The Crime Ledger: September 18, 2026

Claiborne County: Twelve Arrested in Deputy Killing

Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Friday that twelve people are in custody in the fatal shooting of Claiborne County Deputy Terrian Bailey.

Bailey was shot in the early hours of September 7 while trying to break up a large crowd after a festival near Hermanville. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Each of the twelve faces first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and conspiracy to commit murder: Adolphous Butler, 26; Demond Hunt, 19; Emanuel Jackson, 21; Jordan Lighter, 24; Yehoiada Marshall, 24; Keith Miller, 23; Marqueese Richards, 19; Eli Okonner Robinson, 19; Kearuis Stimage, 24; Alvin Truitt, 20; Shedrick Wallace, 18; and Zander Cornell Butler, 21, who was still wanted when the first wave of arrests went out and was taken into custody later Friday. The sweep pulled in Hinds Metro SWAT, local sheriffs, Mississippi Highway Patrol and Bureau of Investigation, FBI, ATF, and U.S. Marshals. The case is open and will go to the DA. All twelve are presumed innocent.

Cuautla: Arrest in Spanish Student Femicide

Mexican federal and Morelos state forces arrested Francisco Javier “N,” also called Javier “N” and “El Trompas,” on Thursday in central Cuautla in the killing of Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera.

Tacoronte, 21, a Universidad de Granada student on exchange at UAEM, was stabbed the night of September 12 near the Casa de Cultura after a medicinal-plant fair. She died of her wounds. Fiscal Fernando Blumenkron Escobar said the pattern of injuries supports a feminicidio charge and that prosecutors will seek the state maximum of seventy years; he said a cellphone was taken but discarded a sexual motive. Omar García Harfuch confirmed the arrest. The body was to be turned over to her family Friday. The accused is presumed innocent.

On Sept. 18 Judge Alma Patricia Salas Ruiz ordered Francisco Javier Meléndez Alguera, the man known as “El Trompas,” to stand trial for femicide, ordered mandatory pretrial detention and gave investigators four months to finish their inquiry, El Guardián and SDP Noticias report. The Fiscalía presented 26 items of evidence. Prosecutors say that about 8:49 p.m. he entered the Casa de la Cultura parking lot where Claudia was. Surveillance video shows a man approaching her and attacking her with a knife, and a witness who heard cries for help saw a man run off holding a knife and later picked him out in a photo identification. Her father, Valentín, and the Spanish consul travelled to Morelos to claim her body. The next hearing is expected in January 2027. He is presumed innocent, and the ruling can be appealed.

Chatsworth: Rios Murder Arraignment Slips to Monday

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman charged Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, on Thursday with two counts of murder, felony DUI causing injury, and misdemeanor reckless driving in Tuesday’s Chatsworth crash into a Metro Line 166 bus.

Prosecutors say she was drug-impaired, speeding the wrong way on De Soto Avenue, ran a red light at Nordhoff, and slammed the bus, killing Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31; five others were hurt. Bail is $4.1 million. On Friday she was in the San Fernando courthouse but did not appear in Department S; Judge Patrick Hare found good cause and pushed arraignment to Monday at the defense’s request. Narcotics were found in her Ford Expedition; the DA has not publicly named the drug. She is not charged in the separate NBC helicopter crash that killed three nearby. Charges are allegations. She is presumed innocent.

Update, Oct. 11, 2026: After four missed hearings for medical reasons, Rios was wheeled into the San Fernando courthouse on a gurney on Sept. 24 with dark bruising under both eyes and pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, DUI causing injury and reckless driving, with great bodily injury allegations. The second victim was Gage Weida, 31. Eight members of Castillo’s family waited more than two hours for her to appear and wept after the plea. She is held on $4.1 million bail; Judge Patrick Hare granted a medical waiver, and the next date is Nov. 2. She is presumed innocent.

Brentwood: Charge in 1993 Junior Burdynski Case

Prince George’s County Police and the FBI announced Thursday that Joseph Lynch, 61, has been charged with second-degree murder and sex offenses in the May 24, 1993 disappearance of George “Junior” Burdynski, 10, of Brentwood, Maryland.

Junior was never found. Cold-case detectives said a witness who was thirteen at the time (now about forty-seven, not charged) told them Lynch ordered him to sexually assault the boy and that Junior was killed during the assault; Lynch allegedly helped dispose of the body. Lynch was already jailed this year on other child sex-abuse counts from the same probe and had a 1990s conviction in a neighborhood child-sex ring that did not then name Junior. He waived a bond review Friday. He is presumed innocent.

Lynch is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree rape and second- and third-degree sex offenses. Junior was last seen riding his red bicycle in his Brentwood neighbourhood. The original investigation exposed Lynch, Stephen Leak and James Kowalski, who were convicted of sexually abusing boys in Mount Rainier, Brentwood and Hyattsville in 1993; Lynch was released in 2006, and earlier this year was charged with abusing two teenage boys from 2007 to 2014 and with a 2012 arson. Chief George Nader said the witness “had reported being sexually and physically abused by Lynch for over four years”; officials said his age in 1993 rules out charges. Lynch waived a bond review and is held without bond; a preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 16. He is presumed innocent.

Westminster: Life Term for Leeds Ambush Murder

At the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Angela Rafferty KC sentenced Sulaiman Tajzai, 18, to life with a twenty-five-year minimum for the March 27 ambush murder of shop worker Farmanullah Sherzad, 26, outside Sherzad’s Abbey Orchard Street home in Westminster.

Tajzai pleaded guilty to murder and possessing a knife. The court heard he travelled more than 150 miles from Leeds after reconnaissance, waited in a face mask and gloves, and stabbed Sherzad at least ten times. The judge called the attack “exceptionally violent” and said he stalked Sherzad “like prey” over a false grudge. Met Police investigated. Sherzad’s family said they were deeply shocked and angered.

The Met said Tajzai, of Wesley Road, Leeds, waited outside Sherzad’s home as he returned from work about 10:15 p.m.; Sherzad tried to run and was chased onto Abbey Orchard Street and stabbed at least 10 times. Tajzai dropped black gloves near St James’s Park that carried Sherzad’s blood and his own DNA. The judge said he held a grudge “based on a false suggestion of misconduct” and had been “effectively stalking him down like prey.” He pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 after seven days of prosecution evidence. With 171 days on remand, he must serve 24 years and 194 days before he can apply for parole.

Glen Alpine: Teens Charged in Mistaken Student Killing

NSW Police charged boys aged fourteen and sixteen with murder in the September 1 mistaken-identity shooting of Marco Tapia, 23, a UTS biomedical engineering student, at a Glen Alpine address in Sydney’s south-west.

Coverage Friday also said four Victorians were being extradited on related Turrella/Hurstville shooting counts; police allege the same firearm later turned up in the Tapia killing. Organized-crime feud context has been reported; the people who pulled the trigger are still sought. Youth names are withheld. All accused are presumed innocent.

Police allege the boys, who cannot be named, staged vehicles, supplied the gunman’s weapon and cleaned up afterward, and that the 14-year-old burned himself while setting fire to a car; both face murder, participating in a criminal group, prohibited-firearm and car-theft counts, AAP reports. They were not alleged to have entered the house. Update, Oct. 11, 2026: On Sept. 29 detectives arrested Vaifaalie Tuafuti, 23, Omar Mohamed, 22, and a 16-year-old in Junee and charged them with murder and special aggravated break and enter. Police allege three intruders entered the family home about 3:40 a.m. and shot Tapia in his bedroom in a botched hit on a man living on the same street. The two boys return to children’s court Nov. 13; the men were remanded to Nov. 25. All are presumed innocent.

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