Ill. Ponzi operators arrested in Ariz.

Ill. Ponzi operators arrested in Ariz.

TONOPAH, Ariz.

Nelson and Janet Hallahan were known around working-class Peoria, Ill., for their wealth, and flashed it. That, residents said, may have helped make their get-rich-quick scheme all the more believable.

Their scheme was anything but real. They had bilked investors out of $1.2 million and were destined for two prison cells. Except, just before they were supposed to report to jail, the couple skipped town 12 years ago.

They finally were captured Saturday in a sleepy Arizona desert town, where they lived in separate homes, introduced each other as friends, not spouses, did odd jobs and would eat out on 99-cent “Taco Tuesdays.”

Authorities, acting on a tip from “America’s Most Wanted,” arrested the Hallahans in Tonopah, about 50 miles west of Phoenix.

No bullet wound in soldier Skype death

WASHINGTON

Army investigators said Monday they found no bullet wound or evidence of foul play in the death of a soldier in Afghanistan who died during a Skype video chat with his wife. Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark collapsed while speaking to his wife May 1 from his base in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan, southwest of Kabul. His wife, Susan Orellana-Clark, has suggested that Clark was shot, citing a hole visible in the closet behind him that she believed was a bullet hole.

Witness: Edwards asked for more cash

GREENSBORO, N.C.

Shortly before his 2011 indictment on corruption charges, John Edwards called the elderly heiress whose money helped hide his pregnant mistress and asked for $3 million more, a witness testified Monday at the trial of the former presidential hopeful.

Librarian Tony L. Willis testified his boss, 101-year-old Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, sought his help in drafting a letter to the politician. Willis said Mellon told him she received a call from Edwards last year seeking $3 million to help him launch the next phase of his life. Mellon said she wanted to write to explain her reasons for declining his request.

Willis said the letter was never sent to Edwards at the direction of one of Mellon’s lawyers, who reviewed the document before it was to be mailed. It was then well known that Edwards was under investigation by a grand jury in North Carolina.

Bodies of missing mom, girl found

GUNTOWN, Miss.

Authorities say they have found the bodies of a missing Tennessee mother and her 14-year-old daughter behind a house in north Mississippi.

The FBI said in a news release late Monday that the bodies of Jo Ann Bain and her 14-year-old daughter, Adrienne Bain, have been positively identified.

The FBI believes Bain’s two other daughters are still with alleged kidnapper Adam Mayes. He is accused of abducting the girls from the family’s home in Whiteville, Tenn.

The FBI says the bodies were found behind Mayes’ residence near Guntown, Miss.

Man jumps into vat of acid to save other

CLIFTON, N.J.

Fire officials say a roofing- company employee jumped into a vat of nitric acid to save a co-worker who fell 40 feet through a roof and into the tank.

Relatives say Martin Davis, 44, suffered a broken rib, punctured lung and burns on his legs and side in the accident Monday. He’s in critical condition.

Rob Nuckols, 51, was on the ground floor and jumped into the vat. He was waist-high in acid while he and three others pulled Davis out. Nuckols was treated for burns.

Associated Press