STV brand, and that both men had left their mobile phones in Scicluna’s garage that night. In a recorded 19 April interview played to jurors, an investigator told him: “You made a mistake… You’re lying,” Lovin Malta reported. “I wasn’t there,” Scicluna replied. Scicluna denies all the charges, and the trial continues.

Sources

Vlijmen, Netherlands: Prosecutors Seek 12 Years and Compulsory Treatment for Man Charged With Stamping Jessica Brants to Death

Brick church and statue on Julianastraat in Vlijmen
Church grounds on Julianastraat, Vlijmen. Photo: Steven van eck / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Location: Parklaan, Vlijmen, North Brabant, Netherlands (District Court, ‘s-Hertogenbosch)

Legal status: Charged with manslaughter (doodslag). On Tuesday 27 October 2026 the Public Prosecution Service asked for 12 years in prison plus tbs with compulsory treatment. The defence argues he never intended to kill. Verdict due on 20 November 2026, according to NOS. He is presumed innocent until the court rules.

Dutch prosecutors have asked a court in ‘s-Hertogenbosch to send Coen K., 36, from Uden, to prison for 12 years and impose a tbs order with compulsory treatment, for the death of his girlfriend Jessica Brants, 38. Under Dutch practice his surname is withheld. The demand came on the second day of the trial on Tuesday. The prosecutor told the court K. had “raged like a beast”, Moordplekken reported. “In everyday terms: the suspect stamped Jessica to death,” the prosecutor said.

The night of 17 July 2025. According to the prosecution case reported by Moordplekken, at about 10.15pm on Thursday 17 July 2025 a worried neighbour called the 112 emergency line after hearing a violent row move from the garden into Brants’s home on the Parklaan in Vlijmen. The control room heard loud blows, things falling over and a child crying in panic, then sudden silence. Officers who forced their way in found Brants badly injured and almost unrecognisable on her bedroom floor. She died in hospital in Tilburg some hours later. Her young daughter was in the house. NOS gave the girl’s age at the time as two, and Moordplekken as three. The prosecution said the girl later told her grandparents that “Coen was standing on top of mama”, that there was blood on the stairs and that he had smashed her mother’s phone.

The injuries. NOS reported that the sole pattern of K.’s shoe was found on Brants’s head, and that she had 21 separate injuries, 16 of them to the head and neck. Prosecutors say he lost control during an argument and kicked and stamped on her face, head and neck with great force. K. denies kicking her while she lay on the ground.

Drink, pills and diminished responsibility. K. had been drinking and taking drugs. NOS reported that he drank six to twelve cans of beer a day and took heavy medication such as oxazepam that he bought online. Behavioural experts from the Pieter Baan Centre diagnosed disorders including borderline personality disorder with avoidant traits and ADD, and concluded that he was partly responsible for his actions. Prosecutors stressed that he had put himself in that dangerous state and pointed to domestic violence in his only previous relationship. They argued that long-term tbs was needed to prevent a repeat.

The defence. His lawyer, Mark Nillesen, argued that K. acted in a haze of drink and pills and never intended injuries so severe. NOS, citing Omroep Brabant, reported that several of Brants’s relatives walked out of the courtroom when the defence lawyer began to speak. In his last words to the court K. broke down in tears. “I am aware that I have caused my girlfriend, her parents and her children enormous pain and suffering. I never wanted this,” he said.

The family. On Monday, Brants’s relatives exercised their right to address the court. “We no longer recognised our daughter after you had abused her. We are angry, furious, enraged. What you did is bestial. Why do you keep stamping on such a beautiful, sweet girl? Do you realise these young children have to go on without their mother? And we without a daughter?” her mother said. Her eldest daughter, 14, told the court she could not say goodbye except to a closed coffin. “I can hardly concentrate at school. I do my best. Sometimes I get panic attacks,” she said. NOS reported that the relatives are claiming around 400,000 euros in damages.

Sources

Biskupiec, Poland: Appeal Court Makes Final the 25-Year Sentence for Stabbing Sylwester Bieńkowski, After the Killer Was First Ruled Insane

Red brick church tower above the square in Biskupiec
The town square in Biskupiec, Warmia-Masuria. Photo: Honza Groh (Jagro) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Biskupiec, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland (Court of Appeal in Białystok; trial at the Regional Court in Olsztyn)

Legal status: Convicted; sentence now final. On Tuesday 27 October 2026 the Court of Appeal in Białystok dismissed appeals by both the defence and the victim’s family and upheld in full the 25-year prison sentence imposed on Przemysław A. by the Regional Court in Olsztyn in March 2026. Polish media identify him only by first name and initial.

A man who stabbed his mother’s long-term partner to death in Biskupiec in August 2022, and who was initially found not criminally responsible because of insanity, will serve 25 years in prison. The Court of Appeal in Białystok on Tuesday upheld the sentence in full, making it final, Polskie Radio Białystok, Super Express and Radio ESKA Olsztyn reported, citing the Polish Press Agency (PAP). The victim was Sylwester Bieńkowski, 38, Onet and Fakt reported in earlier coverage of the case.

The killing. According to the prosecution, on 4 August 2022, in a house in Biskupiec, Przemysław A., then 21, attacked with a knife the man who had for a long time been in a relationship with his mother, striking him many times. The victim died at the scene. Przemysław A. then took the keys to the victim’s van and drove it around Biskupiec and the surrounding area. Overnight on 4 to 5 August, police tried to stop him. He ignored their lights and sirens and fled through the streets of the town, repeatedly endangering the officers chasing him and causing several collisions before he was detained, the Olsztyn news site Olsztyn.com.pl reported. He was also charged with taking a vehicle, failing to stop for police, an active assault on an officer, driving while drunk and under the influence of drugs, and possessing ecstasy and amphetamine. After the killing, the court in Olsztyn later found, he went to a lake with a friend in the victim’s car “as if nothing had happened”.

Two trials, two verdicts on his sanity. His first trial began on 25 May 2023 in Olsztyn. He pleaded not guilty and said he remembered nothing of the day. A new psychiatric opinion found his capacity to understand and control his actions had been abolished by illness, and on 11 July 2024 the Regional Court in Olsztyn, while finding that he had killed the victim, discontinued the criminal case and ordered him detained in a secure psychiatric unit. The prosecutor and the victim’s family appealed. In 2024 the victim’s sister told Polsat’s “Interwencja” programme that her brother’s head had been “made into a sieve”. On 22 October 2025, after a new team of experts found that he had been fully sane, the Court of Appeal in Białystok quashed that ruling and sent the case back. The retrial began on 5 December 2025, and on 12 March 2026 the Olsztyn court convicted him of murder and the other charges and sentenced him to a combined 25 years. It also ordered him to pay 100,000 zloty each to the victim’s mother and sister. The court said the victim had never behaved badly towards him and, as his mother’s partner, had treated him “almost like a son”.

The appeal. The defence asked for the case to be discontinued on grounds of insanity, or for an acquittal of murder, a retrial, or lower compensation. The lawyer for the victim’s mother and sister sought life imprisonment and 250,000 zloty for each woman. The appeal court rejected all of it. “There were no circumstances that would justify accepting that he acted in a state of insanity. Although the defendant was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he could foresee his behaviour and its consequences, and did foresee them,” said Judge Tomasz Uściłko. “He acted without reason, and the pretext was probably a refusal to let him use the car.” Rejecting a life sentence, the judge said such a term was for offenders who offered no chance of rehabilitation, and that here there was one: “The defendant should be given a chance to return to society as a full citizen.”

Sources

Carpen, Romania: Man Arrested for 30 Days After His Partner Is Found Beaten to Death in Their Dolj Village Home

Location: Carpen commune, Dolj County, Romania

Legal status: A 50-year-old man is under investigation for the murder of a family member. On Tuesday 27 October, the Dolj Tribunal placed him under preventive arrest for 30 days. He has not been named or tried, and he is presumed innocent.

A Romanian court has ordered a man held for 30 days while prosecutors investigate the death of his 51-year-old partner, who was found dead in the home they shared in the village of Carpen, in Dolj County. Police say she was repeatedly punched and kicked during an argument the evening before. According to one outlet, the man first told investigators that a farm animal had killed her.

The discovery. On the morning of Monday 26 October, a woman from Carpen called police to say that her neighbour had died, the Dolj County Police Inspectorate (IPJ Dolj) said, according to Gazeta de Sud, Mediafax and G4Media. Officers from Rural Police Section 2 in Breasta went to the house and found the 51-year-old woman with no signs of life. When they examined her body, they found injuries to her head and body that pointed to a possible physical assault, the inspectorate said. Craiova Forum named the IPJ Dolj spokesperson who gave the account as Mihaela Sadoveanu.

The police account. Investigators concluded that a spontaneous conflict broke out between the woman and her partner in their shared home on the evening of Sunday 25 October, between 6 PM and 7 PM, the inspectorate said. According to investigators, the man repeatedly punched and kicked her in the face, chest and abdomen, and the blows led to her death. The outlets reported the case in the inspectorate’s terms, describing the man as her concubin, the Romanian term for an unmarried partner who lives with someone.

Given the nature of the case, it was taken over by detectives from the Dolj Criminal Investigation Service, working under the direct coordination of a prosecutor from the prosecutor’s office attached to the Dolj Tribunal. A forensic medical examination was ordered to establish the exact cause of death. Officers from the forensic service and from the Breasta rural police section also took part in the investigation, Gazeta de Sud and G4Media reported.

The arrest. On the basis of the evidence gathered, the case prosecutor ordered the man detained for 24 hours on suspicion of murder of a family member. On Tuesday 27 October he was brought before the Dolj Tribunal, which ordered his preventive arrest for 30 days, the inspectorate said. He was taken to the IPJ Dolj detention and preventive arrest centre. Mediafax reported that the investigation is continuing to establish all the circumstances of the death. Gazeta de Sud noted that he benefits from the presumption of innocence throughout the criminal proceedings.

The animal claim. Adevărul reported that the man tried to persuade investigators that his partner had died in an accident around the house, telling police she had been killed by a draught animal kept on the property. The outlet said the marks of violence on her body gave him away. Adevărul also reported that, according to sources at IPJ Dolj, there was no history of domestic violence in the case. The other outlets did not report the claim about the animal.

What is not known. None of the outlets named the woman or the man, and none reported the result of the forensic examination. None reported whether the man has a lawyer or how he responded to the accusation in court. No date has been reported for any further hearing.

Sources

St Petersburg, Russia: Maths Teacher Found Asleep in a Greenhouse Is Detained Over Hammer Killings of His Two-Year-Old Son and the Boy’s Grandmother

Concrete administration building of the Krasnoselsky district
The administration building of the Krasnoselsky district of St Petersburg. Photo: Martsabus / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Ulitsa Komissara Grushko, Solnechny Gorod residential complex, Krasnoselsky district, St Petersburg; arrest in the Gatchina district of Leningrad region

Legal status: Dmitry Nakaryakov, 40, was detained on Tuesday 27 October 2026. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened criminal cases, and investigators said they were preparing to charge him with the murder of two people and attempted murder and to ask a court to remand him; 47news reported that the Krasnoselsky district court would hear the custody application on 29 October. He is presumed innocent.

A two-year-old boy and his 58-year-old grandmother were found dead in a flat on Ulitsa Komissara Grushko in the Krasnoselsky district of St Petersburg on the night of 25 to 26 October, after the boy’s mother, 32, escaped through a window and asked a passer-by for help. Covered in blood, she kept repeating “He killed the child,” Fontanka reported. She remained in intensive care in a serious condition on 27 October. URA.RU, citing the Telegram channel Baza, named the boy as Alexander and his grandmother as Alla P.; she was an English teacher who had worked in Kurgan region. The boy’s mother, named in Russian reports as Anastasia, taught history and social studies. Gazeta reported that the boy would have turned two within days.

The search and arrest. The suspect, the boy’s father, had disappeared. About a hundred criminal investigation officers took part in the search, Fontanka said, and 47news reported that drones were used over villages near Gatchina, where his parents live. He had been caught on a supermarket camera in Druzhnaya Gorka, buying alcohol according to Baza as cited by Gazeta. On 27 October officers checking houses and plots found him asleep in a greenhouse on the plot of an abandoned house. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said he had been detained by police in Druzhnaya Gorka in the Gatchina district and was being taken to a police station, from where he would go to the Krasnoselsky district investigative department. 47news later placed the plot in the neighbouring village of Orlino. A source told Fontanka he first denied involvement but admitted it within five minutes.

What he said. In a video released by Volk, the man, sitting in the back of a police car, said: “Then I wanted to commit suicide. Because my wife cheated on me. She hated me.” Investigators found two notes, Fontanka reported, one at the scene setting out his grievances, including that she made him look after the child at weekends and that he doubted he was the father, and another for his parents listing accounts where his money was held. On 28 October 47news and Fontanka published what they said were his statements to investigators: that he went to the flat on Friday 23 October to make peace, argued with the boy’s grandmother and struck her with a hammer, then struck the crying child, and attacked the boy’s mother with the hammer when she came home and found them. These accounts have not been tested in court.

A failed return. According to Fontanka and 47news, he went back to the building at least once, on the night of 26 October according to 47news, carrying a canister of fuel with the apparent aim of setting the flat on fire, but saw police cars outside and fled.

Background. 47news reported that Nakaryakov was born in Leningrad and grew up in the Krasnoselsky district, holds degrees from the Marine Technical University and the St Petersburg University of Economics and studied at the Lesgaft University. He had worked in schools for about 11 years, first as a PE teacher and later in maths; URA.RU, citing Baza, said he taught at school No. 54, where the boy’s mother also worked. He had served on contract in a volunteer BARS unit in Kursk region and Ukraine’s Sumy region and returned in August 2026, 47news said, and the couple’s relationship ended in September. URA.RU said he faces a possible life sentence.

Sources

Guía de Isora, Spain: Hairdresser Gets 37 Years and Six Months for Stabbing His Brother-in-Law Through the Heart and Attacking His Wife in Fonsalía

Hillside street of Guía de Isora with parked cars
A street in Guía de Isora, Tenerife. Photo: Alcide / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Location: A garage in Fonsalía, Guía de Isora, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (Audiencia Provincial de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Section Five, jury court)

Legal status: Convicted by a unanimous jury of murder, attempted murder and two counts of serious threats. Sentence dated 26 October 2026 and notified to the parties on Tuesday 27 October. Not final: the defence says it will appeal to the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC).

A Tenerife jury court has sentenced a man to a total of 37 years and six months in prison for killing his partner’s brother and trying to kill her in the early hours of 27 November 2022 in Fonsalía, in the municipality of Guía de Isora. The TSJC announced the ruling in a note. The court note and Spanish media did not publish the names of the defendant, the man who died or the surviving woman.

The sentence. The presiding magistrate imposed 20 years for murder with the aggravating factor of treachery (alevosía); 14 years for the attempted murder of his then wife, aggravated by treachery, gender violence and kinship; and two terms of one year and nine months for serious threats, aggravated by gender, kinship and reoffending. Effective time served is capped at 30 years, he stays in custody, and ten years of supervised release follow. He must stay at least 500 metres from the woman. He owes €150,000 jointly to the dead man’s two sisters, and €45,000 to the woman for her injuries and psychological harm. Prosecutors had sought 44 years. One outlet, Teneriffa News, reported the total as 37 years and eight months; the court figures add up to 37 years and six months.

A pattern of control. The jury found that the couple had lived together for about two years in the salon where he worked as a hairdresser, in Playa de San Juan. The ruling describes “a pattern of domination, jealousy and control”. He seldom let her out alone. When she found a restaurant job in Fañabé in July 2022, he opposed it, fearing, in the court’s words, that work would let her regularise her immigration status in Spain and stop depending on him. On 23 November, jealous on a bus that she might look at another passenger, he showed her a barber’s razor and warned that “if she raised her head there would be blood”. Two days later he walked into the restaurant’s staff area, ordered her to leave with him “or he would hurt everyone”, and shouted insults at her colleagues.

The attack. She took refuge in the garage where her brother lived. At about 3am on 27 November he climbed in through a window with a knife with a blade of about 20 centimetres, shouting “I’m going to kill you both”. He stabbed her twice in the left hip and thigh and beat her head against the wall. Her brother ran into the street for help; the defendant chased him and stabbed him once through the heart. The court said he “took advantage of the darkness, the victims’ sleep and surprise” to minimise their chance to defend themselves. He fled by taxi to Playa de Las Américas and flew to Gran Canaria, returning the next day, when he was arrested.

Defence rejected. The jury rejected his account that he came for a key, was attacked first and acted in self-defence, and his claim of a psychotic episode. His lawyer, David Morales, said the weapon was never recovered and a neighbour’s 31-second video shows only the aftermath.

Sources

Valencia, Spain: Homicide Chief Tells Jury the Flores Castro Brothers Were Lured Into a Trap at an Evangelical Service

Glass and stone entrance of the Ciutat de la Justícia court complex in Valencia
The Ciutat de la Justícia, the Valencia court complex where the jury trial is being held. Photo: Joanbanjo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Iglesia Evangélica de Natzaret, Calle Castell de Pop, Natzaret, Poblats Marítims, València, Spain; trial at the Ciudad de la Justicia, València

Legal status: Jury trial under way since Monday 26 October. Three men are accused of murder and attempted murder. Two are in pretrial detention and one is on provisional release. All three are presumed innocent.

The second day of evidence. On Tuesday 27 October, the head of the National Police Homicide Group in València told a jury of eight women and one man that the killing of Antonio Flores Castro, 24, outside an evangelical service in the city’s Natzaret district on 2 May 2025 was the result of “a trap”, Levante-EMV reported. The defendants are a church keyboard player identified as Diego M. M., his son José M. M., and Diego’s father-in-law, Joaquín M. M., known as “Forrines”. They are accused of murdering Antonio and of attempting to murder his younger brother, then 16. Diego’s younger son, 13 at the time, is also alleged to have been involved but was below the age of criminal responsibility.

Weapons and arrests. The inspector said officers seized five bladed weapons and two garrotas, the long curved canes associated with authority in Roma culture. When police came to arrest Joaquín in Alzira two weeks after the killing, he was walking in the street with his wife and “tried to pass his wife a knife he was carrying, to get rid of the weapon”, the inspector said, describing it as like the one witnesses had seen. In a search of the flat in Sedaví then shared by Diego and José, officers found two more knives, one with a 22 centimetre blade, two machetes and another cane. None of the weapons bore blood or the defendants’ prints, he said, but some were “compatible” with the depth and shape of the wounds according to the forensic doctors. Diego’s and José’s phones were never found, and the phones that were recovered had been wiped. Five other homicide officers also gave evidence.

The prosecution case. According to the prosecutor’s written case, reported by Levante-EMV, the dispute began at a service on 27 April 2025, when the brothers’ mother, a member of the choir, signalled to the keyboard player to stop because he was out of time. A male guitarist had made the same remark without offence. In the church WhatsApp group the keyboard player wrote: “A woman doesn’t tell me to be quiet.” Threats against her family followed. Told the matter had been settled, the family returned on Friday 2 May. Prosecutors say the four arrived with hidden knives and Joaquín with a large cane, cornered the brothers in the entrance hall shortly after 7 pm, and that Diego stabbed Antonio in the chest and José stabbed the younger brother in the abdomen. Antonio died at La Fe Hospital at 8:50 pm. His brother spent 22 days in hospital.

Testimony on day one. On Monday the surviving brother testified without a screen. “I didn’t think that over something so silly they would want to take our lives,” he said, Las Provincias reported. He told the jury that Joaquín opened a knife and handed it to his grandson. Joaquín’s lawyer, Alfredo Escudero, noted that the parents said Joaquín only swung the cane to keep others away.

What is sought. The prosecutor asks for 32 years for each defendant: 20 for murder and 12 for attempted murder. The private prosecution, led by lawyer Manuel Sáez for the family, asks for 36 years and ten months each, adding a gender aggravating factor. Diego and José, arrested in Málaga days after the killing, remain in pretrial detention. Joaquín was released provisionally. Levante-EMV reported that Joaquín is the brother of the man killed in a shooting in Alzira about a month ago.

Sources

Gebze, Turkey: 20-Year-Old Caught at the Greek Border and Remanded Over Shooting of Kebab Shop Owner, Allegedly to Avenge His Brother

Skyline of central Gebze under a cloudy sky
Central Gebze, in Kocaeli province. Photo: Kadı Kadı / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Location: Ankara Caddesi, Beylikbağı Mahallesi, Gebze, Kocaeli province, Turkey

Legal status: Yusuf Başboğa, 20, was remanded in custody by a criminal judgeship of peace on Tuesday 27 October 2026 as a suspect in the deliberate killing of Dinçer Kılıççeken with a firearm. He has not been tried and is presumed innocent.

Dinçer Kılıççeken, 53, owned a kebab and lahmacun restaurant on Ankara Caddesi in the Beylikbağı neighbourhood of Gebze, in Kocaeli province. At about 1pm on Monday 26 October a man came to the front of the restaurant and opened fire on it, Turkish news agency DHA reported. Kılıççeken was hit and seriously wounded; he was taken to Gebze Fatih State Hospital, where he could not be saved, Sakarya Yerel Haber reported. When the first reports appeared, the attacker was described only as a person or persons whose identity was not yet known.

Arrest at the border. Police traced the suspect and established that he was preparing to leave Turkey illegally, Yeni Şafak reported. He was caught at the Greek border and brought back to Kocaeli police headquarters for questioning, according to NTV and Yeni Şafak. İşte Kocaeli reported that the operation was carried out by the public order branch of the Kocaeli provincial police directorate and that, after police procedures, the suspect was referred to the judicial authorities and remanded in custody by the judgeship before which he appeared. DHA named him as Yusuf Başboğa, 20.

The alleged motive. According to DHA, NTV and Cumhuriyet, Başboğa is alleged to have carried out the attack to avenge his brother, Beratcan Başboğa, 17, who died in an armed fight in Gebze’s Mimar Sinan neighbourhood in July. Kılıççeken’s brother, identified as S.K., had been remanded in custody over that earlier death on charges of deliberate killing and wounding, the reports said. Habertürk headlined its 28 October report “A blood feud has emerged from the kebab shop murder.”

The July shooting. Sabah reported at the time that the fight broke out on the evening of 1 July on Piri Reis Caddesi in Mimar Sinan, between two groups, for reasons not yet known. Shots were fired one after another. Beratcan Başboğa was hit, as were a 45-year-old passer-by, M.K., and a 20-year-old identified only as Y.B., the same initials and age that October reports first used for the suspect now in custody; the July reports do not say whether he is the same person. Beratcan died at Gebze Fatih State Hospital despite doctors’ efforts. M.K. was treated in intensive care at the same hospital, while Y.B. was discharged after treatment at Darıca Farabi Training and Research Hospital, Sözcü reported. Police opened a wide investigation into the killing, the woundings and the robbery of a motorcycle belonging to a man identified as S.D., which Sabah said was seized for use in the incident. Sözcü reported that E.K. and S.K. were alleged to have fired the shots. Six people were detained, and four of them, S.K., F.K., E.K. and Ö.K., were remanded in custody, while two others were released under judicial control with a travel ban, Sabah said. Later reports, including DHA’s, give the date of the July fight as 3 July.

Earlier attack on the restaurant. The same restaurant was also the target of a gun attack on 15 January, in which two people said to be friends of the owner were wounded, Sakarya Yerel Haber reported. İşte Kocaeli said three people were detained in connection with that attack. The reports do not say whether the January attack was connected to the July or October shootings.

Sources

Bury St Edmunds, England: Man Guilty of Manslaughter Over Single Punch That Killed His Partner’s Former Partner Scott Lisney

Medieval stone Abbey Gate in Bury St Edmunds
The Abbey Gate, Bury St Edmunds. Photo: Richard Rogerson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Location: St Olaves Precinct, Howard Estate, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England (Peterborough Crown Court)

Legal status: Convicted. On Wednesday 28 October 2026 a jury of six men and six women unanimously found Andrew Allen, 55, of Severn Road, Bury St Edmunds, guilty of manslaughter. He had denied the charge and said he acted in self-defence. He remains on bail and is due to be sentenced by Judge Sean Enright on Friday 30 October.

A Bury St Edmunds man who punched his partner’s former partner outside a row of shops, causing a fall that fractured his skull, has been convicted of manslaughter. The jury at Peterborough Crown Court retired at 11am on Wednesday and returned its unanimous verdict about an hour later, the East Anglian Daily Times reported. Judge Sean Enright said he understood there was a great deal of heartache on both sides of the case, Suffolk News reported.

The punch. Scott Lisney, 56, also of Bury St Edmunds, was struck outside the shops at St Olaves Precinct on the Howard Estate on 26 July 2025. The court heard he fell backwards “like a cardboard cutout”, hitting his head on the concrete. Katrina Sturman, who was passing in a car, described hearing a “massive thump” and said Mr Lisney was initially “completely out cold”. He regained consciousness and was taken to West Suffolk Hospital by his parents after they were told an ambulance would take about 40 minutes. His condition deteriorated and he became unconscious. Intensive care doctor Thomas Martin told jurors a CT scan showed a bleed on the brain. His injuries, including a fractured skull, were described as “unsurvivable”. He died three days after the attack, the BBC reported. Allen had initially been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm; the charge became manslaughter after Mr Lisney’s death.

The background. Mr Lisney had been in a relationship with Allen’s partner for 13 years and they had two children together. She has been with Allen for about five years. Mr Lisney was subject to a non-molestation order prohibiting contact with her, and in June 2025 he was ordered not to go within 25 metres of the fish and chip shop at the precinct where she worked, Suffolk News reported. She told the court she had felt intimidated by him and described physical violence, including pushing and shoving, when he had been drinking. On the day, she said, he had been “smirking” and “laughing” while she worked. She rang Allen at about 7.45pm to say she was finishing.

The defence. Allen said he wanted Mr Lisney in front of the cameras as proof he was breaching the order. He was seen grabbing Mr Lisney’s arm, which he said followed a threat to damage his parents’ garden. He said he saw Mr Lisney “clench a fist” and drop his shoulder, and that his “natural instinct” was to swing his hand. The court heard Mr Lisney was four times over the drink-drive limit. Defence barrister Stephen Dyble said Allen had shown “measured patience” and pointed to evidence that Mr Lisney removed his jacket before the altercation. Prosecutor Andrew Hallworth said Allen had “simply flipped”, calling the blow “wholly disproportionate” and “born of frustration and not from fear”. Asked whether he accepted that the injury killed Mr Lisney, Allen replied: “Yes I do.”

Family tribute. “We are saddened by the sudden loss of our Scott, who was a much-loved son, brother, father and uncle,” Mr Lisney’s family said. They called him “a kind-hearted man who would do anything for anybody” and “a smart and snappy dresser, well known for wearing his suits”.

Sources

Cudworth, England: Driver Guilty of Manslaughter After Running Down Handyman Liam Green in Row Over a £7.50 Lawn Job

Sheffield Combined Court Centre building
Sheffield Law Courts on West Bar, home of Sheffield Crown Court. Photo: Bencherlite / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Rose Tree Avenue, Cudworth, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England (Sheffield Crown Court)

Legal status: Convicted. On Tuesday 27 October 2026 a jury cleared Mark Wigley, 60, of Royston Road, Cudworth, of murder but convicted him of manslaughter. His daughter, Sarah Wigley, 39, and his brother-in-law, Neil Shaw, 54, were found not guilty of all charges. Judge Graham Reeds KC is due to sentence Mark Wigley on Thursday 29 October and told him the sentence will be one of immediate imprisonment.

A 60-year-old man who drove his Volkswagen Touareg into a 45-year-old handyman after his family went looking for him over an offer to mow a lawn has been convicted of manslaughter. Liam Green died at the scene on Rose Tree Avenue in Cudworth at about 5pm on 3 April 2026. After a three-week trial and a day of deliberation, the jury at Sheffield Crown Court acquitted Mark Wigley of murder and convicted him of the lesser offence, the BBC and The Star reported. “You have been convicted of manslaughter, on what I consider to be abundant and clear evidence,” Judge Reeds told him.

The lawn. Earlier that day, Liam had asked his mother whether it was a good idea to knock on doors offering to cut grass for £7.50. One of the houses he called at belonged to Mark Wigley’s mother, prosecutor Tom Storey KC told the jury. She became upset and sent images from her Ring doorbell camera to her family, who believed she was being harassed. Messages between family members called Liam a “smack head” who “needs throttling”, The Star reported. “For whatever reason, the defendants took exception to his approach and set off to the estate where Liam Green lived, and their intent was to make him leave their grandmother alone and to teach him a lesson,” Mr Storey said.

The search. The three found Liam after about 30 minutes, with Shaw driving a Ford Ranger and Mark Wigley driving the VW. Liam’s mother told police that Mark Wigley pulled up beside her in the street and said: “I’m going to f***ing kill your son.” She said she pleaded, “please don’t beat him up, please don’t kill him, I’m his mum.” His reply, she said, was that Liam was “f***ing dead, and if he goes to prison I’ll get somebody to kill him in prison”. “He was so cocky,” she said. The Star reported that the family confronted Liam in a violent scuffle. She later heard shouting from her home on Rose Tree Avenue and came out to see her son lying under Mark Wigley’s car. “I screamed, ‘you’ve f***ing killed him’,” she told police in a video interview. “I ran across the road. I held Liam’s hand.”

The defence. Prosecutors alleged Mark Wigley “deliberately drove” towards Liam “and accelerated, knocking him down and killing him in the process”. He told the court he had not meant to hit him and was “in shock”. Questioned by his barrister, Joe Stone KC, he said he turned the steering wheel more than he realised and “the car went off to the left”. Footage played in court showed him telling an officer he had swerved after Liam came at his car with a bat. “It was a threat to injure us and cause us damage,” he told the jury. Sarah Wigley said she had been “frustrated”, not angry, and had intended only to give him a “telling off”; she said footage of her saying he was “going to get it” did not mean she wanted to hurt him. All three denied intending serious harm.

Sources

Shipley, England: Two Convicted of Beating Jaroslav Daniszewski to Death With an Iron After Easter Drinking Session

Bradford Combined Court Centre on a sunny day
Bradford Law Courts, Exchange Square, home of Bradford Crown Court. Photo: Betty Longbottom / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Location: Stead Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire, England (Bradford Crown Court)

Legal status: Convicted. On Wednesday 28 October 2026 a jury found Zbigniew Chlebek and Beata Walczak guilty of murder after a 12-day trial. Both had denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter. Sentencing is due on Thursday 29 October.

A man and a woman who denied knowing how their friend died have been convicted of murdering him in a blood-spattered flat in Shipley. A jury at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday found Zbigniew Chlebek, of Stead Street, Shipley, and Beata Walczak, of Barkerend Road, Bradford, guilty of the murder of Jaroslav Daniszewski, 43, known as “Yanic”. West Yorkshire Police announced the convictions the same day, and images of the pair were released after the verdicts. Daniszewski was Chlebek’s friend and had been Walczak’s partner for 11 months. The jury had retired to consider its verdicts on Tuesday 27 October.

Easter Sunday. Opening the case, prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told the jury that on the evening of 20 April 2025, Easter Sunday, Daniszewski, Walczak, Chlebek and another man, Mr Roj, gathered at Chlebek’s flat to drink and socialise as part of an Easter celebration within the Polish community. All were said to be “heavily in drink”, and Daniszewski was four times over the legal driving limit. Mr Pitter suggested “there were tensions brewing” in the group and that something set off “a violent and vicious attack from his close associates”.

Thirteen calls. From around 9.30pm, Mr Roj’s phone called the emergency services 13 times asking for help, including an ambulance to Stead Street, but the calls failed because of language barriers. In the last call, a female voice said by the prosecution to be Walczak’s can be heard saying: “Take him as quickly as possible, because things are really bad.” Mr Roj then left. He has since died. The other three stayed in the flat, and no further emergency calls were made. Police and paramedics were not contacted again until 22 April, more than a day later.

The scene. Officers found blood spattered and smeared around the living room and bedroom area, and a broken iron with blood on it. It was accepted at trial that Daniszewski was unlawfully killed and that the weapon was an iron. He had 24 separate injuries to his head and face consistent with blunt force trauma. The jury heard he was beaten unconscious with the iron and then attacked again. “He must have survived for at least 30 minutes or so … before there was further injury to his brain, which could have been what ultimately caused his heart to stop beating,” Mr Pitter said. “In other words, it could have finished him off.” His blood was on both defendants’ clothing, which the prosecution said was consistent with one delivering blows while the other was close by, “or even both of them delivering blows”. Walczak walked through his blood in her socks, and after attempts were made to clean his face, his body was carried to where it was later found, the jury heard.

The denials. The prosecution accepted it could not say precisely what happened or why, but argued that the proper conclusion was that the two defendants were responsible, either by fatally injuring him or by assisting or encouraging the other. In police interviews, Walczak said she woke from a stupor on the morning of 21 April, Easter Monday, to find Daniszewski lying on his back in the doorway between the living room and the bedroom, not breathing, with blood around his head. “He was not breathing, and his cheeks were cold,” she said. Chlebek told police he could remember nothing between sitting in the living room with the other two and waking in his bed. “Yanic was already cold,” he said, adding that he then had a drink of cider and lit a cigarette while the body was still on the floor. He denied there had ever been violence among the three. “We have lived in peace. We would have a laugh sometimes together,” he said. Asked how Daniszewski died, he replied: “I don’t know.” The jury rejected both accounts.

Sources

Asia and Oceania

Fujikawaguchiko, Japan: Taiwan Prosecutors Say Husband of Tourist Jing Yun-rong, Stabbed in a Lakeside Hotel, Staged a Sham Marriage and Insured Her for NT$30 Million

Lake Kawaguchi with jetties and wooded hills at dusk
Lake Kawaguchi at Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Photo: DXR / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Tourist hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (Yamanashi Prefectural Police; Tainan District Prosecutors Office and Tainan District Court, Taiwan)

Legal status: In Taiwan, the victim’s husband, a 29-year-old man surnamed Lee, has been detained incommunicado since 26 October on suspicion of joint homicide, attempted fraud and causing false entries in official records. He has not been indicted. In Japan, a 27-year-old Taiwanese woman, Yang Min-han, was arrested on suspicion of violating the firearms and swords law; she has not been charged with murder. Both are presumed innocent.

On 19 October 2026, staff at a tourist hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, on the shore of Lake Kawaguchi below Mount Fuji, went to check on a Taiwanese guest who had not shown up for her tour group’s outing. They found Jing Yun-rong, 38, dead on the bed with stab wounds and heavy bleeding. Another member of the same tour group, Yang Min-han, 27, was in the room and was arrested after police found her with a kitchen knife, FNN and Focus Taiwan reported. A week later the case has turned towards Taiwan. At a video briefing on Tuesday 27 October, Tainan senior prosecutor Wang Sheng-hao said the woman’s new husband is suspected of planning her death to collect on insurance.

The prosecutors’ case so far. Wang said Lee is suspected of entering a sham marriage with Jing, urging her to travel to Japan alone, and taking out high-value travel insurance on her, The News Lens and Focus Taiwan reported. The two largest policies were for NT$10 million and NT$20 million, NT$30 million in total, which FNN put at about 146 million yen. Investigators found records of contact between Lee and Yang, whom Japanese police suspect of carrying out the killing. Wang said how the two communicated, whether they planned anything in advance and how roles were divided are still under investigation. Prosecutors also said Yang had previously been convicted in Taiwan of helping fraud by providing a nominee bank account, and that they had reached no conclusion on whether this was relevant.

Arrested with an urn. Tainan prosecutors opened the case on 22 October at the request of the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s international affairs division. After her death Lee travelled to Japan to handle the funeral arrangements. A task force tracked his return flight and arrested him at Kaohsiung’s Siaogang airport on the evening of 24 October; UDN reported he was carrying her ashes. Officers searched seven locations, including his home, on 24 and 25 October and questioned seven defendants and witnesses. Prosecutors applied on 25 October to detain him without contact, citing a risk he would flee or destroy evidence, and the Tainan District Court agreed on 26 October. Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice said Tainan had not yet asked Japan for judicial assistance.

What he says, and what she feared. UDN reported that Jing had travelled to Japan on 17 October and had married Lee only in July. Police told the paper that Lee described himself as the owner of tea and investment companies, admitted knowing Yang, and denied ordering the attack. UDN also reported that Jing, fearing her husband meant her harm, had contacted the weekly Mirror Media in September, and that after her death the magazine passed information to the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Mirror Media reported that she met Lee in May when she answered a job advertisement for an assistant at his company. It said he took out injury and accident cover on her rather than life or medical insurance and paid the premiums in full. Those accounts come from the magazine and have not been tested in court.

In Japan. NHK reported on 28 October, citing investigative sources, that Yang has told police “by the time I noticed, a blade was stuck in the woman’s neck.” Yamanashi Broadcasting reported that prefectural police are considering exchanging information with Taiwanese authorities. The Tainan office stressed that the case is still under investigation and that the facts and responsibility of both suspects must be decided by the courts.

Sources

Nerima, Japan: Bar Owner Already Indicted for Dumping Maho Muroga’s Body in the Miyagi Mountains Is Re-arrested on Suspicion of Her Murder

A multi-storey police station building on a Tokyo street under a clear blue sky
Nerima Police Station in Tokyo, where the suspect was held after his first arrest in early October. Photo: Waka77 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Location: Nakamura-minami, Nerima Ward, Tokyo, and the mountains around Lake Hanayama, Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan

Legal status: Re-arrested on suspicion of murder on 28 October. He’s already been indicted for abandoning a corpse. He denies intending to kill and hasn’t been charged with murder. Under Japanese law he’s presumed innocent.

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department moved on Wednesday from the charge it could prove a month ago to the one it had been building toward. On 28 October, the First Investigation Division re-arrested Takuya Miura, 36, a bar owner from Nerima Ward, on suspicion of murdering Maho Muroga. She was 25, his live-in girlfriend, and her body was found wrapped in a plastic bag in the mountains of Miyagi Prefecture, in Japan’s northeast.

Miura had already been indicted for abandoning her body. According to the police, he’s told investigators, “I never thought of killing her.” Several outlets reported that he admits leaving her body in the mountains but denies murder.

The allegation. The police allege that on 28 September Miura compressed Muroga’s neck “by some means” and suffocated her. It happened at the flat they shared in Nakamura-minami 1-chome, Nerima. Jiji Press reported that the suspected time is between about 6:00 and 6:30 that morning. The Mainichi Shimbun said she died of asphyxia. Muroga worked part-time at an esthetic salon, according to the Mainichi.

Fuji TV and the Sankei Shimbun cited investigative sources on what Miura told officers in earlier voluntary questioning. He’d come home tired from work and found the room in a mess, they reported, and an argument broke out. He told officers he “snapped” at her attitude. Jiji reported that the killing is thought to have happened shortly after he got home, a little before 6 AM.

A message to himself. The Sankei reported that after Muroga died, a message saying “I’m going home to my parents” was sent from her smartphone to Miura’s own phone over social media. The First Investigation Division suspects he did this to cover his tracks, the paper said. That detail comes from investigative sources quoted by the Sankei. Police haven’t released it formally.

The search. According to the Mainichi, Muroga last exchanged messages with her mother on the night of 27 September and then went silent. Her mother went to the police on 30 September. Officers worked through security camera footage, relaying from one camera to the next, and analysed phone data, Miyagi Television reported. They found that Miura had driven north to Miyagi Prefecture. The Mainichi put his departure from the flat by car at about 7:40 AM on 28 September, roughly an hour and a half after the time Jiji gives for the killing.

Detectives searched the places he’d stopped. On 4 October they found Muroga’s body in the mountains around Lake Hanayama in Kurihara, Miyagi. She was still clothed, and a plastic bag had been pulled over her from the shoulders to the head. Miyagi Television reported that there were no obvious external injuries.

Miura was arrested on 5 October on suspicion of abandoning a corpse. Back then he told investigators, “I don’t remember,” Miyagi Television reported. That day, police at Nerima Police Station, where he was being held, examined the car they believe he used to carry her body north.

Earlier reports to police. The Mainichi’s headline picked out a pattern that had been building for months. The pair met in the summer of 2025 at the bar Miura runs, where Muroga was a customer, and they began living together around September. From March 2026, the paper reported, police received four calls or consultations in total, from both of them, reporting things like “we had an argument” and “I was hit.” The Mainichi said trouble over the relationship seems to have been constant. Its report didn’t say which of them made each call or what the police did about them.

What comes next. In Japan, suspects are often arrested on a provable lesser count first and re-arrested later for a more serious one. That gives prosecutors a fresh detention period. Prosecutors must now decide whether to indict Miura for murder. Until they do, the only charge before a court is abandoning a corpse.

Muroga’s family haven’t commented publicly on the re-arrest.

Sources

Paddington, Australia: Beau Lamarre-Condon’s Statement Accuses Friend of Urging Him to Dispose of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

Historic sandstone and brick Supreme Court buildings in Sydney
Supreme Court of New South Wales buildings in central Sydney. Photo: Sardaka / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Brown Street, Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; bodies left at a property in Bungonia, near Goulburn (NSW Supreme Court, Sydney, before Justice Natalie Adams and a jury)

Legal status: On trial. Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, a former NSW police officer, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of aggravated break and enter, and is presumed innocent. The defence does not dispute the men died from his police-issued Glock but argues self-defence and accident.

A written statement from Beau Lamarre-Condon, read to the jury in his double murder trial on Tuesday 27 October 2026, accuses a friend of urging him to get rid of the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies “straight away” when he wanted to go to police. The next day, Wednesday 28 October, a former police colleague told the NSW Supreme Court he arrived at her home in tears three days after the deaths, said he had “come to say goodbye”, and asked to use her hose to scrub blood out of a van. Baird, 26, a former TV presenter, and Davies, 29, a Qantas flight attendant, were shot in Baird’s Paddington share house on 19 February 2024.

“No Body, No Crime.” The statement, read by Crown prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC, concerns a friend known to the court by the pseudonym Elizabeth Kennedy, who accompanied him to the Bungonia farm two days after the deaths. Lamarre-Condon said he showed her the bodies in the back of a van, began to cry and asked: “I should just drive straight to the police now, shouldn’t I?” He alleged she replied: “No, no, you can’t. They won’t believe you. This is like Taylor Swift’s song, No Body, No Crime. We have to get rid of them straight away.” He claimed she helped carry the bodies, helped pour concrete into the bags, and cut holes in a surfboard cover with his pocketknife when it would not sink, which he said caused the knife wounds to Luke Davies’ leg. “She was a willing participant,” he said, adding that she “flat-out lied to police”. Kennedy testified last week that she thought they were going to lunch, waited at a gate while he drove to a dam, “didn’t know anything”, and could not have carried a body. She said it was he who played the song.

The hose and the bucket. On Wednesday the former colleague, known as Fiona Rosso, said Lamarre-Condon turned up unexpectedly on the evening of 22 February 2024. “I’ve done something bad but I don’t want to incriminate you, I won’t tell you, can I use your hose?” she recalled him saying. He asked whether she had seen the news and had her search Baird’s name. She sat in the gutter as he scrubbed the van; he told her there was blood he could not get off and might have to paint over it. Bunnings Rockdale footage shows him buying a stain-blocking primer and a paintbrush before 8am the next day, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. She said he asked her to look up the definition of schizophrenia and whether someone with it could be charged, and that she feared she was “part of the plan where he would now kill me too”. Weeks earlier, rehearsing lines for his acting class, he had asked if she would “bury a body for him”; she said yes, taking it as a joke.

The surrender. Jurors were shown footage of his arrest at Bondi police station on 23 February 2024 and heard a call he made minutes earlier to a police assistance line reporting trauma and bullying at work. “Just delete that whole thing,” he told the operator. “We’ll just keep it short and sweet.” The Crown says he became obsessed with Baird after their casual relationship ended in November 2023 and killed Davies to eliminate a witness. The defence says he entered disguised as an Uber Eats driver to retrieve belongings, that Baird died when the gun went off in a struggle and that Davies shot himself in a second struggle. The trial continues.

Sources

Upper Lockyer, Australia: Ride-On Mower Murder Trial Hears Frances Crawford Feared Divorce and Her Husband Stood to Gain $5.4 Million

Glass high-rise court building in Brisbane
The Supreme and District Court building in Brisbane. Photo: Chris Olszewski / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: The couple’s 40-hectare property at Upper Lockyer, near Toowoomba, south-east Queensland, Australia (Supreme Court of Queensland, Brisbane, before Justice Lincoln Crowley and a jury)

Legal status: On trial. Robert John Crawford, 49, a former Royal Australian Air Force squadron leader, has pleaded not guilty to the domestic violence murder of his wife and is presumed innocent. The defence says her death was an accident.

The Brisbane trial of former RAAF pilot Robert Crawford heard this week that his wife Frances Crawford, 49, told her younger sister six days before her death that she wished he would “hit a tree” in a car crash so she would not have to decide whether to leave him. Prosecutors allege Crawford strangled her in a chokehold on the night of 29 to 30 July 2024 and then toppled the family’s ride-on mower over a retaining wall and laid her beside it to make it look like a yard accident. On Tuesday 27 October 2026 the jury heard that exactly 30 days after her death he began claiming her superannuation and certified her will, under which he took the whole estate if he survived her by 30 days.

The 3.37am call. In a police statement read to the court and reported by ABC News, Crawford said the couple spent a routine evening watching TV, playing games and reading the Bible before he went to bed. He said she texted him about moving the mower before the automatic sprinklers came on, that he fell asleep, woke to find her gone and found her under the mower at the base of the retaining wall. He called emergency services at 3.37am and she was declared dead just after 4am. Crown prosecutor Chris Cook told the jury phone data would show Crawford was awake and active when he claimed to be asleep. Frances Crawford’s phone showed no activity from 7.44pm to 11.20pm, Cook said, and the 11.20pm message about the mower was sent by her husband as part of a cover-up when she was “likely dead, dying or unconscious”.

$5.4 million. The court heard her life insurance was worth more than $870,000 and the property and home more than $2.6 million. The Crown put the total benefit to Crawford at around $5.4 million and alleges “divorce was firming”: he had moved out in 2023 over his infidelities, with about a dozen women across more than 20 years according to the Crown, and returned in May 2024 on strict conditions including a polygraph test. “I wish Rob had a car accident, hit a tree and killed himself,” her sister recalled her saying, according to 7NEWS and AAP. She said her sister feared that in a divorce she would be “single and broke”.

The pickaxe and the bathrobe. Jurors saw police body-worn footage from 20 July 2023, when Frances Crawford called triple zero after her husband got into the house days after she changed the locks. He told officers he had removed window louvres to get in; police found a pickaxe inside, which he denied using. “He believes abuse is hitting,” she told them. “I should have got out long ago.”

Colleagues on the stand. On Wednesday 28 October Antonia Guterres, a former RAAF loadmaster under his command who had a relationship with him from 2023, said he called his wife “bipolar and off her meds” and told her on 26 July 2024, appearing gaunt and dishevelled, that he felt “trapped” at home. Fellow pilot Peter Wuttke said Crawford later spoke of trailing blood through the house and “how horrible it was to wash the blood off his skin in the shower”.

“Hollywood” story. Defence barrister Saul Holt KC told the jury the Crown had built a “Hollywood” story, noting Crawford was not a listed beneficiary on her superannuation and had once suggested she cancel her life insurance. “This was not murder, not by Robert Crawford and not by anybody else,” he said. “It was an accident.” He said her neck injuries were consistent with trying to free herself from the mower. About 50 witnesses are expected over three weeks.

Sources

Victorian High Country, Australia: Greg Lynn Refused Bail Ahead of Retrial Over the Death of Camper Carol Clay

Domed Supreme Court of Victoria building among city towers
Supreme Court of Victoria, Melbourne. Photo: Bidgee / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Remote campsite in Victoria’s High Country, Australia (Supreme Court of Victoria, Melbourne)

Legal status: Bail refused on Tuesday 27 October 2026 (Melbourne time). Greg Lynn, 60, is charged with the murder of Carol Clay and awaits a retrial due to begin in May 2027. He denies the charge. A jury acquitted him over the death of Russell Hill in 2024, and that acquittal stands. He is presumed innocent of the remaining charge.

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn will stay in custody until his retrial over the death of Carol Clay, 73. Chief Justice Richard Niall of the Supreme Court of Victoria refused his bail application on Tuesday morning, Melbourne time, finding that Lynn had not shown the exceptional circumstances the law requires before a person charged with murder can be released. “In my opinion the time in custody and continuing delay does not amount to exceptional circumstances … in the context of a very grave charge of murder,” the Chief Justice said, according to news.com.au. “Accordingly, the application for bail must be refused.” ABC News reported that Lynn showed no visible reaction as the decision was read out. His eldest son, Geordie Lynn, was in court and did not answer reporters’ questions as he left, AAP reported.

The case so far. Clay vanished while camping in Victoria’s High Country in March 2020 with her friend Russell Hill, 74. Both died at the campsite. Lynn has been in custody since his arrest in September 2021. After a trial in 2024 a jury found him guilty of Clay’s murder and not guilty of Hill’s. In December 2025 a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal overturned the murder conviction, finding a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred because of unfair actions taken by the prosecution, and ordered a retrial over Clay’s death. Lynn has always maintained his innocence. news.com.au reported that he has argued Clay’s death was accidental, and ABC News said he has argued he was not criminally responsible for what happened to the pair. The retrial was first listed for August 2026 but was delayed, which prompted the bail bid. It is now scheduled to begin in May 2027 before Justice Michael O’Connell.

Life on remand. At a hearing the previous week Lynn went into the witness box to describe what ABC News called “draconian” conditions in a solitary confinement unit. He said he was “hated” by many prisoners, who knew him as “Greg Lynn from TV”. He told the court he was first attacked in 2024, when an inmate threw faeces over him. news.com.au described the container as a milk jug, and ABC News as a bottle. He said a second attack came in July, when a prisoner told him “you’re going to be stabbed”, poked him in the chest and spat on him. “He confronted me and was just ready to explode, like Vesuvius ready to erupt,” Lynn said, according to AAP. He also alleged that fellow inmates were police informers who would “lie about their own mother for a sentence discount”. A Corrections Victoria prison manager testified that this belief made Lynn a target and hard to relocate.

The arguments. Lynn’s barrister, Dermot Dann KC, argued that his client’s vulnerability in custody and the long time he had spent on remand, almost five years by ABC News’s count, were exceptional reasons for release. He said Geordie Lynn had offered his $70,000 life savings as a surety. ABC News reported that Lynn had hoped to live in an apartment with his son. Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Gibson KC opposed bail and argued that Lynn had chosen to remain in isolation. ABC News reported that prosecutors did not allege Lynn would pose an unacceptable risk to the community if freed.

The ruling. Chief Justice Niall accepted that conditions in custody were “burdensome” and “very difficult” but said this did not amount to exceptional circumstances in itself. “I accept that it is probable that [Mr Lynn] will remain in solitary confinement until trial,” he said. He focused on the period between the retrial order and the trial rather than the full time on remand. According to news.com.au, he said a long period of pre-trial custody might justify bail in some cases, but the situation was different where there had already been a trial. “The question of bail is primarily forward-looking,” he said. A delay of 12 to 18 months was not outside the usual range for a murder case, he found, and he remanded Lynn in custody ahead of the retrial.

Sources

Christchurch, New Zealand: Man Already Accused of Hiding Braydon Hepworth’s Body Is Now Charged With His Manslaughter

The glass and stone Christchurch Law Courts building lit up at dusk
The Christchurch Law Courts, home of the Christchurch District Court. Photo: Michal Klajban / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Hereford Street, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Legal status: A 60-year-old Christchurch man was charged with manslaughter on 28 October 2026. He was already charged with concealing the body and making a false statement. He is in custody, has interim name suppression, and is due in Christchurch District Court on 29 October. A 34-year-old man faces charges relating to concealment of the body. Neither has entered a plea that has been reported, and both are presumed innocent.

The new charge. New Zealand Police said on Wednesday 28 October that they had charged a 60-year-old Christchurch man with the manslaughter of 21-year-old Braydon Hepworth. Detective Inspector Scott Anderson of Christchurch Metro Crime said the man had been arrested in early October and charged then with concealing Braydon’s body and making a false statement. He remains in custody and is due to appear in the Christchurch District Court on Thursday 29 October, the police said. A court has granted him interim name suppression, so he cannot be named.

A young father who went missing. Braydon Hepworth was a young Christchurch father. His last confirmed sighting was at the Linwood Z Energy service station on 3 September, police said. The NZ Herald reported that he had diabetes and relied on daily medication. It said his last known address was a boarding house about 100 metres from where his body would later be found. It also reported that he had spent time living at the Christchurch City Mission. City Missioner Corinne Haines told the Herald that the mission had supported him until he left its transitional accommodation in mid July, and that staff who had come to know and care for him were deeply saddened by his death.

The search and the discovery. On the morning of 8 October, officers executed search warrants across Linwood and Edgeware after inquiries suggested he was no longer alive, the Otago Daily Times reported. Police said they found a body during a search at a residential property on Hereford Street, and that they believed it was Braydon. Anderson later confirmed that he had been found buried under a shed at the rear of the property, the ODT reported. The Herald reported that the shed was on a vacant property behind the flat of an associate. A source described the associate to the Herald as one of the last people to have been in contact with him. The Herald said a post-mortem examination was inconclusive about the exact cause of death, and that police were awaiting further test results.

The earlier charges. The 60-year-old appeared in court on 10 October, RNZ reported. The Herald said the charges then were making a false statement to police and improperly offering an indignity to a dead human body. On 22 October police charged a 34-year-old Christchurch man with offences relating to the concealment of Braydon’s body. He was due before the Christchurch District Court that Friday. Police have not said whether he faces any charge over the death itself.

The family. After the body was found, the grandfather of Braydon’s child spoke of the family’s heartbreak. “After weeks of hoping, searching, wondering and praying that we would find him and bring him home, this is news that none of us ever wanted to hear,” he said, according to the ODT. “Braydon meant so much to a lot of people.”

What comes next. Police said the investigation into Braydon’s disappearance remained open, but that they could not comment further because the matter was before the courts. Anyone with information can contact police on 105.

Sources

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Flight Attendant Charged With Murder of Road Crew Supervisor Faris Irfan Fazli After Highway Drink-Driving Crash

Domed Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex building framed by palm trees
Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex, Jalan Duta. Photo: Renek78 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Lebuhraya Sultan Iskandar (Sultan Iskandar Highway), heading towards Jalan Parlimen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court; murder falls to the High Court)

Legal status: Mohd Iman Nafiz Fong Mohd Sabirin, 26, charged on Wednesday 28 October 2026 with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code. No plea recorded. Bail denied; mention on 30 November 2026. He had pleaded not guilty on 26 October to two drink-driving charges arising from the same crash. Presumed innocent.

Malaysian prosecutors have upgraded a fatal drink-driving case to a murder charge within four days of the crash. On Wednesday 28 October 2026, Mohd Iman Nafiz Fong Mohd Sabirin, a 26-year-old flight attendant, nodded to show he understood when Magistrate MS Arunjothy read out an accusation that he murdered Faris Irfan Fazli, 29, on the Sultan Iskandar Highway towards Jalan Parlimen at 4.09am on Saturday 24 October, Bernama reported via The Star and Sinar Harian. No plea was taken because murder is tried in the High Court. The charge carries the death penalty or 30 to 40 years in prison and, if the death sentence is not imposed, at least 12 strokes of the cane. The court refused bail.

The crash. Faris was a supervisor with a maintenance contractor working for Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). Kuala Lumpur traffic investigation chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Zamzuri Mohd Isa said in the first police account that five workers were installing warning signs in the left lane of the highway early on Saturday when a Ford Focus driven by a 26-year-old local man is believed to have lost control, skidded and hit two of them. The supervisor died while being treated. A 49-year-old lorry driver suffered injuries to his head and right hand and was taken to Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Police said a breath screening test on the driver registered 64mg of alcohol per 100ml, against a legal limit of 50mg. The driver was unhurt and was remanded for three days, from 24 to 26 October. That first police account, published by Sinar Harian, gave the time as about 5am and the supervisor’s age as 28. The charge sheets give 4.09am and 29.

From traffic court to murder charge in two days. On Monday 26 October, Iman Nafiz claimed trial before Magistrate Atiqah Mohamed @ Mohamad Saim to two counts under the Road Transport Act 1987. The first was driving a Ford Focus Sport with a blood alcohol level of 64mg per 100ml and causing Faris’s death, under Section 44(1)(b), which carries 10 to 15 years and a fine of RM50,000 to RM100,000. The second was causing injury to Ahmad Zakiyamani Zakaria @ Yusuff, 49, under Section 44(1A)(b), which carries seven to 10 years and a fine of RM30,000 to RM50,000. On Monday he was granted bail of RM35,000 with one surety, his driving licence was suspended until the case ends, and he was ordered to report to a police station once a month. The murder charge followed on Wednesday, and the bail position reversed. Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Fadhly Mohd Zamry told the court the prosecution would update Magistrate Atiqah on 30 November on the status of the two traffic charges in light of the murder charge, Free Malaysia Today reported. The accused is represented by lawyer Anif Rafih.

What comes next. The case returns for mention on 30 November, the same date already fixed for the traffic charges. No court document reported so far sets out why prosecutors moved from the Road Transport Act to Section 302, and the prosecution has not stated in open court what intention it will allege.

Sources

Tai Po, Hong Kong: Abby Choi Murder Jury Handles the Hammer, Hears of a Flat Reeking of Disinfectant and Defence Claims of a Contaminated Scene

High-rise High Court building in Hong Kong
Queensway outside the High Court building, Hong Kong. Photo: Mk2010 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Ground-floor village flat, Lung Mei village, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong (High Court, Deputy High Court Judge Brian Keith, with a jury)

Legal status: Trial ongoing. Alex Kwong Kong-chi, 32, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit, 35, and Kwong Kau, 69, are charged with murdering Abby Choi Tin-fung on 21 February 2023 and with preventing the lawful burial of her body between 21 and 23 February 2023. All three deny murder and are presumed innocent. Alex and Anthony Kwong have admitted the burial charge; Kwong Kau denies both counts.

The murder trial over the death and dismemberment of Hong Kong model and socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung, 28, reached its 24th day this week. Jurors put on protective gloves to weigh in their hands a one-pound ball-peen hammer, and heard the first police officers describe the Tai Po flat where her remains were found. The accused are her former husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi; her former brother-in-law, Anthony Kwong Kong-kit; and her former father-in-law, Kwong Kau. The prosecution, led by Senior Counsel Charlotte Draycott, alleges the three men killed her in the ground-floor flat at Lung Mei village on 21 February 2023 and spent the next two days disposing of her body. The defendants are represented by barristers Trevor Beel, Oliver Davies and Andrew Raffell.

The hardware shop. A Kowloon City hardware store clerk surnamed Chow testified that Anthony Kwong came into the shop on the morning of 15 February 2023, six days before the alleged murder, The Standard reported on 27 October. According to agreed facts, he bought a one-pound ball-peen hammer, two rolls of black duct tape and a roll of double-sided tape, items investigators later recovered from the Lung Mei flat. CCTV showed him in a white face mask, pacing, scratching his head and making circular and hammering gestures. Chow said he could not remember the conversation and read the gestures as a request for a ball-peen hammer. Under cross-examination he agreed such hammers are normally used for nails, though enough force could bend metal, and said he had no idea what the buyer meant to do.

The HK$67 million flat. An estate agent surnamed Tong said that in mid-February 2023, shortly before she disappeared, he met Choi and her mother about selling a Kadoorie Hill residence for HK$67 million. Agency records showed the registered owner was Kwong Kau. Choi told him she alone made decisions on the sale and that the elder Kwong would be brought in to sign once a buyer agreed a price. Tong described her as highly proactive; under defence questioning he said the market was in a pandemic downturn with very few sales. A second-floor resident of the Lung Mei house surnamed Leung said two cameras on his balcony had been recording around the clock with accurate timestamps, though without sound when the windows were shut.

Inside the flat. A police detective told the court on Tuesday 27 October that officers cordoned off the roughly 600 sq ft rental flat on the evening of 24 February 2023 after he found human remains and items believed to have been used to dispose of the body, the South China Morning Post reported. The flat reeked of disinfectant. On Wednesday 28 October, Detective Constable Chan Wai-hung was cross-examined. He said he was the only one of five officers who searched on the first entry, while the others watched and checked whether anyone else was inside, which he called standard practice. Beel, for Anthony Kwong, suggested Chan had not personally opened the fridge where two feet were found, and that every officer had touched items. Chan denied it. He also rejected a suggestion that superiors pulled the team out because the scene was already being spoiled, saying he himself had asked for everyone to leave and the premises to be sealed once he saw remains in the fridge. Raffell, for Alex Kwong, said the hammer Chan seized had no blood or tissue on it. Chan replied that an absence of blood does not mean a tool was not involved in a crime, Dimsum Daily reported. Exhibits went to the Government Laboratory for DNA and to the Identification Bureau for fingerprints. The trial continues.

Sources

Incheon, South Korea: Appeal Court Halves Sentences for Gang That Kidnapped YouTuber Sootak and Tried to Kill Him

High-rise towers reflected in water at Songdo, Incheon
Towers of Songdo International Business District, Incheon. Photo: Vincent van Zeijst / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Underground car park of an apartment complex, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea (Seoul High Court, Incheon Branch, Criminal Division 1)

Legal status: Convicted on appeal. On 27 October 2026 the court quashed the first-instance sentences and imposed 15 years and 12 years for attempted robbery-murder and related charges on the two main defendants, down from 30 and 25 years, and two years, down from five, on an accomplice convicted of aiding robbery causing injury. Both sides had appealed. Korean outlets identify the defendants only by initial.

A South Korean appeal court has cut by roughly half the prison terms of the men who beat the gaming YouTuber Sootak with a baseball bat, bundled him into a car and drove him about 200 kilometres with the intention of killing him. Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court’s Incheon branch, presided over by Judge Jeong Seung-gyu, delivered its ruling on Tuesday 27 October, Newsis reported. The victim, who has about one million subscribers, said on a livestream the same day: “I wonder if I should have just died there.”

The sentences. The court set aside the 30-year term handed to a 26-year-old used car dealer, identified as A, and the 25-year term handed to his acquaintance, identified as B, replacing them with 15 and 12 years. An accomplice, C, 37, who supplied a vehicle and work gloves, had his sentence cut from five years to two. Prosecutors and the defendants had both appealed on sentencing grounds.

The court’s reasoning. “It does not appear that there was a definite intent to kill, and no result of loss of life actually occurred,” the panel said, adding that the original sentences were “somewhat heavy” relative to the crimes. It cited family members who visit regularly and pledge to live with the defendants on release, risk assessments rating reoffending as moderate or low, the fact that they were first offenders, and a deposit of 10 million won lodged by B on appeal, Newsis, Money Today and MyDaily reported. The panel also said the defendants’ culpability was heavy given the injuries and terror the victim suffered and his plea for severe punishment.

The attack. The dispute began over a luxury SUV purchase. After Sootak demanded the return of a 200 million won deposit, A told him he would repay the money and lured him to the underground car park of his apartment block in Songdo-dong at about 10:40 PM on 26 October 2025. There the men struck him repeatedly on the head with an aluminium baseball bat, forced him into a car and drove to Geumsan County in South Chungcheong Province. Sootak had warned police in advance that a dangerous situation might arise, Newsis reported. Police tracked the car on CCTV and arrested the men in the car park of a cemetery park in Geumsan about four hours after the attack. Investigators found evidence the men had planned the abduction, disposal of a body and an escape abroad, Money Today reported.

The victim’s response. Speaking on the SOOP platform, Sootak claimed the deposit had been paid out of the 200 million won the defendants had cheated him of and that he had refused to accept it. “I don’t know whose recovery it helped,” he said. He shared an apology letter from the defence that said the writer would kill himself if not forgiven, and said he had been told one defendant serves as a cell leader and plays bingo and mafia games in detention. He suffered a skull fracture, orbital and finger fractures and 35 facial stitches, and says he still has double vision, reduced sight and hearing, and no feeling where he had orbital surgery.

Sources

Lucknow, India: Five Relatives of Accused Gunman Arrested and His House Sealed After Three Men Shot Dead Over a Parking Row

The Rumi Darwaza gateway in Lucknow lit up at night
The Rumi Darwaza, a landmark of old Lucknow. Photo: Mrityunjaipathak / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Brahmani Tola, Naubasta, Saadatganj police station area, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Legal status: Six people arrested and named in the FIR, which was registered under murder and rioting sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, with Arms Act sections added. Two more people named in the case are being sought. All are presumed innocent.

The killings. At about 10:30 am on Monday 26 October, a row between two neighbouring families in the Brahmani Tola locality of Naubasta, in Lucknow’s Saadatganj area, ended with three men of one family shot dead. Police named them as Shivaji Tiwari, a retired Uttar Pradesh Secretariat employee; his younger brother Shivendra Tiwari, known as Shambhu, who worked as non-teaching staff at Lucknow University; and Shivaji’s son, Suyash Tiwari, who ran an electrical hardware business and was due to marry on 5 December. Reported ages differ between outlets: Shivaji is given as 62 or 63, Shivendra as 54 or 55, and Suyash as 29 or 30. PTI reported that Shivaji was an RSS functionary, and Hindustan Times said he had served as the organisation’s district sar-karyavah, or general secretary.

What police allege. Police Commissioner Tarun Gauba told The Indian Express that the trouble began when a member of the Tiwari family parked a car in front of their house and the neighbour objected. According to the FIR, the accused surrounded the three men, abused them and attacked them with sticks and stones before they were shot. An eyewitness quoted by The Indian Express said the main accused ran into his home, came back with a pistol and kept firing until the magazine was empty. Post-mortem examinations found two gunshot wounds on each victim, The Times of India reported. The main accused, Rishabh Shukla, a Merchant Navy officer whose age is reported as 29, 30 or 34, was arrested at the scene. Police said they seized a .30-bore country-made pistol, six live cartridges, six empty cartridge cases and two magazines. The pistol has gone to the Forensic Science Laboratory for a striation test, and police described it as an illegal weapon allegedly sourced from Munger in Bihar.

A long-running feud. Police said the families had been at odds for about two months over the construction of a concrete platform around an old banyan tree in front of the houses, where locals gather to pray. The Tiwaris supported the work and the Shuklas opposed it. An officer told The Indian Express that local police had intervened twice and issued warnings. Shivendra’s wife, who filed the complaint, told Hindustan Times the family had earlier gone to the police and been told to bring proof, so on Monday her husband was filming when the confrontation escalated. Locals and relatives alleged to the paper that the main accused was a police informer who used those links to intimidate neighbours; the reports carry no police response to that claim.

Arrests inside the window. Late on Tuesday 27 October, police arrested five more relatives of the main accused near the Gulzar Nagar outpost road in Bazarkhala after a tip-off: his father, 62, his sister, 24, two uncles aged 69 and 78, and the older uncle’s daughter, 38. Police said the complaint accused them of beating the three men and urging the killing. Another uncle and a woman named in the case remain at large. Police records cited by Hindustan Times list several of the accused in 2020 rioting cases.

Political response. The family protested and refused to cremate the bodies until Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak came on Tuesday. He promised a fast-track trial, action under the National Security Act, a government job for Shivendra’s widow, free education for a daughter and lifelong security. He then helped carry the biers to Gulala Ghat. Gauba suspended Saadatganj station house officer Santosh Kumar Arya and Kashmiri Mohalla outpost in-charge Ajay Kumar Chaurasia and ordered a departmental inquiry. On Tuesday night the Lucknow Development Authority sealed the accused’s house, saying its building plan was never approved, and knocked down the boundary wall. On Wednesday 28 October it cleared an encroachment on Nazul land and began remeasuring the rest of the building, Vice-Chairman Prathamesh Kumar told PTI.

Sources

Ramgarh, India: Husband and Sister Arrested in Death of Jeba Parveen, Found at Home With Head Injuries

Aerial view of the Ramgarh district collectorate buildings and gardens
The district collectorate in Ramgarh, Jharkhand. Photo: Revolutionary Youth Foundation / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Raushan Nagar, Kuju police outpost area, Ramgarh district, Jharkhand, India

Legal status: Two people arrested on Tuesday 27 October on murder allegations and sent to judicial custody. No chargesheet has been reported. Both are presumed innocent.

A death at home. Late on the evening of 17 October, Jeba Parveen, 34, was found dead inside her house in Raushan Nagar, in the Kuju police outpost area of Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, Aaj Tak reported. She was alone at the time. Her 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter were at tuition classes, and her husband had gone to Ranchi on business, according to Aaj Tak, an account that sits uneasily with what police now allege. Nothing appeared to have been stolen, and investigators at first considered whether a fall had caused the head injury she suffered. Jeba Parveen had been married for about 14 years, police told The Times of India.

A complaint from her brother. On 18 October her brother lodged a murder complaint at the Kuju police station, and an FIR was registered on it, PTI and The Times of India reported. Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Lunayat set up a special investigation team under Ramgarh Sub-Divisional Police Officer Alok Ranjan. A forensic science laboratory team from Ranchi examined the house and collected evidence, and the post-mortem was carried out under the supervision of a medical board, according to Aaj Tak. Police said their suspicion turned to the husband and to relationships inside the family.

Arrests. On Tuesday 27 October police arrested the husband, Gulam Sarwar, also known as Rajan, 37, and Jeba Parveen’s sister, Neha Parveen. “Based on human and technical evidence, we arrested both accused, including the deceased’s sister, on Tuesday,” Ranjan told PTI. Police announced the arrests on Wednesday 28 October. Aaj Tak reported that police said the husband had tried to mislead the inquiry before he and the sister were questioned in depth.

What police allege. Ranjan told The Times of India that the husband had a relationship with his sister-in-law and that Jeba Parveen found out about it on 17 October, after which an argument broke out among the three. “During the fight, Gulam dashed his wife’s head against the wall, leading to her death,” he said. Police told Aaj Tak that her head was struck against the wall repeatedly, and that the relationship had caused frequent quarrels in the house over several years. PTI reported that the sister was arrested for allegedly instigating the husband and conspiring to kill Jeba Parveen. Police say both admitted their involvement during interrogation. Those statements were made to police, and the allegations have not been tested in court. Aaj Tak noted that the account rests on the police inquiry and the questioning of the accused, and that the legal process will now move to the courts.

Her family. Jeba Parveen’s maternal uncle, Mohammad Sanjar, told Aaj Tak that if the two had done what police allege, they should be punished, and the family has asked for justice. Relatives said her two children are in shock and cannot stop crying.

Where the case stands. Ranjan said both accused were sent to judicial custody after the arrests. The reports do not say when the case will next come before a court, or whether the forensic and post-mortem findings have been filed. The Times of India said the two were arrested “on charges of murder” ten days after the body was found. PTI reported the case under the Kuju police outpost, while Aaj Tak and The Times of India place the house in Raushan Nagar. PTI’s report gives the village as Rauta.

Sources

Srinagar, India: Court Orders Fresh Psychiatric Examination of Dutch Man Accused of Murdering Sarah Groves on a Dal Lake Houseboat in 2013

Moored wooden houseboats on Dal Lake
Houseboats moored on Dal Lake, Srinagar. Photo: Dashrathgoyal85 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: New Beauty houseboat, Dal Lake, Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir (Court of the 2nd Additional Sessions Judge, Srinagar)

Legal status: Richard de Wit, a Dutch national, is charged with the murder of Sarah Groves and denies it. His trial has been suspended since July 2021 after he was deemed unfit to stand trial. The court has ordered a medical team to examine him at Srinagar Central Jail on Thursday 29 October 2026 to decide whether the trial can go on. Presumed innocent.

Thirteen and a half years after Sarah Groves, 24, of Guernsey was found dead with dozens of wounds in her room on a Dal Lake houseboat, the Srinagar court hearing the case against the man accused of killing her has ordered doctors to go into the jail and examine him. The Times of India reported on 28 October 2026 that the court of the 2nd Additional Sessions Judge directed the medical superintendent of the government psychiatric diseases hospital in Srinagar to put together a team to carry out “fresh and comprehensive” psychiatric and general medical assessment of Richard de Wit at Srinagar Central Jail on 29 October. The team is to include a psychiatrist, a specialist in general medicine and any other practitioner the accused’s reported condition requires.

Why the court acted. “The present case has remained pending for a considerable period and the progress of the trial has from time to time been impeded due to the reported medical, particularly psychiatric, condition of the accused,” the order said, according to the Times of India. Jail reports told the court that de Wit had not cooperated with psychiatric consultations, hospitalisation, examinations or treatment, and had refused to be taken out of the jail to a medical facility. The court called that refusal “a practical impediment” to getting the assessment it needs. The judge framed the question as whether de Wit can understand the proceedings, communicate meaningfully with his lawyer and take part in the trial. That could not be settled “solely on the basis of a judicial impression or reports of non-cooperation”, the order said, but needed an objective, independent medical opinion. The examination is to be done inside the jail “with due regard to the dignity, safety and medical interests of the accused”.

The killing. Sarah Groves had travelled to Srinagar in February 2013 meaning to stay for some time, the Times of India reported. De Wit arrived at the houseboat on 3 April and took the cabin next to hers; they were the only two tourists on board. On 6 April 2013 she was found dead in her room. Police said she had about 43 wounds. De Wit, then 43, was arrested the same day in Qazigund, about 70 km south of Srinagar, a few hours after the killing, according to the police chargesheet as reported by the paper. Police said he was in wet clothes, without shoes, and carrying his passport. Afadul Mujtaba, then the police deputy inspector general for central Kashmir, who first questioned him, described him at the time as suffering from paranoia, the paper said. Those are police allegations that have not been tested to a verdict.

A trial stalled for five years. The trial began in June 2013. Her father told BBC Guernsey in December 2025 that by 2021 there had been about 250 hearings, “of which very few made any progress”, before the case was suspended in July 2021 on the finding that de Wit was medically unfit. The family receives periodic reports that he remains unfit, he said. In April 2026, the family told Channel 103 that only four of the 46 prosecution witnesses had still to give evidence, and that they had heard of moves to restart the trial. “It’s a horrible realisation that we probably won’t live to know why,” her mother told the BBC. “She literally wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Her parents set up the Sarah Groves Foundation, which gives bikes every Christmas to Guernsey children whose families cannot afford them.

Sources

Madiun, Indonesia: Suspect Re-enacts 48 Scenes in Killing of Dini Hardiyanti and Her Son as Police Set Out Charges That Carry the Death Penalty

Police pickup truck parked on a road in Madiun
A police vehicle in Madiun, East Java. Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Hotel Mataram Baru, Jalan dr Soetomo; Gang Tentrem, Jalan Doho, Winongo; and Jalan Kunir, Ngegong, Manguharjo district, Madiun, East Java, Indonesia

Legal status: Suspect in custody. Dwi Bagus Martono, 40, has been named by East Java police as a suspect in the premeditated murder of Dini Hardiyanti, 30, and her four-year-old son. Kumparan reported that he faces charges under Article 76C in conjunction with Article 80(3) of the Child Protection Law and Articles 459, 458 and 466(3) of the 2023 Criminal Code, and could face the death penalty. He has not been tried and is presumed innocent.

The man suspected of killing his unregistered wife and her small son in Madiun was taken back to three places across the city on Tuesday evening, 27 October, to act out what police allege happened, in a pre-reconstruction staged by the violent crime unit of East Java police. Forty-eight scenes were performed to match his account against the evidence, kumparan and Lentera reported. The boy is identified in police statements only by his initials, and he is not named here.

The hotel. The re-enactment began at the Hotel Mataram Baru on Jalan dr Soetomo between 4pm and 5pm local time, detikNews reported; reporters were kept out of the building. AKBP Arbaridi Jumhur, head of the violent crime subdirectorate, said investigators started at the reception desk. “We did re-enactments, starting with him at reception, communicating, and eventually there was a quarrel, which resulted in the victim dying there,” he said, Lentera reported. Scenes followed in which, police allege, he fetched a sleeping bag, put Dini’s body inside and carried it out to a car. Jumhur said this was checked against hotel CCTV. Police have previously said they believe she was strangled.

The boy. The team moved to an empty house on Jalan Doho that belonged to the suspect’s late parents. The gate was locked on arrival at about 5.15pm and officers had to wait for Madiun City police to open it, detikNews reported. Police allege the child died there, in a Suzuki Karimun parked at the house. “At the second scene, at his parents’ house, one scene was not quite right. We discussed it and corrected it, regarding the way the suspect killed the child,” Jumhur said.

The fire and the machine. At the suspect’s own home at Jalan Kunir No. 13, police re-enacted the alleged burning and shredding of the remains. Jumhur said a furnace found there was built after the burning, once the ash had been cleaned up and dissolved, “to cover it up”. Police are examining the Winongo river bridge as the place where ash was allegedly dumped. He said the suspect bought a shredding machine after the burning and two days after using it had a friend sell it. “This must be looked into,” he said. The machine, ash and bone fragments have gone to the forensic laboratory, partly to establish whether bones came from an adult or a child. Kombes Roy Sihombing, East Java’s director of general crimes, told reporters the suspect said the method was inspired by a film, Okezone reported. Roy also described the suspect as a mapping surveyor.

The family. Dini’s mother, 58, watched the re-enactment. “My feelings are shattered, completely shattered,” she told Pojoksatu. She said she grew suspicious after a phone and video call with her daughter around 20 September, after which she heard nothing. “The death penalty. The death penalty,” she said, “because that is two lives.” Dini’s younger sister, who filed the missing persons report on 5 October, said parts of the account did not add up. “There is something strange. Bagus could not have done it alone,” she said. The family’s lawyer, Ikbal Sermaf, told Memo Indonesia that messages showed Dini had been afraid to return to Madiun. Police have said they believe he acted alone but have not ruled out others. After the re-enactment the suspect knelt before his registered wife at his home, detikNews and kumparan reported.

Sources

Astana, Kazakhstan: Judge Refuses Family’s Bid to Send Sania Alimzhanova Murder Case Back to Prosecutors and Sets Trial for 6 November

Exterior of the white stone Esil District Court building in Astana in winter
The Esil District Court building in Astana. The case is being heard by a court in the capital. Photo: Ilya Varlamov / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Astana, Kazakhstan

Legal status: Yerzhan Imankulov is charged with murder with particular cruelty. At preliminary hearings on 27 and 28 October, Judge Aizhan Kulbayeva refused a request by the victim’s family to return the case to prosecutors. She ordered his placement in a psychiatric facility extended and set the main trial for 6 November. Prosecutors are asking for him to be released from criminal liability and sent for compulsory treatment. He hasn’t been tried, and he’s presumed innocent.

A judge in Kazakhstan’s capital has turned down a family’s attempt to send a high-profile murder case back for a fresh psychiatric examination. The case is the June 2025 stabbing of 31-year-old Sania Alimzhanova in front of her two young sons. Her relatives say the man accused of killing her is faking mental illness to escape punishment. Prosecutors say he was not responsible for his actions and should be treated, not tried.

The killing. Alimzhanova was killed on 19 June 2025 in a residential complex in Astana. Her sons, aged 7 and 10, were at home, Qumash and Qaz365 reported. According to Qumash, she phoned police that day to say a man with a knife was in the flat and that she was afraid of him. Centralmedia24 reported that Imankulov, her former boyfriend, stabbed her six times in front of the boys and kept beating her, and that her sister said he stopped only when neighbours came running at the children’s screams. Qaz365 gave his age as 36.

Tengrinews and Seventh Channel reported the investigators’ version: after the attack he jumped from the 25th floor, landed on a parked car and survived. The family disputes that account. According to Qumash, he suffered a serious head injury in the fall and was then diagnosed with amnesia. Qaz365 reported that he is now held in a specialist psychiatric hospital in Almaty region. Centralmedia24, citing the NeMolchi foundation, reported that Alimzhanova had ended the relationship because of his gambling addiction.

The psychiatric dispute. In April 2026, Judge Kulbayeva returned the case, citing contradictions in the expert conclusions about Imankulov’s mental state. She is the judge who sentenced former national economy minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev to 24 years for the killing of Saltanat Nukenova. Alimzhanova’s older sister, Alua Saidalina, told Qumash and Qaz365 that the court had ordered a repeat examination by a different panel. She said the same four experts from the Institute of Forensic Examinations in Almaty did it again. “In essence it is the same examination, slightly reworded in places,” she said.

The family’s lawyer told Qaz365 that an independent expert, Molchanov, had reached the opposite conclusion: that Imankulov could understand the nature and danger of his actions at the time. Saidalina said investigators had rejected the family’s requests to establish whether he really tried to kill himself and from which floor he fell. “At the basis of the examination’s conclusions is again the suicide attempt, which is nowhere reliably proven or established in the case file,” she told both outlets.

27 October. Qaz365 reported that Imankulov did not attend the preliminary hearing because he is in a psychiatric institution. His brother, Kanatbek Imankulov, joined online. The prosecutor read out the order sending him for compulsory treatment. The family’s representatives, including a lawyer for Alimzhanova’s children, opposed it and asked the court to return the case to prosecutors.

28 October. Centralmedia24 reported that the judge rejected the request the next day. “At present the case materials have not been examined in court, including the decision of the pre-trial investigation body and the expert conclusions,” she said. “Accordingly, the victims’ motion to return the case to the prosecutor is premature, since it is subject to review during the main trial.” She extended his placement in a psychiatric facility until the case is heard, for no more than six months. The outlet said the ruling cannot be appealed and that the main trial will begin on 6 November at 2:30 PM.

Saidalina said she would renew the request during the trial. “I hope that in the course of the trial we will establish additional facts and go through everything in detail. I still hope for justice in this case,” she told Centralmedia24.

Sources

Kentau, Kazakhstan: Café Owner and Gas Station Cashier Jailed Over New Year Explosion That Killed a Young Couple

A tree-lined road into Kentau passing under a metal arch bearing the city's name
The road into Kentau, in Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region. Photo: Yuriy75 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Location: Kentau, Turkestan region, Kazakhstan

Legal status: On 27 October, Kentau City Court convicted café owner Akzhan Abdyrasuly under Part 3 of Article 292 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to five years in prison and a three-year ban on business activity. It convicted gas station operator Gani Kurmanaliyev under Part 3 of Article 306 and sentenced him to four years. Abdyrasuly was taken into custody in the courtroom. OpenNews reported that the verdict has not yet taken legal effect.

A court in southern Kazakhstan has jailed the owner of a café and the young cashier who filled its gas cylinder over an explosion that killed two young people who were planning to marry. During the trial it emerged that the same filling station had gone on refilling household cylinders after the tragedy, and the judge now plans to raise the matter with the city authorities.

The explosion. The blast happened in January 2026 at a café in Kentau, in Turkestan region. OpenNews, a Kazakh news agency, reported that it happened on New Year’s night at a café in the city centre. Qaz365 reported that a mixture of gas and air exploded in the café’s kitchen and started a fire, injuring several people. Two of them died: a young woman named Dana and a young man named Bakdaulet. Qaz365 and Baribar reported that the couple worked together and were preparing to marry.

According to OpenNews, Dana was 18 and died at the scene. Bakdaulet had burns to 90 percent of his body and died in intensive care eight days later. OpenNews reported that relatives said after the tragedy that the café had no basic fire extinguishing equipment and that residents trying to put out the flames had been forced to use kymyz, the fermented mare’s milk drink.

The verdict. The sentences were read out at Kentau City Court on 27 October, Qaz365 reported. The court found Abdyrasuly guilty under Part 3 of Article 292 of the Criminal Code. OpenNews described the offence as a breach of fire safety requirements. He received five years in prison and a three-year ban on running a business. He had been free on bail until the verdict, and he was taken into custody in the courtroom. His sentence runs from 27 October. OpenNews reported that he will be held in custody until the verdict takes legal effect.

The second defendant, Kurmanaliyev, was convicted under Part 3 of Article 306, which OpenNews described as a breach of the rules for using gas. The court found that while working as an operator and cashier at a vehicle gas filling station, he filled a household gas cylinder with liquefied gas. Filling household cylinders at such stations is prohibited, the court heard. The cylinder later exploded in the café’s kitchen. OpenNews reported that he is 23 and that the victims’ relatives had forgiven him, but the court did not release him from criminal liability. He was sentenced to four years.

The court treated the genuine remorse of both men as a mitigating circumstance and found no aggravating circumstances, Qaz365 reported. Given the deaths of two people and the other circumstances of the case, it still chose prison terms. It also granted civil claims by the victims against Abdyrasuly for material and moral damage. OpenNews reported that he was ordered to pay 10 million tenge to each family, 20 million tenge in total.

Cylinders still being filled. The trial heard that household cylinders were still being filled at the same station after the explosion, Qaz365 and Baribar reported. That raised the question of whether Kentau’s cafés and restaurants should be checked for compliance with safety and fire rules, and the court intends to send a special ruling to the Kentau akimat, the city administration.

The families. Bakdaulet’s mother, named by OpenNews as Sholpan Akhmetova, told Qaz365 she thought the verdict was fair, though it was hard to see two young men sent to prison. “Even if they serve their sentences, they will come home afterwards, and their mothers will see them again. But I will never see my son again. He is gone forever,” she said. She said she hoped the case would teach other business owners to take fire safety seriously. “If this had not happened, we might already have held the wedding and they would be living happily,” she said. “Every time I come to court, I have to live through everything again.”

His grandmother told Qaz365 she both agreed and disagreed with the sentence. “My child cannot be brought back. Of course I feel sorry for these young men who are being sent to prison. They did not do it on purpose,” she said. She said the family had not yet received any compensation for material or moral damage. “In court they said it would be paid. But to this day there has been no compensation.”

Sources

Rawalpindi, Pakistan: Bakery Worker Arrested Over Strangling of a Mother and Her Daughter Nomeen in Their Rented Dhamial Home

A wide multi-lane road in Rawalpindi running beside an elevated metro bus line
Murree Road in Rawalpindi, the city where the killings took place. Photo: King Eliot / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Dhamial Police Station area, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan

Legal status: A man was arrested by Dhamial police, as announced on 28 October. Police say a charge sheet will go to court once their investigation is complete. He hasn’t appeared in court, and he’s presumed innocent.

Rawalpindi police announced on Wednesday that they’d arrested a man over the killings of a woman and her daughter Nomeen. The two were found dead in their rented house in Dhamial on the night of Thursday, 22 October. Police told reporters that both were strangled, and they say the motive was a money dispute.

The arrest was announced by police and carried by the state news agency APP via UrduPoint. Police said the suspect killed both women by strangling them, over “a dispute about a financial transaction and a personal grudge.” City Police Officer Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera had ordered an immediate arrest, and Dhamial police carried it out, the agency reported. SP Saddar Anam Sher said questioning was continuing. Once the evidence was in, the SP said, a charge sheet would go to court and police would seek “the punishment he deserves.”

The account police gave Express. An officer involved in the investigation gave the Urdu daily Express a fuller version. Express said the suspect is from Sargodha and worked at a bakery in the area. That’s where he came to know the mother, who lived in the rented house with her two daughters, Nomeen and Roshani. According to that officer, the relationship grew and she asked him for money at different times, citing her difficulties. Once the sum reached about 150,000 to 200,000 rupees, police told Express, he concluded he’d been lied to. He also came to believe she wasn’t the person she’d said she was.

He demanded the money back and didn’t get it, police said. On the day of the killings, they allege, he went to the house while Roshani was out and strangled both mother and daughter. One of them tried to fight him off, and he struck her on the head with a tava, the flat iron griddle used to cook roti, the officer told Express. When Roshani came home, knocked and got no answer, she began shouting, and the man escaped across the roof, police said.

What the family reported. Dawn reported the case on 24 October, based on the police report filed by the women’s brother, Suleman Ijaz of Gujranwala. He said his sisters Roshani and Nomeen lived with their mother in the rented house. Nomeen was divorced and had no children. Roshani has a four-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter.

Ijaz said he got a call at 11 PM on Thursday saying his mother and Nomeen had been killed. He reached Rawalpindi with an aunt at about 4:15 AM. According to his complaint, Roshani told him that the two sisters had gone out to Quaid-i-Azam Colony at about 8:30 PM, and Nomeen came home about an hour before her. When Roshani got back at about 11 PM, she found the main gate locked from inside. After she’d knocked for a while, her six-year-old daughter opened it.

Inside, she found Nomeen on the floor of one room, her head bleeding. Her mother’s body was in another room. Her screams brought neighbours, who called the police. At that point, Dawn reported, the family’s complaint blamed unidentified people.

Forensics. A police spokesman told Dawn that one woman appeared to have been strangled and the other had a head injury. The final cause of death would depend on postmortem reports, he said. Teams from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency collected evidence at the scene. The bodies went to Benazir Bhutto Hospital and then to the District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem examination.

Police haven’t said publicly how the suspect was traced, and no court date had been reported by Wednesday.

Sources

Homagama, Sri Lanka: Police Crimes Chief Arrested Over the Death of Ishara, a Father of Two Who Died After His Arrest on a Drug Allegation

Location: Homagama Police Station, Homagama, Sri Lanka

Legal status: The former officer in charge of the Homagama Police Crimes Division, aged 32, was arrested on 28 October. Police said he’d be produced before Homagama Magistrate’s Court on 29 October. He hasn’t been charged, and he’s presumed innocent. Police haven’t released his name.

Detectives in Sri Lanka have arrested the officer who ran the crimes division at Homagama police station. The case is the death of a 29-year-old man who died in hospital after police took him in on a drug allegation. His family says he was beaten in custody. The Daily Mirror named him as Ishara Harshakumara, of Kiriwaththuduwa.

Ada Derana reported the arrest on Wednesday, 28 October. Officers from the Western Province South Divisional Crimes Division arrested the former officer in charge, who had already been interdicted. Police described him as a 32-year-old from Bellapitiya, Horana, and said he’d be brought before Homagama Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

The arrest that ended in death. Police say Homagama officers arrested the man at Pitipana Junction on 25 October. The Daily Mirror said they told it he was carrying suspected methamphetamine, known locally as Ice. Their account is that he suddenly fell ill after being brought to the station, was admitted to Homagama Base Hospital, and died there.

His family’s account is different. Relatives told the Daily Mirror they went to the station on the morning of 25 October to ask about him and saw signs he’d been physically assaulted. They said police took him to hospital only after they insisted, and that he was already dead when he was admitted.

Post-mortem. A Judicial Medical Officer carried out the post-mortem examination at Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila. The Island reported that the officer returned an open verdict, and police said the body was then handed over to his relatives. Outside Police Headquarters on 28 October, a representative accompanying the family gave a different account to reporters. Newswire reported the representative’s claim that the medical officer had found death followed blunt-force injuries, including three fractured ribs, a fractured bone in the neck, swelling of the brain and bleeding in the head. Police haven’t publicly confirmed those findings.

Suspensions and pressure. On 26 October, the superintendent in charge of Homagama District I suspended three officers, police said. They were two sub-inspectors, who ran the crimes division and the anti-corruption raids unit, and a constable on duty at the time. On 28 October, the man’s wife went with the family to Police Headquarters to lodge a complaint demanding arrests. “The officers who assaulted and killed him have only been suspended. They have not been arrested,” she said, according to Newswire. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa had also called for an independent investigation, Newswire reported.

Hiru News reported that Homagama Magistrate Rajinda Jayasuriya ordered the Colombo South Crime Division to speed up its investigation, arrest the suspects and produce them in court. The order came on a motion filed by civil society groups and the dead man’s relatives. CounterPoint reported that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka had summoned three officers, including the station’s officer in charge, to appear on 29 October. Investigators also want a court order to question another man who was arrested with him and is now on remand, CounterPoint said. The family’s supporters alleged to Newswire that this man had also been assaulted and was in a serious condition.

The Police Special Investigation Unit is also investigating on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, according to the Daily Mirror and Ada Derana.

Sources

Middeniya, Sri Lanka: Woman Wanted on an Interpol Red Notice Over the Shooting of “Kajja” and His Two Children Is Brought Back From the UAE and Held Until 4 November

Trees on a lawn in the grounds outside the departure terminal at Bandaranaike International Airport
Grounds outside the departure terminal at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, where Criminal Investigation Department officers took the suspect into custody. Photo: Николай Максимович / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Location: Near Kadewatta Junction, Middeniya, Sri Lanka (killings); Walasmulla Magistrate’s Court (hearing)

Legal status: Anusha Lakmali, known as “Achini,” was arrested on 27 October and brought before Walasmulla Magistrate’s Court on 28 October. The court ordered her held until 4 November. She hasn’t been indicted, and she’s presumed innocent.

Sri Lankan police say a woman wanted on an Interpol Red Notice has been returned from the United Arab Emirates and arrested. The case is the February 2025 shooting that killed Aruna Vidanagamage, known as “Kajja,” and his two young children. On Wednesday a magistrate ordered her held for another week while the Criminal Investigation Department keeps questioning her.

Ada Derana reported that the suspect, Anusha Lakmali, also known as Achini, was arrested by CID officers at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake on Tuesday, 27 October, after being deported from Dubai. According to The Morning, she’s 34 and lives in Katuwana in the Middeniya area. The paper said she landed at about 5:20 AM on SriLankan Airlines flight UL-226. She was questioned at the airport and then taken to CID headquarters in Colombo, it added.

In court. CID officers brought her before Walasmulla Magistrate’s Court on 28 October. Ada Derana and Esana News both reported that she was remanded until 4 November. Hiru News described the order as permission for the CID to detain and question her for seven days.

What police allege. The Morning reported police findings that she made the final phone call to Vidanagamage and sent him the final text message. According to the paper, she invited him and his children to a restaurant on the instructions of the underworld figure known as “Backhoe Saman.” The Daily Mirror reported that, according to investigators, the shooting was allegedly a contract killing for 500,000 rupees. Part of the money had reportedly been traced to accounts linked to suspects in the plot, it said. The Daily Mirror said she fled the country after the killings, which led the authorities to seek the Red Notice.

The killings. Vidanagamage, 39, was riding a motorcycle with his nine-year-old son and six-year-old daughter near Kadewatta Junction in Middeniya at about 10:15 PM on 18 February 2025, when a gunman opened fire. That’s according to police statements reported at the time by Newswire and the Sunday Times. He died at the scene. His daughter died soon after reaching hospital, and his son died the next day. The Sunday Times reported that police suspected a T-56 assault rifle had been used.

Within weeks, police announced arrests. In March 2025, Ada Derana reported that the alleged gunman was one of ten people held, along with a woman suspected of aiding and abetting the murder. According to police, he’d confessed to carrying out the killing on a contract from “Backhoe Saman,” described as operating from Dubai, because of his own mounting debts. Police told the broadcaster the motive was revenge for the theft of a parcel of cannabis belonging to that trafficker. They said the gunman had also told them of three failed attempts, on 10, 11 and 12 February.

In April 2025, Onlanka reported that Vidana Gamage Ishan Madushanka, 31, had been deported from Chennai and arrested at the same airport. Police believed he was the motorcycle rider in the attack.

The victim’s past. Newswire reported that police said Vidanagamage was facing extortion and other criminal charges when he died. In a YouTube interview before his death, he’d described himself as an associate of the Rajapaksa family and said his life was under threat.

The case returns to Walasmulla Magistrate’s Court on 4 November.

Sources

Moratuwa, Sri Lanka: Two Arrested Over T-56 Killing of Soysapura Restaurant Owner Lasantha Kumara

Shops, signboards and parked three-wheelers along Galle Road in Moratuwa
Galle Road in Moratuwa. Photo: Torbenbrinker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Location: Soysapura, Moratuwa, Western Province, Sri Lanka

Legal status: Two men, aged 28 and 36, were arrested on 27 October by the Western Province South Crimes Division on suspicion of aiding and abetting and conspiracy in the killing. Neither has been named or charged in court, and both are presumed innocent. The gunman and his two accomplices described by police have not been reported arrested.

Detectives in Sri Lanka have made the first arrests over the killing of a restaurant owner who was shot dead with an assault rifle inside his premises in the Soysapura area of Moratuwa. A woman buying food there was also wounded, and the gunmen shot a lorry driver and seized a motorcycle at gunpoint as they escaped across the city. Police believe the attack was organised by crime figures.

The arrests. The Police Media Division said two suspects, aged 28 and 36, were arrested on 27 October, Ada Derana reported. They live in Kahathuduwa and Ratmalana. They were arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting the crime and of conspiracy. NewsFirst reported that the arrests were made in operations by the Western Province South Crimes Division in Mount Lavinia and Kahathuduwa. Police said the division is continuing the investigation.

The victim. NewsFirst identified the dead man as Pinnawala Appuhamilage Lasantha Kumara, 49, known as “Raththaran”, of Sandalankawa in Pannala. It reported that he had run the restaurant in Soysapura on a rental basis for nearly ten years. The Daily Mirror reported on 20 October that he had died of his injuries in hospital, and NewsFirst’s English service reported that he died after being admitted to Kalubowila Teaching Hospital. Police dated the shooting to 20 October.

The shooting. According to NewsFirst, three men arrived in a vehicle at about 8:45 PM and opened fire at the restaurant. One of them walked in carrying a T-56 assault rifle, fired, and left with the other two in the same vehicle. A woman from Thelawala, Moratuwa, who had come to buy food, was shot in the right leg. Police Media Spokesperson ASP F. U. Wootler said police suspected the killing was the result of a clash between organised crime gangs, NewsFirst’s English service reported.

The getaway. NewsFirst gave a detailed account of the escape based on police information. The car collided with a motorcycle as it fled, and the rider gave chase before losing sight of it. The car travelled through Soysapura, Katubedda, Rawathawatta, Moratumulla and over the Kospalana Bridge before one of its front wheels failed in the Suwarapola area of Piliyandala. The three men abandoned it and tried to stop a passing lorry while brandishing the rifle. When the driver refused to stop, they fired at the lorry and wounded him. He drove on and later admitted himself to Kalubowila Teaching Hospital.

The men then fired into the air, threatened a passing motorcyclist and took his motorcycle, NewsFirst reported. At the Piliyandala Bypass Junction two of them got off, and the gunman rode on alone to Siddhamulla, where he left the motorcycle and boarded a Kottawa to Mount Lavinia bus. Police recovered the motorcycle in Siddhamulla that night. The abandoned car had been running on a fake number plate whose registration belonged to a three-wheeler owned by a resident of Nugegoda, NewsFirst reported.

Earlier attacks. Police said the restaurant had been targeted before, NewsFirst reported, including in January 2020 when an unidentified gunman opened fire, and that those earlier attacks had been linked to two organised crime figures and drug traffickers operating from overseas. The Island reported that police were examining several possible motives, including alleged underworld links and financial disputes, as well as a recently leaked telephone recording, and that investigators had yet to establish the credibility of some of the information.

The wider picture. NewsFirst reported police figures showing 39 organised shootings across Sri Lanka so far this year, leaving 25 people dead. It said the Moratuwa killing was the fifth shooting this year to target a hotel or restaurant owner, and that 18 gunmen, 15 riders and 130 people accused of supporting criminal operations had been arrested in connection with organised shootings this year. Seven police teams were assigned to the case.

Sources

Bang Pa-in, Thailand: Man Arrested Over Infant Found Dead in the Chao Phraya Tells Police the Baby Slipped From His Arms

The Chao Phraya River at Ko Ban Len in Bang Pa-in, with a riverside wall, trees and a white lighthouse
The Chao Phraya River at Ko Ban Len, Bang Pa-in district, the subdistrict where the infant’s body was found. Photo: Chainwit. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Location: Ban Len subdistrict, Bang Pa-in district, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, Thailand

Legal status: Chalermchai, known as “Neng,” 36, was taken into custody by Bang Pa-in police on 28 October. Khaosod reported that police are proceeding against him for night-time trespass in a dwelling, taking a child under 15 from the parents without reasonable cause, and negligence causing death. He hasn’t been tried, and he’s presumed innocent.

Police in Thailand’s Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province have arrested a 36-year-old man over the death of an infant whose body was found floating in the Chao Phraya River last week. The man had been in a relationship with the baby’s mother. Police say he told investigators that he paddled a boat to the family’s flooded riverside home at night, lifted the baby out from under a mosquito net, and lost hold of the child on the way back to the boat.

The disappearance. The baby, known by the nickname “Nong Lukkaew,” was reported missing from the family home late on the night of 22 October, Thairath, Khaosod and Siam News reported. At about 7:00 PM on 23 October the body was found in the Chao Phraya near Tha Rae, Village 10, in Ban Len subdistrict, about a kilometre from the house. Khaosod reported at the time that no signs of assault were found on the body, which was dressed in clothes over a nappy.

The 36-year-old mother told police she had fed the baby to sleep at about 11:00 PM and fallen asleep herself, Khaosod reported in its 23 October story. She said she woke when her own mother called out after hearing the baby cry, found the baby gone and saw that the mosquito net had been torn. She told the paper the house sits beside the river, that floodwater about a metre deep had come inside, and that the family had raised the sleeping area to roughly the height of the windows. Khaosod also reported that before she was interviewed, investigators had her swear an oath to tell the truth before a shrine to Thao Wessuwan in the interview room.

The arrest. On 28 October, investigators at Bang Pa-in police station said they had found inconsistencies in the account given by Neng, who had been seeing the mother. According to Khaosod, they had been checking DNA results and CCTV footage as well as interviewing family members and neighbours. All three outlets reported that he was tested for narcotics and the test was positive. He was then taken for detailed questioning, and police say he confessed.

His account. According to the police account reported by all three outlets, Neng said that shortly before midnight on 22 October he paddled an orange plastic boat from his home beside the Ban Len canal to the mother’s house, about 200 metres away. He said the baby’s grandmother disapproved of the relationship, so he often visited secretly by boat. He told police he had grown fond of the baby and had asked the mother if he could raise the child, but she said no. He said he went that night intending to take the baby home to look after.

He said the mother and grandmother were asleep when he went in and lifted the baby out from under the net. Khaosod reported his account that the baby began crying as he was about to get back into the boat, and the grandmother woke. He said he was startled and slipped, and the baby fell from his hands into the canal. He told reporters he tried to search, but it was dark and the water was deep, so he paddled home. Police seized the boat and paddle from his home for forensic examination. Khaosod reported that forensic officers were collecting DNA and fingerprints from both.

The reenactment. Pol. Col. Phiphop Naputra of Bang Pa-in police and investigators took Neng by boat along the canal to reenact his account, putting him in an orange life jacket, Khaosod reported. Thairath and Siam News said the baby’s mother rushed at him during the reenactment, shouting at him in grief, and officers stepped in to keep order.

Speaking to reporters, Neng denied meaning to kill or hurt the baby. He said he loved the child, that the fall was an accident, and he apologised to the mother and grandmother. Khaosod quoted him as saying he hadn’t run away but had been too afraid to admit what happened until repeated police questioning.

Other evidence. According to Khaosod, Phiphop said Neng had been in and out of the house before, played with the baby and bought toys. He also said Neng denied cutting the net and suggested it may have torn as he lifted the baby out. Phiphop said a crowbar and some toys at the scene belonged to Neng, who had not used them in the incident, and that Neng had gone back another day to remove them because he feared police would trace him.

Sources

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All monsters are human.

The Unholy Trinity: Killers. Cults. Crime.

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