Jodi Arias Finishes Testimony Describing Killing

Police Investigate Reddit Murder ‘Confession’

Apr 132013

Comstock/Thinkstock(SAN DIEGO) — California police are investigating an alleged murder, confessed anonymously on the internet and brought to the authorities’ attention by citizen sleuths who believe they may have uncovered the poster’s identity.

The San Diego Police Department is picking up where users of the popular website Reddit left off, working to confirm if indeed a murder actually took place and if so, who is responsible, said police spokesman Lt. Kevin Mayer.

“This may be a hoax and it may be real,” said Mayer. “We received a tip and our Cold Case Unit is investigating it like any other tip. It may be a hoax, but it’s always a good idea to report this kind of information. Sometimes it’s the one thing that breaks open a case.”

The confession came in an unlikely place, a caption on a photograph of a bear. Reddit users typically admit to innocuous mistakes or misdeeds by adding text to the bear picture to create a meme called Confession Bear.

But this bear had a startling confession.

“My sister had an abusive meth addict boyfriend. I killed him with his own drugs while he was unconscious and they ruled it as an overdose,” a user identified only as Naratto wrote.

Within minutes, the post went viral, with thousands of Reddit users wondering if it was true. Hundreds of others began searching for information about Naratto, looking for clues to his identity – his age, location, occupation – mentioned in other comments he had left previously.

“If I had a dollar for every time someone took me… seriously on the internet, I would be able to retire from today alone,” Naratto, wrote in response to the comments and questions. “If you want to catch a murderer, get out of your house, put on some f***ing tights and go fight crime.”

Users believe the clues point to a 24-year-old San Diego man, and have posted his name and photograph online.

Police said there are currently no suspects because they do not even know if a crime has taken place and therefore won’t name anyone as the subject of an investigation.

Newest Man on FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List Captured

Mar 272013

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo.) — The most recent addition to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list has been taken into custody, according to authorities.

A press release from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department states that Denver FBI officials returned the fugitive, Edwin Ernesto Rivera-Gracias, to Colorado after he had fled to El Salvador.

Rivera-Gracias will face charges in the August 2011 murder of Richard Limon. Limon’s body was found stabbed multiple times with duct tape covering his mouth and nose. Investigators believe Limon was already dead when his body was thrown from the side of a mountain road. A broken-off blade from a steak knife was found lodged in his chest.

According to an affidavit written by FBI Special Agent Russel Humphrey, Rivera-Gracias may have been upset because his girlfriend had told him that Limon molested her and sexually assaulted her mother.

Three other suspects were arrested in connection with the murder in August 2011: Raul Nunez-Soto, Tina Louise Moya and a 17-year-old juvenile female. Nunez-Soto and Moya each plead guilty, receiving sentences of 48 years in prison and 36 years in prison, respectively.

The FBI later launched an international manhunt to find Rivera-Gracias. A federal judge issued a warrant for his arrest in 2011 for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Washington Man Suspected of Murdering Grandparents in Custody

Mar 132013

KOMO News(LINCOLN CITY, Ore.) — A Washington state man suspected of murdering his grandparents last week is in custody after a daylong standoff Tuesday at a motel in Oregon.

Michael Boysen, 26, surrendered after state police tactical teams used breaching explosives to knock down the door of the motel room.

“The encounter went really well. The subject was already down on the floor. So there was no further resistance from him,” said Keith Killian, the police chief in Lincoln City, Ore.

Killian said Boysen was treated for some self-inflicted injuries.

“They were not gun shot injuries, they were some sort of cuts,” the police chief explained.

Boysen was wanted for allegedly killing his grandparents last Friday after they threw him a party to welcome him home from prison. He was released on March 8 after serving time since 2006 for three robbery convictions, according to ABC News’ Seattle affiliate KOMO.

“At the grandparents’ house on Friday night, there was kind of a welcome home party with other family members,” King County Sheriff John Urquhart said at a news conference on Monday. “Everybody left the party at about 9 o’clock at night.”

Authorities believe that Boysen killed his grandparents shortly after that and then took off in their car, a red 2001 Chrysler 300 with a Washington license plate 046-XXU.

“We are at a loss as to why he killed them,” Urquhart said. “We don’t know what the motive is.”

The sheriff said the grandparents were not shot, but did not elaborate on how they were killed.

On Saturday, the victims’ daughter, Boysen’s mother, discovered her parents’ bodies after going to their house when she was unable to reach them, KOMO reported.

Family members have identified the slain couple as Robert and Norma Taylor, according to KOMO. They were 82 and 80 years old, respectively.

Confirmed: $1 Million Lottery Winner Was Poisoned with Cyanide

Mar 012013

Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock

(CHICAGO) — The Cook County Coroner’s office in Illinois confirmed at a press conference Friday that the lottery winner who mysteriously died in July was in fact the victim of cyanide poisoning.

Urooj Khan, 46, died on July 20 at his home in Chicago, one month after he was announced the winner of a million-dollar jackpot. Khan, who emigrated from India and owned a dry cleaning business, had opted for the $425,000 lump sum cash payment.

The medical examiner’s office initially believed he had died of natural causes. It wasn’t until after he was buried that his brother asked the office to conduct further tests. After examining fluid samples, the office found a lethal level of cyanide and Khan’s death was declared a homicide.

Khan’s body was exhumed on Jan. 18 and the autopsy exam was conducted that day.

Adding intrigue to the story is a legal battle among Khan’s siblings and his widow over his assets. Custody over his teenage daughter from a previous marriage was given to his sister.

Last month, his widow, Shabana Ansari, and her attorney said they have documents that indicate a portion of his dry cleaning business should go to Ansari in the event of his death, which would give her two-thirds of his estimated $2 million estate.

On Friday, Dr. Stephen Cina, the Cook County medical examiner said the autopsy did not produce any new clues, but confirmed the initial test results after Khan’s brother called with his concerns, ABC’s WLS in Chicago reported.

His family members said he was healthy. Before he died, he enjoyed a celebratory meal with family members at home.

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Jodi Arias Finishes Testimony Describing Killing

Feb 202013

ABC News(PHOENIX) — Jodi Arias stepped down from the witness stand Wednesday after mounting an emotional effort to save herself from death row, insisting to the Arizona jury that an explosive fight with ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander led to his death, and that her lies about killing him masked deep regret and plans to commit suicide.

Arias, 32, will now face what is expected to be a withering cross-examination beginning Thursday from prosecutor Juan Martinez, who has been aggressive to many witnesses throughout the trial and who is expected to go after Arias’ claim that she was forced to kill Alexander or be killed herself.

She has been charged with her ex-boyfriend’s murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Wednesday’s dramatic testimony started with Arias describing the beginning of the fight on June 4, 2008 when she and Alexander were taking nude photos in his shower and, she claims, she accidentally dropped his new camera, causing Alexander to lose his temper. Enraged, he picked her up and body-slammed her onto the tile floor, screaming at her, she told the jury.

Arias said she ran to his closet to get away from him, but could hear Alexander’s footsteps coming after her down the hall. She grabbed a gun from his shelf and tried to keep running, but Alexander came after her, she said.

“I pointed it at him with both of my hands. I thought that would stop him, but he just kept running. He got like a linebacker. He got low and grabbed my waist, and as he was lunging at me the gun went off. I didn’t mean to shoot. I didn’t even think I was holding the trigger,” she said.

“But he lunged at me and we fell really hard toward the tile wall, so at this point I didn’t even know if he had been shot. I didn’t see anything different. We were struggling, wrestling, he’s a wrestler.”

“So he’s grabbing at my clothes and I got up, and he’s screaming angry, and after I broke away from him. He said, ‘F***ing kill you b****,’” she testified.

Asked by her lawyer whether she was convinced Alexander intended to kill her, Arias answered, “For sure. He’d almost killed me once before and now he’s saying he was going to.” Arias had earlier testified that Alexander had once choked her.

But Arias’ story of the death struggle ended there as she told the court that she has no memory of stabbing or slashing Alexander, whose body was later found with 27 stab wounds, a slit throat and two bullets in his head. She said she only remembered standing in the bathroom, dropping the knife on the tile floor, realizing the “horror” of what had happened, and screaming.

“I have no memory of stabbing him,” she said. “There’s a huge gap. I don’t know if I blacked out or what, but there’s a huge gap. The most clear memory I have after that point is driving in the desert.”

Arias said that she decided in the desert not to admit to killing Alexander, a decision that would last for two years as Arias lied to friends, family, investigators and reporters about what really happened in Alexander’s bathroom.

She eventually confessed to killing her ex-boyfriend, but insisted it was self-defense.

“The main reason [for lying] is because I was very ashamed of what happened. It’s not something I ever imagined doing. It’s not the kind of person I was. It was just shameful,” she said. “I was also very scared of what might happen. I didn’t want my family to know that I had done that, and I just couldn’t bring myself to say that I did that.”

“From day one there was a part of me that always wanted to (tell the truth) but didn’t dare do that. I would rather have gone to my grave than admit I had done something like that,” she said.

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