Nineteen year old Ariel Cruz has been charged with the murder of missing twenty one year old college student Idania Campos
According to court documents Idania Campos would drop off her sisters at school and was not heard from again. Ariel Cruz who had been at the family home over the weekend consoling the family over missing Idania Campos. However when the family discovered the body of Idania Campos in the trunk of their vehicle Ariel Cruz was soon arrested
Once Ariel Cruz was in custody he would confess to the murder of Idania Campos
Ariel Cruz Videos
Ariel Cruz Case
An arrest has been made after a family made a devastating discovery while looking for a loved one who disappeared on Tuesday. A 21-year-old woman’s body was found inside the trunk of her own car in Houston, Texas.
According to court records, 19-year-old Ariel Cruz has been arrested and charged with murder. Documents say he shot and killed his girlfriend, Idania Campos.
Family members told ABC Houston affiliate KTRK that Cruz was at the scene, consoling the family, for most of the day on Tuesday while police investigated. They described Cruz as a good friend of the woman, and said he was at the family’s house over the weekend. Houston police described the victim as Cruz’s girlfriend.
According to Cruz’s bail motion, he killed the woman because she broke up with him in the past.
The family said Cruz was taken into custody for questioning, and investigators called them early Wednesday morning to say he had confessed to his girlfriend’s death and was charged with murder
He was booked into the Harris County, Texas Jail around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. His bond was set at $600,000.
Houston police said the woman’s family tracked her phone to the Meyerland area on Tuesday, leading them to her car.
Investigators asked anyone who lives in Meyerland, to check their security cameras between 8:20 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. Tuesday.
The woman’s family told HPD they couldn’t get ahold of her after they last saw her in bed around 7 a.m. and the woman’s mother last spoke to her around 8:20 a.m.
The victim shares her phone’s location with a friend, so her family used that information to track her phone down. That’s when they discovered her parked car.
The family called police, but investigators said nothing seemed suspicious and the car didn’t look like it had been broken into. The victim’s phone was just sitting inside.
HPD officers took a missing person’s report and left the scene.
“Of course, if the family thought she was in the car, of course they would have made forced entry, but at this point, they just thought it was left there. Nobody at that point thought she was inside the trunk,” Lt. Alias Smith said
Meanwhile, the woman’s family stayed at the scene and called a locksmith to get inside the car. HPD said it was taking the locksmith a while to arrive, so the victim’s father decided to break a window to get inside the car around 5:40 p.m.
The family popped the trunk, and that’s when they discovered the woman’s body. HPD then returned to the scene.
Investigators said they found blood in the trunk. HPD said the victim had signs of trauma to her face, but noted that they didn’t find any shell casings at the scene.
Police did not immediately identify the victim.
Smith said it’s her opinion that the woman was killed somewhere else and then left in her car on Indigo Street. Police said her family lives about 30 minutes away from the area.
According to court reports officers would respond to a call of gunfire. When officers arrived they would find Robert Lee Jett, Jr, dying in his backyard from gunshot wounds. Robert Lee Jett Jr was unable to tell police who shot him before he died. Inside of the home police would find the body of James Vincent “J.V.” Lynch, 57, who was fatally shot
Phillip Hancock would be arrested and admitted to killing Robert Lee Jett Jr and James Vincent Lynch however he would tell police and later the jury that the double murder was in self defense. However Phillip Hancock would be convicted and sentenced to death
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to grant Phillip Hancock however the Governor of Oklahoma has so far made a decision whether to accept their decision or ignore it
A death row inmate who claims he killed in self-defense was recommended for clemency Wednesday.
Phillip Hancock is set to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 30 for the fatal shooting of two men in Oklahoma City in 2001.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to make the recommendation.
“I was in a life-or-death situation,” Hancock, 59, told the board via a video link from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
“They forced me to fight for my life. I absolutely regret, with all of my heart, that those men died as a result of the nightmare situation that they themselves created,” he said. “I did what I had to do to save my life.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt now will decide whether to commute Hancock’s punishment to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The board has recommended clemency only three times since executions resumed in Oklahoma two years ago. The governor granted clemency only once, to Julius Jones, who was hours away from being executed.
The last inmate to be executed, Anthony Sanchez, passed up his clemency hearing because he said it would be futile.
Board members made their votes Wednesday without explanation.
The vote came after they heard from attorneys, the victims’ relatives, a clinical psychologist, two state legislators and, at the end, Phillip Hancock.
The inmate admitted again Wednesday that he fatally shot Robert Lee Jett Jr. at the biker’s home in Oklahoma City early April 27, 2001, after being told to get into a cage.
He also admitted he fatally shot James Vincent “J.V.” Lynch.
He claimed Jett, 38, was bludgeoning him with a metal tool while Lynch, 57, held him down in an armed bar chokehold. He said he shot after getting control of Jett’s pistol.
“Please understand the awful situation I found myself in,” he said.
An Oklahoma County jury rejected his self-defense claim in 2004, found him guilty of first-degree murder and chose death as punishment.
Afterward, the trial judge wrote in a report that Hancock attacked both victims without provocation and at no time expressed any remorse.
Jurors didn’t find Phillip Hancock credible because his self-defense claim was not supported by the physical evidence and an eyewitness, Assistant Attorney General Joshua Lockett said during the hearing.
Phillip Hancock also gave shifting stories, the assistant AG said.
The board also was told Hancock shot Jett a final time in the backyard. “I’m going to die,” Jett said, according to the eyewitness testimony at trial. “Yes, you are,” Hancock responded.
Not in dispute in the case was that Jett had grabbed a metal bar and ordered Hancock to get into a cage after a disagreement about an open pack of cigarettes. The men had ingested methamphetamine earlier.
“Their standoff ended just as quickly as it had begun though,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond and his assistants told the board in a written submission about the case. “Jett seemingly let the issue lie and walked away … headed for the front door. … Hancock jumped up and came straight at him.”
Hancock’s attorneys submitted to the board a 2021 admission by his ex-girlfriend that she had asked Jett “to take care of Phil for me.”
“I impulsively asked Bob if I could pay him a few hundred dollars to get Phil off my back,” Katherine Quick said. “I didn’t mean to put Phil’s life in danger but I did. I wanted Bob to scare Phil but I wasn’t considering how volatile Bob could be.”
They also gave the board a statement from his lead defense attorney that he had been struggling with an alcohol and drug addiction at the time of the trial.
“I am embarrassed by the job I did on this case,” attorney John W. Coyle III wrote.
A clinical psychologist who evaluated Hancock last year said he reacted the way he did in 2001 because he had been beaten as a boy, sexually assaulted at age 14 and gang raped in prison at age 19.
Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, asked the board to recommend clemency.
“We’ve got it wrong so many times in Oklahoma. Let’s stand up and let’s get it right at least once,” he said.
Rep. J.J. Humphrey, R-Lane, also called for clemency, saying the shooting was obviously self-defense.
Phillip Hancock had been involved in a fatal shooting before, in 1982 at Oklahoma City’s Stars and Stripes Park. He claimed self-defense at a murder trial and was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.
Tammy Sytch who is better known as WWE Diva Sunny was sentenced to seventeen years in prison for a DUI crash that left an elderly man dead in Florida
According to court documents Tammy Sytch was driving drunk when she slammed her car into another vehicle driven by 75 year old Julian Lafrancis Lasseter of Daytona Beach Shores. Two other people would also be injured in the crash
Tammy Sytch who has been arrested and convicted of DUI seven times was arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter and would later plead guilty to DUI manslaughter, four counts of DUI with damage to person and two counts of DUI with damage to property
Tammy Sytch was sentenced to seventeen years in prison followed by eight years of probation. Hopefully they have also taken away her drivers license forever
Former WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Monday for causing the death of a man while driving drunk.
The 50-year-old Sytch was also sentenced to eight years probation after her jail time is complete.
Sytch pleaded no contest to eight charges in August: one count of DUI manslaughter; driving while license suspended with death; four counts of DUI with damage to person; and two counts of DUI with damage to property.
Authorities said on March 25, 2022, two vehicles were stopped at a traffic signal in Ormond Beach, Fla. A third vehicle was traveling in the same southbound direction on U.S. Highway 1 and failed to stop and crashed into one of the stopped vehicles, which caused that vehicle to then crash into the other vehicle in front of it.
The driver of the second vehicle was identified as Julian Lasseter, who was pronounced dead at a hospital. The driver and passengers in the third vehicle suffered injuries but did not go to a hospital. Sytch’s blood-alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit for the state of Florida.
Sytch was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011 and had several previous drunk-driving arrests. She served eight months in jail for a DUI in 2018 and was charged in January 2022 with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and one count of terroristic threats.
Sytch apologized to Lassiter’s family during her sentencing.
“A precious life was lost that tragic day and I’m so incredibly sorry for that,” Sytch said. “I would ask that you give me the opportunity to atone for what I’ve done and then to be released to society to contribute to it in the most positive way possible.
Thomas James Niarhos is an alleged teen killer from Pennsylvania who has been charged with the murder of Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins, 39.
According to police reports Thomas James Niarhos was involved in an altercation with Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins as Niarhos believed that Hawkins had sexually assaulted his girlfriend behind a dumpster.
The fifteen year old Thomas James Niarhos would pull out a gun and fatally shoot Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins in the face. Niarhos would be detained at the scene by a witness and soon after was placed into custody by the Pottstown Police Department
Thomas James Niarhos has been charged as an adult in the murder of Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins
Thomas James Niarhos News
A teen has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing a man in Pottstown Wednesday afternoon, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said.
According to court documents, officers responded to South Hanover Street at Security Plaza around 12:07 p.m. and found a man – later identified as 39-year-old Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins – with a gunshot wound to his head.
Hawkins was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials stated.
Officials said the suspect – later identified as 15-year-old Thomas James Niarhos of Stowe – was held by a witness and immediately taken into custody by police.
A gun was recovered from the scene and officials said it was later determined to belong to Niarhos’ father.
Upon further investigation, detectives discovered that a fight had ensued between Niarhos and Hawkins.
Surveillance video showed that Niarhos had extended his arm out toward Hawkins and in return, Hawkins swung a tire attempting to knock a gun out of Niarhos’ hand, according to officials.
Officials said Niarhos then fired a single shot at Hawkins, fired another round, dropped the gun and was then detained.
An autopsy report stated that Hawkins had been shot once in the side of his face at close range, officials said.
According to court documents, Niarhos has now been charged as an adult with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possessing a firearm by a minor, possessing an instrument of crime and other charges.
Officials said Niarhos is being held at the Montgomery County Youth Center with no bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Nov. 30.
A 15-year-old from Stowe who is the son of the executive director of the homeless advocacy agency Beacon of Hope has been charged with first-degree murder in the daylight shooting of a homeless man just yards from the borough police station.
Thomas James Niarhos of East Race Street is accused of shooting 39-year-old Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins, who was experiencing homelessness, near the Norfolk Southern train tracks at South Hanover Street and Security Plaza, which is also the hub for the Pottstown Area Rapid Transit bus routes.
The motive in the shooting may be related to an alleged sexual assault of Thomas James Niarhos’ girlfriend four months earlier, according to investigators.
Court records indicate Thomas James Niarhos told police on July 13 that Hawkins had raped his 16-year-old girlfriend, whose name has been withheld, behind the dumpster in Security Plaza near the Norfolk-Southern railroad tracks. Police investigated that accusation but received no cooperation from the girl’s family, and her mother told police the next day the family did not wish to press charges.
Police were dispatched at 12:07 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22, and arrived to find Hawkins lying on South Hanover Street with an obvious gunshot wound to the head, according to a press release issued jointly Saturday morning by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele and Pottstown Police Chief Michael Markovich.
Hawkins was transported to Pottstown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Thomas James Niarhos was being held by witnesses when police arrived and he was immediately taken into custody by police.
Several witnesses told police Thomas James Niarhos dropped the gun after shooting Hawkins and started running through Security Plaza toward the parking lot of The Blue Elephant restaurant before he was restrained by bystanders until police arrived.
A .40 caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic firearm was recovered on the scene, according to the press release issued by the D.A.’s office. Detectives later determined the firearm belonged to the defendant’s father, who declined to make a statement to MediaNews Group when contracted on Saturday.
However, the accused’s father, told police he kept his gun in a locked nightstand in his bedroom, but kept the key in another location in the bedroom, according to court records. He told police he found a note in his son’s bedroom saying he planned to run away, along with a packed bag of clothing and a phone charger.
A joint homicide investigation by Pottstown Police and Montgomery County Detectives found through multiple witness interviews and review of surveillance video that Thomas James Niarhos had sought out Hawkins, and the two males were standing close together arguing when Niarhos extended his arm toward Hawkins.
Hawkins, who was on a bike and holding a spare tire, swung it at Thomas James Niarhos attempting to knock the gun out of his hand, but Niarhos fired a single shot at Hawkins’ face, and the victim fell immediately. Niarhos fired a second time, then dropped the firearm and walked away, when he was detained by bystanders, the press release said.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, as Niarhos was being escorted to the police station, an officer’s body camera recorded him shouting at first responders trying to save Hawkins, “he’s a rapist, don’t be sorry for him” and “he raped a 15-year-old girl, don’t help him.”
An autopsy was conducted on Hawkins’ body by Dr. Khalil Wardak, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, which found that Hawkins had been shot once in the side of his face at close range.
Dr. Wardak determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was homicide.
Niarhos was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possessing a firearm by a minor, possessing an instrument of crime and other charges.
Niarhos was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Margaret Hunsicker on Nov. 22. No bail is available for first-degree murder, and he was remanded to the Montgomery County Youth Center.
Anthony Colavecci, who is also experiencing homelessness, told MediaNews Group Wednesday after the shooting that Hawkins, whom he called “Jay,” was his former roommate “and he saved my life. I slipped in the bathroom and I kept saying I was fine, but he insisted that the ambulance take me to the hospital.”
Colavecci said Hawkins had become addicted to drugs in the last few months.
“I keep trying to tell myself I don’t care, but there are people who will miss him and I’m one of them,” Colavecci said.
A preliminary hearing for Niarhos is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Nov. 30, before Magisterial District Judge Scott T. Palladino.
The case will be prosecuted by Assistant Chief of Trials Lauren Marvel and Assistant District Attorney Anne O’Connell.
The accused shooter’s father has come to be well-known in the borough since 2020, first as the executive director of the first Al’s Heart Warming Center that operated a winter nighttime warming center for those experiencing homelessness when the COVID epidemic forced area churches which had performed this function to cease operations.
For two years Niarhos, who previously experienced homelessness himself, ran the center out of the former St. Aloysius parish school on North Hanover Street. When that arrangement ended in 2022, the agency, now named Beacon of Hope, operated a warming center in St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, which brought them into conflict with the borough as a zoning violation that was ultimately withdrawn.
Niarhos has been the local face of the agency through its efforts to use $1.3 million in federal COVID funds to win the 2022 zoning approval for the construction of a permanent 45-bed shelter at Glasgow and West High streets along the western border of the borough
Kaitlyn Coones is an alleged teen killer from Ohio who has been charged with the murder of her boyfriend’s mother Nicole Jones
According to police reports seventeen year old Kaitlyn Coones and thirty three year old Jeremy Jones were living together in the home of Nicole Jones without her knowing about it. It has been reported the seventeen year old girl would sneak in through his bedroom window
Kaitlyn Coones would give her boyfriend five hours to murder his mother Nicole Jones as Coones believed that the mother was standing in the way of their relationship. The five hours would pass and Coones would give him an additional hour. When that hour passed Kaitlyn would attack the woman with a rock causing her death
The pair would take the body from the home and placed it in a dumpster before fleeing the country. The body of Nicole Jones has not been found
The pair would eventually would be arrested and extradited back to Ohio where they face a host of charges. Kaitlyn Coones has been charged with murder however her lawyer is claiming that she is a victim of Jeremy Jones. It sounds like when their trials begin they will blame each other for the murder
Kaitlyn Coones Videos
Kaitlyn Coones Case
An Ohio girl, 17, accused of killing her 33-year-old boyfriend’s mother with a rock in May, appeared in court for the first time Friday, according to local news.
Kaitlyn Coones allegedly killed Jonathan Jones’ 53-year-old mother, Nicole Jones, inside the woman’s Sylvania Township home — only after she gave him an ultimatum to do it himself, prosecutors revealed for the first time on Nov. 17.
“Kaitlyn had told Jonathan that they needed to do something about his mother because she was preventing them from being together,” Sylvania Township Detective Albright said of his interview with Coones, according to Cleveland 19.
Investigators believe the 17-year-old foster child had been living in Jonathan’s room in his mother’s house before the murder, Cleveland 19 reported.
Prosecutors said Coones would climb in through Jonathan’s bedroom window so that his mother would not know she was living in her house.
On the day of Nicole’s murder, Coones allegedly gave her boyfriend five hours to kill his mother himself. After five hours had passed, she gave him another hour before allegedly taking the crime into her own hands, ABC 13 reported.
While Nicole was looking in the refrigerator, the 17-year-old allegedly strangled her and bludgeoned her in the head with a rock while Jonathan was in the living room, prosecutors testified, according to ABC 13.
The suspects then allegedly purchased trash bags and a tarp, which they used to wrap Nicole’s body, and cleaned up the crime scene before traveling to a nearby apartment building, where they discarded the victim’s body in a dumpster. Investigators reportedly do not believe her body will ever be recovered, according to ABC 13.
Stark County Children’s Services had reported Coones missing from state custody in April.
After Nicole’s murder in May, local police named her son as a suspect in Coones’ disappearance. Law enforcement soon obtained information leading them to believe the pair fled to Mexico.
U.S. Marshals apprehended Jones in Mexico on May 8 and located Coones, who was later charged with aggravated murder, murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, according to ABC 13.
Coones’ attorney, Ann Baronas, is reportedly arguing that Coones is Jonathan’s victim, the outlet reported.
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