The Crime Ledger: September 23, 2026

Daily Breaking True Crime Briefing
As of: September 23, 2026 (evening ET)
Scope: Worldwide sweep — last ~24 hours preferred; Colombo Easter sentencing and Belleville SIU postmortem stretch Tuesday’s court and police moves into Wednesday’s board. Colombo, Huntsville, Aldie, Paddington, Mississauga, Grangetown, Nairobi, Ipoh, Belleville, Haifa / Bir al-Maksur. First stops: LawAndCrime’s crime feed returned U.S. homicide writeups without a clean Wednesday exclusive tied to tonight’s geography; People.com/crime stayed thin for a dated Sep 23 lede; The New Yorker news front had no fresh daily homicide card. Tabloid tips confirmed through police, court, prosecutor, AFP/wires, or independent locals.

Colombo’s High Court finished what Tuesday’s Easter-bombing convictions started by locking fifteen men into terms of at least 220 years each while nine walked free. Huntsville’s chamber carried out Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey’s lethal injection — the second man put to death for Edna’s 2005 triple killing, a week after codefendant LeJames Norman — after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final stay. Loudoun deputies and Pennsylvania State Police closed a three-state chase when Roger Bradford, 60, was booked for first-degree murder in the midday Quimby Oaks Place shooting of his wife, Lisa Bradford, 54. In Sydney, Beau Lamarre-Condon’s double-murder trial spent Wednesday on friends who said Jesse Baird was “petrified” of the former constable. Brampton opened Kenneth Law’s sentencing hearing after his May plea to fourteen counts of aiding suicide. Teesside Crown Court took not-guilty pleas from Jaden Wright over the Grangetown fire that killed Natalie McDonald and seven-year-old Valentina Foster. Kenya’s DPP cleared a fifth murder charge in Dr Victoria Mutiso’s shooting — Kimutai Maritim joins four co-accused toward a September 29 High Court plea date. Ipoh OCPD said three foreign students, 17 to 20, were arrested Wednesday over a Kampung Kuchai beating that killed a 53-year-old local on Tuesday. Ontario’s SIU had Sean Ward’s Kingston post-mortem on Wednesday’s calendar after the 29-year-old died Monday following Sunday’s Belleville synagogue gunfight — findings were not released by evening; Const. Jeff Smith remained critical-stable. Haifa District prosecutors moved to charge a 24-year-old IDF soldier with murder in the August 12 killing of Hisham Hujeirat. That was Wednesday’s board.

Colombo: Easter Bombers Get 220-Year Terms

Sri Lanka’s High Court sentenced fifteen men Tuesday to at least 220 years in prison each after convicting them over the April 2019 Easter Sunday bombings of churches and hotels — one of the country’s deadliest terror attacks.

The Guardian’s reporting put the death toll at 267, with nearly 6,000 wounded; earlier wire briefs on Tuesday’s verdicts cited roughly 279 dead. A three-judge bench also ordered property confiscation. Nine of twenty-four defendants were acquitted; one of the original twenty-five charged had died before trial. The suicide bombers themselves were among the dead. Catholic priest Jude Fernando told reporters “Finally, we have justice,” while the Church continues to press claims that masterminds beyond the dock remain untried. All convicted defendants retain appeal rights; the acquitted leave without those convictions.

Sources:

• The Guardian — Sri Lanka Easter bombings: 15 sentenced to hundreds of years in prison each over deadly terror attacks
• NBC News / AP — Sri Lankan court sentences 15 men to life in prison for roles in deadly 2019 Easter bombings
• The Hindu — Easter Sunday blasts case: Sri Lankan court sentences each convict to 220 years in prison

Huntsville: Second Edna Killer Executed

Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey, 41, was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening at the Huntsville Unit — the second man put to death for the 2005 Edna, Texas, killings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38.

AP and Texas Tribune reporting say Ramey and LeJames Norman broke into a neighbor’s home looking for cocaine, found none, and shot the three residents. Norman — who testified against Ramey and later pleaded guilty to capital murder — was executed September 16. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Ramey’s final stay application and certiorari petition Wednesday afternoon; his lawyers had argued jurors never heard mitigation about childhood abuse and poverty. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice pronounced him dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT. In a final statement he thanked fellow death-row inmates who “poured into me and showed what it means to be a man,” and apologized to his children. He was Texas’s sixth execution of 2026.

Sources:

• Texas Tribune — Texas executes second man convicted of triple murder in rural town
• Associated Press / NBC News — Texas executes man for a triple killing, days after other convicted man put to death
• UPI — Texas executes second man convicted in 2005 triple murder

Aldie: Husband Charged After Quimby Oaks Shooting

Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office charged Roger Bradford, 60, of Aldie, Virginia, with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony after the Tuesday midday shooting death of Lisa Bradford, 54, in the 24000 block of Quimby Oaks Place.

Deputies found Lisa Bradford dead at the scene shortly after noon. Roger Bradford left in a rental car; Pennsylvania State Police arrested him about 3:15 p.m. in Bedford, Pennsylvania, after a search spanning Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Loudoun Now and Patch reporting say a relative called 911 after Bradford allegedly alerted them; the handgun has not been recovered. He is held pending extradition to Virginia. Bradford is presumed innocent.

Sources:

• Leesburg Patch — Loudoun Man Charged With First-Degree Murder In Wife’s Shooting: LCSO
• Loudoun Now — Man Arrested, Charged with Murder in Fatal Willowsford Shooting
• FOX 5 DC — Northern Virginia real estate agent Lisa Bradford allegedly killed by her husband in Loudoun County

Paddington: Baird Friends Say He Was “Petrified”

NSW Supreme Court jurors Wednesday heard friends of Jesse Baird describe him as “petrified” of former senior constable Beau Lamarre-Condon in the months before the February 2024 Paddington killings.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of aggravated break and enter over the shooting deaths of Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29. Corey Dean Thorpe testified that Baird kept repeating “he has a gun,” feared reporting a serving officer, and said the accused accessed his phone, blocked contacts, and staged Instagram posts. Friend Matthew Edwards said Baird later called himself “so done” with Lamarre-Condon. The Crown alleges an Uber Eats disguise and a service pistol; the defence foreshadows self-defence and says Davies was fatally shot in a second struggle. Justice Natalie Adams is hearing a trial expected to run up to three months. Lamarre-Condon is presumed innocent.

Sources:

• ABC News — Loved ones of Jesse Baird give evidence in Beau Lamarre-Condon double murder trial
• Sydney Morning Herald — Lamarre-Condon trial: Alleged victim was ‘petrified’ before his death, court told
• SBS News — Court hears Jesse Baird had grown fearful of Beau Lamarre-Condon

Mississauga: Kenneth Law Sentencing Hearing Opens

Ontario’s Kenneth Law — the former Mississauga chef who pleaded guilty in May to fourteen counts of aiding suicide — faced the opening of his sentencing hearing Wednesday as families of the dead delivered victim-impact evidence. No sentence was imposed Wednesday.

Canadian Press reporting says the plea covered fourteen provincial deaths, including some minors, and that prosecutors plan to withdraw fourteen related first-degree murder counts after sentencing. An agreed statement of fact put roughly 1,200 packages into more than forty countries and nearly $290,000 in deposits between January 2020 and mid-May 2023; seventy-nine U.K. deaths linked to his products were included in the facts though charges are Canadian-only. Aiding suicide carries up to fourteen years. Britain’s National Crime Agency agreed to address U.K. offences through the Canadian process rather than seek extradition. Law is presumed innocent of any unresolved counts.

Update, Sept. 24: Canadian Press / Global News report the hearing continued Thursday with more victim-impact statements; a sentence had still not been handed down.

Sources:

• Canadian Press / Winnipeg Free Press — Sentencing hearing begins for Kenneth Law, who sold substances used for suicide
• Canadian Press / Global News — Kenneth Law’s sentencing hearing to hear from more victims’ families

Grangetown: Man Denies Fire Murders of Girl and Aunt

Jaden Wright, 23, appeared by video link at Teesside Crown Court Wednesday and denied murdering Natalie McDonald, 34, and her niece Valentina Foster, 7, in an early-hours August 26 house fire on Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, near Middlesbrough.

BBC reporting says he also denied two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and two of attempted GBH with intent tied to six people in the house — two adults and two teenagers were injured — plus GBH and intentional strangulation counts from an alleged incident the day before the fire. Wright, of no fixed address, was remanded; next listing December 18, trial date April 19. He is presumed innocent.

Sources:

• BBC News — Man denies murder of girl and her aunt in fire

Nairobi: Fifth Murder Charge Cleared in Mutiso Case

Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions approved Wednesday a murder charge against Kimutai Maritim in the killing of Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso, bringing to five the number of suspects set for High Court plea-taking on September 29.

Pulse Kenya and the ODPP’s public notice name co-accused Rose Mbithe, Angela Mulwa, Chris Mulwa, and Police Constable Elijah Kibelion Kimoi — the officer DCI Director Mohamed Amin previously said forensics placed as the shooter. Maritim was arrested August 22 after allegedly trying to visit detainees at Pangani Police Station. Three more suspects held after a Kampala arrest return October 1. Inspector Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang remains sought as an alleged weapons link. All charged defendants are presumed innocent.

Sources:

• Pulse Kenya — Murder charge against 5th suspect in Dr Victoria Mutiso shooting approved
• ODPP Kenya (@ODPP_KE) — DPP approval notice, September 23, 2026

Ipoh: Three Foreign Students Arrested Over Local’s Death

Ipoh OCPD Asst Comm Muhammad Najib Hamzah said Wednesday that three foreign students, aged 17 to 20 and enrolled at a private higher-education institution, were arrested at their apartment over the death of a 53-year-old local man found injured Friday in an open area at Kampung Kuchai.

The Star Malaysia reported the victim died about 6:42 p.m. Tuesday at Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital after days of treatment; post-mortem listed blunt trauma to the head. Police are investigating under Penal Code Section 302 (murder); motive and any prior relationship remain under inquiry. Names of the students and the victim were not released in the OCPD statement. All three are presumed innocent.

Sources:

• The Star Malaysia — Three foreign students nabbed over murder of 53-year-old local in Ipoh

Belleville: SIU Schedules Ward Post-Mortem

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said the 29-year-old man wounded in Sunday’s gunfire outside Sons of Jacob Synagogue died in hospital Monday night (September 21); a Kingston post-mortem was scheduled for Wednesday, September 23. As of the September 23 evening dateline, SIU had not released post-mortem findings, and no public motive update from Belleville Police had landed in cited briefs.

National Post identified him as Sean Ward of Quinte West, a former Canadian Armed Forces corporal released in 2022 from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. SIU preliminary information describes a shotgun exchange about 7 p.m. September 20 near Victoria and Bleecker; Const. Jeff Smith and a second officer returned fire. Smith remained in critical-stable condition. Belleville place-name only on the cover scrap — no synagogue iconography.

Sources:

• Special Investigations Unit — Update: Man Dies After Exchange of Gunfire at Belleville Synagogue
• National Post — Belleville synagogue shooting suspect, a former Canadian soldier, dies in hospital
• Quinte News — Suspect in Sons of Jacob synagogue shooter dead

Haifa: IDF Soldier Charged in Hujeirat Killing

Israel Police and the Haifa District Attorney’s Office moved Wednesday to charge a 24-year-old IDF soldier with murder in the August 12 shooting death of Hisham Hujeirat outside Hujeirat’s home, tied by investigators to a feud between the Sawa’ad and Khaldi criminal organizations.

Jerusalem Post reporting says Hujeirat had been wounded earlier at the Shefa-Amr Bus Terminal on July 1. Lahav 433 / YAHBAL arrested the soldier after he allegedly returned to a forest near Bir al-Maksur with gasoline intending to burn a getaway vehicle abandoned there. The soldier’s name was not published in the cited brief. He is presumed innocent.

Sources:

• The Jerusalem Post — Police charge IDF soldier with murder for crime-related killing