Police arrest man in deaths of 4 women

Police arrest manin deaths of 4 women
SEATTLE -- A man was arrested Friday in the deaths of four women whose slayings in the 1980s had been linked to a serial killer, the King County sheriff said.
Police had attributed the four women's deaths to the so-called Green River Killer, who authorities believe is responsible for the deaths of 49 women in the Pacific Northwest. The killer has been sought since 1982, when the first victims were found near the river.
On Friday, police arrested Gary Ridgway, 52, of suburban Auburn, for investigation of homicide. He was not immediately charged.
Sheriff Dave Reichert said forensic scientists were able to link Ridgway's DNA to three of the women. The sheriff would only say "certain factors" tie Ridgway to the fourth woman.
"I cannot say with certainty that Gary Ridgway is responsible for all of those deaths ... but boy, have we made one giant step forward," said the sheriff, who was one of the original detectives on the serial killer task force.
Ridgway was first interviewed in the case in 1984, and a saliva sample was obtained by court order in 1987. He was the subject of intensive background investigation during that period, but he was not arrested in the case.
Boy, 12, accusedof killing grandparents
CHESTER, S.C. -- A 12-year-old boy was charged Friday with killing his grandparents with a shotgun and then setting their house on fire before fleeing in their sport-utility vehicle.
The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, was charged with arson and two counts of murder, prosecutor Michael Hemlepp said.
The boy shot his grandparents in the head in a bedroom at their home Wednesday night, then set the house on fire, Chester County Deputy Bernie Culpepper said. The SUV got stuck on a dirt road about 20 miles from the home and hunters who found him contacted authorities.
Culpepper said investigators are stumped to find a motive for the slayings. "Nothing he has told us has made any sense," Culpepper said.
The boy's father, who lives near Gainesville, Fla., sent him to South Carolina about six weeks ago, police said.
The father arrived Friday to see his parents' home, which was nearly burned to the ground, and talk to investigators.
Suspect in murdersto use insanity defense
CONCORD, N.H. -- A teen-ager accused of killing two Dartmouth College professors will use an insanity defense at his trial, his lawyer said in court papers Friday.
Robert Tulloch, 18, of Chelsea, Vt., will argue he suffers from a "severe mental defect or disease and that his acts were the direct result of the mental defect or disease," Richard Guerriero said in the filing.
Tulloch's trial is set for April 8.
Tulloch and his friend James Parker, 17, are charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 27 stabbing deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in their Hanover home.
Neither a motive for the crime nor any connection between the Zantops and the suspects has ever been given publicly. A law enforcement source has told The Associated Press the Zantops were probably killed during a burglary gone awry.
A trial date for Parker has not been set. Prosecutors are seeking to have him tried as an adult. He was 16 at the time of the slayings.
Parker won't use an insanity defense, but will re-evaluate his strategy given Tulloch's decision, Doug Brown, one of his lawyers, said Friday.
Prosecutors allege fingerprints and footprints in the Zantops' home link the teens to the murders.
Patriotic M & amp;Ms
TRENTON, N.J. -- Packages of red, white and blue M & amp;Ms will be sold to raise money for disaster relief.
The idea came from workers on the M & amp;M assembly line in Hackettstown, N.J., on Sept. 11. The candy went into production days later.
At first, the patriotic candies were handed out only to rescuers at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
"The response that we got from relief workers -- literally, from everyone who saw it -- was that it was just terrific," said Robert Gamgort, vice president of chocolate for M & amp;M/Mars. "Doesn't everyone in the United States need a boost right now?"
The company marketed flag-colored M & amp;Ms once before, over the last Fourth of July, but this is the first time the candy has been sold for charity.
Profits from the 5 million packages, expected to top $3 million, will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.