Those of us who own dogs have a bit of a soft spot for our canine companions. Anecdotes from doting pet lovers abound. People say that dogs have been known to demonstrate uncanny levels of intelligence. Some people even say that their dogs are able to read their owner’s minds and anticipate their desires.

Yet while dogs have proven themselves to be compassionate compatriots time and again, a recent study has uncovered the ugly truth of the matter; dogs might not be as smart as we all seem to think they are.

Scientific Study

A recent study published in the journal Learning and Behavior found that dogs are mentally very ordinary when compared to other carnivores, specifically social hunters like wolves. They are also ordinary when compared to other domesticated animals. This may come as a shock to some, who no doubt believe that their “Rex” and “Princess” are the smartest pups around.

Different Toys

There have been remarkable case studies done on the subject of canine intelligence. One such study involves a remarkable Border collie named Chaser who was trained from puppyhood by her owner, Wofford College psychologist John Pilley. She learned the names of a thousand different toys and even displayed this amazing talent on television with noted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Reflection of Ourselves

Much of what we see in dogs is more a reflection of ourselves than anything else. We want to think that they’re more intelligent because it humanizes them and justifies the possibly mistaken impressions we have of them due to our own emotional connections. That said, there’s no disputing that dogs can more effectively “read” the emotional and social cues of humans better than most other animals.

Healthy And Happy

None of this new study should do anything to diminish the other myriad benefits to dog ownership. They have been proven to improve quality of life, cardiovascular health, and relieve psychological stress in humans. Owning a dog can also help with depression, isolation, and can keep us healthy thanks to all the walks we take helping our dog friends do their business.

New Study Reveals That Dogs Are Not as Exceptional as We’ve Been Led to Believe is an article from: LifeDaily

When you’re an undercover police officer, you’re probably putting yourself under a considerable amount of risk. Some might say that this just comes with the territory, that risking your safety is ultimately part of being a police officer of any stripe, undercover or otherwise.

Of course, when one takes an undercover assignment, one must assume that things outside one’s control are going to happen from time to time.

Violent Development

Four St. Louis police officers have recently been indicted on federal charges in connection with the assault of an undercover officer during a recent protest that ended in 140 arrests. The protests erupted after the Jason Stockley court ruling in 2017. The four officers, Dustin Boone, Bailey Colletta, Randy Hays, and Christopher Myers, have all since been suspended without pay.

Unconventional Kettling

That night, the four officers and many others, used a much-debated tactic called “kettling” to surround the protesters, livestreamers, journalists, and the undercover officer. The four had been tasked with controlling the crowd as needed but ended up using, as undercover office L.H. put it, “unreasonable force” that resulted in injury to the undercover policeman of 22 years. Not to mention the injuries they did to other folks.

Unintended Consequences

There are some unintended consequences of these four officers being indicted that many may not be aware of and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has been forced to dismiss 91 cases that involve the four officers or require their testimony. St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has come out and said that the allegations against the officers “do not reflect the standards we hold ourselves to as public servants.”

Accountability

Public safety director Jimmie Edwards lauded the police department for their efforts but admitted that there have been instances in recent years where some officers have “fallen short of the professionalism required to work in our police department.” He added that accountability and transparency are both exceptionally important in these troubled times and that officers working outside the scope of their authority should be held accountable.

Four Missouri Cops Indicted After Assaulting Undercover Officer is an article from: LifeDaily

There are literally billions of people in the world. We hail from different countries, with different languages and different cultures. As such, there are bound to be a number of relatively unusual names out there, though admittedly they may only seem unusual to those from a different part of the world.

Then again, there are also some names that seem unusual no matter where you hail from. One such name recently came across the desk of a Southwest Airline Gate Agent slightly lacking in some degree of self-control.

Pre-Board

Traci Redford was sitting at the gate, waiting for the gate agent to announce the pre-board instructions. She was flying from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to El Paso, Texas with her daughter. It was supposed to be a simple flight, an easy flight for her and her little girl. As she approached the gate, however, the simplicity of the situation took a strange turn.

Alphabet Soup

The gate agent took hold of Traci’s boarding pass, checked it, then looked at her daughter’s pass. The child’s name, “Abcde” (pronounced ab-city) was written in clear letters on the pass. Unable to help herself, the agent allegedly began to laugh. She then proceeded to make fun of her, pointed to Traci and her daughter out to her fellow employees, and even took a picture of the boarding pass.

Sincerest Apologies

Traci was incensed by the insult and angrily asked the agent to stop. Afterward, she posted the story on social media. Southwest Airlines released a public apology for the ordeal. “We extend our sincere apology to the family. We take great pride in extending our Southwest Hospitality to all of our customers.”

You Don’t Say…

As if making fun of her wasn’t enough, Abcde has epilepsy, which was why the family was pre-boarding in the first place. To be fair, the name Abcde is a pretty unusual name, even in this modern age. A search on the Social Security Administration’s website indicates that Abcde is not even among the top 1,000 most popular names for any year of birth since the year 2000.

Southwest Issues Apology After Gate Agent Allegedly Mocked Child’s Unusual Name is an article from: LifeDaily

Ruth Snyder’s husband, an art editor at Motorboat magazine, had been killed. The grieving widow told police that two giant Italian men had broken into her Queens, New York home and knocked her out. They then proceeded to tie her up in the hallway, steal her jewelry and commit the terrible crime.

Ruth’s 9-year-old daughter was left curiously untouched. Whoever the men were, they were only there for her husband. It seemed even the jewel theft was incidental. Still, something seemed off about Ruth’s story. Something about it smelled funny, the police just didn’t know exactly how funny it really was.

Suspicions Rise

Police were suspicious of Ruth’s Snyder’s story almost from the get-go. For one, she didn’t look as if she’d been knocked out. Then there was her “stolen” jewelry, found stuffed underneath her mattress during a secondary investigation of the home. As if that weren’t enough, there was also the $100,000 life insurance policy she’d filled out mere days beforehand.

Give It Up

A few hours of interrogation saw Snyder spilling her guts about the whole sordid scheme. She quickly gave up the name of her accomplice and lover, a married corset salesman named Henry Judd Gray. According to Snyder, it was Gray who was behind the whole murder. The police picked him up and he too pinned the murder on his accomplice, Ruth Synder.

A Plot’s Plot

As far as Gray was concerned, Snyder had seduced him and coerced him into the deed. It was a confusing situation but made one heck of a story. Think of it, a housewife and a salesman have an affair and then contrive to kill her husband so they can claim the insurance money. It sounds like the plot of a film noir movie, and it would eventually become such a film.

The Real Story

If the obvious insurance fraud weren’t proof enough of how unsuited the two murderers were for such an enterprise, the subsequently released details of the case would certainly hammer that point home. The two lovers had bungled the crime badly from the start with one notable exception: they’d actually succeeded in killing the man they set out to kill.

Bungled

Gray told police that they had killed Snyder’s husband by hitting him with a weight from the window sash. After that, they stuffed a chloroform-soaked wad of cotton up his nose and proceeded to strangle him with wire from a nearby picture frame. All these items were found nearby the body … likely covered in fingerprints.

From The Start

Snyder had wanted to kill her husband almost from the first moment they met. Even though they were engaged to be married, Albert Snyder seemed obsessed and hopefully devoted to his fiancee Jessie Guishard. She had been dead for a decade by that point but he still considered Jessie to be the finest woman he’d ever met – not his new bride.

Loveless

Albert was right of course. Ruth Snyder was cantankerous and irritable. She never loved him, but part of that was because he was so in love with a dead woman. The loveless marriage eventually led her straight into the arms of Gray. Nevertheless, they turned on each other the moment their story about a poorly staged break-in began to unravel.

The Dumbbell Murder

By the time the story made the papers, journalists were already referring to it as the “Dumbbell Murder” by virtue of how foolish the whole plan had been. For the next year, the case received massive media attention. Americans seemed obsessed with it, mainly because those involved were just normal, everyday people like themselves.

Tabloid Journalism

This was an unprecedented bit of tabloid journalism. It was 1927, a time when the New York tabloid press was at war with one another. The Daily Graphic, the Daily News, and William Randolph Hearst’s Daily Mirror were all fighting to outsell each other. The lurid details already extent in the Dumbbell Murder made it a perfect way to draw more readers.

Sensationalism

Not content with the absurdity already present in the case, the tabloids even started making up details to sell papers. There was no strict adherence to facts at the time or public fallout for providing “fake news.” The tabloid press soon turned Snyder and Gray from bumbling murderers, into cunning criminal lovers straight out of a Hollywood picture.

A Circus

Regardless of the lies, the public ate up every scrap of information on the killer couple. When the trial began, fifteen hundred people packed into the courtroom and another 2,000 wandered about outside. This happened nearly every day. People began selling fake tickets for $50 apiece, while peddlers sold souvenirs and stick pins featuring the sash weight murder weapons.

Femme Fatale

Ruth Snyder went from homely housewife to femme fatale. She was described as a “synthetic blonde murderess” in the tabloids. Ruthless Ruth, the Viking Matron of Queens Village was the real-life version of Chicago’s Roxy Hart. Henry Gray didn’t seem to appreciate her newfound fame, especially since he still alleged her to be the mastermind behind the murder.

Additional “Victim”

Gray also spoke to the tabloids in his own defense. He painted himself as a victim. He described his affair with Snyder saying, “She would place her face an inch from mine and look deeply into my eyes until I was hers completely. While she hypnotized my mind with her eyes she would gain control over my body by slapping my cheeks with the palms of her hand.”

The Book End

The trial ended in several ways, at least in different versions of the story anyway. In James Cain’s novella, Gray’s analog insurance salesmen escapes on a boat to Latin America. He soon discovers his female accomplice had hidden herself on the boat too. Afraid they’ll never be safe, they commit suicide together by jumping overboard at night. The movie tells it differently though.

Credits Roll

The film version, titled Double Indemnity, sees neither of the killers making it out of the country. In this telling, Gray’s salesman kills his girlfriend and ends up waiting for the police to take him away. As morbid and tragic as this Hollywood ending sounds, the real ending to this circus-like tale is even grimmer.

Double Conviction

Both Snyder and Gray were ultimately convicted and both of them would die in the electric chair. On the same January day, in fact. Like the rest of the story, the tale of Ruth Snyder’s 1928 execution has its own twists and turns. Sing Sing Correctional Facility allowed no cameras in the room on the day of her execution, but one daring photographer still felt he should try.

Not Allowed

The trial had been a sensation and police knew the execution would no doubt draw just as much media coverage. Photography was of course usually prohibited at executions, but knowing how fervent these newspaper people were, Sing Sing guards were to take this especially seriously for Ruth Snyder. No cameras would be allowed.

Sneaking Into Sing Sing

Newspaper photographer Tom Howard was feeling the pressure when he walked into New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Institution that afternoon. It was a cold January day and as he stepped through the security check and into the execution chamber, Tom couldn’t help but feel a chill wind across the back of his neck. If they caught him, he’d be ejected, maybe even arrested.

Rigged Up

Tom was so nervous because he had a tiny single-use camera strapped to his right ankle. He trod carefully, doing his best to make sure it wasn’t seen and that it didn’t go off. It was a miniature version of a classic camera and the shutter release was wired up his pant leg. The button was undetectable but reachable.

Grim Pictures

The moment that Snyder was electrocuted, Tom Howard lifted his pant leg and pressed the shutter release. He got one good picture of the gruesome scene; a blurry picture of the killer’s bound, masked body shaking from the fatal electricity. The Daily News ran the photo the very next day. The front page headline read “DEAD!” and the paper sold out in a mere 15 minutes.

Mysterious Spousal Slaying Leads to Media Circus And World Famous Photograph is an article from: LifeDaily

Dr. Desmond Kidd is Yosemite National Park’s medical director. In the course of his work at the park, he’s seen horrific injuries and worked countless hours at the park’s clinic. One day, after working nearly 24-hours, he found himself driving off Yosemite highway, through a wooded glen and into the area where a decades-old forest fire had once raged.

Kidd had been dispatched to this scene to help park rangers find a missing girl. He had done this before in the past, helped lost hikers find their way, but today’s journey would prove to be very different and much more unnerving.

A Bad Five Months

Five months earlier, Kidd had become involved in the search for three missing female tourists who had vanished from their room at the Cedar Lodge, a hotel at Yosemite’s entrance. Unfortunately, those three girls had been found brutally murdered a month later, and the memory was still fresh in Dr. Kidd’s mind.

Another Missing Girl

Now, 26-year-old Joie Ruth Armstrong was missing. The brilliant, bubbly, strawberry-blond naturalist lived with her boyfriend and a second roommate in a cabin near Yosemite. She also worked at the Yosemite Institute with Kidd, and though the two weren’t friends, they did know each other. She had planned to spend the weekend visiting friends in Sausalito but never showed. Everyone worried that something terrible had befallen her.

Five Groups

Joie’s white pickup truck was still parked in the driveway when park rangers and police arrived. Her luggage for her trip was packed in the back as if she had been ready to leave. The search team split up into five groups, searching nearby and far afield. They found no sign of the missing woman but did discover footprints, broken saplings, and the trampled evidence of what appeared to be a recent chase through the woods.

Decapitated

Suddenly, Kidd spotted a key ring glinting in the sun. He looked into the ditch where it lay and found something else, the decapitated body of a young woman. Joie’s head sat nearby. It was one of the most gruesome things the doctor had ever seen. The grisly find brought the events of the recent disappearance back to the forefront of Kidd’s mind. He recalled the abducted tourists’ case in sharp detail.

Gruesome Finds

42-year-old Carole Sund of Eureka, California had been visiting Yosemite with her 15-year-old daughter Juli and Juli’s 16-year-old friend, Silvina Pelosso, who had been visiting from Argentina. The evidence gathered by the FBI indicated that they had been abducted from the Cedar Lodge and with the discovery of Carole’s burned-out Pontiac a month later, the truth finally emerged.

Burned Car

Though hundreds of FBI agents, California Highway Patrol officers, and National Park Service rangers had combed Yosemite’s rugged backcountry with dogs and helicopters for weeks afterward, it was a lone hiker who eventually found them. Carole’s charred body was stuffed in the trunk next to Silvina’s. It was 100 miles from the Cedar Lodge. But where was Juli?

Juli’s Body

A week later, the FBI received an anonymous tip that led to Juli’s corpse. The killer had carried her away from the car and cut her throat. It was buried in the underbrush near the Don Pedro Reservoir, a few miles away from the logging trail where the car had been found. Despite the natural beauty of that part of the world, the murders revived a long-dormant fear about our national parks; they were no longer safe.

No Longer Safe

Not only were the murders particularly unsettling, but the location in which they occurred was also equally unnerving to the public at large. How could something so inhuman happen someplace so idyllic and far from the “corruption” of modern society? A family had vanished into the dark, unsettled wilderness without a trace and then been violently killed by a wild woodsman. And now so had Joie Armstrong.

The Strange Car

The police were not without leads, however. Almost immediately, a park employee came forward with information on a blue and white 1979 International Scout that had been parked near Joie’s house on the night of her disappearance. Soon enough, Park rangers spotted the vehicle parked near the Merced River Canyon, right outside the entrance to the park. There, they found a handsome, solidly built, nude man, sunbathing on the riverbank.

Similar Look

The man took a hit off the joint he had been smoking and explained to the ranger and accompanying police officer that his name was Cary Stayner. He also explained that he worked as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge. Neither of these things seemed to interest the cops at the time. They confiscated the marijuana and sent him on his way. Two days later, they took him into custody while he was eating at a “clothing optional” resort near Sacramento.

Confession

FBI investigators had compared tire tracks at the crime scene with photographs of Stayner’s treads and found that it was a perfect match. The 38-year-old then proceeded to confess to not only Joie Armstrong’s murder, but the murders of Carole, Juli, and Silvina. He’d been living under investigator’s noses for five months. Looking into his past, the FBI soon discovered that Staynor’s own family tragedy had transformed him into a violent predator.

Missing Brother

Cary Stayner was a native Californian who had lived outside of Yosemite most of his life. He, along with his three sisters and younger brother Steven, were the children of hard-working, middle-class parents. One afternoon, Steven Stayner disappeared without a trace as he was walking home from school down Yosemite Highway. His distraught parents undertook a veritable quest to find him.

Homecoming 

The Stayners put up billboards, passed out leaflets, and even consulted psychics to find him to no avail. His mother became cold and distant towards her children and the father was openly devastated by the loss of his favorite son. Eventually, the family moved on, but one day, Cary heard on the radio that 14-year-old Steven had escaped from his abductor and was returning home. He couldn’t believe it.

Fame And Jealousy

Steven’s homecoming made him a celebrity. He went on TV, spoke to newspapers, and even had a book and miniseries about his time as a sex slave of drifter and pedophile, Kenneth Parnell, a man who incidentally also used to work at the Yosemite Lodge. Cary Stayner was jealous of his brother’s fame and their relationship soured after that, as did his relationship with his Steven-obsessed parents.

Bigfoot

It was around this time that Carl Stayner first began to talk about Bigfoot. He became obsessed with the legendary half-man, half-ape and talked about it all the time. He was absolutely certain it existed and whether he feared or identified with it, the thought of this remarkable cryptid took over his imagination. Perhaps it allowed him to escape from the mundaneness of his own life.

Violent Past

Cary later got into a job repairing glass and moved in with his uncle Jerry. Steven got married and had two kids, but sadly died in a motorcycle crash sometime later. Cary and the rest of the family were devastated. Friends would say the younger Stayner never got his life back together after his ordeal. A year later, Uncle Jerry was found dead on the bedroom floor with a shotgun wound in his chest. Cary was questioned but never charged. Still, people were suspicious.

Dead of Winter

A few years later, Carl had a bit of a nervous breakdown and moved further into the wilderness. He rented a room above the Cedar Lodge and did odd jobs around the hotel. It proved to be a great place for him to get his head on straight. Except for the Bigfoot thing, the likable, handsome man seemed perfectly ordinary. Then Carole, Juli, and Silvana arrived and he went off the deep-end.

Death Penalty

Cary Stayner faces the death penalty for not only the Armstrong murder but the Sund-Pelosso killings as well. Nevertheless, he seems to feel some remorse about what he has done and hopes to sell the rights to the story to Hollywood. Not for himself, but so that the royalties can ultimately be used to compensate the victims’ families. He realizes it’s not much, but it’s all he can offer.

Long-Dormant Cases

Most experts believe that it would be unlikely for Stayner to have targeted three victims for his first killing, so he probably killed before that. Thus, his confession has seen police departments all across the region reopen a number of long-dormant murder cases that he may have been involved in. This also includes the murder of his uncle Jerry.

Obsession

We don’t know much about Cary Stayner right now other than that he is a self-confessed murderer and an unabashed believer in Bigfoot. Even as he awaits his day in court, he seems convinced that there is a malevolent Bigfoot stalking the forests and mountains of Yosemite. Little does he realize, the true monster was him all along.

Police Discover Bigfoot-Obsessed Culprit After Yosemite Hiker Goes Missing is an article from: LifeDaily

They say that dogs are man’s best friend and time and again they have gone above and beyond our own expectations of them to prove how very true this statement is. Dogs aren’t just pets, they are partners, working alongside us in a number of capacities over the years.

They help us to calm the mentally-ill, apprehend criminals, detect diseases, and in the case of the courageous canines discussed today, even sniff out danger we ourselves might not be consciously aware of.

Prodigious Sniffers

Dogs, in general, have an olfactory area of the brain that is about 40 times larger than that as a human. This means that they can smell things thousands of times stronger than we can. Beagles, in particular, have some of the most talented noses of any dog species out there, which is why the U.S. government recently decided to put their prodigious sniffers to good use.

The Beagle Brigade

The band of dogs, known as the Beagle Brigade, walk around airports, wagging their tails and working hard to sniff out any banned food products currently arriving in shipments and personal luggage each day. These beagle border guards are battling to keep the $23.4 billion American hog industry from falling prey to the deadly African swine fever.

African Swine Fever

Though it originated in Africa, the pig-killing disease has already spread into China and Europe. There is no vaccine and the beagles are being used to stop that spread into the U.S., which relies heavily upon its own pig population to put porcine product in our homes and restaurants. They do so by smelling for contraband and can even detect it through suitcases and the vacuum-packing used to transport pork products into the country.

Effective

Thus far, the Beagle Brigade has effective in stopping the spread of any possibly-contaminated pig product. This is good, because any single sign of illness in the states would be catastrophic for America’s import and export businesses, especially since they are already suffering due to Chinese tariffs.

Airline Security Brings In ‘Beagle Brigade’ to Detect Deadly And Little-Known Virus is an article from: LifeDaily

Our planet is full of wondrous species. Amazing creatures that the mere sight of seems to awaken something in our collective imaginations. Unfortunately, some human beings want nothing more than to own the normally unobtainable treasures that these animals represent, and they’ll do anything to get a piece.

It is because of human greed that so many of these amazing creatures are sitting on the endangered species list. Whether hunted to the brink of extinction due to their hides or horns or driven from their homes by the mere presence of humanity, the loss of any single one of the creatures on this list is a tragedy, especially when the death is caused by human hands.

Beautiful Girl

Eight-year-old snow leopard Margaash was perhaps the Dudley Zoo’s most prized specimen. Not simply because she was a stunningly beautiful example of her species, but also because her life represented hope for the snow leopards, both in zoos and in her wild home in the alpine zones of eastern Afghanistan, Mongolia, and western China.

An Open Door

It was late in the evening when one of the keepers at Dudley noticed the door to Margaash’s enclosure had been left slightly open. Peering inside, the keeper realized with a start that the snow leopard was nowhere to be seen. While Margaash was among the larger big cats out there, she was still big enough to take down a human being, especially a child, if the situation presented itself.

The Hunt

The keepers mobilized and began to look for Margaash right away. Before long, the stark white leopard was spotted wandering around the zoo. Animal escape procedures were soon initiated and keepers were given firearms to protect themselves and others. The safety of themselves and the public was at risk, they only had one option.

Takedown

Eventually, a senior member of the firearms team was able to get a clear shot on Margaash and regrettably had to take her down. He managed to kill her with a single shot so that she wouldn’t suffer. The loss is great, however, as even though snow leopards are only marked “vulnerable” on the endangered species list, their numbers are limited and still dwindling.

Tragedy Strikes As Zookeepers Are Forced to Shoot Rare Escaped Snow Leopard is an article from: LifeDaily

Stunt performers are seriously injured due to stunts gone wrong more often than you’d think, and they rarely receive the recognition they deserve. We tend to praise an actor who “does his own stunts,” though we ignore the stuntmen and stuntwomen themselves, doing the stunts every day for a living. Whether it’s being the stunt performer for an actor in a major motion film or doing background work, working in the field takes skill and training.

Unfortunately, most injuries end up being pretty serious, with the stunt performers even dying during a stunt. The artist and stunt performer in the following story was filming a music video when things went terribly wrong.

Extreme Stunts

Jon James McMurray was born in Calgary, Alberta in Canada and he began his career as a professional athlete during high school. He competed in free-skiing and extreme stunts. He filmed internationally throughout North America, Europe,  Australia, New Zealand, and was featured in several action sports movies.

Musician

McMurray was also the owner and founder of Loose Canon Productions, a film company that released the sports action lifestyle film Without A Cause. Known for combining free-skiing and extreme stunts, McMurray was the first action sports personality to successfully land a back-flip transferring from rail to rail.

Surgeries

As his popularity increased, McMurray received sponsorships from companies including Oakley, Rossignol, Rip Curl, and Smith Optics. His tendency to perform dangerous stunts led to several serious injuries including a fractured neck and a broken back on two occasions, requiring seven surgeries.

Musician

After he broke his back, McMurray began rapping and producing music, performing under the name Jon James. He even released a record in 2016 called “Rex Leo.” Even though his sports action career proved risky, McMurray’s rap career wasn’t nearly as dangerous. That was, until, he was performing a music video stunt that involved rapping while walking on the wing of a plane.

Stunt

McMurray had been training intensively to complete the stunt on a small Cessna plane. It was a project he had been working on for months, and his final act involved walking on the wing of the plane. A statement from his rep told People.com, “As Jon got further out onto the wing of the plane, it caused the small Cessna to go into a downward spiral that the pilot couldn’t correct.”

Wing

“Jon held onto the wing until it was too late, and by the time he let go, he didn’t have time to pull his chute. He impacted and died instantly,” the statement continued. The plane reportedly landed safely and no one was else was injured in the accident, which took place in Vernon, British Columbia.

Passionate

“Jon was an incredibly passionate person and was always smiling. He filled everyone around him with positivity, and never spoke poorly about another person. He truly had a heart of gold,” a rep from McMurray’s management said.

Music Videos

McMurray’s music videos frequently featured him performing stunts like flip and base jumping to skydiving. A 2015 video for “Hello” opened with the rapper admitting that he broke a parachute while prepping for the shoot. “His passion for making music videos and performing stunts were combined, and Jon pushed music in a new direction that was unchartered territory,” the statement said.

Investigating His Death

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, coroner’s office, and Transportation Safety Board have all begun an investigation into McMurray’s death. A GoFundMe page has also been set up for him to “get his stuff out there to the world in the right way.” The GoFundMe announced his death saying “Canadian music artist Jon James McMurray died performing an airplane stunt in Vernon BC on October 20, 2018, just outside the town of West Wold between Vernon and Kamloops.”

World-Renowned Skier

The GoGundMe also noted his accomplished describing McMurray as a “world-renowned skier with multiple world firsts under his belt.” “He was the first skier ever to backflip onto and off of a rail in addition to garnering a reputation known as one of the most innovative and well-respected skiers in the world. After sustaining multiple injuries including a broken back … Jon decided to pursue his growing passion for music.”

Center of Gravity

After pouring his ambition for life into his music and working relentlessly toward “advancement in the music industry,” McMurray earned his way onto the stage. He loved to perform at large events like the Center of Gravity alongside some of the biggest names in Hip Hop. “Jon continually pushed his music into unchartered territory by merging his passion for performing incredible stunts with his groundbreaking music video production.”

The Jon James Team

McMurray’s company, The Jon James team described him as an incredibly motivated person, always smiling, encouraging everyone around him to follow their passion and to live life to the fullest. They explained that “Jon would want to be remembered as a beacon of light to follow your dreams.”

Celebration of Life

A portion of McMurray’s GoFundMe page which has a $100,000 goal will be used to help his family with the costs associated of his Celebration of Life, which the family will be having instead of a traditional funeral. The rest of the fund is dedicated to releasing all of McMurray’s remaining music and video content for the world “to see, hear, spread, and enjoy.”

Funds

“The funds raised on GoFundMe will be completely dedicated to production of Jon’s music and video content specifically to be made into a series, which had been planned in the event of his tragic ending. He had a favorite producer and close friend Adium with whom he has a large amount of previously unreleased content that we will be publishing to honor his legacy,” his team said.

Close Friends And Family

McMurray’s GoFundMe will be controlled by his brother Jarred as well as his closest friends Rory Bushfield and Chris Biollo. “The extremely tight team that he built around his brand, that has been working together for the last 5 years, will continue to work together to market and release Jon’s groundbreaking music and video content.”

Future Content

Lastly, all money generated from the sale of McMurray’s future content will be donated to a foundation dedicated to helping kids realize their dreams and teach them to capitalize on their “limitless potential.” Since his tragic death, McMurray’s story has been covered by several magazines.

Publications

Time Magazine, People Magazine, US magazine, Yahoo, Newsweek, Access Hollywood, XXL Magazine, Global, Billboard Magazine, and Hotnewhiphop are among the publications. McMurray’s team explained that he knew how dangerous his job was and that he was “prepared” for this.

Prepared

“Jon was always prepared for this event as he knew it was a real possibility with each new stunt he intended to conquer. He was documenting his life from the time he was 12 until the moment of his death. He had hundreds of tracks and new albums that he recorded and prepared for us to release in the event of his death,” his team said.

Harry Potter

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time a daredevil died or was seriously injured while performing a stunt. While working on a flying scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double David Holmes was on the receiving end of a staged explosion. After hitting the wall with such force, he became paralyzed.

xXx

In the 2002 film xXx, Vin Diesel’s stunt double Harry O’Connor was killed instantly during filming while doing aerial stunts. O’Connor was attempting to rappel down a parasailing line, with a goal to land on a submarine. But, instead, he hit a bridge while going down at high speed. Countless others stuntmen have been injured throughout the years. McMurray’s death, though tragic, shows how dangerous and underappreciated this line of work can be.

Canadian Rapper Falls To His Death After Slipping Off Of Plane Wing is an article from: LifeDaily

It was a cold November night in 2004 when police responded to a disturbance at a suburban home in Delmar, New York. They came inside to find 52-year-old Appellate Division court clerk, Peter Porco, in a pile of his own blood, dead from massive head injuries.

Peter’s wife, speech pathologist Joan Porco, was lying next to their blood-drenched bed with similar head trauma. Her face was completely disfigured, one eye was destroyed, and her skull was caved in, but she was alive.

Whodunit

Inside the couple’s bedroom, a bloodied ax sat upon the floor. There were no fingerprints on the weapon and no one was in the home when they arrived. Someone had killed Peter Porco and had very nearly killed his wife, now it was up to the officers to find out who. First, though, they needed to get Joan to a hospital.

Indication

Christopher Bowdish was a Bethlehem Police detective on the scene. As paramedics carefully lifted Joan Porco onto a gurney, Bowdish took a moment to try and ask her if she could tell him anything about her attacker. He asked if the attacker was someone she knew, a family member, and she used her head to nod, “yes.”

Weak Nods

Bowdish, knowing the family history, pressed on. He asked if it had been her older son, Jonathan, but she shook her head. When he asked about her younger son, Christopher, she nodded her head up and down. It made the most sense, Jonathan Porco was a Naval officer stationed in South Carolina at the time. Christopher was closer.

Learned of The Attack

Christopher Porco was still about 230 miles away from the Porco household on the day of the murder, of course. He was studying at the University of Rochester at the time and apparently only learned of the attack when a reporter approached him on campus the next day. He immediately made his way home to Delmar.

Investigation

Joan Porco slipped into a coma soon after her admission, but her wordless affirmations to Detective Bowdish were more than enough for the Bethlehem Police to put the majority of their focus on Christopher Porco. At first glance, it seemed like a rather narrow investigative avenue to follow, but the police did have their reasons. Even beyond Joan’s admission.

Grand Jury

In late November of that year, the Albany County District Attorney convened a grand jury in order to hear testimony firmly implicating Christopher in his father’s murder. Many people testified, including Christopher’s college friends, a campus safety officer, and even his old girlfriend. The indictment was handed down and then something miraculous happened.

Dying Declaration

Joan Porco’s alleged identification of her son as the murderer was a compelling fact for the would-be prosecutors to lean on. More of a dying declaration, one must not forget that Joan was severely injured and her brain was wounded. Perhaps she had not known what they were asking her. She probably didn’t even know where she was or what had happened.

Awakened

Eventually, Joan Porco emerged from a medically induced coma to find that not only was her husband dead and her face serious disfigured, but the authorities were also trying to pin it all on her baby boy. She maintained that Christopher had nothing to do with her husband’s murder and insisted she hadn’t identified her son as the attacker.

Leave Chris Alone

She began to recover and nine months after hearing about Christopher’s trial, she wrote a plaintive letter to the Albany Times. “I implore the Bethlehem Police and the District Attorney’s Office to leave my son alone, and to search for Peter’s real killer or killers so that he can rest in peace and my sons and I can live in safety.”

Financial Issues

Unfortunately for Christopher, the impassioned pleas of a traumatized mother counted little when comparing them to the sordid complications of his life up to that point. There had been known tensions between the Porcos and their son, specifically when it came to money. He owed money on his new Jeep Wrangler and on his tuition and a year before the murder, had even been forced to withdraw because of poor grades.

Fall Tuition

He readmitted the following year, taking out an additional loan of $31,000 to pay his Fall 2004 tuition. His father was the cosignatory on the loan, he just didn’t know it. In fact, Christopher was using the $31,000 to repay his loans from the year before. In time, even his prodigious perfidy was discovered.

Confrontation

Two weeks before Peter was murdered, he confronted Christopher about the whole ordeal via email. “Did you forge my signature as a co-signer? What the hell are you doing? You should have called me to discuss it … I’m calling Citibank this morning to find out what you have done and am going to tell them I’m not to be on it as a co-signer.”

Reaching Out

Before he could contact Citibank, Peter Porco was notified that his son had also used a newly-obtained line of credit from Citibank to finance the Jeep Wrangler. Peter reached out to his son again but he wasn’t taking any of his parents phone calls and he hadn’t for weeks. With that in mind, Peter tried another email.

Forgiveness

“I want you to know that if you abuse my credit again, I will be forced to file forgery affidavits in order to disclaim liability,” Porco wrote. “That applies to the Citibank college loan if you attempt to reactivate it or use my credit to obtain any other loan. We may be disappointed with you, but your mother and I still love you and care about your future.” But was this threat enough to push Christopher that far over the edge?

Lies, Lies, Lies

Christopher’s spot was eventually blown when he went on a trip to England in March of 2004. His parents had seen his interim grade report and learned that he was on thin ice with the school. He, of course, denied what the college was saying and chalked it up to a registrar issue. He then earned readmission the next year by forging a transcript.

Driving Off

There was also some suspicious evidence that Christopher may have actually made the 230 mile trip back home on the night of the murder. A New York State Thruway toll collector just outside Rochester recalled seeing a yellow Wrangler with large tires passing rather quickly through the toll plaza around 2 a.m.

Time Frame

The time frame was correct. There was every possibility that Christopher Porco could have driven down to his family’s hometown and then driven back in one night. It would have been one heck of a journey, but based on everything the police now knew or suspected of the young man, it would be one he’d surely be angry enough to make.

History of Offense

Then there’s the fact that Christopher had a long history of anti-social, some might say sociopathic, behavior. This included burglary and fraud, both of which were crimes committed against his own family. Christopher stole laptops, Dell and Macintosh computers, and sold them all on eBay under his brother’s name; then just didn’t ship them after customers had paid.

No Conscience

One of the most telling portions of this case involves Christopher’s personality. Investigators believed that he might be not just sociopathic but psychopathic as well. He had a knack for pathological lying and egomania. He also showed a distinct lack of conscience. Even his father’s clerk agreed that every encounter she’d had with Christopher led her to believe he was a sociopath.

Sociopath

Because the case saw such a large amount of publicity, several Albany-area psychologists and mental health professors weighed in on Christopher’s alleged behavior. All of them agree that this behavior was indeed consistent with that of a sociopath, specifically when it came to his constant lying.

No Physical Evidence

Despite all this evidence proving that Christopher Porco was a bad person, there didn’t happen to be a shred of physical evidence proving he was any kind of murderer. No fingerprints, shoeprints, or any other such indicators were present at the scene. So how would they prove he was there?

Overlooked Possibilities

There was also the fact that the police had overlooked other possibilities in Peter Porco’s death. There was some speculation by Christopher’s defense attorneys that the killing was some sort of retaliation against Peter’s uncle Frank Porco, who was once a captain in New York City’s Bonanno crime family.

Fireman

Frank Porco used to work with the New York City Fire Department before he’d turned to crime. Eventually, he had been found guilty of extortion and loansharking and eventually served two years in prison because of it. During the trial, Frank’s name was incorrectly brought up in association with a murder. This obfuscation did nothing to help Christopher, however.

Guilty

It all amounted to very little in the end. After a few hours of jury deliberations, Christopher Porco was found guilty on all counts: one count of second-degree murder and one of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 50 years to life for each count. He won’t be eligible for parole until December 2052.

Court Clerk’s Body Found Next to Battered Wife Spurs Investigation Into Son’s Dark Past is an article from: LifeDaily

Some couples want an over-the-top wedding, while others want something more low-key like a backyard wedding. Then there are those couples who elope or obtain a marriage license and have a small celebration with family and friends afterward.

Every couple has their own idea of what they want for their wedding day, just like the couple in the following story did. But after they received backlash from the Internet on their wedding, Detroit came together to throw them another one.

Detroit Couple

Janae and LaQuint Rhodes of Detroit went back and forth on what kind of wedding they wanted to have. While discussing the idea of a big wedding, they settled on waiting until June 2019 for something bigger. But after waking up and feeling spontaneous one morning, the Rhodes decided they wanted to do it right away.

Intimate Wedding

“Everything we got for that day was between him and me and my dad – and Facebook Marketplace to be honest,” Janae told Yahoo Lifestyle about their wedding. It took place on September 22, 2018, on the front lawn of their home with about 50 guests.

Preparation

They prepared the whole thing in just two weeks and stayed up until 4 a.m. the night before their wedding making decorations and preparing the food themselves. When guests arrived that afternoon, they assigned jobs to anyone who volunteered. Janae and LaQuint didn’t rehearse anything and the wrong song played when they walked down the aisle.

Wedding Day

To make matters even worse, Janae lost her voice the day of her wedding and she could barely manage to say her vows. “But it was all worth it,” Janae said, despite the unplanned events of the day. “It was happy, it was joyous, and it was memorable. It was intimate and personal.” But some on the Internet didn’t agree …

Social Media

Someone driving by the wedding snapped a photo of the setup and shared it on social media writing, “What in the Detroit hood wedding is this?” The photo showed the reception chairs set up on their lawn and the post went viral, even before the celebration was over. Strangers made horrible comments criticizing their choice of wedding venue.

Daughter

Janae and LaQuint didn’t even know the post went viral went since they were battling a much more serious problem. On the way downtown to take photos after reception, the couple got a phone call that LaQuint’s 6-year-old daughter, Donnae, had been in a swimming pool accident and almost drowned.

Hospital

The couple rushed to the hospital and spent the night there in their wedding clothes. “It was immediate parent mode,” Janae said. Donnae remained in the hospital the night of the wedding and was reportedly on life support. Meanwhile, a local radio personality and life coach Randi Rossario saw the viral post and felt sympathetic for the newlyweds.

Viral Post

She posted their wedding photos on Instagram and wrote, “Earlier, a friend of mine sent me photos of people making fun of a wedding and suggested we put together a reception for her. After speaking with the bride, I learned more details that their flower girl/daughter (groom’s biological) was on life support. She’s been hospitalized since the night of their wedding.”

Radio Host

Rossario then decided to put her Internet radio station, Oh So Radio, and her social media reach to good use. “The life coach in me was like, ‘Let me help these people and let me see what I can do, because I know how I would feel in that situation,” Rossario told Yahoo. “It wasn’t that they needed another wedding. I thought that they deserved another wedding.”

Detroit Reception Challenge

She immediately posted what she called the #DetroitReceptionChallenge on social media, asking for listeners, followers, wedding vendors, and Detroit locals, to step in and do something for the couple. The Rhodes only wound up finding out about their unwanted fame at the same time that Rossario issued her challenge.

Overwhelmed

“We were shocked and appalled,” LaQuint said of the backlash. “Seriously? It was just unbelievable. Where do you get negativity when we were embracing love and happiness? That’s what we thought that mattered the most.” After a few days, Donnae was out of the hospital and improving and the couple had a chance to talk to Rossario.

Vendors In Detroit

Despite being traumatized by the cruelty of the internet, they decided to go along with her plan. Vendors all over Detroit stepped in to provide everything from dresses, hair, and makeup, to the venue and music for the big day. Rossario, being the coordinator of it all, became the Rhodes’ personal wedding planner.

Generous Donations

She even raised over $1,300 for the couple on GoFundMe. “Myself, along with other metro-Detroit business owners would like to take their minds off of their troubles for just one day and give them a star-studded reception,” Rossario wrote. The vendors that donated their time and services “wanted to be a part of something good.”

Positive Light

“They said they’re constantly hearing negative things about Detroit, and to see something positive being done, they wanted to do their part,” said Rossario. This was the main reason why the Rhodes decided to have their wedding all over again, even though they were personally satisfied with their first one.

Second Time Around

“Detroit already has such a bad name because of different crimes or situations and all of that, so to have some light shine through the city was phenomenal to us,” Janae said. “It was definitely a chance to relive a special day from beginning to end and actually have our hair down about it. I had butterflies this time – I think we both had butterflies this time.”

El Club

For their second wedding at the El Club, more of the Rhodes’ family and friends were able to attend. Jannae said that this time around they were on “cloud infinity.” They almost didn’t realize that their other gift, was an all-expense-paid honeymoon to Jamaica, which they will take next year.

Pure Joy

Janae shared her joy on Facebook writing, “HUGE shout-out to the epic and phenomenal Boss Queen Randi Rossario Hardy for creating the dopest ever #DetroitReceptionChallenge for us and putting together a whole ceremony and reception in less than 3 weeks. … People normally WISH things like this happened or used to them being something you’ll see on a movie or on freaking Oprah and to be witness of it all is nothing short of a blessing and feelings of nothing but PURE JOY.”

Friend For Life

Janae shared wise words saying, “A good friend of mine reminded me, [you] can’t have the flower without the dirt … How else would we appreciate the good without the bad or the light without the darkness.” She even said of Rossario, “We’ve gained a sister … Donnae was asking today, ‘When can I go visit auntie Randi?'” Rossario replied in the comments that Donnae can see her whenever she wants and said “You definitely have a sister for life.”

Planning Their Future

With their wedding behind them and Donnae on the mend, Janae and LaQuint are planning how to use this experience for their future together. They may even write a book about it. “We both have a passion for just encouraging, inspiring, and uplifting others,” Jannae told Yahoo.

Valuable Lesson

Rossario hopes that others can take away a valuable lesson from this story. “Be nicer on social media. Social media is not just social media; it’s real life too, and you’re hurting someone’s feelings in real life.” We couldn’t agree more, this was well said.

Detroit Couple Mocked On Social Media For Drab Wedding Gets Redo After Radio Host Offers Help is an article from: LifeDaily

When Lyft driver Shawn Pepas Lettman picked up passenger Robert Ortiz, he figured that the $8 ride would be as uneventful as they usually were. But when things got heated in the car, the driver pressed a button on his phone and recorded the whole 16-minute tirade.

Lettman had already pulled over to the side of the road after an argument with his passengers over music started. Ortiz was sitting in the back seat of the Lyft car with two buddies and was on the phone with a dispatcher as he claimed: “I don’t want to hang up with you for my safety.”

Not Black

Whether Ortiz was having a bad night or not was anyone’s guess, although it very much seemed that way. After arguing with his driver about the style of the music playing in the car, the disgruntled passenger made a call to Lyft, telling the dispatcher: “I feel racially profiled … because I’m not black.” But the driver refused to change the music and that only escalated matters further.

Threatening Talk

At one point, the three men in the back, who all happened to be gay, asked the driver if he was refusing to change the music because of their sexual orientation. “He knows he’s f**ked up,” one of the passengers said about Lettman. But matters descended even further when the driver started recording what was going on in the back of his car.

Open Insults

The Lyft driver felt worried for his safety and understandably so. “I’m gonna make sure while you’re recording this that you never have a job as a Lyft driver ever again,” Ortiz told him, threatening, “I’m going to make sure that you never have a job as a f**king driver again. You piece of s**t.” When the passenger started calling him names, the driver became worried and was actually relieved that Ortiz was on the phone with Lyft head office.

Music Change

The argument was a strange one in the first place as Ortiz claimed that the driver was refusing to change the music because he wasn’t black. He told the dispatcher on the end of the line, “I came out of a gay club, and your driver is racist against gay people.” Ortiz got racism and sexism mixed up in his head, and that confused the issue further.

Calling Police

Not satisfied with the answers he was getting from the driver, Ortiz hung up the call with Lyft and decided instead to dial 911. He told Lettman that he intended to wait for the police to arrive and would not be paying for his fare. “I’m telling you that I called the police to protect myself because I know my legal rights as an American citizen,” he said according to a Newsweek report.

Turn For The Worse

After about 10 minutes of arguing and name calling, matters took a serious turn for the worse when Ortiz started using the N-word against the black driver. At one point, Ortiz called a friend on Facetime, saying: “Tell me why I’m in a Lyft, and the n***a f***ing pulled over … We’re waiting for the police because this f****t charged me,” he said.

One-Party Consent

Ortiz was accusing the driver the whole time of recording him illegally, not knowing that New York is what’s known as a “one-party consent” state. That means that only one person in a conversation needs to give consent to be recorded. Lettman remained completely silent throughout the incident, apart from at one point when he said: “Could I say one thing? There’s a sign right there that says you will be recorded.”

Taking Sides

Lyft did what they had to do by initiating an investigation into the incident. At the time, they deactivated both the Lyft accounts of Ortiz and Lettman until they had carried out a full review. Having reached their conclusions, Lyft sided with their driver, reactivating his account and deleting Ortiz’s account forever. But a story like this was bound to make it’s way to the mainstream media, and it did.

Deeply Concerning

Before long, Lyft issued an official statement on the incident saying: “The behavior exhibited in the video is deeply concerning. Lyft is committed to maintaining an inclusive and welcoming community, and discriminatory behavior is unacceptable,” they stated. “We have also reached out to Mr. Lettman to express our support.” Lettman also had some choice words for the people who supported him over social media.

Keeping Calm

Lettman was applauded by supporters as well as by Lyft for remaining so calm in the face of such abuse. On a GoFundMe page that was opened for the Lyft driver after the incident, he gave all the credit to his mother who he claimed taught him that “patience, humble and calm will get you through anything.” And in this case, it did, even though Lettman did make a call to the police himself just after the incident to err on the side of caution.

World is Good

Lettman seemed to have no hard feelings after the incident and decided instead to make the best of it and to learn a lesson. “I know America is better than this and despite the hate, we have to deal with from a few, my heart tells me, the world is mostly good,” Lettman wrote. Meanwhile, many social media users expressed their extreme outrage at the way Ortiz had behaved towards his Lyft driver.

Trouble Ahead

As a result of the incident, the firm which employed Ortiz at the time, CityMD, came under pressure to do something about their employee’s outburst. The company wrote on their Facebook page that that did not “condone this kind of behavior in any way,” adding, “CityMD exists to build healthier and kinder communities. This behavior does not represent the values of our team or the values we hold dear.” Ortiz was promptly fired from his job.

Living Hell

While Ortiz can be seen on the video telling Lettman he would make his night a “living hell,” he also mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement in relation to the driver. “I bet you if I was black – and Black Lives Matter,” he said, “he would have put the music on. F*** Black Lives Matter – every life matters … all I asked for was music.” As things ended up, Lettman was reinstated to Lyft while Ortiz was banned from ever ordering a car from the service again.

Speaking Out

For his part, Lettman wasn’t about to let this incident be swept under the carpet so easily by anyone. In the GoFundMe page he set up, which he entitled “Insulted but not broken,” he wrote some very meaningful stuff about the life lessons he had learned from his mother which he felt got him through this traumatic experience.

Important Lessons

“When my mother died,” he wrote, “she taught me a very important lesson, which was always useful but more now than ever. She taught patience, humble and calm will get you through anything. As a father of two, my single means of providing for my wife and children is driving a rideshare, accommodating people from all walks of life. All of which I treat with the utmost respect, after all, I must provide for my family.”

Wanting Peace

Having raised more than $26,000 from the GoFundMe campaign, Lettman was asked how he managed to remain so cool and collected during the altercation with Ortiz. “I wanted to defuse the narrative that all black men are aggressive and violent,” Lettman said. “Some of us we are actually capable of performing in an intelligent setting. … It’s not always worth it to use your fists.”

Not Racist

As well as not winning the case against Lettman, Ortiz has had to change his phone number as he has received so many hate calls from people calling him a racist. In a display of humility though, Ortiz has come out and publicly apologized for his racist tirade, accepting that it was “unjustifiable.” He claims that he had been drinking to excess that night and was simply drunk at the time of the incident.

Been Drinking

Ortiz reached out to Pix11 News, telling them: “At the end of the day, my actions were unjustifiable. There’s nothing that I can say behind that to say ‘But this.’ I was drinking. A lot of the stuff that I said I didn’t even remember until the next day,” he said. Ortiz also claimed that he just wanted people to understand that he was not a racist.

Raised Well

Ortiz added that he was raised in the projects and was himself Puerto Rican. “That’s not how I was raised to treat people,” he said. “I grew up in the projects, so I just wanna make sure that people understand that I’m not racist – I’m Puerto Rican, I’m from the Bronx, I’m gay.” But the damage was already done and had been squarely caught on video for all to see.

Moving On

For his part, Ortiz told reporters that he simply wants to move from this incident and live his life. “I just want to go on with my life. I’m not racist; my actions were completely wrong. I wouldn’t want anyone to speak to the way that I spoke to him,” he said, concluding with a direct apology to the Lyft driver, Ortiz said: “The only thing that I can say is that I’m sorry.”

Lyft Passenger Fired From Job After Drunken Tirade Goes Viral is an article from: LifeDaily

When the bodies of 93-year-old Wilbert Scheel and his wife, 80-year-old Gloria were found dead in their car on a northern Kandiyohi County road, their grandson Gregory became the main person of interest for the police who were investigating the incident.

The cops already knew that their suspect in this gruesome double homicide had a checkered past and a pretty serious criminal record behind him. But they had no idea he was capable of carrying out murders that brutal.

Found Tied

When the couple was found dead near to their home in Paynesville, where they lived with their grandson Gregory Scheel, the police were faced with a brutal sight. Wilbert was found with his hands and feet tied with electrical cord and a plastic bag over his head. His wife Gloria was found with an electric cord around her neck; both died from strangulation or asphyxiation.

Arrested On Foot

When the couple’s grandson was arrested on foot about a mile from the property, police soon realized that he was a felon. Back in December, Scheel had been apprehended by Chippewa County sheriff’s deputies with stolen goods. But as he was being booked, Scheel escaped from custody but was found in a stranger’s garage the next day with some sort of homemade weapon which could be used to stab or electrocute someone.

Serious Charges

After evidence at the couple’s property linked Scheel to the crime he was arrested by officers and indicted. He was indicted on two counts of premeditated first-degree murder – punishable by life in prison; two counts of first-degree murder while committing domestic abuse, and two counts of second-degree intentional murder at the Stearns County District Court.

More Charges

As well as the murder charges he faced, Scheel was also to appear before a Chippewa County Court, charged with two felony counts of first-degree burglary. He was also to be charged with a felony count of third-degree burglary, a misdemeanor charge of theft and a gross misdemeanor charge of escaping from custody. Even though the double homicide charge was more serious than previous charges, now that police had the suspect in custody they threw the book at him.

Sordid History

Having been in and out of the court system for 15 years, it was about time that this man faced some justice for the numerous crimes he had been involved with. Back in 2003, Scheel was sentenced for drug possession. Then, a year later, he received another felony violation for driving drunk. But Scheel was in trouble with law enforcement almost on a constant basis between 2003 and 2018.

Domestic Assault

In 2007, Scheel was sentenced for a second-degree burglary charge, but at the time an arson charge against him was dismissed. Then, in 2010 and 2011, Scheel was sentenced for felony domestic assault in McLeod County and Sibley County. Throughout the next few years, Scheel was in trouble with law enforcement constantly for driving drunk and other numerous traffic violations.

Deferred Plea

Having been charged with a bunch of previous crimes, when it came to the murder charges, Scheel deferred making a plea, and a motion was made to release a transcript of the grand jury proceedings to the defense. The suspect’s bail was set at $75,000 with conditions or $100,000 without. The irony was that it was Scheel’s dead grandfather who co-signed the bond that bailed his grandson from jail originally.

Family Dinner

The alarm was raised when the elderly couple failed to show up for a family dinner. At 10:30 p.m., the police attended their home to find them dead in their car outside. When they caught up with Scheel, he was on a trip to Sauk Rapids with some friends. But CCTV footage from the home showed that one visible occupant left the house soon after the couple was murdered.

Floor Cleaned

When police attended the property they saw what could have been blood in the garage. It was also clear to the attending officers that the garage floor had been scrubbed clean recently. When they found an eyeglass lens with blood on it in the drain that belonged to Gloria, they were sure that some foul play had gone on at this property and intended to get to the bottom of it.

Feeling Devastated

Gary Herzberg, a friend of the deceased couple who knew them from the local church, said he was devastated to hear about the way his friends had been killed. “I don’t think Willie would hurt a fly, he was just a kind guy,” said Herzberg according to a CBS report. The couple was well-known and much-loved within their community.

Always There

Despite his old age, according to Herzberg, Wilbert was always ready and waiting to help someone in need – whether a family member or a perfect stranger. “If something came up he’d be there to help out. And the church people are taking it pretty hard,” Herzberg explained. “It’s something I never would have thought would happen to the Scheels,” Herzberg added.

Mental Problems

It was clear to just about everyone that Scheel had serious mental issues. As one neighbor, Sig Pheifer, who knew the family said to reporters: “Just to have children or grandkids do something like that, has to take a person with mental problems to do that,” he said. To make things even more tragic, Wilbert was amazingly active for a 93-year-old.

Community Member

According to Pheifer, Wilbert loved driving his old Cadillac in area parades and was always happy to offer a stranger a lift around town. He was often seen playing ping-pong with younger members of the community over at the local community center. He was also an active and valued member of the local Grace United Methodist Church.

Hard to Believe

Herzberg said that both Wilbert and Gloria knew that their grandson had issues, but they simply wanted to help him out in his time of need as he was estranged from his parents. “It’s pretty tough to go through,” said Herzberg. “It’s really sad someone could do that to their own grandma and grandpa. It’s hard to believe it,” he said.

Great Man

A local publication, WCCO, even featured Wilbert Scheel last year in their newspaper. As a proud great-grandfather, Wilbert spoke about his love for ping-pong as well as for his community. As a seven-time cancer survivor, Wilbert chose to play ping-pong at least four nights each week to stay in shape. He even delivered meals on wheels to other elderly and disabled couples for 20 years.

Business Owners

As well as being an integral part of the local community, the elderly couple were also successful business owners. They once owned and ran the former Black Saucer Motel and Cafe, and were also very active volunteers whenever the community needed them. The fact they were murdered in this way by their grandson was indeed tragic.

Guilty Plea

When it came time for the court case against the suspect, Gregory Scheel appeared before a jury of his peers at the Stearns County District Court. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, which he pleaded guilty to, and was sentenced to 60 years in prison without the possibility of parole until he reaches the age of 94.

Showing Remorse

It was clear to just about everyone that Scheel was indeed a troubled man suffering from some serious mental health issues. In court he showed remorse for his actions, saying: “Nothing I can say will ever bring back the two most loving, funniest, caring grandparents in the world.” But Scheel’s first cousin Stephanie Depinto had some choice words for the accused man outside court.

Justice Served

Despite the terrible loss of her grandparents, Depinto feels that justice has been served regarding the sentence handed down to Gregory Scheel. As Depinto said to him following the court case and verdict, “Now, finally, you’ll have to live with the consequences of your actions.” But Scheel admitted that his grandparents had always been good to him and given him numerous chances when he messed up.

Unconditional Love

Even though Scheel admitted that his grandparents had always treated him with “unconditional love” according to a Kare11 report, he still killed them. He sobbed throughout most of the hearing and was highly emotional. When asked if he wanted to make a statement in court, Scheel said: “I love you grandpa and grandma. I’ll never forget you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Grandson Who Plead Guilty To Killing His Grandparents Sentenced To 60 Years In Prison is an article from: LifeDaily

When Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared into thin air on March 8, 2014, en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, crash investigators were left at a complete loss. They had no idea what had happened to the aircraft which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

Without a crash site, there can be no investigation, and that’s why the disappearance of this fated flight sparked hundreds of conspiracy theories around the world. But a video producer and a tech expert now claim to have found parts of the missing plane using Google Maps.

Flight MH370

After the plane went missing, it was commonly referred to as “MH370”, “Flight 370”, or “Flight MH370.” But no matter what it was called, hundreds of families were desperate to know what happened to their loved ones; 227 passengers and 12 crew members were all presumed dead. After the crew lost radio contact with air traffic control just 38 minutes after takeoff somewhere over the South China Sea, people on the ground were left stunned and confused.

Deadliest Incident

Missing flight 370 was the deadliest incident involving a Boeing 777 and the deadliest incident in Malaysia Airlines’ history. When they lost another plane 17 months later, the combined financial loss caused the Malaysian government to re-nationalize the company at the end of 2014. But no one knew what had happened to flight 370 or where the remains of the aircraft and the people on board were.

Making History

The search for the missing plane was the most costly in aviation history. Initially focused in the South China and Andaman seas, the search later moved to the southern Indian Ocean due to the aircraft’s automated communications with an Inmarsat satellite. But a severe lack of information from those in the know had the Chinese people in uproar at the time.

Some Debris

While some pieces of marine debris from the aircraft washed up in the western Indian Ocean, a three-year search across a massive 120,000 square kilometer area yielded nothing. Meantime, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre heading the operation suspended their activities in January 2017. A private contractor called Ocean Infinity launched a search in 2018 but to no avail.

Biggest Mystery

The fated 370 flight is one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time, relying almost solely on satellite information. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said at first that a “hypoxia event” was the most likely explanation for the crash. Some claimed the plane was hijacked by terrorists while the Malaysian Ministry of Transport’s official report noted that the cause of the crash was “inconclusive.”

New Measures

As a result of the crash, in the absence of a definitive cause, numerous new safety recommendations and regulations within the air transport industry were introduced. They include increased battery life on underwater locator beacons as well as the lengthening of recording times on flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders. But two men claim to have found parts of the missing plane using Google Earth.

In Cambodia

When Ian Wilson, a video producer, claimed to have seen parts of the plane from flight MH370 in Cambodia, he vowed to travel there to see for himself. Wilson claims to have seen an engine among the wreckage from a Google Earth image of the area but another man, Daniel Boyer, a tech expert, also claims to have found the cockpit and tail of the aircraft.

Perfect Match

Boyer, who took Wilson’s lead told The Daily Star that the measurements of the image match perfectly with the engine size of the missing aircraft, being 4.3m wide and 2.7m in length. The other potentially encouraging fact is that Boyer’s “crash site” is just 10 miles from Wilson’s.

White Objects

The Google images certainly show something, although more investigation is needed to ascertain exactly what. Several white objects on the forest floor to the north-west of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, can be seen. To Boyer and Wilson, they are part of flight MH370.

Boyer’s Findings

In the interview, Boyer told the publication that he had measured one piece, at 17.8ft, which he thinks is close enough to the size of a Boeing 777’s cockpit, which left him “convinced” that he had found the front of the aircraft. He also insisted that he could see the red outline of the Malaysia Airways logo, which he claimed must be the tail.

Some Hope

Boyer said in the interview: “I couldn’t believe it when I made the sighting,” adding, “First the cockpit can be seen, and now this. The debris definitely needs to be investigated,” he said. And while the images from Google Maps did appear to show the outline of a plane in a remote part of Cambodia, it could have been any aircraft lying there.

Copyright Date

One issue that has hampered any further investigation of the site is the disparity between Google Earth’s copyright date and imagery date for the pictures. The images have had different years and months attributed to them, and this has led to speculation that the area has been photographed several times over the past few years.

Unlawful Interference

For their part, investigators of missing Malaysian flight MH370 claim they cannot exclude the possibility of “unlawful interference by a third party” following their release of the report by the Malaysian government agency. Wilson also believes that the plane parts in Cambodia are from MH370 and he plans to travel there as soon as possible to prove it. But there’s a good reason for that.

Finder’s Fee

Neither Wilson nor Boyer are working for charity. They are both interested in the $55 million finder’s fee for whoever manages to successfully locate the missing aircraft. Wilson and his brother were even making plans to go to Cambodia to search the place they saw on Google Maps.

Hiring Guides

Wilson and his brother feel confident enough that they booked flights to Cambodia. He told the Star: “After much discussion last night, we’re just organizing final vaccinations and the hiring of guides.” For Wilson, the potential finder’s fee makes the trip worth it even if it doesn’t turn out to be the missing Malaysian flight.

Plane Visible

To Wilson’s mind, the trip to Cambodia is well worth it. According to a report in The Express, “Whether it has been updated at all is questionable, regardless of the data Google gives it,” he said. “And if the plane was visible in 2014 as well and updates have been applied, then the plane must be there,” Wilson concluded. He also spoke about his plan to locate the plane once in Cambodia.

The Plan

Wilson told reporters: “The plan is still for me and my brother Jackie to go inside in the next few weeks.” Once they arrive, the brothers will go with tour guides, deep into the Cambodian forest to look for the aircraft. However, some aviation experts feel that the dates listed on the Google images don’t necessarily mean the image was captured on those dates.

Explanations Needed

Dr. Yu, an Open University academic, said it’s high time that Google gives some much-needed explanations. “It does require Google to comment on this,” he said. “If they cached the image since 2014, it is either the satellite they use never updated the datasets for four years, or there is a system glitch.” He suggests that a drone is flown over the area to confirm Wilson’s claims.

Gut Instinct

Either Wilson is correct with his gut feeling that the plane he saw on Google Maps is flight MH370 or he is being blinded by the reward on offer. He told reporters, “I feel like I know the plane is there and I just want to see it through to the end.” He added, “I want to go there and see the plane or stand there and go ‘oh, it’s definitely not here’ and then stop thinking about it.”

Needing Closure

Despite the finder’s fee and all the conflicting theories, so many families just want closure so they can move on with their lives. There are a thousand bereaved family members who want to know how their loved ones perished. Whether it was a technical fault, human error or a terrorist attack, these people deserve to know the truth. And the truth can only be investigated once the debris from flight MH370 is located.

Tech Expert Claims to Have Found Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Using Google Maps is an article from: LifeDaily

Most of the people who work in medicine are full of love for their fellow humans and feel it’s their calling in life to help others in times of medical need. Whether working as a doctor, nurse, surgeon or a first responder, few things are more satisfying and meaningful than saving someone’s life.

When one east Tennessee paramedic named Gordon Brett Stokes bragged openly on social media about having a drill and not being scared to use it, it raised some serious alarm bells which ultimately saw his paramedic license revoked indefinitely.

Teachable Moment

The whole story surrounding Stokes has raised some very uncomfortable questions about the process paramedics need to go through to qualify. When Stokes took to Facebook, bragging that he had intentionally drilled into a patient’s bone without anesthesia, he told other paramedics at the time that this was a”teachable moment” on how to deal with troublesome patients.

Serious Negligence

Stokes reportedly told a fellow first responder to insert a breathing tube into a patient’s nose coated with alcohol-based hand sanitizer instead of lubricant. That would be very painful for a patient who needed a breathing tube to survive and could be considered a type of torture. But Stokes made his intentions abundantly clear when he wrote on Facebook during the procedure.

Not Scared

The post, which was seen by all of Stokes’ social media friends, was shocking to its core. “If you should ever find yourself drunk in my ambulance, do not become belligerent,” he wrote. “I have a drill and I ain’t scared for a second to use it.” This man had a history of abusing patients and something needed to be done fast to stop him. But Stokes claimed he did nothing wrong when he showed other paramedics how to drill into a patient’s bone marrow.

Suing The State

According to Stokes, who was attending an emergency call for a drug overdose in Blount County, his intentions were twisted by the Tennessee Board of Emergency Medical Services to make him appear negligent and even psychotic. Stokes claims, according to a report in the Tennessean, that he was legitimately attempting to help the overdose patient at the time by injecting drugs into his bone and clearing his airway. He is now suing the state for revoking his license.

Witch Hunt

To Stokes, the whole thing was a witch hunt against him which he claims was unfounded. “It’s ridiculous. This was all a little witch hunt they did off a stupid Facebook post,” Stokes told The Tennessean. “I was trying to teach them something. I don’t know if they weren’t interested in learning or trying to save their skin, but needless to say, the whole thing came back and bit me in the a**.”

Training Drill

According to authorities, Stokes knew what he was doing when he carried out the procedures on a patient in the midst of an opioid overdose, who should have been rushed to the hospital for treatment. The fact that Stokes instructed two less experienced medical technicians to carry out the procedures simply made matters even worse. Stokes claims it was all part of an on-the-job “training drill” he was doing for his colleagues.

Pure Evil

But Stokes couldn’t explain away his intentions so easily when it came to the caption he added to the photo of that patient on Facebook. Why he posted a picture of a patient being treated for an overdose in the first place is anyone’s guess, but the caption was simply shocking. “I actually like the drill and ‘forgot’ the lidocaine bolus for this (expletive). Lubed his (nasopharyngeal airway) with alcohol hand sanitizer too. :-)” he wrote.

Ridiculous Bravado

Stokes admitted to posting the image and caption on Facebook but claimed that it was simply “ridiculous bravado” that did not accurately represent what occurred during the incident. He also said he had been a paramedic for 14 years and wanted his license back so he could practice in the future as a nurse. But after bragging openly about abusing a patient simply for fun, it’s questionable whether he will ever get a job as a nurse anywhere.

No Time

While records show that the overdose patient was already wearing a neck and back brace from a previous injury, Stokes thought this was a good opportunity to teach his colleagues a drill lesson. They told him at the time that the patient was clearly in the midst of an “obvious overdose” and that there was no time to “conduct class.” But Stokes proceeded with the class and paid no attention to their advice.

Wrong Procedure

When Stokes instructed his junior colleagues to inject the patient’s leg with Narcan, a drug used to reverse opioid effects, it was the wrong thing to do anyway. But Stokes defended his actions during that incident saying the injection was necessary and safely performed. He even thought he might be saving the patient’s life.

Saving Life

To Stokes’ mind, he was doing this patient who was overdosing a great favor. Stokes believed that the patient’s life was at risk and felt he had no choice but to carry out the procedure at the time. “At this point, this guy was not going to die,” Stokes said. “So I thought it was a great training opportunity for these guys.”

Good Airway

Following the unnecessary bone marrow injection, Stokes told his colleagues to insert a breathing tube into the patient’s nose. The colleague initially questioned this request insisting that the patient “had a good airway.” To that, Stokes simply replied, “that he would explain later.” What happened next was even more disturbing though.

Hand Sanitizer

The colleague smothered the nasal tube in lubricant as is standard practice. But at that point, and for reasons still unknown, Stokes told his colleague to remove the lubricant and use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer instead. He told the EMT’s with him that this had been a “teachable moment on how to deal with belligerent patients,” even though the patient hadn’t been belligerent at all.

Bizarre Lesson

Stokes claimed that his “teachable moment” was in relation to how to deal with a drug overdose and had nothing to do with a belligerent patient. He also claimed that he was simply teaching his colleagues that hand sanitizer could be used instead of lubricant in a case where paramedics had none. But why did he make them use it when the right lubricant was at hand?

Army Surgeon

In trying to defend and explain his actions, Stokes said that he learned the technique during his time working as an Army surgeon in Afghanistan. “I was taught that technique by an Army surgeon in Afghanistan,” Stokes said. “Everybody thinks that’s the craziest s*** in the world, but it’s actually not.” Stokes has been called “reckless and macho” for his actions, which led to his license being taken away.

Unanimous Agreement

The case against Stokes is clear-cut in many ways. When the Tennessee Department of Health petitioned to revoke Stokes’ paramedic license in September, government attorney Paul Richardson explained that the decision had been “unanimously approved” by all the members of the Emergency Medical Services Board. Stokes didn’t even bother showing up for the hearing which also worked against him.

Getting Defensive

While he didn’t attend the hearing, Stokes did write to the board, telling them to remove his license and to render it “null and void.” In a sick display of more senseless and macho behavior, Stokes claimed he now had no interest in being a paramedic at all and didn’t care in the slightest if his license was revoked.

No Interest

In the email Stokes sent to the Emergency Medical Services Board he wrote: “I have absolutely no interest in working as a paramedic again. Please mark me as never being eligible to reapply in case nostalgia gets the best of me.” But Stokes’ defensiveness won’t help him much as his license has been taken away and likely will never be returned.

Nursing Career

Stokes still wants to stay in medicine, even if he cannot work as an EMT. When state officials received the letter from him, they felt he was happy for his license to be revoked. However, according to Stokes, he was asking for a “null and void” finding to be able to work as a nurse in later life. A complete revocation would prevent him from doing that.

Patients Beware

This shocking story highlights the negligence that patients across the world face on a daily basis from medical professionals who favor their own agenda over the health of the people they are treating. While the case of Gordon Stokes is an extreme one, it does teach patients an important lesson when it comes to emergency medical procedures carried out by people who are not doctors.

Paramedic Loses License After Hurting Patients On Purpose Then Bragging About It On Social Media is an article from: LifeDaily

A murder victim’s final moments are full of fear, pain, and agony as the person’s hope for escape or rescue is replaced by the realization that their life is about to be cut short by a sadistic or unhinged killer.

In 2000, a jury heard the painful and agonizing way an innocent 20-year-old’s life was taken from her by her former roommate. As a result, the jury sentenced the man to death so he would also know what it was like to have his life cut short. According to witnesses, however, the killer’s final moments were more disturbing than they could have imagined.

May 19, 1998

According to authorities in Texas, May 19, 1998, was the last day 20-year-old Christina Muse was ever seen alive. That evening, Muse had gone over to her former home in Tyler, Texas to visit her former roommates, Troy Clark, and his girlfriend, Tory Gene Bush. Muse had only intended on making a short social visit to Clark and Bush, who she had only lived with for a short time. However, according to the police, Clark and Bush had another, more sinister plan for the evening that had stemmed from their paranoia.

Illegal Activities

Clark and Bush both used and sold methamphetamine and during the time that Muse had lived with them, she witnessed them on multiple occasions using and selling the drug. As a result, they had become paranoid that she would notify the police about their activity after she moved out.

Growing Paranoia

Instead of waiting to see if Muse would inform the police about the couple’s drug operation, the police claim that Clark decided to silence her before she ever got the chance. So on the night of her social visit, Clark made his move to carry out his plan.

Silencing Muse For Good

On the night of May 19th, Clark shot Muse with a stun gun. Once she was subdued, he proceeded to use duct tape to bind her hands and legs together. He also used the tape to cover Muse’s mouth so that she couldn’t scream for help. After that, he dragged her down the hall and stuffed her in a closet.

Business As Usual

Over the next few hours, Muse was left bound in the closet not knowing what Clark planned to do with her or what her fate was. Meanwhile, Clark acted as if nothing was wrong and played video games for a few hours and sold drugs to customers who came to the home.

The Attack

After several hours, Clark returned to the hall closet and moved Muse to the bathroom, where he intended to silence Muse for good. Clark then started hitting Muse with a heavy wooden board at that point. According to the police, Clark wasn’t alone in the attack.

Clark’s Accomplice

Clark had threatened his then-girlfriend into helping carry out his plan. After being beaten with the wooden board, Muse was in bad shape, but she was still alive. So Clark called Bush into the bathroom and forced her to help him drown Muse in the bathtub, which ultimately killed the 20-year-old.

Disposing of The Body

Once Muse was dead, the couple stuffed her body into a barrel. Clark and Bush then poured a water, cement, and lime mix into the barrel, which Bush had gone out and purchased that night. The couple then covered the top of the barrel with trash and dumped it in a ravine.

The Informant

Over the following months, however, police searched for Muse, who seemed to have vanished out of thin air. However, their investigation eventually led them to Muse’s former roommates after the couple’s friend, Tracy Mize, a defendant in a federal drug case, promised them information about Muse’s murder in exchange for leniency.

Another Disappearance

Unfortunately, Mize suddenly disappeared while helping authorities with their investigation into Muse’s disappearance and murder. According to the police, they believed Clark and Bush had discovered Mize was informing on them and made sure to silence her as well.

A New Informant

By that point, however, investigators already knew that Clark and Bush had something to do with Muse’s death, so they got Bush to turn on Clark and cooperate with their investigation. Bush admitted to the police what happened and what Clark forced her to do to Muse.

Finding Muse

Four months after Muse went missing, Bush lead police to the ravine off Texas Highway 64, which was on a piece of property outside of town that belonged to Clark’s landlady. While searching the property, police found the barrel with Muse’s body inside.

The Second Discovery

According to police, they also found Mize’s body floating in a septic tank on the property. “When you actually are out in a field, and you see a barrel with a woman’s body being taken away and a septic tank is opened up and you see another individual floating face down in it, it really grips you,” prosecutor David Dobbs later told media.

The Arrest

Police immediately arrested Clark, who had previously served time twice for possession of a controlled substance and was on parole at the time. In 2000, Clark finally went to trial for the murder of Christina Muse. During the trial, prosecutors presented the evidence they had found and a number of witnesses that testified against Clark.

Overwhelming Testimonies

One witness testified that Clark had not only killed Muse but also killed Mize and another man. They also testified that Clark had also raped a woman. Bush, who was also on trial for Muse’s murder, testified against Clark and gave a detailed account of Muse’s final moments.

No Doubt

“I have no doubt in my mind that Troy Clark killed Christina Muse and Tracy Mize,” prosecutor David Dobbs told the jury. “I’m not an expert on what causes this. I’m not an expert on what mitigation may have happened in his life. I just know that my job as a prosecutor for Smith County was to make sure our streets are safe. And our streets are safe without Troy Clark on them.”

A Bizarre Request

Despite the overwhelming evidence and witness testimonies, Clark insisted he was innocent and even claimed that Bush was the real mastermind of the murder. During the trial, Clark also took the stand, which his lawyers urged him not to do. “I really ain’t got no story to tell. It’s just I want the death penalty,” he told the court. At the end of the trial, the jury found Clark guilty and sentenced him to death. Bush was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the murder.

18 Years Later

For the last 18 years, Clark has been in prison awaiting his death. The entire time, he’s maintained his innocent in Muse’s murder. On September 26, 2018, 20 years after Muse was murdered, justice was finally served after 51-year-old Clark was put to death by lethal injection.

Clark’s Final Moments

According to witnesses, Clark again denied he was guilty of Muse’s murder in his final moments. “I’m not the one who killed Christina,” Clark said. “But, hey, whatever makes you happy.” Clark then addressed his friends and said he loved them. But what he did next, left witnesses disturbed.

Justice Finally Served

As Clark was injected with a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital, he continued to joke and laugh. “I feel it,” he said during his execution. According to witnesses, Clark said the injection “burned going in.” Clark then started grunting, gasping, and then snoring. Then, 21 minutes later, Clark was pronounced dead, which made him the 17th inmate put to death in the United States in 2018.

Death Row Inmate Offers Disturbing Last Words Before Sentence Is Carried Out is an article from: LifeDaily

Logan Kyle, 22, had already served his country numerous times. Four years prior, he’d graduated high school and went into the army, eventually finding himself shipped off to Iraq. The army had a positive influence on him and before long, he found himself moving up in the ranks.

By the time he returned home, Logan had become a corporal with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. Still, it was about time he returned home and put some effort into another important part of his life: his already rocky marriage.

High School Sweethearts

Logan Kyle and Shelena Gayler had been high school sweethearts at William Henry Harrison High School. When he graduated, Kyle worried that he might lose touch with a woman who, at that point, had been truly the love of his life. They were married in 2016, but thanks to Kyle’s secret passions, the marriage was rocky right from the start.

Lovers

Eventually, Shelena decided that she could not come to terms with her husband’s peculiar predilections and they separated while he was in Iraq. when he returned home, Kyle began dating Sarah Parker (pictured above), a woman he’d met on a dating website. Things were going well between them until Shelena reappeared. She wanted to make things work between them.

Death in The Family

Kyle and Shelena got back together and she moved into the on-base home they shared at Fort Polk in Louisiana. But there was something between them still, an animosity that Kyle couldn’t seem to come to terms with. One dreadful night, Kyle’s rage and frustration won out. He strangled Shelena to death in their bathroom.

Reasons Enough

So what did Shelena do to put Kyle over the edge? She had threatened to reveal Kyle’s deepest, darkest secret to his Army superiors. This secret was something that would not only end his army career, it could also potentially ruin his life if found out. Manly though he seemed in his Army day job, Logan Kyle still liked to dress as a woman in private.

Sexual Secrets

The 22-year-old fire team leader was secretly a fully-fledged cross-dresser. It was a secret passion, one that had put significant strain on his relationship with his wife, and would no doubt have given his girlfriend Sarah pause as well once she found out. This secret wasn’t just something Kyle did in the privacy of his bedroom, either.

Transexual

When he was in the mood, Kyle wore full make-up, women’s wigs, and feminine clothing, but not just for sex. In fact, Kyle had a desire to become fully trans. He had even confided in some friends that he even contemplated having a sex change once he left the army. Of course, that was only once he left. If they found out beforehand, there could be consequences.

Acceptance

Shelena could not accept his life in drag and had threatened to out him because of it. Sarah Parker, on the other hand, supposedly embraced it. She told him that she would love him no matter who he was. Once he had killed his wife, there was only one place left to go. He had to try and reconnect with Sarah, and dispose of the body of course.

Drive Off

Kyle carefully packed Shelena’s body into the trunk of his Nissan and drove off. It was an hour and a half to Sarah’s house, and the two hadn’t spoken for weeks, but he knew deep down that she would be there for him. Surely Sarah would understand why he had killed Shelena. Maybe she’d even help him dispose of the body.

Moving Day

As it happened, Kyle showed up on a perfect day. Sarah was moving out of her children’s father’s home and back to her own father’s house. So she could use the help. Kyle spent most of that Sunday moving her stuff to and fro, using mostly her car – mainly because he didn’t have the free trunk space.

Good-Mannered

Jackie Parker, Sarah’s father, recalled how polite and respectful the former Army man seemed that day. He was clean-cut, clean-shaven, and good-mannered. Seeing this handsome, young man laughing and helping his daughter move, he could never have expected that just a few hours earlier he’d killed his own wife.

Grandma’s House

Once they were done moving, Sarah decided to take her two young children, After moving her stuff back, Sarah decided to take her children, two-year-old Jakob, and 18-month-old Lisette, to her grandmother’s house for a visit. Grandma June lived an hour north, so she asked Kyle to come with them.

Strange Smell

While Sarah was seeing to her children, Kyle took the opportunity to transfer his dead wife’s body to the trunk of Sarah’s car. When she returned to the car, Sarah sensed something was off. Whether it was a smell, a sixth sense, or some other indicator, she knew that Kyle had done something horrible and she was about to find out about her own involvement in the whole affair.

Threats And Burial

Somehow, Sarah managed to get word to her grandmother about the crazy man in her car and the dead body he’d apparently smuggled into the trunk of her red Ford Taurus. Sarah confronted Kyle about the body and he told her that if she didn’t help him dispose of the body, he would kill her and her two young children.

Stalling

Nevertheless, the 24-year-old woman remained calm. She stalled, driving around the area trying to talk Kyle down. Eventually, her grandmother got the tip to the local police, who flagged down the red car and pulled them over. Rather than take just Kyle into custody, the police proceeded to arrest both he and Sarah Parker.

Hostage or Accomplice?

As far as Sarah’s family was concerned, she and her children had been held hostage by a mad murderer. The police had a very different interpretation of events, however. They insist that Sarah was a willing participant in Kyle’s attempt to dump the body in a nearby river. But was Sarah a hero, or an accomplice?

No Time

Currently, Sarah is being held in Lake Charles and is facing charges that could result in her spending upwards of 40 years in prison. Kyle, on the other hand, is in military custody and is being investigated by the US Army. He is likely to face a dishonorable discharge and jail time at the very least. Meanwhile, Jackie Parker is fighting for his daughter’s exoneration.

Family Danger

Jackie insists that if it wasn’t for his daughter driving Kyle around and stalling him for hours, the police would never have been able to locate Shelena’s corpse or prove that he was the one that killed her. “Kyle said he would kill her and her kids, and probably me too,” Jackie said. “She kept calm and stalled knowing the police would eventually come.”

Other Evidence

Despite all the talk of Sarah and her children being threatened, the police have indicated that they have evidence to suggest that she wasn’t coerced or threatened in the least. Though they have not seen fit to divulge what that evidence is at this time. Still, Sarah’s family remains convinced of her innocence.

Police Intrigue

Sarah’s aunt even told DailyMail.com that she knows someone in law enforcement, though not the lead detective, that there is empirical proof of Kyle threatening Sarah and their family. “She was in fear not only for her life but for the lives of her two young children.” Sarah is currently in jail on a $60,000 bond but seems to be upbeat.

Outed

The subsequent investigation into the whole sordid affair has also made certain that everyone in the world, including the US Army, now knows about Logan Kyle’s secret double life in drag. In the end, Kyle’s murderous decision ruined the lives of so many more people than just his own. It’s doubtful many will be shedding a tear for his lost privacy in this particular matter.

Military Drag Queen’s Double-Life Exposed After Soldier’s Arrest For Murder is an article from: LifeDaily

Normally, when a burglar breaks into a property, the unsuspecting owners or residents are the ones in danger of being harmed. However, sometimes those residents choose to fight back.

Recently, a Florida man decided to break into a property just days after getting out of jail. What he didn’t realize, however, was that the creatures living at the property are one of the most dangerous predators in the world.

The 911 Call

On the morning of November 6, 2018, a resident of the Lighthouse Park neighborhood of St. Augustine, Florida, called 911. According to the resident, at around seven in the morning, they noticed a half-dressed man crawling in the yard of their home. “We’re normally up pretty early,” Jeff Black told First Coast News about the Tuesday morning his wife spotted the man.

An Unusual Sight

“She says, ‘there’s a guy crawling next door in his boxers in the mud.’ Next thing I know, he jumps into our courtyard,” Black explained. At that point, Black’s wife decided to call 911. “There’s a man with only gym shorts crawling,” Black’s wife told the 911 dispatcher.

A Possible Burglar

“He’s just crawling with his shorts halfway down his [butt] and no other clothes. He was doing a slow, creeping crawl like he didn’t want to be seen,” she added. “The doors are locked and your dogs are inside?” the dispatcher asked the caller. “Yes, ma’am. But now he’s crawling back over the wall into our neighbor’s yard,” Black’s wife said during the 911 call.

The Police Arrive

The dispatcher sent officers from the St. Augustine Police Department that were on patrol over to the neighborhood. When they arrived, they saw the young man crawling and walking around just as the caller had described. At first, residents believed the man had been crawling around to avoid detection.

The Bite Marks

But as the residents watched him crawl out of a bush he had been hiding in when police arrived, they realized he was likely crawling because his foot was injured. According to Black, it appeared the man’s foot had been bitten. “He definitely had three good bites,” Black said.

An Outrageous Claim

“You could actually see the teeth marks. They were on the top of his foot,” Black added. However, what the young man told the responding officers made everyone think he was either delusional or high on drugs. “He kept saying, ‘I was held hostage in a pool with gators.’”

Held Hostage

“He says, ‘Yeah, I got bit by alligators.’ Everybody’s looking at him like, ‘OK, he’s got to be on something.’ He was wired. Clearly running on adrenaline or something,” Black added about the unusual story. According to the police, the young man told them that he had been taken by an old man and held hostage.

An Unlikely Story

The arrest report noted that the man told them that the “old man had the alligator on a leash and he was surrounded by all these baby alligators in the old man’s garage.” The man continued and explained that the old man was feeding him to the alligators and had forced him to drink a “black concoction.”

Medical Attention

While the officers didn’t know what to think about the man’s story, they could see his foot had been bitten by something and had him taken to Flagler Hospital for treatment. While the young man, who police identified as Brandon Keith Hatfield, was on his way to the hospital, the police received another unusual call.

Another 911 Call

This time, the caller was the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. They reported that the alligator farm, which was a little less than a mile away from the neighborhood where Hatfield had been found, had been broken into. According to staff members at the alligator farm, they believed someone had played a prank on them.

The Damage

The caller explained to police that they thought someone had vandalized the park because of the state of the property when they opened the farm that morning. As they were preparing for opening, the staff discovered several lamps and signs had been broken.

A Dangerous Prank

According to park director John Brueggen, they found a statue on a tiny island in the middle of the crocodile pit had been knocked over. What concerned them the most was that the statue can only be reached by swimming in the crocodile-infested water.

The Floating Croc

The reason they first believed the damage was a prank from vandals was that staff members also found a pair of shorts and a single Crocs shoe floating in the crocodile pit. But the staff quickly realized the damage wasn’t part of a prank after finding a lot of blood on the zip line platform that overlooks the crocodiles.

Connecting The Dots

During the 911 call, staff at the alligator park told them about what they had discovered that morning in the park’s crocodile pit. “Oh, I think we’ve already got the perpetrator in custody. We got somebody who told us they were bitten by an alligator,” an officer said in response.

The Surveillance Footage

The staff then played footage from their surveillance cameras from the previous night to see what had really happened. In the footage, a man can be seen jumping into the pit of the Nile crocodile enclosure from a roof that was 20 feet high. The man can then be seen swimming on the pond, which had three deadly crocodiles ranging from 9 to 12 feet long.

Four Hours With The Crocs

The surveillance footage shows the man, who police believe was 23-year-old Brandon Hatfield, stayed in the park for about four hours. During that time, he caused more than $5,000 in damage to the property. He also spent that time swimming in the pond and sitting on the edge of the water.

A Brush With Death

At one point, the footage shows a 12-foot crocodile lunge at Hatfield and bite down on his leg and foot. Hatfield managed to fight the crocodile off and escape with his foot still intact. When police asked Harfield about what happened the night before, however, he seemed to have no idea that he had almost been killed.  “Oh no sir, I wasn’t,” Hatfield told the police when asked if he had been at the alligator farm.

The Charges

Police charged Hatfield with Burglary and Criminal Mischief for the incident. They also charged him with violation of probation after discovering he had been arrested for being caught with methamphetamine and stealing a car and had been released from jail just three days before breaking into the park.

Concerning Behavior

“I’m concerned about him. I don’t know if it was a suicide attempt or if he was on so many drugs he didn’t know what he was doing,” Brueggen told First Coast News. “I think it’s sad to see anyone going through what he was going through,” Black added. “Whether drug induced or not. He was clearly out of sorts. He was lucky to be alive.” Police said that they tested Hatfield but the results of his toxicology report have not been made public.

A Lucky Escape

According to Brueggen, Hatfield is likely only alive because the crocodiles, which easily could have killed him, were in shock. “I think really the saving grace for him is just a total shock on the crocodile’s part. It was totally shocking that it was such a prey item,” Brueggen told Action News Jax. “They are a very aggressive type of crocodiles,” according to Gil Costillo, who has worked with the animals for 40 years. “They contribute to a lot of deaths. The fact that the guy is still alive, he’s very, very lucky.”

Florida Burglar Bitten And Arrested After Breaking Into Animal Enclosure is an article from: LifeDaily

When 21-year-old Hannah Cornelius dropped her friend and fellow student Cheslin Marsh off at his house in Cape Town, the two were interrupted in the driveway outside by four men. When a screwdriver was pressed against Cornelius’ chest through the open window of her car, she knew she was in trouble.

After the students were forced out of the car by the men, who robbed Marsh and put him in the trunk of the car, the girl pleaded with the men to spare her life. But she had no idea what was in store for her that night.

Caught Off-Guard

Cornelius had enjoyed some drinks and good music with her friend Marsh that night. When she dropped him home just after 11 pm, the two remained in the driveway chatting for a while about school. When four tall men approached and threatened her through her open car window with a screwdriver, Cornelius complied fully and did what she was told, begging not to be killed.

Back Home

With Marsh in the trunk and a very scared Cornelius in the back seat, sandwiched between the men, the group drove back to one of their houses to smoke some crystal meth. They then drove out of Stellenbosch and took the two friends to a nearby vineyard which was secluded. What happened next was unnecessary and brutal.

On a Rock

As if the night couldn’t get any worse for these two students, Marsh was dragged out of the trunk of the car, beaten and told to lay down and place his head on a rock on the ground. The four men then proceeded to beat his skull with bricks they had found nearby until they assumed he was dead. Then they turned their attention to their other victim: Hannah Cornelius.

Double Murder

Having had their way with Cornelius, the gang decided to murder her, smashing in her skull with bricks as they had done to Marsh. Having dumped her lifeless and bloody body on the roadside, the four men embarked on a drug-induced crime spree, robbing three women and then getting caught during a high-speed car chase with the police that night.

Lucky Escape

The following day, Marsh regained consciousness in the field where he had been left to die. He awoke with a pounding headache and a broken arm but managed to drag himself to a nearby home to raise the alarm about Cornelius. But it was too late; she had already been gang-raped, murdered and left by the side of the road. The four men were arrested by police and taken into custody.

Former Magistrate

As a magistrate himself, Cornelius’ father William was well-versed in the ways of the court. Following his daughter’s death, however, he announced he was resigning from his job for fears that he could no longer remain impartial due to his circumstances. He spoke in court about his daughter Hannah and the great love the whole family had for her.

What They Did

Finally, it came time for William to take the stand at the Western Cape High Court. He revealed that he had been unable to sit through the proceedings until then. “I couldn’t bear to hear what they did to my daughter,” he said according to a Mail Online report. He said that the effect of his daughter’s brutal murder was “beyond devastating.”

Exceptional Child

In his heartbreaking address to the court, William said about his daughter: “I suspect all parents believe their children are exceptional, and we were no different. Almost from birth, Hannah proved to be different from what we believed was the norm.” But Hannah also displayed amazing traits as a young child, which Mr. Cornelius felt were noteworthy to mention.

First Tantrum

The atmosphere in the court was broken to a degree when the bereaved father spoke, with a tiny grin on his face about his daughter. “There were no feeding problems, no terrible twos, no teething difficulties,” he recalled. “In fact, the first time she cried without an obvious reason, we were so anxious we asked our family doctor to attend to her in the middle of the night. We were mortified when he informed us that she was having her first tantrum,” he said.

Helping Out

When Hannah’s brother was born with autism, she became “part of management, with a share of duties and a say in decisions” about him. While always excelling at school, Hannah never gave her parents any trouble and was always there to lend a helping hand no matter what was needed at the time. The girl’s kindness was evident from a young age, as William explained.

New Church

William went on to extol the virtues of his daughter, telling the court: “I recall an incident in her early teens when she gravely informed us that she did not want to attend our church anymore, as it did apparently not make provision for her Muslim friends to go to heaven,” he explained. But more tragedy lay ahead for this poor family, who all but fell apart after Hannah was murdered.

Coping With Loss

William explained that his wife, Anna, had struggled to cope with the loss of her daughter in such a brutal way. He revealed that one day she “walked into the ocean and didn’t return’ after struggling to cope with her loss.” Even though he claimed that his wife was a “shadow of herself” after the murder, he doubted she committed suicide in the ocean.

No One Knows

As if this family hadn’t been through enough tragedy already, the strange death of his wife was a further nail in the coffin. William explained to the court that while “no-one really knows” what happened to his wife; describing her as “the strongest and most competent person I have ever met,” he said she decided to go swimming in the ice-cold Atlantic Ocean one day.

Gave Up

William explained: “I do not believe that she committed suicide. but what I do believe is that she did not have the physical or mental strength left to counter any difficulties that she may have experienced,” he said. The fact that she was quite ill at the time, having had the flu and a chest infection, could have been a factor in her tragic death.

Changing Track

The bereaved father and husband explained that since his daughter’s murder, his wife had changed track in her life, leaving her thriving law practice and focusing on the foundation she set up in memory of her daughter. “She turned her back on a successful law practice and plowed every bit of energy she had into the foundation with absolutely no regard for her health or any other practical consideration,” he said.

Left Alone

Having lost his daughter and wife, William was left to care alone for his autistic son. There wasn’t a dry eye in the courtroom when he explained, “The most obvious observation of the effect of what happened is the manner in which my life has contracted. There is no real joy or anticipation, no hope or expectation for the future, no goals to strive to – just an obligation to give my son as much of a life as he can have for as long as he can.”

Quick Death

Perhaps the only piece of information that could bring some solace to the bereaved father was what the pathologist in the case concluded. While her death was brutal and unceremonious, Dr. Deidre Abrahams concluded that Hannah died quickly from blunt force trauma to the head. She explained the details to the people in court, including Mr. Cornelius.

Multiple Injuries

“The skull is made of very strong bones. It is not easy for a skull to break or crack unless a lot of power is used to break the skull,” explained the state pathologist according to News 24. “This would have been a very painful experience to the person,” she added but concluded that the victim had been hit twice with a rock and that her skull had been crushed to the point of fatal brain damage. But the victim had also received a fatal stab wound during the attack.

Stab Wound

Before she had her skull crushed during the callous attack, Cornelius was stabbed with a screwdriver in the lower neck. According to Abrahams, that injury could itself have been fatal as it had pierced a vital gland in her neck. The fact she died quickly is just about the only silver lining in an otherwise tragic case of rape and murder for no good reason at all.

Life Sentence

The other good thing is that the four men who raped and killed Hannah Cornelius will likely receive life sentences for what they did. Geraldo Parsons, Vernon Witbooi, Van Niekerk and Nashville Julius all have a string of charges behind them already, including aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and rape. There is little doubt that the justice system will find these men guilty and that they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Former Magistrate Mourns Loss Of Wife And Daughter After Brutal Attack By Four Men In Cape Town is an article from: LifeDaily

Even with the lessons we’ve learned from our parents, teachers, foolish friends, and countless movies and TV shows, it’s entirely possible that each and every one of us will do something stupid when we’re young. Luckily, most of the mistakes we make in our wild youth tend to be damaging only to our pride and reputation. Not everyone is so lucky, however.

Some stupid mistakes like driving under the influence, breaking and entering, or being a little too fervent with someone you’d like to get to know better, can be life-changing. Though many of them are made in the moment, these decisions can wind up costing us our entire future.

A Good Kid

Sam Ballard was a normal young man, maybe a little bit boisterous at times, but an all-around good kid if you asked his family. If you asked his friends, they’d tell you much the same thing. He was a fun guy, the life of the party, and though he may have pushed the envelope, he never really did anything wrong.

Wine Night

This particular distinction may seem innocuous at first but will become much more important as Sam’s tragic story unfolds. The tragedy itself began on a night like many others. Sam and his friends were hanging out in his backyard, drinking some red wine and laughing raucously.

One Drunken Night

To give true credit to Sam, it must be understood that everyone around him generally thought of him as a larrikin, a rambunctious, often badly behaved young man. It was 2010 and 19-year-old Sam was about to make a decision that would not only change his own life, but it would also change the lives of everybody around him forever.

Idle Chatter

Sam’s friend, Jimmy Galvin, recalled the moment years later in the wake of Sam’s passing. “We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown up and a slug came crawling across here,” he explained. Strange and harmless as it may sound, it was that slug that would change everything.

One Drunken Dare

The unassuming slug crawled slowly passed them, making its painfully slow way across the concrete patio. Buzzed as the whole lot of them were, the teenage boys began to discuss the little mollusk. A dare emerged and one of the boys suggested that Sam should eat it. Sam looked around at his mates and considered it.

Crazy Sam

The consideration didn’t last long, a moment later and the teen had picked up and swallowed the poor creature. Oddly enough, he didn’t throw up. He took the dare like a man. Everyone cheered him on. Though he felt no ill effects that night, or even a few days afterward, Sam did notice that something seemed off in the coming days.

Nothing to Worry About

A few days after the slug dare, Sam was feeling some pretty intense pain in his legs. He worried that it might have had something to do with the slug, but his mother assured him he was fine. Australia may have had its fair share of venomous animals, but no one ever got sick from eating poor, defenseless slug.

Medical History

Sam’s next concern was that he was beginning to develop Multiple sclerosis, a condition that his father had suffered with. That diagnosis was quickly ruled out, which gave him some relief. The leg pain continued and more tests had to be done to determine the cause. What Sam and his mother didn’t know, however, was that they were running out of time.

A Rare Disease

Doctors did more tests and soon discovered the cause of Sam’s increasingly-severe illness. Somehow, the teen had gotten himself a parasite known as Angiostrongylus cantonensis, otherwise known as rat lungworm. It’s a parasite that is usually found in rodents, but thanks to their propensity for eating rat feces, can also be found in snails and slugs.

Rat Lungworm

That wasn’t even the worst of it. A rat lungworm parasite infection can also lead to other, more dangerous diseases as well. In time, Sam contracted a serious case of eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis. It’s a debilitating disease that many people eventually recover from. Sam, however, would never fully recover.

Coma

Soon after the diagnosis, Sam’s doctor’s began treatment. It was too late though, he soon fell into a coma. He wouldn’t wake up until more than a year later, 420 days to be precise. When he did finally wake, his condition has worsened severely. He had a brain injury and was no longer able to move or speak.

Needing Help

Nevertheless, he still seemed to be the same cheeky young man as before, if only a bit more subdued. Unable to feed himself, go to the bathroom, or even walk properly, Sam needed round-the-clock-care. Sam’s mother, Katie Ballard, was devastated of course, as was Sam, and the coming years would test both of them in many ways.

Working Hard

At first, Sam wasn’t able to move his limbs at all. In this, he depended on his mother and friends immensely for help. Eventually, through hard work, perseverance, and a fair bit of physical therapy, he was able to reclaim some movement. Still, the chances of Sam coming back fully to his old self were slim.

Hope for Recovery

One of Katie Ballard’s Facebook post from 2011 indicates a hope that her “rough-and-tumble Sam” would eventually recover. It was something most mothers would hope for, the idea that the person they thought they’d lost would come back to them someday. It couldn’t have been easy for Katie either, taking care of Sam’s every need for so long a time.

Fighting for Sam

In the years following the slug incident, Katie spent years fighting for adequate care for her son. When all was said and done, the family received an initial sum of $471,000 towards Sam’s care. Meanwhile, Sam’s friends came over whenever they could. It was a shock at first, seeing him all tied up to cables and unable to move, but it was still Sam after all.

Sharing Beer

Sam and Jimmy would watch football together and even share a sip of beer if Katie left them alone for a while. In time, Sam began to respond more clearly to their questions and prompts. He knew what was going on and he knew they were there. This was especially true on the day Jimmy decided to apologize.

Could Have Stopped It

While they were sitting and watching football one day, Jimmy looked over to Sam and apologized for not stopping him from eating the slug that night. If he’d only stepped in and prevented that seemingly-innocuous bit of idiocy from happening, all of the pain could have been prevented. Sam began to bawl his eyes out at the admission and the two cried together.

Eight Years Hence

Sam was mostly paralyzed for over eight years following that fateful night. He never fully recovered as his mother Katie hoped and recently passed away from his condition. Despite how hard he tried and the love of his friends and family, Sam just couldn’t go on fighting. He was not alone at the end.

Sticking With Sam

Sam passed away surrounded by his family and loyal, loving friends. Even at the end, he was able to get out last words. He told his mother, “I love you” and passed from the world. His friends, the same friends who were with him the night of that youthful mistake, stuck by his side for the entirety of his struggle.

Safety

Sam’s mistake was a simple one, he was young and he leaped without looking where he was going. It was a stupid mistake, one that but for a twist of fate, may not have ended his young life the way it did. Hopefully, Sam’s example will help to keep millions safer from the same fate. Don’t eat slugs, kids.

Teen Falls Into A Coma After Eating A Slug, 8 Years Later He Says His Final Goodbye is an article from: LifeDaily

No matter where you go or where you look in this world, you’re going to find someone taking advantage of someone else. It’s a sad state of affairs and something that most people don’t prefer to dwell on.

Every so often though, a story comes along that despite the unpleasantness of it, forces all who hear of it to sit up and take notice. This is a tale of an unscrupulous group of people who took advantage of others in the worst way possible.

Investigation

Linda Weston was already in custody when her landlord decided to call the police on her. The landlord couldn’t be sure, but they had a feeling that something funny was happening in the basement, something dangerous and illegal. Police officers were dispatched to Weston’s home in northeast Philadelphia.

Derelict House

The officers arrived at the derelict house and forced their way down the creaking basement steps. In the squalid boiler room of the home, the police found four, highly malnourished adults. Looking around, they saw that while all of them appeared to be trapped, one man, in particular, was even chained.

Found Them

The four people looked though they had not seen any shred of daylight for a very long time. The basement itself was unfinished, dark, and dank as anything. With the exception of the man tied to the boiler, the other three victims were forced to sleep on a plastic mattress directly on the cold, concrete floor.

Worst Thing

Once the press folks got wind of the whole sordid affair, they quickly began adding their own spins and assumptions to the tale. There was no denying that the things Linda and her family were doing were cruel and unusual, but even the captivity wasn’t the worst of it. It was their motive for imprisoning these people that was worst of all.

Mentally Disabled

Tamara Breeden was one of the four people in the basement. At the time of her capture by Weston, Tamara was only 20-year-old but possessed of the mental capacity of a ten-year-old. Weston had seen her in public and had convinced her to enter her car by telling her she was taking her to babysit. It was a simple, effective ruse.

The Plan

Weston and the others involved had gone after Tamara and the others because they all possessed some sort of developmental disability. Tamara would go to the basement and join their other mentally-impaired captives and Weston and her three co-conspirators would collect all of their disability checks. Their plan was simple and foolproof, or so they thought.

Dragged and Beaten

On the day she was taken, Tamara was dragged into the basement with the others. She was chained to a boiler and beaten with a metal bat until she subdued. Though she held her hands up to protect her face, she still suffered broken bones and lacerations. Both of which would heal improperly under Weston’s “care.”

Extreme Abuse

In addition to the initial beating, Tamara and the others were also beaten fairly regularly with sticks, chains, and other bats. Weston and her accomplices would come down and shoot them with BB guns, and would frequently bring them to a trailer where older men would come and force themselves upon them. This wasn’t a new tactic for Weston either.

Money Troubles

When Weston lived in Florida and Texas, she had done much the same. She had forced two, younger female victims into prostitution in order to earn money for her family. It seemed that Weston was determined to use others no matter the locale. It just so happened that Philadelphia presented the most viable long-term solution.

Killed

There is proof that prior to moving to Philly, Weston was responsible for killing two others. Maxine Lee was a disabled woman who died of meningitis and starvation while living with Weston in Virginia. Another woman allegedly died after Weston fed her drug-laced food while keeping her captive in a laundry room. Neither was successfully blamed on Weston.

Possibly More

Even though police only found four people in that basement, they believe that there were many more victims over the years, several of whom might have actually died in captivity. The belief is that within the past few decades, at least a dozen more victims would have been trapped there for a time, though there is no physical record of such a thing.

Praying

While she was imprisoned, Tamara spent much of every day praying to Jesus that she would be saved and reunited with her family. This continued for a decade. It wasn’t until 10 years after she had first been kidnapped that Tamara lifted her head to see police officers creeping their way into the basement. They had been saved. Her prayers had been answered.

Children

There was some complication of sorts in the rescue process, however. As the prosecution was digging into the case, they discovered that Tamara had been forced to copulate with one of the other captives as well. Not simply have sex either, she was expected to get pregnant; and she did. She’d given birth twice in her decade of captivity.

Piecing it Together

Things like this were all part of Weston’s modus operandi for a time. She would kidnap people all over and move them from place to place; a trailer in Texas, an attic in Virginia, or a basement in Philly. That was why police believed there were so many victims, there could indeed have been dozens.

Time Served

By the time the charges were finally filed, Weston had already served some time for another man she’d kill via starvation three decades earlier. Apparently, she hadn’t learned her lesson, not by a longshot. Eventually, she pleaded guilty to 196 criminal counts. These included: kidnapping, racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering, hate crimes, sex trafficking, and fraud.

Sentencing

The reason that she had so graciously agreed to plead guilty to what essentially amounted to a life-sentence-worth of charges was basically that the alternative was that she’d get the death penalty. Weston decided a lifetime in prison was better than a short span with a needle at the end. While she awaits sentencing, her victims are trying to move on.

New Focus

Tamara Breeden’s life has changed greatly since her release. She lives with her parents in Kensington. Her daughter, Ava Olivia is her youngest and lives with them. She spends much of her time now focusing on Ava and her other two children born in captivity. She’s also started focusing on her art which is partial therapy as well.

Optimistic

Those who know her describe Tamara’s spirit is unshakeable. It was part of what got her through the dark days in that Philadelphia basement. At this point in time, Tamara’s children are everything to her. Despite her newfound happiness, she still feels the scars of her incarceration, not just physical, but mental as well.

Scarred but Beautiful

Today, Tamara’s physical scars are the obvious reminders of her beatings and abuse. She wears one of them on her forehead, the evidence of a first pistol whipping. “I see my scars every time, but I say to God, I am still beautiful and I am still alive,” she said in a recent interview with DailyMail.com.

Never See a Dime

Attorney Steve Wigrizer, who represented her during the course of the trial, has also spoken out about his client’s experience. “She endured a concentration-like existence for 11 years.” Wigrizer had helped her win a $45 million default judgment about Weston. Unfortunately, the victory was more symbolic than anything else. As the defendants failed to respond to the lawsuit, and given her captor’s previous means of earning money, it’s unlikely that Tamara will ever see a dime. “It is unlikely that this verdict is going to be paid. We knew that going into it, but we thought it was really important to make a statement,” Wigrizer said in a statement.

Woman Held In Basement For 10 Years Wins $45M Lawsuit, But Is ‘Unlikely’ To Be Paid is an article from: LifeDaily