newsmakers

newsmakers

Remains found in death of cooking-show finalist

ASHEVILLE, N.C.

Human remains were found inside a wood stove at the North Carolina home of a man charged with killing a contestant from the TV show “Food Network Star,” her husband and their unborn child, a sheriff said Friday.

Cristie Schoen Codd, and her husband, Joseph “J.T.” Codd, likely were killed three days before they were reported missing, Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan said at a news conference. He said investigators aren’t ready to discuss a motive for the crime.

The sheriff also released search warrants that showed deputies took 11 knives and a saw blade as well as “debris from wood stove” and “debris from yard” from two of Robert Jason Owens’ homes near Asheville.

Owens is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges.

Investigators said Owens did odd jobs for the couple, and Joseph Codd texted Owens several times the day before they were last heard from.

Chris Brown’s case over assault is closed

LOS ANGELES

A judge ended Chris Brown’s probation Friday and closed the R&B singer’s assault case filed over his brutal attack on his then-girlfriend Rihanna more than six years ago.

Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin said Brown had completed community-labor requirements as part of his felony assault case and officially closed the case after more than six years.

Brown and his attorney Mark Geragos hugged in the courtroom and again in a courthouse elevator. After the hearing, he tweeted, “IM OFF PROBATION!!!!!!!! Thank the Lord!!!!!!”

Brown, 25, has been under supervision by court and probation officials since mid-2009 when he pleaded guilty to attacking Rihanna just hours before the Grammy Awards. The attack led to immediate fallout for Brown, although his career has partially rebounded, and he went on to win a Grammy Award three years after the attack.

Suge Knight collapses after bail hearing

LOS ANGELES

Former rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight collapsed in a courtroom Friday shortly after a judge ordered him held on $25 million bail in a murder case.

Bailiffs cleared the courtroom, and paramedics were seen going inside a few minutes later.

Defense attorney Matthew Fletcher said Knight was unconscious when the lawyer left the courtroom and an update on his condition was not immediately available.

Fletcher said his client, who is diabetic and has a blood clot, previously told him that he hadn’t received any medication since Thursday.

Fletcher said Knight hit his head on a chair when he fell after the bail hearing.

Knight collapsed while deputies were bringing him back into the courtroom after Fletcher asked a judge to order that Knight be given his medication.

The attorney said Knight was being kept in solitary confinement without proper access to medication.

“He’s being treated worse than Charles Manson,” Fletcher said.

The collapse marked the fourth time that Knight has been taken by ambulance from a courthouse since he was charged with killing Terry Carter, 55, in early February.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen set bail Friday at $25 million for Knight, who is accused of running down and killing Carter with his truck.

Associated Press