Sunday, September 20, 2015
Suspect in shooting: I’m ‘the wrong guy’
PHOENIX
A landscaper arrested Friday in a series of Phoenix freeway shootings told a judge Saturday that authorities have “the wrong guy” as investigators stood by their detective work that traced the gun to the suspect after he took it to a pawn shop.
Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. was charged with counts including aggravated assault, criminal damage, disorderly conduct, carrying out a drive-by shooting and intentional acts of terrorism.
In a brief court appearance, a prosecutor said the 21-year-old should face a high bail after drivers spent the last three weeks on edge.
Superior Court Commissioner Lisa Roberts set bail at $1 million.
Police: Man arrested, stored female genitalia
JOHANNESBURG
A Danish man was arrested after pieces of female genitalia were found in his house, South African police said Saturday.
Police arrested the man at his home Thursday, where they found 21 pieces of women’s genitalia stored in plastic bags in a freezer, said police spokesman Brig. Hangwani Mulaudzi. Police also discovered anesthetic and surgical implements in the man’s home.
One of the 58-year-old man’s victims alerted the police, said Mulaudzi. Police have asked other women who have been assaulted by the man to come forward.
The man will appear in court Monday on charges ofSFlbsexual assault, said Mulaudzi.
‘Baby Doe’ dad says he believes mom’s boyfriend killed girl
BOSTON
The father of a 2-year-old girl identified almost three months after her remains were found in a trash bag that washed up on a Boston-area beach says he doesn’t believe the toddler’s mother caused her death.
Joseph Amoroso said in interviews with WHDH-TV and the Boston Herald that Rachelle Bond told him her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, fatally injured Bella Bond. Amoroso said he believes Rachelle Bond.
McCarthy, 35, is charged with murder and Bond, 40, as an accessory after the fact. Neither could be reached to comment. They are to be arraigned Monday.
“I know with all my heart that Rachelle Bond would never, ever do anything to hurt anybody,” Amoroso said. “I was with the woman. This is the mother of my child.”
Calif. fires’ tally tops 1,000 destroyed homes
MIDDLETOWN, CALIF.
The tally of homes destroyed by two massive Northern California wildfires topped 1,000 Saturday after authorities doing damage assessments in the Sierra Nevada foothills counted another 250 houses destroyed by flames still threatening thousands of more structures.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said the count of 503 homes destroyed by the blaze burning for more than a week in Amador and Calaveras counties comes as firefighters make progress and damage inspection teams have access to affected areas.
The fire, which killed at least two people, was 65 percent contained but still threatening another 6,400 structures.
Ethanol tankers derail
SCOTLAND, S.D.
Seven ethanol tanker cars derailed and at least one caught fire Saturday morning in southeastern South Dakota, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad said. The company said no one was hurt.
The 98-car train carrying ethanol derailed about 6:15 a.m. in a rural part of Bon Homme County awash in corn fields between the towns of Scotland and Lesterville, BNSF spokesman Andy Williams. There were no injuries, and no nearby structures were threatened by the fire, he said.
Associated Press