Every child on this planet deserves at least one loving parent to raise them. Yet, while every child deserves this, unfortunately, not every one gets it.

One Florida girl knows this all too well, as all she’d ever wanted was her father to be present in her life. He’d spent her whole life in and out of prison and when she finally thought he would be home for good, she got a lot more than she bargained for…

Numerous Charges

Willie Griffin, 39, spent a large portion of his life in and out of the American prison system. He’d been arrested on numerous occasions on charges including cocaine and marijuana possession with an intent to manufacture and deliver, assault with a deadly weapon, homicide, and manslaughter by negligence.

Serious Tattoo

It’s safe to say that Griffin, who resides in Kissimmee, Florida, did not have the law on his side. His records go as far back as 1999, and he even has “Killer Thug” tattooed on his back. Griffin wasn’t hiding anything, not even from the police, and judging by the path he was on, he was on track to spend the rest of his life in prison…

Missing From His Daughter’s Life

Being in and out of jail for almost 20 years affected one very important person in Griffin’s life tremendously, and that person was his daughter. Being only an infant at the time Griffin was incarcerated, it was uncertain if his daughter would ever get to see him out of jail.

They Found A Way To Communicate

But Griffin found a way to keep in touch with his daughter during the times that she was unable to visit him. Despite being on the inside, Griffin gained access to a computer, and he communicated with his daughter through Facebook…

Contact Through Facebook

On January 17, 2012, he wrote a Facebook post, the first of many, about loving a woman who he knew loved him back too. It was obvious he was speaking about his baby girl. At the time, she was 12-years-old and she responded on Facebook in the comments saying that it’s hard to live without him.

She Missed Her Dad

It was clear from her words that she missed her father. Even though he’d been away for most of her life, the bond between father and daughter was still there for all to see. But it wasn’t long before things began to go bad for the her…

A Dangerous Path

Soon her life took a turn for the worst. She began skipping school and getting high almost every day. In turn, her grades plummeted, and it was obvious the absence of her father was slowly tearing her life apart. But, in a Facebook post, Griffin told his daughter to be strong and that he would be home soon. Then, on August 11, 2013, she responded.

She Still Loved Her Father

The girl visited her father’s Facebook page and posted that she loved her “thug” daddy. In response, Griffin posted on his daughter’s page, calling her, “My lil thug ms.” While this exchange of language may seem normal to some people, in this instance, there was something more going on…

Birthday Post For His Daughter

Fast-forward to September 18, 2013, when Griffin posted a photo collage of his daughter on her 13th birthday. In the caption, he noted how good his daughter looked, and it was clear she matured since he was first locked away in prison.

Finally Reunited

Then, a few months later in 2014, Griffin was released from prison, and he was finally able to reunite with his teen daughter, who by now looked like a young adult. Griffin attended her school’s games, where she was a cheerleader, and he seemed to be doing all the things that a father active in their child’s life would do. Except, there was one problem…

Something Seemed Off…

People on social media began speculating that there was more going on between the father and daughter than they were led people to believe. Family members even alleged that Griffin had been sexually assaulting his daughter for years…

Sexual Abusing His Own Daughter?

This would have meant that whenever he wasn’t in jail he was sleeping with his own daughter. Once this news broke, users on social media paid closer attention to Griffin’s Facebook posts, whose page was public at the time. But like clockwork, Griffin wound up back in jail, and this time he stayed there until he was released again three years later on January 22, 2017. He had not yet been charged with sexually assaulting his own daughter…

Their First Birthday Together

In September 2017, the teen was elated to spend her 17th birthday with her father. She wrote in a post that while her dad had not been there for her last 16th birthdays, she was happy he’d make it for this one. But one month later, she shared a post that raised a few eyebrows…

Surprise Pregnancy!

In October 2017, the teen shared a photo detailing the great news that she was pregnant with a baby girl. Some observers on the Internet began to speculate on who the father of the child was, since Griffin was allegedly sleeping with his own daughter.

The Baby Shower

While it sounded sick, it was possible that Griffin fathered his own daughter’s child. Despite this, the family threw the teen a baby shower before she gave birth, and Griffin was pictured right next to his daughter with his hand on her baby bump.

It Could Very Well Be His

The timing of baby Ava’s birth even made sense for Griffin to be the father, because if she was 3-weeks-old on November 8, that would make the due date almost nine months to the day of Griffin’s release. However, the police would need a DNA test to charge Griffin with a crime…

Arrested Again

Low and behold, on November 15, 2017, Griffin was arrested for incest and sexual battery of a victim ages 12-17. Social media went nuts following his arrest, and so did Donna, Griffin’s ex-partner.

Disgusted

She wrote on her Facebook page saying that she doesn’t understand how [Griffin] could have sex with a “child,” and that it’s “nuts,” “sick,” and “unbelievable.” So, in other words, it seemed she was alleging that the incest was true…

Defending Her Child

The teen even took to social media herself to share her thoughts and address people’s concerns about the allegations. She said, “188 friend request[s] & they keep coming … If i didn’t believe there was a God that’ll get me & my family through this … Ya’ll can talk about me all day & night, but when you speak on/about my child it’s a different story … Idc what the situation is.”

The Charges

Reportedly, the charges of incest and sexually battery of a victim ages 12-17 are still being held against Griffin. Now, it’s up to the justice system to determine the next course of action. The likely next step would be for a DNA test to be conducted to determine who the real father is.

Disturbing Photo Reveals Just How Close Father And Daughter Were is an article from: LifeDaily

For a young child, parents are supposed to be a source of constant love, protection, and support. For children with drug-addicted or abusive parents, however, life at home is anything but that.

After being raised in a toxic home with abusive and drug-addicted parents, one woman found herself homeless and filled with self-hatred. She was ready to end it all until she heard a voice that led her down a path she had never even dreamed of…

Early Life

As a child, Dani Johnson grew up on welfare in a home that no child should ever have lived in. Both her mother and step-father were drug addicts and she was subjected to physical, emotional, mental, verbal, and sexual abuse by her violent step-father every single day.

The Abuse Worsens

As Dani got older, her parents’ drug addiction had worsened, which meant her step-father’s extremely violent temper had only gotten worse. Life for Dani was completely unbearable at home, but she turned to her faith and the Church to help get her through it all…

A Scandal

However, when Dani was just 17 years old, she became pregnant by the deacon’s son, and she was no longer accepted by the only support system she had ever had. Dani gave birth to the baby out of wedlock and decided to give her child up for adoption.

Looking For Forgiveness

While at church, Dani had always been taught about forgiveness and hoped that the community would extend that same courtesy to her at such a difficult time in her life. However, the teenager was brutally judged and shunned by her fellow Christians…

Excommunication

“[They] had all kinds of judgment and major criticism and even almost excommunication,” Dani said about the community’s reaction. “In fact, my parents would not talk to me after that which was so hilarious because the lifestyle they led, what right do they have to judge?”

On Her Own

After that, Dani left her church and her home and started supporting herself. At 19, she got introduced to the idea of becoming an entrepreneur when a boyfriend invited her to a symposium where millionaire entrepreneurs were speaking. That day, a seed was planted in Dani’s head…

High School Drop-Out

Dani knew that even if she was only a fraction as successful as the speakers, she would be making more money than she could make working any other job as a high school drop-out. For the first six months, Dani was failing miserably, but then things started to turn around.

Making Money

Over the next six months, Dani attended six seminars and actually started making some money. However, at one of the training seminars, she met a man and thought she had fallen in love with the man of her dreams. “Within seven days I was married to him,” Dani said…

Married To A Con Man

At 21 years old, Dani was married for the first time and followed her new husband to Hawaii. A few months later, Dani discovered her prince charming was really just a con man when he abandoned her and left with all of her hard-earned money.

Abandoned And Homeless

Not only did the con man steal all of Dani’s money, but he left her with a crippling debt. “I was left with $2.03 to my name, a $35,000 debt, completely homeless, 50 pounds overweight,” said Dani, who then was fired from her job. “December 1 I was evicted from my house and I was completely homeless.”

Rock Bottom

Dani thought she had hit rock bottom, but then her life spiraled even further out of control. Dani started doing drugs, the one thing she vowed never to do. “I was stoned out of my mind for two months – sleeping with eight different guys. I got to eat only by dating all these people,” said Dani, who was living out of her car and was struggling to make enough money to survive as a waitress.

Self-Loathing

“I realized that I had become worse than the family I grew up in and that was devastating,” Dani explained. “My whole life was filled with horror and terror and lies and I vowed that I would never be like my family. And there I was doing cocaine…”

Suicidal

On Christmas Eve, Dani went on an alcohol and cocaine binge with other waitresses at the beach. When she woke up the next morning, she was filled with so much self-loathing that she tried to end it all by drowning herself in the ocean. But as she was under the water, she heard a voice that told her to ‘pick up your mat and walk.’

The Voices

Dani rolled up her beach mat, hiked a mile to her car, and drove 45 minutes back to the beach she was living at. All the while, a war was going on inside her head. One voice was telling Dani to turn her life around while the other voice in her head was telling her she was worthless and to drive into the ocean…

Finding The Solution

“I have no idea why I chose to listen to that first voice,” said Dani, who started thinking trying to figure out her options. She knew no one, had no money to buy a plane ticket back to California and needed about $4,500 to rent an apartment. Dani went to bed that night in her car without any solution, but when she woke up the next morning she found her answer.

The Answer

“There was this weight loss program I had purchased long before I was homeless, lying in the back seat. I had used it for a week. I never paid attention to it before. And it just caught the corner of my eye in the sun,” Dani said. “I picked it up and it was as if this thing was saying, ‘I’m your answer.’”

Starting A Business

Dani went to a payphone, called the manufacturer, and decided to start selling the program in Hawaii. She used every last cent to set up the business out of her car and put up hand-written fliers around the island. She made $2,000 the first 4 days and $4,000 worth of sales the next month. Soon enough, Dani had enough money to get off the streets and even opened up a weight-loss center to better meet the needs of her customers and growing business.

Finding Love

That first year, Dani earned a quarter of a million dollars and made a million by the end of her second year. She quickly started expanding the business by training employees and opening up more weight loss centers. While opening up a center in California, Dani met her future husband, Hans, when he applied to work at the new center the day it opened. Soon after, Dani was pregnant…

Selling The Business

Dani was on top of the world, but within two years she was broke again. She had been embezzled and lost her clients. Dani was again suicidal, but Hans stopped her. Dani then rebuilt the business and sold it in 1996. By that point, she was a multimillionaire and went on to become a bestselling author, an international speaker, a radio talk show host, and all while running five companies.

Where She Is Today

Today, Dani lives in Northern California with Hans and their five children. She has since been reunited with the daughter she gave up for adoption and has four grandchildren. “When I got the call for Secret Millionaire; when I got the call for Oprah, I still ask myself, ‘Is this really happening? Is this really real or am I still sleeping in my car in Hawaii, and I’m going to wake up and it’s all been a dream.’ There was a divine purpose [to my homelessness] – it wasn’t for nothing, it wasn’t for my humiliation – it was for my purpose. And I accept that now.”

Homeless Woman Becomes Millionaire After Voice Tells Her To Start A Business is an article from: LifeDaily

The people that discovered the nearly-decapitated and wholly disfigured remains of famous soccer player Daniel Corrêa Freitas, didn’t really know what they were looking at initially. It would have been hard for anyone to tell what they were seeing really, considering how much blood was splattered about the scene.

The soccer player’s mutilated remains were found in a bush in São Jose dos Pinhais, part of Brazil’s southern state of Paraná. It was a chilly October night and the body was bereft of most clothing. As to what happened to earn the famous footballer so ignominious an end, that remained to be seen…

Football Kid

Daniel Corrêa Freitas was practically born with a soccer ball at his feet. Right from the start, Daniel showed a remarkable aptitude for the sport. Growing up in his hometown state Minas Gerais, Freitas’ career really came into focus at the age of 19, when he began playing for Botafogo as a skilled attacking midfielder.

Damaged Potential

Unfortunately, a series of injuries to his right knee broke ligaments in the limb and hampered any chances of him playing for the senior team. Still, Freitas’ potential was such that he was transferred to São Paulo following his recovery. Sadly, his injuries proved to be persistent and grievously affected his burgeoning career.

Met His End

Freitas’ injuries kept him off the pitch for two months and he took that time to spend at least one, relaxing weekend in Parana on his club’s dime. In Parana, Freitas attended some parties, hobnobbed with some folks, and ultimately, met his untimely end at the hands of two people whom he had believed he could trust. If you ask them though, he had it coming.

COD

When Freitas’ body was first discovered, the Parana Scientific Police and the Medical Legal Institute (IML) did an initial forensic investigation on the slaying. Their initial findings revealed that the cause of death was a stab to the neck. The implement used would have had to be exceptionally sharp because it cut deeply into Freitas’ upper cervical muscle, exposing his spine.

Emasculated

Not only did the killer nearly decapitate the football star, they also took extra time to literally emasculate him. The forensic team was able to determine that someone cut off and removed his genitals after Freitas was dead. Whoever had done such a grisly and vicious thing must have been harboring a great deal of rage against the deceased.

Party Night

The police retraced Freitas’ steps the night before he was found. He had been to a nightclub and had been seen partying with a family there. Though they had been strangers before that night, a few drinks had ensured a potentially long-lasting friendship. Unfortunately, after Freitas left the club, no one recalled where he went.

Last Seen

Freitas had been last seen at a nightclub and the trail went cold. Nevertheless, authorities were determined to get to the bottom of things. They continued to assure the public that they were working their hardest to find the killer. A few days later, someone came forward and admitted that he knew exactly where Freitas had gone after the club; because he’d brought him there.

Birthday Party

Edison Brittes, his daughter Alana, and his wife Cristiana had gone to the club to celebrate Alana’s birthday. There, they met up with the handsome, 24-year-old soccer star. The Brittes family were enamored by him almost from the start and they invited him to continue the birthday festivities at their house. This turned out to be a fatal decision.

Dangerous Waking

It was in the early hours of the morning that Cristiana Brittes awoke to find the athlete in her bed, rubbing his apparently erect penis on her body. He was completely naked. She screamed and Edison came running toward the bedroom. The door was locked, so he shouldered it open with all his might, busting it at the hinges.

What He Saw

“When I went to the room,” Brittes alleged as he explained the situation to police. “The door was locked. Daniel had entered the room and taken off his clothes and locked the door. I broke open the door to my bedroom. When I opened the door he was on top of my wife. She was screaming for help.” However, even from the start, something about his explanation didn’t add up.

Violent Attack

After that, Edison jumped on the man, thrusting punches and eventually stabbing him in the neck. He was crazed, worried for his wife, and his family. Outside the room, the 10 or so other guests heard what was happening and wondered what they should do to help. By the time any of them got into the room, Freitas was already dead.

Alone

When confronted with the evidence, Edison told police that he’d committed the murder alone and dragged the body into the thicket by himself as well. Despite this, the evidence concluded that Freitas couldn’t have done so alone. Injuries on his thoracic and thighs indicated two people carried him. In a house of almost a dozen, who else could have been involved?

He’s On Her

For her part, Cristiana remembered little before she woke up to find the naked footballer in her bed. She was drunk, perhaps a little too drunk and at first, she thought it was a dream. It seemed a reasonable explanation for why Edison reacted the way he did. But this alleged account was not what it seemed, as police would soon discover.

Conflicting Accounts

The more detectives looked into the murder, the less the conflicting stories of the night’s activities made sense. Edison’s initial account said that he busted the door open with his shoulder, but a subsequent interview saw him change his story. This time, he came in through the window. And that wasn’t the only revelation police were about to receive.

Lying in Bed

Eventually, Cristiana came forward and admitted that the whole thing had been a misunderstanding. Freitas wasn’t trying to assault her and she hadn’t actually screamed. What she had done, was take a fake picture of the soccer player lying in bed with her and sent it to her husband as a joke. Edison Brittes was not the kind of person to take such jokes lightly.

Backfire

The hoax backfired when Edison lost his temper and began to attack the innocent soccer player with impunity. This revelation was coupled with new forensic reports that clarified Freitas’ drunken state precluded any sort of sexual assault; the man was too drunk to do just about anything except go along with Cristiana’s insane plan.

Multiple Charges

The not so harmless prank has since resulted in a number of charges against not only Edison Brittes, but his wife and daughter as well. Cristiana is being charged with murder, procedural fraud, and coercion of witnesses. There is also a chance that some of the other guests may be charged as well for their complicity in keeping the secret.

Accusations

Even though he admitted to the murder, the Brittes’ family lawyer, Cláudio Dalledone, has challenged the self-imposed allegations. His position is that “’Cristiana tried to prevent the player from being attacked…” He added that more than one witness even heard her calling for help so that they could stop Edison from killing Freitas.

Not So Alone, After all

Seven people who had been at the house to celebrate Alana’s 18t birthday were also arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder. According to the police, Eduardo da Silva, Ygor King, and David Willian even participated in the kill and were with Edison when he brought Freitas into the bushes to finish the job.

She Knew

It remains to be seen what kind of sentence all of these people will receive for Freitas’ murder. What we do know is that Cristiana knew all too well what type of temperament her husband had when she sent that picture. She knew what would happen and she did it anyway. She is as culpable as Edison in his death.

Police Link Brazilian Footballer’s Mysterious Murder To Lethal Couple’s Lies is an article from: LifeDaily

Ryan Jimmo was the pride of Canada when he proudly represented his country in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was best-known and most-loved for his record-breaking seven-second knockout of Anthony Perosh until one day, tragedy struck.

At the age of 34, Jimmo found himself in a parking lot in Edmonton, Canada, with his fiance having a dispute with a guy driving a truck during the early hours of the morning. What happened next was unexpected and completely unnecessary…

Born Fighter

Having been born in Saint John, Canada, Jimmo was the youngest of four siblings and was taught martial arts by his father from a young age. Jimmo’s father, a 5th-degree black belt in karate, taught little Ryan everything he knew as he saw a special spark in his youngest son and a real talent for fighting. Jimmo was just 10 years old when he began competing.

True Winner

Jimmo’s father was right about his son, who found himself competing and winning both provincial and regional championships at such a young age. The young lad also competed nationally before he got into mixed martial arts. He was also an amateur bodybuilder and president of the chess club at his school. His career started in the Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC) when he debuted against football player Adam Braidwood.

Trademark Moves

Having debuted at MFC 11, Jimmo went on to MFC 14 and 15 in between the various local appearances he made. He amassed an impressive record of a 5-0 score over that time with two wins by his trademark rear-naked choke. The other three wins were by TKOs and Jimmo was ready for The Ultimate Fighter tryouts.

Ultimate Fighter

Having achieved a 6-1 record, Jimmo was chosen as one of sixteen light heavyweights in the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter. His first fight was against veteran fighter Antwain Britt who defeated Jimmo by a majority decision after just two rounds. At the time, Jimmo said he was disappointed by the defeat, but noted according to an Edmonton Journal report, “Dana White said it was probably one of the better fights of the day, so that’s good. The UFC already has their eye on me.”

Comeback Time

Having been eliminated from The Ultimate Fighter, Jimmo returned to his local circuit where he clocked up another three victories. He then decided to re-join Maximum Fighting Championship and made it to MFC 21 where he beat Mychal Clark by 30–27.

Most Notable

Every fighter has that one notable fight that puts them in the history books, and that was no different for Jimmo. His fight against Wilson Gouveia at MFC 25 was an epic one, as Sherdog, an American website devoted to mixed martial arts noted at the time: “Jimmo has all the tools and an affable personality that makes him championship material. Unfortunately, though, Jimmo has failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities to cement himself in the title picture because he hasn’t been a big finisher despite a 12-fight winning streak.”

Getting Released

Having faced Ovince St. Preux in 2014 at UFC 174, Jimmo came out fighting but was defeated by his opponent, after he was forced to verbally submit in the second round. Around a year later, Jimmo lost again to Francimar Barroso at UFC Fight Night 67. He lost that fight by a unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the UFC. To all intents and purposes, Jimmo’s career was over.

Visiting Edmonton

At the age of 34 and standing at six-foot-three, Jimmo was visiting Edmonton one weekend with his girlfriend. The two were engaged and were enjoying some time away together. In the early hours of one Sunday morning, the couple was driving west down Whyte Avenue in a Jeep having just seen a movie. What happened next would change the course of many people’s lives forever.

Unfortunate Altercation

That night, Anthony Getschel was driving in the same direction as Jimmo and his girlfriend with his friend Jordan Wagner. The two had been drinking heavily at the Cook County Saloon and had even had a fist-fight with some people at the bar before they left. During that fight, Getschel had been knocked to the ground.

Confrontation Time

Jimmo thought that 23-year-old Getschel had been driving aggressively behind him and signaled for him to pull into a strip mall parking lot at the intersection of Whyte Avenue and 101 Street. He probably should have left it but he didn’t, and that decision cost Jimmo his life.

Window Slap

As soon as Jimmo and his girlfriend pulled into the parking lot, Getschel exited his vehicle and slapped the driver’s side window of Jimmo’s car. As Jimmo got out of his car, the other car sped around the Jeep and struck Jimmo, dragging him for a few meters. The truck then sped out of the parking lot and fled the scene.

Fatal Injuries

Passersby called 911 and also flagged down a cop car that was passing. Jimmo was still conscious but badly injured. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital but died soon after arrival from his injuries. Getschel then hid his truck in the Mill Creek Ravine and took a cab home to avoid law enforcement.

New Plates

At the time, Getschel was forced to make up a bunch of lies to his family. He told them that his truck had been stolen, but he picked his truck up a day or two later and got new fake license plates through a registry, claiming the plate had been stolen. His ploy failed, and Getschel was soon arrested and taken downtown for questioning.

Guilty Plea

Getschel, who was working for a moving company at the time, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ryan Jimmo, admitting that he ran him over on that night. Having entered the guilty plea at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton, the defendant also pleaded guilty to failing to remain at the scene of a fatal collision.

Tough Sentence

While the defendant was convicted of manslaughter, he was handed an eight-year prison sentence which some people feel is too light. He will also be banned from driving for another eight years after he leaves jail. He was given six years for the murder and another two years for fleeing the scene of the murder. Justice Paul Belzil described the incident as a “complete tragedy.”

Pointless Death

Justice Belzil spoke about the pointless and unnecessary death of Ryan Jimmo: “One man died for nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he told the courtroom filled with friends and family. At the same time, Jimmo’s mother Linda told the court, “I am numb. Sometimes we can’t watch TV; we can’t sleep, eat, hear a certain song.” Linda’s impact statement was also heartfelt and tragic.

Impact Statement

Linda Jimmo told the packed courtroom during her impact statement: “Ryan, you never told me how I was supposed to live without you for the rest of my life. When you died, so much of us died too,” she said through tears. For his part, Getschel, a father-of-two also showed remorse in court, and that’s the reason his sentence was lighter than expected.

Very Sorry

Addressing the court, Getschel said: “I’m very sorry for the pain that I caused,” he said as he turned toward the Jimmo family. “I’ll never be able to forgive myself for what happened.” Both the Jimmo and Getschel families were audibly crying inside the courtroom as the defendant did what he could to make amends and apologize for what he had done.

Fighting Hard

The court heard that at the scene of the altercation, Jimmo’s fiance, Roxie Reese, was hugging him as he laid dying on the ground in the parking lot. “I was telling him I love him and to fight. And he fought really hard, Ryan did, for his life,” she said. But nothing could bring Ryan back, and Reese realized that he was most likely not going to make it.

Extremely Concerning

While Justice Belzil said that Getschel fleeing the scene and trying to cover up his actions was”extremely concerning,” he explained that he needed a lengthy penalty for that. Getschel surrendered his driving license in court ahead of his sentencing as both families look to rebuild their lives after this tragic and unnecessary incident. He will serve eight years in prison for his crimes.

Man Who Killed MMA Fighter In Parking Lot Altercation Sentenced To Eight Years is an article from: LifeDaily

Many high-profile disasters have highlighted the dangers of private air travel. Despite the fact that flying private has become safer since the 1970s, it still remains much more dangerous than commercial flight.

According to Live Science, what’s troubling to federal safety experts is that the accident rate in general aviation hasn’t budged much over the past decade. Here’s what happened to six friends on a flight to Las Vegas…

Flight To Las Vegas

Just 15 minutes after a private plane took off on a flight to Las Vegas, it plummeted into TPC Scottsdale Champions Golf Course. The Scottsdale Police Department confirmed the plane carrying six people did not have any issues prior to taking off.

Air Traffic Controller

“Are you experiencing any difficulty?” an air traffic controller asked the 28-year-old pilot, James Pedroza. “Uh, we’re good, we’re just a training lesson,” Pedroza replied. Despite this final call to air traffic control indicating there were no issues, the plane crashed right after the call.

TPC Scottsdale Champions Golf Course

The Piper PA- 24 Comanche went down on the TPC Scottsdale Champions Golf Course, which is the sister to the Stadium Course, where the PGA’s Waste Management Phoenix Open is held each February. The police department confirmed that the crash killed all six passengers.

Passengers

Mariah Sunshine Coogan, 23, Anand Patel, 26, Helena Lagos, 22, James Pedroza, 28, Erik Valente, 26, and Iris Rodriguez Garcia, 23, were pronounced dead due to the crash. But the Federal Aviation Administration has not yet determined why the plane went down in the first place.

Wreckage

No one on the ground was hurt from the crash, according to Kevin Watts, a Scottsdale Police Department spokesman. Investigators at the site examined the burning wreckage next to a tree.

Investigation

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Eliott Simpson told CBS News that investigators were working to “gather as much evidence as we can and try not to jump to conclusions” about the cause of the crash. He added that investigators would document how the plane hit the ground and determine if it hit any trees on the golf course and examine the burn scar left by the plane.

Evidence

“Today, we’re going to be basically gathering perishable evidence and on-scene data, actual data gathering,” Simpson told reporters. He said the evidence will then be taken to a remote storage facility for closer examination.

Audio Tape

Investigators will also listen to the audio tape of the pilot talking to the airport tower during takeoff. As for the family and friends of the deceased, they are all grieving. “Everybody on that plane was just getting their lives started,” Coogan’s friend, Ryan Beatty said.

Video Before The Crash

Before the planned crashed, a video emerged showing the passengers on the plane while they were still alive. In the video, Maria Coogan, a model who had been training horses in San Diego, turned her cellphone’s camera to Anand “Happy” Patel, an entrepreneur from Los Angeles, who was sitting next to her before takeoff.

Anand Patel

In the video, Patel flashed a peace sign and smiled. His twin brother Akash Patel told KPHO-TV that his parents are in denial that their son is gone. “We were shocked, and they are still shocked, and they’re hoping that there’s a miracle that he comes back,” Akash said.

Instagram

Coogan has over 32,000 followers on Instagram and regularly posted pictures of herself with friends or in a bikini. The Arizona Republic reported that Coogan left high school in 2012 in order to pursue a modeling career.

Mariah Sunshine Coogan

“She was eager for adventure, and I always found her easy to speak with,” Principal Graham Rutherford of Cardinal Newman High School in California told the news outlet. “She got on well with many students, too.” Coogan’s family told the TV station that she will be missed.

James Pedroza

Another passenger, James Pedroza, worked as a host at a gay nightclub in Las Vegas, according to his friend Garrett Pattiani. “I am sad that he is gone but loved how he lived life to the fullest. He was wanting to see the world and travel,” Pattiani told The Republic.

Living Life To The Fullest

“He never judged anyone and was always there to stand up for his rights…He will be missed,” Pattiani added. Pedroza’s roommate, Micah Griggs, says that he’d been dating the other passenger in the crash – Lagos, for six months.

Best Friends

“They were pushing six months, it was a big deal,” Griggs told Fox 5. “They were just dynamite together. They just loved life.” Griggs said he always had a fun time with Pedroza, saying they were best friends.

Lived For Adventure

“‘Hey I hung out with James today and did nothing,’ said no one ever,” Griggs said. Pedroza has over 12,000 followers on Instagram, who enjoyed watching him on adventures. It’s apparent from his account that traveling is Pedroza’s passion.

Twin Brother

Patel’s twin, Akash, said that his brother loved to travel and enjoyed being an influencer on Instagram, where he has over 41,000 followers. Akash said, “My brother was taken away from us doing what he loved to do the most, which was spending time with his friends and flying.”

Data Gathering

Authorities are looking into whether the plane was equipped to carry six people. “Right now, it’s something we’re trying to find out,” investigator Simpson said. “We’re going to be basically gathering perishable evidence and on-scene data, actual data gathering.”

Surveillance

A month after the horrible incident, surveillance video was released showing the plane flipping sideways in the air before bursting into flames. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane’s wings became nearly vertical seconds before crashing.

Video

The video appeared to be captured from overhead a major highway. Cars drove in both directions as the plane fell to the ground, casting smoke overhead. Memorials were held for all the victims since the horrible accident.

Instagram Stars Killed In Private Plane Shared Video Right Before Crash is an article from: LifeDaily

In the case of murder, suspicion almost always falls first upon the shoulders of the spouse or significant other. The idea that the wife, husband, boyfriend, or girlfriend did it seems the most obvious: but even the most dedicated investigators can get the information wrong some of the time.

Jodi was, in general, a good girl. But she was still fourteen and therefore still a teenager and therefore prone to rebellious or experimental endeavors. One of these endeavors was her relationship with her less-than-stellar boyfriend…

Grounded

Jodi’s social life was in disarray, which for a fourteen-year-old girl is a catastrophic thing to have happen. She wasn’t allowed out, wasn’t allowed to talk to her friends outside school, and perhaps most disastrous of all, wasn’t allowed to contact or see her boyfriend Luke. There was a reason for that of course, as Luke was the bad influence that got her in trouble in the first place.

Healthy Upbringing

You see, Jodi had been punished by her mother for smoking cannabis and ditching school, both at the suggestion of her good-for-nothing boyfriend Luke. Despite these little indiscretions though, Luke wasn’t exactly a bad kid. His parents had separated when he was 11 but overall he had been brought up in relatively comfortable surroundings and opportunities. Still, Jodi’s mother wasn’t fond of him…and for good reason…

Dealer Turned Boyfriend

Luke was in the same class as Jodi at St. David’s RC High School in Dalkeith, Scotland. In the beginning, before they became an item, Luke supplied Jodi and her circle of friends with a healthy supply of cannabis. It was in March 2003, that their relationship moved to the next level. In no time at all, their budding emotional connection moved to something sexual.

Cheater, Cheater

Unbeknownst to both their parents, the 14-year-olds soon became intimate. They were too young of course, but what hormone-addled adolescent is going to take that as a logical justification to stop? Luke had his own secrets from Jodi too, however, and he was not only sleeping with her, but another girl at the time as well…

Free to Go

It was June 2003 and the summer was just coming into its own when Jodi Jones found herself grounded for smoking pot with her boyfriend. She had been stuck in the house for weeks and her mother had finally decided to let her out. On June 30, 2003, at 5 pm, Jodi went out to meet Luke Mitchell for their first date in weeks.

Haven’t Seen Her

But Jodi didn’t come home that night when she was supposed to. Judith Jones couldn’t believe it, she’d given her more than enough latitude, all her daughter had to do was return the favor by making sure she got home by curfew. She wasn’t answering her mobile so she called Luke’s cell phone to see where she was. He answered but told her that he hadn’t seen Jodi all night: she had never shown up…

Call the Police

Luke Mitchell volunteered to help search for her while Judith called around to her daughter’s other friends to see if anyone else had seen her. Unfortunately, nobody else had seen Jodi either that night. With nowhere else to turn, Judith called the police. The whole neighborhood was soon out and scouring the area for the missing teen.

Grim Discovery

It wasn’t until approximately 11:30 that night that Luke finally shouted out that he thought he’d found something. There, deep in a secluded wooded area and behind a wall, was Jodi’s body. She was dead, stabbed to death by some unknown assailant. As if that weren’t enough, the killer had decided to mutilate her corpse as well…

Warned Her

The path on which Jodi was found was one that Judith had warned her daughter against traversing many times. She would insist that if she did go down that road, she make sure she was accompanied by Luke. It looked like on that fateful night, Jodi had chosen, in one last act of rebellion, to ignore her mother’s warning.

Comfort Lake

Luke was a mess after he’d found the body and, seeing the pain she felt in another person, Judith Jones decided to go over to his house so that they could comfort one another. Despite the fact that Luke Mitchell was in every way a grieving boyfriend, the police seemed to think that he had something to do with Jodi’s murder. After all, he had found the body relatively quickly…

Problems Arise

Judith went home and spoke to police, who explained their theories about Luke’s involvement. This revelation gave her pause, she had never liked Luke and thought him a bad influence, but she never imagined him capable of killing anyone: much less her daughter. The Jones family made it known that Mitchell was not welcome at the funeral and school authorities became concerned that he should not be allowed back into the general population at school, though they cited that it was for his own safety…

Rotten Alibi

Mitchell was suspended two months later. When police took him in for questioning, he explained that on the night of the murder, he’d been home alone between 5 and 5:45 pm. This alibi was soon contradicted by his brother, who said that he too was home alone during those times and that Luke wasn’t home at all. It was enough to cast significant doubt upon Luke’s verity…

Witness

Soon after, a witness came forward with information about that night. She told police that she’d seen a young man who looked like Luke Mitchell, standing with a young girl at the woods near Roan’s Dyke at around 4:55 pm. After that, they discovered a knife pouch marked “JJ 1989-2003” and “The finest day I ever had was when tomorrow never came.” which may have belonged to Luke.

Arrested at Last

Originally, following his discovery of the body, Mitchell was questioned as a witness, but as ca happen in cases like these, he quickly became the main focus of the investigation. The media soon weighed in on law enforcement’s suspicions and began to speculate that he was the sole suspect. Within 10 months, police had enough to arrest and charge Luke Mitchell with the murder of his girlfriend Jodi Jones…

The Case

The prosecution’s main argument against him was that if the knife pouch had belonged to Luke, it was a bizarre way to commemorate someone: unless you’d killed them of course. The defense however alleged that all the evidence against him was completely circumstantial and that without DNA evidence, they couldn’t tie him to the murder.

Not Guilty

The whole time, Mitchell insisted that he wasn’t guilty and that he had nothing to do with the murder. Despite the contradicting evidence, he maintained that he was home cooking dinner at the time of her murder. Yet, despite this position, he did not testify at his trial. It was the longest and most expensive of a single accused in Scottish legal history…

Obvious Verdict

Finally, on January 21, 2005, the came back from their paltry five hours of deliberation and rendered a guilty verdict upon the accused. Luke Mitchell, who was sixteen at the time of his conviction, was condemned by Judge Lord Nimmo Smith as being “truly wicked.” The judge even tacked on an additional charge of supplying cannabis and sentenced him to 20 years to life.

Another Suspect

Then, in May 2007, two years after they believed the whole mess was over with and justice was done, a BBC Scotland Frontline Scotland documentary aired which explored an alternate theory: that Luke Mitchell was not the real killer. They believed that the real killer might actually be a student and heavy drug user who handed in an essay about killing a girl in the woods a few weeks before the murder…

Documentary

According to the documentary, a friend of this unnamed suspect had seen him soon after the murder, scratched up and clawed about the face. The original case had drawn some disturbing parallels to the original Black Dahlia murder, which the prosecution had accused Luke Mitchell of being fascinated with prior to Jodi Jones’ untimely death.

Maintains Innocence

The Jones family of course, who were just beginning to get over their loss, were reported to be “outraged” at the program and the fact that it cast doubt against the obvious culprit. For his part though, Luke Mitchell maintains his innocence and denies any involvement in Jodi’s murder to this day.

Police Eye Drug-Dealer Boyfriend After Girlfriend Goes Missing is an article from: LifeDaily

The convicted murderer sat in his cell, awaiting the day of reckoning. It had been nearly four decades since he committed the crime that landed him there; a lifetime for some unfortunate people. All that time, waiting for the moment to come and finally, it was time to pay the piper.

This sort of thing happens in prisons all over the United States. Capital punishment has remained a part of many states’ law enforcement methodology for many years. But 61-year-old convict David Earl Miller’s execution is a bit different than those that came before him; he got to choose how he died. And his choice might surprise you…

Didn’t Intervene

Cliche as the notion was, part of Miller believed that he might actually get a reprieve from Tennessee’s Governor Bill Haslam. Unfortunately for him, that sort of thing rarely happens these days, even in strange cases like his own. Governor Haslam declined to intervene in his execution and it would proceed as scheduled.

Decades on the Row

Miller had spent 36 years on death row. If you think that sounds like a long time to be on the chopping block, you’re not alone. Many death row inmates spend years waiting for their execution, but very few wait that long. Finally, it was Miller’s time to go and the method he’d chosen to ensure his punishment was one that hadn’t been used in years.

Wetting the Sponge

And so, Miller sat down in the chair in his cream-colored jumpsuit. Water dripped down his cheeks, not tears, but the water from the sponge that they’d applied to the top of his head. This water would conduct the electricity from the apparatus directly to his brain, killing him instantly and ensuring a swift end.

One Last Bright Spark

Even as he sat there, the 61-year-old inmate was made aware that he was only the second person to be executed by the electric chair in many, many years. His was about to be the third time since the 1960s. The other person, Edmund Zagorski, came before him and made the same choice. But why would anyone make that choice given the other options available?

By Definition

The Death Penalty, sometimes known by its proper name as Capital punishment, is defined as the government-sanctioned practice of the state killing a criminal as punishment for a crime. Capital offenses, that is to say, crimes punishable by death include, murder, treason, espionage, crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes.

A Choice

Miller and Zagorski had been given the choice between lethal injection and the electric chair, both of which had been previously considered to be the most humane way to end someone’s life. Proponents of lethal injection would argue that this was the more painless and humane of the options available, but the convicted killers were not so sure.

Final Words

The shroud covered his head and he looked down into the darkness of it. The gathered reporters, officials, and victim’s family members before him watched on as the state executioner asked for his final words. Miller thought for a moment and said, “It beats being on death row!” and they threw the switch.

One Long Zap

Two jolts of electricity were administered and the muscles within Miller’s entire body clenched violently. The blinds to the chamber were lowered and a few minutes later, the gathered crowd was told that he was dead. Many who witnessed wondered why Miller would choose that method but in order to get answers, we must look into the practice itself.

History

The practice of executing criminals is a historic one. Since the beginning of civilization, nearly all societies have used it as a means of ridding themselves of criminals who for one reason or another, have been deemed too dangerous to be kept alive. This was especially true until the beginning of the nineteenth century when developed prison systems became practical enough to use.

Types of Capital Punishment

In the modern age, those who still use capital punishment do so by using many different methods. The most common of these include, hanging, firing squad, electric chair, and lethal injection. These days, almost all other methods have been superseded by lethal injection. Before their deaths though, Miller and Zagorski had heard some unwelcome things about that particular punishment.

Miller’s Choice

Originally slated for lethal injection, the two inmates argued in court that Tennessee’s current midazolam-based method was not as humane as everyone made it sound. Their argument was that it could cause a prolonged and torturous death, and they had the evidence to prove it. This evidence came in the form of the August 2018 execution of Billy Ray Irick.

Rough Time of It

Despite Tennessee having adopted the lethal injection as it’s preferred method more than two decades prior, the method was still prone to some rather unwelcome kinks. Billy Ray Irick’s injection was indeed lethal, but it took him 20 minutes of coughing, huffing, and turning purple before he expired. The chair was looking like a better alternative, even for as a cruel a criminal as Miller.

Conviction

In 1981, David Earl Miller was convicted of killing 23-year-old Lee Standifer, a mentally handicapped woman who he’d taken out on a date. Standifer had been born with mild brain damage and Miller knew that going in, but something about what she said or did on the date convinced him that she needed to die.

Brutal Murder

Miller had killed the woman in a particularly brutal way as well. He beat her and stabbed her with a fire poker until she was dead until he dragged her into the nearby woods. Even though he had done this terrible thing, he still had the same rights afforded to him as any other incarcerated American, so he got to choose his manner of dying, even with complications.

Punishment Served

The State attorneys had been worried that Miller’s choice of the chair meant his family could sue for unconstitutional capital punishment, but the fact that he had chosen it, precluded that option. Because they could find no more humane way to end his life, the case never made it to the courts and Miller’s punishment was served.

Malfunctions

Some of you may be wondering why Zagorski and Miller got the choice at all? It all goes back to an older statute in Tennessee concerning inmates whose crimes were committed before 1999. The choosing of the chair was not without its own perils. The maker of Tennessee’s version of “Old Sparky” actually warned that it could malfunction. Thankfully for them, it didn’t.

The Face of Execution

It’s no surprise that states have moved away from the electric chair in recent decades. If movies like The Green Mile are any indication, it can be a brutal form of capital punishment, and disastrous for everyone involved when it goes wrong. Robert Dunham holds the title of executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and he has some things to say on the matter.

Unconstitutional

Though Dunham’s office doesn’t take an official stand on the death penalty, it is critical about its application, especially in terms of how constitutional or unconstitutional it is. About two decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue of the electric chair and only agreed to hear about it because of a series of botched executions in Florida.

All Over

Ultimately though, Florida decided to adopt lethal injection, and the case against the electric chair in the Supreme Court was dropped. Today, fifty-six countries retain capital punishment, America among them. China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, among all mostly Islamic countries; places where nearly 60% of the world’s population live, still utilize the practice.

No-Kill Nations

There is a lighter side to things, however. Nearly 106 countries have completely abolished the Death Penalty for ordinary crimes, though they admittedly still come to it for war crimes. 28 of these countries have abolished it entirely. Time will tell if the age-old practice remains part of our justice system or if it goes the way of the dodo.

Convict’s Last Words Shed Light On Country’s Capital Punishment Practices is an article from: LifeDaily

When Justin Barber and his wife April sneaked into the Guana River State Park just outside Jacksonville, they were celebrating their third wedding anniversary. The couple knew entering the park was illegal, but they weren’t harming anyone, so they didn’t see an issue.

Barber claims that he and April were approached by a man in a baggy shirt who demanded money from them as well as their car keys. When that altercation turned nasty, things took a turn for the worse…

Happy Couple

The couple had married back in 1999 and were visiting Jacksonville to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. According to their friends and family, this couple was happy together and often took trips away to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. However, this trip was different and ended in tragedy…

Romantic Walk

The Guana River State Park was officially closed at the time, but both Justin and April decided that they wanted to take a romantic walk on the beach hand-in-hand. According to Barber, he and April were approached by a man with a gun who mugged them on the secluded beach. April was shot in the face while Justin was shot four times – twice in the shoulders, once under the right nipple and once through his left hand, he claimed.

True Hero

While Barber claimed that he had stepped in front of his wife to save her life, taking four shots himself, his body language and general demeanor said otherwise. When police took him to the site of the incident to recount the events, he acted strangely, pinching his eyes to make himself cry. But police and one particular body language expert weren’t buying it.

Faking It

Faking It: Tears Of A Crime is a documentary series which caught killers who tried to hide their crimes through crocodile tears and outlandish stories. One body language expert, Cliff Lansey, claimed on a recent episode of the show that Barber was lying and shot himself just to cover up the murder of his wife.

Tell-Tale Signs

According to the show, Barber looked guilty when he spoke about the night his wife was murdered. He was filmed taking police to the scene of the crime and then appeared on television appealing for help to catch his wife’s killer. But the body language experts were watching him, and Barber allegedly showed many suspicious signs of guilt.

Old Trick

According to Lansley, “He’s not feeling sad here, he’s faking it,” he said. “He’s squeezing the eyeballs with his thumb and his forefinger. We see this so often, when people want to create some tears on their cheeks,” he added. Lansley also claimed that Barber was feigning shock by putting on a “quivering” voice, according to a Daily Mail report.

Over-Extended

Lansley claims that he is sure that Barber is lying about his wife’s murder. “He also gave away the truth with his contorted facial expressions, over-emphasized speech and the over-extended head shakes that negate the words he says,” he said. But when police checked Barber’s Google searches on his personal computer, a clearer picture of this man came out.

Google Search

The fact that Barber had downloaded the song I Used To Love Her But I Had To Kill Her, by Guns N’ Roses, the day before the murder was damning enough. But when computer forensic experts found Google searches including the phrase “medical trauma right chest,” they realized that Barber had researched where to shoot himself but not fatally, to cover up for his crime.

Ineffective Counsel

Having been taken to court and convicted of first-degree murder, Barber then claimed that he wanted another trial due to “ineffective counsel.” However, Circuit Judge Patti Christensen denied his motion for post-conviction relief, which had been submitted by attorney William Mallory Kent of Jacksonville. The judge rebuked claims that the defendant’s original defense team failed him. “The record clearly shows that Trial Counsel put on a formidable defense,” she wrote.

Not Satisfied

Barber’s original defense team, as well as his new one, said they were unhappy with the verdict and strongly believed their client to be innocent. “It vindicates the process, but it doesn’t necessarily vindicate the outcome (of the trial),” they said. “We are still less than completely satisfied with the verdict.” The fact that the jury in the trial was split 8 to 4, the judge still sentenced Barber to life in jail without parole.

No Retrial

According to Assistant state attorney Chris France, who prosecuted the case along with Matt Foxman, the pair said they are glad there won’t be a retrial. “We’re happy with the order denying relief,” France said. “I’m most happy for the family of April Barber. It would have been horrible (to be put through another trial).”

Controversial Ruling

The main thrust of Barber’s appeal was the fact that his attorneys had a financial incentive to reject a plea deal from the state. The issue surrounded life insurance policies on April totaling $2.4 million. At the time, Willis and Hutton were in a position to make $1 million in fees if they won both the civil and criminal cases. Even though the lawyers advised their client to give the proceeds of those policies to April’s family, the state was having a hard time coming up with a solid indictment.

Removing Benefit

According to the judge at the time, removing any financial benefit from the murder “would negate the primary motive attributed to him by the State in the killing of his wife,” Christensen wrote. At the same time, a civil case for the insurance money would have put Barber in the firing line again to be susceptible to questioning about the murder allegation.

Judge Rules

As Christensen wrote at the time: “If he pursued his claim on the proceeds, he would have to choose between his 5th Amendment right to remain silent, or give a deposition and answer interrogatories.” But Barber’s attorney claimed the case wasn’t about money at all. “This case was not about money,” he testified. “As naive as it may sound, we believed in this guy. I think there was a huge miscarriage of justice; I still do.”

New Trial

Even though it doesn’t seem to be on the cards, Willis said, “I would like to see him get a new trial.” This is because it seems Barber’s legal team honestly believe that he is innocent and would never have been able to shoot himself four times on the beach. The fact that Barber and his team were looking for nothing less than a full acquittal just complicated matters further.

No Deal

Not only did Barber not want a plea deal, but he also wanted his case at the time to be heard in court as he was confident of an acquittal. “Willis also explained that Defendant was steadfast and adamant that he wanted to go to trial and be found not guilty, a position Defendant himself confirmed at the 3.850 hearing,” Christensen wrote.

Positive Outcome

Before long, Barber’s case became embroiled in confusion and all because of legal technicalities. One of his team argued that there was a conflict of interest with Willis and Hutton, and a legal ethics expert named Amy Mashburn was brought in to testify. However, as it turned out, Barber was upset that he had taken the advice of his lawyers, maintaining his innocence throughout.

Bad Habit

While maintaining his innocence for the murder of his wife, Barber said at the time, “I had a bad habit of following my lawyers’ advice and (Willis) was very sure we would get a not guilty verdict,” he said. But it was too late by this stage as sentence had already been passed and Barber was looking at a life sentence without parole.

Damning Evidence

While it did seem strange that Barber suddenly shot his wife in the face as well as shooting himself four times to cover the crime, his Google searches were simply too damning to be ignored. The prosecution’s argument that he had downloaded the Guns N’ Roses song, as well as specific information on non-fatal shootings, was what signed this man’s death warrant, so to speak.

Some Questions

Having been convicted and sent to prison for life, some questions still haunt both the prosecution and the defense in this case. While prosecutors are convinced that Barber is guilty of the charges against him, his defense team is equally sure that he is innocent and couldn’t possibly have shot his wife and then himself. For the time being, Justin Barber sits in jail which is the place many feel he belongs.

Man Found Guilty Of Killing His Wife Asks Judge For Retrial is an article from: LifeDaily

When Carla Stefaniak went online to check the availability of vacation apartments in Costa Rica, the South Florida resident was looking forward to some time away from the daily routine of her life. She found the perfect apartment in San Jose and couldn’t wait to board that flight and start her vacation.

The vacation was twofold as it was also Stefaniak’s birthday. She and her sister-in-law April Burton were planning to party hard in Costa Rica, but when Stefaniak missed her flight back to the US, her family launched an aggressive social media campaign to locate her.

Home Alone 

The way the flights worked out, April left Costa Rica the day before Carla and flew back home to Florida. On the night before Stefaniak’s flight, she took an Uber downtown and was dropped off at her AirBnB apartment in San Jose. As soon as she got back, she FaceTimed a friend and told him she was thirsty.

Bottle of Water

She told the friend during the call that she needed some water as soon as possible. “‘I’m just gonna go ask the guards to buy me a bottle of water,” she said. It was also reported that she had texted her sister-in-law that the Airbnb she was staying at was ‘kinda sketchy,’ though offered no further details on the matter. At that point, the phone went dead, and that was the last time anyone heard from Stefaniak. No one heard from her from that point on.

Checked Out

When Stefaniak’s phone went silent for the next few hours, her parents contacted the place where she was staying and spoke to the security guard there. He informed them that Stefaniak had checked out at around 5 am, but family members knew this didn’t make any sense. Her flight was much later in the day and there’s no way she’d have taken a cab to the airport so early.

Imminent Danger

Having not received satisfactory answers from the security guard and the owner of the AirBnB, Stefaniak’s family took to Facebook to express their concern. According to a Fox News report, the family posted a message with the caption: “Carla Stefaniak’s life is in imminent danger,” adding, “The local officials and U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica will not pursue the matter because they feel she was rational at the time of her disappearance and got into a taxi of her own free will.”

Helping Out

Just one day later and Stefaniak’s brother flew to Costa Rica to try and find his sister. The family had already introduced the hashtag #FindingCarla on social media, but there was still no comment from the US Embassy in Costa Rica. But then, authorities found a woman’s body just 200 yards from the AirBnB where Stefaniak had been staying.

Body Found

According to ABC, a woman’s body was found near to the Airbnb, and that body turned out to be Stefaniak’s. Walter Espinoza, the director general of the Judicial Investigation Agency, the law enforcement agency tasked with investigating her disappearance, told reporters, “The body was in a state of decomposition, but the preliminary observation does verify the body is a woman.”

Cause of Death

Having identified the body as that of Carla Stefaniak, authorities in Costa Rica also confirmed that the cause of death was head trauma. Espinoza confirmed that the security guard from the complex had been taken into custody, having been implicated in the death of the American tourist. However, she still hadn’t been identified by her family.

Totally Devastated

Meanwhile, the Stefaniak family released a statement via the AP, saying: “Words cannot express the devastation within her family and friends. We want the world to know that we will never forget Carla,” they wrote. “We will never forget the joy she brought into our lives, how much she made us laugh. We will always be with her, and we know she will always be with us. May God bless her soul.”

Sexually Motivated

According to the police, the crime was sexually motivated and was allegedly carried out by the security guard but possibly by other people too. The guard, Bismarck Espinosa Martinez, lived in the apartment next door to Stefaniak and became a person of interest to the police after he gave conflicting accounts about when he last saw Stefaniak.

Multiple Injuries

While Stefaniak was found partially naked and wrapped in plastic bags, she was also found to have additional injuries on her body. She showed signs of trauma to her head, neck, and limbs, and was in a pretty bad state when police dogs located her. “The person detained for the homicide was near her, had chances to commit the act and became a suspect through all our investigation,” said Espinoza.

Birthday Celebration

The murder is made even worse by the fact that the victim was in Costa Rica celebrating her 36th birthday. “You can’t imagine what we are feeling,” said Carlos Caicedo, Stefaniak’s father. “Her mom is absolutely devastated. She can’t speak.” The victim’s brother, Mario, also spoke to reporters about the family’s shock, saying they were devastated by the incident.

Wanting Answers

According to the family, the authorities handling the investigation in Costa Rica are less than competent. Even identifying the body was an issue initially. “It’s like a roller coaster. Why don’t you let the father and the brother that are there to confirm if it’s her or not?” said family friend Delia Andronache. “You cannot just blast on the news the fact that it’s her, the fact that you think it’s her if you don’t have confirmation from the family. This is heartbreaking for us. Is it really her or is it not her?”

Feeling Guilty

It wasn’t her fault it was just the way the flights worked out, but April Burton was left feeling guilty about leaving Carla in Costa Rica. “I do feel guilty because I left earlier,” said Burton. “Six o’clock, still haven’t heard from her,” she said. “Even if she was in immigration, she would have made it to the tarmac; she would have service. She would have texted somebody; she would have done something. She checked in for the flight, but she never got on the plane.” Even before the body was officially identified the family had a feeling it was Carla.

Blood Found

Investigators were able to point the finger of blame at Martinez as Stefaniak’s blood was found in her room, and his. The fact he told authorities that he had seen her entering an Uber in the early hours was soon revealed to be a lie, and Uber had no record of such a call from that location at that time.

Sketchy Area

The victim realized she was staying in a sketchy part of town and even confirmed as much to Burton when she texted her the night before she died. There had been heavy rain on that night, and a power outage also hit and lasted for a while. However, the security team and the owner of the apartment seemed to be decent people, and that made the explanation of the events that night even harder to determine.

Long Struggle

According to the victim’s father, in the pictures he saw that were taken by detectives at the scene of the murder, his daughter “fought” her killer or killers. He also surmised that the struggle was a long one and that Carla had put up a good fight to save her own life, even if she was tragically murdered in the end.

More Suspects

As so few answers have been forthcoming to date, the family took once again to Facebook to inform the public that Carla was most likely killed by more than just one man. “The results of the forensic examinations lead investigators to believe that more people are involved in the murder,” they posted. They also added that they “Believed since day one that this was organized by more than one person, as soon as Carla booked the place.”

Cover Up

Whether Martinez acted alone or with others, it’s clear that he tried to cover up the murder. The victim’s belongings were found not far from the apartment, as family friend Greg Zwolinski said. The items were found “A good distance away, through mountainous and thick terrain,” he said. “And then the crime scene was cleaned up before the next guard came on shift.”

Painful Moment

Neither Zwolinski nor Stefaniak’s brother knew that the guard they had met and shaken hands with in Costa Rica was none other than the man who is accused of murdering Carla. “We went to the Airbnb, and we met the owner, and we met her killer,” Zwolinski explained. “We shook his hand and looked him in the eye, and did a tour of the property, and looked at her room, which later we found out was the crime scene.”

Total Cooperation

It took just 48 hours until that guard was in custody as the prime suspect in the murder of Carla Stefaniak. Zwolinski even said they had no inkling that the guard was guilty when they met him. “We did not get that vibe. We talked about it many times, but we did not get a creepy vibe from him,” he said. “He shook our hand, he seemed to be cooperative at the time, he was very nice.” For now, Martinez is in custody pending prosecution for the brutal murder of Stefaniak.

Woman Vacationing In Costa Rica Texts Family About ‘Sketchy’ Airbnb Hours Before Her Death is an article from: LifeDaily

The parents of children at the St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, knew for a while that the school was in dire straits financially. Most of the textbooks at the school were more than twenty years old and there wasn’t even enough money to build a shade for the lunch area.

The principle of the school, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and her vice principal Sister Lana Chang, were always dressed well and they seemed to be going on a bunch of trips together a few times a year. But why were the sisters taking regular vacations to Las Vegas, and further, how could they afford them?

St. James School

The St. James School website claims the school is “committed to excellence in Catholic education within the structure of the Roman Catholic Faith.” The website also claims that students at the school are nurtured in a “positive, caring, and supportive environment.” It sounds just about perfect for Catholic parents wanting their children to have a solid and well-rounded education.

No Money

The parents from the school knew that they were financially strapped for cash most of the time. When the parents’ committee approached Sister Kreuper to ask for a shade to be built over the students’ outside lunch area, she responded, “How do you expect to pay for it?” on more than one occasion, according to The Washington Post.

Being Pressured

Not only did the school treasury seem to have a serious cashflow problem, but parents were often asked to donate cash as the school was lacking funds. “We would be pressured into donating,” said Jack Alexander, whose three children attended the school for a total of 13 years. “We were always told how little money we had and how the sisters were so poor,” he said.

Wealthy Relatives

When parents asked how the principal and vice principal managed to afford to live together in an upscale townhouse in a gated Torrance neighborhood, they claimed that Chang had wealthy relatives who provided for them, but that was a lie. In fact, the money for the lavish lifestyle and numerous trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe were being stolen from school funds.

Pure Theft

In point of fact, the pair had been stealing money from students’ tuition checks, fees and fundraisers for more than ten years. When the fraud finally came out after more than a decade, school officials and auditors told parents that the duo had diverted at least $500,000 into a defunct church bank account which they lived off for years without anyone knowing about it.

Gambling Nuns

Despite restrictions on gambling within the Catholic faith, these nuns were known to be big gamblers and often frequented the strip in Las Vegas. Marge Graf, an attorney for the archdiocese confirmed to reporters, “We do know that they had a habit of going on trips. We do know they had a pattern of going to casinos. And the reality is they used the account as their personal account.”

Cover Up

As is so often the case with religious fraud, the archdiocese wants to sweep the whole thing under the carpet and carry out an internal investigation, not involving the police nor pressing charges. As one parent at the meeting exclaimed at the time, “If this was me, I would be in jail!”

Many Years

No one knows exactly how much money the sisters stole from the school funds or for how long. While Kreuper, 77, was the principal for 29 years; Chang was an eighth-grade teacher for two decades and the vice principal for the last several years. Under extreme pressure from all sides, the archdiocese reversed course, saying it was cooperating with police at this stage.

Paying Back

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese, Adrian Alarcon, said that the church would not press charges as long as the sisters could pay the stolen money back in full. However, when it became clear that that wasn’t realistic due to the large amount involved, they decided to go to the police and have them take action for the crime.

Pressing Charges

Sgt. Ronald Harris, a spokesman for the Torrance Police Department, confirmed that until the church got involved the police were unable to press charges against the nuns. “We had little to go by until a few days ago, when the department was advised that (church) officials want to press charges,” Harris said.

Deep Remorse

Having stolen half a million dollars or more from parents over the years, Msgr. Michael Meyers, the pastor at St. James Church, explained to parents that the scandal only came out after the principal retired. At the same time, he said, both the principle and vice principal had expressed “deep remorse” for their crimes and were sorry. “Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana,” he said.

Under Supervision

However, no one wanted to pray for the sisters by this point and especially not the parents who had been ripped off over the years while their children were in terrible conditions at the school. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet released a statement saying that Kreuper and Chang “take full responsibility for the choices they made and are subject to the law.” They added that both the women have been “placed in a religious house under the supervision of community leadership.”

Brown Envelopes

One of the ways in which the sisters were able to defraud parents for years and go undetected were due to the clever methods of deception they employed. Parents were not allowed to pay fees online and had to hand-deliver them by cash or check in church collection-style envelopes. By doing this, the nuns were able to rip off parents for years without anyone knowing.

Personal Apology

During the angry meeting at the school where parents were told about the fraud, Pastor Mayers said the nuns would not be coming to apologize in person.”If they come here to ask your forgiveness and ask your understanding, and if you’re going to sit here and throw tomatoes at them, no, I don’t think they ought to come,” he said. But the extent of the fraud could go even further as more evidence is dug up.

More Evidence

As parents and ex-parents who sent their kids to the school started checking their bank stubs, some noticed other discrepancies. Debby Rhilinger, whose five sons attended the school over 16 years, received copies of her old tuition checks and noticed that all of them had been diverted to a false church account having been hand-endorsed by Sister Kreuper. There was also the rigged raffles that happened annually at the school’s Harvest Festival fundraiser.

Rigged Raffle

For many, these nuns missed the point of their religious teachings time and time again and in a horrible way. For example, at the school’s annual Harvest Festival fundraiser, each family has to donate $100 and buy a Big Red Raffle ticket. Amazingly, Chang won that raffle every year without exception leading people to suspect it was rigged all along. These sisters would stop at nothing to steal money at every opportunity.

Scared to Ask

While many parents who were defrauded over the years are livid about the situation, many want the nuns to be brought to justice by the law for their actions. Jack Alexander said, “We were an ATM, and people know it and they won’t ask for justice.” However, many parents who are devout Catholics feel its a case of “forgive and forget” as the sisters have apologized for what they did.

Not Enough

While Mayers wrote in a letter to parents and parishioners alike, “Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers,” he added, “They and their order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school.” But many feel his response was weak and that the nuns deserved to face proper justice for their crimes.

Not Surprised

There are also other parents who aren’t in the slightest bit surprised that the sisters were caught embezzling funds. One anonymous parent told Fox 6: “I will honestly say that it’s not shocking to me,” adding, “There have been a couple of projects that we have been trying to get funded for many years that we have unfortunately been unable to move forward with because of the lack of funding.” Many parents, and their kids, simply got used to the sub-standard level of facilities on the campus.

Community Split

The parents from the school who mostly know each other as they come from a tight-knit church community remain split over the matter. While some parents want to see the nuns behind bars for defrauding them for years, others are more forgiving and feel the sisters have already been judged too harshly. Samantha Pierce, an alumna whose son also graduated from the school, told reporters, “They convicted the sisters before they actually have the facts on hand, that is the thing that disturbed me the most.”

Nuns Accused Of Stealing $500,000 Used Money For Travel, Gambling is an article from: LifeDaily

Claude Phillip, a construction worker and Des Moines native, has had a rough time of things in recent years. The former father-of-eight has been in mourning for the better part of a year. The name Leonna is etched in his mind.

It’s the name of his daughter, a girl with the world at her fingertips, stolen from him in the prime of her life. But grieving for Leonna and the other victims of this act of senseless violence hasn’t been the only thing on Claude’s mind; justice and vengeance linger as well…

First Look

18 years ago, when Claude Phillip first set eyes on his daughter, he wept. Leonna Dalton-Phillip became only one of Claude’s eight children, but was the apple of his eye right from the start. He would, like any father, worry every day about whether or not he was doing right by his daughter. In time, he would have cause to worry.

Bad News

It was a cold December evening, more than 18 years after the day that Leonna had come into the world, that Claude received the first call that something had gone wrong. Leonna’s mother Janisa Dalton was on the other end of the phone. She had bad news, her parents, Leonna’s grandparents had been shot dead in the home. As he wept, the news grew worse.

Missing Daughter

The next piece of news Jalisa brought was even worse. She had sent Leonna to her grandparents to pick up her little sister earlier in the evening but never heard back from either of them after a few hours. Before she could even begin disseminating the news, Claude was out the door and in the car, driving to find his missing daughter.

Kidnapped

Claude sped down Interstate Highway 80. He was shaking with fear, worried that his daughter had been kidnapped during the attack on his would-be in-laws. More than that though, he worried that the culprit was someone both he and Jalisa had worried might be a problem when he came back into their lives not long before.

Brother John

Jalisa’s wayward brother, John Dalton, had never been what one might consider a “model citizen.” The 1990s saw him committing and becoming convicted been convicted of several crimes including cocaine delivery, fleeing from police, and leaving the scene of an accident. But it all came to a head when he killed his wife, Shannon Dalton, in September of 1998. All three of their children were home at the time

Charged and Paroled

John Dalton was charged with second-degree murder, which might have seen him put away for most of his natural life, but things changed at the 11th hour. Dalton received a plea bargain which involved him pleading guilty to manslaughter and a host of other crimes. He went away for a few years, but was paroled in 2010. Still, he seemed changed by the experience.

That Night

Sadly, there was a dark side to John Dalton that few could see and rage, the likes of which normal people cannot fathom, bubbled close to the surface. It seemed when Dalton arrived at his parents’ home that night, something snapped in him and he came bearing arms. They saw the gun and wouldn’t open the door, but that didn’t stop him.

Call the Police

Dalton shot through the door, hitting his mother four times. When he got inside, he shot at his father five times. When police arrived at the house sometime later, they initially only saw two victims: 70-year-old John Dalton Sr., and 65-year-old Jean Dalton. Dalton was nowhere in sight, and neither were the girls.

Victims

A closer inspection of the house revealed the truth, however. While searching the closets, police officers came upon the body of 18-year-old Leonna Dalton, shot dead as she tried to hide from her uncle. Finally, they heard a sound from beneath one of the couches. Leonna’s 6-year-old sister had survived by hiding beneath the sofa.

Identified

Though she was in shock and panicked beyond belief, the 6-year-old knew who had done all this. Once she had calmed down, she was able to identify the shooter. They had all been right about their suspicions, John Dalton had been the killer and he’d fled when his grisly work was done. Now they just had to catch him before he hurt anyone else.

Caught Up

After shooting his elderly parents and his niece, Dalton fled Nebraska. He knew enough, even in that state, to know that they’d be after him first of all. Thankfully, word traveled fast. US Marshalls caught up with him the next day in Jackson, Tennessee. It also happened to be the same place he fled after killing his wife all those years ago.

Questions and Answers

When Claude finally arrived and spoke to his grieving ex, he couldn’t believe what had happened. There were so many questions in his mind. Why would Dalton have done such a thing? Why kill his own parents? Why Leonna, an innocent young girl? Was it because she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was there more to it?

Failed by the System

For his part, Claude remembers when Dalton killed his own wife quite well. He also recalled when Dalton was paroled and thinking at the time that he was paroled too early. He knew people who sold drugs who spent more time in prison. There was no way Dalton had learned his lesson. “The justice system failed us,” he explained in a recent interview.

Vengeance

While Dalton languished in jail, awaiting his trial, Claude sat at home, wracked by nightmares about his now-deceased daughter. He can’t sleep with the closet door open, for fear the image of his daughter may invade his slumbering mind. Vengeance is his only focus, he wanted to see Dalton put to death for what he’d done; but the court and Dalton apparently had other plans.

Robbed of Revenge

In the end, Dalton chose to plead guilty to the triple homicide; effectively robbing Claude of the sure justice he so desperately sought. Because the case didn’t go to trial, the prosecution couldn’t go for the death penalty. However, it did not preclude the victims’ families from making victim impact statements at his sentencing.

Losing it All

Alicia Dalton, John Dalton’s youngest daughter, was among the three children at home when Dalton killed her mother in 1998. As she stood before the court, she spoke of how devastating the deaths of her cousin and grandparents were to her and her family. “In a matter of seconds,” she explained tearfully, “everything I had was lost.”

Leonna Remembered

When she died, Leonna Dalton-Phillip was a high school senior with a 4.0 grade-point average. She was co-captain of the school’s drill team, a straight-A student, whom everyone loved. She even had plans to room with one of her sisters when she graduated in May. She would never make it and her dreams would die with her.

Destined for Greatness

To hear Claude tell it, his daughter was the light of not just his life, but everyone’s. She was bubbly, spirited, a happy soul who was always smiling and dancing. “My daughter was destined for greatness…She was taken by a cowardly act.” Phillip explained to the Register, in a reiteration of his victim impact statement.

Sentencing

When it was all said and done, John Dalton Jr. pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. He also pleaded guilty to four weapons charges. He was sentenced to three life terms, one for each of his new victims, as well as 230 years in prison. Sure as anything, his life has been taken from him; just not in the way Claude would have liked.

Lingering Questions

Dalton never offered any explanation for his actions, just a guilty plea. More than anything though, Claude is undone by these lingering questions. His pain is great and his loss is terrible, but his curiosity is just as much of a cause of his suffering as anything else. “Why would you kill your parents, man? Why would you kill my daughter?” He may never get the answer.

‘The Justice System Failed Us’: Dad Blames Courts For Freeing Killer Who Went On To Murder His Daughter is an article from: LifeDaily

When Charlotte Adelman was just nine years old she was living in Paris with her family. When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Charlotte and her brother were sent to an orphanage while their parents were sent to a “work” camp. They never made it to any work camp, and her mother ended up being killed in Auschwitz.

Charlotte suffered a lot over the years but was thankful to have been protected and ultimately saved by a loving family. Seven decades later and the wonders of social media shone through for Charlotte after she reconnected with the family that saved her life during the war thanks to a simple Facebook message.

Tough Memories

As Adelman recalls, “When they took (my mother) away, it was like them taking my arms and legs.” And while Adelman’s father was able to escape the truck en-route to the death camp no one knows if he survived the war. Adelman’s brother also didn’t make it to the orphanage as he had Scarlet Fever at the time and was sent to the hospital. He was then adopted by a woman who sold Jewish children to the Germans, and Adelman found herself completely alone.

Family Friend

From the orphanage, Adelman was able to make contact with an old family friend called Madame Elazare. She was able to save Charlotte and take her back to her Paris apartment. When she arrived, she cleaned, fed and helped the young girl back to health but that location wasn’t a safe long-term option, so Adelman needed to be moved as soon as possible.

Quatreville Family

Adelman’s father had made arrangements before he was taken by the Germans for his daughter to be taken in by the Quatreville family in Beaumont du Argonne. It was just as well that Adelman made it there when she did as it later turned out that all 79 children who had been at the orphanage had been taken to death camps and killed.

Making Promises

Mr. Quaterville assured Charlotte’s father that he would take care of his daughter. She was taken and hidden in the cellar of the family home where she had only a mattress and a lamp. There was no window, and Adelman only knew what time it was when her food was brought to her, and when she was given a bath. She lived there alone for a total of nine months.

Feeling Hope

Adelman told reporters, according to a People report that the only thing that kept her spirits up in that cellar was the thought of seeing her mother once again. Sadly that never happened and Adelman’s mother was killed in Auschwitz at the age of just 33.

War Ends

Adelman lived in the Quatreville family basement for a further six months until the end of the war. “They treated me like their own child,” Adelman said of the Quatrevilles. “My mother loved Charlotte,” said Alain Quatreville, who was four years old when his parents took in Adelman. But after the war, Adelman lost touch with the family, which caused Mrs. Quatreville “great anguish” according to her son.

Social Media

Seventy years may have passed by, but the memories remained. It was 2014 when one of the Quaterville clan made contact with Adelman via Facebook. She received a message saying that the family had always wondered what had happened to Adelman after the war. They said they wanted to reunite with her and made plans to make that happen.

Very Emotional

“Receiving that message put me back to the time when I was hiding in their cellar,” Adelman said. “It was very emotional. The fact that they found me meant so much.” At the age of 86, Adelman reunited with Quatreville junior at the Wall of Names in Paris at the Mémorial de la Shoah. That reunion was a highly emotional and very special one.

Still Dreaming

When the old friends met, Quatreville asked, “What can I say, Charlotte?” to which Adelman replied, “This is a dream come true.” Adelman was taken by the family that saved her life back to the small village for a visit. As the two strolled the halls of the property all Quatreville could think about was his late mother. “This reunion would have meant so much more to my mother,” he said. “I think of her especially. She would’ve been very happy.”

Giving Thanks

Adelman also said that if Mrs. Quatreville were still alive today she “wouldn’t know how to thank her for what she did for me.” Adelman added, “She risked her life to save me. How can you ever thank someone for that?” Sadly she cannot give that thanks to the older Quatrevilles due to the passage of time, but meeting Alain was something very special for Adelman.

Smuggled Out

All those years ago, the Quatrevilles went to great lengths to ensure Adelman was saved from the Germans. While she was smuggled out of Paris in a noodle truck, “Everything was clandestine,” she said. “I never knew what was going to happen to me. I was always the lookout.” And while Adelman was relatively safe in the basement, the constant threat against her life was something very real.

Constant Threat

One particular night, Adelman recalls she was scared to sleep alone in the basement and asked if she could sleep in a proper bed upstairs. “One night I said, ‘Please, I cannot stay here. Let me go upstairs, and sleep in a regular bed,'” she recalls. “Well, that night the Germans came.” Adelman was lucky on more than one occasion to escape with her life, and this was one such night.

Feeling Fear

At the tender age of just eleven, Adelman recalls well that night when the Germans came to visit the home. “I heard them coming in the front door, so I slid under the bed, against the wall. I put my little hands in my mouth because I was afraid to scream,” she recalls. “It was a miracle I survived,” she says. “It was like something was looking over me.”

New Start

In 1957, Adelman was given a chance for a new start in life after the war was well and truly over. She moved to the US and met her husband Alex in Canada some years later. The couple was married for 50 years until Alex died in 2011.

Never Forget

For her part, Adelman was thrilled to receive that Facebook message from the family who saved her. “I never forgot the Quatrevilles,” Adelman said. Her daughter Roz told reporters, “He (Alain) really wanted my mom to come to his little town,” she said. “I knew it was going to be emotional, and I didn’t know if she was capable of that.”

Distant Memory

Alain who is a retired math professor and is married with three children and lives in the French Ardennes said, “This meeting made Charlotte real to me. Until that day it was a very distant childhood memory, and she was almost unreal.” He added, “My mother waited all her life to see Charlotte again.”

Emotional Moment

When Alain met Charlotte at the Holocaust memorial, she recounted what a special and emotional moment she shared with him. “We met at the Shoah, and I lit a candle for my mom, and he came to help me to light the candle,” Adelman said. Her daughter Roz was also thrilled to be a part of the long-awaited reunion.

Came to Life

Roz said that her mother had told her stories about her time in France as a child for years but that it was hard to grasp the reality of the time. “All the stories that my mom’s been telling for years and years and years, all of it came to life,” Roz said. “It brought it all back,” said Adelman, who has kept in touch with Alain ever since.

Reaching Out

Having been silent about her childhood for so many years, Adelman’s reunion with Alain brought back many memories. She decided after the reunion to reach out and help others and to share her experience, especially with children who know little about the Holocaust. Having not told even her own children about the Nazi horrors, Adelman decided it was finally time to reach out.

Feeling Strong

As Charlotte explained, according to an ABC report: “When I lost [my husband] seven years ago, I felt, for me to be strong again, I have to tell the story to other kids, and to other people,” Adelman says. “I don’t want my story to vanish. It should be always around for people to know what happened.”

Holocaust Survivor Reunites With Family Who Saved Her Decades Later is an article from: LifeDaily

When Jazmine Headley visited her local social services office in Brooklyn, the last thing she was looking for was an argument with anyone. She found herself in some hot water for obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest, which all stemmed from an altercation she had with a guard in a crowded waiting room at the food assistance office.

When cops arrived at the scene tempers flared when stun guns were pulled out and pointed at the angry crowd. When officers forcefully yanked Headley’s toddler from her, she begged them for mercy, claiming they were hurting the young boy. After a shocking video of that incident went viral, the DA had a tough decision to make…

Social Services

Headley was forcefully separated from her 18-month-old toddler and taken to be held at Rikers Island. She was taken there after an argument with a guard at the food assistance office. She was then charged for obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, endangering the welfare of a child and trespassing. Her arrest was caught on camera and posted to social media where it went viral immediately and sparked public outrage.

Treated Badly

The onlookers at the office, as well as the people who filmed the arrest, said the way Headley was treated was indicative of how low-income social service recipients are treated in general. When the young mother ended up laying face down on the ground and spread eagle, people in the crowd began to get irate and to shout.

Threatening Behavior

During the arrest, as Headley was forced to the ground as her son was snatched from her by cops, another officer pointed her stun gun at the crowd, threatening to shoot them if they made a wrong move. Once officials saw the footage an urgent investigation was sparked by the New York Police Department and the Department of Social Services.

Serving Justice

Soon after Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez viewed the footage of the arrest, he decided to drop all the charges against Headley saying he was acting “in the interest of justice,” according to a Daily Mail report. He spoke to reporters about the unnecessary trauma Headley and her son had already been through.

Already Suffered

As Gonzalez explained at a press conference: “The consequences this young and desperate mother has already suffered as a result of this arrest far outweigh any conduct that may have led to it: she and her baby have been traumatized, she was jailed on an unrelated warrant and may face additional collateral consequences.”

Poor Baby

At one stage during the struggle, one officer yanked the toddler from his mother’s arms as she pleaded with the cops, ‘They’re hurting my son… I’m begging you please,” she said. Another person in the background can be heard in the video screaming, “Oh my God, oh my God, look what they’re doing to us, look what they’re doing to her.”

Judge Speaks

Judge Craig Walker who also viewed the footage of the incident described it as “horrific” and said that releasing her without bail was “the right thing to do.” Following her sudden release, Headley spoke to reporters outside the jail, giving thanks to all the people that supported her through troubled times.

Giving Thanks

“I just want to thank everybody and all the support that I’ve been getting in New York and just all the great people who have been supporting me,” she said. “I’m so grateful to everyone, and I’m just happy to be free, and I just need to see my boy,” she added. DA Gonzalez also spoke to the press, saying he was “horrified” by the brutal arrest.

Handled Wrong

As Gonzalez told reporters: “Like everyone who watched the arrest of Jazmine Headley, I was horrified by the violence depicted in the video,” he said. “It is clear to me that this incident should have been handled differently.” But Gonzalez aimed the blame at the guard from the food assistance office, accusing him of “escalating the situation.”

Daycare Vouchers

When reporters spoke to Headley’s mother, Jacqueline Jenkins, she said her daughter, who works as a cleaner, was only at the center to collect daycare vouchers for a nanny who looks after her son, Damone. She said that her daughter sat on the floor as there were no free chairs in the waiting room and that’s when the security guard escalated matters.

Like a Doll

Jenkins spoke about the horror she felt when she saw that her grandson had been thrown around like a “rag doll.” “I can’t believe the NYPD, how they handled it, the force what they did to grab my grandson like that,” she said to NBC New York. “He was like a rag doll.”

Angry at Cops

The woman who took the video and posted it online also spoke to reporters about the shocking incident. “[The mom] made the security guard feel dumb so she called the cops on her, and this was the outcome,” she explained. “She had her baby in her hands the whole time. I’m so f***ing disgusted with the NYPD,” she added.

Heartbreaking Incident

Meanwhile, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, also spoke about the incident, calling it “unacceptable, appalling and heartbreaking.” He also took to Twitter, writing, “I’d like to understand what transpired and how these officers or the NYPD justifies this. It’s hard to watch this video,” he said.

Being Poor

The long list of people outraged by this incident is seemingly never-ending. State Attorney General-elect Letitia James, also released a statement about what happened. “No mother should have to experience the trauma and humiliation we all witnessed in this video,” she said. “Being poor is not a crime. The actions of the NYPD in this video are appalling and contemptible.”

Full Investigation

James also insisted that a full investigation is carried out and concluded as soon as possible. “A full investigation must be conducted immediately, and the results should be made public, so there is a transparent accounting of how this horrific situation occurred,” she said. “All involved officers, including the assigned supervisor, should be assigned desk duty pending the investigation results.”

Mayor Speaks

News of the incident even made it all the way up to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office. He praised the DA’s decision to drop the case and all the charges against Headley, Tweeting, “This morning my office spoke to the Brooklyn DA about dropping the charges against Ms. Headley. I applaud the DA’s decision to do so. She should be reunited with her child as soon as possible.”

Police Commissioner

Another person to be outraged and speak out about the Headley case was Police Commissioner James O’Neill. While he confirmed that the NYPD body cameras would be reviewed soon, he said, “It’s disturbing, but we have to see what led up to the event. What were the actions of the people from HRA, what were the actions of our police officers?”

Taking Action

Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks also released a statement claiming that he would now move to take immediate action to ensure such an incident doesn’t reoccur. “I am deeply troubled by the incident, and a thorough review was launched over the weekend to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said. “I am reinforcing efforts to train officers and staff to better defuse situations before the NYPD is called for assistance and directing refresher de-escalation training for HRA Peace Officers,” he said.

Not Justified

Jenkins, who was tasked with caring for the toddler as his mother sat in jail, told reporters that there was no justification for what happened. “There was no reason for NYPD to tug and pull like the way they did with him – he was rag-doll basically. And she was really trying to protect him, and you heard him screaming,” she said. But other people who visit the center regularly say they are treated badly by the staff there on a regular basis.

Learning Lessons

The tragic incident, which has sparked a lot of interest and media coverage, has taught many people a valuable lesson. It is hoped that the people who run the social services offices involved will offer training to staff to deal with people better. It is also hoped that no child will be ripped from their mother’s arms for nothing more than sitting on the ground due to a lack of available seats.

Viral Video Shows New York City Police Ripping Baby From Mother’s Arms Then Arresting Her is an article from: LifeDaily

When Matt and Laura were just three years old, they formed a bond in preschool that was unsurpassed. The pair were more or less attached at the hip, and Matt even told the rest of the class that he loved Laura. These two little lovers were inseparable and made a great team, even if they were only three years old at the time.

With the passage of time though, Matt and Laura found themselves at different schools and over the years they lost touch. That was until their paths crossed again 20 years later and a real love story was born…

Best Friends

As soon as Matt and Laura laid eyes on each other at their preschool in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of three, the two hit things off like a house on fire and immediately became BFFs. Matt had spotted Laura in the playground and decided to follow her around all day until she played with him. His smart ploy worked, and that day, Matt even sat with his new friend to eat lunch.

Slight Weirdo

At first, Laura thought Matt was a bit of a weirdo as he seemed to be following her around wherever she went in school. But soon she realized that Matt was just a warm and friendly kid who wanted to make new friends. The two would play hide-and-seek during breaks and would often play during naptime so they could enjoy maximum fun together.

Out of School

As if playing all day at preschool wasn’t enough, Matt and Laura soon took their friendship out of hours. Fortunately, their parents knew each other so setting up play dates was easy. They met after school, either at Matt or Laura’s place and would often go to the movies together while their parents chaperoned them. Matt never tried to hide his feelings for Laura, and everyone knew she was his best friend.

Trying to Impress

As is the way for little boys, Matt stopped at nothing to try to impress Laura on an almost daily basis. Whether showing off his handsome collection of Pokemon cards or showing her how high he could go on the swing, Matt wanted Laura to be impressed by him all the time. He would even recite lines from movies he loved to try to get more of her attention.

Early Learning

While Matt was spending time trying to impress his new friend, she spent her time teaching little Matt new things. It started with teaching him how to swing properly on the swings and then progressed to teaching him how to draw rolling hills during art class. She even taught Matt how to eat string cheese the right way. The two friends were more like inseparable lovebirds than anything else.

Starting Kindergarten

Preschool was done, and it was time for the kids to move on to Kindergarten. The two kids were excited about their new schools but also had a lot of anxiety about the move. They didn’t know if they’d be placed in the same Kindergarten or the same class and that summer was a stressful time for both of them.

Catchment Area

Due to the catchment areas where they lived, Matt and Laura were forced apart at a young age. While they didn’t go to the same kindergarten, they also went to different Elementary schools and the two lost touch with the passage of time. At first, they arranged to play dates and hung out from time to time, but this little love affair was all but over, for now.

Christmas Cards

As time went on and life got busier, Matt and Laura hardly met up at all. In fact, as the years progressed the only way they kept in touch was through Christmas cards. Every time Matt received that card from Laura during the festive season he would smile and think back to the wonderful times he spent with his first love at preschool, and always missed her in his heart.

High School

The years passed by and even the Christmas cards dwindled, but Matt never forgot Laura. By now, ten years had passed, and the pair was at High School, but one day something random happened. Laura was on her friend’s phone during recess when she noticed a name pop up on the screen; it was Matt!

Old Memories

The friend asked Laura how she knew Matt, explaining to her that she had met him at middle school. Laura played down the strong connection she had with Matt to her friend, but that friend decided she was going to play matchmaker. Laura was hesitant at first as so much time had passed but eventually warmed to the idea with some encouragement from her friends.

Matchmaking

Laura said to her friends at the time, “I was a freshman in high school, so I was like, ‘I don’t think so!'” according to an interview she gave to People Magazine. But Laura decided to trust her friends who gave her phone number to Matt, encouraging him to get in touch with Laura. Matt texted her right away, and that brought a huge smile to her face.

Meeting Up

The two old friends chatted via text for a while and then decided they would arrange to meet up. They decided for old times sake to go see a movie together and once the date was set both were excited to reunite. Matt said it was love at first sight when he saw Laura again after all those years and the feeling seemed to be mutual.

Perfect Date

Both Matt and Laura enjoyed the movie and each other’s company a lot. Soon after they left the movie theater, they went to grab a bite to eat and reminisced about old times. The two were teenagers now and were falling in love for the second time. Matt then asked Laura if she would be his girlfriend.

Tough Decision

College was on the horizon, and Matt and Laura were set to go to colleges more than 1000 miles apart. They didn’t want to be separated again and had to make a tough decision about their futures. They went to their colleges but maintained a long distance relationship and kept in regular contact. They weren’t about to let distance or time keep them apart again.

Romantic Date

Their senior year at college was coming up, and Matt wanted to do something special for Laura during the summer break. He planned a picnic in the grounds of their preschool and thought it would be neat to go there all these years later. However, Matt had more than just sandwiches and milkshakes on his mind.

Feeling Brave

Matt was nervous but felt brave and empowered that day. Matt put his sandwich down as the two sat eating in the playground and got on one knee. He produced a diamond engagement ring from his pocket and, having already asked Laura’s dad for his blessing, asked his old flame if she would marry him. The answer was a resounding YES!!!

Wonderful Wedding

In the winter of 2016, Matt and Laura officially tied the knot at the Arizona Historical Society. Matt’s uncle, a pastor, officiated at the wedding ceremony, saying “For most kids in preschool, it’s about finding your snacks and your sleeping mats, but for them, it was about finding their soulmates.” The wedding was a wonderful event, and both Matt and Laura couldn’t wait to start their lives together.

Going Viral

Having enjoyed their honeymoon in Maui, Matt shared a post on social media about his love for his new wife. “I was enamored with Laura as a child, and I still am to this day,” Matt wrote. Their story made it to the internet in a big way, but they never expected hundreds of thousands of likes and shares.

Wanting Kids

While the couple has enjoyed their first two years of marriage, they also want to bring some kids into the picture soon. “We would love to have kids at some point,” Laura said, but explained, “Right now we are focused on our new puppy Kirby and our new house.”

Favorite Things

When Laura was asked by People what her favorite thing about Matt is she said, “My favorite thing about Matt is his humor, he always makes me happy, and he is the most driven person I know.” When Matt was asked the same question, he said, “My favorite thing about Laura is her infectious smile and her desire to help those who are less fortunate. She is a force for good and it’s inspiring to be around her every day.”

Preschool Sweethearts Reunite In Remarkable Way After 20 Years Apart is an article from: LifeDaily

While home-cooked meals are often healthier and more nutritious, many parents often choose to appease their busy schedules and eat a takeout meal on the run.

In April of 2018, an English father-of-two had no choice but to grab a quick dinner one evening. He knew it wasn’t the healthiest meal, but he had no idea just how bad it really was for him until he was in the hospital and unable to move anything from the nose down…

A Busy Dad

Back in April of 2018, David Braham, a driving instructor and father of two, had a busy day of work teaching students to drive. After that, the busy father had to get to Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Wales, which was about 20 miles from his home in Bridgend, Wales.

A Meal On The Go

Braham was supposed to go to the stadium to see his seven-year-old son play in his rugby game. Since the father-of-two knew he didn’t have time to stop home and get food, he decided to stop at a roadside cafe when he had a few minutes to grab a fast meal.

The Stomach Pain Begins

“I just picked it up as a quick meal whilst a pupil was taking their test,” Braham said in a statement reported by the Daily Mail. According to Braham, he felt completely fine up until that moment. But shortly after eating the takeout food, his stomach started to hurt.

Instant Regret

“I felt fine until I had the chicken curry,” Braham explained. However, while Braham was sitting in the stands watching his young son play rugby, his stomach started to cramp and turn. Braham instantly thought about the meal he had just eaten and started to think it was causing his discomfort.

More Than An Upset Stomach

“I’m almost certain that’s what caused it,” Braham said. At first, the 40-year-old thought it was just an upset stomach. Later on that night, however, Braham started to think the chicken curry dish that he had eaten earlier that day had given him food poisoning.

A Weekend In Bed

“I didn’t feel quite right. That night I felt a bit dodgy and I got really ill over the weekend,” Braham said. Normally, Braham was a fitness enthusiast and trained at least six times a week in the gym. However, after the food poisoning, he spent all weekend trying to rest and get better.

Time To See A Doctor

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead of getting better, Braham explained that his condition only continued to get worse. “I got ill really quickly,” Braham said. Four days later on April 10, Braham was in such bad shape that his family decided it was time to take him to the emergency room.

The First Round Of Treatment

It was clear to everyone that something was seriously wrong. Braham was admitted to the Princess Wales Hospital and spent six days there. After arriving at the hospital, doctors determined that Braham had food poisoning and gave him a round of antibiotics.

A Strange Sensation

After six days, Braham was sent home to finish resting and recovering. The next day, however, Braham started feeling a strange tingling sensation that started to spread throughout his body. “It just started with a tingling feeling,” the 40-year-old said.

24 Hours Later

After the tingling sensation, Braham explained that he started losing control of his body. Within about 24 hours, he was almost completely paralyzed. “Before I knew it I was literally locked in my own body. It was absolutely terrifying,” Braham said about the experience.

A Living Hell

“I had tingling pains in my leg and foot and hands and then I lost all feeling. I was paralyzed from the nose down,” Braham said. “It was like being a living hell. I didn’t know if I’d be able to see my kids again and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to walk again,” he added.

Looking For A Diagnosis

Braham was then rushed back to the hospital in an ambulance. Once at the hospital, doctors frantically tried to figure out how a simple case of food poisoning had progressed to paralysis. “It was food poisoning but they can’t tell me what it was, which of course is frustrating.”

A Rare Disorder

After performing more tests, doctors determined that Braham was suffering from food poisoning caused by Campylobacter bacteria. The severe food poisoning then triggered his immune system and he developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder.

The Symptoms

Braham learned that Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a rare and serious condition that causes the immune system to attack nerves. For many people, symptoms like numbness, tingling sensations, muscle pain, muscle weakness, and balancing issues start first in the feet and hands. The symptoms then begin to spread up the arms and legs.

The Coma

Doctors explained to Braham that while the condition can be deadly, many people are able to eventually make a full recovery. Because Braham was paralyzed from the nose down, he couldn’t speak and ended up on a ventilator to help him breathe. Doctors also placed the 40-year-old in an induced coma.

Four Weeks Later

After four weeks, Braham woke up from the coma and was devastated to find he was still paralyzed. “When I woke up out of the coma I had no idea what was going on. I was paralyzed and couldn’t feel a thing,” he said. “I was literally locked in my own body. It was absolutely terrifying.”

A Father’s Nightmare

“I didn’t see my children for three months whilst I was in intensive care.” After four months, however, Braham started to improve and he was taken off the ventilator. During those dark days when he just wanted to give up, Braham explained thinking about his kids gave him the strength to continue. 

Braham’s Motivation

“It was the thought of my kids that kept me going. I have been fighting for them. I didn’t think I’d survive,” said Braham, who then began a long and difficult road to recovery through intense therapy. “I did wonder if there would ever be a way out. All I want to do is play with my kids again and be a dad again.”

Baby Steps

Braham’s voice slowly came back after five months and he started gaining strength and mobility throughout his entire body. “I had to learn how to wash myself and brush my teeth again. It took me three months to be able to move my legs again,” he explained. “It was like being a baby and having to learn how to do simple things again. My mind knew how to do everything but my body just wouldn’t respond.”

Fighting To Get Home

Now, Braham has been allowed to make home visits to see his children and is working hard to get home for good. “To see my kids … will be the most special feeling ever,” Braham said. “I can’t wait to be a dad again, just to spent time with the kids. It will feel amazing. I’m over the moon. It feels like there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Father Left Paralyzed In Hospital For Months After Eating Chicken Curry Takeout is an article from: LifeDaily

Parents trust that doctors have their child’s best interest at heart and that they know best when it comes to their child’s health. But sometimes, doctors aren’t always right.

After giving birth three months prematurely, doctors warned one couple from Indiana that their baby boy had less than a one percent chance of survival. They had no reason to question the doctor’s prognosis and prepared to say goodbye. Thankfully, however, they followed their instincts and decided to find another doctor…

The Best And Worst Day

For most new parents, the day their baby enters the world is the best day of their lives. However, for parents with a newborn that is either born early or born with a dangerous illness, it quickly becomes one of the worst and most terrifying days of their lives.

Three Months Early

For Daniel Breyts and Jess Novac, a couple from Wheatfield, Indiana, April 11, 2018, should have been the best day of their lives together as it was the day their son Rowan was born. Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the worst since Rowan’s due date was three months later.

A Tiny Preemie

At birth, Rowan weighed just one pound and six ounces. According to his parents, Rowan was so tiny that he could fit in the palm of the doctor’s hand. Because of how early Rowan had been born and how underdeveloped he was, doctors warned that his chances of surviving were slim.

A Deadly Disease

After doctors examined the tiny preemie, they discovered something that made Rowan’s chance of survival even smaller. According to Breyts and Novac, doctors explained that Rowan had a disease that left him without a properly functioning intestine.

The Diagnosis

Breyts and Novac learned that Rowan had a condition that doctors called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Rowan’s doctors explained that NEC is a serious disease where bacteria gets into the intestinal wall, which then leads to small holes in the intestines.

A Bacteria Invasion

Once the intestines are perforated, waste and bacteria then begin to leak into the abdomen, which causes deadly infections. The couple learned that NEC is typically seen in babies and most often occurs in infants like Rowan that are born prematurely.

The Treatment

While doctors aren’t sure what causes the disease, it is believed the intestinal tissue is weakened from blood flow getting cut off. Typically, babies diagnosed with the disease are cut off from breastfeeding or formula feeds so that their intestines can get a chance to rest.

Extra Care

The newborns are then given fluids intravenously. Doctors also administer a tube to remove fluids from the stomach and give the baby antibiotics to fight infections. In Rowan’s case, doctors also placed him on a ventilator to help him breathe since he was so weak.

The Prognosis

Generally, only about 25 percent of infants diagnosed with NEC manage to survive the disease and go on to recover. Tragically, doctors told Breyts and Novac, Rowan’s odds weren’t even that good because of the condition of his intestines and how prematurely he had been born.

1 Percent Chance Of Survival

Rowan’s doctors determined that the newborn had less than one percent chance of survival and broke the news to the couple who had been hoping that their baby boy would miraculously get better. Before Breyts and Novac were even able to hold Rowan, doctors told them they should start preparing for the end.

A Death Sentence

“Without a small intestine, he could never eat. He would never grow. He was too small to hope for a transplant. It was a death sentence,” Breyts told Fox News about the moment doctors explained just how dire and hopeless baby Rowan’s situation really was.

A Heartbreaking Realization

After being told to start planning their newborn’s funeral, Breyts and Novac were absolutely crushed. They wanted nothing more than for Rowan to get stronger and healthier, but they were also starting to realize the reality of his situation. “It was a hard balance … I wanted him to survive,” Novac explained to Fox 59.

An Unbearable Pain

“But I was a realistic person, they told me he was going to die. I just didn’t want him in any pain and drag it out at that point,” Novac said about the heartbreaking realization. “We kissed him and cried, telling him how much we loved him and wished there was something we could do.”

Waiting For The End

After coming to terms with the reality of the situation, Breyts and Novac began waiting for Rowan to pass away. According to the couple, they hoped the day would never come but simultaneously didn’t want their baby boy to be suffering and in pain any longer.

Two Months Later

However, Rowan never passed away like doctors had warned them would happen. So at the end of those difficult two months, the couple decided to get a second opinion. “Jess and I spoke at length and decided that he wasn’t giving up…neither would we,” Breyts said.

Relocating

Breyts and Novac reached out to doctors at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and told them about Rowan’s case. After doctors at the hospital accepted Rowan’s case, the baby was flown by helicopter. Just four days later, Rowan was taken into surgery.

A Miraculous Discovery

During the surgery, doctors removed a section of dead bowel tissue and some abscesses. Incredibly, doctors also found a good amount of healthy intestinal tissue. “[A doctor] told me they saw a lot of pink viable intestine, which was the exact opposite of what we had been told,” Breyts explained about the incredible moment he and Novac’s hope was restored.   

Unbelievable News

“She didn’t understand why I was so dumbfounded by what she had just said to me. I was like: ‘You don’t understand. The other hospital told us there wasn’t any left,’” Breyts said. Over the following months, Rowan underwent further treatment and several more surgeries to help him recover.

An Incredible Prognosis

What was even more amazing to both Breyts and Novac, was that the team of doctors at the Riley Hospital for children explained they were able to save about 71 centimeters of healthy bowel tissue. While it was less than what normal infants have, it was enough that doctors explained Rowan wouldn’t need a transplant or suffer from short bowel syndrome.

A Living Miracle

After 209 days in the NICU, Rowan was finally deemed strong enough and healthy enough to finally go home with his parents. “Seeing him myself and knowing where he came from as far as how small he was and the issues that he had, in my heart, he is a miracle. He’s an honest to God miracle,” Breyts said.

Premature Baby With 1 Percent Chance Of Survival Miraculously Defies The Odds is an article from: LifeDaily

Chances are, most people have been to a wedding where not everything went off without a hitch. Sure, there are plenty of weddings where everything goes perfectly, but these stories are few and far between.

Whether it’s the weather causing a major disruption in the plans or a drunk groomsman or bridesmaid making a pretty awful speech, anything can happen. But the wedding in the following story takes the cake…

Brazilian Wedding

The wedding of Jailton Barbosa, 25, and his bride Christina, 18, started out incredibly. The ceremony was held in the couple’s hometown of Brazil, where they were joined by their family and friends. Father Marlucio Luiz officiated the wedding as bridesmaids and flower girls walked down the aisle.

Wedding Video

But their special day soon turned dreadful as wedding video captured a gunman following two members of the bridal party into the church. Barbosa was standing just inches away from the victims when the attack took place, while Christina was outside the church, awaiting her big entrance.

The Church

Barbosa told the Daily Mail: “In just a few terrible minutes, our lives were turned upside down by a madman who tried to murder our relatives in front of us.” “When the gunman opened fire, it was one of the most frightening and chaotic moments in our lives,” he said.

Murdering Relatives

“My mind went into a whirl. I couldn’t get my head around what had just happened…I remember hearing the shots, grabbing hold of my mom and pulling her into a room and then rushing over to help those who were injured,” Barbosa added.

Nightmare

Meanwhile, Christina was rushed back into the bridal car and locked herself in for her safety. While the gunman was inside, he shot at three people. Barbosa said one of those wedding guests was his uncle. “I ran and cradled my uncle in my arms. He had been shot several times and I kept talking to him and trying to comfort him.”

Shooting Three Guests

Barbosa helped his uncle out of the church and into a car where he was rushed to the hospital. “I did the same for my cousin and his wife who had been grazed on her arm by a bullet,” Barbosa said. Cicero Barbosa da Silva, 62, his son Edmilson Bezerra da Silva, 37, and Edmilson’s wife, were among those shot.

Going Ahead With The Wedding

Everyone at the wedding was shaken up and Barbosa and Christina were given drugs by a medic in order to help them calm down while they waited for updates regarding their family members. After they received news that all three would survive, they decided to go ahead with the ceremony, two hours late.

Injuries

“Our thoughts were with our relatives. But when we heard the injuries were not life-threatening we felt we should go ahead. Barbosa explained that he and his fiance had planned their wedding day for over a year and they were so excited about the celebration.

Preparation

Just like any engaged couple, they sorted out the arrangements for the ceremony, sent out the invitations and organized the reception afterward. “To cancel everything would have been like allowing evil to get the better of us. We were innocent in all of this and just wanted to get on with our lives,” Barbosa said.

Altar

Christina admitted that after the incident it took all their courage to stand at the altar and say their vows as they were terrified the hitman would return. She said, “We are deeply disappointed we only have so few good memories and we find it hard to talk about our wedding day because it was so distressing.”

Wedding Photos

In the photos, the couple was smiling but their “hearts were aching.” “We’re just hoping the pain inflicted on our family will never happen again and one day the memory will no longer upset us.” However, no matter what they do, they cannot change what happened.

Calmly Shooting The Guests

“We can’t stop people from remembering our wedding as the one where the gunman just walked in and calmly shot our guests,” Christina said. “We hope with time, people will understand that our decision to go ahead was our way of trying to make the best of a bad deal.”

Gunman On The Loose

“At the time, we didn’t know why he did it and we couldn’t be sure he wasn’t coming back. But I said to Jailton let’s get married because someone like that has no right to destroy our dreams,” Christina told the Daily Mail. “What we are determined to do now is to make sure this horrific incident doesn’t define our marriage.”

Ceremony

Christina said that the day started off “with wickedness and anger but our marriage is full of love and happiness.” During the ceremony, Father Luiz said that he had to remain calm and focused for the sake of the couple.

Asking God For Strength

“I asked them if they still wanted to hold the ceremony after the shooting,” Luiz said. “Once they had taken a soothing remedy they said they did and we asked God for the strength to continue. In the end, everything went as best as it could.”

Wedding Party

But after the news spread that the gunman was still on the loose, around half of the couple’s 300 guests did not show up for the wedding party. “The hall was practically empty and so much food was wasted. I cried a bit from disappointment and frustration,” admitted Christina.

Gunman Identified

According to Detective Gustavo Xavier, the accused man was Humberto Ferreira Santos, 52. He gave himself up three days after the wedding saying he intended to avenge the death of his son, known as Caca, and his 85-year-old father.

Double Homicide

Both had been killed in a double homicide two years earlier, and Santos claimed the men he shot were responsible for their deaths. Santos, who once stood for election as a government official, told the cops his one regret was committing the crime inside the church.

Confession

According to Detective Xavier, Santos said in a confession, “I didn’t want to do this. I acted on impulse. I believed the men I shot killed my son and father…I tried to get these people arrested but no one would listen to me. I felt that I had fought so hard for justice and got nowhere that I no longer had any choice but to take matters into my own hands.”

In Custody

Since the shooting, both Edmilson and Cicero underwent surgery and have since been discharged from the Agreste Accident and Emergency unit. Edmilson’s wife who was sitting next to the men and asked not to be named wounded her arm and was released following treatment. As for Santos, he is in custody in the Casa de Custodia jail in Maceio.

Vigilante Shoots Three At Brazilian Wedding In Vengeful Act is an article from: LifeDaily

When so-called ghost hunters told Steven and Michael Carroll that their father was buried in the basement of their childhood home, they had good reason not to believe them. George Carroll, a Korean War veteran, disappeared six decades ago and no one seemed to know what had happened to him.

Steven was just five when he and his brother Michael lost their father. They and their three sisters never received a straight answer about what had happened to dad and were told he went out one day and never returned. That story conflicted with stories of his wartime glory, and the kids were yet to discover the true fate of their father…

Hard Upbringing

The children grew up without a father and never knew the true fate of their dad. While some older family members told the kids that George had abandoned the family and moved to South Korea, others claimed he had been murdered and buried in the basement of the family home in Lake Grove but everyone thought the latter version was just a bad joke.

Kids Abandoned

The five siblings took being raised without a father pretty hard, and the fact they had no idea what had happened to him just made it even worse. While some of the siblings were convinced he had abandoned them and didn’t want them, others felt that couldn’t be possibly have done that and always wondered what the real story was.

Second Husband

According to Michael, who purchased the family home from his mother in the 1980s, the only person who may have direct knowledge of George’s fate was their mother’s second husband, Richard Darress. He moved into the home soon after George went missing and the couple had a son who became Michael and Steven’s half-brother.

No Trail

As it turns out, Darress could have been involved in what turned out to the murder of George Carroll. He was working as a long-distance truck driver and eventually divorced Carroll and moved to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, near the Texas border. But as he died recently, he could not be questioned in the disappearance and murder of George meaning the trail for answers went cold.

Psychics Speak

Michael was so disturbed by not knowing what had happened to his father that he employed the services of a group of psychics who came to visit the home a few years ago. That team said they detected a “lot of energy” in the home and claimed that George was dead and buried in the basement. With that, Michael was all set to start digging up the basement to find his dad.

Structural Damage

Michael was never a big believer in psychics or the paranormal. However, this team seemed sure they were right and soon after they left, Michael started digging up his basement. Soon after he started digging, he noticed some structural issues that were threatening the integrity of the home as a result of the digging. At that point, Michael brought in experts with ground-penetrating radars which could give answers. It was the night of Halloween when the remains were discovered.

Too Curious

After the experts told Michael that there was something interesting around six feet beneath the basement, he decided to go ahead and continue with the dig. The curiosity was too much for Michael and by this stage cared little about structural integrity.

Old Well

Michael tasked his sons with continuing the dig, and they went ahead and dug as carefully as they could. Having cut through concrete that covered an old well, they discovered human remains in the basement. Michael was thrilled and scared at the same time and immediately contacted his family to inform them of the find. He also contacted the Suffolk police department.

Remains Identified

The remains were exhumed and transported immediately to the Suffolk medical examiner’s office. Through dental records and DNA testing, the examiner indeed confirmed that these human remains belonged to none other than George Carroll and what’s more, he had been murdered by a blow to the head many years ago.

Blunt Force Trauma

Suffolk County Medical Examiner Michael Caplan explained, according to a Mail Online report, that George had died from blunt force trauma to the head. “We were able to determine that the cause of death included blunt impacts to the head with fractures of the skull and brain injury, although there may be other injuries that are no longer detectable,” Caplan said.

Mixed Feelings

Immediately after the revelations came to light, Steven Carroll said he had mixed feelings about the matter. On the one hand, he was thrilled that his father had been located after all these years while on the other hand was devastated that his dad had been murdered and that no one had been brought to justice for the crime.

Long Journey

After the remains were taken and given a proper burial at the Calverton National Cemetary, Steven, now 61, told reporters. “This has been a long journey, but it is still shocking to hear this,” he said. Michael also shared his feelings on the case with the media, saying he was happy on the whole to have found his missing father.

Very Emotional

“I’m happy to learn that that is my dad,” Michael said. “This is a deep and very emotional thing and everybody is dealing with this in different ways. This has broken up my family.” The family argued following the discovery as fingers of blame were pointed at different family members leading to stress and some arguments.

Well Preserved

According to medical examiner, “The DNA was extremely well-preserved within the skeletal remains, even after almost 60 years,” Caplan said. As it turns out, the house was undergoing renovations at the time when George was murdered, leading cops to conclude that a construction worker may have killed him and thrown him into the available hole in the basement.

Murder Weapon

According to a New York Post report, George had most likely been killed by a blow to the head with a pipe. “I was told by the psychic it was blunt force trauma. She actually said to me that it was a pipe, that he got hit in the head by a pipe and he was buried alive,” Michael said.

Questions Remain

For his part, Steven can’t understand how his father was killed and disposed of in such an unceremonious way. “How does something like this happen?” Steven asked. “How do you dispose of someone and bury them in the basement and pour concrete over them and nobody knows about it?” Now the family is planning a memorial service for George.

Giving Respect

As well as being their father, George was a war veteran who at the very least deserved a proper burial. While Michael confirmed that a memorial service had been planned for next year, he also spoke about his joy at finding his dad after all these years. “I’m happy we finally know that that is my dad,” he said. “I’m happy we can move forward with a funeral.”

Love Rivals

Before George’s wife died back in the 1980s, she never spoke about her husband’s disappearance to her family or the kids. Both Michael and Steven thought it a little strange that she never talked about it but found it even more bizarre when it came out years later that she hadn’t even reported the disappearance to the police at the time. Could she have been involved in her husband’s murder or perhaps it was her new husband who did it?

No Justice

While Michael is happy his father was found after all these years, he feels no justice has really be done. “There will be no justice,” he said. “The justice happened when we dug him up because we just interrupted the perfect crime — they almost got away with this,” he added.

Family United

Despite the pressure and the numerous arguments, most of the Carroll family are better off since George was found. While no one is sure who killed him or why the fact he was found and that he had been in the basement all that time was some comfort for a family who was raised in difficult circumstances and without a father figure at home.

Man Finds Long Lost Father After Psychic Tells Him To To Dig In Basement is an article from: LifeDaily

A little girl thought she knew who her mother was, but it turned out that she had no idea about her tumultuous past.

After losing a bitter custody battle, the mother fled the country, leading the FBI on a massive manhunt. What happened next caused the father to miss 20 years of his daughter’s life and the mother to lose her home, her family, and her friends…

Lee Barnett

Since childhood, there was always something special about Lee Barnett. In a story covered by 48 Hours, Barnett says that she and her brothers were raised by a free-spirited single mother named Dottie after their father died. They didn’t have much money, but they went on plenty of adventures.

Traveling

They traveled between South Carolina, Florida, and the jungles of Belize. “They were really living an Indiana Jones lifestyle before there was an Indiana Jones,” Barnett’s oldest friend, Susan Poag, told 48 Hours correspondent Maureen Maher. “In Belize, they were in the jungle living with local families.”

Life Of Adventures

At one point, Barnett traveled to Africa with Poag. “I just knew that all of the traveling that we had done and that she had done with her family prepared her for really what was the ultimate adventure of her life.” The adventure began in Charleston, South Carolina, when Barnett, then a flight attendant, met Harris Todd, a stockbroker.

Harris Todd

Barnett said that their love was more of a friendship than love at first sight. “He just professed to me that I’d made him feel different than anybody else has ever made him feel. And then one thing led to another,” Barnett said. But it seemed that the couple wanted different things out of life.

Different Personalities

While Barnett was outgoing, Todd kept to himself. Despite their different personalities, they eventually got married, although Todd made it clear he never wanted to have kids. Still, Barnett thought she could change his mind. “I just thought that I was gonna do something and he would change. And we’d have this wonderful family…and I just had this crazy dream that I’d make everything right,” she said.

Pregnant

But Barnett couldn’t have been more wrong. When she told her husband he was pregnant is when all the problems started between them. “He just kept saying over and over throughout my whole pregnancy, ‘There is no baby.’ Even when I was eight months pregnant. ‘There is no baby. There is no baby,’” Barnett said.

Arguing

But Todd claimed the problem wasn’t the pregnancy, it was Barnett’s uncontrollable temper. He said that during an argument, she flipped over the coffee table, and the following morning he left the home. “I just felt so abandoned. And I couldn’t figure out how somebody I’ve loved and known for so long could be this cruel,” Barnett told Maher.

Marriage Counseling

Todd reportedly asked Barnett to get an abortion multiple times but she refused. He claims he left the home because he couldn’t take his wife’s temper anymore and that he feared for his safety. But Barnett’s mother had a solution and she suggested marriage counseling.

Psychiatrist

Her mother suggested a psychiatrist named Dr. Oliver Bjorksten, and the couple both agreed to go. While Barnett walked in hoping to save her marriage, she instead walked out with a diagnosis on the bipolar spectrum. The doctor said she had something called hyperthymic temperament- a condition characterized by blaming, dwelling, and temper outbursts.

Medication

He wanted to treat the condition with medication. Barnett admitted she was emotional at the time of the pregnancy and that she was alone and had a scare her baby might have Down syndrome. Still, the doctor prescribed her the drug Navane.

Antipsychotic Drug

After taking three pills, a doctor friend of Barnett’s said it’s an antipsychotic drug and he advised her not to take it. Then, Barnett discovered that Todd and her own mother contacted the psychiatrist before she ever even heard his name. Barnett thought Todd never met the man before, but he had.

He Said, She Said

Todd said he was only trying to get help for his wife, but Barnett believed Todd was setting her up. She believed he was spinning an elaborate tale of an unstable wife with a violent temper, and convincing her own mother of it. Barnett believed he was doing it to “save face” after walking out on her.

Bitter Custody Battle

After a bitter custody battle, Barnett feared her newborn would be taken away from her. The decision was up to Judge Robert Mallard and it was clear he believed Todd. The judge also noted what he called Barnett’s “inability to control her impulses” in court. She admitted to Maher, “I think I got hyper. I think I got stressed. I think I got scared.”

Losing Custody Of Her Baby

Then, on February 18, 1994, Judge Mallard awarded full custody of 9-and-a-half-month-old Savanna to her father. Barnett said her only option was an appeal but the judge didn’t file the necessary paperwork in the usual 30 days. By day 45, she was desperate. After watching a “60 Minutes” piece on a street in L.A. where you can easily get fake documents, Barnett took Savanna and disappeared.

Fake Documents

By the following afternoon, Barnett was reborn as Alexandria Maria Canton and Savanna was now her son, Nick. “She had no hair yet so I thought, hmmm, I chose a boy,” Barnett said. Their next stop was to Houston, Texas, where she put on a black wig, walked into the DMV and got a Texas drivers license. Next were the passports, which were easy.

Massive Manhunt

“Something…was just…propelling me forward…knowing that I had to get her safe and I had to keep her safe,” said Barnett. By the time she was supposed to be giving her child to Todd, she was in Paris, France. She felt free, although everything was falling apart back home and the FBI launched a massive manhunt.

Diary

All the while, Barnett wrote in a diary explaining all of her decisions for her daughter to one day read, and hopefully understand. Back at home, Todd felt like he was constantly grieving for someone who was dying. While he was grieving his daughter for five years after her disappearance, Harris Todd decided to take matters into his own hands, but he didn’t have a clue where Barnett and Savanna were.

Globetrotting Life

After 13 years on the run traveling four continents, Barnett finally landed in the sunshine coast in Australia, which is where they stayed. She remarried, changed her daughter’s name to Samantha and the couple had a son, Reece. But 19 years after they boarded that first plane, Barnett had confided in the wrong friend, who spilled her name to authorities. All the FBI needed was a way to identify Barnett under her alias and now they had the missing piece to the puzzle.

FBI

It took two years to work a deal between the two countries and it came at a bad time since one week earlier her dad died from bone cancer. Samantha and Reece faced losing their mother to prison. As Lee sat on the couch next to two FBI agents, she told her children to trust her and they did. In fact, they never doubted her for a second and they told 48 Hours they had an incredible childhood with a stable mother, who did not have a mental illness.

Prison

Barnett explained everything to Samantha, who learned that her name used to be Savanna. She even gave her the diary she had been keeping. After her arrest, Barnett says the law was broken when a corrupt court system took her baby from her. After five months in jail, Barnett didn’t have the money or the firepower to fight the U.S. government so she pled guilty to all three charges including kidnapping and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. She has since been released from jail and reunited with her family. She has no regrets in what she did.

Mom Who Kidnapped Daughter From Father And Ran For 20 Years Says She Has No Regrets is an article from: LifeDaily

The heart is the most vital organ in the human body. And taking care of it should be a priority, especially as we get older. Most experts will tell us that the best way to ensure a healthy heart is to exercise regularly and to watch what we eat.

Fast food and too much office birthday cake are basic examples of bad eating, but did you know that many of the foods we consume on a daily basis contain heart-damaging amounts of sugar, sodium, and fat? No? Well you’re in for a treat! Below are 30 everyday foods that the heart-conscious among us should be wary of.

Cold Cuts

Everyone loves a good deli sandwich, and there’s no doubt that cold cuts make a convenient and tasty meal on the go, but these delicious deli meats sometimes contain unbelievable amounts of sodium. Cold cuts contribute about 250 milligrams of sodium per slice, so a sammie with at least three or four slices of deli meat equates to 1,000 milligrams of sodium in the meat alone. Breads and condiments don’t help either, but we’ll get to those later.

Cheese

If you ask 100 Americans what their favorite snack food is, 85 will tell you cheese. While delicious, cheese is the single biggest contributor of saturated fat to the American diet. This type of fat stores itself in the stomach and affects the cardiovascular system like nothing else. And if you thought cottage cheese was safe, you’re mistaken: just one cup can carry almost 700 milligrams of salt.

Canned Vegetables

We may think that eating more vegetables will help improve our overall health, and in most cases, at least when it comes to fresh veggies, we’d be right. The exception to this rule are vegetables that come out of a can. They may be packed with vitamins, but they also contain a lot of sodium, which is used by manufacturers to preserve the tasty niblets. So look for “low sodium” cans and always be sure to rinse the veggies before eating.

Tomato Sauce

Another canned delicacy that we use in much of our everyday cooking is tomato sauce. One can of the crimson condiment contains a whopping 830 milligrams of sodium. For comparison, that’s like eating 97 Cheez-Its snack bites. As with canned veggies, you can find “low sodium” added jars of sauce as an alternative. Look for cans labeled with fewer than 350 milligrams of sodium per half-cup serving.

Frozen Pie

Baking a pie isn’t an easy task. And some of us are guilty of taking the shortcut of using a pre-made frozen pie instead of cooking one from scratch. What many people don’t know about these sweet treats though, is that they contain more trans-fats than almost anything else in the supermarket. Marie Callender’s Lattice Apple Pie, for example, packs three grams of trans-fats per slice. That’s not good for anyone’s ticker.

Frozen Meals

In the same supermarket freezer are one of the saltiest foods you’ll ever find: frozen TV dinners. Even the healthiest options contain upwards of 700 milligrams (half a day’s worth), of sodium. Yes, they’re convenient, but is convenience really worth calcifying our arteries? To avoid this, look for meals with less than 500 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Coffee Creamer

Americans love coffee, but many of us eschew the traditionally black brew for a bit of added flavor. Unfortunately, those of us who prefer our coffee with all the bells and whistles are consuming more sugar and trans-fats than we realize. Traditional coffee creamers hide these fats under their less popular name: hydrogenated oil. Use regular milk and sugar if you don’t like your coffee black.

Blended Coffees

This may not come as much of a surprise, but blended coffee drinks like Frappuccinos and Dunkaccinos are among the most fattening beverages we can consume. These sugary confections are laced with syrup, sugar, whipped cream, and other toppings. Many can have the same amount of calories and fat as a milkshake, and often have more. If you want a bit of added flavor in your coffee, add cinnamon instead.

Butter and Margarine

Another somewhat obvious food to avoid is everyone’s favorite spread: Butter. Now, we must understand that butter, in general, isn’t as bad as its reputation. It can be good for digestion, but it does contain more fats than a normal person needs. Worse than butter, however, are butter alternatives like margarine, which are made with partially-hydrogenated oils, or trans fats.

Ketchup

We don’t realize it, but when it comes to regulating blood pressure and heart health, we have to look at everything we’re eating, even the condiments we use. Ketchup, the “catch-all” condiment, for example, contains around 167 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon, and a fair amount of sugar. Scaling back on these condiments can help lower blood pressure and help us taste more of our food and less of our ketchup.

Bouillon Cubes

Typically, when we’re cooking soup we reach for an extra bouillon cube, for an extra dose of flavor. Unfortunately, all bouillon cubes are made of are sodium and chemically concocted flavorings like monosodium glutamate (MSG). MSG doesn’t just increase appetite, it tells our bodies to pump out the fat-storing hormone insulin. A healthier alternative would be to make our own flavor stock from fresh ingredients.

Fruit Juice

Fruit juice is natural, packed with Vitamin C, and delicious, but it also contains up to 36 grams of sugar per cup. For comparison, that’s about the same as four Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. If we’re looking for something healthier, there are much better options than bottled fruit juice. Instead of store bought, try squeezing your own juice or adding orange slices or berries to your water for a fruity, hydrating treat that won’t hurt your heart.

Diet Soda

Despite the many effective ad campaigns and catchy commercials we’ve been treated to over the years, there’s no getting around the fact that Diet Soda isn’t the miracle beverage they want us to think it is. No soda is good for you, but diet soda, which has no calories, is loaded with strange additives that can affect our digestive system in the long run. It can also trick our bodies into thinking we can eat more.

Ice Cream

Ice cream is a delicious treat on a hot summer day, but it’s also a hefty source of Cholesterol, and not the good kind. One cup of certain Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavors, for example, can contain 130 grams of Cholesterol. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. We know it’s difficult (if not impossible) to cut out ice cream entirely, but we should keep this phrase in mind: “everything in moderation.” Especially when it comes to our heart health.

Biscuits

There’s some bad news for those of us that love buttery baked biscuits: they aren’t good for our hearts. This should come as no surprise, especially to those who read the butter section above, but many brands of biscuit mix are full of trans fats that can wreak havoc on the heart. Instead of these, we suggest English muffins labeled with 0 trans fats.

Bacon and Sausage

If the breakfast biscuits weren’t already a gut-punch, then we’ve got some more bad news, bacon and sausage aren’t all that great for us either. Like their partners in crime, the cold cuts, many of these heavily processed meats contain nitrates, a preservative that interferes with the body’s natural ability to process sugar. They are also loaded with sodium which can affect blood pressure in a harmful way.

White Rice

While most whole grains can reduce our risk of dying of heart disease by nearly 20 percent, refined grains are a whole other animal. Many of these highly-processed grains, such as white rice, have been stripped of their nutrients in the bargain and can actually have an adverse effect on heart health. A recent study shows that those who ate the most white rice were at greatest risk for type-2 diabetes.

Chinese Food

This one hits close to home, because we love Chinese food, but it’s not a great option for those worried about their heart. Many options at these restaurants contain sugary sauces and deep-fried breading. Many dishes are packed with calories, sugar, sodium, and even trans fats. The best way to avoid this and still enjoy is to ask for the sauce on the side of steamed meat and veggies, that way we can control our flavor intake without going crazy.

Beef Jerky

Salted beef has been a staple of sailors and hiking enthusiasts for centuries. Yet, while it’s free of any refined grains and packed with protein, it’s also packed full of popular preservative: salt. Even an ounce serving can contain more than 700 milligrams of it. It may be better for our tastebuds than trail mix, but not necessarily our hearts.

Fried Chicken

Next we have one of America’s all-time favorite comfort foods: fried chicken. This crispy delicious offering is something that everyone should eat in moderation (remember “everything in moderation”), and most people know that already. What they don’t know, however, is that a four ounces of fried chicken with the skin included have as much cholesterol as 11 strips of bacon. Food for thought.

French Fries

If you’re concerned with heart health, steer clear of french fries. While tasty, french fries are a simple carbohydrate that can spike blood sugar levels. French fries are also often deep fried in oil and covered in salt, which can raise the bad type of cholesterol.

Steak

Fattier cuts of steak like Ribeye, T-bone, and New York Strip contain high amounts of saturated fat that clog arteries and increases your risk of heart disease. For a healthier heart and waistline, choose leaner cuts of steak like top sirloin or London broil.

Pizza

Pizza is covered in sauce, cheese, and oil, which can all put stress on the heart. In fact, most slices of pizza contain half the suggested daily intake of saturated fat.

Potato Chips

Potato chips are full of saturated fat and are extremely high in sodium. Together, the ingredients increase cholesterol and raise blood pressure. Over time, this can cause arteries to narrow, harden, and become clogged.

Cottage Cheese

Just a single cup of cottage cheese can contain around 700 milligrams, or more than a third of the recommended daily intake, of salt. To keep your heart healthy, choose a cottage cheese that has no salt added.

Fast-food burgers

While high-quality grass-fed beef can be beneficial to your health when eaten in moderation, fast-food burgers are almost always made with low-quality oils and ingredients as well as cooking methods that are bad for the heart.

Cereal

While cereal is a breakfast staple in the United States, many are extremely high in sugar. Not only does it cause inflammation and make blood sugar spike, but when blood sugar levels crash shortly after, you’ll be left craving even more sugar during the day.

Hot Dogs

Like other processed meats, hot dogs should not be eaten regularly. Not only are they packed with additives and preservatives, but they are high in salt and have been linked to higher rates of heart disease.

Salad Dressing

While choosing a salad is a great way to get leafy greens and vegetables into your diet, salad dressing and sauces are often packed with sugar and salt. Those ingredients increase blood pressure, cause increased fat storage, and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Baked Goods

Baked goods like cookies, cakes, pastries, and pies might be delicious, but they should be enjoyed in moderation. The sweet treat is high in sugar and is likely made with saturated or trans fats, which can lead to clogged arteries, hypertension, and even heart failure.

30 Very Common Foods That Can Lead To A Heart Attack is an article from: LifeDaily