Crime

The jury in the mushroom poisoning trial of Erin Patterson will start deliberating next week after judge Christopher Beale continued giving it instructions on Thursday.

Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, by allegedly serving them death cap mushrooms in a beef wellington lunch in July 2023.

Her in-laws and Wilkinson died in the days after the meal from the effects of mushroom poisoning. Wilkinson’s husband survived after weeks in hospital.

Mr Beale reminded the jury of Ms Patterson’s alleged incriminating conduct, which the prosecution has argued demonstrates her guilt.

This included lying about using dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery, disposing of a dehydrator at the local tip, handing police a secondary phone and not her primary phone – which was never found – as well as lying that she fed her children leftovers from the beef wellington with the mushroom paste scraped off.

Mr Beale also told the jury that Ms Patterson initially refused treatment and left the Leongatha Hospital against medical advice during her first presentation. During her second visit, she was again reluctant to receive medical care and seemed hesitant to seek treatment for her children.

“The prosecution argues the only reasonable explanation for her unwillingness to receive emergency treatment … is that she knew she hadn’t consumed death cap mushrooms because she had deliberately poisoned her guests … making sure she also did not consume toxins,” Mr Beale told the jury.

A 44 year old man has been handed a death sentence in Tarrant County, Texas after being found guilty by a jury of the horrific murders of three individuals.

In addition to executing the savage killings, he also dismembered his victims and set their bodies alight.

Over a seven-day period in September 2021, Jason Thornburg murdered David Lueras, 42, Maricruz Mathis, 33, and Lauren Phillips, 34, later claiming that the trio needed to be sacrificed for religious purposes.

During the lengthy trial, details emerged about what transpired at the Mid City Inn in Euless. The three victims were separately brought into the room Thornburg was renting and subsequently killed.

The killer slit the throats of two of the victims and strangled Phillips before sexually assaulting her dead body. He also consumed part of David's heart and severed his penis, reports the Mirror US.

Once the victims were deceased, Thornburg dismembered their bodies in the motel bathtub and stored their remains in rubbish bags under the bed.

In the early hours of September 22, the murderer then transported their body parts, which he had stored in plastic storage tubs, to a dumpster on Bonnie Drive in Fort Worth.

He placed the remains inside the dumpster, ignited them and drove off. Firefighters were summoned to the blaze and put out the fire where they discovered the victims' burnt bodies.

Law enforcement nabbed Thornburg for placing the bodies in the dumpster and igniting it, thanks to CCTV footage showing his Jeep Grand Cherokee nearby at the crucial time. He chillingly returned the containers used to the shop they were purchased from after meticulously cleaning them out.

Four people have been arrested after a London scientist was found dismembered in a suitcase in Colombia.

Alessandro Coatti, who worked for the prestigious Royal Society of Biology (RSB), was found by a group of children in Santa Marta in April.

The 42-year-old’s head, hands and feet were all found inside the suitcase and his torso and other parts of his body were found more than two weeks later.

Colombia’s attorney general’s office and Rome’s prosecution office have confirmed four people have been arrested, Colombian media reports.

Oswal Moisés Ospino Navarro, Isaac Enrique Márquez Charris, Andrea Camila Berdugo Escorcia and Brian Augusto Cantillo Salcedo have all been detained on suspicion of aggravated homicide.

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The Italian-born scientist had been a post-graduate neuroscience researcher at University College London.

Three men have been found guilty of repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl after luring her from an Asda car park.

Kevin Horvath, 26, and Ivan Turtak, 38, spotted her outside the supermarket in Dover on August 11 last year and encouraged her to get in their car.

She was then given drugs, including crystal meth and amphetamine, and passed between the two men and a third, Ernest Gunar, 27, who repeatedly raped her and subjected her to sexual acts.

They carried on with the abuse for three days, threatening to kill the girl if she tried to call for help or run away.

Prosecutor Hannah Llewellyn-Waters told jurors at Canterbury Crown Court the vulnerable youngster had been ‘used, abused and discarded like trash’.

She said: ‘She was passed around and treated effectively as a receptacle for their own sexual gratification, and the defendants’ conduct was callous, degrading, and it was entirely exploitative.’

Giving evidence, the girl said of the ordeal: ‘I didn’t want them to hurt me. They had suggested that if I were to try and get help they would hurt me.’

She managed to escape after waking up before them on August 13 and was able to flag down a passing police car.

Her phone had been taken from her and was later found in Horvath’s car.

DALLAS, Ga. - A 3-year-old child accidentally shot and killed a 19-year-old man in a Paulding County home early Monday morning, according to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.

What we know: Deputies responded to the shooting just after 7 a.m. along Eagles Nest Drive in the normally quiet Eagle’s Landing neighborhood. When they arrived, they found the teen dead from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

The sheriff’s office cleared the scene around noon after conducting interviews with those inside the home. Officials say they are convinced this was a tragic accident, and no charges have been announced.

What they're saying: "This is just a tragic situation," said Paulding County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jordan Yuodis. "Deputies determined a 3-year-old got a hold of a firearm and shot the man in the back of the head. [He was] deceased at the scene."

Authorities said the victim had arrived the previous night to visit family and had brought the firearm, which was used in the accidental shooting. Investigators believe the child somehow gained access to the gun before the fatal shot was fired.

Neighbors described a heavy law enforcement and emergency response presence that morning. One woman, who asked not to be identified, said she knew something was wrong when multiple police officers and EMS personnel arrived.

"I saw what looked like the entire household outside… including one adult," she said. "He asked me to give him a hug. Gave him a hug. Brought them some water and chairs, and then police put the crime scene tape up."

"He got there last night to visit family... [We're] trying to piece this together," Yuodis added.

The drunken passenger who grabbed a woman’s hair and spat in her face during an explosive meltdown on a Southwest Airlines flight is a New York City-based artist, who has worked for high-end brands like Maybelline, Steve Madden and Adidas, according to her online profile.

Leanna Perry, a 32-year-old illustrator, was filmed berating fellow passengers and throwing a violent fit as travelers and airline employees tried to remove her from the plane at LaGuardia airport early Tuesday morning.

The bizarre outburst led witnesses to describe Perry as seeming “possessed” before she was escorted off and arrested.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man who was believed to be part of a peacekeeping team for the “No Kings” protest in Salt Lake City shot at a person who was brandishing a rifle at demonstrators, striking both the rifleman and a bystander who later died at the hospital, authorities said Sunday.

Police took the alleged rifleman, Arturo Gamboa, 24, into custody Saturday evening on a murder charge, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said at a Sunday news conference. The bystander was Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, a fashion designer from Samoa.

Detectives don't yet know why Gamboa pulled out a rifle or ran from the peacekeepers, but they accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo's death. The Associated Press did not immediately find an attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.

Redd said the man believed to be part of the peacekeeping team, dressed in a neon green vest, fired three shots from a handgun at Gamboa, inflicting a relatively minor injury but fatally shooting Ah Loo. Redd did not share the man's name.

Volunteer peacekeeping teams are common for protests, said Sarah Parker, a national coordinator for 50501 Movement, which was a partner in the “No Kings” protest. But the organizers ask attendees, including the peacekeepers, not to bring weapons, she said. Still, Parker said they stopped what could've been a larger mass casualty event.

“Our safety team did as best as they could in a situation that is extremely sad and extremely scary," said Parker.

Ah Loo, known as Afa, was a husband and father to two children and a fashion designer who leaned into his Samoan heritage, according to a GoFundMe page organized to support his family. Ah Loo founded Creative Pacific, an event celebrating the diversity of the Pacific Islands, with workshops, artists and a fashion runway. He was on Season 17 of the fashion design reality TV show “Project Runway.”

cross-posted from: https://hilariouschaos.com/post/3427038

Author: Al Jazeera
Published on: 16/06/2025 | 00:00:00

AI Summary:
Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested on Sunday following a two-day manhunt in the Midwestern state. He is alleged to have shot dead Melissa Hortman, a Democratic state representative, and her husband, Mark, and wounded Democratic state Senator John A Hoffman and his wife.

Original: 83 words
Summary: 43 words
Percent reduction: 48.19%

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Atlanta-based artist Silentó has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2021 killing of his cousin.

The 27-year-old "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" star, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a statement Wednesday, June 11.

He also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and concealing the death of another in connection with the death of his cousin, 34-year-old Frederick Rooks III.

According to the DeKalb County Police Department, officers arrived at the scene around 3:37 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2021, and found Rooks suffering from multiple gunshot wounds at the intersection of Deep Shoals Circle and Corners Crossing in the Panthersville area.

By the time EMS arrived, Rooks was pronounced dead. Investigators recovered 10 bullet casings near his body.

A relative told officers that Hawk and Rooks were last seen together after the rapper picked Rooks up from a friend’s home in a white BMW SUV.

The same vehicle was captured on a neighbor’s home security footage, fleeing the area at a high rate of speed minutes after the other residents heard the gunfire.

Hawk admitted to shooting his cousin on Feb. 1, 2021, after he was taken into custody.

After the arrest, his PR manager, Chanel Hudson, released a statement asking for prayers for her client.

"Please send my client Silentó some positive vibrations," she said, per Fox 5 Atlanta. "Over the past several years, Ricky has been suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses. We will continue in his efforts of treatment, but we ask in the meantime the public uplift him and his family in immediate prayer and positive energy!”

"Ricky is a beautiful soul, and we hope that the same people who came up whipping’ & nay nay-in with him, continue to support him and lifted in prayer!! God bless," Hudson continued.

Prior to Rooks’ fatal January 2021 shooting, Hawk was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon after he was accused of attacking two people with a hatchet.

The August 2020 incident happened when prosecutors alleged that Silentó entered a Los Angeles-area home of individuals he did not know as the rapper looked for his girlfriend.

He made his initial court appearance Friday evening in the Middle District of Tennessee, answering "Yes, I understand" in Spanish when U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes asked him if he understood the charges against him.

Judge Homes set a hearing for June 13, where Abrego Garcia will be arraigned on charges and the judge will take up the government's motion to hold him in pre-trial detention on the grounds that he "poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight" He will remain in federal custody in Tennessee pending next week's hearing.

"If convicted at trial, the defendant faces a maximum punishment of 10 years' imprisonment for 'each alien' he transported," said the government's motion for detention, which also contained an allegation -- not included in the indictment -- that one of Abrego Garcia's co-conspirators told authorities that Abrego Garcia participated in the murder of a rival gang member's mother in El Salvador.

British prosecutors have approved multiple charges against social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, including rape and human trafficking. The brothers, who face similar charges in Romania, have denied any wrongdoing.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Wednesday that it had authorized 21 charges related to offences allegedly committed between 2012 and 2015, according to multiple media outlets. British authorities issued a warrant in 2024, but full details were released only on Wednesday.

Andrew Tate, 38, is accused of ten offences involving three alleged victims, including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain. His brother Tristan, 36, faces 11 charges, including rape and human trafficking, related to one alleged victim.

“It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings,” the CPS was quoted as saying.

The Tate brothers, dual US-UK citizens, were first arrested in Romania in 2022 on charges including human trafficking, sexual misconduct, and forming an organized crime group. They spent three months in custody and have since been under house arrest with restricted movement.

That case stalled in December 2024 when a Bucharest appeals court returned the indictment to prosecutors, citing procedural issues.

Last month, Metcalf was stabbed to death at a high school track meet after reportedly telling Karmelo Anthony, 17, that he was sitting in the wrong seat. Anthony has been charged with first-degree murder and, according to an arrest warrant, told police of the fatal stabbing, “I did it.”

Anthony will be tried as an adult, since Texas is a concurrent jurisdiction state, according to Capital B. The laws allow prosecutors to charge minors, typically 16 or 17 years old, as adults with certain crimes.

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office, which is north of Dallas, is prosecuting the case of Metcalf’s apparent murder. Anthony was charged with first-degree murder in April, but a grand jury will review the evidence and decide whether to formally indict on that charge, or on a lesser charge like manslaughter, Capital B reported.

If Anthony is convicted of first-degree murder, he could face life in prison with a chance at parole after 40 years. He will not face the death penalty.

Due to France’s drug trafficking crisis, a large majority of French are in favor of the army being deployed into disadvantaged neighborhoods in problematic neighborhoods in France, including 80 percent of women.

According to a CSA poll conducted for CNews, Europe 1 and JDD, 76 percent of French people overall want the army called in to battle drug trafficking in “disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

In fact, women are more supportive of troops being deployed than men, with 80 percent of women saying yes to the question: “Should the army be called in to combat drug trafficking in troubled neighborhoods?” In turn, only 72 percent of men supported such an action.