# The Crime Ledger: October 29, 2026

- Link: https://thedarksideofhumanity.com/the-crime-ledger-october-29-2026/
- Published: 2026-10-29T19:00:00-04:00
- Author: Mandi Martyr

Today’s board starts on the Monaco seafront, where a man is charged over the death of Prince Albert’s cousin Antoine de Massy, then runs across the United States from California, Georgia and Texas to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia and Massachusetts, north to Alberta and Ottawa, south to Corrientes province in Argentina and across to Durban, before turning to courtrooms in England, Ireland and France and ending in Haryana, India, then Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Christchurch. This Ledger covers 114 cases from 41 countries with new developments reported since the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, from verdicts, sentences and guilty pleas to trials, charges and arrests. 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 Monaco: Man Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter After Prince Albert’s Cousin Antoine de Massy Is Found Dead Below Boulevard du Larvotto Larvotto beach and the Larvotto seafront in Monaco, the district where the case unfolded. Photo: Benoît Prieur / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 Location: Boulevard du Larvotto and a square near the Villa Sauber, Larvotto district, Monaco Legal status: Charged (inculpé) Oct. 28 with involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger; remanded in pretrial detention. Denies the allegations. Presumed innocent. A 42-year-old Ukrainian man who has lived in Monaco for 30 years was charged on Wednesday, Oct. 28, with involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger in the death of Antoine de Massy, a 29-year-old member of the Grimaldi family whose body was found on Sunday in a square near the Larvotto seafront. An investigating judge placed him in pretrial detention, the principality’s prosecutor general, Stéphane Thibault, said in a statement issued at 1:30 p.m. De Massy was the grandson of Princess Antoinette, the elder sister of Prince Rainier III, which made him a cousin of Prince Albert II. He was the son of Baron Christian de Massy. After his body was found, the Prince’s Palace said Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene were deeply saddened by his death. How the case unfolded. According to the prosecutor general’s office, quoted by TF1 Info and RTL, de Massy’s family raised the alarm around midday on Sunday, Oct. 25, when they had not heard from him. A search followed, and his body was found in a square close to the Larvotto district, near the Villa Sauber. The investigation was first opened to establish the cause of death. Thibault told Agence France-Presse it was then widened so that police could detain the man who appeared on surveillance video with de Massy. The man was taken into custody on the morning of Monday, Oct. 26. At that stage Thibault described him only as a “suspect/witness” to events whose legal classification had yet to be decided, and said the theory of an accident had not been ruled out. Monaco-Matin reported that his police custody was extended by 24 hours on Monday evening. After 48 hours in custody, the case was handed to an investigating judge on Wednesday morning. What the autopsy found. The prosecutor said that, according to the autopsy, the probable cause of death was “a fall from a height of 13 metres” from Boulevard du Larvotto onto open ground behind a building. Riviera Radio reported that investigators believe CCTV footage showed the suspect had come into contact with de Massy shortly before his death. The charges. The man disputed the allegations during his police custody, the prosecutor’s statement said, and when he was brought before the investigating judge he chose not to answer questions. The judge charged him with failure to assist a person in danger and with involuntary manslaughter, “for acts that may have been committed at different moments,” the statement said. The prosecutor’s office did not say what conduct each charge covers, and the statement gave no further detail on what happened before the fall. It stressed that the accused remains presumed innocent. The judicial inquiry is meant to establish “the precise sequence of events that led to the fall of Antoine de Massy,” the prosecutor said, through questioning of the accused and technical and forensic analysis. The man’s name has not been released. The last night. A source cited by AFP said de Massy had been seen leaving a nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, staggering and supported by a man. RTL, citing the German newspaper Bild, reported that he had spent the night at the Sass’ Café and left at about 3 a.m. with the man now charged, and that the two walked toward the Villa Sauber, about 200 metres away. The prosecutor has not commented on those accounts. Who he was. Born in 1997, de Massy trained as a tennis player in Florida from the age of 11 with hopes of representing Monaco, RTL reported, citing Madame Figaro. He later studied in Florida, returned to Monaco and co-founded an app called Instant Tech that connected local businesses with customers. His great-grandfather Antony Noghès founded the Monaco Grand Prix. He held no official role in the princely family but appeared at public occasions such as the national day Mass. Sources Monaco : un homme inculpé pour homicide involontaire après la mort d’Antoine de Massy, petit-cousin du Prince Albert II, France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, 28 Oct 2026 Soirée alcoolisée, chute de 13 mètres, Ukrainien inculpé… Les mystères de la dernière nuit d’Antoine de Massy, retrouvé mort à Monaco, RTL, 28 Oct 2026 Man charged with involuntary manslaughter following death of Prince Albert II’s relative in Monaco, Riviera Radio, 28 Oct 2026 Monaco Judge Takes Over Antoine de Massy Inquiry as Suspect is Detained, Hello Monaco, 29 Oct 2026 Suspect faces manslaughter charge following Antoine de Massy’s death, News.mc, 28 Oct 2026 Monaco : le petit-cousin du prince Albert retrouvé mort dans un square, TF1 Info, 26 Oct 2026 United States and Canada Darien, Georgia: George Humphreys Sentenced to Life Without Parole for Killing Friend Tony Ferguson, Named by the Dying Man as “Big Head” Location: McIntosh County Superior Court, Darien; Georgia Highway 99 near Palmer Court, McIntosh County, Georgia Legal status: George Shawn Humphreys, 34, convicted on Oct. 28 of malice murder, felony murder and firearms charges; sentenced Oct. 29 as a recidivist to life without parole plus 10 consecutive years. A McIntosh County jury took about an hour on Wednesday evening, Oct. 28, to find George Humphreys guilty on all five counts in the December 2024 shooting death of his friend Tony Ferguson at a party on Georgia Highway 99, WTOC reported. On Thursday morning, Oct. 29, a judge in McIntosh County Superior Court sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 10 years to run consecutively. The sentence. The judge said he was sentencing Humphreys as a recidivist because of multiple prior felony convictions. The prosecutor told the court Humphreys had felony convictions from 2011, again in 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2019, and asked for the maximum. “He’s been convicted twice of threatening to kill 2 different people then he in fact did kill Tony Ferguson. We are asking for the maximum sentence allowed. He hasn’t been allowed to have a gun in years and continues to possess firearms,” the prosecutor said. At least 25 members of Ferguson’s family attended, and his oldest daughter spoke. Some of Humphreys’ children, his mother and two other women were also there; his mother spoke before the sentence was imposed. The courtroom rows were full. The charges. Humphreys, 34, known as “Big Head,” was charged with malice murder and felony murder, along with several gun charges tied to a prior felony conviction, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was arrested about a month after the shooting by the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force in Jacksonville, Florida. The jury of eight women and four men, with two alternates, returned a unanimous verdict around 6:30 p.m., after a trial that had been expected to run until Friday. Ferguson. Ferguson’s family attended throughout, many showing emotion as the case began. His family told WTOC he left behind five children and a granddaughter. When he was killed, the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office said: “This tragic loss of life should have been avoided. There is no need for an argument to escalate into someone being shot. Our Sheriff’s Office is pleading with the public to come together and bring justice to the family of Mr. Ferguson. This unnecessary violence should not be accepted by the citizens of McIntosh County.” Openings. Both sides told jurors the two men were friends. “This is a tragic, tragic loss of Tony Ferguson. But what’s most tragic about it is that his own friend did this to him,” the prosecutor said, reminding jurors that many witnesses were the defendant’s own family and friends too. The defense said every version of the testimony would be a little different, with some witnesses describing an altercation and others seeing no argument and hearing no shots. “He was talking, he was answering questions, and he never told a single other person in that crowd, a single deputy, paramedic, who shot him,” the defense attorney said of Ferguson. The dying words. On the second day, two witnesses named Humphreys as the shooter. A friend of both men said he saw the shooting after a brief argument, then saw a white car drive off, heard two more shots and saw Humphreys get into that car. Asked whether he still had issues from what he saw, he said: “I still have issues.” Ferguson’s brother testified that he rushed to Ferguson’s side and asked who had done it. “He said, ‘Big Head shot me, brother. This s‐‐‐ burns. It’s hot. It burns. Lord help me,'” the brother told the court. Mistrial motions. The defense twice asked for a mistrial. The first came after a witness said he had met Humphreys in prison; the judge refused, noting that one of the charges was itself possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The second followed testimony from the lead investigator, who said Humphreys feared a meeting with her was a “set up” and asked to speak to a lawyer instead; the defense argued that his request for counsel should not be put before the jury. The judge denied both motions. Other evidence. Jurors heard 911 calls, watched body camera video and heard from first responding officers. A firearms expert identified a 9 mm pistol as the murder weapon. Prosecutors also showed Facebook messages from the day after the shooting in which Humphreys suggested to his girlfriend that they move to Florida and said he did not know why people were saying he was involved, along with records of several Facebook audio calls that day. Sources Humphreys sentenced to life without parole in McIntosh County murder case, WTOC, 29 Oct 2026 GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS: The jury has rendered its verdict in the McIntosh County murder trial of George Humphreys, WTOC, 28 Oct 2026 2 witnesses name George Humphreys as shooter in McIntosh County murder trial, WTOC, 28 Oct 2026 Jury begins hearing case against George Humphreys in McIntosh County murder trial, WTOC, 27 Oct 2026 Philadelphia: SG1700 Gang Leader Kelvin Jimenez Gets Life Plus 30 Years in Racketeering Case Tied to Killing of SWAT Cpl. James O’Connor IV Location: Frankford neighbourhood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Legal status: Convicted at trial last year of racketeering conspiracy and related crimes; sentenced Oct. 28 to life in federal prison plus a mandatory 30 years. Maintains his innocence. Kelvin Jimenez, 35, a leader of the Frankford drug gang SG1700, whose members fatally shot Philadelphia SWAT Cpl. James O’Connor IV in 2020, was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to life in federal prison, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sánchez added a mandatory additional term of 30 years. Jimenez was not accused of taking part in, or even being present for, O’Connor’s killing. But the U.S. Attorney’s Office said he was a top decision-maker for SG1700, a group prosecutors said “ravaged” Frankford with drugs and violence. Because he sat atop the gang’s hierarchy, prosecutors charged him with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, holding him responsible for offences its members committed, including four murders, 13 shootings and a range of gun and drug crimes. The killing of Cpl. O’Connor. In March 2020, O’Connor and other SWAT officers went to the 1600 block of Bridge Street to arrest Hassan Elliott on a warrant in the 2019 killing of Tyrone Tyree. Before they could get into the apartment, where Jimenez was letting the men stay, Elliott picked up a .22-caliber rifle and fired through a door, fatally striking O’Connor. Elliott and Khalif Sears were arrested at the scene. Elliott pleaded guilty before Sánchez last year and was ordered to serve 75 years. Prosecutors have recommended 35 to 50 years for Sears, who also pleaded guilty and has not been sentenced. Dominique Parker, convicted alongside Jimenez at trial last year as a group leader, also faces a mandatory life sentence. The other victims. Besides O’Connor, the racketeering case charged the men with killing Kaseem Rogers in 2018, Tyrone Tyree in 2019 and Dontae Walker later in 2019. Prosecutors said two of the killings targeted rival gang members and that Tyree’s was a botched robbery. In court. Jimenez told the judge the jury got it wrong and called the prosecutors “evil,” arguing they had improperly tied him to crimes he had nothing to do with and that there was not enough evidence to connect him to violence committed by others. “They find me guilty behind my [social] orbit,” he said. “They find me guilty that I actually get along with these guys.” Sánchez disagreed. He called the shootings and drug dealing Jimenez oversaw “horrendous,” said the gang’s crimes often left bystanders wounded and said evidence showed Jimenez helped lead the group. “It’s a real serious problem when you have a gang and gang members who brazenly just go out and shoot and kill and shoot and hurt other people, just to maintain your drug operation and dominance in the community,” the judge said. Jimenez is the second SG1700 member sentenced in the case. Two other convicted members await sentencing. The political backdrop. Federal prosecutors adopted the O’Connor case amid controversy, the Inquirer reported, after then U.S. Attorney William McSwain faulted District Attorney Larry Krasner for dropping a drug case against Elliott a year before the shooting. Krasner defended his office’s handling. In 2023, McSwain’s successor, Jacqueline C. Romero, announced the expanded racketeering case against Jimenez, Elliott, Sears and Parker. All four have since been convicted. Sources A Frankford gang leader, whose members killed a Philly police officer, was sentenced to life in prison, Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 Oct 2026 Port Hueneme, California: Driver Who Plowed Into Teen Cyclists Gets 27 Years to Life for Killing Pedro Valdez, 16 Location: Pleasant Valley Road and Ventura Road, Port Hueneme, Ventura County, California Legal status: Sentenced Oct. 27 to 27 years to life after pleading guilty Aug. 24 to second-degree murder; earlier convicted by a jury of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of battery. Samuel Matthew Rocha, 33, was sentenced on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to 27 years to life in state prison for driving his Lexus sedan into a group of teenage cyclists in Port Hueneme in April 2021, killing 16-year-old Pedro Valdez and injuring four other teenagers, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said. The sentence is made up of 15 years to life for second-degree murder and an additional 12 years for the assault with a deadly weapon and battery convictions, according to USA Today, citing prosecutors. Judge Dusty Kawai also ordered Rocha to pay restitution, revoked his driver’s license for life and recommended substance abuse counseling or education. Rocha will receive nearly five and a half years of credit for time already served in jail. The night of April 19, 2021. Prosecutors said the violence began at the Queen Wash laundromat in Oxnard, just north of Port Hueneme. Surveillance footage captured Rocha punching a man and then driving his car into an employee who tried to photograph his license plate after the fight, according to the district attorney’s office. The Los Angeles Times reported that he battered a man and a woman in the laundromat before fleeing. About 11 minutes later, prosecutors said, Rocha came upon seven teenage cyclists riding together near the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Ventura Road. They said he deliberately accelerated into the group, striking five of the seven riders. Pedro was killed. Four others were injured, two of them seriously. Rocha drove off but was followed by a witness to his mother’s nearby apartment complex, where a Port Hueneme police officer arrested him. The trial and the plea. Rocha first pleaded not guilty, and his trial in Ventura County Superior Court opened in March. “He knew what he was doing, and he did it anyway,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Craig Gardner told jurors in his opening statement on March 11. Defense attorneys Ashley Correa and Cate Hall argued that Rocha did not see the cyclists, that he had a long, documented history of mental illness including hallucinations and delusions, and that he was unmedicated at the time. They said that even if he had seen the riders he would not have had time to stop. After four days of deliberations in April, jurors convicted Rocha of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of battery and found true a special allegation that he caused great bodily injury. They told the court they were “hopelessly deadlocked” on a first-degree murder count and four counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors planned a retrial, but after the court encouraged a resolution, Rocha pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 to one count of second-degree murder and admitted using his car as a deadly weapon. The attempted murder counts were dismissed. In court. Pedro’s mother, Christina Garcia, wore a T-shirt bearing her son’s image and the words “Justice for Pedro Valdez.” “My love for him will continue to exist for as long as my heart will beat,” she told the judge, describing him as respectful, dedicated and hardworking and saying she had been robbed of his high school graduation and the family he might have had. Several of the riders who survived spoke. Enrique Nieves said he spent three months in critical condition and six more months confined to a bed. Robert Pano, who left the hospital to attend Pedro’s funeral, described lasting anger and anxiety about going outside. Alan Moreno spoke about the Oxnard Fixie Crew, the fixed-gear bicycle club Pedro founded in 2019, which is still active. “He was making something big, and he was going to be something big,” Moreno said. “A tragic loss of life occurred because of Mr. Rocha’s actions,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Richard Simon said after the hearing. “Pedro Valdez is missed by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.” Sources California man gets 27 years to life after crash killed teen bicyclist, USA Today, 29 Oct 2026 SoCal man sentenced after violent drive ends in deadly crash into teens on bikes, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct 2026 Upper Burrell, Pennsylvania: Life Without Parole for Daniel Moles in Bar Killing of Randy Jenereaux in Front of His Twin Location: Woodpeckers Grub and Pub, Upper Burrell Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Legal status: Sentenced Oct. 28 to mandatory life without parole plus 20 to 40 years; convicted in August of first-degree murder and attempted homicide. Daniel J. Moles, 66, of Lower Burrell, was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to a mandatory term of life in prison without parole for the murder of Randy Jenereaux, 31, who was shot at a Westmoreland County bar in November 2021 as he sat with his twin brother. Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani also ordered Moles to serve an additional 20 to 40 years for the attempted murder of the twin, Andy Jenereaux, the Tribune-Review reported. A jury convicted Moles of first-degree murder and attempted homicide in August after a three-day trial. The shooting. The brothers were at Woodpeckers Grub and Pub in Upper Burrell on Nov. 13, 2021, eating nachos and watching a hockey game while they waited for their father, a cook at the tavern, to finish his shift, according to evidence presented at trial. Prosecutors said Moles drew a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from his holster, slowly raised it and fired two rounds at the brothers across the bar. Witnesses said the first shot struck a glass beer bottle in Randy Jenereaux’s hand. The round shattered the bottle, passed through his hand and wrist and lodged in his chest. The brothers ran from the bar, and Randy died as Andy drove him toward a hospital, trying to save his life. The second round struck a door behind Andy as he took cover. He was not hurt. Prosecutors said Moles was drunk, with an estimated blood alcohol level of up to 0.28 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Pennsylvania. Investigators said Moles and the Jenereaux brothers did not know each other and had no interaction in the bar, and witnesses testified there was no clear reason for the shots. What Moles said. Moles testified at trial that he did not recall the shooting, and he repeated that at sentencing as he turned to the Jenereaux family. “I am very sorry for what I did. I don’t know exactly what happened. I couldn’t tell you what was going on in my mind. I have no idea. I did something I would not normally have done. I don’t know why I did it,” he said. The twin’s statement. Andy Jenereaux turned 36 on the day of the hearing. He asked that Moles never be released. “You might think I hate you. I promise you I don’t,” he said. “I will never know if you have some remorse for what you did. He was a good guy, a really good guy who did not deserve what you did to him.” “Losing Randy has been like losing half of myself,” he told the court. “We were each others’ lives. We used to say to each other if we were to lose somebody, the only person we could not lose was each other. My life was destroyed that day.” The prosecutor. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said in a statement that while Moles had said he was sorry the shooting happened, “he has never taken accountability for it occurring.” She said she was heartbroken that Andy lost his twin and that a mother and father lost their son “to a senseless, unprovoked act of violence.” “Five years later, it’s a painful reminder that Randy is not here celebrating his 36th birthday, but I hope it is closure for his family that Mr. Moles will be incarcerated for the rest of his life,” Ziccarelli said. In Pennsylvania, a first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole, which is why Feliciani had no discretion on the murder count. The attempted homicide term runs on top of it. Sources ‘My life was destroyed that day,’ twin brother tells man convicted in Upper Burrell bar shooting, TribLive, 28 Oct 2026 Man sentenced to life in prison for shooting, killing man in front of his twin brother at local bar, WPXI, 28 Oct 2026 Trappe, Pennsylvania: Son Who Staged Father’s Shooting as Suicide Gets 17½ to 35 Years for Murder of Kevin Wilson Location: Dewes Place, Trappe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Legal status: Pleaded guilty Oct. 26 to third-degree murder; sentenced to 17½ to 35 years in state prison. Justin Wilson, 24, of Trappe, was sentenced to 17½ to 35 years in state prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the shooting death of his father, Kevin Wilson, 61, whom he first told police had killed himself, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. He entered the plea before Montgomery County Court Judge William Carpenter on Monday, Oct. 26. The 911 call. Pennsylvania State Police troopers responding to Wilson’s 911 call on Feb. 1 found Kevin Wilson shot once in the head in his second-floor bedroom at the family’s home on Dewes Place, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The first floor showed signs of a struggle, with broken furniture and other damage. Wilson told investigators that he and his father argued after watching a UFC mixed martial arts match together and that he goaded his father to kill himself, calling him “a bum” and a “loser,” the affidavit said. He denied that the argument turned physical despite the damage. He said that later, while he was playing the video game Fortnite, he heard a gunshot and found his father dead. The story unravels. A Taurus handgun that Justin Wilson had bought weeks earlier was found in his father’s left hand, but investigators noted the fingers were only loosely gripping it. A forensic pathologist concluded that the wound could not have been self-inflicted, based on its angle and other factors. Relatives told troopers that Wilson had been acting strangely. According to the affidavit, they described him as a pathological liar obsessed with money who began asking about inheriting his father’s investment accounts and the house almost immediately after the shooting. Kevin Wilson’s siblings said he had often called them in a panic, unsure how to handle his son’s violent behaviour. They said the son kicked open doors, punched holes in walls and repeatedly berated his father, calling him a “fat slob” and complaining that he was not as wealthy as his siblings. A cousin told officers that at the funeral Wilson made bizarre statements, telling her that his father had tried to shoot himself with his own gun, that it jammed, and that his father then used the Taurus found in his hand. The funeral. Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman said the family was hurt twice over, first by the killing and then by the lie. “The victim’s niece described how this defendant planned the funeral down to the paying the extra money to have the enhanced sound system, picking out the songs and what pieces from the Bible would be read, and then he gave a speech at the celebration of life ceremony,” Cauffman said. “All of this stuff, all the while telling all the friends and family of his father that his father killed himself.” The defence. Wilson’s attorney, Danton Moyer, said his client wanted to express his “deep and profound remorse for his actions, including lying about the murder and not immediately taking responsibility for his actions.” “Justin loved his father, and he wishes more than anything that he could take back what he’s done and bring back his father,” Moyer said. “He wishes the rest of Kevin’s family and his loved ones peace and healing as they and he continue to grieve.” Third-degree murder in Pennsylvania covers a killing with malice but without the specific intent to kill required for first-degree murder. The plea resolved the case without a trial, eight months after the shooting. Sources A Montgomery County man was sentenced to state prison for murder after admitting he killed his father, Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 Oct 2026 Atlanta: Woman Charged With Murder of Colby Cooks, 4, Found Dead in Southwest Atlanta Townhome Location: Aviary Park townhome community, Cardinal Drive, southwest Atlanta, Georgia Legal status: Jasmaine Smoak charged with murder, aggravated assault, first-degree cruelty to children, second-degree cruelty to children and concealing the death of another. In custody in Wilkes County awaiting extradition to Atlanta. Presumed innocent. Jasmaine Smoak, 32, has been charged with murder in the death of 4-year-old Colby Cooks, who was found dead inside a townhome in southwest Atlanta this week, Atlanta police said on Wednesday, Oct. 28, after the Fulton County Medical Examiner ruled that the boy died of blunt force injuries and classified his death as a homicide. The welfare check. Police and firefighters went to the Aviary Park townhome community on Cardinal Drive, near Barge Road and Campbellton Road, at about 7:20 p.m. for a welfare check, according to Atlanta police. Officers entered the townhome based on information from the check and found Colby dead inside. FOX 5 Atlanta reported that the call came on Sunday night, Oct. 25; Atlanta News First reported it as Monday night. Police have not said what prompted the welfare check or where in the home the boy was found. The flight east. Police said Smoak left the home with three children in her vehicle before officers arrived. One of the children had visible injuries and was taken to a hospital near Wilkes County. Detectives used license plate reader technology and Flock cameras to track her vehicle to Washington, Georgia, more than 100 miles east of Atlanta, where Wilkes County sheriff’s deputies arrested her in a joint effort with Atlanta homicide detectives. Police have not disclosed the nature of the surviving child’s injuries or the condition of the other two children. The charges. Smoak was first charged with second-degree cruelty to children and concealing the death of another. After the autopsy results, Atlanta police added charges of murder, aggravated assault and first-degree cruelty to children, Atlanta News First reported. She remains in the Wilkes County Jail awaiting extradition to Atlanta. Police said Smoak is a friend of Colby’s mother and is not related to the boy. Authorities have not said where the mother was when Smoak left the home. Jail records show Smoak was previously arrested in Fulton County for theft by shoplifting, FOX 5 reported. Neighbours. Residents of the gated community said they often saw several children at the townhome. Amber Burks, who lives two doors down, told FOX 5 she remembered two young children playing with her dog on Sunday and feared one of them may have been Colby. “I don’t know for sure that one of those was the child in the home, but my heart just keeps thinking about it,” she said. “I am sick to my stomach… thinking that I could have met that child, talked to him and now he is gone.” “It’s heartbreaking because it’s a child,” Burks said. “You never know what is happening in somebody’s home. Clearly she was someone who took care of the child and for this to have happened… it’s unthinkable.” What is still unknown. Police have not released details of how Colby was injured, how long he had been dead when officers arrived, or what role, if any, other adults played in his care. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s finding of blunt force injuries is the only official account of how he died. No defence attorney for Smoak has been named in news coverage. The charges are allegations, and she is presumed innocent. Sources Suspect charged with murder in death of 4-year-old at Atlanta townhome, Atlanta News First, 28 Oct 2026 Mom’s friend arrested after 4-year-old found dead in SW Atlanta, FOX 5 Atlanta, 26 Oct 2026 Springfield Township, Ohio: Caedan Hotchkiss, 18, Charged With Murder of Rodney Gray, 66, Then Chase in the Victim’s Mercedes Location: Hamilton County Municipal Court, Cincinnati; 700 block of South Meadow Circle, Springfield Township, Ohio Legal status: Caedan Hotchkiss, 18, charged with murder, felonious assault, theft and failure to comply with a police signal; bond set at more than $1,275,000 at his first appearance on Oct. 29, 2026; grand jury date Nov. 6. Presumed innocent. An 18-year-old has been charged with murder after a 66-year-old man was found dead at his Springfield Township home late Tuesday, Oct. 27, FOX19 NOW reported. Police say the killing was not random. First appearance. Hotchkiss made his first court appearance on Thursday, Oct. 29, and a judge set his bond at more than $1,275,000 on all the charges, with a grand jury date of Nov. 6, WLWT reported. Court documents allege he used a fire poker and a kitchen knife to kill Gray before taking his 2023 Mercedes. Prosecutors said there was no sign of forced entry and that his phone was found plugged into a charger in the room where Gray was found, calling the case possibly “a rendezvous gone awry” rather than a random attack. His lawyer told the court he had been in foster care since he was eight and was “shocked” to learn of the murder charge, believing he had been arrested over the car. The killing. Caedan Hotchkiss is accused of killing Rodney Gray at a home in the 700 block of South Meadow Circle, Captain Nick Peterson said. Officers found Gray’s body when they responded to an intrusion alarm at the house around 10 p.m. Police Chief Christopher Niehaus said in a statement on Wednesday night that it was “not a random criminal act where there is an ongoing threat” to the community. Police did not initially describe how Gray died or what connection, if any, the two had. A neighbour told FOX19 NOW that “people would come and go from the house, and sometimes all different ages,” adding: “But for some reason, sometimes I would see some maybe slightly younger men coming and going.” The chase. Investigators allege in court records that Hotchkiss stole Gray’s silver Mercedes and led police on a chase before he was caught. He was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center at 6:43 a.m. on Wednesday on charges of murder, felonious assault, theft and failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer. He was initially held without bond. His record. It is his first time in the adult county jail, but he has been in state custody for years, court records show. His record began at 13, according to records released to FOX19 NOW. His listed home address is Lighthouse Youth and Family Services on Reading Road in North Avondale, a nonprofit for at-risk youth that is not a detention centre. Hamilton County Juvenile Court often refers youth there for treatment and case management. In 2021, while at Lighthouse, he was charged with criminal damaging, amended to disorderly conduct. More serious charges followed, including two counts of aggravated arson and one of burglary. In September 2024, Juvenile Court Magistrate Kendra Cameron committed him to the permanent custody of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, then suspended the commitment and placed him on probation until age 21, pending his release to a residential mental health facility for male teens in Hernando County, Florida. Judge Stacey DeGraffenreid approved the order. A county Job and Family Services worker and a court-appointed special advocate appeared with him. Cincinnati police reported him as a runaway in 2025: he left the North Fairmount area by Uber on Aug. 9 and refused to return. On Aug. 21, 2025, at 17, he was charged in connection with a stolen vehicle, a charge of receiving stolen property later amended to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Magistrate Alexxandra Jones ordered him to stay away from the victim and the Lake of the Woods Apartments in Mt. Healthy. Records at that time said he had been placed at the Children’s Center of Ohio and was “reportedly doing well.” The records show he was given repeated chances by the juvenile court and at times was reported to be responding well, FOX19 NOW reported. Sources Springfield Township murder not random, police chief says, FOX19 NOW, 28 Oct 2026 Prosecutors allege teen used fire poker, knife in Springfield Township killing, WLWT, 29 Oct 2026 Dallas: Neurosurgeon Caught in Crossfire Describes MO3 Ambush on I-35 as Yella Beezy Murder-for-Hire Trial Continues Location: Dallas County courthouse; Interstate 35 near Ledbetter Drive, Dallas, Texas Legal status: Markies Conway, known as Yella Beezy, on trial for capital murder in the killing of Melvin Noble, known as MO3; pleaded not guilty. Presumed innocent. A Dallas neurosurgeon who was wounded by flying glass during the 2020 highway ambush that killed rapper Melvin Noble, known as MO3, told jurors on Wednesday, Oct. 28, how a masked gunman with a rifle fired past his car and locked eyes with him, as the capital murder trial of rapper Markies Conway, known as Yella Beezy, entered its second day, FOX 4 reported. The case. Prosecutors allege Conway paid Kewon White to kill Noble over a long-running feud. Noble was shot 11 times on Interstate 35 on Nov. 11, 2020. White was convicted of capital murder in September and sentenced to life. A third defendant, Devin Brown, is also charged with capital murder. Conway denies involvement. Judge Chika Anyiam is presiding; the trial is expected to last about two weeks. The doctor. Dr. Randall Graham testified that he was commuting on I-35 when construction traffic stalled. He saw an unarmed man sprint past his car, followed immediately by shattering glass. A bullet pierced his windshield and embedded shrapnel in his neck. A masked gunman with a rifle stopped at his passenger-side headlight, fired several rounds past him and looked straight at him before fleeing, Graham said. He called 911, pulled over and, after bystanders pointed to the victim on the highway, performed CPR for about 25 minutes until paramedics arrived. The scene and the car. Courtney Lozano, a forensic manager with the Dallas Police crime scene division, described evidence scattered across both directions of the highway, including fired cartridge cases, bullet fragments and possible blood, and a bullet fragment found near children’s car seats in Graham’s Audi. Crime scene supervisor Justin O’Donnell said police found $17,960 in cash and high-end jewellery in Noble’s gold Honda Accord, but no gun in the first search. He also photographed White after his arrest on Dec. 9, 2020, documenting an assault rifle tattoo and a “GRC” necklace charm. Surveillance video showed Noble’s Honda on Ledbetter Drive near I-35 followed about 40 seconds later by a black Chevrolet Camaro. Vanessa Armenta, who lived above Noble’s girlfriend, Jocylynn Jackson, at the Arroyo Apartments, described giving investigators her home video, which showed an unfamiliar black Camaro parked across the street that later drove off. Search warrants. Det. Seth Rosenberg described searches of a home on Ramona Avenue, where two semiautomatic rifles and drum magazines were recovered; the defense objected that they were prejudicial, and the State said a ballistics expert would tie them to the shooting. Officer Scott Bazan described a search on Britton Avenue that turned up firearms, a hidden DVR and phones belonging to White and Brown. The defense showed photos of two children holding stacks of cash and wearing “GRC” chains; prosecutors noted no cash or chains were recovered there. ATF Special Agent Derek Wright said his explosives dog, Chewbacca, found a Glock hidden near the front passenger seat of Noble’s car in the impound lot on Oct. 18, 2023. Day one. Prosecutor Tommy Adams described a planned murder for hire supported by surveillance, travel logs and texts. Defense lawyer Toby Shook said investigators had tunnel vision, arguing that crisp large bills Conway withdrew did not match the small bills found on White, and pointed to Brown. Noble’s mother, Nicole Noble, testified, as did Jackson, who said Brown, her ex-partner, repeatedly called their young son to confirm Noble was at her apartment. FOX 4 also spelled Brown’s first name “Devon” in one passage. Day three. On Thursday, Oct. 29, a Texas Department of Public Safety firearms examiner, Phillip Duong, testified that none of the firearms seized in the investigation matched the 44 spent cartridge cases collected at the scene, all of which he said were fired from a single gun that has not been identified, FOX 4 reported. On cross-examination the defense stressed that none of the guns displayed in the courtroom were linked to the killing. FBI digital forensics examiners described extracting data from seized phones and DVRs, including one phone that took about six months of “brute-force” cracking, and prosecutors showed surveillance stills from the Ramona Avenue house of White before and after the shooting. In the afternoon, prosecutors called Theodore Thomas, known as Jose Bodega, and confronted him with more than 140 pages of his February 2025 grand jury testimony; he answered virtually every material question by invoking the Fifth Amendment. The judge dismissed him subject to recall and told him to return with his lawyer at 9 a.m. Friday. Sources Yella Beezy murder trial testimony on Day 2 focuses on crime scene evidence, surveillance photos, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, 28 Oct 2026 Yella Beezy murder trial continues on Day 3 with testimony from informant Jose Bodega, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, 29 Oct 2026 Canton, Massachusetts: Prosecution Rests in Matthew Farwell Trial After Expert Says Sandra Birchmore’s Phone Stopped Moving at 9:40 p.m. Location: U.S. District Court, Boston; Birchmore’s apartment in Canton, Massachusetts Legal status: Former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell on trial in federal court for killing a victim or witness; pleaded not guilty. Presumed innocent. Federal prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the trial of Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective accused of killing Sandra Birchmore, 23, and staging her death in her apartment to look like a suicide, after a digital forensics expert told jurors that Birchmore’s phone recorded no steps after 9:40 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2021, the Boston Globe reported. The defense then began its case. The phone. Jessica Hyde, the government’s last witness of more than three dozen over nearly three weeks, testified that the phone was last locked at 9:13 p.m. and stayed locked until its battery died just before midnight on Feb. 3, Boston.com reported. Surveillance video shows Farwell arriving at Birchmore’s apartment at 9:14 p.m. and leaving at 9:43 p.m. The camera app was opened without unlocking at 9:18 p.m., indicating a user interacted with the device, Hyde said. The phone recorded eight steps and 6 metres of movement at 9:40 p.m., and a final button press at the same minute. “There are no steps detected after 9:40 p.m.,” she testified. A battery graph showed steady use through 9 p.m. and a gradual decline afterward. Hyde also described Facebook cached images from 7:45 to 7:55 a.m. that morning, including a purple ribbon, followed by searches for “purple ribbon meaning” and “what color is the suicide ribbon,” with the words “the suicide ribbon” completed by autocomplete. She could not extract step or heart rate data from an Apple Watch that appeared to be the one found on Birchmore’s body. The charge. Farwell faces life in prison if convicted. To bring a federal case, prosecutors charged him with killing a victim or witness, which requires proof that he killed Birchmore to cover up other crimes. They have named three: deprivation of rights under color of law, in the form of statutory rape; sexual exploitation, from allegedly grooming her when she was underage; and wire fraud, from having sex with her while on paid police hours, the Globe reported. Farwell is not charged with those offences. Prosecutors allege he met Birchmore through a police training program around 2012, when she was 13, and that they first had sex in April 2013, when she was 15. The defense says Birchmore had a history of mental health issues and hanged herself after he broke up with her, as she feared for her pregnancy. Postmortem testing ruled out Farwell as the father of the fetus; whether he knew that at the time is disputed. A strap with his DNA on it was found around her neck, according to testimony. The state medical examiner first ruled the death a suicide in May 2021 and amended it to undetermined this year; Dr. William Smock testified for the prosecution that she was killed in a “homicidal act.” Farwell’s twin brother, William “Billy” Farwell, also a police officer, testified about his own sexual relationship with Birchmore. The defense opens. The first defense witness, Joseph Harris of Massasoit Community College, where Birchmore was a peer tutor, said he filed a report in late November 2017 after she asked for more guaranteed hours, was refused, left, and returned to say she had tried to kill herself the previous weekend. “I’m very, very hopeful,” Birchmore’s cousin Barb Wright said outside court. The defense planned to call William Kilroy, chief medical examiner Dr. Mindy Hull and technician Caitlyn Bulger on Thursday. Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper is aiming for closings next Thursday or Friday. Sources Sandra Birchmore’s last known movements with phone described in Matthew Farwell trial, The Boston Globe, 28 Oct 2026 Prosecution rests in trial of Sandra Birchmore’s alleged killer, Matthew Farwell, Boston.com, 28 Oct 2026 Joliet, Illinois: Defense in Jon Hansen Murder Trial Shows Jury Videos of Romeo Nance Inside Home Where Seven Relatives Were Killed Location: Will County Courthouse, Joliet; West Acres Road, Joliet, Illinois Legal status: Jon Hansen, 26, of Shorewood, on trial on charges of first-degree murder of Toyosi Bakare and attempted murder of Mario Guerrero. Presumed innocent. Lawyers for Jon Hansen, a 26-year-old Shorewood man on trial over two shootings in the Joliet area in January 2024, showed a Will County jury on Wednesday, Oct. 28, three short videos of Romeo Nance inside a home on West Acres Road where seven members of Nance’s family were killed hours earlier, Shaw Local reported. The defense argues that Nance, not Hansen, was responsible for the shootings in the case. The charges. Hansen is charged with the first-degree murder of Toyosi Bakare, 28, and the attempted murder of Mario Guerrero, 42, who were shot on Jan. 21, 2024. Prosecutors say Hansen was with Nance, 23, at the time. About four hours earlier, according to Joliet police, Nance had shot and killed seven members of his family in two homes on West Acres Road. Nance died by suicide on Jan. 22, 2024, after a violent confrontation with members of a U.S. Marshals task force in Texas, according to trial testimony. Joliet police have said no other suspects have been identified in the West Acres Road killings. The videos. One video, from a camera inside one of the homes, shows Nance holding a rifle and rushing up the stairs while his 3-year-old son repeatedly yells, “Daddy why?” Nance walks past the boy and looks out of a window. Police later found the child safe with his mother, Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton, 24, who now faces a charge of obstructing justice in the investigation. A doorbell camera video shows Nance approaching the residence with a firearm. A third shows two people inside looking out a window as Nance walks up the stairway toward them holding a rifle. He is heard telling them, “I love y’all but…” and “Mom’s dead.” The video ends before anything further is seen. The defense also showed crime scene photographs from West Acres Road and photographs of the victims, among them Nance’s mother, Tameaka Nance, 47. Two theories. Hansen’s lawyers contend that Nance alone shot Bakare and Guerrero, as part of the homicidal behaviour shown at West Acres Road, and that Hansen was a “survivor” of Nance rather than an accomplice. On Tuesday, in an unsuccessful motion for a directed finding, defense lawyer Jeff Tomczak said Nance was upset about losing his son to the boy’s mother and planned to kill her and his family. Prosecutors say the Bakare and Guerrero shootings had nothing to do with the family killings. They allege the two men were shot because they were mistaken for members of the Vice Lords gang, that Hansen is an affiliate of the rival Milwaukee Kings, and that he recruited Nance to go into Vice Lords territory in the Joliet area to shoot members. Over the past week, prosecutors showed jurors messages from Hansen’s phone to Nance and others urging them to “spin the lords” or “spank the lords,” phrases a state gang expert said refer to drive-by shootings and violence. Prosecutors also presented evidence that messages were removed from Hansen’s phone, that his number changed, and that he asked others to unsend messages. The interrogation. On Monday, jurors watched video of Hansen’s police interview, in which he said Nance had “snapped” and randomly shot Bakare and Guerrero. Detectives told him they did not believe he was being honest, especially after he repeatedly declined to say who received the gloves and clothes he wore on the day of the shootings. Sources Jury in Shorewood man’s murder trial shown videos of Joliet man in home where 7 family members were killed, Shaw Local, 28 Oct 2026 Manassas Park, Virginia: Jury in Naresh Bhatt Trial Hears Phone Searches on Missing Spouses and Divorce as Prosecution Nears Rest Location: Prince William County Circuit Court, Virginia; the Bhatt home in Manassas Park Legal status: Naresh Bhatt on trial, accused of murdering his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who disappeared in 2024 and whose body has never been found. Presumed innocent. Jurors in the murder trial of Naresh Bhatt heard on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from a digital forensics examiner who read out Google searches extracted from his phone about the disappearance or death of a spouse, divorce, a “meat cutter” and an “electric handsaw,” 7News reported. Bhatt is accused of murdering his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who disappeared in 2024. Her body has never been found. Judge Kimberly Irving told jurors the prosecution plans to rest on Monday, Nov. 2. Day 13 began with lengthy legal arguments, outside the jury’s presence, over text messages prosecutors wanted to introduce. Prosecutors argued that evidence from Bhatt’s devices would help establish motive and show his actions before and after his wife vanished. The searches. Katherine Zaimis, a master investigator and digital forensic examiner with the Prince William County Police Department, said she used GrayKey to perform a full extraction of the phone. Three searches drew her attention, one dated March 21, 2024: “what happened if spouse disappears,” “what happened if spouse disappears in divorce in Virginia,” and “need divorce, spouse died in Virginia.” On July 30, 2024, she said, a search for “human brain diagram” was indexed at 12:13 a.m. and one for “chicken farm near me” at 8:13 a.m. Other searches included “meat cutter,” “knife sharpener at Dollar Tree,” “Can I divorce if wife lost?”, “Can I change my mind after selling my car at CarMax?” and “Electric handsaw for wood cutting.” Asked by Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Sweet about donations, Zaimis cited “Can I donate my baby to my friend,” plus searches about a baby’s passport. She testified to searches on July 30, 2024, for “melatonin is safe with milk” at 7:16 p.m. and “melatonin is safe for kids” at 7:17 p.m.; “missing person finding rate in Virginia” on Aug. 5, 2024; and “does VA disability stop if you go to jail” on Aug. 15, 2024. WhatsApp messages from Feb. 20 to March 5, 2024, showed Bhatt discussing finding a new woman he intended to marry, saying he and his wife were working on a divorce. On cross-examination, the defense established that there were thousands of searches, that Zaimis selected those she considered relevant, and that not every search had a time stamp. Forensics, video and a Tesla. Forensic scientist Lori Prugh returned to the stand and said blood was indicated on the master bathroom shower drain but there was not enough information to determine the DNA. Cassandra Bulzomi, a video and image specialist, walked jurors through surveillance footage of Bhatt at home and at several trash compactors, including enhanced views of him wearing gloves while dumping small trash bags. A Tesla expert, Eric Christopher Nadybal, testified about the car’s keyless entry and said it does not record interior audio. The citizenship appointment. Kevin Lacey, a section chief with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said records showed Kafle Bhatt at the Washington Field Office on July 5, 2024, with her initial interview set for Aug. 5, 2024. Immigration officer Marco Ranslem said she did not appear or contact the agency, and her case was closed. “She never became a United States citizen,” Lacey said. Messages and a 2024 call. Zaimis read messages translated from Nepali in which Kafle Bhatt called her husband “cruel” and Bhatt wrote, “Please do not provoke me for suicide,” which she read as a threat. The defense noted translation issues. Manassas Park Officer Elmer Rodriguez described a domestic call to the home on Feb. 14, 2024; no one was arrested. Lt. Joshua Truslow said police searched the home under a warrant on Aug. 21, 2024. Sources Prosecution plans to rest case in Naresh Bhatt murder trial Monday, 7News WJLA, 28 Oct 2026 St. Clairsville, Ohio: Ex-Wife and Family Friend Testify Andrew Griffin Said He “Killed Two People” in Strussion Double-Murder Trial Location: Belmont County Common Pleas Court, St. Clairsville; Trails End Drive near Belmont, Ohio Legal status: Andrew Isaac Griffin on trial, charged with killing Thomas and Angela Strussion and setting fire to their home in September 2021. Presumed innocent. Two witnesses told a Belmont County jury on Wednesday, Oct. 28, that Andrew Isaac Griffin admitted to them that he had killed two people, on the third day of his trial in the deaths of his restaurant business partner Thomas Strussion and Strussion’s wife, Angela, The Herald-Star reported. A coroner testified that the couple were shot before their home was set on fire. The case. Griffin is charged with killing the Strussions and setting fire to their home on Trails End Drive near Belmont in September 2021. He had been involved with Thomas Strussion in the Salsa Joe’s restaurants. The ex-wife. Stacey Griffin, his former wife, testified that he once threatened to make her his third victim as their marriage was failing, and told her he would know who to blame if word got out that he had murdered the Strussions. “I could disappear whether or not he was in jail,” she recalled him saying. The couple separated in April 2023, when she filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2025. She said the two had stayed at the Strussions’ Trails End Drive home in spring 2021, coming up from Oklahoma while Griffin and Thomas Strussion discussed his role in Salsa Joe’s. Defense lawyer Samuel H. Shamansky pressed her on whether she knew Griffin had been unfaithful, noting earlier testimony that Thomas Strussion’s sister, Lisa Balog, had a relationship with Griffin in May and June 2021. “At no time during your marriage did you have any suspicion whatsoever that your husband was being unfaithful?” he asked. She said she had not. “From daylight to dark.” Assistant Prosecutor Joe Vavra played a recorded deposition from Arthur Cole, described as a surrogate grandfather to Griffin. Cole said that while they were driving, Griffin, whom he described as “about half or two-thirds drunk,” took a phone call and said: “Well, I had to go get my money, and I killed two people.” “Now he didn’t say who, what, where, or when,” Cole said. He believed the caller was his grandson, Brett Cole, Griffin’s former best friend, who is expected to testify. Cole said Griffin had changed “from daylight to dark” after returning from the Ohio Valley in 2021, and that a few days after the call Griffin shook his hand and said, “Papa, you’ll probably not see me no more.” Not the fire. Belmont County Coroner Amanda Fisher said she noticed at the scene an unusual amount of blood for a fire death and well preserved bodies, and found wounds consistent with bullet holes. Licking County Deputy Coroner Charles Jeffrey Lee, who performed both autopsies, said each victim had three gunshot wounds to the head and that neither had inhaled smoke, meaning they were dead before the fire. Fisher put the time of death between 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 and 7 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2021. Day two. On Tuesday, Balog testified that Griffin had shadowed operations at the Belmont Salsa Joe’s before working at the Elm Grove location, opened in March 2021, and was paid about $1,000 a week as a partner, WTOV reported. She said she spoke with her brother and with Angela by phone on Sept. 20, 2021, the last time she spoke to either, and learned the next day by text that their house was on fire. When she told Griffin of the deaths, she said, he sounded shocked. She testified he had talked about Thomas carrying large amounts of cash and had voiced fears of mob activity he linked to the death of Thomas’s brother, Chris. Under cross-examination, the defense asked about Thomas’s cash, gambling and associations. Ohio BCI agent Matt Austin described collecting DNA standards. Day four. On Thursday jurors heard from a representative of an electronic tolling company, who produced photos of a motorcycle crossing the Lewis and Clark Bridge in Prospect, Kentucky, on Sept. 19, 2021, two days before the fire, WTOV 9 reported; on Wednesday a witness had described selling a motorcycle to Brett Cole, described as a friend of Griffin’s, about a week before the killings. FBI Special Agent Bryan Lacy, accepted as an expert in cell site analysis, testified that a phone bought in Illinois on Sept. 19, whose owner is unknown, travelled to Belmont between the night of Sept. 19 and the morning of Sept. 20, left after 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 and went to Arkansas, where one call was made before it was switched off for good. He said Griffin’s own phone was pinging towers around Hugo, Oklahoma, in the same period with little outgoing activity. Under cross-examination by defense lawyer Sam Shamansky, Lacy confirmed that a phone belonging to another person with a criminal record also pinged towers near the Strussions’ home on the night of Sept. 20. Sources Witnesses say Griffin admitted to killing two people, The Herald-Star, 29 Oct 2026 Testimony delves into Strussion restaurant ties and final calls in double murder trial, WTOV 9, 27 Oct 2026 Six witnesses testify in Day 2 of Griffin trial, WTOV 9, 27 Oct 2026 Witnesses testify about toll photos, cell data in Griffin murder trial, WTOV 9, 29 Oct 2026 Albany, New York: Jury Convicts Raa’jiem Coleman of Murder in 2021 Party Shooting That Killed Pregnant Bystander Shanita Thomas Location: Albany County Court, Albany, New York Legal status: Raa’jiem Coleman convicted Oct. 27 of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon; Marcell Perry convicted of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Both to be sentenced Jan. 15, 2027. An Albany County jury on Tuesday, Oct. 27, convicted Raa’jiem Coleman of the second-degree murder of Shanita Thomas, a 35-year-old Albany mother who was pregnant with her third child when she was shot at a party in January 2021. The jury also convicted Coleman of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. His co-defendant, Marcell Perry, was convicted of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The verdicts were confirmed on Wednesday by Peter Willis, a Schenectady County assistant district attorney who served as special prosecutor, the Times Union reported. Thomas was described by the Times Union as a mother, an aspiring nurse and a promoter of her friends’ businesses. On Jan. 30, 2021, she was at a gathering celebrating the grand opening of a friend’s boutique when gunfire broke out. The outlets differ on the address: the Times Union placed the party on Central Avenue, while WRGB and WNYT, citing prosecutors, gave it as 211 State St. WRGB described the event as the opening of a hair salon and boutique. “She was there helping her friends throw the party,” Willis told the Times Union. “She was a completely innocent bystander.” Prosecutors laid out a gang feud. According to WRGB and WNYT, Coleman arrived uninvited to confront members of a rival gang with whom he had been feuding on social media. The Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office said Coleman drew a gun minutes after arriving and began shooting at Perry, WNYT reported. Perry and another man, Terrence Anthony, returned fire, and a fourth man, Vramir Branch, fired several shots, WRGB reported. At least 29 shots were fired in a gunfight that witnesses said lasted up to a minute. Willis told the Times Union that the shot that killed Thomas was fired by Coleman and was meant for someone else. Another woman was struck in the chest and elbow. Coleman and Perry were both wounded in the exchange and were tracked to Albany Medical Center, WNYT reported. The Times Union said five people were shot in all. The case took nearly six years to reach a jury. Coleman and Perry were indicted on murder charges in October 2022 alongside Anthony, and Branch was charged with Thomas’s murder a year earlier, the Times Union reported. On Oct. 14, the first day of trial, Anthony and Branch each pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Branch’s attorney, William Theodore Martin, said his client agreed to serve 10 years, and Anthony’s attorney, Daniel Smalls, said Anthony will serve 12 years concurrent with a 20-years-to-life sentence for a separate attempted robbery conviction that he is challenging. “My client is glad to close this chapter,” Smalls said. “And hopefully the family of this victim can get some type of closure.” Both are due to be sentenced Dec. 18. The prosecution itself spun off a second criminal case. Attorney Jasper L. Mills III, who formerly represented Branch, was indicted on multiple felony charges for allegedly disclosing the name of a confidential witness, the Times Union reported. Mills, who is presumed innocent, no longer represents Branch. The case moved to a special prosecutor because Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon had previously represented Anthony as a defense lawyer. Coleman faces up to 65 years to life in prison and Perry up to 15 years, WRGB and WNYT reported. “She deserved none of this and neither did the baby she was carrying who never saw life,” Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said. A friend of Thomas wrote on Facebook that “no verdict, no sentence, and no amount of justice” could bring her back. Sources 2 convicted in fatal shooting of Shanita Thomas at Albany party, Times Union, 28 Oct 2026 Two convicted in deadly 2021 Albany shooting after two others pleaded guilty, WRGB CBS6, 28 Oct 2026 Two men convicted in the death of Albany resident Shanita Thomas, WNYT, 28 Oct 2026 Anderson County, South Carolina: Man Who Choked Phillip Hughey With a Ratchet Strap Until He “Heard a Pop” Gets 33 Years Location: Cox Lake Road near Campbell Road, Belton, Anderson County, South Carolina, United States Legal status: Jared Tierce, 25, pleaded guilty to murder on Monday, October 26, 2026, and was sentenced to 33 years with three years’ credit for time served. Co-defendant Jacob Barber, 25, is charged with murder, his case is pending and he is presumed innocent. The plea. Jared Tierce, 25, pleaded guilty on Monday, October 26, to the murder of Phillip Marshal Hughey, 35, and was sentenced to 33 years in prison with three years’ credit for time served, FOX Carolina reported. Law&Crime, citing FOX Carolina’s courtroom reporting, said that with that credit Tierce could be released in 30 years. His co-defendant, Jacob Barber, also charged with murder, has a status hearing set for November 20. WSPA reported that the allegations against the two men came from arrest warrants. Under Section 16-3 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, a person who pleads guilty to murder faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years, Hoodline noted, and the reporting did not detail how the 33-year term was reached. The disappearance. Hughey went missing from the Williamston area in August 2023. Law&Crime reported that the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said at the time he disappeared on August 20 and that witnesses believed there was “more to the story” and that he had been killed. The State reported the same date and said the body was found on August 22; WSPA, as cited by Hoodline, put the last sighting on August 19. Deputies found his body wrapped in a rug down an embankment along Cox Lake Road, close to Campbell Road in Belton, with multiple traumatic injuries. His death was ruled a homicide. What prosecutors told the court. Prosecutors said Hughey was bound with zip ties and referred to as a hostage. Tierce put a ratchet strap around his neck and applied force while Barber stabbed him multiple times, they said. Hughey was also hit with a baseball bat. His body was wrapped in a rug, put in a grocery cart and later dumped near a golf course, the ratchet strap still around his neck. For the first time, Tierce described his own role in court. “He’d broken out of the restraints… I went over there with a ratchet strap, pulled him off of him, heard a pop and threw him to the ground,” he said, according to FOX Carolina. Deputies told The State at the time that the motive was unclear, Hoodline reported, and none of the coverage of Monday’s hearing gave one. Two women charged as accessories. After the killing, the sheriff’s office charged Angel Bellis, then 26, and Cassidy Cheek, then 21, with accessory after the fact of murder, WSPA reported, according to Hoodline. Deputies said Cheek destroyed evidence by burning Hughey’s clothes and that Bellis saw his body but did not report it. The outcome of their cases has not been reported. “This is not justice.” Several family members attended the hearing wearing light blue shirts in Hughey’s honor. They asked for a longer sentence. “This plea is for 30 years; my son is gone forever,” said his mother, Millie Counts. Outside the courtroom, surrounded by supporters, she said: “I feel like I’ve been robbed, but I feel loved. The 30 years is not fair with what this monster is doing. This is not justice.” The family remembered Hughey as someone who was selfless and made everyone laugh. Sources Man pleads guilty to murder after body found wrapped in rug near road in Anderson Co., FOX Carolina, Oct 26, 2026 Man who choked victim with ratchet strap until he ‘heard a pop’ is headed to prison, Law&Crime, Oct 27, 2026 Anderson County Man Sentenced to 33 Years Following Guilty Plea in 2023 Brutal Murder, 94.1 The Lake / WSNW, Oct 27, 2026 Jared Tierce Sentenced in Anderson County Murder of Phillip Hughey, Hoodline, Oct 27, 2026 Antioch, Illinois: Johnathan Skroko Sentenced to 76 Years for Killing Robbie Dickerson, Lured Into Apartment, Robbed and Left in a Bleached Bathtub Location: Lake County Courthouse, Waukegan; crime scene 1000 block of Main Street, Antioch, Illinois Legal status: Johnathan N. Skroko, 29, of South Elgin, sentenced Oct. 27 to 76 years (51 years for first-degree murder plus 25 years for personally discharging a firearm) after an August jury conviction. A Lake County judge on Tuesday, Oct. 27, sentenced Johnathan N. Skroko, 29, of South Elgin, to 76 years in prison for the 2022 shooting death of Robbie Dickerson, a 42-year-old man from Racine, Wisconsin, who was lured into an Antioch residence to sell a prescription drug and was found face down in a bathtub. Judge Mark Levitt imposed 51 years for first-degree murder and an additional 25 years because Skroko personally discharged the firearm, Lake and McHenry County Scanner and Patch reported. Under Illinois truth-in-sentencing rules, he must serve the full term. At the hearing, prosecutors Lauren Kalcheim Rothenberg and Daniel Lenzini argued that Skroko’s criminal history, continued criminal conduct while awaiting trial and lack of remorse showed his disregard for public safety, Patch reported, citing the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. The judge cited Skroko’s repeated criminal behavior and called the violence completely unnecessary, according to prosecutors. “This offender attempted to justify his actions and blame the victim for this terrible crime,” State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said. The killing happened around 11 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2022. Dickerson went to the Main Street home of Hailey D. Miller, now 32, to sell her a prescription drug, while his girlfriend waited outside, Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Scheller said at the time, according to the Scanner. Miller, a co-defendant, testified at trial that Skroko told her before Dickerson arrived that he planned to rob him. According to Scheller’s account, Skroko hid in another room and came out with a shotgun, demanding the drugs. Dickerson grabbed Miller and tried to hide behind her. When she broke away, Skroko shot Dickerson in the chest. Scheller said Skroko then handed Miller a pistol and told her to “finish off” Dickerson. When she refused, Skroko fired a second shot and dragged the body into the bathtub. Investigators said bleach had been poured over Dickerson’s body. An autopsy found he died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Dickerson’s girlfriend testified that she heard two gunshots from outside. Scheller said Skroko and Miller came out and Miller tried to persuade her to come inside. When she refused, Skroko pulled out a pistol and told her to leave. She drove away and called 911. Prosecutors said the pair loaded the guns into Miller’s car, drove to her father’s home in Wisconsin and later to Skroko’s residence in South Elgin. Miller removed the Ring doorbell camera from her residence before they fled, Scheller said. Two days later, investigators found them at a hotel near Route 41 and Grand Avenue in Gurnee, where both were arrested without incident. A gun, ammunition and bloodstained clothing were recovered from the room. Investigators recovered five guns in all, some dumped in Busse Woods near Schaumburg, including a shotgun bearing a red substance consistent with blood. A grand jury indicted Skroko on eight counts of first-degree murder on Sept. 28, 2022. He was first held on a $10 million bond and later ordered detained after Illinois abolished cash bail. His five-day trial began Aug. 24 with more than 30 witnesses, including experts in ballistics, fingerprints, DNA, pathology and cellphone analysis. Prosecutors said his DNA was on the murder weapon. Skroko testified that he shot Dickerson in self-defense because Dickerson lunged at him. Prosecutors argued his account did not match the physical evidence. On Aug. 28 the jury deliberated for about an hour before convicting him on all eight counts and finding that he personally discharged the firearm, which left him facing 45 years to natural life. Miller pleaded guilty on Dec. 10, 2024, to one count of armed robbery with a firearm, a Class X felony, in exchange for prosecutors dismissing her murder charges, the Scanner reported. Under the blind plea, she was required to give honest testimony at Skroko’s trial. Levitt sentenced her on Sept. 15 to 24 years, court records show, one year below the top of the six to 25 year range; she must serve 50 percent. Her lawyer, LaTonya Burton, has asked Levitt to reconsider the sentence, and a hearing on that motion is set for Nov. 12. Sources Judge sentences man to 76 years for murdering 42-year-old who was lured into Antioch apartment, robbed and left in bathtub, Lake and McHenry County Scanner, 28 Oct 2026 1 of 2 suspects pleads guilty after 42-year-old man lured into Antioch residence, robbed and fatally shot, Lake and McHenry County Scanner, 11 Dec 2024 Man Sentenced To 76 Years In Prison For Fatal Shooting, Patch, 28 Oct 2026 Collegedale, Tennessee: Grand Jury Indicts Kian Neal, 18, in Killing of Registered Sex Offender Robert Locke He Allegedly Called “Justice” Location: Collegedale, Hamilton County, Tennessee Legal status: Kian Andrew Neal, 18, indicted Oct. 26 by a Hamilton County grand jury on charges including felony murder, aggravated burglary, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence; Local 3 News also lists first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. Next court date Nov. 4. A Hamilton County grand jury has indicted Kian Andrew Neal, 18, in the death of Robert Locke, a registered sex offender who disappeared from his Collegedale home in late May, according to court documents obtained by Local 3 News and NewsChannel 9 and reported on Thursday, Oct. 29. The indictment was returned on Monday, Oct. 26. Local 3 News reported six counts: first-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated burglary, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and failure to exercise due care. NewsChannel 9’s headline also refers to six charges, but its list names five, without first-degree murder. Neal pleaded not guilty in June, NewsChannel 9 reported. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The two outlets give different ages for Locke. Local 3 News, citing earlier reporting, says he was 56. NewsChannel 9 says he was 72. That conflict is unresolved, and it is noted here rather than settled. Locke’s family reported him missing in late May, prompting searches across Hamilton, Rhea and Bradley counties. NewsChannel 9 reported that police acted on a tip from a juvenile, who alleged that a friend had killed a “rapist.” Police then searched the Birchwood Landfill for two days in June, and they arrested Neal on a criminal homicide charge the day the landfill search ended. At a preliminary hearing on July 1, prosecutors played video of Neal’s interview with Collegedale police, Local 3 News reported. In it, Neal first said he did not know why he was there and asked for a lawyer. He then changed his mind and told detectives he had killed Locke after learning he was a sex offender. “I had this weird idea in my head that it would be really cool to serve what I thought was justice, because I felt like it wasn’t being served,” he said in the recording, according to Local 3 News. He told detectives he had been sexually abused as a child and was left “scarred” and “angry” at sex offenders. According to the recording, Neal said he searched for sex offenders near him and found Locke’s profile on the Tennessee sex offender registry. Local 3 News reported that the profile detailed a child molestation charge from 2003. NewsChannel 9 reported that Locke became a registered sex offender in 2003 over crimes against a 16-year-old girl in Georgia. In the recording, Neal said he walked through the woods to the back of Locke’s house and struck him repeatedly with a hammer. He said he then used zip ties to choke Locke and cut up the body with a saw. Neal told police he threw the tools and the remains into a dumpster. NewsChannel 9 placed the dumpster at the Barn Owl Farm and garden store on East Brainerd Road. Surveillance video from May 23, played in court, showed Neal rolling a wagon up to a dumpster and struggling to throw two black trash bags inside, Local 3 News reported. Both outlets say it is still unclear whether Locke’s remains have been found. Three acquaintances, all minors who are not named, testified at the July hearing, and two said Neal had confessed to them. One said he was “shaking and felt a lot of remorse.” Another described him as “nonchalant” and “calm.” Judge Curis Bowe found probable cause and bound the case over to the grand jury. The indictment lists Meta, Discord, Hamilton County 911, several officers, a towing company, a local farm and garden store and three juveniles as witnesses for the state, Local 3 News reported. A GoFundMe set up by a person who said he was Neal’s father, with a $30,000 goal, was shut down in July under the platform’s policy on fundraisers involving alleged violent crimes. Sources UPDATE: Collegedale teen indicted after admitting to killing sex offender ‘to serve justice’, Local 3 News, 29 Oct 2026 Grand jury indicts Collegedale teen on six charges in death of registered sex offender, NewsChannel 9, 29 Oct 2026 18-year-old indicted on multiple charges in the death of a Collegedale man, WDEF, Oct 2026 Fresno: Ashton Dejean III Sentenced to 51 Years to Life for Stabbing Manuel Lopez Jr. 16 Times Outside Carl’s Jr. Location: Fresno, California, United States Legal status: Convicted by jury July 27, 2026, of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon finding; sentenced Oct. 28, 2026 A Fresno man who stabbed Manuel Lopez Jr. 16 times in a parking lot beside a Carl’s Jr. restaurant, then walked away and came back to stab him again as he lay on the sidewalk, has been sentenced to 51 years to life in state prison. Fresno County Superior Court Judge Monica Diaz imposed the sentence on Ashton Henry Dejean III, 44, on Oct. 28, 2026, according to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, as reported by KMPH FOX26. The KMPH report describes the hearing as taking place on Tuesday while also giving the date as Oct. 28, which was a Wednesday. A jury found Dejean guilty of first-degree murder on July 27, 2026, and returned a true finding that he personally used a deadly weapon. According to the district attorney’s office, the sentence includes 50 years to life for the murder, a term doubled because of a prior strike conviction, plus one year for the weapon enhancement. After the verdict, the court found true an allegation that Dejean had a prior strike for assault with a deadly weapon in a 2020 Fresno County Superior Court case. The district attorney’s office said he has five prior felony convictions. Lopez, of Fresno, was killed on the evening of Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. The district attorney’s office gives his age as 45; Fresno police gave it as 44 at the time of the killing. According to prosecutors, Dejean and Lopez were among several people gathered in a parking lot near the Carl’s Jr. and a United States Postal Service office at Blackstone and Griffith avenues. Dejean approached Lopez and appeared to start a confrontation, trying to kick him and striking at him with a drinking tumbler, prosecutors said. When Lopez tried to defend himself, Dejean pulled out a knife and stabbed him repeatedly, according to the prosecution. Lopez called for help and tried to run, but collapsed on the sidewalk. Prosecutors said Dejean first walked away, then returned and stabbed Lopez again as he lay on the ground. Fresno police officers and emergency crews tried to save him, but he died at Community Regional Medical Center. An autopsy found 16 stab wounds. After the attack, prosecutors said, Dejean went into the Carl’s Jr. and into the restroom, where he left his bloodstained sweatshirt and the knife. Officers recovered both. Police said at the time that they had received the call at about 8:15 p.m. and found Dejean nearby matching the description of the suspect. He initially resisted, police said, before he was detained and booked into the Fresno County Jail on suspicion of murder and resisting arrest. The district attorney’s office noted that under California’s Elderly Parole Program, Dejean is expected to become eligible for parole consideration after serving 20 years and reaching the age of 50, though eligibility depends on applicable law and does not guarantee release. Senior Deputy District Attorney Adam Christopherson of the office’s Homicide Unit prosecuted the case, assisted by Senior District Attorney Investigator Jennifer Machado. The office credited the Fresno Police Department with the investigation. Sources Fresno man sentenced to 51 years to life for first-degree murder of Manuel Lopez Jr., KMPH FOX26, Oct. 28, 2026 Fresno Man Sentenced to 51 Years to Life for Fatal Stabbing, GV Wire, Oct. 28, 2026 Stabbing at Carl’s Jr. in Fresno leaves one dead, one in custody, KMPH FOX26, Nov. 2025 Grabill, Indiana: Charles Calvert Gets Maximum 65 Years for Stabbing Former Magistrate Marcia Linsky in Their Home Location: Allen Superior Court, Fort Wayne; the couple’s home near Grabill, Allen County, Indiana Legal status: Convicted of murder by a jury in October 2026; sentenced Oct. 28 to 65 years in prison. Charles M. Calvert was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to 65 years in prison, the maximum term for murder in Indiana, for stabbing to death his partner, Marcia Linsky, a former Allen County magistrate who spent three decades in the county’s courts as a prosecutor, magistrate and public defender, The Journal Gazette, WBOI and 21Alive reported. The verdict. An Allen Superior Court jury convicted Calvert earlier this month after deliberating for about 30 minutes, according to The Journal Gazette and WBOI. A murder conviction in Indiana carries 45 to 65 years. Noble County Superior Court Judge Steve Clouse presided as a special judge because of Linsky’s former position in the Allen County judiciary, WBOI reported. The Journal Gazette gives Calvert’s age as 62; 21Alive gives it as 63. Marcia Linsky. Linsky, 64, practised law for 30 years, including 12 years as a county deputy prosecutor, The Journal Gazette reported. At the time of her death she worked with the Fort Wayne firm Close Hitchcock LLP, where her areas of focus included sentence modifications, expungements and criminal defence. The Allen County prosecutor’s office called her “a respected member of the Allen County legal community who served as a prosecutor, magistrate and public defender.” At the sentencing hearing, the office said, “Marcia’s family, friends, and colleagues attended Calvert’s sentencing to share memories of her life and the impact she had on others,” describing her as “a selfless mother, grandmother, friend, mentor, and advocate who dedicated herself to helping others.” The killing. Linsky died in February 2024 in the Grabill home she shared with Calvert. The Journal Gazette dates her death to Feb. 3, 2024; 21Alive, citing court documents, says Calvert called 911 on Feb. 13, 2024. According to a probable cause affidavit, police found Linsky unconscious and face down on the kitchen floor. The Journal Gazette reported that Calvert cleaned himself up and waited an hour after the stabbing to call 911, and that the dispatcher said he spoke calmly and without urgency. On the call, 21Alive reported, he said several times that Linsky had become “very verbal” with him and that she was “no longer with us.” The self-defence claim. Calvert told police he acted in self-defence, saying Linsky approached him with a knife, verbally assaulted him and shoved a crockpot at him, the affidavit said. He told officers they were arguing and both holding knives when she came at him. The outlets quote his words to dispatchers differently: The Journal Gazette reports that he said he “responded appropriately,” while 21Alive quotes him as saying, “She came at me and I responded inappropriately. I’m going to spend the night in jail.” Police said the injuries, including a slash to the back of Linsky’s neck, were inconsistent with his account. Two knives were found beside her body, and Deputy Coroner Jeff McCracken said in the affidavit that he believed they were staged “as they appeared to be placed next to the victim’s body neatly.” Investigators said only Calvert and Linsky were in the home that evening. The prosecution. “While no sentence can bring Marcia back, today’s maximum sentence represents accountability for her death,” said Tesa Helge, chief counsel at the Allen County prosecutor’s office. “We hope this outcome brings some measure of peace to her family and loved ones as they continue to navigate this tremendous loss.” Sources Grabill man sentenced to maximum 65 years for murder of prominent local attorney, The Journal Gazette, 28 Oct 2026 Man sentenced to maximum of 65 years for 2024 murder of well-known local attorney, WBOI, 28 Oct 2026 Fort Wayne man sentenced for murder of former magistrate Marcia Linsky, 21Alive (WPTA), 28 Oct 2026 Livonia, Michigan: Jury Rejects Murder, Convicts Spencer Krusell of Manslaughter for Stabbing Nicholos Hatcher Over a Stolen Backpack Location: Middlebelt and Orangelawn roads, Livonia; Wayne County, Michigan Legal status: Spencer Krusell, 30, of Highland Park, convicted by a jury Oct. 28 of voluntary manslaughter and acquitted of second-degree murder; sentencing Dec. 11. A Wayne County jury took just over an hour to decide that Spencer Krusell did not murder Nicholos Hatcher, but that he was not justified in killing him either. On the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 28, jurors acquitted Krusell, 30, of Highland Park, of second-degree murder and convicted him of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of Hatcher, 34, of Detroit, in Livonia on May 28. The killing began with a theft. Police say Hatcher and two men were at the BioLife Plasma Services center on Plymouth Road in Livonia that Thursday, and one of the men stole Hatcher’s backpack. Hatcher followed them and confronted them nearby. At about 4:15 p.m., a driver called 911 to report a man on a bicycle coughing up blood near Middlebelt and Orangelawn roads, outside an apartment complex. The man on the bicycle was Hatcher. He had a single stab wound to the upper chest, and police said the stabbing happened at a nearby location after he caught up with the pair. Paramedics tried to save him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The two men fled to a neighboring city. Livonia police arrested the man they believed did the stabbing that night, and the second man, who they said was present, soon after. The second man, Scott Harrington, 26, of Taylor, was convicted of larceny charges and received two years of probation, FOX 2 reported. WXYZ reported that he pleaded guilty to stealing the bag. At trial the facts of the fight were barely in dispute. Prosecutor Sara Bonomo acknowledged that Hatcher approached the two men, threatened them and punched them. She asked jurors to focus on whether Hatcher was using deadly force. Defense attorney Charles Longstreet II argued that Hatcher started throwing punches and asked the jury to weigh whether Krusell’s use of force was necessary in that moment. Krusell took the stand in his own defense and told jurors he stabbed Hatcher because he feared for his life. “I was backing up. I backed up multiple times. Multiple times,” he testified. “I kept backing up. I didn’t even punch him one time, and I felt like that was my last resort to get him to stop attacking me.” He said he aimed low with the knife and denied deliberately striking Hatcher in the heart. “I was in fear for my life, and I didn’t aim for his heart, for one,” he said. He then spoke to the jury directly: “That was truly not my intentions for Nicholos Hatcher to die, and I really am sorry.” The verdict landed between the two sides. Jurors did not accept that Krusell acted in lawful self-defense, which would have meant acquittal on every count, but they also did not find the malice that second-degree murder requires. Hatcher’s mother, Felisha Hatcher, said it would let her begin to heal. “No one won today. No one won,” she said outside court. “We got something. We got something. So, I’m glad that I’ll be able to start my healing process. This is coming to a close.” Krusell is due back in court for sentencing on Dec. 11 at 9:30 a.m. Sources Man found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in deadly Livonia stabbing, WXYZ Detroit, 28 Oct 2026 Highland Park man convicted of manslaughter in deadly Livonia stabbing, FOX 2 Detroit, 28 Oct 2026 Livonia police arrest 2 suspects after man found fatally stabbed in road, CBS Detroit, 29 May 2026 Victim confronted stabbing suspect over stolen backpack before fatal assault in Livonia, FOX 2 Detroit, 29 May 2026 Marysville, California: Yuba City Man Gets 24 Years in 2023 Orchard Death of Amery Sweany After a Reader Tip Cracked the Case Location: Simpson Lane orchard near Marysville, Yuba County, California, United States Legal status: Ricky Singh Lasher, 41, pleaded no contest on April 10, 2026, to voluntary manslaughter and admitted a separate 2024 sexual battery; sentenced on Monday, October 26, 2026, to 24 years in state prison. The sentence. A Yuba City man was sentenced on Monday, October 26, to 24 years in prison for the 2023 death of Amery Sweany and for a separate 2024 felony sexual battery case, the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office said, as reported by Action News Now and FOX40. Ricky Singh Lasher, 41, had pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on April 10 under a plea agreement. He also admitted committing a sexual battery on one of the vulnerable women who came forward during the investigation. He must register as a sex offender for life, and his California driving privilege is suspended for the rest of his life. A tip from a newspaper reader. Sheriff’s detectives initially had little evidence. Tire tracks through grass in an orchard and Sweany’s injuries suggested she had been run over, and an autopsy confirmed she died of blunt force injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. Investigators photographed tire tracks and shoe impressions on a nearby dirt road. The case nearly went unsolved, prosecutors said, until a witness came forward after reading about it in the Appeal-Democrat newspaper. That led to Lasher’s arrest in 2024, more than a year after Sweany was killed. Her last night. The witness described picking Sweany up in Yuba City about a week before her death; they spent the evening of April 26, 2023, together before parting at the Marysville Jack in the Box. Sweany then went to the Habit Burger parking lot just north of an ampm in Marysville. Surveillance video showed Lasher pull into the ampm in a white Chevy truck and speak to her, then leave and return several times, seemingly circling and approaching her. Sweany appeared increasingly agitated and walked into the store. Lasher picked up her bag, which held everything she owned, put it in his truck and drove off. She stayed in the area another 50 minutes, then walked down an alley and east on 8th Street. Video then showed the white truck heading west on 8th Street, the last trace of Sweany alive. What prosecutors believe happened. Prosecutors believe Lasher coaxed Sweany into his truck by offering her substances, as he had done with other women, and drove her to the orchard off Simpson Lane, where he tried to sexually assault her. The evidence shows she fought and ran, leaving shoe prints in the dirt. The tire marks suggest he followed her down the road, then veered off it and ran her over between the rows of trees, leaving her for dead. Because significant gaps remained in the evidence, Sweany’s family and prosecutors agreed to resolve the case for less than murder, recognizing the uncertainty of what a jury might decide. Her sister’s words. “Amery was compassionate, strong-willed, nurturing, and confident. She was someone who always stood up for others and for herself,” her sister said in a statement released by the district attorney. She thanked investigators and “the other brave victims who had the courage to come forward and expose this pattern of behavior.” The office credited sheriff’s detectives, state Justice Department analysts and the California Highway Patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team. Sources Yuba City man sentenced to 24 years in prison for 2023 death of woman, Action News Now, Oct 27, 2026 Man sentenced to 24 years for manslaughter, sexual assault in Yuba County, FOX40 via BayAreaDailyNews.com, Oct 28, 2026 Man sentenced to prison for woman’s death in Marysville CA, Sacramento Bee, Oct 2026 Miami Beach, Florida: Man Who Shot Colorado Tourist Dustin Wakefield, 21, in Front of His Wife and Baby Sentenced to 50 Years Location: La Cerveceria, 1400 block of Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States Legal status: Tamarius Blair Davis, 27, pleaded guilty in May 2026 to second-degree murder and was sentenced on Thursday, October 29, 2026, to 50 years in Florida state prison with a 25-year minimum, followed by 20 years of probation. The sentence. A Miami-Dade judge sentenced Tamarius Davis, a Georgia man who admitted shooting and killing Colorado tourist Dustin Wakefield on South Beach in 2021, to 50 years in Florida state prison, CBS Miami reported on Thursday. The term carries a 25-year minimum and will be followed by 20 years of probation. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Laura Stuzin imposed the term after three days of testimony and argument, the Miami Herald reported, adding that concurrent terms of 30 years and five years were imposed on the attempted murder and child abuse counts and that Davis will get credit for about five years already served in jail. Davis pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder, and his sentencing hearing ran over several days starting Monday, October 26. Under the plea he faced a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison, WSVN reported. The Wakefield family and prosecutors had asked for life; the defense asked for no more than 25 years. The shooting. On August 24, 2021, Dustin Wakefield, 21, was visiting Miami Beach from Colorado with his wife, his 1-year-old son and other relatives. The family was eating at La Cerveceria on the 1400 block of Ocean Drive. Prosecutors said Davis, visiting from Georgia, had taken a large amount of psychedelic mushrooms, got a gun and began shooting at random people in South Beach. He then approached Wakefield and pointed the gun at the baby. According to reports cited by WSVN, Wakefield said, “Don’t shoot my son. He’s just a baby.” Davis shot him five times. “He chose to continue to shoot that child’s father. Not once, not twice, not three times, not four, but five,” prosecutor Casey Hughes told the court. Prosecutors said Davis was then seen laughing and dancing after the shooting. Video of the shooting was shown in court on Monday. The family’s statements. Relatives delivered impact statements on the first day of the hearing, some wearing black T-shirts bearing Dustin’s name. “This crime did not just take Dustin’s life; it shattered an entire family,” his mother, Lora Wakefield, told the court. She also told Davis she forgave him. “I’m asking for life. Our family is asking for life in prison. But in return, for him to be loved in prison,” she said afterward. On Wednesday, a few hours before the sentence, she said: “It keeps happening if we don’t hold people accountable for the evil that’s in their heart and what they’re doing.” The defense. Davis took the stand on Tuesday and apologized, blaming an “irresponsible” decision to take the mushrooms. “I know that I will carry the psychological agony, pain, regret and shame with me for the rest of my life,” he testified, CBS Miami reported. His mother, Deangela Davis, said, “He’s not a monster. He did a monstrous thing, but he’s not a monster.” His father, Tommy Davis, and sister Brianna Davis also spoke. In Wednesday’s closing arguments, defense attorney Juan Mourin argued that Davis had been unaware of his actions and said he was overheard mumbling “Someone should just kill me” after learning what he had done. “No one is seeking in any way to excuse Blair for what he did,” Mourin said. Prosecutor Hughes answered that Davis “deserves that same life sentence” that the Wakefields had been forced to accept. Sources Man who shot, killed Miami Beach tourist as he protected family sentenced to 50 years in prison, CBS Miami, Oct 29, 2026 Killer who shot tourist in front of his baby in Miami Beach sentenced to 50 years, Miami Herald, Oct 29, 2026 Man sentenced to 50 years in prison for 2021 murder of 21-year-old tourist in Miami Beach, WSVN 7News, Oct 29, 2026 Prosecutors, defense deliver closing arguments in sentencing hearing for man convicted of murdering tourist in Miami Beach, WSVN 7News, Oct 28, 2026 Georgia man who killed Miami Beach tourist in 2021 apologizes to victim’s family at sentencing hearing, CBS Miami, Oct 27, 2026 Family members testify during sentencing of man in 2021 murder of 21-year-old at Miami Beach restaurant, WSVN 7News, Oct 26, 2026 Norfolk, Virginia: Federal Jury Convicts Antwan Hue of Hiring Killers to Shoot Charlene Ryals, His Son’s Mother, Over Child Support and a Passport Location: Victim’s home, Norfolk, Virginia; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Legal status: Antwan Denetrick Hue, 42, a dual U.S. and Jamaican citizen, convicted Oct. 28 of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, murder for hire, murder while engaged in drug trafficking and cocaine conspiracy; faces a mandatory life sentence at sentencing on March 4, 2027. A federal jury in Norfolk on Wednesday, Oct. 28, convicted Antwan Denetrick Hue, 42, of arranging the December 2016 killing of the mother of his young son, a murder prosecutors say he bought because she stood between him and a renewed U.S. passport. The jury found Hue guilty on all four counts: conspiracy to commit murder for hire, murder for hire, murder while engaged in drug trafficking, and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine. U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen accepted the verdict. Hue, a dual U.S. and Jamaican citizen, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on March 4, 2027. Federal prosecutors did not name the victim in their announcement. The Washington Times identified her as Charlene Ryals, 38, a Navy veteran. The case the government laid out began with cocaine. According to court records and trial evidence summarized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Hue ran an international drug trafficking organization from 2015 to 2019. With Regina Sade Chen, also known as Erica Williams, 36, he imported multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into the United States from the Caribbean, including Jamaica. The pair used transporters, among them co-defendants Kayla Bedessie, 34, and Deshawn Hassan Mercer, 33, to smuggle cocaine into the country and cash out of it. Hue travelled often between the United States, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries to meet co-conspirators and oversee the operation. In 2016 Hue applied to renew his expiring U.S. passport and was told he was ineligible because he was behind on child support owed to the mother of his minor child. The Washington Times reported the arrears at roughly $8,000. In November 2016, prosecutors said, Hue hired Mercer and co-defendant Zquan Leon Steeps, now 32, to kill her, believing her death would permanently end the payments and clear the way to a new passport. On Dec. 4, 2016, Mercer, Steeps and a third person, Denasha Campbell, travelled to the victim’s home in Norfolk. Campbell, who has since died, knocked on the door and asked to use the woman’s phone. Once the door was open, Mercer and Steeps forced their way inside and shot her dead in front of her 9-year-old child. The three fled, leaving the boy to call 911. Citing The Virginian-Pilot, The Washington Times reported that the child told the dispatcher: “Some people came in and shot my mommy.” The plan, as prosecutors described it, did not work the way Hue expected. After learning that a child support obligation survives the death of a parent, Hue negotiated with the victim’s mother on Dec. 24, 2016, twenty days after the shooting, offering her full custody of his son as long as he was released from all further payments. On Oct. 22, 2018, citing an urgent need to travel to Montego Bay, Jamaica, Hue applied for and received a renewed passport. In August 2019, Department of Homeland Security agents arrested him in Florida as he tried to take possession of a kilogram of cocaine. The others charged in the case pleaded guilty and testified or were positioned to testify for the government. Chen and Bedessie pleaded guilty on Aug. 29, 2024, to cocaine conspiracy; Chen faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life, and Bedessie was sentenced on Sept. 8, 2025, to 70 months. Mercer and Steeps pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit murder for hire and face a mandatory minimum of life in prison. The investigation was run by the FBI’s Richmond Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations in Washington. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. DePadilla and Brian J. Samuels prosecuted the case, No. 2:24-cr-38. A federal judge will set the final sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, though the murder counts carry mandatory life. The killing went unsolved in public for years. The shooting was in 2016; the indictment that tied it to a passport application came in 2024. Sources Federal jury convicts dual U.S.-Jamaican citizen for murder-for-hire and drug-trafficking conspiracy, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, 28 Oct 2026 Virginia jury convicts man for murder-for-hire plot that killed his child’s mom, The Washington Times, 28 Oct 2026 Federal jury convicts man in Norfolk murder-for-hire case tied to cocaine trafficking, 13News Now, 28 Oct 2026 Man convicted on charges related to murder for hire and drug trafficking, WAVY, 28 Oct 2026 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Jerome Thompson Sentenced to 40 Years to Life for Killing Conrad Rozier in East Hills Location: 2300 block of East Hills Drive, East Hills, Pittsburgh; Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Legal status: Jerome Thompson, 46, convicted by a jury of second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy and firearms charges; sentenced Oct. 29 to 40 years to life. Alleged co-conspirator Nije Johnson, 32, charged Oct. 9; presumed innocent. A North Versailles man will spend at least 40 years in state prison for the February 2025 shooting death of Conrad Rozier in the East Hills neighbourhood of Pittsburgh, TribLive reported. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski on Thursday, Oct. 29, sentenced Jerome Thompson, 46, to 40 years to life on counts of second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy and firearms charges, after a jury convicted him of the killing. The shooting. Police were called to the 2300 block of East Hills Drive at about 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2025, for a reported shooting. Officers found Rozier, 44, holding his cellphone after he had been shot in the chest. He died a short time later. Thompson was linked to the killing by a witness, surveillance footage and cellphone records. Footage placed his Ford Explorer outside Rozier’s apartment five hours before the shooting; it left seconds before the 911 call was made, and licence plate reading cameras tracked it afterward to Erie, according to a criminal complaint. The second suspect. Police on Oct. 9 charged a previously unidentified co-conspirator, Nije Johnson, 32. Police said she was linked to the crime through DNA and through phone calls Thompson made to her from the Allegheny County Jail while he awaited trial. According to the complaint in her case, she spoke with Thompson from the jail using her sister’s identity. The two communicated through text messages, photo messages and video visits and appeared to be in a romantic relationship, police said. Cellphone records placed Johnson in the area of the homicide at the time of the shooting, and her phone records tracked the vehicle’s movement, the complaint said. Johnson is charged and has not been tried; she is presumed innocent. A sentence under a cloud. At the start of Thursday’s hearing, Borkowski offered Thompson the chance to postpone because of a recent change in how Pennsylvania punishes second-degree murder. In March, the state Supreme Court found that mandatory life without parole for that count is unconstitutional because it fails to take into account the individual characteristics of the defendant. The court stayed the effect of its decision to allow the legislature to write a new sentencing scheme. Both the Senate and the House drafted bills, but neither reached a full vote. Last month the court said it would take up a case on retroactivity, which could lead to the resentencing of about 1,100 people serving life without parole in Pennsylvania for second-degree, or felony, murder. Thompson’s defence attorney, Jeffrey Weinberg, said he saw no benefit in waiting. “I’m flying blind here, judge,” Weinberg said. “I believe any sentence the court metes out today will be unlawful.” He argued that a defendant has the right to know the potential penalty for a crime at the time it is committed. “The sanction section of this statute has been declared unconstitutional,” he said. “I think it’s more to his advantage to (be sentenced) and get on to Superior Court.” The family. Rozier’s sister, Shamone Rozier, was the only person to give victim impact testimony. She said she and her mother arrived at her brother’s home that morning soon after he had been taken to hospital. “My mom started screaming,” she said. “I will never forget the pain I saw in my mother that day.” To Thompson she said: “You didn’t have to do him like that. Hopefully you will repent for the murder of my brother.” Thompson presented no witnesses and spoke briefly. “I just want to say to the family sorry for their loss,” he said. His lawyer’s remarks indicate an appeal to the Superior Court is expected. Sources Man gets 40 years to life for East Hills slaying, TribLive, 29 Oct 2026 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Nicole Virzi Pleads Guilty to Killing Best Friend’s 6-Week-Old Son Leon Katz, Takes 35 to 80 Years to Avoid Capital Trial Location: Parents’ apartment, 6000 block of Walnut Street, Shadyside, Pittsburgh; Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Legal status: Nicole Virzi, 32, of San Diego, pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to third-degree murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children; sentenced under the plea agreement to 35 to 80 years in state prison. Nicole Virzi was supposed to go on trial for her life on Oct. 1. Instead, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, the 32-year-old clinical psychology Ph.D. student from San Diego stood before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos in a lime-green jail uniform, eyes closed, and pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children in the June 2024 death of 6-week-old Leon Katz, the son of her best friend. Under the agreement she was ordered to serve 35 to 80 years in state prison. Had a jury convicted her of first-degree murder, she could have faced a death sentence. Deputy District Attorney Emma Schoedel told the court the deal was made in part at the request of Leon’s parents, Savannah Roberts and Ethan Katz, who would both have been trial witnesses. “The decision to enter into plea negotiations on this case was not entered into nor taken lightly,” she said, according to TribLive. The parents asked for a resolution that would keep Virzi in prison for most of her life and spare the family a public trial. “This office has decided to invest in their healing,” Schoedel said. WTAE reported the district attorney’s office also said it had been ready to take the case to trial and agreed to the plea after consulting the family and weighing the protection of the community. The facts laid out in court and in earlier filings run as follows. Virzi, who had been Roberts’s maid of honor, came to Pittsburgh in June 2024 to visit the couple and their newborn twin sons. On June 15 she spent the day with the family, which was celebrating an anniversary and Father’s Day. That evening the parents took Leon’s twin brother to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh because of injuries found on him, and Virzi stayed behind at the couple’s Shadyside apartment, in the 6000 block of Walnut Street, to watch Leon. At 11:17 p.m. she called 911 and said the baby was having trouble breathing and had a lump on his head. He was taken to hospital and died a few hours later. Schoedel told the court Leon had 31 separate injuries, including a skull fracture, bleeding on the brain, and injuries to his face, scalp, ear, abdomen, chest, arms and legs. Doctors found evidence of “violent shaking events” and an impact injury to the skull. WTAE reported a CT scan showed a fracture to the left side of the head and several brain bleeds. Police picked Virzi up just after 6 a.m. the next morning at the Shadyside Airbnb where she was staying. According to TribLive, she first told detectives Leon had fallen out of his bouncy chair. When detectives pressed her that a fall from that height could not explain his injuries, she said she had shaken him hard, dropped him, and flipped him upside down onto the tile bathroom floor. “Something just came over me I couldn’t control,” she said in the recorded interview. “I’m telling you this because I can’t keep lying about it.” She also admitted harming Leon’s twin, describing an urge to hurt children that she had felt for years, and told investigators that being treated like a nanny on the visit “built up a lot of anger in me.” She has been in the Allegheny County Jail since her arrest on June 16, 2024. Virzi declined to speak. Defense attorney Tina Miller said her client would remain silent out of respect for the parents because “no words of apology would be sufficient,” said Virzi had written the family a letter they could choose to read, and asked the judge to recommend mental health treatment in prison. Miller cited prior diagnoses of anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with treatment since age 9. Leon’s mother told the judge her son was always hungry, sneezed four times in a row when he woke, and earned the nickname “Leapfrog Leon.” “I have every indication that he would’ve been an amazing human being who made the world a better place by being in it,” Roberts said. She described choosing an urn and said she and her husband still take turns sleeping on the floor beside their surviving son’s crib. His grandfather, David W. Roberts, spoke of “the inconceivable cruelty” inflicted on both boys. Sources ‘Inconceivable cruelty’: San Diego woman pleads guilty to killing best friend’s 6-week-old son, TribLive, 28 Oct 2026 Woman pleads guilty to killing best friend’s infant, hurting his twin brother inside Pittsburgh home, WTAE, 28 Oct 2026 Woman takes plea deal for killing friend’s 6-week-old infant, injuring baby’s twin, WPXI, 28 Oct 2026 Shreveport: Jury Convicts Kenavion Baker of Murdering Terry Morris, 20, and Fleeing to Texas With Body in Trunk Location: Shreveport, Louisiana, United States Legal status: Convicted Oct. 28, 2026, of second-degree murder, armed robbery and felon in possession of a firearm; sentencing set for Nov. 5 A Caddo Parish jury took less than an hour on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to convict Kenavion Marquis Baker, 29, of the second-degree murder of Terry Morris, 20, who was shot in the head inside Baker’s north Shreveport home on July 5, 2023. The nine-person jury also found Baker guilty of armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the Caddo District Attorney’s Office, whose account was published by KSLA and KTBS. According to prosecutors, Morris and a friend, Kaleb Washington, went to Baker’s home on Navaho Trail so that Baker could work on Morris’ car. Shortly after they arrived, prosecutors said, Baker shot Morris in the head without provocation. The district attorney’s office said Baker was barred from having the gun because of a prior felony conviction for aggravated flight from an officer. Prosecutors said Baker then robbed Washington of his phone at gunpoint. Washington pleaded for his life, and that plea was overheard by a person who was on the phone with Morris at the time of the shooting. Baker ordered Washington to fetch a blanket to wrap the body and to help load it into Morris’ car, the district attorney’s office said. Baker then drove Washington home. He fled in Morris’ Toyota sedan toward Natchitoches, according to the prosecution’s account. Investigators traced the car through the cellphone, and Baker led authorities on a high-speed chase, often at more than 100 mph according to police reports cited by the Shreveport-Bossier Advocate, down Interstate 49 and west to San Augustine, Texas. There he wrecked the car and ran into a wooded area. He was arrested the next day. Morris’ body was still inside the wrecked car, and the gun used in the shooting was found nearby. The central dispute in closing arguments was the word of the eyewitness, the Advocate reported. Assistant District Attorney Courtney Ray told jurors that Washington’s account that he saw Baker shoot Morris was supported by his “consistent, credible, honest and open” statements throughout the case. “There is no doubt left in this case who killed Terry Morris,” Ray said. Defence attorney Harry Johnson argued that “something in this case just doesn’t add up,” saying Washington “didn’t really tell us what happened that day.” Johnson pointed to forensic pathologist Selly Strauch, who testified that in her opinion the single fatal bullet entered through Morris’ forehead and exited the back of his head, based on heavier bone damage toward the front of the skull. Ray suggested that damage could have come from the fall after the shooting or from the body being driven in the trunk. Jurors also heard physical evidence, the Advocate reported: a ballistics match between the casing at the scene and the 9 mm handgun found after the arrest, a serial number matching an empty gun box at Baker’s home, and DNA matches between Morris’ blood and stains on camouflage pants Baker was seen wearing on surveillance video, the floor of the home, his shoes and the car’s tailgate. Baker faces a mandatory sentence of life at hard labor without probation, parole or reduction of sentence on the murder count, plus 10 to 99 years for armed robbery with an added five years for using a firearm, and five to 20 years on the gun count. Caddo District Judge Donald Hathaway Jr. is scheduled to sentence him on Nov. 5. He was prosecuted by Ray and Stephen Folk-Cruthirds and defended by Johnson and Silver Sanders. Sources Shreveport man convicted in 2023 murder, theft of victim’s car, KSLA, Oct. 29, 2026 Shreveport man convicted in 2023 murder, robbery, KTBS, Oct. 28, 2026 Caddo jury renders verdict for man accused of fleeing murder with Shreveport victim in trunk, Shreveport-Bossier Advocate, Oct. 28, 2026 South Ogden, Utah: James Rios Pleads Guilty to Murdering Neighbor Brandon Kay and Firing on Police in January Standoff Location: Residential street, South Ogden, Weber County; 2nd District Court, Ogden, Utah Legal status: James Joseph Rios, 46, pleaded guilty Oct. 27 (reported Oct. 29) to murder, five counts of attempted murder and aggravated cruelty to an animal under a plea deal reducing aggravated charges; sentencing set for Dec. 14. No agreement on the sentence. The man accused of gunning down his South Ogden neighbor from inside his own house last January, then trading fire with police until the early hours, has pleaded guilty. James Joseph Rios, 46, entered guilty pleas in 2nd District Court in Ogden on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated cruelty to an animal, KSL reported Thursday. He is due to be sentenced on Dec. 14 for the shooting of Brandon Kay, 45. The plea came under a deal with the Weber County Attorney’s Office. The murder and attempted murder counts, both first-degree felonies, were reduced from aggravated murder and aggravated attempted murder. A count of attempted aggravated murder carrying a possible domestic violence enhancement was dismissed, along with five counts of felony discharge of a firearm. The animal cruelty count is a class A misdemeanor. According to KSL, the two sides reached no agreement on the sentence, but Rios waived any mitigation claim “based on his mental state at the time the offenses were committed or any time leading up to the time the offenses were committed.” The narrative attached to the plea agreement sets out what happened on the night of Jan. 8. Rios, firing a weapon from inside his home, shot Kay after Kay stepped out of his nearby house on hearing gunfire. Kay was hit in the stomach and the head. His son, who had come out with him, was shot in the foot. Three officers reported being fired on: a Weber County Sheriff’s Office deputy and two South Ogden police officers. When police arrived, the narrative says, Rios “was barricaded inside his house, was refusing to come out and was still armed after firing several shots from inside the home, and continued to fire shots over the course of the incident.” He also shot and killed the Kay family’s dog, a dachshund. Earlier court documents said Rios also fired at his own daughter as she fled the house after officers arrived, and at a tactical officer called to the scene. More than 30 emergency vehicles converged on the neighborhood as the standoff ran into the early morning of Jan. 9, when Rios surrendered. Police found a long rifle and several bullet casings in the house. According to the original charging documents, Rios confessed and attributed his actions to “internal anger”; the documents gave no other motive. Kay survived for several days. He died on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and prosecutors amended the complaint that day to aggravated murder, writing that he “died from the gunshot wounds and injuries inflicted by Rios when he shot (him) on Jan. 8.” The case then stalled over Rios’s mental state. In March a judge found him incompetent to stand trial and ordered further evaluation. On June 2, Judge Reuben Renstrom issued a certification of competency, which is not public, and on June 16 he ordered Rios released from the Utah State Hospital unit that treats defendants found not competent. Kay’s wife, Mandy Kay, told FOX 13 in July that they had been married 25 years and that their son was recovering well. “He was a hero to me. He truly was. He loved me like nobody else could,” she said. She described her husband as patient and kind, “a big teddy bear,” and said he forgave the man who shot him within minutes of waking up in hospital. Her colleagues at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind held a fundraiser to help the family after the loss of his income. Sources South Ogden man pleads guilty to murder in Jan. 8 incident that spurred mass police response, KSL.com, 29 Oct 2026 South Ogden man in ambush-style shooting dies; neighbor now facing murder charge, KSL.com, 14 Jan 2026 Six months after deadly South Ogden shooting, family remembers husband and father, FOX 13 News, 15 Jul 2026 Upper Arlington, Ohio: Retired Ohio State Professor, 77, Gets Life for Stabbing Wife Mary Hill, 64, After Telling Police He Was Being Sextorted Location: 1500 block of Fishinger Road, Upper Arlington, Franklin County, Ohio, United States Legal status: James Hill, 77, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, and was sentenced the same day by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young to life in prison, with first parole eligibility after 15 years. The plea and sentence. James Hill, a retired Ohio State University professor, pleaded guilty on October 28 in the November 2025 killing of his wife, Mary Hill, 64, and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 15 years, The Columbus Dispatch reported. He will be 91 before he is first eligible for parole. The two outlets describe the plea differently. The Dispatch reported that Hill pleaded guilty to murder and to prohibitions concerning companion animals, a charge linked to his attempt to stab the couple’s dog. ABC6/WSYX reported that he pleaded guilty to murder and no contest to aggravated murder. When first charged in November 2025, Hill faced a count of premeditated aggravated murder, WSYX reported at the time. He missed his first scheduled arraignment because he was hospitalized for treatment, WSYX reported. The killing. On November 9, 2025, Hill stabbed his wife inside the couple’s home on the 1500 block of Fishinger Road in Upper Arlington, a Columbus suburb, according to the Dispatch. According to court records cited by WSYX in 2025, Mary Hill had hidden his guns years earlier. When he could not find one, he used a kitchen knife. Hill told police he began by rubbing his wife’s shoulders, and when she said it felt good, he stabbed her in the chest, WSYX reported. He said she looked at him and that he apologized while holding her as she died. He then tried to stab the couple’s dog, which ran away. Court records say he deleted photos and documents from his computer before calling 911 and stabbing himself. He survived. The 911 call lasted 19 seconds; he gave his address, said police and an ambulance were needed, and hung up. The sextortion claim. According to court records, Hill told police he had exchanged nude photos with a woman he met through a dating app. That Sunday morning, she demanded $15,000 in Apple gift cards and threatened to release the images if he did not pay. Hill told police he saw no other way out than to kill his wife and himself, and the Dispatch reported that he said he killed her to spare her the shame. No one has been publicly identified or charged over the alleged extortion. Who he was. Hill, 76 at the time of the killing, retired from Ohio State, where he was involved in the university’s music program. News of his arrest came as the school was preparing a celebration of that program in which alumni were invited to perform with current students. “Everyone was shocked. Nobody could have seen this coming,” a former student told WSYX at the time, describing Hill as level-headed. Ohio made sextortion a felony under House Bill 531, known as Braden’s Law, which raises the offense to a first-degree felony when the target is a minor or an elderly person. Rachel Wilder, who helped bring that bill forward, told WSYX in 2025 that police had described sextortion to her as one of the fastest-growing cyber crimes. Sources He killed his wife to escape sextortion. He’ll be 91 before parole, The Columbus Dispatch, Oct 28, 2026 Former Ohio State professor sentenced to life in wife’s murder, ABC6/WSYX, Oct 28, 2026 Former Ohio State professor accused of murder claims sextortion led to crime, ABC6/WSYX, Nov 12, 2025 Who was Mary Hill, killed by husband who cops say claimed sextortion?, The Columbus Dispatch, Mar 2, 2026 Vancouver, Washington: Jury Convicts Travis Ward of First-Degree Murder in Halloween Shooting of James Perez at Vancouver Mall Location: Second-floor food court, Vancouver Mall, Vancouver, Washington, United States Legal status: Travis Ward, 33, convicted by a Clark County Superior Court jury on Thursday, October 29, 2026, of first-degree murder, two counts of assault, two counts of witness tampering and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm; acquitted of one firearm possession count. Sentencing set for Nov. 20. The verdict. A Clark County Superior Court jury on Thursday, October 29, convicted Travis Ward of first-degree murder for shooting two men, killing one, during a Halloween trick-or-treat event at Vancouver Mall in 2024, The Columbian reported. Jurors reached the verdict after a few hours of deliberation on Thursday morning, KGW reported. Ward was found guilty on six counts: first-degree murder, two counts of assault (first and second degree, according to The Columbian), two counts of witness tampering and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm. He was acquitted on one firearm possession count. Outlets differ on which degree of the firearm charge ended in acquittal: KGW says he was acquitted of second-degree unlawful possession, while KPTV and The Columbian list second-degree unlawful possession among the convictions. The Columbian and KATU give his age as 33; KPTV gives 32. Sentencing is set for Nov. 20 at 1:30 p.m. Family members of the victims were in court for the verdict and told KPTV they were saving their comments for sentencing. Closing arguments. Jurors heard closing arguments on Wednesday, October 28, over whether he planned to kill James Perez before shooting him in the food court of Vancouver Mall on Halloween night 2024, KGW reported. The prosecution wrapped up its case that morning. The defense called no witnesses and Ward did not testify. Defense attorney Al McClain did not dispute that Ward killed Perez. “Look, this was not a case of mistaken identity. Travis Ward killed Mr. Perez. He did. We all saw it,” he told jurors. He argued that the state had proved an intentional killing but not premeditation, which he described as “thinking beforehand, deliberation, reflection, weighing or reasoning before forming the intent to take a human life.” Jurors may consider second-degree murder if they are not convinced of first-degree murder or cannot agree on it. The prosecution’s case. Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Smith called the shooting a calculated execution driven by anger over Perez’s past relationship with Ward’s girlfriend. “On that Halloween, the defendant hid his face behind a clown mask, but he could not hide the anger he carried for Mr. Perez,” she said. She told jurors Ward followed Perez through the food court and “fired a point blank bullet directly into the back of Mr. Perez’s head, followed by multiple rage-fueled shots to the groin.” She argued that getting rid of the mask showed consciousness of guilt. The night of October 31, 2024. The shooting happened around 7:30 p.m. during a family trick-or-treating event in the mall’s second-floor food court. Two bystanders were wounded. Daniel Martin testified that he was shot in the foot, and a second man, Brandon Leyrer (spelled Layrer by KPTV), was shot in the stomach, Hoodline reported, citing KPTV. Witness Isabella Villet told jurors she lost her job afterward and has struggled to find work “with my level of anxiety and PTSD.” Vancouver police arrested Ward two days later at the apartment he shared with his girlfriend, their daughter and his mother. Testimony. Ward’s girlfriend, Aniecia Jenkins, testified that she and Perez had a sexual relationship while she and Ward were broken up, and that Ward was angry about it. KPTV reported she testified that Ward called her from jail, asked her to get rid of his clothes from that night and told her not to show up for court even if subpoenaed, and “not to go against him.” Ward’s mother, Adrienne Ward, testified that the family had been at the mall collecting candy and that she did not see the shooting. Shown still images from security video, she identified the man in the mask as her son. Jurors saw surveillance footage, played without sound, of the shooter following a man into the food court and shooting him from behind. In opening statements the defense said “one of the principal issues in this case is going to be identification,” Hoodline reported, citing Yahoo News, and noted that the gun and mask were never recovered and that none of the eight shell casings carried Ward’s DNA. Investigators said they recovered clothing at a waste transfer station. Sources Vancouver Mall Halloween shooter found guilty of first-degree murder, KGW, Oct 29, 2026 Jury convicts man of murder in Halloween 2024 shooting at Vancouver Mall, The Columbian, Tyler Brown, Oct 29, 2026 Jury finds man guilty of first-degree murder in Vancouver Mall Halloween shooting, KPTV, Oct 29, 2026 Man found guilty of Murder in 2024 shooting at Trick-or-Treat event in Vancouver Mall, KATU, Oct 29, 2026 In closing arguments of Vancouver Mall murder trial, defense concedes Travis Ward killed James Perez, disputes premeditation, KGW, Oct 28, 2026 Vancouver Mall murder trial continues as jurors see video of Halloween shooting for the first time, KGW, Oct 26, 2026 Vancouver Mall Halloween Shooting Trial Hears Survivors Describe Being Shot in Food Court, Hoodline, Oct 27, 2026 Calling Lake, Alberta: Three Charged With Murder in Death of Fiasal Hussein, 12, Who Called 911 to Say He Had Been Kidnapped Location: Rural area of Calling Lake, about 200 kilometres north of Edmonton, Alberta Legal status: Cole Morin and Curtis Brown charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping; Rachel Stuart charged with second-degree murder. All remanded; next appearance Nov. 9 in Athabasca Court of Justice. All presumed innocent. Three Edmonton residents have been charged in the death of Fiasal Hussein, a 12-year-old Edmonton boy whose remains were found in a rural area near Calling Lake, Alta., in August after a 911 caller told police he had been kidnapped and injured, Alberta RCMP announced on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Cole Morin, 34, and Curtis Brown, 36, are each charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping. Rachel Stuart, 36, is charged with second-degree murder, CBC News reported. The RCMP news release gave the ages and charges without names; CBC identified the accused. The 911 call. At about 3:22 a.m. on Aug. 6, Athabasca RCMP received a 911 call from an unknown person who said they had been kidnapped and were injured, according to the RCMP. Insp. Wayne Stevenson of the RCMP’s serious crime branch told a news conference in Edmonton that police now believe the caller was Fiasal. The call came from the Calling Lake area, and spotty cellphone reception made it hard for dispatchers to assess what was happening, Stevenson said. Officers who arrived found a vehicle that had been reported stolen in Edmonton, with evidence of an attack. Stevenson did not describe the nature of that evidence. At about 9 a.m., during a search of the area, police found the remains of an adolescent, later identified as Fiasal. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Edmonton ruled the death a homicide. The arrests. On Oct. 24, more than 60 police personnel executed search warrants at residences across Edmonton and arrested the three accused, with help from the Edmonton Police Service and the Alberta Sheriffs. The RCMP said more than 100 officers worked on the investigation, including digital forensic, emergency response, tactical and forensic identification units. All three were remanded into custody and appeared in the Athabasca Court of Justice on Oct. 26. Their next court date is Nov. 9 in Athabasca. What police alleged and withheld. Stevenson said Fiasal “was associated with people involved in criminality” and knew the three accused, and alleged that the boy was lured from his home before he was killed. Police did not explain the relationship between Fiasal and the accused, how he left his house, or how he was killed. Sgt. James McConnell of the RCMP major crimes unit said those details form part of the investigation and will be presented in court. “The exact specifics and motive of this homicide are still part of the ongoing investigation,” McConnell said. “A 12-year-old child did not deserve to be lured from their home and murdered,” McConnell said in the RCMP release. “Whatever challenges or choices may have led to his untimely death, he was still a child with a future ahead of him. This was a cruel and heartbreaking act, and our thoughts remain with his loved ones as they grieve an unimaginable loss.” “Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children and that’s what we have in this case,” McConnell told reporters. The arrests came 11 weeks after the 911 call. None of the allegations has been tested in court. Sources Three face murder charges in death of 12-year-old boy found in rural Alberta, CBC News, 28 Oct 2026 RCMP Major Crimes Unit investigating Athabasca homicide ‐ Update, Alberta RCMP, 28 Oct 2026 Ottawa: Fsha Tekhle Testifies He “Did Not Know What I Was Doing” When He Stabbed Brkti Berhe, Mother of Four, in a Park Location: Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Ottawa; near Paul Landry Park, Ottawa, Ontario Legal status: Fsha Tekhle has admitted causing the death of Brkti Berhe and offered a plea to manslaughter, which the Crown rejected; he has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, which is unproven. The man who stabbed his fiancée’s niece to death in an Ottawa park in October 2024 took the stand in his own defence this week, telling jurors through Tigrinya interpreters that he did not realize he had stabbed Brkti Berhe until he saw her on the ground, and later that he cut her neck unintentionally “like I was crazy,” CBC News reported on Wednesday, Oct. 28. The killing. Brkti Berhe, 36, a mother of four, was killed on the morning of Oct. 24, 2024, as she walked with her two youngest children and pushed a stroller. Fsha Tekhle admits causing her death. He offered a plea to manslaughter at the outset of his judge and jury trial, but the Crown rejected it and he is being tried on first-degree murder, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Brkti Berhe and her family had been sheltering her aunt, Ngsti Berhe, Tekhle’s estranged fiancée, who testified that she fled their Montreal home on Oct. 7, 2024, after two alleged physical assaults by Tekhle. The Crown’s theory. Prosecutor Tasha Bobrovitz put to Tekhle that he had become “obsessed” with getting Ngsti Berhe back and was angry at her relatives for failing to make her return, drove from Montreal to Ottawa on Oct. 23 and 24 to “exact revenge,” and, when Ngsti Berhe left the apartment complex that morning to pick up medicine, “decided to kill Brkti instead.” “No, that’s completely not true,” Tekhle replied. He said a message he sent on Oct. 23 in Tigrinya, “there will be a price to pay because nothing goes without a price,” meant she would answer to God. He disputed translations referring to him “beating” Ngsti Berhe, saying he slapped her once after she slapped him. His account. Questioned by defence lawyer Alan Brass, Tekhle said he drove to Ottawa to return clothes and household items his fiancée had left in Montreal, including the knife used in the attack. He said he saw Ngsti Berhe leave in a car, tried to catch up, then saw Brkti Berhe with the stroller and turned around to give the items to her. He said she began calling him names, including “agame,” a slur he said guards used when he was jailed in Eritrea after trying to flee military service in 2008. “I did not know what I was doing, I grabbed some item,” he said. In the gallery, Brkti Berhe’s husband, Waldab Goitom, folded his hands in front of his face as if in prayer. Cross-examination. Bobrovitz said Brkti Berhe had 26 sharp force wounds to the most vulnerable parts of her body; an officer earlier estimated a neck wound cut through about 80 per cent of her neck. “I didn’t count, but if you say so,” Tekhle said. He acknowledged a bystander’s testimony that he approached her from behind with his hood up and a knife covered by what looked like a blanket, but said, “It didn’t happen.” Asked about cutting her neck, he said: “I was acting like a madman. I did not do anything intentionally.” He denied sending an audio message after the attack saying Ngsti Berhe escaped but he killed Brkti Berhe, which Ngsti Berhe and Helen Kabade testified they heard; he said it was a text. He said a Facebook post translated as “it is finished” referred to his own ruined life. Jurors are expected to receive final instructions next week. Sources ‘I did not know what I was doing’: Man who killed Brkti Berhe testifies in his own defence, CBC News, 28 Oct 2026 Prince Albert: Final Two Men Sentenced in Killing of Rocky Meechance Inside Saskatchewan Penitentiary Location: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada Legal status: All six accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter and have now been sentenced; George Custer and Rene Merasty sentenced Oct. 27, 2026 The prosecution of a six-on-one attack that killed an inmate inside Saskatchewan Penitentiary ended on Tuesday, Oct. 27, when the last two of the men involved were sentenced at the Court of King’s Bench in Prince Albert. Rocky Meechance was 29 when he was attacked and stabbed in the maximum-security J unit of the federal prison in January 2024. CBC News gives the date of the attack as Jan. 19, 2024, while paNOW, which has followed every court appearance in the case, reports it as Jan. 29, 2024. Six men were originally charged with second-degree murder. All six ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter. George Custer and Rene Merasty, the final two, entered their pleas in June, which vacated a jury trial that had been scheduled for them, according to paNOW. Their sentencing hearings were set at that time for Oct. 27. At Tuesday’s hearing, Crown prosecutor Rob Parker described in court how the attack unfolded, as reported by CBC News. It began, he said, when a group of inmates in the shower area started assaulting a man related to Meechance. paNOW identifies that man as Meechance’s brother, Austin, and reports that Meechance was on the phone when he was alerted that his brother was being assaulted in the nearby shower room. An earlier family statement cited by paNOW said he had been talking to his wife on the phone at the time. According to Parker, Meechance got up to go and help, but was intercepted by a second group of inmates, who attacked him. The prosecutor told court the attack was planned. He said an inmate later gave a statement that the goal was to get Meechance and his relative moved to another unit. “One of the ways to get somebody moved off of the unit is by doing something which shows up on camera, so it forces the corrections staff … to move the victim or the persons involved,” Parker said, as quoted by CBC News. Custer and Merasty were in the group that attacked Meechance. Parker said Merasty punched and kicked him, and Custer stabbed him four times, causing injuries to his lower back and buttocks. Those were not the fatal wounds. The Crown said another man, Tyrel Munroe, stabbed Meechance twice in the upper back, penetrating his lung, which ultimately led to his death. Another inmate, who has not been named, was taken to Victoria Hospital with injuries described as serious, paNOW reported. Munroe, whom Parker described as responsible for planning the attack, was sentenced in March to 15 years for manslaughter. paNOW reported at the time that Tyrel Peequaquat (Munroe), 27, had roughly 14 years remaining after remand credit and received a lifetime firearms prohibition. The other three men who assaulted Meechance, Dominick Cochrane, Wyatt Crookedneck and Jonathan Soosay, were sentenced earlier; Cochrane and Crookedneck are serving six years and Soosay eight years, CBC News reported. On Tuesday, Parker and defence lawyers Mike Nolin, for Custer, and Brady Knight, for Merasty, presented joint sentencing recommendations to Justice Ron Mills. Custer received 10 years, to run concurrently with the life sentence he is already serving for a separate murder. Merasty received nine years, to be served consecutively to a separate manslaughter sentence. Asked whether they wished to address the court, both men said they did not. Mills accepted the joint recommendations. Sources Final 2 men sentenced for killing inmate at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, CBC News, Oct. 28, 2026 Sask. Pen manslaughter case concludes with final sentencings, paNOW, Oct. 27, 2026 Additional guilty pleas entered for fatal assault at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, paNOW, June 23, 2026 Man receives 15 year sentence for involvement in fellow inmate’s death at Sask. Pen, paNOW, Mar. 18, 2026 Quebec City, Quebec: Beauport Home Daycare Operator Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder of 14-Month-Old Girl; Judge Calls 12-Year Parole Proposal Too Lenient Location: Beauport borough, Quebec City, Quebec Legal status: Guenuite Mubwaka, 27, pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to second-degree murder and to assaulting two other infants; mandatory life sentence imposed, parole eligibility period still to be set after a hearing expected Nov. 3. A woman who ran a home daycare in the Beauport borough of Quebec City pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Oct. 28, to the second-degree murder of a 14-month-old girl in her care, days before she was due to stand trial for first-degree murder. Guenuite Mubwaka, 27, also admitted assaulting two other babies at the daycare, Le Droit and The Canadian Press reported. The plea was entered at the Quebec City courthouse. The girl has not been publicly named in the reports, and she is not named here. Le Droit reported that Mubwaka opened the home daycare in November 2023 and that the girl attended from the day it opened. In January and February 2024, the child came home with injuries, including scratches on her back and bruises behind her ears. Her mother raised them with Mubwaka, who insisted the injuries had not happened at the daycare. On the morning of March 21, 2024, the girl arrived at the Beauport residence as usual, standing upright and showing no symptoms, according to the facts read in court. Shortly after 9 a.m., emergency services were called about an unconscious child. Le Droit reported that Mubwaka’s partner made the call and that she could be heard in the background, panicked. When first responders arrived, the girl was vomiting and her pupils did not react. Early observations pointed to a severe head injury. She was taken to hospital, then transferred to the CHUL for surgery, and was later moved to comfort care. She died in her parents’ arms on March 22, 2024. Experts concluded the death was caused by shaking and several violent impacts, Le Droit reported, and any accidental cause was “formally and categorically” excluded. The injuries were inflicted after the girl arrived at the daycare that morning. Investigators recovered footage from cameras installed in the daycare. The Canadian Press reported that the footage showed Mubwaka had been abusing the girl for several months and that she also targeted two other children. Le Droit, whose reporters were allowed to view the videos, which had been under a publication ban until the plea, described Mubwaka forcing the child to sit on the floor, repeatedly lifting and dropping her, and forcing pieces of banana into her mouth while her head was tilted back. In one clip, Le Droit reported, she moved the camera so the girl was out of frame, and seconds later the child could be heard screaming. Justice François Huot of Quebec Superior Court, who had seen the footage during pretrial motions, said in court that no one recovers from seeing those images. The families chose not to view the evidence. The girl’s mother, father and both grandmothers gave victim impact statements. “You stole my daughter. You tore away her future,” the mother told the court, according to Le Droit, which described the girl as mischievous, expressive and playful. The Canadian Press reported that the Crown and defence jointly recommended a 12-year period before parole eligibility. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, and Le Droit reported that the life term was imposed. Huot said he was surprised by the joint proposal and called it too lenient, ordering the lawyers back to court on Tuesday to justify it. Le Droit reported the plea spared a difficult six-week trial. Asked by the judge whether she had anything to say to the family present in court, Mubwaka made no comment. The parole eligibility period will be decided after the lawyers return to court. Sources Daycare worker pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder of Quebec City toddler, The Canadian Press via Yahoo News Canada, 28 Oct 2026 Une gardienne coupable d’avoir tué un bébé de 14 mois, Le Droit, 28 Oct 2026 Une gardienne admet avoir tué une fillette de 14 mois, Le Journal de Québec, 28 Oct 2026 Latin America, Africa and the Middle East Durban, South Africa: Tracking Data Puts Grey Polo on Florida Road as AKA and Tibz Murder Trial Hears From Cartrack Expert Location: Durban High Court; Florida Road and Umhlanga, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Legal status: Seven men on trial for the murders of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane. All presumed innocent. The Durban High Court on Wednesday, Oct. 28, allowed the State to call a vehicle tracking expert in the murder trial of seven men accused of killing rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and celebrity chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, and heard testimony that GPS data placed a grey Volkswagen Polo near a hotel in Umhlanga and later on Florida Road, where the two men were shot dead. The accused are Lindokuhle Mkhwanazi, Lindani Zenzele Ndimande, Siyanda Eddie Myeza, Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande, and brothers Malusi Dave Ndimande and Siyabonga Gezani Ndimande, IOL reported. The objection. When Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Lawrence Gcaba called Carel Dreyer Rothman, a fleet administration expert from Cartrack, defence lawyers objected. Advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa, for Mkhwanazi and Myeza, argued that the defence had not received the witness’s full affidavit and needed it to consult their clients and their own expert, because the evidence was technical and no report explained how he reached his findings. Advocate Musa Mzelemu, for Lindani Zenzele Ndimande and Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande, said the State had provided printouts but no expert report with the underlying analysis. “We have not been given his credentials for him to testify as an expert,” he said. Advocate William Nicholson SC, for Gwabeni, and Advocate Garth Leppan, for the Ndimande brothers, also raised concerns about the brevity of the affidavit. Gcaba said the defence had been given the affidavit and two reports. “It’s inaccurate that they have not been furnished with the affidavit of this witness,” he said. Judge Nomfundo Sipunzi asked why the defence could not challenge anything beyond the affidavit in cross-examination, as it had done with other witnesses, and how she could rule on evidence she had not yet heard. “I have not found a basis upon which I may not allow this witness to testify,” she ruled, saying she would give her reasons in her judgment at the end of the trial. What the tracking showed. Rothman told the court that GPS data placed a grey Polo near a hotel in Umhlanga and later on Florida Road, SABC News reported. Gcaba presented records showing the car on Florida Road between 9:10 p.m. and 10:24 p.m. The court heard that another hired light vehicle placed at the scene had similar routes and ignition times, suggesting the two may have been following each other. Rothman noted that one satellite image did not show the hotel because it was taken in 2014. The CCTV identification. Earlier, Constable Rajen Saunder, who analysed surveillance footage in the case, conceded under cross-examination that he is not a trained facial comparison practitioner. The footage shows a man the State alleges was spotting Forbes at Wish restaurant on Florida Road, and another person allegedly following the rapper’s entourage from King Shaka International Airport to the Hilton Garden Inn in Umhlanga. The State alleges the spotter was Lindokuhle Mhlaliseni Ndimande and the follower Gwabeni. “All of that is based on your personal observation, not on any skill?” Mzelemu asked. “It’s my human observation with my experience,” Saunder replied. He said he had spent about 10 months examining the footage almost every day. “So yes, I stand by my statement.” He told Mlotshwa that the investigating team did not hold progress meetings; the investigating officer assigned specific tasks. Sources AKA murder trial: Judge allows Cartrack expert to testify, IOL, 28 Oct 2026 AKA murder trial: Defence questions police officer’s facial identification skills, IOL, 28 Oct 2026 Vehicle tracking data takes centre stage in AKA, Tibz murder trial, SABC News, 28 Oct 2026 Esquina, Argentina: Body of Rural Teacher Nancy Godoy Found Half-Submerged Three Weeks After She Vanished; Five in Custody Location: Paraje El Malezal, about 2.5 kilometres from Rural School No. 626 at the El Curupí estancia, Esquina department, Corrientes province Legal status: Ireneo Felipe Zarza, Felipe Dionisio Sandoval and Nahuel Rojas accused as co-perpetrators of femicide; Rosa Leguizamón accused of simple homicide as co-perpetrator; Ernesto Ezequiel Bordón accused of false testimony. All held in preventive detention. All presumed innocent. Police searching on horseback on Wednesday, Oct. 28, found the body of Nancy Estela Godoy, a 52-year-old rural schoolteacher, half-submerged in an old paddock in the remote El Malezal area of Esquina department, Corrientes province, 21 days after she was last heard from. Infobae, citing judicial sources, said the spot was about 2.5 kilometres from the school where she worked, in an area of “very difficult access” with no mobile signal that had not yet been searched. Clarín put it about five kilometres from the main house of the El Curupí estancia. A bag she used to carry her clothes and belongings was found a few metres away. Infobae said the body was found by police officer Pablo Aguirre. Prosecutors Javier Gustavo Mosquera and María Andrea González flew to the scene by helicopter and ordered it preserved for forensic teams. The body, badly decomposed and affected by water and wildlife, was taken by helicopter to the forensic medical institute in the city of Corrientes for an autopsy and DNA identification. Clarín reported that a police doctor’s initial examination found injuries to the arms and hands consistent with defensive wounds. The cause and time of death will help investigators narrow the analysis of the suspects’ phones. The school and the last message. Godoy was the acting principal and sole teacher since August at Rural School No. 626, which operates on the El Curupí estancia. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, she arrived at the estancia and was driven by pickup to an outpost known as Puesto 9, where Rosa Leguizamón waited with horses to take her the roughly 90 minutes to the school, Clarín reported. She last contacted her family at about 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Contact was always sporadic because of the lack of signal, so the silence did not alarm her children. She had been due back from the rural area two days later. Her family reported her missing on Oct. 15, and a large search began the following day. The five detained. Ireneo Felipe Zarza, 34, a foreman at El Curupí, is accused of femicide and is considered by prosecutors the main suspect. Witnesses place him in a ruined shack about 150 metres from the school, where he usually slept, in the hours before Godoy disappeared. Investigators found burned clothing there, including a jacket, along with empty whisky bottles; the clothing will undergo DNA testing. Witnesses said he drank whisky there and became aggressive. Felipe Dionisio Sandoval, 55, another foreman, is also accused of femicide as a co-perpetrator; prosecutors have not described his alleged role. Infobae gave the date of the foremen’s arrests as Oct. 21 and, for Sandoval, Oct. 22. Leguizamón and her partner, Nahuel Rojas, were first detained on suspicion of aggravated concealment over contradictions in their statements. Prosecutors later accused Rojas of femicide as a co-perpetrator and Leguizamón of simple homicide as a co-perpetrator; the femicide aggravation does not apply to a woman under the law, Clarín noted. Prosecutors allege she misled Godoy about whether she could get back to Esquina that weekend, and they found inconsistencies about a horse festival in Sauce she said she attended. A black jacket and two espadrilles that may have belonged to Godoy were seized from her home. Her lawyer, Marcos Neironi, told Clarín: “In my view there is no involvement of hers in the event.” He said her teenage son would give a recorded statement on Friday. Ernesto Ezequiel Bordón, a farmhand, is held on a charge of aggravated false testimony, not homicide. He told police Godoy had been killed and her body thrown into a marsh, then retracted, saying he had said it so police would stop beating him. His lawyer says the statement is invalid. Four knives, a shirt and work trousers with reddish stains were seized from his home for testing. Judge Jorge Gustavo Vallejos ordered all five held in preventive detention until trial. The theory and the family’s doubts. Investigators believe four people took part in a plan and have not ruled out a sexual attack, Infobae reported; Clarín said that is the prosecution’s main hypothesis. Godoy’s family has not ruled out a link to complaints she made about the abandoned state of the school. Residents of Esquina marched again on Wednesday evening, joined by her husband and children. All five suspects are presumed innocent. Sources Quiénes son los cinco detenidos por el femicidio de Nancy Godoy, la docente asesinada en Corrientes, Infobae, 28 Oct 2026 Encontraron el cuerpo de Nancy Godoy, la docente asesinada en Corrientes, Infobae, 28 Oct 2026 Encontraron el cuerpo de Nancy Godoy, la maestra rural que había desaparecido en Corrientes, Clarín, 28 Oct 2026 Buenos Aires, Argentina: Prosecutor Seeks Life for Man Charged With Burning Four Lesbian Women in a Barracas Hotel Room, Killing Three Location: Hotel on Calle Olavarría 1600 block, Barracas, Buenos Aires, Argentina Legal status: Justo Fernando Barrientos, 69, is on trial charged with aggravated homicide of three women and attempted homicide of a fourth. On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, the prosecution asked for life in prison. The defense closes on November 11 and the verdict is scheduled for November 18. He is presumed innocent until the court rules. Life sentence requested. On Wednesday, October 28, prosecutor general Juan Manuel Fernández Buzzi asked Oral Criminal and Correctional Court No. 5 of the City of Buenos Aires to sentence Justo Fernando Barrientos, 69, to life in prison, the Public Prosecutor’s Office reported on its site, fiscales.gob.ar. Barrientos is the only person charged in what Argentine media call the Barracas massacre. The prosecution asked that he be convicted of homicide aggravated by gender violence, by hatred of sexual orientation, by cruelty and by the use of a means capable of creating a common danger, committed against three women, and attempted homicide against a fourth. “The motive of the crime was hatred,” the prosecutor said. “It was not just any homicide: he set them on fire deliberately, with the aim of burning them alive, so that they would suffer and agonize.” The complainant lawyers representing the victims’ families, the survivor and the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans people (FALGBT+) also asked for life, Agencia Noticias Argentinas reported. The fire. According to the prosecution, on the night of May 5, 2024, Barrientos threw a flammable substance into the room the four women shared in a hotel on the 1600 block of Calle Olavarría and aimed at the mattress where they were resting. When one of them tried to get out as the fire spread, he struck her and pushed her back, the prosecutor said. Noticias Argentinas reported that the women went to the showers to ease their burns and that the attacker set them on fire again. Investigators found a bucket that, according to firefighters, smelled of alcohol and may have been used to light the substance. Neighbours saw Barrientos flee to the hotel roof, where firefighters found him. The victims. Pamela Cobbas died on May 6, 2024, and Mercedes Figueroa on May 8; autopsies found critical burns over 90 percent of their bodies. Andrea Amarante died on May 12 with burns over 75 percent of her body. The prosecution’s account and the Noticias Argentinas report give the second victim’s family name as Figueroa but differ on her first name. The survivor, Sofía Castro Riglos, then 49, suffered burns to her arms, hands and face and was discharged from the Burn Institute on June 3, 2024. On medical advice she did not testify at trial; her account came in through records and two witnesses who spoke with her, to whom she described a “tall, thin, grey-haired” man who threw “something on fire” into the room and who “bothered” them. Motive and defense. Witnesses testified that Barrientos called the women “tortilleras,” a slur for lesbians, and said he “could not even look at them,” the prosecutor said. “They lived harassed and discriminated against by Barrientos for being lesbians and for being women.” In his statement to investigators, Barrientos said he argued with the women, that “something happened” and that he then “lost his head.” The prosecution called his account “confused and mendacious.” The court, judges Adrián Pérez Lance, Juan Manuel Grangeat and Cinthia Oberlander, will hear the defense on November 11 and is scheduled to deliver its verdict on November 18, when Barrientos may say his last words. Sources “El motivo del crimen fue el odio”: pidieron prisión perpetua para el hombre acusado de matar a tres mujeres lesbianas dentro de un hotel en Barracas, Fiscales.gob.ar, Oct 28, 2026 Masacre de Barracas: la Fiscalía pidió prisión perpetua contra Barrientos y se conoció la fecha del veredicto, Agencia Noticias Argentinas, Oct 28, 2026 Formosa, Argentina: Husband Admits Killing Gisela Mendoza as Femicide Trial Opens Location: Formosa, Formosa Province, Argentina Legal status: Trial opened Oct 28, 2026; accused admitted the killing in court; charged with aggravated homicide; presumed innocent pending verdict The femicide trial of Francisco Javier Leguizamón, accused of killing his wife, Gisela Agustina Mendoza, 37, opened in Formosa on Wednesday, Oct 28, and on the first day he told the court that he killed her, according to Guaú Formosa and Diario La Mañana. Her family is asking for life imprisonment. Leguizamón has not been convicted and remains presumed innocent until the court rules. The case is before the First Criminal Chamber of the province, made up of judges Viviana Taboada, Lilian Fernández and Ramón Alberto Sala, La Mañana reported. Trial prosecutor Pedro Gustavo Schaeffer leads the accusation, and public defender Lucio Leiva represents Leguizamón. He is charged with homicide aggravated by the marital bond, by treachery and by gender violence. La Mañana noted that the charge carries life imprisonment as the only possible sentence. Judge Rubén Antonio Spessot, who sent the case to trial, had also listed aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty. Gisela, known to many as Gisel, was killed on Sunday, July 13, 2025. According to Spessot’s ruling, as summarised by La Mañana this week and by Guaú Formosa in October 2025, the couple had been separated for some months because of domestic violence. The judge found that Leguizamón went to her home in the Fontana neighbourhood, used deception to persuade her to leave with him, and took her on her motorcycle to an open lot at Avenida Alicia Moreau de Justo and the railway line in the San Antonio neighbourhood, near the cemetery. There, following a plan made in advance, he attacked her and killed her, the judge found. She died of blows to the head, and police found a stone at the scene, La Mañana reported. The outlets place the visit at about 9:30 a.m. or about 10 a.m. In his statement on Wednesday, La Mañana reported, Leguizamón linked the killing to an argument over the end of the relationship. He said Gisela told him she did not want to continue with him. He said he did not remember parts of what happened but admitted killing her. He described leaving on her motorcycle, buying groceries at a supermarket, stopping at his home and then returning the motorcycle to her house. Spessot’s ruling said he handed the keys to her father without a word. That same day, according to both outlets, he exchanged messages with her young daughter, asking repeatedly whether her mother had come home. The family’s lawyer, Miriam Maza, told Guaú Formosa that the defence may argue he acted under violent emotion, which could reduce the sentence. “We are going for life, obviously,” she said. Patricia Olmedo, a close friend, told Guaú Formosa that she saw Leguizamón beat Gisela on many occasions and urged her to report him. She said Gisela stayed because of her religious convictions: “I swore before God to be with my husband.” Gisela was the mother of three. Guaú Formosa described her as working in elderly care; La Mañana called her a nurse. Her brother, Luis Fernando Mendoza, said the children received psychological support and now live with relatives. “It is reliving what happened,” he told La Mañana. “For a crime of this magnitude, there cannot be a lesser sentence.” He, their father Hilario Mendoza, their sister Stella Maris Mendoza and Olmedo were due to testify on Thursday, Oct 29. Sources Femicidio de Gisela Mendoza: el acusado reconoció ser el autor del crimen y la querella buscará la prisión perpetua, Guaú Formosa, Oct 28, 2026 Femicidio de Gisela Mendoza: el acusado confesó el crimen en el inicio del juicio oral, Diario La Mañana, Oct 29, 2026 En el inicio del juicio por el femicidio de Gisel Mendoza, su familia pidió “prisión perpetua” para Leguizamón, Diario La Mañana, Oct 29, 2026 Procesan con prisión preventiva al acusado por el femicidio de Gisel Mendoza, Guaú Formosa, Oct 31, 2025 Gualeguay, Argentina: Néstor Pavón Goes on Trial as Alleged Co-Author of Micaela García Femicide Location: Gualeguay, Entre Ríos, Argentina Legal status: Retrial opened Oct 29, 2026 on Supreme Court order; accused as co-author; prosecution will seek life; presumed innocent Nine years after the killing that gave its name to Argentina’s Ley Micaela, Néstor Roberto Pavón went on trial in Gualeguay, Entre Ríos, on Thursday, Oct 29, accused as a co-author of the femicide of Micaela García. La Nación, Elonce and UNO Entre Ríos reported that the hearing began at 9 a.m. in Room 1 of the Gualeguay courthouse. Pavón was convicted in 2017 only of concealing the crime. He is presumed innocent of the new accusation. Micaela was 21. She was known affectionately as “La Negra,” La Pirámide reported. According to the accusation read in court by prosecutor Maite Burruchaga and reported by Elonce, she was leaving the King nightclub at about 5:45 a.m. on April 1, 2017, when Sebastián Wagner and Pavón intercepted her. The prosecution says the two forced her into a Renault 18, took her to the area of the Paso de Alonso riverside resort, sexually assaulted her, then strangled her when she resisted, to ensure impunity, and hid her body under tall grass beside a rural road leading to González Calderón. A week later her body was found. Pavón now faces charges of sexual abuse with carnal access combined with homicide aggravated by treachery, by criminis causa and as femicide, as a co-author. Burruchaga told the court that the prosecution will ask for life imprisonment, Elonce reported. Prosecutor Gamal Taleb also represents the Public Ministry. Wagner is already serving a final life sentence for the same crime, handed down on Oct 16, 2017. EntreMedios reported that he had earlier been sentenced to nine years for raping two women and was on conditional release when Micaela was killed. La Pirámide added that the release was granted despite prison reports advising against it. In that first trial Pavón received five years for aggravated concealment, a sentence he has served, and a third man, Gabriel Ignacio Otero, was acquitted. In 2020 the Superior Court of Entre Ríos ordered Pavón freed, but the national Supreme Court upheld his conviction. It has now ordered him retried as a co-author, after extraordinary appeals by prosecutors and the family. Micaela’s mother, Andrea Lescano, was the first witness. “I want justice for my daughter,” she began, UNO Entre Ríos reported. She told the judges that Micaela’s boyfriend called to say no one could reach her. After noon on April 1, a friend of her daughter called from the police station to say officers would not take a missing person report because 24 hours had not passed. Lescano said she had to file two reports, one in Colón, where she lived, and one in Gualeguay. She also described how the Ley Micaela, National Law 27,499, came about. It requires gender violence training for everyone in public office. Micaela’s father, Néstor “Yuyo” García, told provincial media before the trial: “We are convinced that Néstor Pavón did not only cover up, but took part in the rape and femicide of Mica,” La Nación reported. Judge Santiago Brugo presides, with Maximiliano Otto Larrocca Ress and Nicolás José Gazali. Lawyers José Rodolfo Iparraguirre and Marcelo Boeykens represent the parents. Edwin Henrry Valenzuela Rojas and Ramón Elías Salto defend Pavón. The hearings are streamed on the Entre Ríos Superior Court’s YouTube channel. La Nación and Elonce list seven hearing days through Nov 11; EntreMedios and La Pirámide listed eight, adding Nov 9. Sources Comenzó el nuevo juicio contra Néstor Pavón: condenado por encubrimiento, ahora es acusado del femicidio de Micaela García, La Nación, Oct 29, 2026 Seguí en vivo el juicio contra Néstor Pavón por el femicidio de Micaela García, Elonce, Oct 29, 2026 “Quiero justicia por mi hija”: el testimonio de la madre de Micaela García en el juicio a Néstor Pavón, UNO Entre Ríos, Oct 29, 2026 Femicidio de Micaela García: nuevo juicio contra Néstor Pavón para quien piden perpetua, EntreMedios, Oct 28, 2026 Comienza el segundo juicio por el femicidio de Micaela García, La Pirámide, Oct 28, 2026 Cruz das Almas, Bahia: Man, 35, Held Over 2022 Massacre That Killed Five on the Way Home From a Party, Including a Pregnant Woman Location: Avenida Getúlio Vargas, Cruz das Almas, Recôncavo Baiano, Bahia Legal status: A 35-year-old man identified only by the initials L.F.S. held Oct. 28 under a temporary arrest warrant (prisão temporária) as a suspect in five homicides. He has not been charged in the killings and is presumed innocent. Four and a half years after five young people were shot dead on a main avenue of Cruz das Almas, Bahia’s Polícia Civil has a new suspect in custody. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, officers from the Delegacia Territorial (DT) de Cruz das Almas formally served a temporary arrest warrant on a 35-year-old man over the massacre of April 25, 2022. Police identified him only by the initials L.F.S. According to G1, an eyewitness told police he was the gunman; the Jornal Regional BA account says a witness recognized him as one of the suspects who fired on the victims. He was already in a cell when the warrant came through. Military Police had arrested him in the act on Monday, Oct. 26, on suspicion of drug trafficking, saying they found 55 small bags of marijuana and 27 vials of cocaine on him. He remains in custody at the disposal of the courts. The dead were Dhavison Augusto Silva Santos do Espírito Santo, 26; Alana de Almeida Santana, 24, who was pregnant with Dhavison’s child; Rafael Pereira Cardoso, 29; Everton Bispo Conceição Batista, 22; and Luan dos Santos Costa Ferreira da Conceição, 29. All five died at the scene. A 16-year-old girl was also hit and taken to a hospital in the region. The group had been at a party known as the Lavagem do Areal and were heading home in the early hours, most of them to the neighboring towns of São Félix and Muritiba, when they were ambushed on Avenida Getúlio Vargas near the base of the 27th Independent Military Police Company. Police said at the time that hooded men on motorcycles opened fire, and this week’s police account again describes armed men on motorcycles firing repeatedly into the group. Witnesses quoted by Aratu On in June 2022 described the killers as traveling in two cars, a Focus and a Corolla. The accounts have not been reconciled publicly. Investigators have long treated the attack as a drug war killing. Police say it was carried out by members of a criminal organization active in the region, and that the main line of inquiry is a territorial dispute over control of the drug trade. Dhavison, who at the time was facing a homicide prosecution, is described by police as the main target. Officers told local media in 2022 that three of the victims had police records. Alana, the pregnant woman, had none. This is not the first arrest in the case. In the early hours of June 26, 2022, police and military officers patrolling the city’s São João festivities picked out and detained another suspect, who was not named under Brazil’s abuse of authority law. Delegado Felipe Ghiraldelli, then head of the Cruz das Almas DT, said the man told interrogators the motive was “the dispute over drug trafficking,” and that other men were still being sought. What became of that suspect’s case was not reported in the sources read for this card. Police said this week that the investigation continues and that the 35-year-old’s criminal responsibility is still to be established. Sources Homem é preso por suspeita de matar cinco pessoas após festa na Bahia, G1, 29 Oct 2026 Polícia Civil prende investigado por chacina que deixou cinco mortos em Cruz das Almas em 2022, Jornal Regional BA, 29 Oct 2026 Chacina em Cruz das Almas: veja identidade e ficha criminal de cada um dos cinco mortos; uma estava grávida, Aratu On, 25 Apr 2022 Suspeito de chacina que deixou cinco mortos em Cruz das Almas é preso enquanto curtia o São João; relembre crime, Aratu On, 27 Jun 2022 Porto Velho, Brazil: Man Sentenced to 21 Years for Shooting João Victor Pereira de Amorim, 21, in the Back as He Rode a Motorcycle With His Girlfriend Location: Avenida Amazonas at Rua Elias Gorayeb, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil Legal status: Patrick Cardoso dos Santos Araújo convicted by a jury of qualified homicide and sentenced on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, to 21 years in closed regime. He was denied the right to appeal in freedom. He may appeal. The sentence. The jury court of Porto Velho convicted Patrick Cardoso dos Santos Araújo of the killing of João Victor Pereira de Amorim, 21, and sentenced him to 21 years in prison, to begin in a closed regime, PVH Notícias and G1 reported. The sentence was issued by the 1st Jury Court of the state capital and read in the courtroom at 6:51 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, PVH Notícias reported. By majority vote, the jurors found that the killing was committed for a futile motive, by ambush and by a means that made it harder for the victim to defend himself, G1 reported. They rejected the defense’s claims of self-defense, excess in self-defense and the mitigating argument of violent emotion, Rondoniagora reported, citing the Rondônia Public Ministry. The shooting. The crime happened on May 28, 2025, at the intersection of Avenida Amazonas and Rua Elias Gorayeb in Porto Velho. According to witnesses, João Victor had just left work and was riding his motorcycle with his girlfriend on the back when an armed motorcyclist came up beside him, Rondoniagora reported. Surveillance cameras recorded the moment. G1 reported that the footage shows the shooter pulling alongside and firing several times. At trial, prosecutors argued that the accused had been watching the victim on his own motorcycle before shooting him in the back, giving him no chance to defend himself. Prosecutor Natalie Del Carmem Rodrigues de Carvalho Maranhão presented the case, and the jury accepted the prosecution’s case in full, according to the Public Ministry. Surrender and confession. Cardoso turned himself in to police a month after the killing. Before he surrendered, he gave an interview to G1 in which he said he regretted what he had done and claimed he had committed the crime after being threatened. At least seven witnesses testified at trial, among them João Victor’s mother and a friend of the accused, G1 reported. How the judge set the term. In calculating the sentence, the judge counted the planning of the crime, its circumstances, in a public street and in broad daylight, and the consequences of the death for the victim’s family as unfavorable factors, PVH Notícias reported. The sentence noted that João Victor was young and helped his mother at home. In the second stage of the calculation, the court recognized the defendant’s spontaneous confession but offset it against the aggravating factor of the means that hindered the victim’s defense. The aggravating factor of futile motive was kept, raising the intermediate penalty, and the final term was set at 21 years. No appeal in freedom. The judge ordered the sentence to begin in a closed regime and denied Cardoso the right to remain free while he appeals, citing the understanding of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court that permits the immediate execution of sentences imposed by a jury, out of respect for the sovereignty of jury verdicts, PVH Notícias reported. Rede Amazônica contacted the defense but received no response before publication, G1 reported. Discrepancies. Rondoniagora says the trial was held on Tuesday, October 27, and gives the victim’s name as João Victor Ferreira; G1 and PVH Notícias give the sentencing date as Wednesday, October 28, and PVH Notícias gives his full name as João Victor Pereira de Amorim. The trial may have spanned both days. Sources JUSTIÇA: Acusado de matar desafeto a tiros é condenado a 21 anos em julgamento, PVH Notícias, 29 Oct 2026 Réu é condenado por matar homem a tiros na frente da namorada em RO, G1, 29 Oct 2026 Criminoso que matou jovem ao lado da namorada em Porto Velho é condenado a 21 anos de prisão, Rondoniagora, 29 Oct 2026 Santarém, Brazil: Jury Acquits Man in Killing of Ride-App Driver João Marcos dos Santos Rebelo by a 4 to 3 Vote; Prosecutors Will Appeal Location: Fórum de Santarém, Pará, Brazil; crime scene a rural road near Rodovia Everaldo Martins Legal status: Isaque dos Santos Ferreira acquitted by a jury on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, by 4 votes to 3, and released. The Public Ministry says it will ask the Pará Court of Justice to annul the verdict. The verdict. A jury at the courthouse in Santarém, in western Pará, acquitted Isaque dos Santos Ferreira on Tuesday, October 27, of taking part in the killing of João Marcos dos Santos Rebelo, a ride-app driver, G1 and Gazeta Carajás reported. By a vote of 4 to 3, jurors accepted the defense’s argument that Ferreira was not the one who committed the crime. Judge Gabriel Veloso then canceled Ferreira’s detention order, and he was released. He had been arrested in the act a few days after the killing and had remained in custody until the trial, G1 reported. Prosecutors to appeal. The Public Ministry said it would appeal to the Pará Court of Justice, the TJPA, to try to annul the trial, arguing that the result ran against the evidence presented in the case. Because the majority voted to acquit, prosecutors said the decision conflicts with the testimony and the records gathered by police over the course of the investigation, G1 reported. Under Brazilian law, a jury verdict can be set aside on appeal if it is clearly contrary to the evidence, which would lead to a new trial. A street closed for the trial. Ride-app drivers in Santarém have followed the case closely since the killing. On the day of the trial, a stretch of Avenida Mendonça Furtado in front of the courthouse was closed to traffic as a prevention and security measure, because authorities expected app drivers to gather there, G1 reported. Traffic agents and the Military Police directed drivers around the central area. The night of the killing. According to the Civil Police investigation and the Public Ministry’s charge, the crime happened in the early hours of November 10, 2025. João Marcos was with Ferreira, a teenager and other people who had been drinking together on the city’s waterfront. The trouble started when the driver noticed that his work phone was missing and began demanding it back from the people in his car. On the way to a party, the car turned off toward a rural area, where João Marcos began to be beaten while still inside the vehicle. According to the investigation, he was pulled out of the car after he lost consciousness and was struck repeatedly on the head with a stone and pieces of wood. He suffered skull fractures that caused his death. The attack happened on a rural road near the Rodovia Everaldo Martins and a local brewery, G1 reported. His body was found late that same night. His car was abandoned hours later in front of the Universidade do Estado do Pará, UEPA. The two accounts. At trial, the prosecution argued that Ferreira helped carry out the killing after the argument over the phone. The defense said Ferreira did not take part in the beating, and that responsibility for the death lay with the teenager who was also in the car. Testifying, Ferreira said he was in the back seat and that the teenager was the one who began hitting the driver. He denied attacking João Marcos, Gazeta Carajás reported. The teenager, who is not named because he is a minor, was dealt with by the juvenile justice system and is serving a three-year term of internment in Belém, both outlets reported. What comes next. If the TJPA accepts the prosecution’s appeal, the case could go back to a jury. Ferreira remains free and, under the jury’s verdict, not guilty. Sources Morte de motorista de aplicativo em Santarém: réu é absolvido, G1, 28 Oct 2026 Júri absolve acusado de matar motorista de aplicativo em Santarém, Gazeta Carajás, 28 Oct 2026 Julgamento de motorista de app bloqueia Mendonça Furtado em Santarém, G1, 27 Oct 2026 Sorriso, Brazil: Man Known as “Neguinho Pesadelo” Gets 28 Years for Supplying the Gun That Killed Andrei Cordeiro de Moura, 17, Who Drove Himself Toward Help After Being Shot Location: Bairro Mário Raiter, Sorriso, Mato Grosso, Brazil Legal status: Welliton Sousa, known as “Neguinho Pesadelo,” convicted by a jury of qualified homicide, attempted qualified homicide and membership in an armed criminal organization; sentenced to 28 years, 1 month and 10 days, to begin in closed regime. Reported Wednesday, October 28, 2026. The gunman has not been identified. The verdict. A jury in the judicial district of Sorriso, about 420 kilometers from Cuiabá, convicted Welliton Sousa, known as “Neguinho Pesadelo,” of the qualified homicide of Andrei Cordeiro de Moura, 17, the attempted qualified homicide of Andrei’s father, Elinésio Pereira de Moura, and membership in an armed criminal organization, Sorriso News MT and RepórterMT reported. The total sentence was set at 28 years, one month and 10 days, to be served initially in a closed regime. On both crimes against life, jurors recognized the aggravating factors of base motive and of means that made it harder for the victims to defend themselves, G1 reported. Prosecutors did not accuse Sousa of firing the shots. According to the prosecution, he supplied the weapon and supported both the attack and the gunman’s escape. The man who fired has not been identified. A teenager under threat. The attack happened on the night of May 1, 2024, in the Mário Raiter neighborhood of Sorriso. According to the prosecution, it was driven by rivalry between criminal factions: those involved suspected that Andrei had ties to a group opposed to the Comando Vermelho. Andrei’s mother denied that her son belonged to any faction, G1 reported. When she learned that Andrei was being threatened, she tried to get him out of Sorriso and began arranging a bus ticket. While she was making the arrangements, his father went out with Andrei to try to resolve the situation. The drive to the cornfield. Father and son went to the house where Sousa lived. There, according to the account presented at trial, the man who would later fire the shots got into the victims’ car and persuaded them to drive to an isolated area near a cornfield. Sousa followed on a motorcycle and stayed nearby to back up the gunman. Surveillance cameras recorded the meeting and the movement of the vehicles, RepórterMT reported, and the prosecution said the images confirmed that Sousa had followed the victims and helped the shooter escape. Shot, and still driving. During the attack Elinésio managed to get out of the car and run. The gunman chased him. Although he was hit, he hid in the cornfield and later found help. Andrei was also shot, but he managed to drive the car to a spot near the home of relatives. Firefighters treated him and took him to the Regional Hospital of Sorriso, where he died of his wounds. His father was treated and survived. The revolver. After the shooting, according to the prosecution, Sousa picked up the gunman on his motorcycle, helped him get away and took the revolver back. Police found the weapon at Sousa’s house the following day. A ballistics comparison confirmed that the bullet removed from Andrei’s body had been fired from that revolver, G1 reported. Data extracted from Sousa’s phone included messages about keeping and hiding the gun, and photos, videos and conversations that prosecutors said showed his link to the Comando Vermelho and his role in surveillance, tracking police vehicles and carrying out the faction’s orders. The prosecutor. Luiz Fernando Rossi Pipino of the 2nd Criminal Prosecutor’s Office of Sorriso represented the Mato Grosso Public Ministry at trial. “The verdict reaffirms the defense of life and the fight against the factions. No criminal organization can decide who should live or die. The authority of the law must prevail over violence,” he said, according to Sorriso News MT. The reports did not include a response from Sousa’s defense or say whether he will appeal. Sources Homem é condenado a 28 anos de prisão por morte de adolescente em MT, G1, 28 Oct 2026 Tribunal do Júri de Sorriso condena “Neguinho Pesadelo” a 28 anos por homicídio e tentativa de homicídio, Sorriso News MT, 28 Oct 2026 “Neguinho Pesadelo” pega 28 anos de cadeia por ajudar a matar adolescente em MT, RepórterMT, 28 Oct 2026 Três de Maio, Brazil: Man Gets 52 Years for Feminicide of Thalia Assunção, 18 Location: Três de Maio, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Legal status: Convicted by jury Oct 27, 2026; sentenced to 52 years, 8 months and 10 days; defence has appealed A jury in Três de Maio, in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul, has convicted Carlos Eduardo da Silva of the feminicide of his partner, Thalia Alessandra dos Santos Assunção, who was 18 when she was shot in the chest in November 2024. Judge Vanessa Teruya Bini Mendes sentenced him to 52 years, 8 months and 10 days in prison, to begin in a closed regime, according to regional outlets Paulo Marques Notícias, Portal Noroeste Conectado and NO AR Notícias, which reported the outcome on Oct 28. NO AR Notícias identified the defendant by the nickname “Preta Gil.” The trial took place on Tuesday, Oct 27, at the town’s courthouse. It began at 9 a.m. and ended at 10:32 p.m., after more than 13 hours. The court heard witnesses for the prosecution and the defence and questioned the accused, then the prosecution and defence argued the case, with rebuttal and surrejoinder, before the seven jurors voted in secret. Paulo Marques Notícias and Portal Noroeste Conectado reported that the jurors decided by majority. The jury found Da Silva responsible for the feminicide, with the aggravating circumstance that he used a means that made it harder for the victim to defend herself. It also convicted him of receiving the stolen weapon used in the killing and of illegally possessing a firearm of restricted use. The judge ruled that he cannot appeal in liberty, meaning he stays in custody while any appeal runs. Beyond the prison term, the judge set a minimum compensation of R$100,000 for Thalia’s two young children. The defence has already filed an appeal against the decision, the outlets reported. Promotora de Justiça Carolina Zimmer led the prosecution for the Rio Grande do Sul Public Ministry. Lawyers Bernardo Schaffer and Wedner Custodio Lima represented Da Silva. NO AR Notícias spelled the first lawyer’s surname Schaefer and gave the victim’s name in a different order, as Thalia dos Santos Alessandra Assunção; the other outlets used Thalia Alessandra dos Santos Assunção. The killing happened on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov 26, 2024, on Rua Canarinho in the Santa Maria neighbourhood of Três de Maio. Rádio Difusora, citing Tres Passos News and the Polícia Civil, reported the next day that Thalia was hit in the chest by a shot from a .380 calibre pistol after a family argument between the couple. She was taken to hospital but did not survive. Her partner was detained at the scene by the Brigada Militar, Rio Grande do Sul’s military police, and taken to the police station, where he was held. From the start he claimed the shot was accidental. NO AR Notícias reported that the defence repeated that account at trial, arguing that the couple were arguing when the pistol went off and struck her. The jury rejected that version and convicted him of feminicide. The couple had two small children. Rádio Difusora reported that they were at daycare when their mother was shot and did not witness it. The verdict came 11 months after her death. Under Brazilian law, crimes against life committed with intent are tried by a jury of seven citizens, the Tribunal do Júri. Sources Réu é condenado a mais de 52 anos de prisão pelo feminicídio de Thalia em Três de Maio, Paulo Marques Notícias, Oct 28, 2026 Réu é condenado a mais de 52 anos de prisão por feminicídio de jovem de 18 anos em Três de Maio, Portal Noroeste Conectado, Oct 28, 2026 Justiça condena Carlos Eduardo da Silva, o (Preta Gil), a 52 anos de prisão por feminicídio em Três de Maio, NO AR Notícias, Oct 28, 2026 Jovem de 18 anos morre após disparo no peito pelo companheiro em Três de Maio., Rádio Difusora, Nov 27, 2024 Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro: Alleged Comando Vermelho Boss “Bill” Held Over Killing of Cauã de Souza Paes, 22, After Election-Day Invasion Location: Água Limpa and Complexo da Vila Brasília, Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro state Legal status: A 30-year-old man identified as D.E.O., known as “Bill” or “Ximbiu,” arrested Oct. 28 and booked in flagrante for belonging to a criminal organization; he is a suspect in the killing of Cauã de Souza Paes. He has not been charged with the killing and is presumed innocent. On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 25, while Brazil voted in the second round of its elections, a convoy of armed men rolled into the Complexo da Vila Brasília in Volta Redonda, the steel city in the south of Rio de Janeiro state. Four days later, police have in custody a man they call one of the drug trade’s local leaders, and they say he took part in the violence that weekend, including the killing of a 22-year-old, Cauã de Souza Paes, in the neighborhood of Água Limpa. The suspect, a 30-year-old identified by the initials D.E.O. and by the nicknames “Bill” and “Ximbiu,” was arrested at about 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, police say, as he stepped out of a car linked to the attacks and walked into a house on Rua Araruama in the Siderlândia neighborhood. Civil police from the 93rd precinct moved in alongside the elite BOPE battalion, the dog unit (BAC), intelligence officers of the 5th Area Policing Command and the Federal Highway Police, who supplied intelligence. The car was seized. He was taken to the 93rd precinct and booked in flagrante for belonging to a criminal organization. Police describe him as a leader of drug sales in Água Limpa and a member of the Comando Vermelho faction, and say he had recently handed management of the local trade to a nephew, known simply as “Sobrinho,” who is also under investigation for homicides in the region this year. According to Tudo Acontece Online, he has already been indicted in connection with other killings in 2026. Investigators say Paes was killed in the same armed territorial dispute that began on Sunday, which police attribute to Comando Vermelho members moving against areas controlled by the rival Terceiro Comando Puro (TCP). They have tied two cars to the violence: a black car used in the invasion of Vila Brasília and abandoned during the escape, and a white car allegedly used in the Água Limpa killing and then to pick up the men who had ditched the black one. One local outlet, Informa Cidade, placed the killing on Tuesday rather than Sunday. The accounts have not been reconciled. The Sunday attack itself was large. According to Volta Redonda civil police, more than 20 men in fake police tactical gear came in a convoy from Morro da Penha in Rio de Janeiro, with at least one local resident guiding them. They ran into the Military Police tactical support group of the 28th Battalion. Two suspects were killed and two wounded. A car and a city bus were set on fire, and the burning bus brought down cables, cutting internet and phone service to Vila Brasília and the neighboring Vale Verde, Fazendinha and Belo Horizonte. More than 40 officers, reinforced by BOPE and BAC, now occupy the complex indefinitely. By Thursday, G1 reported, at least three suspects had been arrested, more than ten identified, and police had seized five pistols, a 7.62 rifle, two revolvers, four grenades, about 150 rounds and more than 1,600 portions of drugs across 11 locations in the city. Police say more arrests are planned. Sources Homem ligado a assassinato e invasão da Vila Brasília é preso, G1, 29 Oct 2026 Suspeito de homicídio no Água Limpa é preso em operação policial integrada, Diário do Vale, 29 Oct 2026 Um dos líderes do tráfico na Água Limpa, suspeito de participar de homicídio, é preso em ação das polícias Civil e Militar, Tudo Acontece Online, 29 Oct 2026 Mais de 20 criminosos usaram roupas táticas falsas em ataque armado, G1, 27 Oct 2026 Operações prendem suspeitos e apreendem armas e drogas no RJ, G1, 29 Oct 2026 Pisco Elqui, Chile: Man, 44, Formally Charged With Rape and Femicide of His Partner, 27, and Ordered Held in Preventive Detention Location: Quebrada Las Gredas (also reported as Quebrada La Greda), Pisco Elqui, Paihuano commune, Elqui valley, Coquimbo Region, Chile; hearing at the Juzgado de Garantía de Vicuña Legal status: Man, 44, identified by prosecutors only by the initials O.R.H.G., formally charged (formalizado) on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, with rape with femicide (violación con femicidio) and unconditional threats (amenazas no condicionales); the court ordered preventive detention (prisión preventiva) and set a 180-day investigation period. Presumed innocent. The hearing. Prosecutors in Chile’s Coquimbo Region on Thursday, Oct. 29, formally charged a 44-year-old Venezuelan man with the rape and femicide of his partner, a 27-year-old Venezuelan woman who was found dead early on Monday, Oct. 26, in the home they shared in the Elqui valley village of Pisco Elqui, Diario el Día reported. He was also charged with unconditional threats against another man, to whom he allegedly sent voice messages after her death. The guarantee court accepted the prosecution’s request for preventive detention, finding that his release would endanger public safety and the man who reported the threats, and gave investigators 180 days. Mi Radio identified him by the initials O.R.H.G. The woman has not been named in the reports reviewed. The prosecution’s account. According to the charge set out by assistant prosecutor Eduardo Yáñez, the attack happened at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday inside the house in the Quebrada Las Gredas sector, Mi Radio reported. Prosecutors allege the man tried to force himself sexually on his partner, the mother of their three children, all minors, and pressed his hands on her neck until she lost consciousness. Prosecutors said the assault ended in her death by manual strangulation. Diario el Día reported that a preliminary autopsy report from the Servicio Médico Legal in La Serena gives the cause of death as asphyxia by strangulation and records injuries to her face and neck and to other parts of her body; Mi Radio said injuries of a sexual nature were also described in court. Prosecutors relied on those findings to support the rape with femicide charge. The killing allegedly took place in the room the couple shared. The voice messages. From about 3:15 a.m., prosecutors said, the man made five phone calls to a man identified by the initials M.E.R.R., who did not answer. At about 4:15 a.m. he sent WhatsApp voice messages. In one, according to the transcript read in court, he said: “I killed my woman and now I’ll kill you, damn you,” Mi Radio reported. Diario el Día said he blamed the recipient for her death in the messages. Prosecutors argued the threats were credible and could be carried out. Witnesses close to the couple described a relationship marked, allegedly, by jealousy, arguments and violence, and testimony was also presented about earlier threats against the woman and a third person. The night of Oct. 26. At the earlier detention hearing on Oct. 26, Yáñez said Carabineros received a call at about 3:20 a.m. from the man’s sister, who had been alerted by another relative who heard the couple arguing and asked her to go to the neighbouring cabin, Diario el Día reported. A nephew in Venezuela then told her the man had confessed the killing to relatives. When the sister arrived, the man at first refused to open the door, saying the woman was asleep, then let her in and left. She found the woman dead with signs of violence; police arrived at about 4:00 a.m. and confirmed she had no vital signs. At Thursday’s hearing, prosecutors cited a woman who said the man had pounded on her door in an agitated state and told her he had killed his partner, and that she advised him to turn himself in when she saw police in the area. The arrest. He was detained at about 5:50 a.m. at the corner of Arturo Prat and Centenario streets in Pisco Elqui. Diario el Día, citing police, said he flagged down a patrol from the Pisco Elqui post of the Fifth Vicuña Police Station, said he had just killed his partner and gave himself up; Radio Guayacán described the arrest as the result of a police operation. The case so far. On Oct. 26 Judge Alonso Escares of the Vicuña guarantee court extended the detention by three days, saying “there is not, for now, sufficient information to formalize the investigation,” pending the autopsy, witness statements and examination of seized phones, Radio Guayacán reported. Prosecutors said one line of inquiry was a possible relationship between the woman and a third man. The couple’s three children were placed with a responsible adult. The National Women’s and Gender Equity Service (SernamEG) filed a criminal complaint for femicide. Authorities regard the case as the first femicide of 2026 in the Coquimbo Region. Sources Prisión preventiva para imputado por femicidio en Pisco Elqui, Diario el Día, Oct 29, 2026 “Maté a mi mujer y ahora te mato a ti, maldito”: Brutal confesión estremeció la formalización por violación y femicidio en Pisco Elqui, Mi Radio, Oct 29, 2026 Femicidio en Pisco Elqui: Fiscalía investiga el móvil y amplía detención del imputado, Diario el Día, Lionel Varela, Oct 26, 2026 Presunto femicidio en Paihuano: juez amplía detención por 72 horas ante falta de antecedentes para formalizar, Radio Guayacán, Oct 26, 2026 Bogotá, Colombia: Former Son-in-Law Jailed in Stabbing Deaths of Alberto Anzola, 72, and Gloria Isabel Guerrero, 66, as Prosecutors Point to Revenge Against Their Daughter Location: Barrio Aures, Suba, Bogotá, Colombia Legal status: Freddy Alexander Barajas Rivera charged with aggravated femicide and aggravated homicide; he did not accept the charges and a judge ordered him held in prison. Prosecutors released new details on Thursday, October 29, 2026. He is presumed innocent. The charges. A prosecutor from the Bogotá section of Colombia’s Fiscalía General de la Nación charged Freddy Alexander Barajas Rivera with aggravated femicide and aggravated homicide in the killing of Alberto Anzola, 72, and his wife, Gloria Isabel Guerrero, 66, inside their home in the Aures neighborhood of Suba, in northwest Bogotá. Barajas did not accept the charges. A judge of guarantees ordered him held in a prison facility while the case proceeds, El Espectador reported. Pulzo reported that he is expected to be held at La Modelo prison in Bogotá or another facility chosen by the national prison agency, INPEC. The motive prosecutors describe. On Thursday, October 29, the Fiscalía released new details of its case. According to the prosecutors, Barajas acted out of resentment toward his former partner, the couple’s daughter, who had ended their relationship and begun a new one. Investigators allege that after learning of her decision he carried out acts of extreme violence against her parents, particularly against Gloria Isabel Guerrero, as an expression of that resentment, El Espectador reported. Miguel Ángel Ruiz, a lawyer for the victims’ family, told Pulzo the family believes the accused used his former partner’s phone or tablet and found conversations between her and another person. “It is a completely atrocious case,” Ruiz said. The night of the killings. According to the Fiscalía, relatives monitoring a security camera installed in the home noticed something wrong and went to the house with officers of the National Police. They found the couple with multiple wounds from a sharp object, El Espectador reported. El País of Cali reported that the bodies were found in separate rooms. The Fiscalía says the evidence indicates Barajas Rivera was the only person who entered and left the house during the period when the crime happened. El País reported that although Barajas had said he was not at the house at the time, security camera footage from the area showed him leaving the home with his face covered. The victims. Ruiz said Alberto Anzola was receiving dialysis, had trouble moving and needed help to get around inside his own home. When he was found, he was lying near the cane he used to walk, the family’s lawyer said, according to El Espectador. Pulzo reported that he suffered a wound to the neck that killed him almost immediately. Gloria Isabel Guerrero suffered between 17 and 19 stab wounds, according to the family’s lawyer, mainly to the torso and lower abdomen, Pulzo reported. El País reported that she may also have been sexually assaulted before she was killed. Twenty years in the family. Barajas had been part of the family for more than two decades. He had been the partner of one of the couple’s daughters, and even after the relationship ended he continued living in his former in-laws’ home. The daughter told reporters that her parents rented him a room for 250,000 pesos a month because he had lost his job and was struggling financially, El País reported. A granddaughter of the victims told Noticias Caracol that her grandparents loved him. “My grandparents acted out of the affection and trust they had for their family; really he was a person who had been in our family for more than 20 years,” she said. Arrest and hearing. Pulzo reported that CTI investigators of the Fiscalía arrested Barajas on October 23 in the Puente Aranda locality after months as a fugitive. El País reported that he had prior records involving domestic violence and personal injury, though he had not been convicted of any of them, and Pulzo reported records for attempted aggravated theft and failure to pay child support. Ruiz said Barajas laughed while the charges were read. “He was laughing at the camera as if nothing mattered to him at all,” the lawyer said. The family has said it fears for its safety, because he knew where several relatives live. Discrepancies. El País gives the date of the killings as March 14, 2026; the Fiscalía, quoted by El Espectador, says relatives raised the alarm on March 13. Sources Crimen de adultos mayores en Suba: Fiscalía apunta a retaliación contra hija de las víctimas, El Espectador, 29 Oct 2026 “Atroz”: revelan que hombre que asesinó a sus exsuegros en Bogotá se reía en la imputación de cargos, Pulzo, 29 Oct 2026 Capturaron a Freddy Barajas por el homicidio de una pareja de adultos mayores en Bogotá, El País, 26 Oct 2026 Atfih, Egypt: Six Sentenced to Death, Five in Absentia, for Gun Attack That Freed a Prisoner From Police and Killed Driver Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed Location: Atfih district, Giza governorate, Egypt; verdict by the First Circuit, Giza Criminal Court Legal status: Giza Criminal Court verdict reported Oct. 28, 2026. Younis Mohamed Younis Eissa Manie sentenced to death in person; Zarrouq Abdullah Manie Saleh, Younis Abdullah Manie Saleh, Mohamed Younis Eissa Manie, Ahmed Bakr Manie Saleh and Mahmoud Abdel Meguid Abdel Halim Ahmed Murad sentenced to death in absentia. Two men received life for weapons offences; three received three years. Six acquitted of helping a convict escape. In Egypt, death sentences are referred to the Grand Mufti and automatically reviewed by the Court of Cassation; those tried in absentia are entitled to a retrial if arrested. A criminal court in Giza has unanimously sentenced six men to death over an armed ambush on a police unit enforcing court sentences in Atfih, south of Cairo, in which gunmen freed a convicted man from custody and fatally shot the driver of one of the police vehicles, Egyptian outlets Khalf El Hadath, Veto and Qadiyat Ra’y Am reported. The victim. Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed was driving one of the vehicles of the sentence-enforcement squad. According to the court’s findings, he was shot in the abdomen and back and died of the resulting tearing of his abdominal organs and its complications. His heirs filed a civil claim, which the court referred to the competent civil court. The arrest that set it off. According to the reasoning published with the verdict, police went to execute a life sentence passed in criminal case No. 119 of 2020 on the fourth defendant, Mohamed Younis Eissa Manie, for possessing an automatic weapon. As Captain Ahmed Sherif Abdel Azim Hassan Dowidar of the Atfih criminal investigations unit arrested him at his home, several defendants agreed to stop the police and snatch him back before he reached the station, the court found. The ambush. The court found the defendants prepared automatic rifles and ammunition and divided up roles. Four rode in a pickup truck while the first defendant, Younis Mohamed Younis Eissa Manie, tracked the two enforcement convoys on a motorcycle and reported their position, then joined the others before the attack. At about 7:30 p.m. on July 15, 2025, they opened fire on the two convoys and on a support car that had arrived with Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Mahmoud Mokhtar Hassan, and freed the arrested man. The seventh defendant watched the scene, then armed himself with an automatic rifle and joined the shooting, the court said. The wounded. Seven members of the force were wounded: the lieutenant colonel, Captain Dowidar, police officers Ayman Mahmoud Eweis Saad, Khaled Omar Bahloul Ahmed and Ahmed Mohamed Saleh Siam, police assistant Hamada Eid Selim Mohamed Ali and watchman Mostafa Ahmed Bakri Mohamed. A passer-by, Badawi Abdel Hamid Badawi Hassanein, was hit while standing outside a nearby shop. A police car, a minibus and two private cars were damaged. The weapons. According to the case papers, police seized a shotgun and a pistol from two defendants and automatic rifles with loaded magazines from others, including one taken from the first defendant with an ammunition pouch holding three magazines. The court’s reasoning. The court said the prior agreement to block enforcement of the sentence, the preparation of weapons and the tracking of the police convoys showed how carefully the attack had been planned, Masry Hor reported. It cited investigation reports by Colonel Mohamed Tawfik Abdel Aziz El-Ashry, Captain Maher Adel Abdel Alim Badawi and Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Ahmed Saeid Abdel Hamid. Several of the convicted men share the Manie family name; the reports did not describe how they are related. The bench. The court was presided over by Judge Raafat Mohamed Nagy, with Judges Emad Mostafa El-Shewy, Ayman Shoaib and Ehab Nabih El-Tantawy. The reports did not state whether the freed convict, sentenced to death in absentia here, has since been recaptured. Sources الإعدام لـ6 متهمين في واقعة إطلاق النار على قوة تنفيذ أحكام بأطفيح, Khalf El Hadath, 28 Oct 2026 خططوا لتهريب محكوم عليه من قبضة الشرطة، حيثيات إعدام 6 متهمين في هجوم أطفيح, Veto, 29 Oct 2026 الإعدام لـ6 متهمين في هجوم أطفيح المسلح.. مقتل سائق وإصابة 8 من أفراد الشرطة ومواطن, Qadiyat Ra’y Am, 29 Oct 2026 إعدام 6 متهمين في قضية هجوم أطفيح على قوة الشرطة, Masry Hor, 29 Oct 2026 Cajeme, Sonora: “El Duke” Ordered to Stand Trial for Femicide of Ex-Partner Lluvia Daniela and Killings of Two Friends at a Cemetery Location: Panteón del Carmen (Panteón Nuevo), near the ejido La Carabina, Cajeme municipality, Sonora, Mexico Legal status: Carlos Antonio “N”, 35, alias “El Duke”, was ordered to stand trial (vinculado a proceso) on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, for femicide and two counts of aggravated homicide. He remains in pretrial detention and is presumed innocent. A second suspect has not been identified or arrested. The ruling. A judge in Sonora on Wednesday, October 28, ordered Carlos Antonio “N”, 35, known as “El Duke”, to stand trial for the femicide of Lluvia Daniela “N” and the aggravated homicide, with premeditation, treachery and advantage, of Ramón Francisco “N” and Dámaris Paola “N”, the Sonora State Attorney General’s Office (FGJES) said. At the continuation of his initial hearing, the judge granted the order on the terms requested by prosecutors and kept him in justified pretrial detention. The FGJES said it will continue the complementary investigation, with particular attention to femicidal violence and the right of the victims’ families to justice. April 27 at the cemetery. On April 27, 2026, Lluvia Daniela, 21, Ramón Francisco, 24, and Dámaris Paola, 20, were visiting a relative’s grave at the Panteón del Carmen near the ejido La Carabina, Tribuna and Diario del Yaqui reported, citing the investigation. According to prosecutors, Carlos Antonio arrived with another man and confronted Lluvia Daniela, with whom he had had a relationship that ended amid physical violence and verbal abuse. He is accused of attacking her with a knife and then shooting her and Ramón Francisco. Dámaris Paola tried to flee between the graves but was also shot and died at the scene. The two men left in a white Nissan March. The scene. Diario del Yaqui reported the day after the killings that the three bodies were found on the Monday morning in the extension of the cemetery, near an older maroon Volkswagen Jetta sedan. Investigators collected several handgun casings, believed to be .40 calibre. Entorno Informativo reported that the call came in at 10:30 a.m. from the extended section of the cemetery, west of Bulevar Las Rosas in Ciudad Obregón. The man’s body lay beside the car; the two women were found a few metres away among the graves. Municipal and state police and Navy personnel sealed off the area, and Red Cross paramedics confirmed that all three were dead. By unofficial counts, the outlet said, they were among 21 victims of violence in Cajeme that April, five of them women. In that first report, the newspaper gave the victims’ ages as about 30 for the man, whom it identified as Francisco, and 22 and 19 for the two young women; later official accounts give 24, 21 and 20. Entorno Informativo spelled the second woman’s name Samaria Paola. The arrest. Agents of Sonora’s criminal investigation agency (AMIC) arrested Carlos Antonio on the afternoon of Monday, October 20, on an arrest warrant at the corner of Plutarco Elías Calles and Coahuila streets in the colonia Nueva Palmira in Ciudad Obregón. Investigators also identify him as a member of a violent criminal cell operating in the region, according to Tribuna and Diario del Yaqui. Lines of inquiry include the history of violence in the relationship and a possible dispute linked to retail drug dealing. The agency said it is still working to identify and locate the second man. What the charges mean. In Mexico, being vinculado a proceso is not a conviction. It allows prosecutors to continue the case toward trial while the investigation is completed. Under the presumption of innocence, Carlos Antonio “N” has not been found responsible for any of the three deaths. Sources Vinculan a ‘El Duke’ por asesinato de tres personas en panteón de Cajeme, entre ellas su expareja, Tribuna, Oct 28, 2026 “El Duke” queda vinculado a proceso por feminicidio y doble homicidio en Cajeme: FGJES, Despierta Sonora, Oct 28, 2026 “Cae” implicado en triple asesinato en Panteón del Carmen, Diario del Yaqui, Oct 21, 2026 Ejecutan a dos mujeres y un hombre en el panteón nuevo de Cajeme, Entorno Informativo, Apr 27, 2026 Identifican a jóvenes asesinados en el Panteón Nuevo, Diario del Yaqui, Apr 28, 2026 Ciudad Juárez: Judge Sends American “El Gringo” to Trial Track Over Friend’s Killing, as He Tells Court “He Was My Friend” Location: Calle Marfil, Colonia Libertad, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua Legal status: Cody Daniel P., 40, a U.S. citizen, ordered held for proceedings (vinculado a proceso) on Oct. 26 for aggravated homicide (homicidio calificado), case 4271/2026; in pretrial detention. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent. “He was my friend,” the American told the court, in English. A control judge in Ciudad Juárez has ruled there is enough evidence to keep prosecuting Cody Daniel P., a 40-year-old U.S. citizen, for the death of Alfredo Alejandro P. M. on the night of Oct. 17 in Colonia Libertad. Judge Angélica Lizbeth Álvarez Carreón issued the vinculación a proceso on Monday, Oct. 26, in criminal case 4271/2026. Mexican media, following local practice, have published only the accused’s first names and initial and the victim’s initials. The case the Fiscalía laid out rests heavily on the victim’s mother. She told investigators she was upstairs in the family home that night while her son lived on the ground floor. He asked her for the keys to the gate so he could let in a man the family called “El Gringo.” She said she had known the American for about seven months, and that two months earlier he had beaten her son with a stick badly enough that he had to be taken to hospital. That night, she said, she ordered the visitor out after finding her son “doblado,” slang for being high on drugs. Later she heard loud noises and sent another son and a grandson downstairs. They found Alfredo badly wounded and, by their account, saw the attacker escape by jumping a wall. A man known as “Gama” told investigators the fleeing man headbutted him. The mother identified her son’s body at the forensic medical service on Oct. 18. The accounts are not consistent on the timing: one says Cody returned in the afternoon, while prosecutors place the attack between 9 and 10 p.m. Prosecutors allege that Cody struck the unarmed man with a flat, hard, sharp object and inflicted knife wounds to his neck and skull, causing head trauma. They gave the cause of death as asphyxia from aspirating blood. He was not arrested for the killing at first. Municipal police detained him on Oct. 19 in Samalayuca, south of the city, for alleged disobedience and resisting. The judge later issued a homicide arrest warrant. The hearings have been difficult. At his arraignment on Oct. 22, Diario de Juárez reported, a remote interpreter based in Chihuahua City could barely hear the courtroom, and prosecutors said they had never run a hearing through a translator. Cody, who does not speak Spanish, asked for her to be replaced. The judge ordered the state judiciary’s interpreters’ center to send someone in person, under threat of a fine. Cody accepted a public defender as long as the lawyer “did the job well,” asked for consular assistance, and objected to the press being present. The judge notified the U.S. consulate and allowed coverage, citing the public nature of hearings. At Monday’s hearing, with interpreter Luis Rubén García present, Cody was restless, disputed the account of events, repeatedly challenged his defender and the interpreter, and at one point said he understood enough to go on without translation. The judge kept the interpreter. His defense argued that only one witness had identified him, from a photograph. The judge found the police report, autopsy and witness statements sufficient. He also told the court he has a hernia and asked for medical care. Cody remains in pretrial detention at Cereso Estatal No. 3. The judge set four months for further investigation, ending Feb. 26, 2027, during which prosecutors are to gather more testimony and carry out chemical and genetic tests on evidence seized in a search. Sources Madre relata cómo encontró herido a su hijo antes de morir, El Diario de Chihuahua, 28 Oct 2026 Madre revela más detalles de la muerte de su hijo, xJuárez, 29 Oct 2026 Acusan de homicidio a hombre estadounidense, Diario de Juárez, 22 Oct 2026 Uruapan, Mexico: Uruapan Welfare Secretary Rosa Alejandra Vargas Arrested for Alleged Cover-Up in Murder of Mayor Carlos Manzo Location: Fraccionamiento Infonavit Balcones, Uruapan, Michoacán; Michoacán State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) Legal status: Rosa Alejandra Vargas Rauda, Uruapan municipal secretary of welfare, arrested Oct. 29 on a warrant for alleged “encubrimiento por favorecimiento” (cover-up by aiding); placed before a control judge who will decide her legal situation. Presumed innocent; not accused of taking part in the killing. Three days before the first anniversary of the assassination of Uruapan mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, Michoacán state prosecutors arrested a senior official of the city government he led. Rosa Alejandra Vargas Rauda, secretary of welfare for the Uruapan city council, was detained on Thursday, Oct. 29, on a warrant for “encubrimiento por favorecimiento,” a cover-up offence that in general terms covers helping someone involved in a crime evade justice. She is presumed innocent, and prosecutors have not said publicly what she is alleged to have done or whom she is alleged to have helped. According to the Michoacán State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), the warrant was served during an operation in the Infonavit Balcones subdivision of Uruapan. State investigators entered the property under a search warrant authorised by a control judge, backed by officers of the state Public Security Secretariat. Vargas, identified in the official release as Rosa Alejandra “N,” was then handed over to the judge who issued the warrant, and a control judge will now decide her legal situation on the evidence the prosecution presents. The arrest came a day after a public warning. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, deputy prosecutor for intelligence and criminal investigation Israel Vega Rodríguez said Vargas had been summoned three times to give a statement in the Manzo case and had answered none of the summonses, and that she had been fined. “There are now three summonses and a fine for ignoring the appearance, but the proceedings continue within the deadlines set by law to seek other enforcement measures so that they appear,” he said, as quoted by Quadratín Michoacán and reported by El Imparcial. El Imparcial noted that the arrest release does not say the missed summonses are themselves the conduct behind the charge. Prosecutors were interested in her because of her family. According to Vega Rodríguez, Vargas is the mother of Alejandro Flores Vargas, alias “El Macas,” a trusted member of Manzo’s security detail. La Jornada reported that he is one of seven of the mayor’s bodyguards arrested on charges of homicide by omission, for failing to act during the attack that killed him. She is also the aunt of the brothers Christian and Alexis Medina García, known as “El Vikingo” and “El Brilloso,” who were arrested in the case. Infobae reported that prosecutors allege the brothers helped plan the attack with members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and that Alexis is accused of taking part in the messaging group where, according to the investigation, the attack was planned and coordinated under orders from Jorge Armando “N,” alias “El Licenciado.” The state’s security secretary has said Christian, a former professional boxer, ran extortion of avocado growers and bar owners for the cartel network. All of them are presumed innocent. El Imparcial stressed that family ties to people in custody are not in themselves evidence of a crime. Vargas was not a peripheral figure at city hall. Infobae and La Jornada described her as part of the inner circle of both Manzo and his widow, Grecia Quiroz, who became mayor after his death. Manzo, founder of the Movimiento del Sombrero, was killed on Nov. 1, 2025, during a public event at the Festival de las Velas in Uruapan’s historic centre, on the Day of the Dead holiday. In its Oct. 16 update the FGE said the investigation was 90 percent complete, with 33 people detained, 18 arrest warrants served, about 3,500 investigative acts, 3,000 forensic procedures and 1,200 hours of video analysed. Those detained include Ramón Ángel “N,” alias “El R1,” and Jorge Armando “N,” investigated as alleged masterminds. Prosecutors’ main theory is that organised crime ordered the killing in retaliation for security operations against criminal groups during Manzo’s administration. The FGE said its investigation continues and that the law applies regardless of public office. Sources Arrestan en Michoacán a secretaria del Bienestar de Uruapan por encubrimiento en el asesinato de Carlos Manzo: es familiar de implicados, Infobae, 29 Oct 2026 Caso Carlos Manzo: Detienen a secretaria del Bienestar de Uruapan por presunto encubrimiento, El Economista, 29 Oct 2026 Detienen por encubrimiento en caso Manzo a Rosa Alejandra Vargas, secretaria del Bienestar de Uruapan, La Jornada, 29 Oct 2026 Detenida la secretaria del Bienestar de Uruapan por encubrimiento en el caso del asesinato de Carlos Manzo, El País México, 29 Oct 2026 Lagos, Nigeria: Judge Refuses Bail to Wheelchair-Bound Defendant in Ajiran Double Murder Trial Location: Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, Lagos Island; the killings were in Ajiran, Eti-Osa Local Government Area Legal status: Hammed (also reported as Ahmed) Tajudeen Akanbi, Shafi Fatai and Yusuf Ismaila are charged with conspiracy to murder and murder and were arraigned July 3, 2026. Bail refused to Akanbi Oct. 28. Trial continues Nov. 3. All three are presumed innocent. A Lagos High Court judge on Wednesday, Oct. 28, refused bail to Hammed Tajudeen Akanbi, the third defendant in the trial over two killings in the Ajiran community that set off protests in Lagos, and ordered him back into custody, Punch, Sahara Reporters and Independent reported. Akanbi was brought into Court 8 at Igbosere in a wheelchair. The victims. The charges concern the deaths of two men. Sheriff Ishola Salami was killed at Moba on April 18, 2023, according to Sahara Reporters; Punch names him as Sherif Agborin. Prince Kazeem Ademola Akinloye, a son of the Ojomu of Ajiranland, Oba Akinloye, was killed on Chevron Road in August 2024; Sahara Reporters gives the date as Aug. 26. Punch said the killings led to widespread protests and demands for justice before Lagos police arrested the man they describe as the prime suspect and an alleged accomplice earlier this year. The ruling. Justice Abdul-Raheem Muyideen heard the bail application on Sept. 29 and delivered his ruling on Wednesday after the defence was told about it the day before. Lead defence counsel Adedotun Ajulo said the court called around 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, Ajulo said the judge accepted that Akanbi might be ill but noted that he was already being treated at a Federal Medical Centre, and declined bail because the allegations were murder and conspiracy. The judge directed that Akanbi be returned to the custodial centre in Ikoyi and allowed the medical care he needs there. Independent reported that the judge acknowledged that material before the court had been described by the defence as exculpatory but declined to examine the substantive evidence at the bail stage, so as not to prejudge the trial. The defence case on health. Ajulo said Akanbi has been ill for a long time, had surgery outside Nigeria in 2024, pays his own medical bills, and had been brought to earlier hearings from hospital by ambulance while the case awaited advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Independent, citing his supporters, reported that he has stage 3 kidney disease. It also reported that sources said the Ikoyi facility again declined to admit him on medical grounds after the new order, leaving his whereabouts unclear. Neither the court nor the correctional service has publicly confirmed that account. How the case got here. According to Independent, the case was assigned to Justice Muyideen on June 25, when he ordered Akanbi remanded at Ikoyi before arraignment even though Akanbi had been brought from hospital and could not be moved into the courtroom; the prison turned him away on medical grounds. Family members, Ajiran residents and civil society groups protested and petitioned the Chief Judge of Lagos State seeking reassignment, alleging bias. No court has made any such finding. The three men were arraigned on July 3. The judge declined to take the bail application before the annual vacation, and vacation judges declined to hear it, Independent reported, until the Chief Judge intervened and it was heard on Sept. 29. Sahara Reporters reported that several other High Court judges had been approached over the summer. Other rulings and next dates. The court also refused an application by the first and second defendants, Shafi Fatai and Yusuf Ismaila, for an order directing the Kirikiri Correctional Facility to produce their medical records from custody, Independent reported. After the ruling, prosecutor Adebayo Haroun, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court he had been appointed Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of Lagos State. Ajulo urged supporters gathered at the court to stay calm and said the defence would consult its client on next steps, adding that the defendants are “very much ready for trial”. The court set an accelerated hearing on Nov. 3, 5, 9, 10 and 25. Sources Lagos court denies wheelchair-bound suspect bail over murder, Punch, 29 Oct 2026 BREAKING: Lagos Court Denies Bail To Ajiran Murder Suspect Akanbi Brought To Court In Wheelchair, Sahara Reporters, 28 Oct 2026 Justice Muyideen Denies Hammed Akanbi Bail, Orders Remand At Ikoyi Correctional Facility Amid Fresh Concerns Over His Whereabouts, Independent Newspaper Nigeria, 29 Oct 2026 Jauja, Peru: Stepfather Esteban Rojas Crispín Gets Life for the Femicide of Lucía Retoblo Espinoza, 18, Killed After Resisting an Assault Location: Barrio Quichuay, Muquiyauyo district, Jauja province, Junín region, Peru Legal status: Esteban Rojas Crispín, 41, convicted of aggravated femicide and sentenced to life imprisonment (cadena perpetua) on the night of Monday, October 26, 2026. The ruling is a first-instance judgment. The sentence. A collegiate criminal court specializing in violence against women and family members, sitting in Huancayo, sentenced Esteban Rojas Crispín, 41, to life in prison on the night of Monday, October 26, for the aggravated femicide of his stepdaughter, Lucía Retoblo Espinoza, 18, Diario Correo reported. Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty under Peruvian law. The case was prosecuted by Fredy Collas Oré of the Jauja provincial prosecutor’s office specializing in violence against women. Rojas Crispín had been held in pretrial detention at the Huamancaca Chico prison since May 25, 2025, Diario Primicia reported. According to Correo, he maintained his innocence until the day the sentence was read. The night of May 17, 2025. According to the prosecution’s account, Lucía had returned home in Muquiyauyo with her four-year-old son after attending a social gathering and was resting with him when her stepfather came into the room, confronted her and showed jealousy. Prosecutors said he tried to force her into sex and she refused. He took a kitchen knife; she managed to run out of the house and tried to escape across nearby farmland, but he chased her for some distance. She fell into a canal, where she was stabbed 25 times, Correo reported; Primicia gave the number as 28. Prosecutors said he killed her to stop her from reporting the attempted rape. Her body was found on May 21, 2025, about 100 metres from her home, according to Correo; Primicia put the distance at about 60 metres. The evidence. Prosecutors presented biological, chemical and physical forensic analysis and DNA testing. Blood found on the mattress and on the victim’s clothing was compared with samples from Rojas Crispín. He had a cut on one hand, which he said came from chopping firewood with a chisel; forensic experts concluded the wound was consistent with handling a knife. Correo reported that after the attack he went back into the house to calm the crying child, and left blood on his clothes and on the floor as he picked him up. A child’s words. The court also weighed a single recorded interview of Lucía’s son, conducted in a Gesell chamber, Primicia reported. The boy, the only eyewitness, told investigators in his own words that his stepfather had hit Lucía and that there was blood, according to both newspapers, which quoted slightly different versions of his statement. The child was three or four years old at the time, depending on the account. The 2025 investigation. In May 2025, Judge Lizbeth Peralta Pampa of Huancayo’s First Preparatory Investigation Court ordered nine months of pretrial detention, Correo reported at the time. The head of the Junín Police Region, General Danilo Vera Carbajal, said police had found “sufficient elements” against the stepfather, a woodcutter. He cited a cut on his right little finger that investigators believed came from a struggle with the victim, a hair found on the body, blood on his clothing, and accounts that other witnesses contradicted. The knife was found hidden above a door frame. Vera Carbajal said Lucía’s mother had described an attempted rape in earlier years for which no complaint was ever filed. Rojas Crispín had joined the search parties that went looking for her after she disappeared. Who she was. Lucía Retoblo Espinoza was 18 and the mother of a small boy when she was killed. Primicia gave Rojas Crispín’s age as 42; Correo gave 41. Sources Jauja: condenan a cadena perpetua a padrastro que asesinó de 25 puñaladas a su hijastra, Diario Correo, Oct 27, 2026 Jauja: Apuñaló a su hijastra 25 veces pero sostuvo su inocencia hasta el último día del juicio, Diario Correo, Oct 28, 2026 Jefe de la Región Policial Junín: “Hay suficientes elementos para condenar a padrastro de Lucía”, Diario Correo, May 27, 2025 ASESINÓ CON 28 PUÑALADAS A SU HIJASTRA: PADRASTRO CONDENADO A “CADENA PERPETUA”, Diario Primicia, Oct 28, 2026 Mbombela, South Africa: Two Men Plead Not Guilty as Trial Opens Over Killing of Bushbuckridge Traffic Chief Judas Chiloane With His Own Gun Location: Mpumalanga Division of the High Court, Mbombela; the shooting was on Kranskop Road in the White River and Hazyview area, Mpumalanga Legal status: Charles Mbongiseni Mabuza, 36, and Saico Junior Ngoma, 46, charged with murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and firearm and ammunition offences. Both pleaded not guilty and remain in custody. Trial set to run to Nov. 13. Presumed innocent. More than three and a half years after Bushbuckridge’s chief traffic officer was shot dead at the roadside, two men have gone on trial in the Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela accused of robbing and killing him, and both have pleaded not guilty to every charge, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Wednesday, Oct. 28. The victim. Judas Lens Chiloane was the chief traffic officer of Bushbuckridge Local Municipality in Mpumalanga’s lowveld. He was killed on the night of Saturday, March 11, 2023. The state’s case. According to NPA regional spokesperson Monica Nyuswa, Chiloane was sitting in a vehicle parked by the side of Kranskop Road with another person, a female friend, when the accused approached. The state alleges the men ordered the two occupants to drive to a bushy area and demanded money. When they discovered Chiloane was a traffic official, they allegedly demanded his service firearm. The state alleges they then shot him and fled with a cellphone, money, a laptop and his pistol. He was declared dead at the scene. His companion survived; Mpumalanga News reported in 2023 that she was unharmed and called for help, and that Chiloane was shot several times with his own service firearm. Reports in 2023 placed the scene on the road between Hazyview and Graskop or Sabie; the NPA now describes it as White River. The charges. Mabuza and Ngoma face counts of conspiracy to commit robbery and murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence, possession of a prohibited firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. Nyuswa said the state was presenting its evidence-in-chief, and that the trial is scheduled to continue until Nov. 13. The arrests. The Hawks, the police’s priority crimes directorate, made the first arrest on March 13, 2023, in Shabalala Trust, Mpumalanga News reported; the second accused was later found hiding in Nyongane village near Hazyview. In the first days, the Hawks also brought another man, Harward Malume Mashego, 38, before the White River Magistrate’s Court alongside Mabuza, but Mashego was charged only with possessing an unlicensed firearm, according to Hawks spokesperson Capt. Dineo Sekgotodi. At that first appearance Mabuza was charged with murder and possession of a prohibited firearm, and the case was postponed to March 22, 2023, so he could obtain legal aid. Sekgotodi said then: “They took the victim’s firearm and fatally shot him.” Mashego is not one of the two men on trial. Sowetan reported in 2023 that the Hawks had arrested the pair after a complaint that they were demanding between 2,500 and 3,000 rand from applicants for learner’s licences in exchange for issuing them without a test. Neither of the accused has been tried on any such allegation, and the NPA did not mention it this week. Custody. Mabuza and Ngoma were denied bail in April 2023 at the Hazyview Periodical Court after the state opposed their release, and both have remained in custody since. Their lawyers have not commented publicly on the trial. Sources Trial begins for two men accused of murdering traffic chief of Mpumalanga town, TimesLIVE, 28 Oct 2026 Bail opposed for accused of murder of chief traffic officer in Hazyview, Mpumalanga News, 28 Apr 2023 Duo appear in court over Mpumalanga traffic cop’s murder, Sowetan, 16 Mar 2023 Kampala, Uganda: Four South Sudanese Nationals Charged With Murdering Special-Hire Driver Godeous Ampiire After Fare Dispute Location: Kikandwa zone, Lungujja, Lubaga division, Kampala Legal status: James Ayom, Tong Aguru, Tong Deng and Abudul Ram Sadang charged with murder at Mwanga II Court, Mengo, on Oct. 27 and remanded to Luzira Prison until Nov. 12. No plea taken; murder is triable only by the High Court. All four are presumed innocent. Four foreign nationals have been charged in Kampala with murdering Godeous Ampiire, a special-hire taxi driver who, prosecutors say, was beaten after he refused to accept less than the agreed fare, New Vision and its Luganda sister paper Bukedde reported. The court. James Ayom, Tong Aguru, Tong Deng and Abudul Ram Sadang appeared on Tuesday, Oct. 27, before Chief Magistrate Doreen Ajuna at Mwanga II Court in Mengo. She read them the murder charge but did not ask them to plead, explaining that her court has no jurisdiction over a capital offence and that any issues must be raised in the High Court. They will return to her court for mention while prosecutors finish investigating, and await committal to the High Court for trial. She remanded them to Luzira Prison until Nov. 12. New Vision describes them as Sudanese nationals; Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire told Bukedde they are citizens of South Sudan. Bukedde reported that three of the four are women. They were earlier held at Nateete police station. The prosecution’s account. According to the charge, Ampiire, 43, drove a Toyota Wish, registration UBG 064R, and worked from the Namayiba stage in central Kampala. Prosecutors say the four hired him to take them to Kikandwa zone in Lungujja for an agreed fare of 30,000 Uganda shillings. On arrival they allegedly offered 20,000 shillings and said he could collect the balance the next day, which he refused. Prosecutors say an argument followed and that the accused kicked and punched him while shouting that he was a thief trying to steal their property. A video recorded by onlookers is cited by the prosecution. Bukedde reported that the injured driver tried to drive himself to hospital, but lost control of the car, and people who ran to help found him in a bad state. He died on the way to Mengo Hospital, and his body was taken to Mulago mortuary for a post-mortem. Cause of death has not been read out in court. The date. The charge read in court, as reported by New Vision, places the killing on Oct. 12. Bukedde’s court report puts the hiring on the night of Oct. 14, and his widow told Bukedde she last spoke to him at about 9 p.m. on Oct. 14 and was called at about 1 a.m. with news of his death. The discrepancy has not been explained. Who he was. Ampiire, whose name Bukedde also spells Gordius Ampire, worked in Kampala while his family lived in Kanungu district in western Uganda. His widow told Bukedde they had been married 15 years and had four children together, and that he had six children in all. The youngest is three, one is waiting to sit the Primary 7 exams and another is sitting Senior 4 exams now. He had been building a house that he did not finish. A brother told Bukedde the family was called at 1 a.m., and by the time relatives reached him he had died. He was buried on Oct. 16 at Lweere village, Nyarokoso parish, Kambuga, in Kanungu district. Next. The four will next appear for mention on Nov. 12. No defence lawyer has been named in reports, and none of the accused has commented publicly. Sources Four Sudanese nationals remanded over murder of special hire driver, New Vision, 27 Oct 2026 Abawala Abasudaani abasse owa sipeesulo nga bafunye obutakkaanya naye mu nsasula basuze Luzira, Bukedde, Oct 2026 Poliisi ekutte abakazi basatu ku by’owa sipensulo eyattiddwa, Bukedde, Oct 2026 Europe Louth Village, Ireland: Defence Asks Jury for Insanity Verdict as State Urges Diminished Responsibility in Robert O’Connor Triple Killing Trial The Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, where the Central Criminal Court sits. Photo: Metro Centric / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 Location: Central Criminal Court, Dublin; Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, Co Louth Legal status: Robert O’Connor, 32, pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, or guilty of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. Presumed innocent of murder. Closing speeches, Oct. 29. On Thursday the two sides made their closing speeches, TheJournal.ie reported. Prosecuting, Roisin Lacey SC told the jury that neither a simple murder conviction nor an outright acquittal was “in play” and that the verdict of guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility was “more in accordance with the preponderance of the evidence” and reflected the agreement of both psychiatrists. She warned jurors that treating the case as “all about drugs” would breach their oath and ignore the experts. For the defence, Michael Bowman SC asked the jury to return the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity so that O’Connor could get “proper mental health treatment” and “not be misdiagnosed for a fourth time,” and asked them not to punish him for coming off his medication. The accused accepts he caused the deaths of the three victims, who had a combined 139 stab wounds. The trial continues before Mr Justice Mícheál P O’Higgins and a jury of six men and six women. The jury in the trial of a Co Louth man who accepts that he killed his parents and his younger brother spent Wednesday, Oct. 28, watching more than an hour of his Garda interviews, after the jurors asked to see his “demeanour” on the morning after the killings, RTÉ and The Irish Times reported. The charges. Robert O’Connor, 32, of Drumgowna, Louth Village, Dundalk, is on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of his mother, Louise, 56, his father, Mark, 54, and his brother, Evan, 27, who had special needs, at their home between Sept. 28 and 29, 2025. The jury has been told he accepts he caused their deaths and that the three had a combined 139 stab wounds. He has pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, or guilty of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. The jury’s note. Last Thursday the foreman handed Mr Justice Mícheál P O’Higgins a note: “is there any particular reason we cannot see the videos of the interviews of the defendant as we would like to see his demeanour that Monday morning.” The judge told jurors on Tuesday that the videos would be provided after he discussed the request with counsel. On Wednesday the jury of six men and six women watched seven segments, lasting one hour and five minutes, from his three interviews at Drogheda Garda Station on Sept. 29 and 30, 2025. What he told gardaí. The jury had already heard the interviews in full. O’Connor described how his mother asked him to let his brother go as he held them at knifepoint. He told gardaí that after stabbing Evan he tried to walk him out of the house before Evan collapsed beside his mother and held her hand. He said he “dragged” his parents and brother into the garden, and only realised hours later that he had done something “terrible bad.” The battleground. The prosecution told jurors in its opening that the “battleground” was whether O’Connor was insane at the time. Two consultant forensic psychiatrists agree he was suffering a relapse of schizophrenia, and both regard a manslaughter verdict on the grounds of diminished responsibility under section 6 of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 as appropriate. They differ on the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity under section 5. Dr Fiona Toal, called by the defence, testified last week that O’Connor did not know what he was doing was wrong and could not refrain from it, and so met the criteria for that verdict. Dr Ronan Mullaney, called by the prosecution, said he did not. On Tuesday, Mullaney described “specific accords” with Toal: the relapse, that it coincided with four to five weeks of not taking medication as well as intoxication, and that O’Connor knew the nature and quality of his act. Mullaney said O’Connor had knowledge the killings were wrong despite a substantial distortion of judgement and delusional beliefs, and that his ability to regulate his conduct was substantially impaired but not to the point that he could not refrain. What is next. The judge told jurors the evidence was nearing its end and the case would move to its next phase on Thursday, Oct. 29. Sources Jury in Louth murder trial shown garda interview videos, RTÉ News, 28 Oct 2026 Jury in triple murder trial shown Garda interviews after asking to see accused’s ‘demeanour’, The Irish Times, 28 Oct 2026 Lawyers for man accused of murdering his brother and parents ask jury to consider insanity verdict, TheJournal.ie, 29 Oct 2026 Southampton, England: Marcin Buryta Jailed for Life, Minimum 30 Years, for “Execution and Revenge” Killing of Piotr Pruszak Winchester Combined Court Centre, home of Winchester Crown Court. Photo: Chris Talbot / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Location: Winchester Crown Court; Conifer Road, Southampton, Hampshire Legal status: Marcin Buryta, 32, convicted of murder on Oct. 27; sentenced Oct. 29 to life with a minimum term of 30 years. A Southampton drug dealer who shot an intruder four times with a pistol containing 3D-printed parts was jailed for life at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday, Oct. 29, and ordered to serve at least 30 years before he can be considered for release, the Daily Echo reported. The judge called the killing “an act of execution and revenge.” The sentence. Marcin Buryta, 32, murdered Piotr Pruszak, 45, at Buryta’s home on Conifer Road on Feb. 11. A jury rejected his self-defence case and convicted him of murder on Oct. 27. He also received concurrent sentences of six years for firearms offences and 12 years for possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. Sentencing him, Mrs Justice Heather Williams said: “This became an act of execution and revenge.” She said Buryta had used the gun in “anger, rather than fear to exact revenge for the intrusion into your house,” describing the shooting as “violent retribution.” The judge said she could not be sure Buryta had been the aggressor from the outset, but she rejected large parts of his account. “I am quite satisfied that you have lied in terms of the essence of your defence,” she said. She found that he had quickly staged the scene after the killing, including moving Pruszak “in something of a panic” to exaggerate the circumstances. “You changed your account to try and fit it around the known circumstances,” she told him. The shooting. The trial heard that Pruszak entered the house through an upstairs window. Buryta heard a noise upstairs, believed someone was breaking in, loaded his Glock-style handgun and shot Pruszak four times. He first told police he shot Pruszak after a small fight in which he disarmed him, then said in interview that he used his own gun, after admitting he was a drug dealer. Prosecutor Paul Cavin KC told jurors that Pruszak never fired back and that Buryta was “armed to the teeth with illegal firearms and other deadly weaponry.” Pathologist Dr Megan Jenkins said Pruszak died of multiple gunshot wounds to the jaw, chest, armpit, forearm and hip; one bullet passed through his lung and heart. 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. “Almost an armoury.” Police found two 3D-printed handguns, a decommissioned handgun, a crossbow, a machete, an axe, a knuckleduster and several knives in the house, and a baseball bat in his car, the Echo reported. Buryta said he kept them for protection and collected weapons as a hobby. “We are, whatever is going on here, dealing with the streets of Southampton rather than Detroit,” Cavin told the jury. Messages about drug deals continued to be sent from a Telegram account called “Poison” during and after the shooting, including while Buryta was on the phone to emergency services. He told the court he had dealt drugs for about four years because he was in a bad financial situation. His past. At 19, in 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 a gang linked to that case later threatened his family, and that he posted videos titled “A murderer’s confessions” to deter them before moving to England. Cavin asked why he did not simply leave by the back door. “It’s because you love guns,” he said. Sources Southampton shooter to serve at least 30 years in jail after ‘execution’ murder, Daily Echo, 29 Oct 2026 Inside the trial of a killer convicted of fatal shooting in Southampton, Daily Echo, 28 Oct 2026 Shipley, England: Pair Jailed for Life for Beating Jaroslav Daniszewski to Death With a Domestic Iron Location: Stead Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire Legal status: Zbigniew Chlebek and Beata Walczak convicted of murder after a trial at Bradford Crown Court; sentenced Oct. 29 to life with minimum terms of 14 years and 168 days and 14 years and 169 days. A man and a woman who beat Jaroslav Daniszewski to death with a domestic iron in what a judge called a “brutal and merciless attack” were jailed for life at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday, Oct. 29, BBC News reported. Zbigniew Chlebek, 67, and Beata Walczak, 58, of Barkerend Road, Bradford, were both found guilty of murdering Daniszewski, 43, whose body was found on the living room floor of Chlebek’s one-bedroom flat on Stead Street in Shipley on April 22, 2025. Chlebek must serve a minimum of 14 years and 168 days, and Walczak a minimum of 14 years and 169 days, before they can be considered for parole. Both will remain on licence for the rest of their lives if released. The attack. The court heard that Daniszewski suffered about 24 groups of injuries, mostly to his head and face, and two serious brain injuries, the second of which killed him. He was attacked during a night of heavy drinking. Judge Geoffrey Marson said Chlebek, Walczak, Daniszewski and a man called Roj had met on April 20 for a day of heavy drinking and that all of them had “a serious alcohol problem.” Daniszewski had been Walczak’s boyfriend. The court heard the two had argued, in an exchange caught on CCTV, in the lead-up to the attack. Both defendants said they had no memory of what happened. “You spent the day drinking significant quantities of alcohol, but other than that we will not know what happened on that day,” the judge said. Equal responsibility. “Precisely which of you delivered which blows we will never know, but it matters not because you are both equally responsible for this killing,” Marson told the pair. He said Daniszewski had suffered a “brutal assault with multiple blows” and had “little or no chance of defending himself.” “We will never know what the motive or cause of this attack was,” Marson said. “It is clear to me and I am sure that, from the ferocity of the attack and that final blow, each of you had the intention to kill.” He said the totality of the evidence, including scientific evidence about the distribution of blood, made him sure that both were principals in the killing. After the killing. The court heard that after Daniszewski died, Chlebek and Walczak stayed in the flat. “Your callous reaction after you must have known he was dead was to remain in the flat and you, Walczak, simply went to bed in the bedroom where he lay,” the judge said. He said neither had shown any remorse and that both chose to lie to police in interview. The police. After the convictions, Senior Investigating Officer Matt Holdsworth of West Yorkshire Police said Daniszewski had been subjected to a “prolonged assault” and left unconscious. “Rather than seeking help for a gravely injured man, the defendants left him to die,” Holdsworth said. “The evidence gathered by the investigation team demonstrated not only the severity of the attack, but also the deliberate failure of the offenders to provide or summon assistance when it was clear the victim was in urgent need of medical attention.” He credited “meticulous investigative work” for the convictions and said he hoped the verdict would “provide some comfort” to Daniszewski’s family. The sentencing closes a case that began 18 months ago, when Daniszewski was found in the flat two days after the drinking session began. Sources Life in jail for Bradford pair who used iron to murder man, BBC News, 29 Oct 2026 Evil pair who hit a man so hard with an iron it broke jailed for life, YorkshireLive, 29 Oct 2026 Waterlooville, England: Sister of Joanna Derkacz Tells Jury She Offered Money to Help Her Leave Stephen Sexton Location: Winchester Crown Court; Waterlooville, Hampshire Legal status: Stephen Sexton, 39, of Totton, on trial; denies murder and rape and has pleaded not guilty to controlling or coercive behaviour. Presumed innocent. The sister of Joanna Derkacz, a 37-year-old woman found dead on her bed at her home in Waterlooville on Dec. 28, 2023, told Winchester Crown Court that she had offered her money to move away from her boyfriend before her death, the Advertiser and Times reported on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Stephen Sexton, 39, of Cherry Gardens, Totton, denies raping and murdering Derkacz and has pleaded not guilty to behaving in a controlling or coercive manner. The prosecution alleges that he raped and strangled her after she ended the relationship. The jury has heard the prosecution’s case that he became increasingly jealous and abusive, and killed her after she finished with him following a furious row when she was late home from a night out with friends. “She had a big heart.” Arleta Derkacz, who found her sister’s body, wiped away tears as she told the court that Joanna refused to throw Sexton out because “it wasn’t fair and he had nowhere to go.” “You would have to know Joanna; she had a big heart,” she said. After her sister told her about some of the alleged abuse, including Sexton trying to strangle her, Arleta said she offered her money to move to a new home, which Joanna turned down. “She wanted to stay because she liked the house. Also because he had already paid rent until the end of the month, so it wasn’t fair,” she said. “She is an adult, I had to leave her to make her own decisions, and that is the biggest mistake of my life.” The court has heard that Joanna ended the relationship around Dec. 11, 2023, after a row during which Sexton destroyed her laptop. He had also reported her missing to police, who carried out a welfare check. Arleta said Joanna had told Sexton that if she had to tell police everything he had done, “he would not be able to see his son.” “She was putting him first before her; she always did that,” Arleta said. Cross-examination. Under cross-examination by Jodie Mittell KC, for Sexton, Arleta was asked about her feelings toward him. “I hate him,” she said, adding that “so many of my friends want him to die.” Mittell said she was asking about her feelings before Joanna died. Arleta said she had treated him as family and agreed she once called him “the best brother-in-law I’d ever had,” adding: “I didn’t hate him back then, I hate him now.” She said she and her long-term partner, Lukas, fell out with Sexton around January 2023 after he accused her of cheating on her partner. Mittell read out messages Sexton sent her: one apologising “from the bottom of my heart” for causing stress, one telling her to “ask your sister about all the speed/drugs they do together,” and one alleging that Lukas had tried to have sex with Joanna. “None of this ever happened,” Arleta said. “Joanna and Lukas were like brother and sister; she was 13 years old when they first met.” Asked whether she knew Joanna occasionally took drugs, Arleta said she learned only after her death, from friends, that her sister took “energy stuff, pills” when she went out dancing. Asked about telling police after finding the body that she “thought” Sexton had killed her, she replied: “I know he killed her.” She later broke down, saying she had hoped he had not, and added: “Even looking at him now I feel sorry for him and I don’t know why.” The trial continues. Sources Woman allegedly murdered by ‘abusive’ boyfriend was offered cash to leave him, court hears, Advertiser and Times, 27 Oct 2026 Tipperary, Ireland: Murder Trial Opens Over Death of Timothy “Teddy” Murnane, 80, Found Injured in His Back Garden Location: Central Criminal Court sitting in Co Cork; St Michael’s Avenue, Tipperary town Legal status: Sean Harding, 32, charged with murder; pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter and three counts of theft. Presumed innocent of murder. A murder trial opened on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Co Cork over the death of Timothy “Teddy” Murnane, an 80-year-old man who was found seriously injured in the back garden of his home in Tipperary town in September 2025 after going out to check on a noise in his garage, RTÉ reported. The charge and the plea. Sean Harding, 32, of Marian Terrace in Tipperary town, is charged with the murder of Murnane at his home on Michaels Avenue on Sept. 12, 2025. When arraigned on the murder charge, Harding said he was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to three counts of theft: two at St Michael’s Avenue on Sept. 12, 2025, and a third at another address on the same avenue between Sept. 11 and 12, 2025. Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford is presiding. The jury is made up of seven women and five men. In his opening statement, Senior Counsel Karl Finnegan for the prosecution said the central issue would be whether the evidence established that Harding intended to kill or cause serious bodily harm to Murnane. The prosecution’s account. Finnegan said that on the evening of Sept. 12, 2025, Harding stole from Murnane’s property twice. He first entered a shed in the back garden and took tools belonging to Murnane, then returned between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and took more tools from the same shed. Murnane went outside to investigate a sound he had heard in his garage. Minutes later, his wife found him seriously injured in the back garden, bleeding from the ear and breathing with difficulty. According to the prosecution, she saw that the garage door was open and the light was on, and that the garage, usually “kept immaculately with everything in its place,” had been noticeably disturbed. The couple’s son arrived soon after, called emergency services, and was able to identify tools belonging to him and his father that were missing. First responders found Murnane unresponsive, with swelling and bruising around his eye, and saw vomit on the ground. They tried to manage his airway, but his condition deteriorated on the way to hospital. Doctors recorded head injuries, a low level of consciousness, bleeding from the left ear and multiple skull fractures. To doctors, Finnegan said, it appeared he had been struck multiple times on the head, with most injuries above the neck. Murnane died at University Hospital Limerick on Sept. 14, 2025, two days after he was found. The pathology. State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers found that Murnane died from complications of blunt force trauma to the head, the jury was told. She found extensive swelling and bruising to his face and head and multiple fractures at the back of the head, and was of the opinion that the injuries arose from multiple blows with a fist and an object with a flat surface, followed by a fall. She also found bruising suggesting “defensive type injuries.” A black bag found in the shed, which the family said was not theirs, had Harding’s DNA on its straps, the court heard. The interview. Harding was arrested on Sept. 13, 2025. In interview, he told gardaí he was inside the shed taking tools when he heard someone approaching, and that he “barged past” Murnane while trying to get away, causing him to fall. He said he did not mean to hurt him. On hearing that Murnane had died, Harding said: “I’m after killing someone. I didn’t mean to kill him.” Finnegan told the jury the third theft, at 133 St Michael’s Avenue, was unrelated to the events at Murnane’s home. The trial is expected to last until Nov. 13. Sources Murder trial hears victim was struck multiple times, RTÉ, 28 Oct 2026 Échirolles, France: Woman, 29, Charged With Murder After Man Is Stabbed Twice in the Neck in His Apartment Building Location: Rue de l’Écureuil, Échirolles, Isère, near Grenoble Legal status: Placed under formal investigation (mise en examen) Oct. 28 for intentional homicide by a person in a state of manifest intoxication; remanded in pretrial detention. Faces up to life imprisonment if convicted. Presumed innocent. A 29-year-old woman was placed under formal investigation for murder and remanded in custody on Wednesday, Oct. 28, after a 53-year-old man was stabbed twice in the neck in Échirolles, a suburb of Grenoble, the Grenoble prosecutor’s office announced. The charge is “homicide volontaire par une personne ayant agi en état d’ivresse manifeste,” intentional homicide committed by a person in a state of manifest intoxication. She faces life imprisonment if convicted, the prosecutor said. Neither the victim nor the accused has been publicly named by prosecutors or in local reporting. The discovery. The man was found dead in the bathroom of his apartment on Rue de l’Écureuil during the night of Sunday, Oct. 25, to Monday, Oct. 26, France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes reported. He had been stabbed twice in the neck, and one of the wounds perforated an artery and caused his rapid death, according to the prosecutor’s statement cited by CNews. Prosecutors said the stabbing itself appeared to have happened in a hallway of the building. The suspect was arrested quickly at the foot of the building. She was “very drunk” and had a knife “that very probably served to deliver the fatal blows,” Grenoble prosecutor Etienne Manteaux said in a statement. Her police custody was suspended on Monday after a medical examination so that she could be hospitalised, then resumed the following night. Her account. The woman told investigators from the Grenoble judicial police that she had met the man a few weeks earlier and that they had argued four days before his death, an argument in which blows were exchanged. After they got back in touch, the man “allegedly proposed a sexual relationship to which she did not consent,” the prosecutor’s office said. “According to her, he was insistent, and it was in this context that she struck him twice with a knife.” That account comes from the accused and has not been tested by an investigating judge or a court. A similar case in June. The prosecutor said the woman had been taken into police custody in Chambéry in June 2026 in a similar case, accused of slashing the face of a man with a box cutter after he allegedly proposed sex to which she did not consent. She was placed under judicial supervision in that case and is due to stand trial in Chambéry, in neighbouring Savoie, at the end of November, which means she was under court-ordered supervision in that case when the Échirolles stabbing took place, the prosecutor’s office said. Manteaux said she had previous convictions for violence and “appears currently to be of no fixed abode and a polydrug user.” She was brought before a judge on Wednesday and, as the prosecutor had requested, was placed under formal investigation and remanded in pretrial detention. What comes next. An investigating judge will now lead the inquiry. A mise en examen in France means a judge has found serious or consistent evidence of possible involvement; it is not a conviction, and the woman remains presumed innocent. Sources Homme tué de deux coups de couteau dans un immeuble à Échirolles : la suspecte de 29 ans mise en examen et écrouée, France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 28 Oct 2026 Isère : une femme mise en examen après le meurtre au couteau d’un quinquagénaire à Echirolles, CNews, 29 Oct 2026 Kottingbrunn, Austria: Alleged Accomplice Extradited From Germany in Shooting of Katharina E. Location: Kottingbrunn, Baden district, Lower Austria (Wiener Neustadt prosecutors; Justizanstalt Wiener Neustadt) Legal status: Elvis V., 32, an Italian national living in Germany, extradited to Austria on Oct. 27, 2026, and held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of involvement in murder; reportedly admits a planned robbery but denies aiding a murder. Main suspect Christian F., 27, in pre-trial detention since May 22. Both are presumed innocent; no one has been charged at trial. Extradited. A 32-year-old man suspected of involvement in the killing of Katharina E., 28, who was found shot dead in her flat in Kottingbrunn in May, was extradited from Germany to Austria on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and taken to the Justizanstalt Wiener Neustadt, the Lower Austria state police directorate confirmed on Wednesday in response to an APA query, according to Der Standard and ORF Niederösterreich. The man, an Italian citizen with a residence in Germany, was arrested in August. Kurier named him as Elvis V. and reported that he had been sought internationally under a European arrest warrant issued by the Wiener Neustadt prosecutor’s office, and that target investigators caught him at his old address in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. His account. According to Kurier, as cited by APA, the 32-year-old has admitted that the plan was to rob the victim in her flat, but denies being present when the shots were fired and denies the allegation of aiding a murder. He says he waited in a car outside the apartment building. Money and the victim’s bank card were taken from the flat, the report said. Croatian language outlet Kroativ, citing Austrian media, reported that by his account the two men rented a car in Styria to cover their tracks and drove it to Kottingbrunn, carrying a small calibre pistol, and that he was told afterwards that the woman had been shot three times. Those claims remain under investigation and have not been independently confirmed. The killing. Katharina E., a secretary who, according to Kurier, worked at a school in Vienna and studied part time at a university of applied sciences, was found dead in her flat on May 14 by her parents, who had been unable to reach her. A fall was initially considered as a cause of death, but a post mortem found she had been shot. Kurier reported she was shot three times in the head at close range with a .22 calibre pistol. Investigators found no sign of forced entry and concluded she had let her killer in. The main suspect. Detectives traced a 27-year-old man from Styria through her phone data and social media contacts; oe24 reported they had spoken more than 40 times by phone. Kurier named him as Christian F. and said he was arrested on May 20. He is a sport shooter and is alleged to have used a legally owned pistol. He and the victim are believed to have met on Facebook and had a brief relationship. His lawyer at the time, Manfred Arbacher-Stöger, said he had confessed, giving wounded pride as a motive, but he has since given investigators several versions of the motive and circumstances. He named the 32-year-old as having been present. Investigators found he had built a false online persona with AI generated photos and videos, presenting himself as a successful building contractor with expensive sports cars, Kurier reported. His later lawyer, Astrid Wagner, said a ballistics report by expert Ingo Wieser broadly supported her client’s account that the shots were fired during an argument. What comes next. Both men are in pre-trial detention in Wiener Neustadt. Prosecutors must establish the role, if any, of the second suspect in the killing itself. No indictment has been reported. Sources Femizid in Niederösterreich: Mutmaßlicher Komplize nach Österreich ausgeliefert, Der Standard, 28 Oct 2026 Frau erschossen: Mutmaßlicher Komplize ausgeliefert, ORF Niederösterreich, 29 Oct 2026 Mutmaßlicher Komplize nach Femizid in Kottingbrunn ausgeliefert, austria.com, 29 Oct 2026 Tuga u Austriji: Roditelji pronašli ubijenu kćer, sada se dogodio i novi obrat u slučaju, Kroativ, 28 Oct 2026 Mord an Frau in Kottingbrunn: Polizei fasst flüchtigen Komplizen, Kurier, Aug 2026 Das ist der Facebook-Killer: Sekretärin erschossen, oe24, May 2026 Antwerp: Assize Jury Sentences Alexandru-Florin Jacota to 24 Years for Killing Ion Poienaru Location: Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium Legal status: Found guilty Oct. 28 of intentional homicide (doodslag; meurtre); sentenced Oct. 29 to 24 years by the Antwerp Court of Assize. The verdict. A jury at the Antwerp Court of Assize on Wednesday, Oct. 28, found Alexandru-Florin Jacota, 29, guilty of the intentional killing of Ion Poienaru, 37, who was stabbed to death in his Antwerp flat in April 2023. Belga, in a report carried by La DH, said the jury reached its decision after about three hours of deliberation and found no self-defence, no excessive self-defence and no provocation. HLN, which put deliberations at about three and a half hours, reported that the offence in Belgian law is doodslag, an intentional killing without premeditation, carrying a maximum of 30 years. On Thursday, Oct. 29, after more than four hours of further deliberation, the jury sentenced him to 24 years. How Ion Poienaru died. Reading the interim judgment, presiding judge Dirk Thys said a court psychiatrist found that Jacota was not suffering from a mental disorder that clouded his judgment at the time and was criminally responsible. According to the medical examiner, Poienaru bled to death after suffering 23 cutting and stabbing wounds. One severed the spinal cord, causing immediate motor paralysis; others pierced the windpipe and chest, with blood accumulating in both chest cavities. The jury found the intent to kill established by the use of a sharp knife, the targeted injuries to vital parts of the body and the nature and intensity of the violence. “Anyone who acts like this realises even without medical knowledge that what they are doing is life threatening. It is therefore clear that Jacota wanted Poienaru dead,” the judgment said, according to HLN. Self-defence rejected. Jacota’s lawyers, Boris Reynaerts and Dieter Gilis, argued he acted in lawful self-defence. His account was that Poienaru attacked him with two knives and that he knocked one from his hand and took the other. The jury called the claim that Poienaru attacked him “totally implausible”. It found that once Jacota had the knives, Poienaru posed no further threat, and that Jacota then inflicted all the injuries out of anger and under the influence of cocaine. The jury pointed to his changing accounts: in his first statement he said he had been attacked by third parties during a robbery, a story he later dropped. In conversations with his mother he made no mention of an attack by Poienaru. An upstairs neighbour heard Poienaru shout clearly that night: “Stop hitting! Police!” The jury said Poienaru’s wounds looked more like defensive injuries, and that Jacota had offered no clear motive for an attack beyond a claim that Poienaru presumably wanted to steal money from him. The sentence. In the final judgment, Thys said the suffering inflicted on Poienaru was immeasurable, that the number and severity of the wounds showed an exceptional and ruthless mentality, and that the victim had been conscious for several minutes and had to endure the injuries and the fear that came with them. Although no relatives had joined the trial as civil parties, the court noted that his family faced an irreversible loss made worse by the violent circumstances of his death. The court described a very unfavourable character report. Jacota came into contact with drugs at a young age and was described by people around him as a “magnet for problems”, with repeated reports of verbal and physical aggression. Prison disciplinary reports during his three years of pre-trial detention also recorded aggression towards fellow inmates and staff, although the court acknowledged a turnaround in recent years. The court psychiatrist found a serious addiction to cannabis, cocaine and alcohol, little or no capacity for empathy and an antisocial personality development, and gave a rather bleak prognosis. The jury took into account his clean criminal record, his troubled childhood and his father’s violence, but did not treat them as mitigating circumstances, HLN reported. “We can only hope, Mr Jacota, that you will serve your sentence and use your time in prison to work on yourself,” Thys told him. “Remember that society did give you rights. Rights that you did not grant Ion Poienaru.” Jacota remained silent during the reading. HLN noted he can apply for early release after eight years, which with time already served means in about five years. Sources Alexandru Jacota schuldig aan doodslag op Ion Poienaru: “Dat Ion hem aanviel is totaal ongeloofwaardig”, HLN, 28 Oct 2026 Alexandru-Florin Jacota (29) moet 24 jaar naar de cel voor doodslag op Ion Poienaru (37): “Geen empathisch vermogen”, HLN, 29 Oct 2026 Assises Anvers ‐ Alexandru Jacota reconnu coupable du meurtre d’Ion Poienaru, La DH (Belga), 28 Oct 2026 Auderghem: Lawyer Elvira Found Stabbed in Her Flat; Suspect Charged With Murder Faces Court Friday Location: Avenue Gabriel Émile Lebon, Auderghem (Oudergem), Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium Legal status: Man arrested, charged (inculpé) with murder as a provisional charge and placed under an arrest warrant by an investigating judge; due before the Brussels council chamber on Fri. Oct. 30 for a ruling on continued pretrial detention. Not officially named. Presumed innocent. Found dead at home. A woman identified in Belgian media as Elvira, a lawyer in her thirties, was found dead on Sunday, Oct. 25, in her ground floor flat on Avenue Gabriel Émile Lebon in Auderghem, a residential commune in the south east of Brussels. The Brussels public prosecutor’s office confirmed on Oct. 28 that her death was being treated as suspicious, that a suspect had been arrested and placed under an arrest warrant, and that he had been charged with murder, which it described as a provisional legal classification. Belga, via RTBF and BX1, reported that the man is due to appear on Friday, Oct. 30, before the council chamber, which must decide whether he stays in pretrial detention. A scream before midnight. The killing is believed to have taken place in the night of Oct. 24 to 25. According to Sudinfo, as cited by La Libre and L’Avenir, Elvira was stabbed about fifteen times. Neighbours told the paper they were alerted by a piercing scream shortly before midnight, which they described as a cry “of surprise” rather than of pain. One of them tried to make contact with the young owner of the flat without success, and they then called the emergency services. “I was already in bed when I heard a loud woman’s scream,” an upstairs neighbour told Het Nieuwsblad, as quoted by VRT NWS. The prosecutor’s statement. “On Oct. 25, 2026, a deceased woman was found in her home in Auderghem. Her death was suspicious,” the prosecutor’s office said. It said it had ordered the first investigative steps, including the involvement of the police laboratory and a forensic doctor, that an investigating judge had been appointed, and that the prosecutor and the judge had both visited the scene. “In the interest of the investigation and out of respect for the victim’s relatives, the prosecutor’s office will make no further comment,” spokeswoman Veerle Byloos said, according to VRT NWS. Who the suspect is said to be. Neighbours told Sudinfo that the suspect got into the flat through its bathroom window, and that he is the woman’s former partner, La Libre and L’Avenir reported. BX1 also reported that the man arrested is believed to be her former partner. According to the same neighbours, he had not been seen in the building since Elvira’s birthday. The prosecutor’s office has not confirmed his identity or his relationship to the victim. He is presumed innocent. Who Elvira was. La Libre reported that Elvira was originally from Kyrgyzstan and had become a naturalised Belgian. She studied in Belgium before going on to higher studies in London, was admitted to the Brussels bar, and later worked with the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain) before specialising as a lawyer in international business law. She had bought the flat in January 2026, and her father had done most of the renovation work on it, neighbours told La Capitale. Auderghem’s mayor, Sophie De Vos, and the local Marlow police zone declined to comment. La Libre described the case as the third suspected femicide in the Brussels region this year. Sources Féminicide à Auderghem : Elvira retrouvée morte dans son appartement, un homme placé sous mandat d’arrêt, La Libre, 28 Oct 2026 Bruxelles: une femme retrouvée morte à Auderghem, Elvira aurait été poignardée une quinzaine de fois par son ex-compagnon, L’Avenir, 28 Oct 2026 Auderghem : une femme retrouvée morte, un suspect placé sous mandat d’arrêt, RTBF (Belga), 29 Oct 2026 Une femme retrouvée morte à Auderghem, un suspect placé sous mandat d’arrêt, BX1, 29 Oct 2026 Vrouw levenloos aangetroffen in woning in Oudergem: één verdachte aangehouden, VRT NWS, 28 Oct 2026 Carpentras, France: Appeal Court Upholds Release of Father Charged Over Fire That Killed His Partner and 10-Year-Old Daughter Location: Apartment above the bar-restaurant Le Petit Serrois, avenue Saint-Roch, Serres, Carpentras (Vaucluse); Chambre de l’instruction, Cour d’appel de Nîmes Legal status: Father, 35, placed under formal investigation (mis en examen) for murder of a partner, murder and attempted murder of minors under 15, and deliberate destruction by fire; denies starting the fire. Presumed innocent. Release without judicial supervision upheld Oct. 29, 2026. The investigating chamber of the Nîmes Court of Appeal on Thursday, Oct. 29, confirmed the release without judicial supervision of a 35-year-old father charged over a fire in Carpentras, in the Vaucluse, that killed his partner and their 10-year-old daughter, Midi Libre reported. The Avignon prosecutor’s office had appealed to have him jailed pending trial. Midi Libre identifies him only by his first name, Steven; the dead mother and daughter have not been publicly named. The fire. Shortly before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, firefighters were called to an apartment on avenue Saint-Roch, in the hamlet of Serres, above the bar-restaurant Le Petit Serrois, Le Dauphiné Libéré reported. According to Le Parisien, a 10-year-old girl had already been taken in hand by rescuers when police arrived, and firefighters pulled a five-year-old boy and his 35-year-old mother from the burning flat. All three were in cardiorespiratory arrest and were taken to hospital “with their lives in danger,” deputy Avignon prosecutor David Dufour said at the time. The fire is believed to have started near the sofa, Midi Libre reported. On Thursday, Oct. 15, the mother and the girl died of smoke inhalation. The boy survived despite a very worrying condition. The father. The children’s father was found outside the building, only very slightly affected by smoke. He was arrested the day of the fire, initially for failure to assist a person in danger, and learned of the deaths while in custody. Investigators soon turned towards “a possible responsibility of the father,” Le Parisien reported, and the prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation for murder and attempted murder of minors under 15, murder by a partner, and deliberate destruction by fire. An investigating judge placed him under formal investigation, and he was held in custody for about ten days. According to La Provence, as cited by Le Parisien, the couple were separating. A relative of the mother said he was barred from approaching the home or contacting her after she filed a complaint at the end of August, though the couple had apparently got back together. Midi Libre reported that he had been the subject of a domestic violence complaint and has four entries on his criminal record. The release and the appeal. On Friday, Oct. 23, the liberty and detention judge released him “without any coercive measure,” against the prosecution’s request for pretrial detention, Avignon prosecutor Stéphanie Aouine told Le Parisien, and her office appealed. At the hearing in Nîmes on Oct. 28, the representative of the prosecutor general again asked for him to be detained. His lawyer, Olivier Collion, told the court: “At this stage, we know nothing. And no element of the investigation allows us to think of a deliberate act. There is no trace of hydrocarbons. There is nothing criminal.” The father says he was asleep when he was woken, searched the flat for his family, could not find them and went outside thinking they had escaped; by the time he understood they were still inside, it was too late. Witnesses said he arrived in the bar below barefoot, in shock and covered in soot. The investigating chamber confirmed his release. Sources Une mère et sa fille ont perdu la vie dans l’incendie de leur appartement à Carpentras : la chambre de l’instruction à Nîmes confirme la remise en liberté du père, Midi Libre, 29 Oct 2026 Le père de famille mis en examen pour la mort de sa conjointe et sa fille de dix ans dans un incendie à Carpentras remis en liberté, Le Parisien, 24 Oct 2026 Vaucluse. Incendie à Carpentras ayant entraîné le décès de sa fille et sa compagne : le parquet requiert l’incarcération du père de famille, Le Dauphiné Libéré, 28 Oct 2026 Lisi, Georgia: Groom’s Brother Guram Boiko Stabbed to Death Outside Wedding; Guest Charged With Murder Location: Village of Lisi, on the edge of Tbilisi (Mtskheta municipality, according to prosecutors), Georgia; suspect detained in Sighnaghi municipality, Kakheti Legal status: Man with a previous conviction detained Oct. 28 and charged on Oct. 29 with intentional murder under Article 108 of the Georgian Criminal Code (up to 15 years in prison); prosecutors to ask a court to order pretrial detention. Not named. Presumed innocent. A wedding that ended in death. Guram Boiko, a young man from the town of Tsnori in eastern Georgia, was stabbed in the chest outside a restaurant in the village of Lisi, on the edge of Tbilisi, during his brother’s wedding party and died shortly after reaching hospital. Georgian police detained a suspect the next day, and on Oct. 29 the Prosecutor’s Office said it had charged one person with intentional murder. “This great happiness turned into a tragedy for us,” the victim’s aunt wrote on Facebook, Radio Tavisupleba (RFE/RL’s Georgian service) reported. What happened outside the restaurant. The wedding was taking place at the Lisi Mere restaurant. According to the Interior Ministry, the accused stabbed a young man in the chest with a bladed weapon during a verbal altercation in the area next to a restaurant in Lisi, then fled. Relatives told TV Pirveli that a confrontation broke out between two groups of young people at the party and turned into a physical fight outside. Guram Boiko was trying to separate the two sides when the man now in custody stabbed him in the heart, they said. Mtavari reported that up to about 20 people may have been involved in the brawl. Local outlet Mtavari Ambebi Kakhetidan, quoted by Radio Tavisupleba, also said the conflict began at the table and that Guram was hurt while trying to break it up. The restaurant’s account. The owner of Lisi Mere, Tamaz Namicheishvili, told Radio Tavisupleba that he had been on the premises, as at every wedding. “It was late. We have security staff, but nothing happened inside,” he said, adding that guests did not realise anything was wrong until police and an ambulance arrived. He said the stabbing took place some distance from the restaurant, out of view of its cameras, and that police had taken all of the footage. Radio Tavisupleba reported that the suspected killer was himself a guest at the same wedding. Arrest in Kakheti. On Oct. 28 the Interior Ministry said officers of its Mtskheta-Mtianeti police department had detained a man with a previous criminal conviction “in hot pursuit” in the Sighnaghi district of Kakheti, and had seized the weapon as evidence. The case was opened under Article 108 of the Criminal Code, which covers intentional murder and carries a sentence of up to 15 years. The Prosecutor’s Office said on Oct. 29 that the man had been charged under the same article and that it would apply to the court, within the legal deadline, for him to be held in pretrial detention. Who he was. Mtavari, which first named the victim, said Guram Boiko was 25; TV Pirveli gave his age as 24 and described him as a student. His body was taken from the forensic bureau to Tsnori in Sighnaghi municipality, where his family lives. Mtavari reported on Oct. 27 that the family did not yet know who the suspect was. Reports also differ on the date: the Interior Ministry dated the stabbing to Oct. 27, while the Prosecutor’s Office statement on Oct. 29 gave Oct. 26, the night of the party. Sources თბილისში კაცი ძმის ქორწილში მოკლეს, Radio Tavisupleba, 27 Oct 2026 მოკლული 25 წლის გურამ ბოიკოა: ქორწილში მომხდარი მკვლელობის ახალი დეტალები, Mtavari, 27 Oct 2026 მკვლელობა ქორწილში: 24 წლის კაცის მკვლელობისთვის ძებნილი კახეთში დააკავეს, TV Pirveli, 28 Oct 2026 ქორწილში ახალგაზრდა კაცის მკვლელობაში ბრალდებული დააკავეს, Netgazeti, 28 Oct 2026 სოფელ ლისში მომხდარ მკვლელობის ფაქტზე განზრახ მკვლელობის ბრალდებით წარსულში ნასამართლევი პირი დააკავეს, 1TV, 28 Oct 2026 ძმის ქორწილში ახალგაზრდა კაცის მკვლელობის ფაქტზე დაკავებულს ბრალი წარედგინა, TV Pirveli, 29 Oct 2026 Chemnitz: Federal Court of Justice Makes Life Sentence Final for Husband Who Killed Masoma With a Cleaver Location: Federal Court of Justice (BGH), Leipzig; crime in an apartment on Theaterstrasse, Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany (September 2025) Legal status: Convicted of murder by the Chemnitz Regional Court on June 5, 2026 and sentenced to life with a finding of particular gravity of guilt; appeal on points of law rejected by the BGH’s 5th Criminal Senate (5 StR 461/26, decision of Oct. 20, announced Oct. 28, 2026). The judgment is final. The decision. Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has rejected the appeal of a 39-year-old Afghan man sentenced to life for murdering his wife with a heavy butcher’s cleaver in Chemnitz, making the conviction final. The court’s 5th Criminal Senate in Leipzig ruled on Oct. 20 under file number 5 StR 461/26 and announced the decision on Oct. 28, dpa, MDR Sachsen and the JPD legal news service reported. The BGH said its review found no legal error to the defendant’s disadvantage. The finding of particular gravity of guilt is now also final, which in practice rules out release on parole after 15 years, and so is the order that he pay 15,000 euros to each of the couple’s two minor children, according to dpa and MDR. The victim. The woman killed was Masoma, 38, a mother who, Tag24 reported at the June verdict, had suffered years of violence in the marriage. The Chemnitz court found that the man once lured her into a cellar, tied her up, beat her and choked her, dpa reported. Tag24 reported that he locked her in a cellar in 2023 to stop her leaving and threatened: “She belongs to me or to the earth.” After she separated from him and moved to Berlin, the court found, he threatened to publish nude images of her to pressure her into coming back. The killing. In September 2025, Masoma returned temporarily to the former family apartment in Chemnitz, on Theaterstrasse according to Tag24. Within hours, the court found, her husband attacked her with a heavy cleaver, striking her head and neck. She died soon afterwards in hospital, according to the JPD summary of the BGH ruling. Two of the couple’s children were in the apartment. dpa and MDR reported that a son, then 13, had to watch his mother bleed to death, and Tag24 reported that it was one of the sons, not the attacker, who called the emergency number. The trial. The defendant, named by Tag24 as Allahmir R., stayed silent when the trial opened, MDR reported. On June 5, 2026, the chamber presided over by Judge Janko Ehrlich convicted him of murder on the grounds of base motives. “What you had announced for years, you have now carried out,” Ehrlich told him, according to Tag24, adding that anyone who strikes a person like that intends to kill. The BGH summarised the trial court’s finding: “He was intent on killing her because he did not want to accept the loss of power and control over his wife, whom he regarded as his property, that came with the separation.” Why it matters. The particular gravity finding was based in part on the fact that a son witnessed his mother’s death, Tag24 reported. As MDR explained, the finding normally prevents release on probation after 15 years even when other conditions, such as a favourable social prognosis, are met; at that point a court will set the minimum term he must still serve. The Chemnitz chamber needed less than 15 minutes to give its reasons in June, Tag24 reported, and the judge described the marriage as years of suffering for Masoma that ended with her life. Sources Frau mit Fleischerbeil in Chemnitz ermordet: BGH bestätigt lebenslange Haft, MDR Sachsen, 28 Oct 2026 BGH bestätigt lebenslange Haft nach Beilmord in Chemnitz, Süddeutsche Zeitung (dpa), 28 Oct 2026 BGH bestätigt lebenslange Haft für Mord an Ehefrau in Chemnitz, Recht & Politik (JPD), 28 Oct 2026 Ehefrau in Chemnitz getötet: So lange muss der Küchenbeil-Killer in den Knast, Tag24, 5 Jun 2026 Güstrow, Germany: Prosecutors Seek Life for Gina H. in the Stabbing and Burning of Eight-Year-Old Fabian Location: Landgericht Rostock; pond near Klein Upahl, about 15 km south of Güstrow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Legal status: Gina H., 30, on trial for murder; denies the charge. Presumed innocent. Prosecution and joint plaintiff seek life with a finding of particular gravity of guilt. Defence closing Oct. 30; verdict expected Nov. 10. Prosecutors at the Rostock Regional Court asked on Thursday, Oct. 29, for a life sentence for murder against Gina H., the 30-year-old former partner of the father of Fabian, an eight-year-old boy from Güstrow who was stabbed and whose body was set on fire beside a pond in October 2025, Der Spiegel and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported. She denies killing him. Under German press practice her surname is not published. The accusation. Prosecutor Oliver Schley told the court on the 33rd day of trial that Gina H. killed Fabian on Oct. 10, 2025, at a pond near Klein Upahl, about 15 kilometres south of Güstrow, where the boy lived with his mother, Spiegel reported. According to the FAZ, the two prosecutors argued for more than three hours that she stabbed him six times and then set fire to the body. They named two aggravating features that make a killing murder under German law: treachery (Heimtücke), because Fabian “blindly trusted” her, and base motives. She had, they said, destroyed the existence of a child “out of hatred.” The motive alleged. Gina H. was in a relationship of several years with Fabian’s father until he ended it in August 2025. Prosecutors said she could not accept a separation they described as, from her point of view, “existence threatening,” partly because she was financially dependent on him and drew a reduced earning capacity pension. In their account she saw Fabian as a rival for the father’s attention and wanted both to remove a “disruptive factor” and to punish the father. To revive the relationship on her terms, the FAZ quoted the prosecution as saying, “Fabian had to be cleared out of the way.” The evidence summarised. The case is circumstantial: there is no confession and no direct eyewitness. Prosecutors told the court that video recordings placed Gina H. in Güstrow that day and that she switched off her phone at the time of the killing, “which she had never done before.” Investigators found fibres from Fabian’s jacket in her car, a kitchen roll with Fabian’s blood, and a barbecue firelighter bearing her fingerprints. Fibres under the boy’s fingernail matched a pullover of hers. Shoe prints at the pond matched her soles, and witnesses saw her near the scene. Four days after the killing she led police to the body, which she said she had found “by chance.” Prosecutors said she “led three people unerringly” to it, showed knowledge only the killer would have, and became tangled in “adventurous stories.” Their view was that she did so because the father had not come to her for comfort as she hoped, but had gone searching for his son. In court. The FAZ described Gina H. repeating the word “unrealistic” mockingly when a prosecutor used it of her conduct, and glancing at her two defence lawyers throughout. Fabian’s mother sat opposite as joint plaintiff, represented by lawyer Christine Habetha. Habetha told the court: “A child had to pay with his life for the possessive claims and fear of loss of an adult.” Gina H. had not seen Fabian “as a child, but as a problem.” She said Gina H. had admitted in a written statement that she was “angry” at Fabian because his death had consequences for her life. Both the prosecution and the joint plaintiff asked the court to find a particular gravity of guilt, which would largely rule out release after 15 years. Chief prosecutor Harald Nowack also addressed the court. A psychiatric expert had earlier described a “conglomerate of egocentrism, jealousy and revenge,” Spiegel reported. The defence, which has repeatedly questioned the evidence, was due to give its closing on Friday, Oct. 30, followed by the defendant’s last word. NDR reported that the verdict is expected on Nov. 10. Sources Fall Fabian: Staatsanwaltschaft fordert lebenslange Haft für Gina H., Der Spiegel, 29 Oct 2026 Fabian-Prozess: Staatsanwaltschaft fordert lebenslange Haft für Gina H., Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 29 Oct 2026 Fall Fabian: Staatsanwalt fordert lebenslange Haftstrafe, NDR, 29 Oct 2026 Ortrand: Man, 81, Suspected in Double Shooting Is Back in Custody After Court Finds Him Fit for Jail Location: Ortrand, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, Brandenburg, Germany (shooting late July 2026; new detention order Oct. 28, 2026) Legal status: Man, 81, under investigation for manslaughter (Totschlag) in the deaths of a woman, 45, and a man, 57; released from custody on health grounds in late September; new arrest warrant issued by the Senftenberg local court and returned to pretrial detention as reported Oct. 28; he may appeal. Not named. Presumed innocent. Back in detention. An 81-year-old man suspected of shooting dead a woman and a man in the small Brandenburg town of Ortrand is again in pretrial detention, three months after the killings and about a month after he was released on health grounds. The local court in Senftenberg re-examined his condition, found that he was no longer unfit for detention, and issued a new arrest warrant, prosecutor Alexander Hilder told rbb’s Antenne Brandenburg, rbb24 reported on Oct. 28. Hilder said the man could now lodge a complaint against the decision. Radio Cottbus noted that the ruling concerns only whether he can be held, not his guilt, and that the presumption of innocence continues to apply. The killings. Police were called to a residential property in Ortrand shortly after 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday in late July 2026, days before July 28. In an outbuilding on the plot, officers found three people, Brandenburg police said in a statement at the time. A woman aged 45 and a man aged 57 were dead. A man then aged 80 was seriously injured and was taken to hospital for treatment. Criminal investigators and forensic technicians secured evidence at the scene through the morning. The Lausitzer Rundschau described the property as being not far from the town centre. Shot with a firearm. On July 28 the Cottbus public prosecutor’s office told rbb that the 80-year-old was the suspect and that he was being investigated for manslaughter. According to a joint statement by police and prosecutors, both victims were fatally wounded with a firearm, and police seized a gun at the scene. Investigators were questioning witnesses to establish how the three people were connected and to clarify a motive. Ortrand’s mayor, Maik Bethke, said residents had reacted to the events with great dismay. Released, then rearrested. About two months after the killings, a court lifted the arrest warrant against the suspect. Prosecutors confirmed his release to rbb, saying health reasons had played a role, and stressed that he remained a suspect and that the manslaughter investigation was continuing, Radio Cottbus reported on Sept. 29. Prosecutors said by then that they knew the relationship between the suspect and the two people who died, but would not disclose it while the investigation was ongoing. No motive has been made public. What is not yet known. Because of his poor health, the suspect had been treated as unfit for detention and was allowed to leave custody and return home, according to rbb24 and Radio Cottbus. The Lausitzer Rundschau reported that he had now been arrested again. Prosecutors have still given no details about how the man is related to the two people who died, rbb24 said on Oct. 28, and Radio Cottbus reported that no further information about the state of the investigation or any possible trial date was available. A town unsettled. In a report broadcast on Oct. 25, rbb’s Brandenburg aktuell said many residents were unsettled by the suspect’s release and were asking why he was free again. Weeks after the killings, roses and candles were still being left in memory of the victims, the Lausitzer Rundschau reported. The two people who died have not been publicly named. Sources Nach Schüssen mit zwei Toten: 81-jähriger Tatverdächtiger aus Ortrand nach Haftverschonung wieder in U-Haft, rbb24, 28 Oct 2026 Zwei Tote in Ortrand: 81-jähriger Tatverdächtiger wieder in Untersuchungshaft, Radio Cottbus, 29 Oct 2026 Zwei Tote in Ortrand: Tatverdächtiger erneut in Haft, wie es dazu kam, Lausitzer Rundschau, 28 Oct 2026 Ortrand: Sorge nach Freilassung des Tatverdächtigen, rbb Brandenburg aktuell, 25 Oct 2026 Tatverdächtiger im Fall Ortrand aus Haft entlassen, Radio Cottbus, 29 Sep 2026 Zwei Tote in Ortrand: Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt gegen 80-Jährigen, rbb24, 28 Jul 2026 Ermittlungen nach Tötungsdelikt, Polizei Brandenburg, Jul 2026 Karditsa: Prosecutor Asks Court to Convict Six Volos Police Officers of Torturing Vasilis Maggos Location: Mixed Jury Court of Karditsa, Thessaly, Greece (events in Volos, Magnesia, June 14, 2020) Legal status: Six police officers on trial for torture, dangerous bodily harm, exposure to danger and unlawful detention; prosecutor recommended guilty verdicts on most counts on Oct. 29, 2026. Defence closing speeches due Oct. 30; no verdict yet. All presumed innocent. The recommendation. The prosecutor at the Mixed Jury Court of Karditsa on Thursday, Oct. 29, asked the court to convict all six police officers on trial over the treatment of Vasilis Maggos of felony torture, both inside the patrol car that carried him and inside the Volos police headquarters, Eleftheros Typos, in.gr and Lawandorder.gr reported. She also proposed guilty verdicts for all six for exposure to danger, saying they should have recognised how serious his condition was and taken him to hospital. For dangerous bodily harm, she proposed convicting all six for what allegedly happened at the police headquarters, and those involved for what allegedly happened in the car, except the second defendant, who was in the front passenger seat. She proposed acquitting all six of unlawful detention, saying the decision to let Maggos leave belonged to the duty officer. The recommendation is not a verdict. Eleftheros Typos reported that the trial resumes on Friday, Oct. 30, with defence closing speeches, after which the court will rule. The father’s post. Maggos’s father, Giannis Maggos, published the recommendation on Facebook: “Prosecutor’s proposal: guilty of all for felony torture. Guilty of all for unlawful exposure. Guilty of dangerous bodily harm for all six inside the Volos police directorate and acquittal of the two inside the car. Acquittal of all for unlawful detention.” What happened in June 2020. On June 14, 2020, Vasilis Maggos, then 26, was outside the Volos courthouse at a solidarity gathering for people arrested the previous day at a large protest against waste burning, Eleftheros Typos recounted. Part of what happened outside the courthouse was filmed. Maggos later said the abuse continued during his transfer in a patrol car and inside the police building. After leaving the police directorate he went to hospital, where doctors found six broken ribs and injuries to his liver and gall bladder; he was treated for four days. His death. Maggos died about a month later. The autopsy attributed his death to acute pulmonary oedema linked to intravenous opioid use, according to Eleftheros Typos and Kathimerini; a later forensic opinion said no organic causal link to the June 14 injuries could be established. The officers are not on trial for his death. The Greek Ombudsman found significant failings in the police disciplinary inquiry, including a late start and no search for CCTV from the police building. The family’s complaints were initially dismissed by Volos prosecutors and pursued on appeal to Larissa. The defendants. Eleftheros Typos reports the six are four officers from the OPKE crime prevention unit and two from Volos security police; Lawandorder.gr says three from each. Three OPKE officers were earlier convicted by the Volos misdemeanours court of dangerous bodily harm over the incident outside the courthouse; The Press Project reported they received two-year suspended sentences. In their testimony all six denied beating or torturing Maggos. The OPKE officers said he moved threateningly towards them outside the courthouse and they acted to restrain him; the defendants said they did not realise inside the building that he was in pain or needed help. Under Article 137A of the Greek Penal Code, torture by an official carries up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Sources Υπόθεση Βασίλειου Μάγγου: Ενοχή και των έξι αστυνομικών για βασανιστήρια πρότεινε η εισαγγελέας, Eleftheros Typos, 29 Oct 2026 Υπόθεση Βασίλη Μάγγου: Η εισαγγελέας πρότεινε την ενοχή όλων των κατηγορούμενων για κακουργηματικά βασανιστήρια, in.gr, 29 Oct 2026 Υπόθεση Βασίλειου Μάγγου: Την ενοχή των έξι αστυνομικών πρότεινε η εισαγγελέας, Lawandorder.gr, 29 Oct 2026 Man’s death in Volos attributed to acute pulmonary edema, not beating, eKathimerini.com, 2020 Three police officers found guilty of brutally beating environmental activist Vasilis Maggos: Two-year suspended sentence, The Press Project Longiano: Man, 29, Confesses to Shooting Denaldo Maxhallaku Over Drug Debt and Hiding Body in Well Location: Felloniche, Longiano, province of Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (killing Oct. 7, 2026; body found Oct. 28) Legal status: Daniele Sartini, 29, detained (fermo) on Oct. 28 on suspicion of murder and concealment of a corpse; prosecutors seeking validation and custody in prison from the preliminary investigations judge. Presumed innocent. The arrest. Carabinieri acting on orders of the Forlì prosecutor’s office on Oct. 28 detained Daniele Sartini, 29, over the killing of Denaldo Maxhallaku, 31, an Albanian painter and decorator whose body was found that morning at the bottom of a well on a farm property at Felloniche, in the municipality of Longiano near Cesena. Sartini is suspected of murder and of concealing a corpse, Corriere Romagna reported. At a press conference in Forlì on Oct. 29, prosecutor Enrico Cieri and the provincial carabinieri commander, Colonel Gianluigi Di Pilato, said Sartini had made a “full and documented” confession, ANSA reported. Prosecutors are asking the preliminary investigations judge to validate the detention and order him held in prison. Missing for three weeks. Maxhallaku, who had a child just over a year old, left home on the evening of Oct. 7 to meet an acquaintance and was not seen again, la Repubblica reported. His family reported him missing during the night of Oct. 7 to 8. At about 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 8 his car was set on fire, Corriere Romagna said; it was found burned out about 4 kilometres from where his body was later recovered. The alleged killing. According to the account given at the press conference, the two men met in the farmyard of Sartini’s home at Felloniche on the night of Oct. 7 to settle a debt of about 1,000 euros for cocaine that Sartini owed. ANSA reported that Sartini, who is unemployed, tried to delay payment, but Maxhallaku, described by investigators as also a drug dealer, demanded the money and an argument broke out. Using the excuse of fetching part of the cash, Sartini allegedly went inside and took his father’s legally held Glock .40 pistol; his father was at a bar that evening. Back outside, he allegedly fired three shots, killing Maxhallaku, then dragged the body to a nearby artesian well and threw it in, before driving the victim’s car several kilometres away and setting it alight. How he was found. Carabinieri narrowed the search to the area around Sartini’s home. On Oct. 28 dog units located the body about 10 metres down the well at number 2550 on Provincial Road 85, along with a spent cartridge case. Checks on Sartini’s phone placed him at the scene; the pistol and his clothing were seized, and he then admitted everything, ANSA reported. Investigators have ruled out any involvement by Sartini’s family, Corriere Romagna said. The defence and the family. Il Resto del Carlino, which put the debt at 1,500 euros, reported that Sartini, who lives with his father in Longiano, broke down at the end of a lengthy questioning by carabinieri and said: “It was me.” According to the paper he told investigators he had been afraid for himself and his family and had felt threatened. He is represented by lawyers Luca Arginelli and Antonio Baldacci and is being held in prison in Forlì. Maxhallaku, who lived in Gatteo, would have turned 32 on Oct. 24. His wife, who filed the formal missing person report, has been assisted by lawyer Raffaele Pacifico since he disappeared. Chief prosecutor Cieri said Sartini had hidden the body so it would not be found and tried to get rid of anything that could link him to the disappearance. An autopsy is due in the coming days. Next step. A hearing on validation of the detention is expected before the preliminary investigations judge in Forlì. Sources Cadavere in pozzo nel Cesenate, ucciso per debito di mille euro per droga, ANSA, 29 Oct 2026 Longiano, ucciso con 3 colpi di pistola e poi buttato nel pozzo: “Il colpevole ha reso una confessione piena”, Corriere Romagna, 29 Oct 2026 Longiano, cadavere in un pozzo: è di un 31enne scomparso da tre settimane. Fermato un uomo, la Repubblica Bologna, 28 Oct 2026 Longiano, omicidio e cadavere nel pozzo a Felloniche: sottoposto a fermo un 29enne, conosceva la vittima, Corriere Romagna, 28 Oct 2026 La confessione di Daniele Sartini: il debito di 1.500 euro per droga, la lite, gli spari e il cadavere nascosto nel pozzo. “Sono stato io”, il Resto del Carlino, 29 Oct 2026 Rufina: Judge Orders Third Assessment of Whether Man Accused of Killing Eleonora Guidi Can Stand Trial Location: Rufina, province of Florence, Tuscany, Italy Legal status: Under investigation for aggravated murder; proceedings suspended after two court-ordered assessments found him unable to take part consciously in a trial. New assessment (incidente probatorio) ordered Oct. 29; experts to be appointed Nov. 16. Presumed innocent. The decision. A Florence preliminary investigations judge, Alessandro Moneti, on Thursday, Oct. 29, ordered a new court-supervised expert assessment of Lorenzo Innocenti, 38, the architect accused of stabbing his partner Eleonora Guidi, 34, to death in Rufina on Feb. 8, 2025. La Nazione and Firenze Post reported that the experts will examine three questions: whether Innocenti is now able to take part consciously in a trial, whether he was able to understand and will his actions at the time of the killing, and whether he is socially dangerous. The hearing to appoint them is set for Nov. 16. It is the third such assessment in the case. The panel named by the judge is forensic pathologist Beatrice De Fraia, psychiatrist Rolando Paterniti and neurologist Antonella Notarelli. Both outlets reported that the judge acted after requests from Innocenti’s own lawyer and from the lawyer for one of the injured parties, the victim’s brother-in-law. The killing. Guidi, a young mother, was stabbed 24 times in the family home in front of the couple’s son, then about a year and a half old, Corriere Fiorentino reported. Innocenti then threw himself from a window or terrace of the home in an attempted suicide. Prosecutor Ornella Galeotti is leading the investigation for aggravated murder. Why the case is frozen. The criminal proceedings have been suspended because two earlier assessments, each carried out as an incidente probatorio, concluded that Innocenti cannot take part consciously in a trial because of injuries to the frontal lobes of his brain from the fall. Under an order by the same judge he has for more than a year been under supervised liberty, a security measure that obliges him to follow neurological, psychiatric and physical treatment as a day patient at a clinic in La Spezia, paid for by his family. He has been living for several months with his parents in Versilia. Corriere Fiorentino noted that the law requires the capacity to stand trial to be reassessed every six months in such cases, so a new assessment had been expected; the judge had already provided for one by the end of the year. The family’s request. Lawyers Solange Marchignoli, for the brother-in-law, and Esther Lettieri, for Guidi’s mother and sister, filed a dossier earlier this month asking for his condition and the security measure to be reassessed. It includes videos recorded in August and September. In one, Innocenti is seen running to get out of the rain; in another he is looking at his phone. In other footage he appears to have difficulty moving and seems disoriented. The lawyers argued the material bears on both his capacity and his social dangerousness, and on what they called “the inadequacy of any return to his parents’ home in Rufina”. The dossier also contains a letter to the Florence prosecutor’s office from Rufina’s mayor, Daniele Venturi, who wrote that the community “has been deeply marked since Feb. 8, 2025, by the death of Eleonora Guidi” and its consequences, “not least the impact on a still small child and on the families involved”. Corriere Fiorentino reported that residents had reported seeing Innocenti in the town in recent months. The defence. Innocenti’s lawyer, Patrizio Fioravanti, who filed the first request for an assessment, said his client continues day treatment, is followed by a neurologist, a psychologist and a physiotherapist and is constantly monitored. “For months he has moved only between Versilia and Liguria,” he told Corriere Fiorentino, adding that doctors keep the judge informed about his treatment. Sources Eleonora Guidi, disposta una nuova perizia per Lorenzo Innocenti, La Nazione, 29 Oct 2026 Femminicidio Rufina: nuova perizia su Lorenzo Innocenti, per valutare capacità di affrontare il processo, Firenze Post, 29 Oct 2026 Femminicidio di Eleonora Guidi, i legali chiedono un’altra perizia. E spuntano video di Lorenzo Innocenti in paese, Corriere Fiorentino, 28 Oct 2026 San Giorgio delle Pertiche, Italy: Two Men Jailed Over Shotgun Killing of Ferdinant Hoti, Found in a Car Pushed Into the Tergola Canal Location: Tergola canal, San Giorgio delle Pertiche (Padua); workshop in Mirano (Venice) Legal status: Damiano Fuschi, 54, of Mirano, and Matteo Mandruzzato, 51, of San Giorgio delle Pertiche, held in pretrial custody on suspicion of aggravated murder, concealment of a corpse and illegal carrying of a firearm. Presumed innocent. Carabinieri in Padua arrested two Italian men at dawn on Wednesday, Oct. 28, over the killing of Ferdinant Hoti, a 35-year-old Albanian man whose body was found on Sept. 8 in a car submerged in the Tergola canal at San Giorgio delle Pertiche, in the province of Padua, ANSA and PadovaOggi reported on Thursday, Oct. 29. The two are Damiano Fuschi, 54, of Mirano, and Matteo Mandruzzato, 51, of San Giorgio delle Pertiche, PadovaOggi reported. Both were already known to police. A preliminary investigations judge (gip) in Venice issued pretrial custody orders against them for aggravated murder, concealment of a corpse and illegal carrying of a firearm, committed together. Fuschi was taken to the prison in Verona and Mandruzzato to the prison in Rovigo. Under Italian law they are suspects, not convicted, and are presumed innocent. The discovery. On the morning of Sept. 8, a passer-by noticed the rear wheels of a Fiat Bravo sticking out of the Tergola canal in the territory of San Giorgio delle Pertiche. The car had no number plates and was almost completely submerged. After firefighters pulled it out, investigators found a man’s body on the back seats, wrapped in black cellophane bags and hidden under tyres and other discarded material, PadovaOggi reported. The face bore very serious injuries from a firearm discharged at close range, probably at the mouth. Hoti was identified through his fingerprints, and investigators then rebuilt his entire network of contacts and relationships. The case against the suspects. The breakthrough came from the car. Specialists of the Carabinieri RIS in Parma lifted fingerprints from the rear bumper, in a spot consistent with the push that sent the Fiat into the water, and identified one of the two suspects from them. Investigators then went through dozens of hours of surveillance video. According to the reconstruction, the footage shows Hoti, alive, driving the same Fiat Bravo into a group of artisan workshops in Mirano, where one of the suspects had the use of a shed fitted out as a vehicle repair shop. He is not seen alive again. Later footage, investigators say, records the steps taken to hide the body, move the car and finally push it into the Tergola, “in order to make both the corpse and the evidence of the murder disappear for good.” During the arrests, PadovaOggi reported, the two men cooperated with investigators and helped them find a 12 gauge shotgun believed to be the murder weapon. ANSA reported that the two are alleged to have fired the shot into the victim’s face from close range. The motive alleged. The Venice prosecutor’s office, whose theory the judge accepted in full, says the killing was premeditated and arose from disputes in drug trafficking in the Venice area, followed by a careful plan to erase every trace. The investigation, led by Lieutenant Colonel Enrico Zampolli of the Padua Carabinieri investigative unit, began under the Padua prosecutor’s office before passing to Venice. The arrests came a little more than seven weeks after the car was found, and both men remain at the disposal of the judicial authorities. Sources Un colpo di fucile sparato in bocca: arrestati i responsabili del delitto del Tergola, PadovaOggi, 29 Oct 2026 Cadavere in auto nel Padovano, due arresti per omicidio, ANSA, 29 Oct 2026 Torre Rinalda: Plumber, 32, Held Over Killing of Pensioner Antimo Mazzotta, Found in a Well Location: Torre Rinalda, Lecce, Apulia, Italy Legal status: Emmanuel Greco, 32, held under a prosecutor’s fermo Oct. 29 on suspicion of murder, concealing a body and carrying and holding an illegal weapon; awaiting a judge’s review. He is presumed innocent. The arrest. Carabinieri in Lecce on Thursday, Oct. 29, detained Emmanuel Greco, a 32-year-old plumber from Surbo, over the killing of Antimo Mazzotta, a 78-year-old pensioner found dead on Monday, Oct. 26, in the artesian well at his home in Torre Rinalda, a seaside district of Lecce. Corriere Salentino reported that the fermo, an emergency detention order issued by the Lecce public prosecutor’s office, was carried out in the early hours of the morning by officers of the Investigative Unit together with the Lecce company. Rai’s regional news service TGR Puglia and Corriere Adriatico said prosecutor Luigi Mastrognani ordered the detention and that Greco faces allegations of murder, concealment of a body and carrying and holding an illegal weapon. He has been taken to Lecce prison and is defended by lawyers Federico Martella and Francesco Martinese, according to Corriere Salentino. Some outlets gave his age as 33; the detailed reports give 32. The victim. Mazzotta lived in a rural house on via Torre San Giovanni with his dogs and cats, Corriere Adriatico reported. He was found head down in the well of his house. An autopsy by medical examiner Alberto Tortorella was scheduled for Friday, Corriere Salentino said. The alleged motive. According to all three outlets, the dispute was over plumbing work Greco had done at Mazzotta’s home. The fee, about 300 euros, had been paid in full, but Mazzotta maintained that the work had not been done properly, said he had had to hire another tradesman to redo it and repeatedly asked Greco to return the money. Investigators said the two knew each other and had been in contact before. What investigators allege. According to the carabinieri reconstruction reported by Corriere Salentino, the killing happened in the early afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 25, at the height of an argument over money. The suspect is alleged to have shot Mazzotta once in the face. Investigators believe he then used a cart to move the body to an artesian well on land next to the house and threw it in, washed bloodstains from surfaces with water and removed the DVR recorder of the home’s video surveillance system. Corriere Adriatico and TGR reported that he went to what was meant to be a meeting to clear the air carrying a modified blank-firing pistol. Investigators had focused early on the possibility of a crime by someone who knew the pensioner and the layout of the property, Corriere Adriatico said, after work by the Investigative Unit and forensic officers that included witness interviews and technical checks. The weapon. On directions from the suspect, carabinieri found the pistol hidden in an abandoned ruin on the outskirts of Surbo. Corriere Salentino, citing the carabinieri, described it as a 9mm blank-firing pistol modified to make it lethal, with a magazine holding four rounds, and said 23 further rounds of 9mm short ammunition were also seized. TGR and Corriere Adriatico gave the calibre as 7.65. A search of Greco’s home turned up clothes investigators believe he wore on the day. Conflicting accounts on a confession. Corriere Adriatico and TGR reported that Greco confessed to the carabinieri, while Corriere Salentino said he had not confessed but told officers about the weapon. Corriere Adriatico reported that in his formal questioning, with the prosecutor and his lawyer present, he exercised his right not to answer. A judge must now rule on whether to confirm the detention. Sources Cadavere ritrovato in un pozzo a Torre Rinalda, eseguito il fermo di un 33enne per omicidio, Corriere Salentino, 29 Oct 2026 Lecce, Antimo Mazzotta ucciso e nascosto nel pozzo: fermato l’idraulico, ha confessato, Corriere Adriatico, 29 Oct 2026 Pensionato ucciso, eseguito un fermo per omicidio, TGR Puglia (Rai), 29 Oct 2026 Amsterdam, Netherlands: Appeal Court Overturns Acquittal and Jails Robert L. for 11 Years Over 2016 Strangling of Partner Susanna Boon Location: Gerechtshof Amsterdam; couple’s home in Amsterdam West; body found in the Zandenbos near Nunspeet, Gelderland Legal status: Robert L., 48, convicted on appeal Oct. 29, 2026 of killing his partner and sentenced to 11 years; first-instance acquittal overturned. A further appeal to the Supreme Court remains possible. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal on Thursday, Oct. 29, convicted Robert L., 48, of killing his partner Susanna Boon, a 51-year-old mother whose strangled body was found in woods near Nunspeet in 2016, and sentenced him to 11 years in prison, AT5 and the Reformatorisch Dagblad reported. A district court had earlier acquitted him for lack of evidence. Dutch media do not publish his full surname. The disappearance. Robert L. reported Boon missing on Jan. 9, 2016. He said she had left their home in Amsterdam West drunk during the night of Jan. 7 to 8, after a row, the Reformatorisch Dagblad reported. On March 29, 2016, a walker found her body in the Zandenbos, a wood near Nunspeet in Gelderland. Examination showed she had been strangled. Robert L. came into view as a suspect at once and was arrested twice in the years that followed, but each time he was released for lack of evidence, AT5 reported. The daughter’s statement. The case turned in 2023, when the couple’s youngest daughter said, years after the body was found, that she had seen her father with his hands around her mother’s neck while her mother made choking sounds. Experts concluded that the reliability of that late memory could not be established, and the district court acquitted him at first instance. The Public Prosecution Service appealed and, about two weeks before the ruling, asked the appeal court for 14 years. What the appeal court found. The court’s reasoning did not rest on the daughter’s statement but on the circumstances as a whole. “The court is of the opinion that it cannot be otherwise than that the defendant took the life of his life partner Susanna by strangulation,” it said, as quoted by AT5. “He is the last to have seen her alive and had a row with her at that time in their home. The man does not want to answer important questions about her disappearance, while the very incriminating circumstances do call for it.” According to the Reformatorisch Dagblad, the court noted that Robert L. would not say how the row had gone or where he had been for part of the afternoon of Jan. 8, the day after she vanished. In those hours, the court said, he could have driven from Amsterdam to the woods at Nunspeet. He knew the spot where she was found well, “a place that is not easily found by others.” Boon was found in different clothing from what he had described to police, and forensic investigation showed the clothes she was wearing must have come from their shared home. The relationship at the time was very bad, the court found; she wanted to put him out of the house. A few weeks after she disappeared, he was living in the home with another woman. Sentence. The court held against him that he had taken their mother from Boon’s daughters “in a very gross manner,” reported her missing, and refused to answer questions about what had happened. AT5 described the conviction as one for murder; the Reformatorisch Dagblad described it as strangling his partner. He had declined to answer key questions about that night. The ruling can be taken to the Supreme Court in cassation. Sources Partner vermoorde Susanna Boon in hoger beroep wél veroordeeld, hof legt 11 jaar cel op, AT5, 29 Oct 2026 Na vrijspraak rechtbank alsnog 11 jaar cel voor wurgen partner, Reformatorisch Dagblad, 29 Oct 2026 Enschede: Man Gets 14 Years for Brutal Killing of Sahra Said, Cleared of Premeditated Murder Location: Julianastraat, Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands Legal status: Convicted Oct. 29 of manslaughter (doodslag) by Overijssel District Court, sitting in Almelo; 14 years. Acquitted of murder. Co-defendant acquitted of complicity in manslaughter, convicted of attempted aggravated assault. Appeal still possible. The ruling. Overijssel District Court on Thursday, Oct. 29, sentenced a man from Enschede, identified in the Dutch press as J., to 14 years in prison for killing Sahra Said, 43, in his flat on the Julianastraat in March 2025. The court gave his age as 38; NOS and Tubantia gave it as 39. He was also ordered to pay 107,500 euros in compensation to her relatives and was convicted of assaulting his partner and his sister in Limburg a month before her death. The court said he had killed her “in a degrading manner and with brute violence”. Prosecutors had sought 18 years for murder, NOS reported. The court acquitted J. of murder because it could not establish from the file that he acted with premeditation. It found that by using such heavy violence against a vulnerable victim he at least accepted the considerable chance that she would die, and convicted him of doodslag, which carries a maximum of 15 years. How Sahra Said was found. According to the court, on the morning of March 28, 2025, police officers in the street were approached by a man who said he had been beaten up and gave J.’s address. Officers entered the flat and found Said already dead, with J. inside. Her head had been wrapped in clothing and plastic and her hands and feet were tied together behind her back. NOS reported she had been tied with shoelaces, and the court said it was “pure chance” that she was found that night. Tubantia reported she had many fractures to her face, spine and ribs. Said, originally from Somalia, was described by the court as a vulnerable woman struggling with addiction. The evidence. J. denied throughout that he had any part in her death and pointed at his co-defendant. “I didn’t lay a finger on her,” he said in court, according to Tubantia. The court found otherwise, based in part on DNA. Tubantia reported that his DNA was found under Said’s nails and hers under his, that her blood was found on two pairs of his shoes, and that only his DNA was found on the laces, ropes and materials used to tie her up. The co-defendant. NOS reported that the night began when the co-defendant, A., 25, parked his bicycle in the entrance of J.’s building while visiting him, and that Said, who was also in the flat, was later suspected by A. of stealing it. When he found her in the street he struck her so hard she was knocked out. Tubantia separately reported that the killing appeared to have been a kind of punishment over a theft of cocaine. The court found that A. had used violence earlier that evening but had not been in the flat long enough to inflict the extensive violence that followed, and no DNA traces pointed to him. It acquitted him of complicity in manslaughter and convicted him of attempted aggravated assault, sentencing him to 102 days, equal to time already served, and 120 hours of community service. The sentence. The court weighed that J. took no responsibility, gave changing statements and spoke about the killing and the victim in a “downright condescending and laconic” way. He had been sentenced several times to long prison terms for violent crimes in Aruba and refused to cooperate with an assessment at the Pieter Baan Centre, the national forensic psychiatric observation clinic. “He then left her in his home without calling emergency services. This conduct shows unbelievable cold-bloodedness and deep contempt,” the judge said, according to NOS. The court said he had taken from her “the most fundamental right, the right to live”. Sources 14 jaar gevangenisstraf voor brute doodslag op vrouw in Enschede, Rechtbank Overijssel, 29 Oct 2026 Sahra vastgebonden en gedood in Enschedees appartement: 14 jaar cel voor bewoner, NOS (Regio Overijssel), 29 Oct 2026 Sahra’s dood was mensonterend, oordeelt rechtbank: Enschedeër krijgt 14 jaar cel, Tubantia, 29 Oct 2026 Kerkrade: Second Suspect Rearrested in Murder of Wendell Mercelina, Found in Burned Out Car Over German Border Location: Kerkrade and Landgraaf (Rimburg), Limburg, Netherlands; body found near Scherpenseel (Übach-Palenberg), North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Legal status: Wim R., 62, of Rimburg (Landgraaf), rearrested Oct. 28 on suspicion of complicity in murder and concealing a body; held under full restrictions and due before an examining magistrate on Fri. Oct. 30. Co-suspect Jorn S., 23, remains in custody; substantive hearing set for Jan. 13, 2027. Both deny killing him. Presumed innocent. A second arrest. Dutch police on the morning of Oct. 28 rearrested a 62-year-old man from Rimburg in the investigation into the killing of Wendell Mercelina, 46, whose body was found in 2025 in a burned out car in Scherpenseel, just over the German border. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) said the man is suspected of committing the murder together with another person and of disposing of the victim’s body. RTV Parkstad and De Limburger identified him as Wim R. He had already been arrested in December 2025 and spent several months in pretrial detention before the court released him. “New information in the investigation led to the second arrest of this suspect,” the OM said. He is under full restrictions, allowed contact only with his lawyer, and the OM gave no further detail. The Reformatorisch Dagblad, citing the OM, reported that he will be brought before a judge on Friday. An anonymous witness. According to De Limburger, as reported by RTV Parkstad, an anonymous witness gave a statement to police, which may have led to the new development. NOS Limburg reported on Oct. 19 that detectives were investigating an anonymous witness who had sent letters to police and had DNA tests carried out on them. According to that witness, both men planned the killing together. The killing. Police say Wendell Mercelina was killed in a house in Kerkrade. ZO-NWS reported that the victim’s blood was found in a house on Heistraat that Jorn S. was renovating. Investigators say both men put the body in the boot of Wendell’s own car and set it on fire in Scherpenseel, near Landgraaf. The burned car was found on a forest road on July 24, 2025, but German police at first did not look in the boot; his remains were found there only five days later at a towing yard in Erkelenz. The cause of death has never been established, NOS reported. Police have linked the motive to a dispute over loot, reported as 80,000 euros, from a robbery at a home in Geilenkirchen-Niederheid in July 2025; Wendell was not at that robbery but allegedly helped plan it and demanded a share. Two men pointing at each other. Jorn S., then 22, was arrested in Germany the day after the body was found and handed over to the Netherlands in mid August 2025. At a hearing on Oct. 19 he read out a letter saying he was innocent, had been held for 446 days, and blamed Wim R. Wim R. has told investigators he was in the house and helped dispose of the body, but had nothing to do with the death. RTV Parkstad reported that the two men are related. The court refused to release Jorn S. A frustrated family. Wendell’s relatives were outraged when the court freed Wim R. earlier this year. “Both men have blood on their hands,” they said at the time, according to NOS. The family had also been angry in July 2025 that police did not take his disappearance seriously. Wendell had been reported missing in the Netherlands; police described him as having no fixed address. Sources Aanhouding in onderzoek naar moord Kerkrade, Openbaar Ministerie, 28 Oct 2026 Eerdere verdachte in zaak kofferbakmoord opnieuw opgepakt, RTV Parkstad, 28 Oct 2026 Man weer vast in moordonderzoek met uitgebrande auto in Duitsland, Reformatorisch Dagblad (ANP), 28 Oct 2026 Verdachte kofferbakmoord: ‘Ik zit al 446 dagen onterecht vast’, NOS (L1), 19 Oct 2026 Dode in kofferbak Scherpenseel werd eerder vermoord in huis Kerkrade, ZO-NWS, 10 Dec 2025 Lichaam in uitgebrande auto Duitsland is van vermiste man (46), NOS, 4 Aug 2025 Trollhättan: Norwegian Appeal Court Upholds 15 Years of Preventive Detention for Steinar Wangen Over Death of Malin Location: Trollhättan, Västra Götaland, Sweden (case tried in Norway; appeal decided by Agder Court of Appeal) Legal status: Convicted on appeal Oct. 28 of murder; 15 years of preventive detention (forvaring), minimum 10 years. Judgment not yet final; defence considering further appeal. The ruling. Agder Court of Appeal in Norway on Wednesday, Oct. 28, found Steinar Wangen, 55, guilty for a second time of killing Malin, a 47-year-old Swedish woman, in Trollhättan in western Sweden in September 2024. NRK reported that the court sentenced him to 15 years of forvaring, a form of preventive detention, with a minimum term of 10 years. That is the same sentence Vestfold District Court imposed in July. Forvaring can be extended if a convicted person is still judged to be dangerous when the term expires, SVT noted. The judgment is not yet final. What the court found. Wangen has denied murder throughout. He has argued that he assisted Malin in taking her own life, which TV 2 notes is not a crime under Swedish law, and his lawyers asked the appeal court to acquit him. The court rejected that account. “Like the district court, the appeal court finds it proven beyond any reasonable doubt that she died as a result of the defendant suffocating her with a pillow, after she had become unconscious or had fallen asleep,” the judgment says, as quoted by NRK and TV 2. According to TV 2, Malin died on Sept. 6, 2024. TV 2 reported that in court Wangen said he was present when she died and that he gave her medication, which she took in combination with her own medicines and alcohol, but he denied using a pillow. The appeal court wrote that it attached no weight to his explanation that Malin took her own life with medicines and alcohol. Before her death, Wangen wrote in messages to her that he could use a pillow on her when she fell asleep, and he later told others that he had used a pillow on a “lady in Trollhättan”, TV 2 reported. Wangen said the messages were meant to reassure Malin and blamed his statements on “mental ill health”. The court did not accept that, noting there was no sign of care or consideration in his communication with Malin or with the other people he was in contact with, and that the messages must have been very frightening. Danger assessment. Psychology specialist Nina Haakestad Lervold-Skogstad and senior physician Rita Lyngved, who carried out the expert assessment, concluded that Wangen meets the criteria for dissocial and narcissistic personality disorder and that there is a risk he will commit new violent acts, TV 2 said. The court agreed. “The defendant shows little self-insight and appears to have low internal motivation to change his pattern of behaviour. On the contrary, he appears to have a self-interest in hastening the death of others and/or being present at the very moment of death,” the judgment reads. The court found there was a near reason to fear he would kill again or help others end their lives if released. Reactions. Defence lawyer Gaute Nilsen told NRK that the team would spend time reading the judgment carefully to decide whether there are grounds for a further appeal. State prosecutor Peter Andre Johansen told TV 2 it was a serious case and that Wangen had been convicted in line with the prosecution’s request. Heidi Reisvang, counsel for Malin’s family, said the case had been a significant burden for relatives who have lost a dear family member they will never get back. She told TV 2 the family believe Malin could still be alive had she not met Wangen, and that the ruling shows the case “is not about help or mercy” but about gross exploitation of a person in a very vulnerable situation. Malin’s sister described her in court as full of life, TV 2 reported. NRK reported that Wangen was also ordered to pay 1,050,000 kroner in redress to Malin’s surviving relatives, 120,000 kroner more than the district court ordered. The 15-year term is a combined sentence that includes an eight-year prison term Wangen received in summer 2024 for complicity in suicide. Background. Wangen was exposed by journalists from the TV 2 programme “Norge bak fasaden” in the documentary “Dødsenglene”. NRK reported he believed he was travelling to Nordby hotel in Sweden to meet a woman who wanted to die; instead he met two journalists using hidden identities and was arrested by Swedish police. As a 15-year-old in 1987 he was convicted of killing a seven-year-old neighbour girl in Moss. This summer, Vänersborg District Court in Sweden acquitted him of four counts of encouraging suicide; NRK says that judgment has been appealed. Sources Lagmannsretten har dømt Steinar Wangen til 15 års forvaring, NRK, 28 Oct 2026 Steinar Wangen dømt til forvaring igjen, TV 2, 28 Oct 2026 Norsk hovrätt fastställer dom mot “dödshjälparen”, SVT Nyheter, 28 Oct 2026 Poznań: Man, 48, Charged With Murder After Acquaintance Found Bleeding to Death on a Pedestrian Crossing Location: Junction of Sycowska and Trzebińska streets, Grunwald district, Poznań, Greater Poland, Poland Legal status: Ukrainian national, 48, charged with murder under Article 148 §1 of the Penal Code; remanded in custody for three months on Oct. 28, 2026. Presumed innocent. The discovery. Shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, Poznań police were told that a man was lying on a pedestrian crossing at the junction of Sycowska and Trzebińska streets in the city’s Grunwald district. Police spokesman Sub-Inspector Łukasz Paterski told Fakt and TVP3 Poznań that the man had wounds to his neck and chest. An ambulance crew tried to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 52. Officers examined the scene under a prosecutor’s supervision, with a forensic technician and criminal investigators taking part, Fakt reported. Prosecutors have not released his name. The cause of death. Epoznan reported that the wounds appeared to have been made with a knife. The autopsy, carried out on Tuesday, Oct. 27, according to Epoznan, found that he bled to death from wounds inflicted with a knife, said prosecutor Łukasz Wawrzyniak, spokesman for the Poznań Regional Prosecutor’s Office. “The immediate cause of death of the 52-year-old victim was exsanguination as a result of injuries inflicted with a knife,” he told RMF FM. The arrest. Police quickly detained a man they believed could be connected with the death. Paterski told Fakt that the arrest took place in Plewiska, just outside Poznań, and that the suspect is a Ukrainian citizen. Epoznan, which published a reader’s photograph of the arrest in Plewiska, reported that he was detained a short time after the injured man was found. In his first account to Fakt, Paterski described the dead man as about 50 years old; prosecutors later gave his age as 52. Prosecutors described him as an acquaintance of the dead man. Fakt reported that the two knew each other, that both were homeless and that they had been living together in an empty, abandoned building. What led to the attack is not known. The charge. The Poznań-Grunwald District Prosecutor’s Office charged the 48-year-old with murder under Article 148 §1 of the Penal Code. The offence carries a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life imprisonment. According to the prosecutors’ statement, the suspect admitted the act and gave his own version of events. Wawrzyniak added, as reported by Fakt, TVP3 Poznań and RMF FM, that the man “was unable to give the reasons that guided him in a logical and rational way.” Custody. At the prosecutor’s request, a court held a detention hearing at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and ordered the suspect held for three months. Wawrzyniak told Fakt the grounds were the risk of obstructing the proceedings, the risk of flight or hiding, and the real prospect of a severe sentence, which he said were all the grounds the prosecutor had cited in the application. The suspect is presumed innocent and the investigation continues. What is still unknown. Police initially did not rule out any scenario and first had to establish the identities of both men and reconstruct the events, Fakt reported. Neither man’s name has been released. The suspect’s own account of the events has not been made public. Sources Tymczasowy areszt dla podejrzanego o zabójstwo, Prokuratura Okręgowa w Poznaniu, 28 Oct 2026 Zabójstwo 52-latka w Poznaniu. 48-letni Ukrainiec przyznał się. “Nie potrafił podać motywu”, Fakt, 28 Oct 2026 Zabójstwo w Poznaniu. 52-latek wykrwawił się na ulicy, TVP3 Poznań, 28 Oct 2026 48-latek zatrzymany w Plewiskach z zarzutem zabójstwa. Jest wniosek o areszt, Epoznan, 28 Oct 2026 Zakrwawione ciało na pasach w Poznaniu. Obywatel Ukrainy z zarzutem, RMF FM, 28 Oct 2026 Slatina: Former Deputy Mayor Valeriu Matei Remanded After Allegedly Firing Hunting Gun at Police During Search Location: Slatina, Olt County, Romania; Olt Tribunal and Craiova Court of Appeal Legal status: Remanded in custody for 30 days (Oct. 27 to Nov. 25, 2026) on suspicion of outrage in the form of attempted aggravated murder and unlawful use of a weapon; challenge pending at Craiova Court of Appeal. Not charged by indictment; presumed innocent. Remand ordered. The Olt Tribunal on the evening of Oct. 27 remanded Valeriu Matei, a former deputy mayor of Slatina and a sitting PNL local councillor, for 30 days, Olt Alert reported. Matei is under investigation for outrage, linked to attempted aggravated murder, and unlawful use of a weapon, after he allegedly fired a hunting gun towards police officers and gendarmes who arrived to search his home on Oct. 22. The court’s ruling, published on the court portal and quoted by Olt Alert, says the judge of rights and freedoms granted the proposal of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Olt Tribunal in criminal file 142/237/P/2026 and ordered arrest from Oct. 27 up to and including Nov. 25. It was delivered at 19:58 and could be challenged within 48 hours. The search. According to Olt Alert, officers arrived at Matei’s house in Slatina at about 06:27 on Oct. 22 to carry out a home search warrant. Olt County police said that morning that economic crime investigators had executed four search warrants at the homes of two men, aged 58 and 60, in a blackmail and usury investigation, Adevărul reported. Adevărul’s sources said that as police entered, Matei fired a shot from a legally held hunting gun, then complied when told to hand it over. No one was hurt. TVR Craiova reported that pellets damaged a garage door and a car in a garage across the street, and police released photographs of the pellet marks. His explanation. TVR Craiova reported that Matei, who has no criminal record, did not admit the offences and said he believed the people entering his yard were thieves and only wanted to scare them. Olt Alert said that explanation did not stop prosecutors seeking his arrest. He was detained in the shooting case on Oct. 26, four days after the incident, a delay criticised by the police union Sindicatul Europol, which called the alleged conduct behaviour “specific to mafiosi” and demanded the law be applied regardless of political affiliation. The usury case. The search warrants concerned a separate file in which Matei is investigated alongside Cătălin Andronesi, administrative director of the Olt Water Company and a PNL member. Investigators suspect that between November 2024 and October 2026 Matei repeatedly lent money with interest to one person, and that between June and September 2026 the two men pressured that person to obtain material benefits. Both were held for 24 hours on Oct. 22 in the Olt County police detention centre and then placed under judicial control for 60 days in that case. Slatina mayor Mario De Mezzo, described by Olt Alert as close to Matei, told Adevărul: “It has nothing to do with me, I am not involved in any way.” Challenge. Olt Alert reported on Oct. 29 that Matei challenged the arrest on the same day it was ordered, sending the file to the Craiova Court of Appeal. No hearing date was listed on the court portal. If the challenge fails, he stays in custody under the tribunal’s warrant. Sources Valeriu Matei, fostul viceprimar al Slatinei și apropiat al primarului De Mezzo, arestat preventiv pentru 30 de zile după ce a tras cu arma în polițiștii care îi percheziționau casa, Olt Alert, 27 Oct 2026 Dosarul consilierului PNL Valeriu Matei ajunge la Curtea de Apel Craiova. Acesta contestă arestarea preventivă, Olt Alert, 29 Oct 2026 CONSILIER LOCAL DIN SLATINA, ARESTAT PREVENTIV, TVR Craiova, 28 Oct 2026 Un consilier PNL a tras cu arma când au intrat mascații peste el. A fost reținut, alături de un director al Companiei de Apă Olt, Adevărul, 22 Oct 2026 Vorkuta, Russia: Leader and Three Members of the “Ifa-Kozlov” Gang Sentenced Again, for Three Killings in 2004 and 2005 Location: Supreme Court of the Komi Republic, Syktyvkar; killings in a garage in Komsomolsky settlement near Vorkuta and in woodland near Fryanovo, Moscow region Legal status: Yuri Kozlov, Denis Armyakov, Roman Chernoknizhny and Sergei Ilyin convicted Oct. 29, 2026; final aggregate terms of 27, 25, 23 and 18 years. Appeal possible. Oleg Ifa and Akaki Kacharava remain wanted internationally. The Supreme Court of the Komi Republic on Thursday, Oct. 29, sentenced the leader and three members of the “Ifa-Kozlov” gang, which terrorised the Arctic coal city of Vorkuta from the 1990s, for three killings committed in 2004 and 2005 that were only uncovered after the men had already been convicted of other crimes, BNK, Lenta.ru and Vzglyad reported. The sentences. The court set final aggregate terms of 27 years for the gang’s leader, Yuri Kozlov; 25 years for Denis Armyakov; 23 years for Roman Chernoknizhny; and 18 years for Sergei Ilyin, who had been on the run and was extradited from Belarus. Prosecutors in Komi said additional penalties included fines and restriction of liberty after release. The four were charged with the murder of three people by an organised group, linked to banditry, in order to conceal another crime. Kozlov was also convicted of preparing a murder, and one defendant of taking part in an armed gang and its attacks. The killings. According to investigators, as the gang’s leaders Yuri Kozlov and Oleg Ifa were fighting over spheres of influence, they decided to kill the leader of a rival gang, the “Shagivaleevskie,” whose whereabouts were unknown. The court found the target was Azat Shagivaleev, Lenta.ru reported, and that the plan was to lure him to Vorkuta by killing his brother. In November 2004, in a garage in the settlement of Komsomolsky, gang members killed Shagivaleev’s brother and a man accompanying him, then took the bodies to different places. In May 2005, in woodland near the village of Fryanovo in the Moscow region, they killed a young woman who had helped gather information about the first victim, in order to cover up that killing. Her body was covered with earth, branches and rubbish. The victims have not been named in the reports. The gang. Lenta.ru, citing the court’s press service, said the gang was formed in the early 1990s in Vorkuta and included former law enforcement officers, sportsmen, veterans of armed conflicts and other residents. It was founded by Vladimir Ifa and Yuri Kozlov; after Vladimir Ifa’s death in 1997 his brother Oleg took over. From the early 1990s, the gang committed 12 murders and attempted murders and twice took hostages, targeting members of other gangs and its own members who, in the bosses’ view, deserved punishment. Earlier verdicts. In all, 29 people have figured in the gang case, BNK reported. Five who signed cooperation agreements were sentenced in 2014 to between 7 and 13 years. In 2018 Kozlov and 19 others were convicted of creating and taking part in a criminal community and an armed gang, of murders and attempted murders committed in a manner dangerous to the public, grievous bodily harm and arms trafficking. Lenta.ru reported that the November 2018 verdict sentenced Kozlov and Armyakov to life imprisonment; BNK reported that, after an appeal ruling by the criminal panel of Russia’s Supreme Court, terms ranged from 7 to 27 years. Two more members were convicted in July 2021 and November 2024 and sentenced to 8 and 13 years in a strict regime colony. The investigation into the 2004 and 2005 killings was sent to court in May, Vzglyad reported. Oleg Ifa, one of the leaders, and an active member, Akaki Kacharava, remain on the international wanted list, and courts have ordered their arrest in absentia. Sources Участники воркутинской банды «Ифы-Козлова» получили новые сроки за убийство трех человек, BNK, 29 Oct 2026 Раскрыты новые преступления банды «Ифы-Козлова», Lenta.ru, 29 Oct 2026 Участникам банды «Ифы-Козлова» вынесли приговоры за новые эпизоды убийств, Vzglyad, 29 Oct 2026 Barcelona: Man, 44, Detained in Madrid After Telling Police He Killed His Partner in Nou Barris Location: Passeig de la Ciutat de Mallorca, La Porta neighbourhood, Nou Barris district, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; arrest at Atocha station, Madrid Legal status: Man, 44, detained Oct. 28, 2026 by Madrid Municipal Police; not yet charged or brought before a judge as of Oct. 29. Case under judicial secrecy and passing to Barcelona’s Violence Against Women court (plaza 4). Presumed innocent. The discovery. On the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 28, Mossos d’Esquadra officers and Barcelona firefighters went to a flat in the Nou Barris district after a caller reported that a woman inside a home was not responding, EFE, Antena 3 and laSexta reported. Barcelona Press said the flat was on the Passeig de la Ciutat de Mallorca in the La Porta neighbourhood and that the witness reported a woman locked inside who gave no sign of life. Firefighters helped police get into the flat. They found the woman dead, with signs of violence, according to Antena 3. Barcelona Press reported that she was 38. Her name has not been released. LaSexta, citing the local outlet Metropoli Abierta, reported that the events are believed to have taken place in the morning. The surrender in Madrid. Around midday, Madrid Municipal Police announced that a man had handed himself in as the person presumed responsible. The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) said he presented himself voluntarily and acknowledged his involvement in the woman’s death, Antena 3 reported. Barcelona Press, citing police sources, gave a more detailed account: at about 1:30 the man, 44, arrived at Madrid’s Atocha-Almudena Grandes station on a high-speed train from Barcelona, approached a municipal officer working on a special deployment at the station that had been set up after the Toledo train accident and told him he had strangled his partner. Madrid officers detained him and informed Barcelona’s Guardia Urbana and the Mossos. LaSexta and Antena 3 describe the woman as his former partner; Barcelona Press and EFE call her his partner. The investigation. The Mossos’ Criminal Investigation Division has taken over the case, and the Mossos said on X that the proceedings are under secrecy, laSexta reported. The duty judge at plaza 30 of the investigating section of the Barcelona Court of First Instance carried out the removal of the body and indicated that the death was violent, presumably at the hands of her former partner. The TSJC said there was no record of previous judicial proceedings between the two, and the case will pass to plaza 4 of the court’s section for violence against women. An autopsy is expected to establish how she died and how long she had been in the flat, Barcelona Press reported. Investigators’ main hypothesis is sexist violence, the outlet added, and the TSJC said the detained man had no previous complaints against him. It remains unclear who raised the alarm and what that person’s relationship to the couple was. Context. Antena 3, citing the Catalan Department of Equality and Feminism, said that if confirmed, this would be the fifth woman killed in sexist violence in Catalonia this year, and that 162 femicides, 152 women and 10 children and adolescents, have been recorded since official records began in 2012. Barcelona Press, using provisional figures, said she would be the fourth woman killed by a partner or former partner in Catalonia in 2026. The man has not been charged and is presumed innocent. Sources Un hombre se entrega en Madrid tras confesar que ha matado a su expareja en Barcelona, Antena 3 Noticias, 28 Oct 2026 La Policía detiene en Madrid a un hombre tras entregarse por matar presuntamente a su expareja en Barcelona, laSexta, 28 Oct 2026 Se entrega en Madrid tras matar a su pareja en Nou Barris, Barcelona, Barcelona Press, 29 Oct 2026 Asesinan a una mujer en Nou Barris (Barcelona), y detienen a su pareja como presunto autor, ABC (EFE), 29 Oct 2026 Zaragoza, Spain: Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Four of Eight Defendants in Movera Shooting of María Marian Location: Audiencia Provincial de Zaragoza; killing at a home in Movera, a rural district of Zaragoza, Nov. 21, 2018 Legal status: Jury trial. Charges withdrawn against four defendants, who are acquitted. Prosecutors seek 23 years for murder against Aivaras S., Juan E. O. and Jesús J. M., and 10 years as an accomplice against Félix T. M. All presumed innocent; closing arguments Oct. 30, verdict question to jury Nov. 3. Almost eight years after María Marian was shot dead outside her family home in Movera, a rural district of Zaragoza, the jury trial over her killing took a sharp turn on Thursday, Oct. 29, when the public prosecutor withdrew all charges against four of the eight defendants, El Periódico de Aragón reported. Spanish courts and media identify the defendants by first name and initials. The withdrawal. In converting its provisional conclusions into final ones, the prosecution formally dropped the case against Alba T. M., Karina N., Bogdan C. S. and Nancy S. M., whom it had accused of acting as accomplices. The withdrawal amounts to immediate acquittal, and the four were expected to attend the final day on Friday as members of the public rather than from the dock. The prosecution also reclassified the role of Félix T. M., who lives in Cadrete, from co-author to accomplice, cutting its sentence request from 23 years to 10. It kept its request for 23 years in prison for murder against Aivaras S., Juan E. O. and Jesús J. M., whom it accuses of carrying out the shooting. The private prosecution, lawyer Cristian Adrian Anghel Mateescu for the victim’s family, joined the changes on the criminal side but asked for 500,000 euros in compensation for the parents, against the 400,000 euros sought by the prosecutor. The accusation. According to the prosecution’s indictment, summarised by the same newspaper when the trial opened on Monday, Oct. 26, three of the defendants drove from Cambrils, in Tarragona, to María de Huerva on Nov. 21, 2018, “forming a perfectly organised group with the rest of the accused.” At about 7:15 p.m., “without a specified motive, but apparently linked to drug trafficking,” they went to the victim’s home in Movera, cut through the metal fence around the property and waited. María Marian was parking the car in the garage while her sister carried the shopping into the house. As she got out, she was “approached in a surprising, violent way, without capacity to react” by two of the men, and one fired a pistol at her from about a metre away. She died of haemorrhagic shock despite attempts at resuscitation. The three then returned to Cambrils, prosecutors say. Félix T. M. and his partner were alleged to have watched the young woman beforehand; the indictment relied heavily on phone contacts and phone location data. The evidence in dispute. The defence of Aivaras S., lawyers Bernardo Palomares and Mantvydas Bucys, cross-examined the expert on gunshot residue. The expert confirmed that analysis could not establish exactly where on a latex glove bearing their client’s DNA the particles were, that a material match with the cartridge case recovered did not mean with 100 percent certainty they came from the same round, and that transfer of residue from another fabric was “possible, but very improbable.” Juan Manuel Martín Calvente, for Jesús J. M., said his client “neither knows, nor uses, nor owns” the phone that police say travelled from Catalonia with the other two on the day. Berta del Castillo, for Juan E. O., sought acquittal, and in the alternative a conviction only for complicity in homicide with mitigation for his cognitive disability and the almost eight years of delay, arguing for no more than three years and nine months. Closing reports and the defendants’ last words were set for Friday, Oct. 30, with the question of verdict to be handed to the jury on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Sources Giro de guion en el juicio de Movera: la fiscalía retira la acusación a cuatro procesados y rebaja la petición de pena a un quinto, El Periódico de Aragón, 29 Oct 2026 El crimen de Movera llega a juicio casi ocho años después con ocho acusados en el banquillo y peticiones de más de 20 años de prisión por asesinato, El Periódico de Aragón, 25 Oct 2026 Crimen de Movera: ocho años después, la Audiencia de Zaragoza juzga el asesinato de una joven, ABC, 26 Oct 2026 Basel: Appeal Court Raises Sentence to Life for Lysbüchel Knife Murder and Zurich Stabbing Location: Lysbüchel-Areal, Basel, Canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland (and Dienerstrasse, Zurich) Legal status: Convicted on appeal Oct. 27 by the Basel-Stadt Court of Appeal of murder and attempted murder; life imprisonment, deferred in favour of in-patient therapeutic treatment; 10-year expulsion. Can still be challenged at the Federal Supreme Court; presumed innocent until final. The ruling. The Basel-Stadt Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Oct. 27, upheld the murder and attempted murder convictions of a 27-year-old Croatian national and raised his sentence from 19.5 years to life imprisonment, the Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA reported. Swiss media have identified him by his first name, Tyson. Court president Patrizia Schmid spoke of “a particularly bad kind of contempt for human beings”. The five-judge chamber found it proven that in August 2021, on the Lysbüchel site in Basel, he murdered a young man with a knife “brutally and for a trivial reason”, and that weeks earlier he had stabbed another man in Zurich, leaving him with life-threatening injuries. Keystone-SDA gave the Basel victim’s age as 27; 20 Minuten and bz Basel reported he was 28. His family has not been publicly identified by full name; bz Basel used the first name Emanuel, marked as a pseudonym. Why the sentence went up. The appeal court gave less credit than the first-instance criminal court had for the defendant’s reduced capacity to control himself. He had put himself into that state mainly through cocaine and alcohol, the court said, and he had acted purposefully after the crimes. Prosecutors had asked for life in a cross-appeal. Release on parole can be considered after 15 years at the earliest. The prison sentence is deferred in favour of in-patient therapeutic treatment; the court said indefinite preventive detention (Verwahrung) was not justified. It said there was no room to waive the 10-year expulsion despite hardship, because these were “the most serious crimes against random victims in public space”. It rejected requests to hear another witness and order a new psychiatric report, said his steroid use had been adequately considered, and noted he had previously committed “strikingly similar offences with frightening disinhibition”. The night of the killing. According to the June 2024 first-instance trial, covered live by 20 Minuten, the defendant and friends came by Uber from a festival in Muttenz to the Lysbüchel area, and at about 2:30 a.m. passed a quiet night flea market and party where the victim was with friends. One of the defendant’s companions slapped the victim without provocation. The defendant then intervened, kicked a friend of the victim to the ground and stabbed the victim twice in quick succession before fleeing, the first-instance court found. A police dog later found the knife near railway tracks; prosecutors said it carried mixed DNA profiles of the defendant and the victim, and the wound severed the left subclavian artery. The victim died despite resuscitation. The Zurich stabbing. On July 3, 2021, on Dienerstrasse in Zurich, the defendant stabbed a young man in the back of the head with a folding knife in a bar’s back courtyard; the man survived only narrowly after being resuscitated. The first-instance court called it “a demonstration of power” and criticised Zurich prosecutors for not opening proceedings against him by name before the Basel killing. The defence. At trial his lawyer, Thomas Häusermann, sought acquittal of murder, arguing that a companion, whose case was handled separately, may have inflicted the fatal wound with a second knife. Both courts rejected that. The defendant apologised to both families in 2024. The appeal verdict can still be challenged. Sources Zweite Instanz erhöht Strafe in Basler Mordfall auf lebenslänglich, swissinfo.ch (Keystone-SDA), 27 Oct 2026 Zweite Instanz erhöht Strafe in Basler Mordfall auf lebenslänglich, Nau.ch (Keystone-SDA), 27 Oct 2026 Basler Gericht erhöht Strafe in zweiter Instanz auf lebenslänglich, Badische Zeitung, Oct 2026 Mordfall Lysbüchel ‐ Täter in Basel vor Gericht, 20 Minuten, 14 Jun 2024 Mit 28 Jahren aus dem Leben gerissen: So gehen die Angehörigen von Emanuel mit dem Verlust um, bz Basel, 15 Jun 2024 Nazilli: Woman, 20, Shot in the Head at Home Despite Restraining Order; Ex-Boyfriend Jailed Pending Trial Location: Karaçay neighbourhood, Hürriyet Caddesi, Nazilli, Aydın province, Turkey Legal status: Suspect V.D., 21, remanded in custody (tutuklandı) by a Nazilli court on Oct. 28 on a charge of attempted intentional killing (kasten öldürmeye teşebbüs), according to Manşet Aydın. Presumed innocent. Victim in hospital with life-threatening injuries as of Oct. 29. The shooting. Kumsal Kayan, 20, was shot in the head in the flat she shared with her mother in Nazilli, in western Turkey’s Aydın province, at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, according to reports by the DHA news agency carried by NTV and by Sabah. The flat is on the third floor of the Öğüt Can apartment building on Hürriyet Caddesi in the Karaçay neighbourhood. Police have identified the suspect only by his initials, V.D.; Sabah and Odatv gave his age as 21. Kayan had obtained a restraining order (uzaklaştırma kararı) against him, the reports said. According to the DHA account, the two argued by telephone for a reason that had not been established. V.D. then went to the flat, where the argument resumed and turned into a fight. He is alleged to have drawn a pistol from his waistband, shot Kayan in the head and fled. Neighbours who heard the shots called police and paramedics. Her condition. Kayan was taken by ambulance to Nazilli State Hospital and, after initial treatment, transferred to Aydın Adnan Menderes University Hospital. Sabah reported that her condition remained serious, and Odatv reported that her life was in danger. Aydın Hedef reported on Oct. 29 that she was still fighting for her life. Odatv reported that relatives collapsed in shock when they learned what had happened. Some early headlines, including NTV’s and JinNews’, described her as killed; the body of the NTV/DHA report and every later report reviewed describe her as gravely wounded and alive. The arrest. Officers from the Nazilli district police public order bureau traced V.D. to the Eğriboyun cemetery in the Aydoğdu neighbourhood, where, police said, he was preparing to take his own life. He was detained with the pistol believed to have been used, the reports said. Police said he had previous records for drug use and armed wounding. On Oct. 28 he was taken to the courthouse and remanded in custody by the court. Sabah reported that he did not answer reporters who asked him why he had shot her. His statement. Aydın Hedef reported the contents of V.D.’s first statement to police. He said the two began talking and the conversation became an argument. “She said very harsh words to me. I lost control. I don’t remember how I shot her. When I came to, she was lying in blood. I don’t remember how it happened,” he was quoted as saying. That account has not been tested in court. The restraining order. Sabah reported that Kayan had been unable to free herself from her former boyfriend despite the restraining order. The reports did not say when the order was issued, what conduct it was based on, or whether V.D. had been accused of breaching it before. JinNews, a women’s news agency, placed the attack among cases of male violence against women in Turkey. The investigation is continuing under the Nazilli prosecutor’s office. Under Turkish procedure, tutuklama is pretrial detention ordered by a judge; prosecutors must still file an indictment, which sets out the charge, before any trial can begin. No indictment had been reported by Oct. 29. Sources Aydın’da 20 yaşındaki Kumsal Kayan’ı başından vurmuştu! Takıntılı sevgili tutuklandı, Sabah, 28 Oct 2026 Uzaklaştırma kararı aldıran eski sevgilisini öldürdü, intihara kalkışırken yakalandı, NTV (DHA), 28 Oct 2026 Takıntılı eski sevgilisi Kumsal Kayan’ı vurdu: V.D. mezarlıkta yakalandı, Odatv, 28 Oct 2026 Nazilli’de eski sevgilisini vuran zanlı konuştu! “Gözüm döndü, nasıl vurduğumu hatırlamıyorum”, Aydın Hedef, 29 Oct 2026 Aydın’da Kumsal K.’yi katleden fail tutuklandı, JinNews, 28 Oct 2026 Kumsal’ı başından vurmuştu! Nazilli canisi kodese!, Manşet Aydın, 28 Oct 2026 Abertridwr: Accused, 19, Tells Jury He Stabbed Tristan Kerr in Self-Defence and Co-Accused Were Not Involved Location: Newport Crown Court, Wales; killing on Lower Francis Street, Abertridwr, Caerphilly county (Feb. 5, 2026) Legal status: Four defendants deny murder by joint enterprise; trial before Mrs Justice Stacey continuing. Georgie Mears accepts stabbing but says he acted in self-defence. All presumed innocent of murder. The evidence this week. Georgie Mears, 19, gave evidence at Newport Crown Court on Oct. 27 and 28 in the trial over the death of Tristan Kerr, 17, who was stabbed in Abertridwr on the afternoon of Feb. 5. Mears accepts that he stabbed Tristan with a 13.5cm zombie knife but says he acted in self-defence, BBC Wales reported. “I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to kill him,” he told the jury. Mears, Connor Palfrey, 25, of Abertridwr, Ricardo Elliot, 27, and Elexi Manny, 25, of Senghenydd, all deny murder. The prosecution case. Opening the trial, Michael Jones KC said Palfrey supported Mears and warned Tristan’s friends not to get involved, Elliot acted as a “lookout” in the hallway, and Manny was a “getaway driver” who sped away with the other three in her Volkswagen Polo, the South Wales Argus reported. In a police interview played to the jury, Tristan’s friend Connor Davies said they had been “playing Fortnite” at Ieuan Crane’s home when Palfrey came in armed with a stick and Mears followed with his face covered, carrying a “big knife.” Davies said Mears ran “straight at Tristan” and did not try to hide the knife. Tristan got out through a side door but collapsed against a skip. “I was holding Tristan when he collapsed,” Davies said; Tristan’s last words to him were “Love you bro.” He was stabbed through the heart and lung, and the moment he collapsed was caught on a neighbour’s doorbell camera. Crane told the jury there had been “beef” between Tristan and Palfrey, including an incident weeks earlier in which Tristan chased Palfrey with his dog. Mears’s account. Mears said he went to the flat to deliver two £25 bags of ketamine to Tristan. He said the atmosphere was “unsettling,” that Tristan moved towards him, tried to punch him twice and pushed him against a wall, and that a knife in Tristan’s waistband became visible. “If I didn’t stab him he would have stabbed me,” he said, adding that he knew Tristan had a history of carrying knives and had seen a Snapchat video of him chasing Palfrey with a blade and a dog. Questioned by his own barrister, Chris Rees KC, he said he panicked because the living room door had no handle and the only way out was “through all these men,” and that he had an increasingly “sick feeling” as they drove away. On Oct. 28 he told the court he had collected the knife from the garden outside the flat that day at Manny’s request, kept it under his puffer jacket, and that Palfrey went in first while Elliot and Manny stayed outside. Under questioning from Ray Tully KC for Palfrey, he agreed the scuffle had nothing to do with Palfrey and that there was no plan to hurt anyone. He said Manny knew he had the knife but “had nothing to do with” the killing. After the stabbing, Manny drove the four to Hereford, which Mears denied had been planned. Cross-examination. Prosecutor Jones asked why Mears had been “so secretive” about the knife. “Or is the obvious truth that you all knew you had the knife as soon as you’d picked it up?” he asked. “That’s not true,” Mears replied. Asked if he deliberately attacked Tristan, he said: “He attacked me. I didn’t mean to kill him.” The trial continues. Sources Zombie knife killer tells court co-accused were not involved in stabbing, BBC News, 28 Oct 2026 Murder accused tells court ‘I’m terribly sorry’ for zombie knife killing, BBC News, 27 Oct 2026 Four on trial accused of Tristan Kerr murder in knife attack, South Wales Argus, Oct 2026 Belfast: Man, 24, Charged With Attempted Murder of Taxi Driver Sean O’Reilly in Alleged ONH Feud Shooting Location: Bell Steel Manor, Poleglass, west Belfast, Northern Ireland Legal status: John-Jo Lynch, 24, charged Oct. 2026 with attempted murder and two counts of possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life; bail refused at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Oct. 29; remanded in custody. Presumed innocent. The charge. A 24-year-old west Belfast decorator appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, Oct. 29, charged with the attempted murder of taxi driver Sean O’Reilly, who was shot twice as he sat in his car in February 2025. John-Jo Lynch, of Springfield Road, is also charged with two counts of possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property. Belfast Media reported that the counts relate to a Baikal handgun and a Walther handgun. BBC News NI reported that Lynch, in a grey hoodie, nodded only to confirm he understood the charges. The shooting. Sean O’Reilly, 49, was shot in broad daylight on the morning of Feb. 23, 2025, outside a cab firm in the Bell Steel Manor area of Poleglass, according to the Irish News and Belfast Media. Prosecutors said one gunman opened fire as he sat in his Skoda Octavia taxi, wounding him in the shoulder blade and collar bone; two more bullets lodged inside the car. A second gunman is thought to have carried a faulty weapon that jammed without firing. Mr O’Reilly survived his serious injuries. The alleged forensic link. Crown counsel Sarah Minford told the court that police had extensive CCTV footage of two suspected gunmen approaching and leaving the scene, but had not identified them until this week. Footage allegedly showed one of them dumping a high-visibility jacket. Police found the jacket, a gun barrel and two vapes in a bin bag in an alleyway near the scene, and pistols were later found stashed in hedges, the court heard. After the Police Service of Northern Ireland reissued the CCTV in a public appeal earlier this week, Lynch was allegedly identified and was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, Oct. 28. Prosecutors said a fast-tracked DNA sample matched the profile on the jacket, vapes and gun barrel. He gave no account for the forensic link in police interview, the prosecution said. The feud. “Police believe the shooting was as a result of an ongoing feud within the leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann,” Ms Minford said, referring to the dissident republican faction ONH. She told the court one of the guns had also been used in the murder of Danny McClean on Cliftonville Road, north Belfast, in February 2021. Lynch is not charged with any offence connected to that killing. A co-accused, Hugh Black, 52, of Rosehead, remains in custody charged with the attempted murder of Mr O’Reilly and is alleged to have acted as a look-out guiding the gunmen to the scene. The second alleged gunman has not been charged. Bail refused. Defence barrister Luke Curran said Lynch had overcome medical issues to run his own decorating business and had “no record whatsoever”. A defence representative also said he had custody of his young daughter three days a week and cared for his 93-year-old grandmother, who has dementia. District Judge Anne Marshall refused bail, citing a “very high risk to public safety, including the defendant’s own safety”. BBC News NI and Belfast Media reported his next appearance, by videolink, as Nov. 19; the Irish News reported he was remanded until Nov. 26. He has not entered a plea. Sources Man charged with attempted murder of taxi driver appears in court, BBC News NI, 29 Oct 2026 Belfast man appears in court accused of ‘dissident feud’ murder bid after DNA found on vape, court told, The Irish News, 29 Oct 2026 West Belfast man remanded in custody over shooting of taxi driver Sean O’Reilly, Belfast Media, 29 Oct 2026 Man remanded in custody over dissident feud shooting of taxi driver Sean O’Reilly in west Belfast, Belfast Telegraph, 29 Oct 2026 Fort William: Trial of Man Accused of Stabbing Ben Campbell in His Sleep Put Back to 2028 Location: Grange Road, Fort William, Highland, Scotland (killing Nov. 7, 2024; hearing at the High Court in Glasgow Oct. 28, 2026) Legal status: Dominiks Andrejevs, 21, charged with murder and separate offences; denies all charges. Trial due Oct. 2026 postponed by Lady Hood to early 2028 in Edinburgh. Presumed innocent. The postponement. A man charged with murdering Ben Campbell, 25, as he slept in his bed in Fort William will not now face trial until 2028, after his case could not go ahead at the High Court in Glasgow this week. Dominiks Andrejevs, now 21, had been due to stand trial there, but it emerged on Oct. 28 that a legal matter meant the case could not proceed, STV News and The Press and Journal reported. The judge, Lady Hood, set a new trial date in early 2028, with the trial now to take place in Edinburgh. The reports did not specify the nature of the legal matter. Andrejevs denies the allegations. What prosecutors allege. According to the indictment as reported by STV News, Andrejevs entered an insecure property in Fort William on Nov. 7, 2024, where Mr Campbell was staying, and went into the bedroom where he was. The indictment states Mr Campbell was asleep at the time. Prosecutors allege Andrejevs struck him on the head with a knife and then repeatedly stabbed him on the body with the blade. Mr Campbell died. The Press and Journal identified the property as being on Grange Road and reported that Andrejevs was 19 at the time. Other charges. Andrejevs also faces separate charges. He is accused of sending threatening and abusive messages via social media to another man in August 2024, and of an assault weeks before the killing in the Highland town by attempting to strike a person with a knife, both outlets reported. When he first appeared in court in November 2024 he was also charged with stealing a bottle of wine from the Spar shop on Grange Road on the same day as the killing, STV News reported at the time. The night of the killing. Police were called to Mr Campbell’s home at about 9:55 p.m., and a large section of Grange Road was sealed off with tape, according to The Press and Journal. Detective Inspector Calum Reid of Police Scotland said at the time that officers’ thoughts were with the family and friends of the man who died and that officers would continue to support them as the investigation continued. He added he understood the incident would be of concern to the local community, that additional patrols were in the area as part of the investigation, and that there was no wider threat to the community. First court appearance. Andrejevs appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, on the murder charge. He made no plea and was committed for further examination. His defence solicitor advocate, Clare Russell, made no application for bail, and Sheriff Gary Aitken remanded him in custody, STV News reported. The family. In a statement issued after his death, Mr Campbell’s family said: “He was a much loved brother, son and friend. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.” The new date means the family faces a wait of more than three years from the killing to a trial. Sources Trial of suspect accused of murdering sleeping man postponed, STV News, 28 Oct 2026 Fort William man ‘stabbed to death while he slept’, prosecutors allege, The Press and Journal, 28 Oct 2026 Fort William murder suspect will now stand trial in 2028, Lochaber Times, 28 Oct 2026 Teen appears in court charged with murder of man at his home, STV News, 11 Nov 2024 Henley-on-Thames, England: Kitchen Porter Nelio Gouveia Pleads Guilty to Murdering Jennifer Symonds, Found Drowned by the Thames Location: Oxford Crown Court; Phyllis Court Drive, beside Phyllis Court Club and the River Thames, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire Legal status: Nelio Gouveia, 45, pleaded guilty to murder Oct. 29, 2026; remanded in custody; sentencing Nov. 20 before Mr Justice Jay. Nelio Gouveia, 45, pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, Oct. 29, to the murder of Jennifer Symonds, a 44-year-old woman found dead in the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames on the morning of March 6, the Henley Herald, the BBC and the Daily Mail reported. He will be sentenced on Friday, Nov. 20. The hearing. Gouveia, formerly of Phyllis Court Drive in Henley, appeared in a grey prison tracksuit and was assisted by a Portuguese interpreter, the Daily Mail reported. His head was bowed throughout the brief hearing. He entered a guilty plea to one count of murder. Judge Ian Pringle remanded him in custody and said the sentencing would be reserved to a High Court judge, Mr Justice Jay. Three of Symonds’s friends who attended the hearing appeared emotional after the plea. A murder conviction in England carries a mandatory life sentence; at the November hearing the judge will set the minimum term he must serve before he can be considered for parole. The death. At about 7:50 a.m. on Friday, March 6, Thames Valley Police were called to Phyllis Court Drive, next to Phyllis Court Club, a private members’ club on the bank of the Thames, where Symonds was declared dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination found that she died from drowning. Police said Symonds and Gouveia knew each other, but have not described their relationship. Gouveia was arrested the same day and charged with murder on March 8. The Daily Mail reported that he is understood to have worked as a kitchen porter at the club. Police were photographed searching the river on Saturday, March 7. Her last evening. CCTV released after her death showed Symonds at a Mediterranean-style bistro in Henley at 9:05 p.m. on March 5, the night before she was found, accompanied by a male friend, according to the Daily Mail. Wearing a full-length black jacket, she chatted briefly with a member of staff, who told her the kitchen had just closed for the evening; she waved her thanks, turned and left. Her body was found the next morning in the grounds of the club, about half a mile from the restaurant. Police have not said in public what happened between those two points, and the guilty plea means no trial will set out the evidence; the facts are expected to be opened by the prosecution at the sentencing hearing. Who she was. Symonds had worked for Microsoft since 2018, most recently as a senior customer success account manager at the company’s UK headquarters in Reading, according to her LinkedIn profile as cited by the Daily Mail. She had studied physical geography at the University of Gloucestershire, where she captained the hockey team. A friend described her as “a really lovely, warm-hearted person who loved to chat to people around town.” A bar manager at The Argyll pub in Henley called her “really happy, chatty and friendly. She was a lovely soul.” After her death, friends asked for flowers to be left at a bench on Red Lion Lawn, which they described as her favourite spot. Detective Inspector Rob Underhill of the Thames Valley Police Major Crime Unit, the senior investigating officer, said: “My thoughts remain firmly with Jennifer’s family, who have lost someone who was dear to them. Nelio’s actions on 6 March were heinous, and I am pleased that he has pleaded guilty.” He said the case showed the force’s commitment to investigating violence against women and girls. Her next of kin are being supported by specialist family liaison officers. Sources Man pleads guilty to murder, Henley Herald, 29 Oct 2026 Jennifer Symonds drowning murder-accused pleads guilty, BBC News, 29 Oct 2026 Man admits murdering Microsoft manager, 44, found drowned next to private members’ club on River Thames ‐ as police reveal pair knew each other, Daily Mail, 29 Oct 2026 Huntingdon, England: Jury Sees Train Crew Member Samir Zitouni Fight Off Knifeman With a Frying Pan as Anthony Williams Trial Opens Location: Cambridge Crown Court; LNER Doncaster to King’s Cross service, Peterborough to Huntingdon Legal status: Anthony Williams, 33, of Langford Road, Peterborough, denies 14 counts of attempted murder. Presumed innocent. Trial continuing. The trial of Anthony Williams, the man accused of a mass stabbing on a London-bound LNER train that made an emergency stop at Huntingdon on the evening of Nov. 1, 2025, opened at Cambridge Crown Court on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and continued on Thursday, Oct. 29, with jurors shown CCTV of a crew member swinging a frying pan at the attacker, the BBC reported. The charges. Williams, 33, of Langford Road in Peterborough, denies 14 counts of attempted murder. Ten relate to the train: Jonathan Gjoshe, Sachin Balakrishnan, David Presland, Scott Bletcher, Scott Green, Kevin Deely, Stephen Crean, Raza Aslam, Michael Paffett and Samir Zitouni. He is also accused of attempting to murder a 14-year-old boy and Dawid Taborski on a footbridge near Henry Penn Walk in Peterborough on Oct. 31, 2025, William Ogelby at the Railworld car park in the city shortly afterwards, and a 17-year-old on a Docklands Light Railway train at Pontoon Dock in Silvertown, east London, in the early hours of Nov. 1. The trial has been told it is not in question that Williams carried out the attacks; the jury must decide whether he intended to kill. The prosecution opening. Christopher Paxton KC told the jury that across “the Halloween weekend last year” Williams had been “marauding through towns and cities, on streets and trains alike, armed with a knife.” After the Peterborough footbridge attacks he was seen swigging from a bottle of alcohol outside Ritzy Barber Shop in Fletton before going in brandishing a knife, then travelled to east London. A witness to the DLR stabbing heard him repeatedly say: “Are you trying to beef with the devil?” On the train, which he boarded at Peterborough, Paxton said the events were “all over in about five minutes” and that “10 men are stabbed by one man.” Some passengers locked themselves in toilets; others grabbed items such as a toaster from the buffet car. Passenger Stephen Crean “launched himself towards and at Mr Williams” and was asked: “do you want to die?” Paxton called that “clear evidence of the defendant’s intention to kill,” and told jurors that minor wounds, or none, in some victims “does not mean there was no intention to kill.” David Presland, 73, was stabbed in the back while on his hands and knees; footage shows “a hand come up from the floor of the train,” Paxton said. One victim tried to grab the blade; another was stabbed in the head and stomach. The attack ended, the prosecution said, “only by the quick thinking of the train driver,” who stopped at Huntingdon, the next station south. Day two: the frying pan. On Thursday the jury watched CCTV of Samir Zitouni, a member of the train crew, using a frying pan against Williams. Paxton said Zitouni showed “sheer courage and bravery in seeking to save lives and defend others” and that the attack on him was “prolonged, persistent and brutal.” Despite life-threatening wounds, Zitouni told Williams “we love you, we can help you.” Both his lungs were punctured; he needed four blood transfusions, chest drains and a ventilator. Later footage showed him in “a blood-soaked shirt” as one of the last off the train, falling into the gap between the train and the platform. Sachin Balakrishnan was stabbed in the forearm and chest, puncturing a lung “just centimetres from his heart.” Scott Green was travelling with his dog Poppy; when Williams tried to stab him a third time, Paxton said, “Poppy the dog, for Mr Green at least, saved the day and sent the defendant running off,” adding that Williams had previously been bitten by a dog in an unrelated incident. Presland told police he was helped by a man he knew as Kevin, believed to be Kevin Deely. The court arrangements. Mr Justice Calver told the jury of three women and nine men that Williams is appearing by videolink from Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire, rather than sitting in the dock, to “best ensure his effective participation” and avoid a four-hour round trip. The trial continues. Sources Jury shown CCTV of train staff using frying pan in defence, BBC News, 29 Oct 2026 Train attacker asked man ‘do you want to die?’, trial hears, BBC News, 28 Oct 2026 Ramsgate, England: Tyla Wharmby Convicted of Murdering 13-Week-Old Hunter Hodges, Whose Skull Was Fractured on a Night Feed Location: Canterbury Crown Court; Queen Street, Ramsgate, Kent Legal status: Tyla Wharmby, 24, of Prestedge Avenue, Ramsgate, found guilty on Oct. 29 of murder and of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Sentencing date not yet reported. A jury at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday, Oct. 29, found Tyla Wharmby guilty of murdering Hunter Hodges, the baby son of his girlfriend, who died in July 2022 after suffering what the prosecution called a catastrophic head injury while Wharmby was looking after him overnight, the BBC reported. Wharmby, 24, of Prestedge Avenue in Ramsgate, had pleaded not guilty to murder and to causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He was convicted of both. The night of July 15, 2022. Wharmby was not Hunter’s biological father and had been in a relationship with the boy’s mother for only a matter of weeks, KentOnline reported from the trial, but he had agreed to take on the night feeds at the flat they shared in Queen Street, Ramsgate. The BBC reported that the court heard Wharmby had visited a pornography website about 10 minutes before Hunter’s mother called for an ambulance for the “lifeless” infant. On the 999 call she said: “My two-month-old son woke up this morning with a swollen head. It’s really, really squishy. Every time I touch his head he screams.” Hunter was taken to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate. Outside, a police officer’s body-worn camera recorded Wharmby’s account: “I woke up at four o’clock. He had a little lump on the side of his head, it weren’t too bad, gave him Calpol, tried giving him his bottle, he didn’t want it. I laid him back down on the side of the bed. I woke up at about half four to him screaming, I moved him and the back of his head was all swollen, his skin changed. I took him into his mum, we called an ambulance and now we are here.” Hunter was airlifted to King’s College Hospital in London, where he died the same day after a cardiac arrest. He weighed a little over 10lbs. Sources differ on his age: the BBC gives 13 weeks; KentOnline’s trial reports give 12 weeks. The medical evidence. Forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary told the jury the injuries were the result of severe trauma, such as being “thrown to floor or against a solid direct upright surface.” The court heard the impact was akin to what is seen in “a high-speed motorcycle collision or a multi-level fall.” Consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Amedeo Calisto said: “Everything that could have been broken was broken here.” KentOnline reported that the medical evidence showed the symptoms would have been “immediate, very obvious and profound.” The second count related to an older injury. Hunter had been taken to the same Margate hospital several times in June 2022 with repeated vomiting, mottled skin and more frequent crying, which the court heard are symptoms of shaking injury. His mother told staff on one visit: “Look he is really not OK. I’m not going to keep coming back up here to be rushed off with antibiotics.” Consultant neuropathologist Professor Safa Al-Sarraj found signs of a traumatic brain injury caused by “a similar shaking action,” most likely inflicted within the month before death. The GBH count covered June 1 to July 7, 2022. Wharmby denied shaking him. The changing account. To paramedics, to police and to the family court a year later, Wharmby said he had been the one who found Hunter swollen and woke the mother, KentOnline reported. He answered “no comment” in three police interviews, twice in July 2022 and once in March 2023. At trial he told the jury he had handed the baby back unharmed and that Hunter was in his mother’s care when the injury was inflicted, and said he had stayed silent on legal advice. Prosecutor Edward Brown KC put it to him that his “short fuse broke.” Wharmby agreed he would “sometimes lose control” in anger but answered: “No. I did not hurt Hunter.” Brown told the jury the Crown did not allege he intended to kill, only that he intended really serious harm, which is sufficient for murder in English law. The jury also heard Wharmby had no previous convictions but had been cautioned for criminal damage in May 2022 after kicking in a door. He was arrested on the day of the injury and rearrested on suspicion of murder after Hunter died. No sentencing date had been reported by Thursday evening; murder carries a mandatory life sentence. Sources Man found guilty of murdering 13-week-old baby, BBC News, 29 Oct 2026 Baby murder trial hears Tyla Wharmby deny his ‘short fuse broke’ leading to fatal attack on Hunter Hodges, KentOnline, 21 Oct 2026 Asia and Oceania Christchurch, New Zealand: Rodney Fallowfield, Paroled After Killing His Wife, Admits Murdering Nigel Robinson and Glen Tukaki The Christchurch Law Courts, where the High Court sits. Photo: Michal Klajban / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Location: High Court at Christchurch; Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust complex, Olliviers Road, Phillipstown, Christchurch Legal status: Rodney Fallowfield, also known as Rodney Smith, 58, pleaded guilty on Oct. 29 to two counts of murder and two wounding charges; sentencing set for April 7, 2027. A man previously jailed for killing his wife on their honeymoon pleaded guilty in the High Court at Christchurch on Thursday, Oct. 29, to murdering two neighbours at a social housing complex in Phillipstown, after what the court heard was a dispute over slashed tyres. When he was told in a police interview that one of the men had died, he replied: “You gave me good news,” the New Zealand Herald reported. The pleas. Rodney Fallowfield, 58, a forklift operator also known as Rodney Smith, admitted murdering Nigel John Robinson, 51, and Glen Allan Tukaki, 58, and one charge each of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and wounding with reckless disregard, New Zealand Police said. The two men were found dead and two others seriously injured shortly before 1 a.m. on Oct. 10 at the Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust complex on Olliviers Road. As he was led into custody, a member of the public in the packed courtroom yelled at him, the Herald reported. The summary of facts. Around midnight, Fallowfield saw on a CCTV camera at his unit someone running from his vehicle, found its tyres punctured and believed Robinson was responsible. He asked another resident for CCTV footage and was told the system was not working. Angered, he took a Bowie-style knife with a 20 cm blade that he kept beside his bed, hid it in his sleeve, and put a smaller folding knife in his belt. He went to the unit occupied by Robinson, Tukaki and two others. When resident Shontay French answered the door, he burst in. One of the surviving men, named in the summary as Dell, tried to defend himself and help Robinson and was stabbed in the chest, cutting his lung, and in the groin, and suffered a severe cut to his wrist. Robinson ran from the unit but collapsed and died. Fallowfield then moved towards Tukaki, who had mobility issues following a leg amputation and was sitting in a chair in the lounge. He told him, “I’m going to enjoy this,” before stabbing him repeatedly; Tukaki suffered wounds that penetrated his heart and punctured his diaphragm and lung, and died at the scene. Fallowfield went back to his unit for a sword to “hunt down” Robinson, but a neighbour persuaded him to put it back. He then punctured the tyres of a car belonging to a man named in the summary as Bell, left, and was arrested soon after carrying the Bowie knife. No regret. He told police he intended to kill Tukaki and Robinson, and saw Robinson and Dell as the main threats because of their size. Told Robinson had died, he said: “I didn’t think I killed [Robinson], that’s the one I wanted.” Asked if he regretted it, he said he did not and would do it again. His wife. In October 2021 Fallowfield was jailed for four years and three months after a High Court jury in Invercargill acquitted him of murder but convicted him of the manslaughter of his wife, Shirley Reedy, whom he strangled at a Te Anau motel on a belated honeymoon, RNZ reported. He was paroled in September 2023. The Parole Board described his remorse as genuine and him as “low risk of re-offending.” Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said the pleas spared the families “the prospect of a lengthy trial,” and praised the “strength, courage and resilience” of the families and survivors. Sources ‘I’m going to enjoy this’: Already convicted killer admits new double murder, NZ Herald, 29 Oct 2026 Killer admits double murder, six years after wife’s honeymoon death, RNZ, 29 Oct 2026 Man pleads guilty to murder following double killing in Christchurch, 1News, 29 Oct 2026 Milestone in tragic Phillipstown case, Christchurch, New Zealand Police, 29 Oct 2026 Craignish, Queensland: Two Men Jailed for Life for Shotgun Murder of Country Club Owner Greg Harding Location: Craignish Country Club, Fraser Coast, Queensland Legal status: Joshua Marcus Pope and Gregory Tremayne Pryor found guilty of murder; sentenced in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for at least 20 years. Two men were sentenced to life in prison this week in the Supreme Court in Brisbane for the murder of Gregory Harding, the 64-year-old owner of Craignish Country Club on Queensland’s Fraser Coast, who was shot during a robbery at his home in August 2021 and bled to death, the ABC reported on Thursday, Oct. 29. Joshua Marcus Pope, 35, and Gregory Tremayne Pryor, 30, were found guilty of Harding’s murder. They will not be eligible for parole for at least 20 years. The robbery. The court heard that the two men targeted Harding’s home at the club on Aug. 15, 2021, planning to steal money from his safe. Justice Michael Copley said Pope had investigated the club owner’s living and business arrangements ahead of the attack. Pope fired a shotgun loaded with buckshot at close range. The pellets struck Harding in the leg, breaking a bone and severing an artery. Justice Copley said Pope knew how dangerous the weapon was, because he had tried to obtain a different firearm. “You did not want to use the weapon that you had because it would blow a person’s legs clean off,” the judge said. He said he was satisfied that Pryor knew Pope had the shotgun. A golfer found Harding’s body. The television was still on and a frypan lay on the floor, the court heard. Pope and Pryor were arrested the following day. No ambulance. Justice Copley told the men they had been “far more concerned with covering your tracks” than with helping Harding. “You could have, but did not, summon an ambulance,” he said. “It may be that you are [remorseful] now, but really you were not remorseful in any meaningful way after you shot the deceased.” The judge said Harding’s death had “left a great void” for his family. “What would further accentuate their grief and suffering is knowing the lonely circumstances in which he came to die, bleeding away in his house, unable to summon an ambulance for himself,” he said. The ram raid. The court also heard that earlier on the same day, Aug. 15, 2021, the pair had been involved in a ram raid on a jewellery store in Hervey Bay using a car stolen from the Sunshine Coast. The men pleaded guilty to other charges including break and enter and unlawful use of a motor vehicle. The sentences for those offences, ranging from one year to four years in custody, will be served concurrently with the life terms. The family. On Thursday the Harding family issued a statement thanking those involved in the case. “To the police officers, detectives, field experts, support services and legal teams who played a part in bringing Greg the justice he deserves, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt thanks,” the family said. “As a family, we are incredibly grateful for the countless hours, unwavering dedication and tireless commitment of everyone involved in investigating these crimes, holding those responsible accountable and ultimately achieving justice for Greg. Your efforts have meant more to our family than words could ever adequately express, and we will be forever grateful.” Harding was a grandfather. More than five years passed between the killing and the sentencing. Sources Pair jailed for life over country club murder of beloved grandfather, ABC News, 29 Oct 2026 Armidale, NSW: Vincent Blair Charged With Murder of Partner of Three Decades Maria Brown Despite Protection Order Location: A unit complex on Rockvale Road, Armidale, New England region of New South Wales Legal status: Vincent Raymond Blair, 53, charged with murder; bail formally refused. Next appearance Dec. 16. Presumed innocent. A 53-year-old man has been charged with murder after his partner of three decades, Maria Brown, 48, was stabbed to death in a unit in Armidale in northern New South Wales early on Thursday, Oct. 29, local time, despite an apprehended violence order in place to protect her, 7NEWS and the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The call. Emergency services were called to the unit complex on Rockvale Road about 2:15 a.m. Police found Brown with multiple stab wounds, including critical injuries to her neck. NSW Ambulance paramedics treated her, but she died at the scene. Police said Vincent Raymond Blair called triple-zero from the home the couple shared. He was arrested at the complex and later charged with murder. New England Police District Inspector Greg Ryan said the case was being treated as a domestic violence murder because the two were in a de facto relationship. He said no children were present and that Blair was known to police; AAP reported that both parties were known to authorities. A knife was seized and is undergoing forensic testing. Detectives have spoken to witnesses, including other residents of the complex. The protection order. Court records show an apprehended violence order was in place to protect Brown from Blair at the time of her death, 7NEWS reported. Police sources told the Herald that a compliance check on the order had been carried out about a month earlier. The court. Blair appeared in court on Thursday, did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused. He is due to appear at an Armidale court by video link on Dec. 16. Reactions. “Obviously, this is devastating for the family, and we will continue to support the family and the community around this incident,” Ryan said. “These scenes are obviously quite tragic for emergency services to attend, as you can imagine, based on the circumstances,” he told reporters. “It’s not a nice job to go to.” He urged anyone experiencing domestic violence, or worried about someone at risk, to seek help: “A focus of what we do is domestic violence response. We’re there to support victims, and this can happen to anybody. We respond to a domestic violence incident one in every three minutes.” A friend of Brown’s told 7NEWS: “She was a beautiful mum … a best friend, a sister… and loved by many people.” Northern Tablelands MP Brendan Moylan said he was deeply saddened. “My sincere condolences go to the woman’s family, friends and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time,” he said, thanking police, paramedics and other emergency workers who responded. Domestic Violence NSW chief executive Delia Donovan told AAP that women in regional areas face particular barriers to safety, including housing shortages, long distances, limited transport, workforce shortages and inadequate justice infrastructure. “We need funding models that reflect the true cost of delivering specialist DFV services in regional and remote areas, enabling services to recruit and retain staff, cover vast geographical areas and provide timely, specialist support,” she said. She said this required “greater investment in services, housing and the specialist workforce, alongside place-based, locally led responses,” adding that in the regions, availability of services did not necessarily mean they were accessible. Anyone with information has been asked to contact Crime Stoppers or Armidale Police. Sources Woman identified after alleged murder by longtime partner, 7NEWS, 29 Oct 2026 ‘This is devastating’: AVO in place to protect woman before her alleged murder, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 Oct 2026 Murder charge laid after partner’s alleged DV stabbing, AAP, 29 Oct 2026 Hamilton, Victoria: Jury Told David McLennan Was Recorded Saying “Pretty Sure You Killed Her” as Carlee Smith Murder Trial Opens Location: Supreme Court of Victoria sitting at Warrnambool; a home on the Henty Highway near Hamilton Legal status: David Douglas McLennan has pleaded not guilty to murder. Presumed innocent. The Supreme Court trial of a man accused of murdering Caroline “Carlee” Smith, a 48-year-old woman found dead at a home near Hamilton in south-west Victoria last year, opened at Warrnambool on Wednesday, Oct. 28, ABC News reported, and heard its first witnesses on Thursday. David Douglas McLennan has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder. The three-week trial is before Justice Jane Dixon. The discovery. Smith was found dead on May 15, 2025, by police carrying out a welfare check at a home on the Henty Highway, about 300 kilometres west of Melbourne. McLennan is accused of murdering her four days earlier. The Crown case. Senior prosecutor David Glynn SC told the jury that it was the Crown case that McLennan killed Smith by strangling her during a violent assault on the evening of May 11, 2025. The jury was told she suffered significant head injuries and 12 separate rib fractures, and that McLennan’s DNA was found under her fingernails. The court heard that the two were old school friends from Western Australia, and that McLennan moved into her home in October 2023 to help when her husband fell ill with terminal cancer. Her husband died in September 2024. The court heard they were not in a romantic relationship, but that there had been heated arguments in the lead-up to her death, and text messages showed conflict between them. McLennan referred to Smith as “crazy” in messages to his family and said he was being pushed to “breaking point,” the jury heard. The prosecution would argue that he was in a “negative headspace” and did not move out despite encouragement from friends and family. Glynn said CCTV installed in the home did not capture the alleged killing but did capture McLennan saying to himself “pretty sure you killed her” in the moments after the fatal assault is thought to have occurred. The jury heard McLennan stayed in the house drinking and smoking for three days while Smith’s body lay inside. Police were called on May 15 after she failed to answer calls and messages. That evening officers found her body in the spare bedroom, and found McLennan in a shed on a neighbouring property with self-inflicted injuries and a box of beer, Glynn said. A notebook on a bench in the home contained next of kin details for both of them, the court heard, and notes reading “There is evil in this house” and “I was pushed too far … I’m just a man.” The defense. Defence lawyer Rosalind Avis told the jury that most of the evidence was not disputed, including that the two had heated arguments and that no one other than McLennan was present when Smith died. What the defence disputes, she said, is whether McLennan intended to kill Smith or to cause her serious injury. “You must dispassionately weigh the evidence with an open mind,” she told jurors. Day two. On Thursday, Oct. 29, Smith’s school friend Benjamin Callaghan told the jury that he and Smith had been friends since school in Perth, and that she and her partner, Walter, had left Melbourne because of violence there and moved to Hamilton, The Standard reported. The Standard gave McLennan’s age as 50. Callaghan said he was told McLennan, who lived in one of the spare rooms, was an old high school friend of Smith’s, and that he nicknamed him “Groundskeeper Willie.” He last spoke to Smith on May 8, 2025, and later called triple-zero after failing to reach her. He said McLennan messaged him saying they had been sick, and he replied that he had contacted police for a welfare check. A neighbour, Paul Goodwin, said he had once called police for a welfare check on McLennan. Jurors were shown body-worn camera footage of Acting Sergeant Jason McIntosh of Hamilton police visiting the home in March 2025, asking McLennan about his mental health, and hearing Smith say she felt she had to tiptoe around his feelings and was at her breaking point. The trial continues. Sources Trial starts for man accused of murdering Victorian woman Carlee Smith, ABC News, 29 Oct 2026 Murder trial: jury hears alleged victim moved to country to avoid violence, The Standard, 29 Oct 2026 Bhaluka, Bangladesh: Neighbour Arrested After Salon Owner Rabindra Rishi Is Stabbed at Least 10 Times Over Unpaid Haircuts Location: Muktijoddha Market, Jamirdia area, Bhaluka upazila, Mymensingh district, Bangladesh Legal status: Saddam Hossain, 28, arrested in a murder case filed at Bhaluka Model Police Station and sent to jail by a court on Oct. 28, 2026; police have sought five days’ remand, with a hearing set for Nov. 1. He is presumed innocent. A 42 year old barber, Rabindra Rishi, was stabbed to death in and around his salon in Bhaluka, Mymensingh, on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 27, and a 28 year old man from the same neighbourhood was arrested that night, Prothom Alo, Kalbela and Amar Desh reported. The victim. Rabindra Rishi owned a salon called Apurbo Hair Cutting in the Muktijoddha Market in Jamirdia. He lived with his wife in a rented home beside the Noman Composite factory, Prothom Alo and Kalbela reported. Amar Desh said he was the son of Ranjit Rishi of Uttarpara in Dhobaura upazila, also in Mymensingh district, and had moved to Jamirdia for work. The accused. Saddam Hossain lives in the same area. His father, Babul Hossain, runs a small grocery shop nearby where Saddam sometimes sat, the reports said. He is the only accused named in the case. The case filed. Rabindra’s mother filed the murder case at Bhaluka Model Police Station on Tuesday night. According to the first information report, Rabindra was sitting in his salon at about 5:30 p.m. talking with a brother in law when Saddam walked in holding a knife and struck him repeatedly in the throat. Rabindra fled to a neighbouring shop, and the complaint says Saddam followed and stabbed him in the chest there. When Rabindra tried to take shelter in the yard of a nearby house, he was pushed to the ground and stabbed again in the chest, back and hands, and died at the scene, the complaint states. Amar Desh, citing witnesses and locals, reported that the shop where he first sought refuge belonged to Saddam’s father. These are allegations that have not been tested in court. The alleged motive. His wife, Suchitra Rani Rishi, told reporters that Saddam often took money from her husband to buy drugs and had his hair cut without paying. She said her husband, out of fear, had gone along with it, but stopped a few days earlier, and that a dispute followed. She told Prothom Alo that Saddam had threatened to kill him not long before. Police, citing their preliminary inquiry, told Prothom Alo that the two had fallen out about three months ago over haircut money, that Saddam had borrowed 1,000 taka from Rabindra and not repaid it, prompting Rabindra to complain to Saddam’s father, and that Rabindra had refused to cut his hair during the Puja holidays. Police also said Saddam had been close to the family and visited their home. None of these accounts has been tested in court. The investigation. The officer in charge at Bhaluka Model Police Station, Mohammad Zahidul Islam, said Saddam was arrested on the night of the killing and that the knife was found about 250 metres from the scene. He said the body bore at least 10 stab wounds to the throat, windpipe, chest and back. Asked what the accused had told police, the officer said he was behaving erratically. The body was returned to the family after a post mortem examination. In court. Saddam was produced in court on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and police asked for five days of remand to question him. The court set Nov. 1 for the remand hearing and sent him to jail in the meantime, Prothom Alo reported. He has not entered any plea and is presumed innocent. Sources ময়মনসিংহে নিহত সেলুনমালিকের গলা-বুক-পিঠে ১০ ছুরিকাঘাত, একজন গ্রেপ্তার, Prothom Alo, 28 Oct 2026 বাকিতে চুল না কাটায় সেলুনমালিককে হত্যা, Kalbela, 28 Oct 2026 ভালুকায় মাদকসেবীর ছুরিকাঘাতে সেলুন ব্যবসায়ী খুন, Amar Desh, 28 Oct 2026 Natore, Bangladesh: Lawmaker’s Son Remanded Over Hacking Death of Chhatra Dal Leader Shakil Islam Location: Chanchkoir Bazarpara, Gurudaspur upazila, Natore district, Bangladesh Legal status: Md Nuruzzaman, known as Mintu, eldest son of Natore-4 BNP lawmaker Abdul Aziz, shown arrested in the murder case on Oct. 27 and placed on three days’ police remand. He has not been charged and is presumed innocent. The case was filed against eight to 10 unidentified people and has been handed to the district Detective Branch. A court in Natore on Tuesday, Oct. 27, sent the eldest son of a BNP member of parliament into three days of police remand for questioning over the death of Shakil Islam, a 30-year-old leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s student wing who died 12 days after he was hacked in the street, The Daily Star and The Business Standard reported. Police had asked for 10 days. The victim. Shakil Islam, of Kacharipara near the Gurudaspur upazila headquarters, was a leader of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) in Gurudaspur. The Daily Star describes him as joint general secretary of the upazila unit; The Business Standard says he was member secretary of the Gurudaspur municipal unit. A district JCD leader told The Daily Star he was “always vocal against drugs and irregularities”. The attack. Police said a group of attackers wearing helmets set upon him with sharp weapons at around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 in the Chanchkoir Bazarpara area as he returned from Chanchkoir market. Local people took him to the upazila health complex. He was moved to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and then to Bangladesh Medical University in Dhaka, where he died at about 8:15 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26. On Oct. 19 his father filed a case at Gurudaspur police station against eight to 10 unidentified people. A fear he had made public. On April 20, according to The Business Standard, Shakil wrote on Facebook that he feared for his life, alleging that an influential person was contacting various groups to arrange his killing, and said he had told the police station’s officer in charge and filed a general diary naming those involved. The arrest. Detectives took Nuruzzaman into custody at his home in Gurudaspur late on Monday night or early Tuesday; reports differ on the timing. He was questioned at Gurudaspur police station and then at the Detective Branch office in Natore town, and shown arrested in the case that afternoon. He is a joint convener of the Gurudaspur upazila unit of the Jubo Dal, the BNP’s youth wing. The Detective Branch officer in charge, Nazrul Islam, said only that his name had surfaced in the investigation and declined to give details. The English and Bangla editions of The Daily Star and The Business Standard name the magistrate differently. A rivalry between brothers. Local people and Chhatra Dal sources allege that Aziz’s two sons, Nuruzzaman and his younger brother Mahmuduzzaman, had long competed for political influence with separate groups of followers, and that Shakil was a follower of the younger brother. Aziz called the disagreement a “family matter” with no connection to the killing. “I want those responsible for his killing punished, even if it is my own son,” he told The Daily Star, adding that he would not seek bail for his son unless his innocence was proven. He visited Shakil’s family on Tuesday. Fallout. The central Jubo Dal expelled Nuruzzaman on Tuesday over allegations of involvement in the killing, the Daily Sangram reported. The Rajshahi range police chief withdrew Gurudaspur’s officer in charge, Abdul Hannan, and the case was transferred to the Detective Branch. JCD activists marched in Gurudaspur demanding punishment for the attackers. Sources JCD leader killing: Natore-4 MP’s son on 3-day remand, The Daily Star, 28 Oct 2026 Natore-4 MP’s son placed on 3-day remand over Chhatra Dal leader’s death, The Business Standard, 27 Oct 2026 ছাত্রদল নেতা শাকিল হত্যা মামলায় এমপির ছেলে মিন্টু ৩ দিনের রিমান্ডে, The Daily Star Bangla, 27 Oct 2026 গুরুদাসপুর থানার ওসি প্রত্যাহার, মামলা তদন্ত করবে ডিবি, যুবদল থেকে বহিষ্কার এমপিপুত্র মিন্টু, Daily Sangram, Oct 2026 Sylhet, Bangladesh: Fugitive Former Police Officer Akbar Hossain Bhuiyan Sentenced to Death for Rayhan Ahmed’s Torture Death in a Police Outpost Location: Bandarbazar police outpost, Sylhet city, Bangladesh; verdict by the Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court Legal status: Convicted and sentenced Oct. 29, 2026 (first instance). Dismissed sub inspector Akbar Hossain Bhuiyan sentenced to death; constables Harun Or Rashid and Titu Chandra Das sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Tk 100,000 each; sub inspector Hasan Uddin, assistant sub inspector Ashek Elahi and journalist Abdullah Al Noman sentenced to seven years each. Five of the six are fugitives. Under Bangladeshi law a death sentence must be confirmed by the High Court Division, and the convicted may appeal. Six years after Rayhan Ahmed, 34, died of injuries he suffered inside a Sylhet police outpost, a court on Thursday sentenced the officer who ran the outpost to death and jailed five others, in one of Bangladesh’s most closely followed custodial death cases, Rising BD, PNS and Desh TV reported. The victim. Rayhan Ahmed, a resident of Akhalia in Sylhet, was picked up and taken to the Bandarbazar outpost of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police on the night of Oct. 10, 2020, where he was brutally tortured, according to the case as reported by PNS. He died the next morning, Oct. 11, 2020, while being treated in hospital, Desh TV reported. His wife filed a case under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, and investigators found that the torture allegations were true, PNS reported. The verdict. Judge Abdul Majid Munshi of the Sylhet Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court announced the verdict at about 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 29, Rising BD reported. Akbar Hossain Bhuiyan, the former in charge of the outpost, was sentenced to death. Constables Mohammad Harun Or Rashid and Titu Chandra Das received life terms and fines of Tk 100,000 each. Sub inspector Mohammad Hasan Uddin, who was second in command at the outpost, assistant sub inspector Ashek Elahi and Abdullah Al Noman, a journalist from Companiganj upazila described in the charge sheet as a relative of Akbar, were each sentenced to seven years. Only one defendant in court. Ashek Elahi was the only accused present; he was brought from jail under tight security, the reports said. Public prosecutor Mohammad Muminul Islam Momin said the other five are on the run. According to court sources cited by PNS, Akbar obtained bail from the High Court on Aug. 4 and walked out of jail on Aug. 10; the bail was later stayed, but he never surrendered to the lower court and is reported to have left the country. The report did not give the year of that bail order. The investigation. After the death, Akbar and three others were suspended and three were withdrawn from the outpost, PNS reported. The Police Bureau of Investigation arrested Constable Harun and two others, and detained Akbar on Nov. 9, 2020, near the border at Kanaighat. The PBI filed its charge sheet on May 5, 2021, naming six accused, and the trial began on Sept. 30, 2021. The family. Before the verdict, Rayhan’s mother came to court and spoke angrily about the defendants’ bail. “What will I do hearing this verdict? Those who tortured and killed my Rayhan have run away,” she said, according to PNS. She said none of them got bail under the previous government but that three won bail in 2025 after arguments had ended, and that if the convicted are never punished her six years of waiting will have been wasted. The prosecution. Momin said the state was initially satisfied with the verdict but would study the full judgment and go to the higher court if needed, Rising BD reported. Because the main convict is abroad and four others are at large, the sentences cannot be enforced against them unless they are arrested or surrender. Sources রায়হান হত্যা মামলায় এসআই আকবরের ফাঁসি, দুই কনস্টেবলের যাবজ্জীবন, Rising BD, 29 Oct 2026 রায়হান হত্যা মামলা: এসআই আকবরের মৃত্যুদণ্ড, দুইজনের যাবজ্জীবন, PNS, 29 Oct 2026 রায়হান হত্যা মামলায় এসআই আকবরের মৃত্যুদণ্ড, Desh TV, 29 Oct 2026 সিলেটে রায়হান হত্যা মামলায় এসআই আকবরের মৃত্যুদণ্ড, দুই পুলিশ সদস্যের যাবজ্জীবন, The Daily Star (Bangla), 29 Oct 2026 Ex-SI Akbar sentenced to death in Rayhan murder case, Banglanews24, 29 Oct 2026 Bulandshahr, India: Two Brothers Jailed for Life for Killing Their Sister Veerwati Over Her Wedding Jewellery, Then Blaming Village Rivals Location: Parihawali village, Ramghat police station area, Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh Legal status: Vijay Kumar and Shiv Kumar convicted of murder and sentenced Oct. 27 to rigorous life imprisonment and a fine of 55,000 rupees each by the Additional District and Sessions Court at Anupshahr. Any appeal had not been reported. A court in Uttar Pradesh has sentenced two brothers to life in prison for murdering their 27-year-old sister, Veerwati, five years ago, hanging her body from a mango tree to make it look like suicide and then filing a police complaint that blamed three neighbours from a rival faction, The Times of India, Hindustan and Dainik Bhaskar reported. The killing. Veerwati had married Suresh Kumar of Hargovindpur village, under Gunnaur police station in neighbouring Sambhal district, about six months before her death. In August 2021 she was staying at her parents’ home in Parihawali for Raksha Bandhan, the festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. On the evening of Aug. 22, 2021, she went out and did not come back. The next morning her body was found hanging from a tree in a mango orchard near the village. The jewellery she had been wearing was missing and there were injury marks on her body, according to the prosecution. The false complaint. Her brother Vijay Kumar went to Ramghat police with a written complaint. Hindustan, quoting the prosecution, reported that the complaint said a young woman from the village had taken Veerwati out in the evening, and that when Veerwati did not return the family found that woman, her father and another villager had all left Parihawali. The Ledger is not naming the three, who were never charged. It claimed that Veerwati had probably been killed for her jewellery. Dainik Bhaskar dates that complaint to Aug. 25. Government counsel Pravendra Singh Lodhi told The Times of India that the brothers first staged the death as suicide and then, after police questioned the injuries and the missing jewellery, tried to pass it off as a robbery and murder. “They also tried to implicate three men from a rival local faction with whom they had a dispute,” he said. The investigation. Police inquiries pointed instead at the brothers. According to the prosecution, Vijay Kumar and Shiv Kumar, both sons of Udayveer Singh and now in their mid-30s, killed their sister to take her wedding jewellery, which the bride’s family had been holding and refused to give back. Hindustan reported that during the investigation the brothers admitted the killing and police recovered the jewellery. The confession was made to police, and the court’s conviction rested on evidence from eight prosecution witnesses, according to The Times of India. Vijay Kumar was also arrested on Sept. 27, 2021, at a police check, where officers said they found an illegal .315-bore country-made pistol in his trouser pocket. A separate Arms Act case was filed over that. The verdict. Additional District Judge Rajesh Kumar III, sitting at Anupshahr, convicted both brothers of murder on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and sentenced them to rigorous life imprisonment with a fine of 55,000 rupees each. The case was prosecuted under Operation Conviction, an Uttar Pradesh police programme to speed up trials for violent crime and crimes against women and children. The three villagers named in the brothers’ complaint were not charged, and the prosecution described the accusation against them as false. A separate case the same month. In an unrelated Bulandshahr case, a court on Oct. 17 jailed Tribhuvan Pratap Singh for life for killing his sister in 2024 in Bikupur Ramnagar village and throwing her body into the Kali river; his younger brother Monindar Kumar received five years for helping to hide the evidence, Amar Ujala reported. Sources UP bros jailed for life for murdering sister over wedding jewellery, The Times of India, 28 Oct 2026 जेवर हड़पने के लिए की थी बहन की हत्या, दो सगे भाइयों को आजीवन कारावास, Hindustan, Oct 2026 बहन की हत्या में दो सगे भाइयों को उम्रकैद: अनूपशहर में बेकसूर गांव वालों को फंसाने के लिए खुद दर्ज कराई थी रिपोर्ट, Dainik Bhaskar, Oct 2026 बहन की हत्या कर काली नदी में फेंकने वाले भाई को आजीवन कारावास, Amar Ujala, 19 Oct 2026 Chicholi, India: Four Held, Including Two Juveniles, Over Killing of Pawan Ganjam in Betul Village Location: Dudhiya village, Chicholi police station area, Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, India Legal status: Shivdas Ganjam and Jitendra Warkade arrested and two juveniles taken into custody; case registered under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (murder). Produced in court Oct. 28, 2026, and sent to jail. All are presumed innocent. Police in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh have arrested two young men and taken two juveniles into custody over the killing of Pawan Ganjam, who was found with a fatal wound to his throat in a half built house in Dudhiya village on the night of Oct. 25, Dainik Bhaskar, Patrika and Betul Update reported. Police say the killing grew out of a rivalry over a young woman from the village. The victim. Pawan Ganjam lived in Dudhiya, in the Chicholi police station area. Police found his body in an under construction house that had no doors fitted, Patrika reported. His throat had been cut. After a post mortem at the government hospital in Chicholi, his body was handed to his family, Betul Update reported. What police allege. Shahpur sub divisional police officer Archana Sharma said on Wednesday, Oct. 28, that Pawan had been in a relationship with a young woman from the village, and that she had begun talking to another man, Shivdas, Dainik Bhaskar reported. The two men quarrelled over her. Police allege that Shivdas then planned with his companion Jitendra and the two juveniles to get Pawan out of the way. Patrika reported that Pawan and Shivdas Ganjam argued again on the night of Oct. 25. The night of the killing. According to police, Jitendra Warkade took Pawan to sleep at the unfinished house of a man named Jagdish, Patrika reported. Dainik Bhaskar said Pawan went there with Jitendra and one juvenile to the home of the other juvenile, that the owners were away visiting relatives, and that the group ate together before going to sleep. At about 1 a.m., while Pawan was in a deep sleep, Shivdas arrived and the four allegedly struck his throat with a basula, a carpenter’s adze, police said. Dainik Bhaskar reported that police are also examining whether the owners’ absence that night was part of the plan. No finding has been reported on that point. The investigation. Station house officer Hariom Patel went to the scene with forensic staff, and a scene of crime expert collected evidence and photographs, Betul Update reported. Superintendent of police Virendra Jain formed a special team, which identified the suspects from the scene evidence, technical data and questioning of people in the village within 48 hours, the outlets said. Police registered the case as crime number 410/2026 at Chicholi police station. Police appeal. After the arrests, Jain urged residents not to take the law into their own hands over love affairs, family disputes or personal quarrels, Betul Update reported. He said a single wrong step taken in anger can cost a life and upend a whole family, and asked people to settle disputes through dialogue or the legal process and to alert police to serious conflicts early. In court. The four were produced before a court on Oct. 28, and Betul Update reported that they were sent to jail. The juveniles are not named, as Indian law protects the identity of children in conflict with the law; the reports did not say where they are held. None of the accused has entered a plea. Sources बैतूल- लव ट्रायंगल में युवक की गला रेतकर हत्या: गर्लफ्रेंड के दूसरे बॉयफ्रेंड ने रची मर्डर की साजिश; 2 नाबालिग समेत 4 गिरफ्तार, Dainik Bhaskar, 28 Oct 2026 प्रेम प्रसंग के विवाद में युवक की हत्या, दो अपचारी बालकों समेत चार गिरफ्तार, Dainik Bhaskar, 29 Oct 2026 बैतूल में लव ट्रायंगल में हत्या, एक ही लड़की से बातचीत को लेकर हुआ था विवाद, Patrika, 28 Oct 2026 Chicholi Murder Case: प्रेम प्रसंग बना जानलेवा खूनी संघर्ष: बैतूल के चिचोली में सो रहे युवक की हत्या करने वाले चार आरोपी गिरफ्तार, Betul Update, 28 Oct 2026 प्रेम प्रसंग के चलते पवन गंजाम हत्याकांड का खुलासा, दो नाबालिगों समेत चार आरोपी गिरफ्तार, News Crime File, 28 Oct 2026 Jagannathpur, India: Husband Arrested After Salmi Sinku Is Killed With a Pickaxe in Her Home Location: Jintugara Schoolsai village, Jagannathpur police station area, West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, India Legal status: Mangil Sinku, 35, arrested; murder case number 48/2026 registered at Jagannathpur police station. Arrest announced Oct. 28, 2026. He is presumed innocent. Police in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand have arrested a man accused of killing his wife, Salmi Sinku, 35, with blows to the head as she slept in their home in Jintugara village in the early hours of Wednesday, Oct. 28, Aaj Tak, Jharkhand Prabhat and Vasundhara Deep reported. The victim. Salmi Sinku lived with her husband and his elderly father in Jintugara Schoolsai, in the Jagannathpur police station area. Her children were not at home at the time, Vasundhara Deep reported. Her body was taken to Sadar Hospital in Chaibasa, where doctors carried out a post mortem, according to Jharkhand Prabhat. What police allege. Sub divisional police officer Rafael Murmu told reporters at the police station that at about 3 a.m. the husband struck Salmi on the head with an iron gaita, a digging pick, while she was asleep, and that she died at the scene, Jharkhand Prabhat reported. Station officer Tinku Kumar Das told Aaj Tak the couple had quarrelled late on Tuesday night over a domestic matter that police had not yet identified, and that the attack followed. Aaj Tak described the weapon as an axe. What villagers said. Residents told Vasundhara Deep the attack came at about 4 a.m., when her elderly father in law had stepped outside, and that the door was shut while she was attacked. They said he heard her screams but could do nothing. Aaj Tak, citing police, said the father in law was asleep in the courtyard and knew nothing of the quarrel. Villagers also told Vasundhara Deep the husband had left home some days earlier and that relatives brought him back on Monday. The arrest. The village munda, the traditional head, alerted police, Jharkhand Prabhat reported. When officers reached the house the door was open and her body lay inside, and the husband had fled. A team formed on the superintendent of police’s orders carried out raids and arrested him, Jharkhand Prabhat said; Aaj Tak reported that he was caught shortly after the killing. Police said they seized the weapon and blood stained clothing, and that he admitted the killing under questioning. Under Indian law, a confession to police is not admissible as evidence of guilt in court. The investigation. Officers sealed the house, prepared an inquest report with the help of the village head and neighbours, and collected evidence at the scene, Jharkhand Prabhat reported. The raiding party was led by Das with sub inspectors Abhimanyu Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Rai and Vishwanath Hembram and assistant sub inspector Nimai Kumar Singh. Punjab Kesari reported that news of the killing spread slowly through the village because of the early hour, and that the district’s deputy superintendent of police had called for strict action. The complaint. The case was registered on a written complaint from Salmi’s 20 year old sister, who lives in Pokharpi village in the Jeteya police station area, Jharkhand Prabhat reported. Das said police are still trying to establish the root of the dispute. No date for a charge sheet has been reported. Sources झारखंड: आपसी कहासुनी का ऐसा अंजाम, पति ने कुल्हाड़ी से ले ली पत्नी की जान, Aaj Tak, 28 Oct 2026 Jagannathpur Murder Case: सो रही पत्नी की गैता से हत्या करने वाला पति गिरफ्तार, Jharkhand Prabhat, 28 Oct 2026 झारखंड: जगन्नाथपुर में पति पर पत्नी की हत्या का आरोप, आरोपी गिरफ्तार, Vasundhara Deep, 28 Oct 2026 झारखंड में घर में मिला महिला का शव, सिर पर खुदाई वाले औजार से हमला कर पति ने की हत्या; आरोपी गिरफ्तार, Punjab Kesari, 29 Oct 2026 Khatauli, India: Wife’s Father and Brother Among Six Arrested Over Killing of Akshay, 24, Over His Love Marriage Location: Near a lime kiln on Jansath Road, Khatauli, Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India Legal status: Six arrested Oct. 28, 2026, and sent to jail; case converted from assault to murder. No charge sheet yet. All are presumed innocent. Police in Muzaffarnagar have arrested six people, including the father and brother of his wife, over the killing of Akshay, a 24 year old man from Biharipur village who had married against her family’s wishes, Amar Ujala and Hindustan reported. The victim. Akshay, son of Dilip, lived in Biharipur in the Khatauli area and had been living in Noida. About a year and a half ago he left with a young woman from the area and married her in court despite her family’s opposition, the papers reported. Amar Ujala said the post mortem found 17 injury marks on his body. The attack. At about 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 26, Akshay was attacked with sticks and a bottle near the lime kiln in the Bhood area, according to a complaint his brother filed with Khatauli police that day, Dainik Bhaskar and Royal Bulletin reported. Hindustan said the attackers struck at a shop near the kiln on Jansath Road. Police took him to the government hospital, and he was referred onward because of his condition. A case was first registered against unknown attackers for assault; after he died in hospital, his family accused his in-laws, and police changed the case to murder. How police say he was lured. According to Khatauli station house officer Dinesh Baghel, as reported by Hindustan, the wife’s father, Kanwar Pal of Sarai Rasulpur village in the Mansurpur area, began plotting to have Akshay killed because of the shame he felt the marriage had brought on the family in the community, and an earlier attempt failed. Her brother, Vasu, told his maternal cousin Amardeep of Galibpur about the plan. Amardeep contacted Ankush of Biharipur, who drew Akshay’s childhood friend Akash into the plot with an inducement, police said. When Akash learned Akshay had come home from Noida, he proposed a party. The two bought liquor and went to the shop, and Akash passed their location to Ankush, who joined them. The killing as police describe it. While the three were drinking, Vasu arrived with Amardeep, police said. An argument broke out, and Vasu told Akshay he had ruined the family’s honour and would pay for it. Police allege Vasu struck him with bricks and Amardeep beat him with a stick, and the attackers fled believing he was dead. In questioning, Vasu told police that Akshay had taken his sister away despite the family’s opposition and that the family was being defamed, Amar Ujala reported. The arrests. The six arrested are Vasu and his father, Kanwar Pal, of Sarai Rasulpur; Amardeep and Vikas of Galibpur; and Ankush and Akash of Biharipur. Police said they were picked up near Shekhpura junction, Bhainsi cut and a government tube well on the Galibpur road. Police said they recovered bricks, the stick and broken bottle glass used in the attack. A police team formed on the orders of the district’s senior superintendent of police identified the suspects, Dainik Bhaskar reported, and officers first detained Akash and examined his call records, which led them to the others, Hindustan reported. The reports did not say what part police allege Vikas played. Sources अक्षय हत्याकांड: लव मैरिज की रंजिश, दोस्त ने धोखे से बुलाया, ससुरालियों ने मार दिया; ससुर-साले समेत 6 गिरफ्तार, Amar Ujala, 28 Oct 2026 खुलासा: पिता ने साजिश रची, बेटे ने ममेरे भाई के साथ मिलकर की थी जीजा की हत्या, Hindustan, 28 Oct 2026 खतौली में अक्षय हत्याकांड का खुलासा, साले समेत 6 गिरफ्तार, Dainik Bhaskar, 28 Oct 2026 खतौली के अक्षय हत्याकांड का खुलासा: पुलिस ने किये छह आरोपी गिरफ्तार, Royal Bulletin, 28 Oct 2026 Kota, India: Two Men Arrested and a Juvenile Detained in Jaipur Factory Over Stabbing of BTech Student Bhuvnesh Nagar Location: Behind Kanha Marriage Garden, Subhash Nagar, Anantpura police station area, Kota, Rajasthan, India Legal status: Rahul Suryavanshi, alias Bachcha, 21, and Sagar Meena, 20, arrested; a juvenile detained under juvenile justice law. Arrests announced Oct. 27, 2026. No charge sheet reported. All are presumed innocent. Police in Kota have arrested two men and detained a teenager in Jaipur, where police say they had been working in a factory under concealed identities, three weeks after first year engineering student Bhuvnesh Nagar was stabbed to death in the city, Dainik Bhaskar, ABP Live and Amar Ujala reported. The victim. Bhuvnesh Nagar was a first year BTech student at the Modi Institute of Technology in Kota. On the night of Oct. 5 he rode his motorcycle to meet a friend in Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar, the reports said. At about 8:30 p.m., behind Kanha Marriage Garden in Subhash Nagar, he was attacked with knives and killed, Dainik Bhaskar reported. The complaint. His father told police that about seven or eight months earlier Bhuvnesh and his friends had a fight with Rahul, alias Bachcha, in which Rahul was reportedly cut with a knife, and that Rahul had borne a grudge since, ABP Live reported. The complaint named Rahul, Deepak Meena, alias Deepu Anda, Sagar Meena and two others as the attackers on Oct. 5, according to ABP Live. The reports did not say whether Deepak Meena has been arrested. What police allege. City superintendent of police Tejaswini Gautam said initial inquiries pointed to an old enmity, Amar Ujala reported. In questioning, police said, Rahul claimed that in March 2026 Bhuvnesh and two friends attacked him with a knife, and that he had filed a case over it at Anantpura police station. Police allege he wanted revenge and attacked Bhuvnesh with his companions before fleeing. That earlier allegation against the student comes from the suspect’s account to police and has not been tested in court. The arrests. A special team traced the three to Jaipur using technical evidence and informers and caught them working at a factory, where police say they had hidden their identities, ABP Live and Amar Ujala reported. Police had announced cash rewards for Rahul and Sagar. Rahul, of Gobariya Bawdi, faces three earlier cases at the Jawahar Nagar and Gumanpura police stations involving attempted murder and Arms Act and Excise Act offences, and Sagar faces seven pending cases including kidnapping, a POCSO case, robbery, dacoity and attempted murder, Dainik Bhaskar reported. Those cases have not been decided. The search. After the killing, investigators went through CCTV footage from the scene and the surrounding streets, Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar reported, and the city police announced cash rewards for information leading to the arrests. Police said the suspects had been on the run since the night of the killing. Once a tip and technical tracing placed them in Jaipur, a team from Kota travelled to the state capital and raided the factory where they were employed. What comes next. Police said they are questioning the suspects about how the attack was planned and what role each person played, Amar Ujala reported. None of the three has entered a plea, and the allegations, including the motive police describe, remain to be proved in court. The juvenile. The third person held is a minor and was detained rather than arrested; police did not name him, in line with Indian law protecting the identity of children in conflict with the law. Sources बीटेक स्टूडेंट की हत्या कर जयपुर पहुंचे 3 आरोपी: फैक्ट्री में काम करते मिले, पुलिस ने दबोचा, बदला लेने के लिए किया था चाकू से हमला, Dainik Bhaskar, 27 Oct 2026 7 महीने से फरार दो इनामी आरोपी जयपुर से गिरफ्तार, बाल अपचारी निरुद्ध किया, Dainik Bhaskar, 28 Oct 2026 कोटा में बीटेक छात्र की हत्या कर जयपुर में छिपे आरोपी, तीनों गिरफ्तार, ABP Live, 28 Oct 2026 कोटा: बीटेक छात्र की हत्या के तीन आरोपी जयपुर से गिरफ्तार, पहचान छिपाकर फैक्टरी में कर रहे थे नौकरी, Amar Ujala, 28 Oct 2026 कोटा हत्याकांड में पुलिस को सफलता, जयपुर से पकड़े गए तीनों आरोपी, Samay Jagat, 28 Oct 2026 Kurukshetra, India: High Court Lifts Death Sentences of Four Men in Murder of Dr Vanita Arora and Acquits Former Maid Location: Sector 13, Kurukshetra, Haryana; Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh Legal status: Sunil Kumar, Manish Kumar, Vikramjeet alias Bittu and Vikram alias Vicky: death sentences commuted on appeal to a minimum of 30 years without remission. Former domestic help Poonam acquitted on benefit of doubt. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has commuted the death sentences of four men convicted of the January 2023 murder and robbery of Dr Vanita Arora at her home in Sector 13, Kurukshetra, ordering instead that they serve a minimum of 30 years in prison without remission, The Tribune and Punjab Newsline reported on Thursday, Oct. 29. The court acquitted the fifth person sentenced to death, Poonam, a former domestic help at the house, finding that the evidence against her gave rise only to suspicion. The killing. Vanita Arora lived with her husband, Dr Atul Arora, and his parents on the upper floor of a building where he ran a hospital on the ground floor. She baked cakes at home, and according to the case details the attackers entered the upper floor on the pretext of placing a cake order, Punjab Newsline reported. On Jan. 9, 2023, Dr Arora heard his wife scream after he entered his parents’ room, The Tribune reported. Two assailants allegedly pointed a gun at him, pushed him onto a sofa and demanded money and jewellery. He handed over Rs 1 lakh but was beaten and questioned about valuables. He escaped by jumping into the courtyard of a neighbouring school and climbing its boundary wall. After a neighbour alerted police, he returned and found his wife dead. Her jewellery and ornaments prepared for the couple’s daughter’s wedding were missing, and his mother reported that her gold bangles and cash had been taken at gunpoint. The trial. A Kurukshetra court convicted Sunil Kumar, Manish Kumar, Vikramjeet alias Bittu, Vikram alias Vicky and Poonam on Dec. 15 last year and, five days later, sentenced all five to death for murder committed in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy. The High Court heard the state’s reference to confirm the death sentences together with the defendants’ appeals. Dainik Jagran reported that the High Court did not disturb the trial court’s acquittal of another accused, Ket Ram, and ordered that all sentences run concurrently. The bench. Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj and Justice Ravinder Malik said the crime had “shaken the conscience of society” but did not fall within the rarest of rare category. In a 267-page judgment, they noted the four men were between 26 and 31, came from financially modest backgrounds and had limited education, and that Sunil Kumar had maintained cordial relations with jail authorities and shown no tendency towards violence. “It cannot, therefore, be said with certainty that the accused are beyond reform or incapable of returning to the fold of society,” the court held. The judges were blunt about the aggravating factors: “a woman was done to death within the sanctity of her home, in pursuance of a conspiracy hatched with deliberation, and some of the accused carry a long history of involvement in other criminal cases.” They wrote: “We also ponder whether the true measure of a sentence lies in how swiftly it ends a life or in how long it compels a person to live with what he has done. A sentence that gives every morning for decades to reflect and repent is no mean sentence.” The law, they said, “must instead ensure that they spend the prime of their lives in confinement, answerable for the crime, with the door of reform left ajar, but not of release.” Poonam’s acquittal. The bench said it was not disputed that nothing was recovered from Poonam or on her disclosure, and that apart from the complainant’s initial suspicion and a confession recorded while she was in custody, there was no other evidence. “The evidence thus only gave rise to suspicion and it was not sufficient to prove the offence against her,” the court said, giving her the benefit of the doubt. Sources HC commutes death sentence of 4 murder convicts to 30 years’ jail without remission, The Tribune, 29 Oct 2026 Kurukshetra Doctor murder case: High court commutes death sentence of four convicts to 30 years in jail, Punjab Newsline, 29 Oct 2026 कुरुक्षेत्र हत्याकांड के 4 दोषियों की फांसी को 30 साल की सजा में बदला, हाई कोर्ट ने कहा- हर सुबह पछताने का मौका मिले, Dainik Jagran, 29 Oct 2026 Kushinagar, India: Man Held After Roshni, 18, Is Stabbed to Death in Her Room After Her Family Fixed Her Marriage Elsewhere Location: Belwa Sudama village, Hata Kotwali police station area, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India Legal status: Surjeet, 20, arrested and under treatment for injuries; case registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Arrest confirmed Oct. 28, 2026. He is presumed innocent. An 18 year old woman, Roshni, also known as Rukhsana, was killed with a knife in her upstairs bedroom in Belwa Sudama village in Kushinagar district on Tuesday night, Oct. 27, and a 20 year old man who villagers caught as he fled has been arrested, Dainik Bhaskar, The Times of India, ETV Bharat and Siasat reported. The victim. Roshni was the youngest of three children in her family. She had studied up to Class 12 and left her education about two years ago, according to Dainik Bhaskar and The Times of India. Her family had arranged her marriage to another man. What the family says. According to her family, Roshni and Surjeet, a painter in Mumbai from the neighbouring village of Jhanga Bazar, had been in a relationship for about three years. Her family opposed it because they belonged to different faiths, and after her marriage was fixed elsewhere she cut back contact with him, The Times of India reported. The family alleged he had pressed her to elope and she refused. Her mother told Dainik Bhaskar he had returned from Mumbai about a month earlier and had come to the house several times to threaten them. The attack. Her mother said Surjeet came straight into the house, climbed the staircase from the veranda to Roshni’s room on the second floor, and argued with her, and that Roshni shouted that he had come to kill her. He then shut the door and struck her neck repeatedly with a knife, the family said. Relatives and neighbours broke down the door and found her dead, the outlets reported. Dainik Bhaskar put the time at about 8:30 p.m.; The Times of India, citing police, said he entered at about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The arrest. Villagers chased Surjeet as he tried to push past them and caught and beat him before handing him to Hata Kotwali police, Dainik Bhaskar and Siasat reported. He was taken for treatment and police said he had serious injuries. Superintendent of police Keshav Kumar visited the scene with a forensic team and said the two had been in a relationship and the accused was upset that her marriage had been fixed elsewhere. ETV Bharat quoted him as saying the pair first came to blows, and that police were pulling mobile phone call records. The investigation. The village lies about 12 kilometres from the district headquarters, Dainik Bhaskar reported. A forensic team collected evidence from the room, and police sent Roshni’s body for a post mortem. ETV Bharat reported that, according to initial police inquiries, the pair argued and then scuffled inside the closed room before the attack, and that the door was locked from inside when her family broke it open. Police said they are still examining the sequence of events and other aspects of the case. Security in the village. Because the two families are of different faiths, police from three stations were deployed in the village, and security was tightened at the accused’s home, Siasat reported, citing officials. Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. He has not entered a plea. Sources कुशीनगर में घर में घुसकर गर्लफ्रेंड का गला काटा: लड़की की शादी दूसरी जगह तय होने से नाराज था, दोनों के धर्म अलग थे, Dainik Bhaskar, 28 Oct 2026 Boyfriend kills 18-year-old girl after she refuses to elope, The Times of India, 29 Oct 2026 कुशीनगर में युवती की गला रेतकर हत्या; आरोपी युवक गिरफ्तार, जांच में सामने आई ऐसी बात, ETV Bharat, 28 Oct 2026 UP: Surjeet kills Rukhsana for rejecting proposal in Kushinagar, Siasat, 28 Oct 2026 Batam, Indonesia: Boarding-House Neighbour, 20, Held Over the Stabbing of Infineon Worker Sunarti Adian, Found Under Scattered Flour Location: Perumahan Puri Agung 4 Tahap 2, Sungai Beduk district, Batam, Riau Islands province Legal status: Amrilah, also called Aris, 20, arrested Oct. 28 and named a suspect (tersangka) under Articles 459 (premeditated murder) and/or 458(1) (murder) of Indonesia’s new Criminal Code. Not yet charged in court. Presumed innocent. Police in Batam have arrested a 20-year-old man who lived in the same boarding house as Sunarti Adian, 24, an employee of the semiconductor maker PT Infineon, and allege he climbed through her window at night and stabbed her about 21 times, Batam Pos, Batamline and Batamnews reported. Barelang police chief Kombes Pol Anggoro Wicaksono set out the case at a press conference at Barelang police headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 29. The discovery. Sunarti was found dead in her rented room in the Puri Agung 4 housing estate on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 27. The landlady smelled a strong, foul odour from the room and, when Sunarti did not answer knocking, alerted the neighbourhood head and opened the locked door with a spare key, police said. Officers from the Sungai Beduk sector, the Inafis forensic team and the Barelang violent crime unit found her lying on her back on the floor with her face covered. Outlets give the subdistrict as Piayu or Mangsang; both lie in Sungai Beduk. The alleged attack. According to the police account given to Batamline, the suspect entered through a window that was apparently unlocked on the night of Saturday, Oct. 24. He is alleged to have stabbed Sunarti in the stomach while she slept; when she woke and screamed, he smothered her with a pillow and then struck repeatedly at her neck and head. Anggoro said the suspect told investigators he did not know how many times he had stabbed her, but a forensic doctor counted 21 stab wounds, with the fatal ones in the neck and head. Batam Pos reported that she fought back. It also reported that Sunarti was still recovering from a traffic accident, and that a brace on her arm had come off when she was found, a detail police said still needed medical confirmation. The alleged cover-up. Police say the suspect washed the blood off himself in the bathroom, then sprinkled wheat flour that was in the room over the blood on the floor. He is alleged to have covered her body with clothes, laid a stuffed toy over her face, locked the room and taken the key, and returned to his own room. Batamnews and Batam Pos reported that he took her mobile phone and threw it into a lake. The motive police describe. Anggoro said the provisional motive was resentment. According to the suspect’s account, on the Saturday he was washing his motorcycle when Sunarti passed and, he claims, called him a “lecherous face”, which he took as an insult. Batamline places that encounter in the morning and Batam Pos in the afternoon. Police said the two were neighbours but did not talk much. The motive is the suspect’s version, given in police questioning, and has not been tested in court. The arrest. A joint team from the Barelang violent crime unit, led by Iptu Mario, and the Sungai Beduk criminal unit, led by Ipda Dipo, traced the suspect within a day of the body being found. Batamline reported that police learned around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, that he was at Kavling Senjulung in Nongsa district; other outlets place the arrest in Punggur, also in Nongsa. Police shot him during the arrest, saying he did not cooperate. Anggoro said that in initial questioning he admitted stabbing her several times with a knife. Evidence and charges. Police listed a brown knife, a blue Tecno mobile phone, a white Honda Beat motorcycle with its key and several of Sunarti’s belongings as evidence; Batam Pos said investigators believe the motorcycle was used to store the knife and are still matching his statements to the evidence. He is being investigated under Article 459 of Law No. 1 of 2023, the new Criminal Code, for premeditated murder, which carries death, life or up to 20 years, and alternatively Article 458(1) for murder, up to 15 years. Kasat Reskrim Kompol Agung Tri Poerbowo said investigators are still examining whether the killing was planned. Sources Terungkap, Pembunuhan Wanita di Mangsang Dipicu Sakit Hati, Batam Pos, 29 Oct 2026 Kronologi Pembunuhan Karyawati Infineon di Batam, Ditusuk 21 Kali Saat Tidur, Batamline, 29 Oct 2026 Drama Penangkapan Pembunuh Karyawati Infineon di Batam, Tersangka Ditangkap di Punggur, Korban Alami 21 Luka Tusuk, Batamnews, 29 Oct 2026 Iga, Japan: Man Indicted for Killing Partner Sonomi Ikeda Is Rearrested Over Murder of Her Daughter Rion, 20 Location: Oda-cho, Iga, Mie prefecture; bodies found beside the Nabari River in Tsukigase, Nara city Legal status: Takahiro Imakita, 37, of Horen-cho, Nara, indicted Oct. 27 for the murder of Sonomi Ikeda and earlier indicted for abandoning both bodies. Rearrested Oct. 27 on suspicion of murdering Rion Ikeda and sent to prosecutors on Oct. 29. Police have not disclosed whether he admits the new allegation. Presumed innocent. Mie prefectural police on Tuesday, Oct. 27, rearrested an unemployed man from Nara on suspicion of murdering Rion Ikeda, a 20-year-old university student whose body was found with her mother’s beside a river in July, months after the two vanished from their home in Iga. The same day the Tsu District Public Prosecutors Office indicted him for the murder of the mother, Sonomi Ikeda, 44, who had been his partner, Sankei and Fuji News Network reported. The allegation. Takahiro Imakita, 37, is suspected of killing Rion by unspecified means between the night of Feb. 9 and the early hours of Feb. 10 at the Ikeda home in Oda-cho, Iga, where mother and daughter lived alone together. Police believe he killed Sonomi first and then her daughter, FNN reported. He is charged with strangling Sonomi to death. Police have not said whether he admits killing Rion. He was sent to prosecutors on Thursday, Oct. 29, Chukyo TV reported. A long disappearance. The Ikedas were last seen in February going out with Imakita, according to TBS. Nobody reported them missing for weeks. On April 14 Rion’s university told Iga police it could not reach her, and on May 13 Iga city hall asked police to check on her mother’s welfare, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Mie police set up a special investigation headquarters at Iga station on May 21. They began questioning Imakita voluntarily from July 14, and on July 16 he admitted dumping a body, Asahi reported. The bodies. On July 17, acting on his statements, police found the two women in grass about five metres below a road on the left bank of the Nabari River in Tsukigase-oyama, Nara city, each wrapped in plastic sheeting. At the time of his first arrest the body named in the charge had not yet been identified, and police said only that the two were believed to be a 44-year-old woman and her 20-year-old daughter from Iga. Imakita was arrested and then indicted for abandoning the bodies, and Sankei reported that he told investigators he had carried them by car and dumped them alone. On Oct. 7 he was rearrested for the murder of Sonomi. Signs of planning, police say. When the bodies were found, cable ties were wrapped around both women’s necks, FNN reported. Chukyo TV said the tie around Rion’s neck had been pulled tight. Police seized cable ties from Imakita’s home. Investigators have since established that he bought the same kind of ties at a home centre in Mie prefecture before the killings, according to TBS and Chukyo TV. Chukyo TV reported on Oct. 29 that police also suspect he used a duplicate key to lock the Ikedas’ house after the two were killed, in an attempt to hide what had happened. Police believe the killings may have been planned and are investigating his motive. What happens next. Prosecutors in Tsu will decide whether to indict Imakita for Rion’s murder. In Japan the most serious cases are tried before a panel of professional and lay judges. No trial date has been set. Sources 交際相手の娘殺害疑い　奈良の男再逮捕、三重県警　交際相手殺害の罪でも起訴, Sankei Shimbun, 27 Oct 2026 女性の20歳長女も伊賀市内で殺害か 交際相手に対する殺人容疑等の37歳男を再逮捕 遺体発見時には2人の首に結束バンド, FNN Prime Online, 27 Oct 2026 奈良市の川岸で見つかった母娘遺体 母親の交際相手を娘の殺人容疑で再逮捕 首には結束バンドが, TBS NEWS DIG, 27 Oct 2026 遺体の首あたりに巻かれた結束バンド 逮捕の男が犯行前にホームセンターで購入か 奈良市の川岸で見つかった母娘遺体, TBS NEWS DIG, 28 Oct 2026 伊賀の母娘“殺害”で再逮捕の男　合鍵使い犯行を隠そうとしたか　計画的な犯行の可能性, Chukyo TV NEWS NNN, 29 Oct 2026 女性の遺体を遺棄した疑い、奈良の37歳男を逮捕　母と娘が行方不明, Asahi Shimbun, Jul 2026 Auckland, New Zealand: Tailasa Pongia Jailed for 18 Years, Not Life, for Stabbing Greig Temarama-Abela, 19, in the Back During Ōtara Street Fight Location: Bairds Road, Ōtara, South Auckland; sentencing in the High Court at Auckland Legal status: Tailasa Vakavale Otuha’Apai Pongia, 20, earlier pleaded guilty to murder and to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Sentenced Oct. 29, 2026 (NZ time) by Justice Matthew Downs to 18 years’ imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of nine years. Life imprisonment was found manifestly unjust. Convicted. A young man who stabbed 19-year-old Greig Temarama-Abela in the back during a late-night street fight in South Auckland has been jailed for a finite term of 18 years after a High Court judge ruled that the life sentence normally imposed for murder would be manifestly unjust, the NZ Herald reported. The victim. Greig Temarama-Abela had just turned 19. His mother, Rosina Temarama, told the court he shared a unique bond with his three siblings, wanted a good job and to travel, and “just wanted me to be proud of him.” A second man, Inoke Fonokalafi, was stabbed in the abdomen and survived, Skykiwi reported. In his own statement he called Temarama-Abela his brother. The night of Aug. 1, 2025. According to the police summary of facts, Pongia had been drinking with friends at a house in Bairds Road in Ōtara. Temarama-Abela was drinking with his own friends at a property about a kilometre away. That group had an “unresolved dispute” with one of Pongia’s friends, and shortly before midnight they walked to Bairds Road to confront them. Police said a verbal exchange escalated into shouting and physical challenges that spilled onto the road; more of Pongia’s group joined in and a widespread fight broke out, with members of both groups throwing punches. The stabbing. Pongia stabbed Temarama-Abela, who was facing away from him, in the upper back. The wound, 8.5 centimetres deep, entered through the ribs and cut a small internal artery, causing a fatal haemorrhage. Pongia fell, got up and lunged forward, stabbing the second man in the abdomen. The fight continued intermittently before petering out. Temarama-Abela sat down and quickly lost consciousness. The second victim needed three stitches. Police said Pongia initially claimed he had been asleep and knew nothing of any disorder. In court. Wearing T-shirts printed with their son’s picture and the words “forever 19,” his parents read victim impact statements. “Why did you get a knife and stab my son in the back?” his mother asked. His father broke down and a relative finished his statement, which said the parents had been unable to work since the killing and visited the grave up to three times a day. Two aunts also spoke. The arguments. Crown prosecutor Aysser Al-Janabi accepted that, given Pongia’s age, the judge could find life imprisonment manifestly unjust, and proposed a finite starting point of 30 years, citing extreme violence, use of a weapon, a degree of premeditation and the harm caused, with a global discount of about 25 percent for youth, remorse and rehabilitation. Defence lawyer John Corby said the offending was reckless but “it wasn’t an intent to kill.” The court heard Pongia had written a letter of remorse to the family, but had also told a psychiatric report writer he did not initially think he had done significant harm, a claim the judge rejected. The ruling. Justice Downs said several factors supported life: Pongia was young but “not that young,” he alone had a weapon, the victim had his back to him, he chose to get involved and he wounded a second man. He called the case “right on the cusp.” Pongia’s age, the single stab wound, impulsive behaviour, an element of excessive self-defence and reports showing some remorse and prospects of rehabilitation tipped it against life. A concurrent term was imposed for the wounding. Sources Ōtara street fight murder: No life sentence for Tailasa Pongia after stabbing teen to death, NZ Herald, 29 Oct 2026 奥克兰街头斗殴命案：20岁男子持刀致一死一伤 获刑18年, Skykiwi, 29 Oct 2026 R v Pongia [2026] NZHC 3363, Courts of New Zealand Karachi, Pakistan: Brother of Man Condemned for Killing TV Anchor Mureed Abbas Is Caught at Peshawar Airport After Six Years on the Run Location: Khayaban-i-Bukhari, Defence Housing Authority, Karachi; court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge (South), Karachi Legal status: Adil Zaman, a proclaimed offender since his bail was cancelled, arrested and sent to judicial custody until Nov. 9; police ordered to file a supplementary charge sheet. Not yet tried. Presumed innocent. His brother Atif Zaman was sentenced to death on two counts in July 2026. A man who spent more than six years as a declared fugitive in the 2019 killings of television anchor Mureed Abbas and businessman Khizar Hayat has been arrested and sent to jail in Karachi, The News and Dialogue Pakistan reported. Adil Zaman is the brother of Atif Zaman, the prime accused, who was sentenced to death twice for the two murders in July of this year. The arrest. Darakhshan police produced Adil Zaman before the additional district and sessions judge (South) on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Sub-inspector Abdul Qadir told the court the Federal Investigation Agency had arrested him at Peshawar airport after identifying him as an absconder, and that he was brought to Karachi after police obtained a transit remand from the court in Peshawar. Dialogue Pakistan reported that he was detained at the airport on his return from Dubai. The judge sent him to prison on judicial remand until Nov. 9 and directed the investigation officer to submit a supplementary charge sheet against him, the step that reopens a case file that had stood dormant while he was missing. According to Dawn and The News, Adil Zaman had been on bail in the case. He went into hiding after the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry cancelled that bail, and the trial court declared him a proclaimed offender. When his brother was sentenced in July, the sessions court issued perpetual arrest warrants for him. His arrest is not a finding of guilt; he has not yet stood trial, and the prosecution case against him has not been tested. The night of July 9, 2019. Abbas, an anchorperson at Bol News, and Hayat were shot dead in the Khayaban-i-Bukhari area of Defence, within the limits of the Darakhshan police station. Abbas was killed in the attack; Hayat was hit several times and died after being taken to a private hospital, police said at the time. Police first described the shooting as a “personal dispute”. The investigation report later filed in court, as summarised by Dawn in August 2019, set out the sequence the police alleged. It said Atif Zaman called both men on the pretext of returning money they had put into his business, then shot Hayat first at the business premises in a commercial area and Abbas next in a residential area, the two killings about 500 yards apart and within roughly five minutes. The report said he brandished a gun at residents, some of whom moved their children elsewhere afterwards, and that he then shot himself in an apparent attempt to take his own life. Investigating officer Atiqur Rehman also wrote that Adil Zaman was present with his brother at the time of the killings. That allegation is the core of the case he now faces. The money. Both victims were business partners of Atif Zaman, according to Dawn. The investigation report said he had worked in a company’s recovery department on 10,000 to 15,000 rupees a month while presenting himself as an investor in the tyre trade; that he began with 600,000 rupees obtained from a man named Humayun; and that he went on to collect about 390 million rupees from investors, several of whom approached police after the shooting. In a confession relayed by police days after the killings, The News reported, Atif Zaman claimed more than 100 people had invested a total he put at 3 billion rupees, more than 40 of them from the media industry, and that much of the business ran on tyres smuggled from Afghanistan. He said a seizure of goods had left him unable to pay returns, and claimed he had received threats against his own family. Those figures are his account and differ sharply from the police estimate. The courts. Two cases were registered at Darakhshan police station: murder under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, filed on a complaint by Abbas’s widow, and an arms case. The matter began in an anti-terrorism court, which in October 2019 ruled the offence fell outside its jurisdiction and sent it to a sessions court. On July 9, 2026, seven years to the day after the killings, the Additional District and Sessions Court (South), sitting in the judicial complex inside Karachi Central Jail, sentenced Atif Zaman to death on two counts and ordered him to pay 500,000 rupees to the legal heirs of each victim, Aaj News and The News reported. He received a further seven years and a 50,000 rupee fine for illegal weapons. Lawyer Jibran Nasir was part of the complainant’s legal team. Adil Zaman is next due in court on Nov. 9. Sources Absconder arrested in Mureed Abbas murder case, The News, 28 Oct 2026 Accused in anchorperson Mureed Abbas murder case arrested after six years on the run, Dialogue Pakistan, 27 Oct 2026 Anchor Mureed Abbas murder suspect arrested after six years on run, Journalism Pakistan, 28 Oct 2026 Man awarded death sentence for 2019 killing of anchorperson Mureed Abbas in Karachi, Dawn, 9 Jul 2026 Court hands double death sentence in Mureed Abbas murder case, Aaj English TV, 9 Jul 2026 Arrest warrant issued for prime suspect’s brother in TV anchor murder case, Dawn, 27 Aug 2019 Mureed Abbas murder unearths startling story of Rs3 billion fraud, The News, 12 Jul 2019 Lahore, Pakistan: Mirza Ali Yar Arrested in a Park After Four-Day Hunt Over Shooting That Killed His Mother-in-Law Kalsoom and Brother-in-Law Sami Location: In-laws’ house, Satto Katla, near PIA Road, Lahore, Punjab; arrest in a Lahore park Legal status: Mirza Ali Yar arrested Oct. 28, 2026, in a case of murder and attempted murder registered at Satto Katla police station on Oct. 24. Under police questioning; no court appearance or formal charge reported yet. Presumed innocent. Lahore police on Wednesday, Oct. 28, arrested a man accused of climbing into his estranged wife’s family home and opening fire, killing her mother and brother and badly wounding her and another relative, ending a four-day search, Minute Mirror, UrduPoint and other Pakistani outlets reported. The victims. Sami, 63, the suspect’s brother-in-law, died at the scene. Kalsoom, 85, his mother-in-law, was critically wounded and died in hospital on Oct. 25, according to police accounts reported by Minute Mirror. The suspect’s wife, Khalida, was left in critical condition in intensive care. A fourth person, Rameeza, described by 24 News as the suspect’s sister-in-law, was also wounded and was being treated in hospital. The attack. Police said the shooting happened on Oct. 24 at the family’s house in Satto Katla, a neighbourhood off PIA Road in the south of the city. They allege Ali Yar climbed over the boundary wall, forced his way inside and fired indiscriminately before fleeing. Forensic teams gathered evidence at the house, and the bodies were released to the family after post-mortem examinations. A case of murder and attempted murder was registered the same day and a special team was formed to find him. The background. Police said Ali Yar had been in a long-running domestic dispute with Khalida. According to Minute Mirror, she had obtained a khula, the Islamic divorce initiated by a wife, and had also registered a police case against him. The superintendent of police for the Sadar division told reporters the suspect had a previous criminal record and had served time in jail. The arrest. Police said Ali Yar switched off his mobile phone to avoid being traced and was hiding in a park when he was found with the help of CCTV footage and local intelligence. The operation was carried out under the supervision of the Sadar superintendent. Investigators also recovered the vehicle he allegedly used, from the car park of a hospital. Alleged further plans. Police said initial questioning indicated he had been planning further attacks. Minute Mirror reported that he intended to target his father-in-law and a man named Sami; UrduPoint, quoting the NNI agency, described the intended target as “another citizen, Sami,” suggesting a different person from the brother-in-law who was killed. These are police claims from preliminary questioning and have not been tested in court. First reports. 24 News, reporting on the morning of Oct. 25, said the gunman stormed his in-laws’ house and shot dead his mother-in-law and brother-in-law over the domestic dispute, that Sami died on the spot and Kalsoom in hospital, and that Khalida and Rameeza were still in hospital when it went to air. Police told the channel then that Mirza Ali Yar was the suspect, that he had fled the scene, and that teams had been formed to arrest him. His age has not been reported. Next steps. Police said they were questioning him to establish the sequence of events and the motive and to verify the claims of planned further violence. Pakistani police usually seek physical remand from a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest; no court appearance had been reported at the time of writing. Sources PIA road double murder suspect arrested after four-day manhunt, Minute Mirror, 28 Oct 2026 ستوکتلہ میں دوہرے قتل کا ڈراپ سین، مرکزی ملزم گرفتار, UrduPoint, 28 Oct 2026 Man kills two in-laws over domestic dispute in Lahore, 24 News HD, 25 Oct 2026 Cebu City, Philippines: Police File Murder Complaints Against 12 Over Isaac Viernes, Found Buried Under Cement and Charcoal Location: Former One Citilink Terminal, Barangay Pahina Central, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines Legal status: Murder complaints filed Oct. 27, 2026, by the Cebu City Police Office at the City Prosecutor’s Office against 12 people, pending preliminary investigation; no court has yet issued a murder warrant. One suspect is detained on separate weapons charges, a second is out on bail in unrelated cases, and the alleged mastermind is at large. All are presumed innocent. Police in Cebu City have filed murder complaints against 12 people over the killing of Isaac Vergel Viernes, a street food seller whose body was found buried beneath cement and charcoal in a vacant lot 12 days after he disappeared, Cebu Daily News, The Philippine Star’s Banat and Bombo Radyo Cebu reported. The victim. Isaac Viernes lived in Sitio Baskio, Barangay Basak Pardo, and sold sisig through the night, Cebu Daily News reported. Cebu Daily News gave his age as 24; Banat and Bombo Radyo said 23. His mother, Jenny Viernes, identified his remains by his clothing and a gap in his teeth. The disappearance. He came home early on Oct. 7 after working overnight, lay down briefly and left without telling his family, according to the Cebu Daily News timeline, which draws on police progress reports. Security cameras recorded him shortly after 4 a.m. walking along Natalio Bacalso Avenue near the Citilink Terminal with a man and a woman. His partner said he had been drinking with friends in San Nicolas Proper and had argued with someone there. His family reported him missing. What police allege. Relaying extrajudicial confessions from suspects, police said Viernes was lured on Oct. 8 to Sitio Riverside in Pahina Central, beaten, stabbed several times in the neck by a suspect known as “Ewo” and shot in the head by a suspect known as “Justine”. Police said the body was wrapped in cloth, dropped into a canal on the vacant terminal lot, and covered with fresh cement and charcoal to mask the smell. They allege that one person mixed the cement, one bought the charcoal, one fetched the gun, and the mother of one suspect helped hide the burial site. Police ruled out robbery and said they believe the motive was revenge for an earlier incident in which Viernes was accused of hurting a gay man inside a convenience store. These are police allegations based on confessions that prosecutors must still weigh; none has been tested in court. The discovery. On Oct. 18 an informant told his mother where he was buried. The next day, police and the city disaster office dug about two feet below the soft cement and recovered the body. Arrests and bail. “Justine” was arrested on Oct. 20 in Sitio Taytayan for illegal possession of firearms and explosives and remains at the Carbon Police Station. “Ewo” surrendered on Oct. 21 with a lawyer and gave a videotaped confession, and was held on a warrant in a separate 2024 attempted murder case. He has since posted bail on that case and on an election gun ban charge. Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, deputy city director for operations, said police could not arrest him without a warrant for the Viernes killing because he surrendered 13 days afterward, and must wait for a court warrant after the preliminary investigation. The complaints. On Oct. 27, police filed the murder complaints, adding two names to an earlier list of 10 after two more confessions, and submitted security camera footage as evidence. Police say they have identified the person who ordered the killing, who remains at large. They also said they found no evidence tying the suspects to any city politician, after reports that two had worked as job order staff at City Hall. All 12 are presumed innocent. Sources Isaac Viernes killing timeline: 20 days from missing to murder raps, Cebu Daily News, 28 Oct 2026 12 ka suspek pagpatay kang Viernes gikasohan, Banat (The Philippine Star), 28 Oct 2026 CCPO, mopasaka na og murder case sa 10 ka indibidwal nga nalambigit sa pagpatay kang Isaac Viernes, Bombo Radyo Cebu, 27 Oct 2026 Lamitan, Philippines: Two of Bangsamoro’s Most Wanted Arrested Over 2024 Ambush That Killed Three Army Intelligence Soldiers Location: Sitio Panandacan, Barangay Baimbing, Lamitan City, Basilan, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Legal status: Abdul Hadi Siddick, 35, and Hamudi Baraun Ablaha, 32, arrested Oct. 26 on warrants charging each with three counts of murder, issued by the Regional Trial Court in Isabela City with no bail recommended. Presumed innocent. Other accused remain at large. Police in Basilan have arrested two men wanted over the December 2024 ambush that killed three soldiers of the Philippine Army’s intelligence service, closing in on a family-linked group that the military has spent this month hunting across the island, The Philippine Star and Bombo Radyo reported. The ambush. On Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, gunmen with assault rifles opened fire on a van carrying Sgt. Jhonny Lapinig, Sgt. Joecel Catedral and Pvt. Archie Cebuaños as they travelled to a remote part of Barangay Baimbing in Lamitan City, the Manila Standard reported at the time. All three were killed. They belonged to the 9th Intelligence Service Unit of the Army Intelligence Regiment and were attached to the 101st Infantry Brigade. According to the Lamitan police report, they had gone to meet residents who had said they were willing to surrender unlicensed firearms under Basilan’s Small Arms and Light Weapons programme, a provincial drive to reduce loose guns. The arrests. Abdul Hadi Siddick, alias “Epet”, 35, and Hamudi Baraun Ablaha, 32, were arrested at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, at Sitio Panandacan in the same barangay, Bombo Radyo reported. Police list them as No. 2 and No. 3 on the most-wanted list of the Police Regional Office for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. The operation was led by the Basilan police provincial drug enforcement unit and provincial special operations group, backed by other police and military units. Bangsamoro police director Col. Edison Dumangas said both men face pending warrants for three counts of murder over the ambush. Police said the hunt continues for other accused. The family link police describe. Investigators say the two are relatives of Saddam Siddick, whom police call Basilan’s most wanted man and the leader of a lawless group. Authorities describe him as a former Abu Sayyaf member once associated with the late sub-leaders Furuji Indama and Pasil Bayali. Philstar reported that the military blames his group for ambushes in Tipo-Tipo and Lamitan earlier this month that killed a soldier and wounded 18 people, including two civilians, and that the Western Mindanao Command ordered troops to get him “dead or alive”. The September shootout. The arrests follow a deadly attempt to serve the same set of warrants. On Tuesday, Sept. 29, a team led by the CIDG Basulta field unit, with Lamitan police and the military, went to Baimbing to arrest Saddam Siddick and his wife, Nermalyn Musa y Salapuddin, who was also wanted for the three murders. Police say she threw two grenades, one of which exploded, and fired a long gun at the team, which shot back. She was declared dead on arrival at Lamitan District Hospital at 1:41 p.m., the Manila Times and the Mindanao Sentinel reported. Saddam Siddick escaped. Police described her as a member of the Dawlah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group, and recovered a drone, a defaced carbine, M16 magazines, ammunition and an unexploded grenade. The account of that encounter comes from police and has not been independently tested. The cases. The murder warrants were issued by Branch 1 of the Regional Trial Court in Isabela City, Basilan, as Criminal Cases 9591, 9592 and 9593, with no bail recommended. The two men arrested on Oct. 26 have not yet entered pleas, and no trial date has been reported. Sources 2 nabbed for slay of 3 Army intel officers, The Philippine Star, 28 Oct 2026 Dalawang suspek sa pagpatay sa 3 Army intelligence personnel, arestado sa Basilan, Bombo Radyo Star FM Cotabato, 28 Oct 2026 Female DI-ASG member killed in Basilan clash, The Manila Times, 1 Oct 2026 Wanted Murder Suspect Killed in Armed Encounter During Warrant Operation in Basilan, The Mindanao Sentinel, 29 Sep 2026 3 army intelligence agents slain in Basilan, Manila Standard, 25 Dec 2024 Seongnam, South Korea: Man in His 60s Referred for Murder of Ex-Wife Who Had Sought Police Protection Three Days Earlier Location: Bundang district, Seongnam, Gyeonggi province; arrest in Jungnang district, Seoul Legal status: A man in his 60s, identified only as A, arrested Oct. 19 and held under a detention warrant issued Oct. 20. The case was upgraded from attempted murder to murder after the victim died Oct. 26, and he was sent to prosecutors in custody on Oct. 28. He has not yet been indicted and is presumed innocent. Police in Seongnam on Wednesday, Oct. 28, sent prosecutors the case of a man in his 60s accused of attacking his ex-wife at her front door a few days after she had asked police for protection from him, Yonhap and News1 reported. The woman, also in her 60s, died on Oct. 26 after a week unconscious in hospital. Korean authorities and media do not name either party at this stage. The warning signs. According to police, the man had been working in the Middle East and returned to South Korea in July. He then began turning up at the woman’s home and phoning her, insisting that “the family should get together”. Uneasy, she applied to police for personal protection on Oct. 16. Officers offered to open a formal case, issue him a warning and give her temporary accommodation, but her side declined on the grounds that it might provoke him, police said. She was instead given a smartwatch linked to the 112 emergency line, and patrols near her home were stepped up. Police said there was no previous record of domestic violence or stalking reports between the two. She stayed with friends and relatives and returned home on Oct. 18 so she could go to work. The attack. At about 8:05 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, police say, the man waited outside her front door in Bundang. When she opened it to leave for work, he pushed his way inside and struck her with a blunt instrument and other weapons; News1 also reported a knife. The attack was so sudden that she could not press the smartwatch’s emergency button, investigators believe. A daughter, who had installed a camera at the front door, saw him on the footage, tried to call her mother and, getting no answer, called 112 at about 8:30 a.m. Officers found the woman collapsed and took her to hospital with severe head injuries. She was breathing but never regained consciousness. The second target police describe. The daughter told officers that her father was on bad terms with her mother’s older sister, and Bundang police asked Seoul’s Jungnang station for help. At 10:19 a.m., about two hours after the attack, officers found him wandering outside the sister’s house in Jungnang carrying a bag with a knife and a blunt weapon, and arrested him. The sister was unhurt. Police believe, from witness statements and the circumstances, that he was angry over the divorce and intended to attack the sister as well. Silence in custody. A court issued a detention warrant on Oct. 20, citing a risk of flight and of destroying evidence. Since his arrest the man has refused to answer any questions about his motive, how the attack happened or why he went to the sister’s house, police said. He answered only procedural questions, briefly indicating that he did not want a lawyer. Leaving Bundang police station at about 9 a.m. on Wednesday, he said nothing as reporters asked whether he admitted the charge, when he had planned it and whether he had anything to say to the bereaved family. The case now. After the woman died on Oct. 26, police changed the charge from attempted murder to murder and carried out an autopsy on Oct. 27. Police said the front-door camera footage and the weapons seized from his bag were enough to prove the case despite his silence. The Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Prosecution Service will decide whether further investigation is needed before any indictment. Sources ‘신변보호’ 전처 살해한 60대 구속송치…조사 내내 ‘묵비권’, Yonhap News Agency, 28 Oct 2026 분당 전처 살해 60대 구속 송치…범행 동기는 끝내 ‘함구’, News1 via Dong-A Ilbo, 28 Oct 2026 신변보호 전처 살해 60대 구속송치…조사 내내 진술 거부, Yonhap News TV, 28 Oct 2026 Bangkok, Thailand: Four Myanmar Workers Walk Out of Sugarcane Field After Five-Hour Siege Over Payday Killing of Chinese Employer Yang Zhongshu Location: Construction workers’ camp, Soi Phatthana Chonnabot 3, Khlong Song Ton Nun, Lat Krabang, Bangkok; arrest in Sa Si Liam, Phanat Nikhom district, Chon Buri Legal status: Four Myanmar nationals, two married couples, arrested late Oct. 28 on Min Buri Court warrants and handed to Lat Krabang police for questioning in a murder case. Police said all four confessed during preliminary questioning. Formal charges not yet reported. Presumed innocent. Four Myanmar construction workers wanted over the killing of their Chinese employer at a Bangkok building site on payday walked out of a sugarcane field in Chon Buri late on Wednesday, Oct. 28, after more than 100 police officers, local officials and rescue volunteers had surrounded it for over five hours, Thai media reported. The victim. Yang Zhongshu, 39, a Chinese national, employed close to 60 Myanmar workers at a construction site in Lat Krabang on Bangkok’s eastern edge. A friend, He Shisheng, 49, also Chinese, was with him and was injured. Payday at the camp. At about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the two men came to the walled workers’ camp at the site to pay the monthly wages, according to accounts witnesses gave police and reported by Siam News and Daily News. Workers told investigators that Yang scolded four of the workers, two men and two women who were two married couples, saying their work was poor and not up to standard. The four then asked to quit on the spot, and Yang refused to pay them because they had not given the notice their agreement required, witnesses said. Police allege the four then attacked him: the men struck him with a steel reinforcing bar and stabbed him with a knife. He Shisheng was hit on the head and stabbed once in the back. The attackers are accused of taking 40,000 to 50,000 baht in wage cash before fleeing. Other workers scattered after the attack; some had no passports, Siam News reported. The scene. Lat Krabang police were notified at 8 p.m. Officers, forensic staff and Por Tek Tung foundation volunteers found Yang lying on his back in a workers’ shelter, barely breathing, with head and facial injuries and bleeding from the mouth and nose. CPR failed and he died. He Shisheng was taken to Sirindhorn Hospital. Police collected a blood-stained steel bar about 60 centimetres long and a blood-stained wage envelope still holding 100-baht notes and a 1,000-baht note. Daily News reported on Oct. 27 that police had identified one of the four as Soe Htike Aung, 25. The search. Bangkok police told colleagues in Chon Buri at about 3 p.m. on Oct. 28 that the four had fled there. Phanat Nikhom police, Lat Krabang officers, district officials and a rescue unit sealed off more than 100 rai of cane in Hua Thanon and Sa Si Liam subdistricts and flew drones with thermal cameras over the crop. A local headman told Khaosod he had rallied villagers and village chiefs to help cordon off the fields. The surrender. After more than five hours, the four walked out toward rescue volunteers on the perimeter. One volunteer said he recognised their faces and asked who they were; they admitted being the people police were looking for and asked for food and water, saying they were exhausted. They were arrested at about 11 p.m. near the border with Chachoengsao province, and police read them the Min Buri Court warrants before handing them to Lat Krabang investigators. Sources Four Myanmar workers arrested over Chinese employer’s killing, The Thaiger, 29 Oct 2026 จนมุมแล้ว 4 เมียนมา ฆ่านายจ้างชาวจีน หลัง ตร.-ฝ่ายปกครอง ปิดล้อมป่าอ้อย นานกว่า 5 ชม., Khaosod, 28 Oct 2026 เดือด! 4 คนงานคู่ผัวเมีย รุมตี-แทง นายจ้าง เสียชีวิตสลด ก่อนเผ่นหนีกันทั้งแคมป์, Siam News, 27 Oct 2026 เร่งล่า 4 แรงงานเมียนมา ตี-แทง 2 นายจ้างจีน เสียชีวิต 1 สาหัส 1 ชิง 5 หมื่น, Daily News, 27 Oct 2026 Huế, Vietnam: Eight Sentenced for Murder After Sword-and-Pipe Motorbike Chase Killed Đỗ Xuân Sơn and a Boy Under 16 Location: Kerb beside An Hòa Park, Hương An ward, Huế; trial at the Huế City People’s Court Legal status: First-instance verdict Oct. 28, 2026. Nguyễn Thanh Hiếu Thuận sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Nguyễn Đình Phúc Hưng (20 years 9 months) and Nguyễn Duy Đô (20 years) convicted of murder and illegal use of military weapons. Trần Hưng (19 years), Nguyễn Thanh Nghĩa (18), Ngô Hoàng Quốc Thịnh (17), Trương Đạt (16) and Nguyễn Văn Phước (15) convicted of murder. Four juveniles are being dealt with in a separate case. The verdict is subject to appeal. A court in the central Vietnamese city of Huế on Wednesday, Oct. 28, convicted eight young men of murder over a revenge chase in which a pack of motorbikes ran down three riders at up to 90 kilometres an hour and forced their bike into a kerb, killing two of them, state and local media reported. The victims. Đỗ Xuân Sơn was riding the motorbike. His passengers were Trần Văn Thành Tài, who was under 16, and Huỳnh Tuấn Kiệt. Sơn and Tài died at the scene. Kiệt survived with injuries assessed at 14 percent permanent bodily harm, according to the indictment summarised by Huế Ngày Nay and Bảo vệ pháp luật. The plan. According to the indictment from the Huế City People’s Procuracy, at about 1:45 a.m. on Feb. 1, 2026, after a quarrel and after being chased earlier by another group of young men, the eight defendants and four juveniles agreed to hunt down their rivals and strike back. They armed themselves with a sword, four metal pipes and four empty Huda beer bottles and set off on six motorbikes, cruising several streets in search of the other group. The chase. When they spotted Kiệt’s group, prosecutors said, they accelerated to about 80 to 90 kilometres an hour, closed in and attacked the bike Sơn was driving. Nguyễn Duy Đô drove with Nguyễn Đình Phúc Hưng riding pillion holding the sword. Trần Hưng carried Nguyễn Thanh Hiếu Thuận, who held an iron pipe. Nguyễn Thanh Nghĩa carried Ngô Hoàng Quốc Thịnh, armed with two beer bottles. Under repeated attack, Sơn tried to outrun them. When the pursuers squeezed his bike against the kerb, it went out of control and slammed into the kerb on the left side of An Hòa Park. The charges. Prosecutors said the conduct amounted to murder with three aggravating circumstances: killing two or more people, killing a person under 16, and acting with thuggish intent. The sword was treated as a military weapon, leading to the extra count against Hưng and Đô. Several defendants had previously been dealt with administratively, placed under local education measures or sent to reform school for carrying weapons, public disorder or causing injury. Đô had earlier served a sentence of one year and nine months for public disorder from the former Thừa Thiên Huế provincial court. The sentences. Weighing each man’s role, the trial panel gave the heaviest term, life, to Thuận, the pipe-wielder. The two weapons-count defendants received just over and exactly 20 years; the rest received between 15 and 19 years. The court and city police invited 250 local young people and 30 law students from Huế University to watch the hearing as a public legal education exercise, Huế Ngày Nay reported. What is not yet public. None of the reports gave the defendants’ ages, what the earlier quarrel between the two groups was about, or how the court explained why the pipe-wielder rather than the sword-carrier received life; the Chinese-language outlet Yuenan.com noted that the reasons for the gradation had not been set out. Bảo vệ pháp luật said several defendants had reoffended despite earlier educational measures. Defendants may appeal the first-instance ruling to the higher court. Sources Lĩnh án chung thân vì truy đuổi, tấn công khiến 2 người tử vong, Huế Ngày Nay, 28 Oct 2026 Tuyên án chung thân một bị cáo trong vụ truy đuổi khiến 2 người tử vong tại Huế, Bảo vệ pháp luật, 28 Oct 2026 Xét xử vụ truy đuổi khiến 2 người tử vong ở Huế, Công Lý, 28 Oct 2026 顺化持械追砍致两人死亡案一审宣判，主犯获终身监禁, Yuenan.com, 29 Oct 2026