Stepmother of 10-year-Old Disabled Girl Pleads Guilty to Murdering Child and Dismembering Her Body

The stepmother of a disabled 10-year-old girl, whose remains were found scattered across her home state, has pleaded guilty to murder.Elisa Baker, 42, could spend up to 18 years behind bars after admitting second-degree murder in the death of the child as part of a plea deal. Baker also pleaded guilty to attempting to thwart investigators by planting a fake ransom note at the family home.
The deal comes nearly a year after the Australian girl was reported missing from her home in the western North Carolina town of Hickory.
The disappearance of the freckle-faced girl captivated communities both in the US and in Australia. Zahra's father had moved to the United States to marry Elisa after the two met online.
Zahra had a prosthetic leg after losing her limb aged five, and wore two hearing aids after an early battle with bone cancer.
The child's head, hands and parts of her arms and legs have never been found, the court heard on Thursday.Her prosthetic leg was discovered during a mammoth search for her remains that spanned three counties.

Shocking death: 10-year-old Zahra Baker disappeared in North Carolina in October 2010, sparking a massive search. Her stepmother Elisa Baker has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and dismemberment of the child's body

Plea deal: Stepmother Elisa Baker will serve up to 18 years after pleading guilty of second-degree-murder in the death of little Zahra. She also admitted forging a ransom note

Cruel stepmother: Elisa Baker had a history of physical and emotional abuse of stepdaughter Zahra before the murder, according to relatives.

For the first time, police said they think Zahra died on Sept. 24, 2010, weeks before Elisa and Adam Baker originally reported her missing.

Couple Raised Their Kids In A Home Filled With Raw Sewage

Venice, Florida-Kristina Reilly, 28, and James McArdle, 29, were jailed Tuesday after investigators allegedly found their kids living in a home filled with raw sewage.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, a deputy had gone to the couple's residence to arrest Reilly on a theft warrant when authorities discovered her children living in human waste.

When the deputy arrived at the residence, Reilly stated that she needed to retrieve her cell phone and cigarettes from inside the home before she was transported to jail. The deputy followed Reilly inside the house because she was under arrest, and immediately smelled a strong odor believed to be human feces.

Once inside the home, the deputy discovered one inch of standing raw sewage in some of the bedrooms, a toilet that was overflowing with feces, and a shower floor covered in human waste.

The kitchen sink was half-full of raw sewage, and there were ants and roaches crawling all over the counters. The family stated that they would usually use the bathroom in a bucket, and dump it in a pool in the backyard.

Two children were found naked inside the home in a room with a dirty mattress in the middle of the floor and mildew-covered pillows. A deputy noted that he saw a large burn mark on the stomach of one of the children. They were removed from the home and are now in the care of the Department of Children and Families.

McArdle stated that there was a septic backup inside the home and he had never gotten around to cleaning it up. He also admitted to smoking marijuana and having a problem with narcotics. A needle and a spoon with drug residue and a bong were found inside the home.

Reilly and McArdle were booked into the Sarasota County Jail on charges of child cruelty. McArdle was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Both suspects are being held without bail.

Hockey Mom had Sex with Minors at Sleepovers

A middle-aged hockey mom accused of having sex with two of her son's former teammates was out on bail Monday after being arrested at her Laguna Niguel home last week, authorities said.
Kathia Maria Davis, 44, faces charges of unlawful sex with a minor and lewd acts with a child, according to Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino.
She was arrested Wednesday after allegedly carrying on sexual relationships with the boys over a period of three to five years, officials said.
The first victim, who is still a juvenile, spilled details to his mother last week. She called authorities and an investigation began.
"These are incidents that are always embarrassing for the families and disgusting acts," Amormino said.
According to the mother, Davis hosted parties at her home and served alcohol to underage team members, Amormino said.
A second boy also recounted alleged sexual encounters with the dishwater-blonde divorcee Amormino said. The second boy said he couldn't recall when the alleged trysts began, but he might have been 14, authorities said.
Both boys played for a youth hockey team called Beach City Lightning, Amormino said. Club president Stacey Chilcoff said the two players hadn't been involved with the team for at least four years.
Davis was released from custody after posting $25,000 bail, Amormino said.

Man Watched Child Porn In The McDonald's "PlayPlace."

Natchez, Mississippi - Ronnie Hobbs, a 53-year-old Ferriday, Louisiana man was jailed Friday after he allegedly watched cartoon pornography on a laptop  while sitting in a McDonald's "PlayPlace".

According to the Natchez Police Department, Hobbs was at the play area with two children, ages 4 and 5, when a police officer standing outside looked through the window  and saw him viewing cartoon-themed pornographic images.

The officer stated that anyone who was in the parking lot or the drive-thru could have been exposed to the images as well. One of the children even walked up to Hobbs and began talking to him while looking at the images on his computer screen.

Investigators say when the officer confronted Hobbs, he immediately logged off of his computer. Hobbs then admitted that he was addicted to pornography, and had been for "several months." His relationship to the children he was with was not disclosed. They were released to Hobb's mother-in-law.

Hobbs was booked into the Natchez City Jail and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and publicly displaying sexually oriented material. He was released after posting $1,400 bond.

Ohio Family Killer Sentenced

 





PORT CLINTON, Ohio -- A man who admitted he killed his father, stepmother and stepbrother at their rural home last October, leaving a scene that another relative first believed to be a joke from a Halloween party, was sentenced Wednesday to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

William Liske, 25, could have faced the death penalty if he had been convicted in the killings at the home outside Toledo last year, but under an agreement with prosecutors he had pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder.

A judge earlier this year had found that Liske was competent to stand trial despite a history of mental illness. Liske also had a long history of arrests and criminal convictions and was involved in domestic incidents at the house.

Ottawa County prosecutor Mark Mulligan said Wednesday he believes justice was served.

"It was a resolution that we worked out with the family," Mulligan said. "They thought it was a fair one before we made the offer."

Defense attorney Adrian Cimerman called it "a fair resolution for everybody involved."

Authorities have said Liske's father, stepmother and stepbrother suffered severe trauma to their heads.

Another stepbrother, Devon Griffin, found the bodies when he arrived at the home after spending the night out. He realized the bodies and blood weren't Halloween decorations and called an aunt, who reported the killings to authorities.

Woman Rapes 10 Month Old Son

A 24-year-old Ohio woman charged with raping her 10-month-old son and sharing the videotaped assault with her boyfriend is being held behind bars tonight on a $1 million bond.


Ashley Jessup of Dublin, a city about 20 miles northwest of Columbus, was arrested on Aug. 31 on two counts of rape of a child under 13 years old, one count of endangering children and one count of pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor.
A Franklin County grand jury indicted Jessup on the charges. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
According to Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Ron O'Brien Jessup sexually abused her baby at her Camden Circle home on Aug. 30. She allegedly performed sexual acts on the baby, which she videotaped and emailed to a boyfriend in Battle Creek, Mich.
"They were sending sexually explicit material back and forth to each other," O'Brien told The Huffington Post. "She then, at his suggestion, sent a video of her engaging in sexual conduct with [her son], along with some other material that was both sexually explicit and unusual."
A former girlfriend of the man discovered the video on Aug. 31 and called the Michigan State Police.
"The state police saw some of the material [and] then contacted the Columbus police and did a search warrant here," O'Brien said. "They seized her computer, her video camera and some other things."
Following Jessup's arrest, her infant son was taken into protective custody. Jessup's mother, who has not been identified, reportedly told WBNS-TV  that she was shocked and humiliated by her daughter's arrest.
The baby's father, Jonathon Vasquez, 19, also of Battle Creek, is now trying to get custody of his son.
"I honestly don't understand how anyone can do it to their own child. That's disgusting; it's ridiculous," Vasquez told WWMT.

Couple Handcuffed and Tortured a Naked Disabled Woman

A True Horror Story

                                           
Maurice Johnson bonded out of jail and disappeared,
 leaving his wife to rot in her cell



The 23-year-old woman made the perfect victim. She had no family and spent her childhood years in the Alabama foster system before aging out when she was 21. Police say she was mentally challenged and had no where else to go. So Maurice and Toni Johnson took her in...

But they weren't thinking about providing her with a loving home. They were looking for a sex slave to keep in their Gadsden, Alabama house.

The woman was discovered last week by another person living in the home. She was found naked and handcuffed to a bed. Her hair had been chopped off and it was lying next to her on the floor. She'd also been sexually tortured, though police haven't released details on what exactly happened.

After cutting the woman free, the cops arrested the Johnsons near their home. They were both charged with sexual torture, unlawful imprisonment and sodomy. Toni was also wanted on a warrant for resisting arrest and obstructing governmental operations. Maurice had an unrelated warrant for a drug charge.

But while Toni remained in jail, Maurice bonded out and promptly fled. Police believe he's hiding in Alabama, where he has relatives.  

White Folks declared Mentally Ill by their Own Doctors

 

Nearly 40 percent of Europeans suffer

mental illness study shows

LONDON (Reuters) - Europeans are plagued by mental and neurological illnesses, with almost 165 million people or 38 percent of the population suffering each year from a brain disorder such as depression, anxiety, insomnia or dementia, according to a large new study.

With only about a third of cases receiving the therapy or medication needed, mental illnesses cause a huge economic and social burden -- measured in the hundreds of billions of euros -- as sufferers become too unwell to work and personal relationships break down.

"Mental disorders have become Europe's largest health challenge of the 21st century," the study's authors said.
At the same time, some big drug companies are backing away from investment in research on how the brain works and affects behavior, putting the onus on governments and health charities to stump up funding for neuroscience.
"The immense treatment gap ... for mental disorders has to be closed," said Hans Ulrich Wittchen, director of the institute of clinical psychology and psychotherapy at Germany's Dresden University and the lead investigator on the European study.

"Those few receiving treatment do so with considerable delays of an average of several years and rarely with the appropriate, state-of-the-art therapies."

Wittchen led a three-year study covering 30 European countries -- the 27 European Union member states plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway -- and a population of 514 million people.

A direct comparison of the prevalence of mental illnesses in other parts of the world was not available because different studies adopt varying parameters.

Wittchen's team looked at about 100 illnesses covering all major brain disorders from anxiety and depression to addiction to schizophrenia, as well as major neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
The results, published by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ENCP) on Monday, show an "exceedingly high burden" of mental health disorders and brain illnesses, he told reporters at a briefing in London.

Mental illnesses are a major cause of death, disability, and economic burden worldwide and the World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease across all ages.

Wittchen said that in Europe, that grim future had arrived early, with diseases of the brain already the single largest contributor to the EU's burden of ill health.

The four most disabling conditions -- measured in terms of disability-adjusted life years or DALYs, a standard measure used to compare the impact of various diseases -- are depression, dementias such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, alcohol dependence and stroke.

The last major European study of brain disorders, which was published in 2005 and covered a smaller population of about 301 million people, found 27 percent of the EU adult population was suffering from mental illnesses.

Although the 2005 study cannot be compared directly with the latest finding -- the scope and population was different -- it found the cost burden of these and neurological disorders amounted to about 386 billion euros ($555 billion) a year at that time. Wittchen's team has yet to finalize the economic impact data from this latest work, but he said the costs would be "considerably more" than estimated in 2005.

The researchers said it was crucial for health policy makers to recognize the enormous burden and devise ways to identify potential patients early -- possibly through screening -- and make treating them quickly a high priority.

"Because mental disorders frequently start early in life, they have a strong malignant impact on later life," Wittchen said. "Only early targeted treatment in the young will effectively prevent the risk of increasingly largely proportions of severely ill...patients in the future."

David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology expert at Imperial College London who was not involved in this study, agreed.

"If you can get in early you may be able to change the trajectory of the illness so that it isn't inevitable that people go into disability," he said. "If we really want not to be left with this huge reservoir of mental and brain illness for the next few centuries, then we ought to be investing more now."

Cop Caught On Tape Having Sex In Public

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A photo of what appears to be a police officer having sex with a woman on the hood of a car has caused an uproar in New Mexico.

The Huffington Post could not confirm independently that the man in question is a law enforcement officer, but Albuquerque, N.M. TV station KOB 4 and the Albuquerque Journal both identify the man as a uniformed officer.

The Santa Fe Sheriff's office released pictures to KOB in response to a public records request. The photos were taken from security footage at the Santa Fe Canyon Ranch.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia told the Journal that the photos were taken by a camera set up to catch graffiti taggers or other crimes.
An email and phone call to the New Mexico State Police were not immediately returned to HuffPost.
Other uniformed policeman have been caught having sex on the job. Earlier this month, a Louisiana state public safety officer was suspended for reportedly having sex in his patrol car.
In January, a veteran officer resigned after he allegedly did the deed in his cruiser.

New Mexico State Police have not said whether the man pictured on the hood was one of their own.