The Crime Ledger: September 20, 2026

Caraz: Sicariato Arrests After Candidate Shot Dead

Susy Ysabel Aponte Polo, 44, journalist behind the Facebook desk China Polo Dominical and candidate for the Áncash regional government under Socios por Áncash, was shot in the back about 12:40 p.m. Saturday on Avenida Ramón Castilla in Caraz while she was live in a campaign stop. Five bystanders took bullet wounds, including three minors. She died of her injuries.

Peru’s Ministerio Público and Policía Nacional say the case is being worked as sicariato. Fiscal de la Nación Tomás Gálvez said Sunday that the alleged gunman, a supposed financier, and a man who allegedly moved the shooter beforehand were in custody; the Fiscalía’s public note named two Venezuelan nationals detained in flagrancia, Luis Iván Obispo Díaz and Ronald José Toro Artila, while clarifying the flagrancy count. Serenos had grabbed a Venezuelan man near the Carretera Central / Palmira junction with a Glock 9×19 reported stolen in Villa El Salvador in 2023. Aponte had aired threats in the days before the killing. All detainees are presumed innocent.

Feltham: Remains Identified as Missing Mother Joanne Sheen

Bones found August 12 in fire-damaged scrub at Padstow Walk near Bedfont Lakes Country Park in Feltham have been identified as Joanne Sheen, the Fareham mother of three last seen December 5, 2019, traveling to Southampton with a friend and reported missing in February 2020.

A 56-year-old Southampton man (first arrested in 2020 when the Met ran more than 4,000 lines of inquiry) was rearrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and further arrested on suspicion of murder. He was released on conditional bail. Another 56-year-old Southampton man arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder was also bailed. London Fire Brigade had fought a roughly two-hectare blaze at Bedfont Pits on August 5; a member of the public found the remains a week later. The Met handed the file to Hampshire Police after the identification. No one has been charged. Both men are presumed innocent.

Update, Oct. 11, 2026: Police have since arrested a second 56-year-old Southampton man; one is held on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and the other on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to murder. Both were released on conditional bail, and no one has been charged, BBC News and LBC report.

Drancy: Past Partner Sent to Judge Over Mother and Infant Killings

Bobigny prosecutors said Sunday that a 39-year-old man who had a past romantic relationship with a 29-year-old Haitian-born mother was deferred to an investigating judge after the Thursday knife killings of that woman and her two-month-old daughter in a Drancy apartment in Seine-Saint-Denis.

The parquet is seeking an information judiciaire for murder by a former partner and murder of a child under fifteen, and is asking for pretrial detention. Phone work allegedly put him near the flat when the killings happened; he was arrested with some of the mother’s personal effects and denies any role. The woman’s current ex-partner, also held, was released without charge. The mother’s sister found the bodies and called police. Names of the dead and the deferred suspect have not been released by the parquet. He is presumed innocent.

Update, Oct. 11, 2026: He was placed under formal investigation for murder by a former partner and murder of a child under 15, and remanded in pretrial detention; he denies the killings, franceinfo and 20 Minutes report. He is presumed innocent.

Taichung: Detention After Thai Girlfriend Found in Freezer

Taichung District Court on Saturday approved prosecutors’ request to detain a 43-year-old Taiwanese man surnamed Wu, suspected of strangling his 36-year-old Thai girlfriend and storing her body in a small freezer at his technology-company workplace.

Taipei Wanhua precinct said the woman’s Taiwanese friends reported her missing Friday after she failed to fly home as scheduled September 14; she had been staying in a Ximending hotel since arriving September 2. CCTV allegedly shows Wu entering the hotel September 12 and leaving early the next morning with a large suitcase that went into his car toward Taichung. Wu told police he killed her “accidentally” during a breakup fight; local reporting citing police sources said he had bought the freezer and suitcase earlier in September. Full names of the dead woman and Wu have not been released. He is presumed innocent.

Taiwanese outlets including the Liberty Times report that prosecutors allege he strangled her with his hands at a hotel in Taipei’s Ximending after she said she wanted to end the relationship, packed her body in a suitcase and drove it to his company in Taichung, where it stayed in the freezer for six days. The court granted detention because of the gravity of the charge and the risk of flight and evidence tampering. An autopsy in Taichung was held with no relatives present. He is presumed innocent.

Venice: Husband Charged After Wife Shot in Recliner

Walter Lee Edgerton III, 83, of the 500 block of Silk Road Drive in Venice, Florida, called 911 about 8:35 p.m. September 16 and told dispatchers his wife was dead and CPR would not help.

Sarasota County Fire paramedics found Sandra Edgerton in a recliner under a blanket with a gunshot wound to the right side of her head and pronounced her at 8:47 p.m. According to the Sheriff’s probable-cause affidavit, Edgerton later told detectives that after she begged for forty-five minutes for her pain to stop (chronic illness since a 1998 Lyme diagnosis, recent surgery for a bleeding ulcer, severe breathing trouble) he put a .22 revolver to her head and pulled the trigger while rubbing her head with his other hand, then wiped blood and covered her before calling. He is charged with second-degree / dangerous-or-depraved-mind murder without premeditation, held without bond, pleaded not guilty through the Public Defender, with a September 25 bond hearing and October 16 arraignment. He is presumed innocent.

Cleaton: Babysitter Charged After Infant Found Dead in Couch

Central City Police say officers answered a September 12 disturbance call in the 800 block of Harrison Avenue and learned 11-month-old Grayson Walton had been left with Elijah Mayes, 19, while the father worked.

Mayes allegedly claimed a family friend picked the baby up the night before, then, per WLKY citing police, fabricated texts from a fake number. A relative last saw Grayson with Mayes on Hillview Street in Cleaton. Search warrants turned up suspected meth on Harrison Avenue and, at the Cleaton house, the infant dead inside a couch with bruises and apparent teeth marks on his stomach. Mayes faces murder, first-degree criminal abuse, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, and first-degree possession of methamphetamine; bond was set at $1 million. A second arrest for evidence tampering was reported later in local coverage. Mayes is presumed innocent.

Update, Oct. 11, 2026: Mayes faces murder, first-degree criminal abuse, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and first-degree possession of methamphetamine, WBKO reports. A judge found probable cause on Oct. 1 and sent the case to a Muhlenberg County grand jury. He is presumed innocent.

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