Daily Breaking True Crime Briefing
As of: September 20, 2026 (evening ET)
Scope: Worldwide sweep — last ~24 hours preferred; major court moves and infant/cold-case breaks stretched to ~48. Caraz, Feltham, Allen, Colorado Springs, Solihull, Don Mills, Drancy, Taichung, Ban Na San, Ekurhuleni, Springfield, Venice, Cleaton. First stops: LawAndCrime crime index hit Cloudflare bot checks tonight (local Florida coverage carried the Venice affidavit); People.com/crime returned a 402 paywall; The New Yorker front had no fresh daily homicide card. Tabloid tips confirmed through police, court, prosecutor, AFP/wires, or independent locals.
Peru’s Fiscalía and police spent Sunday locking down a campaign-trail hit in Áncash — journalist and regional candidate Susy Aponte Polo was shot from behind at a Caraz market Saturday, five people were wounded, and by morning the Nation’s prosecutor was talking sicariato with at least two Venezuelan nationals detained in flagrante. In London, Hampshire and Met officers reopened a six-year hole when remains found after a Feltham scrub fire were identified as missing Fareham mother Joanne Sheen, and a Southampton man already once arrested in 2020 was back in custody for murder and conspiracy. Allen, Texas, charged Dallas father Jorge Jairala with murder after a Friday custody handoff in a Starbucks lot left the mother’s boyfriend dead and children standing in the parking lot unhurt. Colorado Springs booked Sheldon “Shelly” Wilson after she walked into HQ to report a body she later faced second-degree murder and corpse-tampering counts over. Solihull’s street disorder Saturday night became a murder inquiry by Sunday lunch. Toronto’s 25th homicide of the year closed with a Stouffville surrender. Bobigny prosecutors sent a 39-year-old past partner of a Haitian-born mother toward an investigating judge over the knife killings of that woman and her two-month-old in Drancy. Taichung held a Taiwanese suspect after a Thai woman’s body turned up in a workplace freezer. Surat Thani police say a durian-lease quarrel left a 72-year-old former mother-in-law dead. Ekurhuleni’s nine dead women now have three persons of interest in the room. That was Sunday’s board.
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.
Sources:
- El Comercio — Fiscal de la Nación confirma detención de presunto sicario de Susy Aponte
- RPP — Fiscalía: dos detenidos en flagrancia tras asesinato de candidata Susy Aponte
- Infobae Perú — Asesinato de ‘La China’ Polo: lo que se sabe del crimen en Caraz
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.
Sources:
- BBC News — Man rearrested after missing mum’s remains found
- Metro — Joanne Sheen murder suspect rearrested after remains identified
Allen: Murder Charge After Starbucks Custody Shooting
Allen Police charged Jorge Jairala, 48, of Dallas, with murder after a Friday evening child-custody exchange in the parking lot at 969 State Highway 121 — the shopping center that holds a Starbucks near North Watters Road — ended with both men shot.
Officer Sammy Rippamonti’s statement places the fight between Jairala and the children’s mother’s boyfriend around 5:59 p.m. Both were taken to hospital; the boyfriend died; Jairala’s wound was called non-life-threatening and he was taken into custody. Children at the exchange were not physically hurt. Police have not released the dead man’s name, who fired first, or whether anyone claimed self-defense. The investigation is open. Jairala is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- FOX 4 Dallas — 1 dead, 1 hospitalized after shooting at Allen Starbucks
- Dallas Express — Allen Police charge Dallas father with murder after Starbucks custody exchange
- CBS Texas — Father arrested after deadly child custody exchange shooting in Allen
Colorado Springs: Reporter of Body Charged With Murder
Sheldon “Shelly” Wilson, 62, walked into the Police Operations Center downtown with another woman about 3 p.m. Saturday and reported a dead man at a house in the 4000 block of Tappan Drive, near North Academy and Palmer Park.
Officers found the man. Homicide detectives took the case. Wilson — one of the two women who made the report — was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and tampering with a deceased body. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office has not released the victim’s name or cause of death. The second woman’s status was unclear Sunday. Wilson is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- The Gazette — Woman arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder after reporting dead body
- KRDO — Colorado Springs woman arrested for murder in the second degree after reporting dead body
- KKTV — Police investigating homicide in Colorado Springs, suspect in custody
Solihull: Murder Arrest After Street Disorder
West Midlands Police were called to disorder on Shustoke Road in Solihull just before 9:25 p.m. Saturday. A man in his forties was found in the street with serious injuries and pronounced dead at the scene.
A 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. A 35-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. Both were in custody Sunday while the street stayed under inquiry. Names of the dead man and the arrested pair have not been released. Both arrestees are presumed innocent.
Sources:
Don Mills: Stouffville Man Charged After Victim Dies
Toronto Police say just before 4:30 a.m. on September 13, two men in separate cars near Lawrence Avenue East and Underhill Drive exchanged gunfire. Raghav Sharma, 27, of Caledon, was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition and died four days later — Toronto’s 25th homicide of 2026.
Tahir Mian, 23, of Stouffville turned himself in on September 19 and was charged with second-degree murder. He is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- CityNews Toronto — Stouffville man charged with murder in fatal Don Mills shooting
- CTV News Toronto — North York shooting victim dies; Stouffville man charged
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.
Sources:
- 20 Minutes / AFP — Seine-Saint-Denis: homme présenté au juge pour meurtre d’une femme et son bébé
- La Provence / AFP — Doubles meurtres à Drancy: ex-compagnon déféré devant le juge
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.
Sources:
- Focus Taiwan / CNA — Taiwanese man suspected of murdering Thai girlfriend detained
Ban Na San: Former Daughter-in-Law Arrested After Durian Dispute Killings
Ban Na San Police in Surat Thani say Thanyathorn Songserm, 43, was arrested Saturday afternoon after a string of shootings that began when she returned to settle a durian-orchard lease and collect belongings after a breakup.
Police Colonel Worawit Charoensuphaphol’s officers found Jaree Sukkit, 72, dead of a torso gunshot outside her Village 4 home in Thung Tao Mai. About a kilometre away, Jaree’s son Wachirawit Sukkit, 35, was found shot in the abdomen and legs at an oil-palm collection yard and taken to Surat Thani Hospital in serious condition. A 17-year-old relative told reporters Thanyathorn pointed the gun at them and the weapon malfunctioned. Khiri Rat Nikhom officers stopped her black Toyota pickup and seized a .38 handgun. She remains in custody. She is presumed innocent.
Sources:
Ekurhuleni: Three Questioned Over Nine Dead Women
Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told a Pretoria briefing Sunday that three persons of interest have been brought in for questioning over the killings of nine women whose bodies were found across Ekurhuleni last week.
Cachalia said investigators have not confirmed a single serial-killer pattern — “different modus operandi and different motives” are still on the table — and that every lead is open. No charges were announced Sunday. The persons of interest have not been named.
Sources:
Springfield: Arrest in August Drive-By Killing of Reinalyz Caraballo
U.S. Marshals Service District of Massachusetts Fugitive Task Force, Springfield Police, Massachusetts State Police, and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department arrested Alex Alejandro, 22, of Springfield, on Friday on Salem Street.
Court papers charge him with murder, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, receiving a stolen vehicle, and two counts of carrying a firearm without a license in the August 16 drive-by near 3100 Main Street that killed Reinalyz Caraballo, 19, of Holyoke — identified earlier by Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni. Alejandro is also charged in an August 9 Carew Street shooting that left a victim hospitalized with severe head injuries. Flock camera work, moped fingerprints, and witness IDs are cited in the statement of facts. He is presumed innocent.
Sources:
- Boston.com — Man arrested in August slaying of 19-year-old woman in Springfield
- NBC Boston — Springfield murder suspect arrested after 2 shootings
- Hampden District Attorney — Victim identified in Springfield shooting
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.
Sources:
- MySuncoast / WWSB — Venice man charged with murder after woman found dead
- YourSun — Man charged with murder in death of sick wife
- Tampa Free Press — Florida man, 83, accused of killing ailing wife
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.
Sources:
- WLKY — Kentucky 19-year-old charged after baby found dead with bruises and teeth marks
- LEX18 — Babysitter charged with murder after 11-month-old found dead in Muhlenberg County
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