About.com Crime / Punishment

This Week's Top Crime Stories

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:02 +0000

Below are the headlines from this week's top crime stories. Find out what others are saying about these cases in the Crime & Punishment Forum and add your comments and opinions.

13 Killed, 30 Wounded at Foot Hood
Suspect shot four times, but survives.
6 Shot, 1 Killed in Orlando Office
Former employee goes postal.
11 Bodies Found in Rapist's Home
Anthony Sowell kept bodies for years.
Missing Florida Infant Found Alive
Hidden in box under babysitter's bed.
5 Arrested in Homecoming Dance Rape
School safety officials under fire.

^{Photo of Nidal Malik Hasan: U.S. Army}

This Week's Top Crime Stories originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 00:01:02.

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Weekly Crime Poll: Gun Laws

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:04:44 +0000

A Gallop survey reported in October 2009 shows that the percentage of Americans who feel the gun laws should be stricter is at a new low of 44 percent down by 5 points compared to last year. What is your opinion?

Poll: Should the current gun laws be stricter?

Yes

Undecided

Search Underway for Missing Florida Infant

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:54:20 +0000

Authorities and volunteers were searching the woods in a remote area near Chipley, Florida looking for a 7-month-old girl missing from her parents' home since early Saturday morning. The missing child has been identified as Shannon Lea Dedrick, but the identity of her parents have not been revealed by law enforcement officials.

UPDATE: Shannon Dedrick has been found alive in a box hidden under her baby sitter's bed and authorities say they'll charge the sitter, her husband and the infant's mother. The baby sitter, Susan Elizabeth Baker, 50, her husband James, and Shannon's mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer, have been detained and all will likely be charged in the infant's disappearance, police said. Read more...

Search Underway for Missing Florida Infant originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 02:54:20.

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4 More Bodies Found in Rapist's Home

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:23 +0000

Investigators found the remains of at least four more bodies at the Cleveland home of a convicted rapist and are continuing to search. Anthony Sowell, 50, who lives at the home, has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder so far.

Four more bodies were found buried in the back yard and a skull in a bucket in the basement. Read more...

4 More Bodies Found in Rapist's Home originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 00:01:23.

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Court Rejects James Ford Seale Appeal

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:17:53 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that the statute of limitations had not expired for a Civil Rights era kidnapping charge against reputed Ku Klux Klansman James Earl Seale. The decision could affect dozens of other investigations into crimes of the 1960s.

Seale was convicted in 2007 for the 1964 kidnappings of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. Read more...

Court Rejects James Ford Seale Appeal originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 21:17:53.

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Victims of Fetal Kidnappings

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:36:14 +0000

Fetal theft is a relatively new category in crime although the first documented case dates back to 1987. Also referred to as Caesarean kidnappings and baby snatching, fetal theft is committed by vicious criminals who are all female, most of them faked their own pregnancies and all befriended and stalked their victims.

More Information:

^{Photo: Family Photo}

Victims of Fetal Kidnappings originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 05:36:14.

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Sex Offender Arrested After 6 Bodies Found

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:18:50 +0000

A convicted rapist has been arrested after police acting on a tip found six decomposing bodies in his Cleveland, Ohio home. Anthony E. Sowell tried to flee and initially denied his identity when authorities tried to arrest him.

Autopsies were performed on all six bodies, all were ruled victims of homicide. Read more...

Sex Offender Arrested After 6 Bodies Found originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 01:18:50.

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Trial Ordered in Anna Nicole Smith Case

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:26:25 +0000

The former boyfriend-attorney and two doctors of Anna Nicole Smith have been ordered to stand trial for illegally providing her with prescription drugs prior to her 2007 overdose death. Howard K. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich will face trial on charges that include providing drugs to an addict.

The three will be arraigned Dec. 11 on conspiracy charges. Read more...

Trial Ordered in Anna Nicole Smith Case originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 00:26:25.

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Weekly Crime Poll: Death Penalty Appeals Process

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:46:10 +0000

Billy Joe Johnson is a white supremacist gangster who was convicted to 45 years in prison for murdering a man, but then later confessed to two more murders and asked for the death penalty. Was Johnson seeking redemption for his crimes? Apparently not, but rather to do his time on death row which he believes will offer him amenities he is currently without.

Also, as his attorney says, Johnson figures by the time the appeal process runs out he'll be 65 or older and will not want to live anyway.

Poll: Does the appeals process for death row inmates take too long?

Yes

Undecided

See Also: Crime and Punishment Weekly Crime Polls

_{Photo: Mugshot}

Weekly Crime Poll: Death Penalty Appeals Process originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 01:46:10.

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Second 'Baby Grace' Trial Underway

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:03:52 +0000

The lawyer for a man accused of murdering 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers told jurors that his client dumped her body in Galveston Bay, but he didn't have anything to do with her death, as his murder trial began. Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, is charged with capital murder but will not face the death penalty if convicted.

Riley Ann was known as "Baby Grace" until relatives identified her after her body was found in a plastic storage tub on the banks of the bay. Read more...

Second 'Baby Grace' Trial Underway originally appeared on About.com Crime / Punishment on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 11:03:52.

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