Nation and world digest
Insane killer captured by Wash. authorities
SEATTLE — An insane killer who slipped away from the staff of a mental institution on a field trip to the Spokane County International Fair was recaptured Sunday without injury more than 180 miles away in south-central Washington state.
With a helicopter overhead and dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement officers swarming around Goldendale, Phillip Arnold Paul, 47, seemed ready to surrender when he walked out to the Goldendale-Bickleton road about 22 miles east of town shortly after 4 p.m., just as search personnel arrived at the scene, Klickitat County Sheriff Rick McComas told The Associated Press.
Spokane County sheriff’s Capt. Dave Reagan said Paul was preparing to hitchhike. But McComas said Paul offered no resistance as he turned himself in.
5 children, woman found dead in home in Florida
NAPLES, Fla. — The husband of a woman found dead in a Florida apartment along with her five young children boarded a flight for Haiti, and police said Sunday the couple had a history of domestic violence calls to their homes over the past decade.
Mesac Damas, 33, who has family in Haiti, left Miami International Airport on Friday, said Collier County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Batten. Sheriff’s officials said they want to talk to Damas, who is a person of interest. They were not calling him a suspect.
The victims found Saturday were Guerline Damas, 32, and her children: Michzach, 9; Marven, 6; Maven, 5; Megan, 3; and 11-month-old Morgan. Batten would not say how they died.
Family members contacted authorities Friday saying they hadn’t heard from the mother.
Manager arrested in killing at NYC hotel
NEW YORK — A housekeeping manager at a luxury hotel next to Central Park has been arrested in the death of a woman who was found in a room strangled with a knife sticking from her neck, police said Sunday.
Longtime hotel employee Derrick Praileu was arrested in the hours after the body of Dubai businesswoman Andree Bejjani was found in a condo at the Jumeriah Essex House, a 44-story art deco tower featuring hundreds of posh rooms, police said.
The Manhattan hotel, which is near Broadway and upscale Fifth Avenue shops such as Tiffany & Co. and Bergdorf Goodman, said in a statement on Sunday that an employee had been arrested in Bejjani’s death.
Chopper crash kills 1 in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A Black Hawk helicopter crashed at a major American air base in Iraq, killing one U.S. service member and injuring 12 others, the military said Sunday.
The UH-60 Black Hawk went down Saturday night at the Balad Air Base, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
The military said the cause of the crash was under investigation and gave no other details.
Infant dies a week after pregnant mom’s killing
CHARLOTTE — Tiffany Wright’s infant girl — delivered by doctors as her 15-year-old mother died Sept. 14 from a gunshot wound — has also died, according to a spokesperson for Carolinas Health Care System.
Tiffany was eight-months pregnant when she was shot in the head while waiting for her school bus. But the baby died early Sunday morning, after nearly a week in critical condition. No other details were available.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating Tiffany’s death, and call her adoptive brother Royce Mitchell “a person of interest” in the homicide. Police charged Mitchell, 36, with statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, and have said that Tiffany was the victim of those crimes.
Mitchell is in jail and has a bond hearing set for Sept. 25.
Space shuttle Discovery makes a stop in Louisiana
SHREVEPORT, La. — The space shuttle Discovery is stopped for the night at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., as part of its cross-country flight to Florida.
The shuttle is being ferried atop a modified 747 aircraft, known as a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Discovery landed from space Sept. 11 in California.
A refueling stop was made earlier Sunday at the international airport in Amarillo, Texas, and the shuttle was greeted by dozens of well-wishers. The shuttle should reach Kennedy Space Center in Florida today.
Combined dispatches