DETROIT – A vacation trip to Detroit turned deadly for a Clearwater, Florida, woman. Detroit Police have arrested Tykese Keaton-Baldwin, 20, of Tampa, for reportedly beating his girlfriend, Brittany Collett, 23, of Clearwater to death.

According to the Detroit News, Keaton-Baldwin is accused of killing his girlfriend on Aug. 11 in Detroit, where the couple was vacationing.

According to Detroit Police, officers were called to a Detroit home around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, and found Collett’s face down on the grass with blood around her head. She was taken by EMS to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed she died from blunt force trauma.

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MACOMB TOWNSHIP — Police are investigating an incident where a husband and wife were both found shot inside their home. A handgun was also recovered, but there were no signs of foul play, according to police.

Authorities said they received a call from the couple’s son in Florida Tuesday evening, concerned about his father’s slurred speech. Authorities then received a call from a man at the Macomb Township residence, noting that his speech was impaired.

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(CNN) — The mother accused of killing her 2-year-old son in Largo, Florida, has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse.

Charisse Stinson reported her son missing earlier this week and an AMBER alert was issued for Jordan Belliveau on Monday. The mother said she had been attacked and when she woke up, her little boy was gone.

Police believe it was all a lie.

“In interviewing the mother last night, she made significant admissions into what had happened to her child, which led us to have probable cause to arrest her in the death,” Largo Police Lt. Randall Chaney said Wednesday at a news conference.

In court on Wednesday, Stinson was formally charged and a judge set a bond of $500,000 for a child abuse charge and no bond for the murder charge.

Stinson first told authorities she accepted a ride on Saturday night from a man named “Antwan,” who then attacked her, knocked her unconscious and took her son. The man was described as about 25 years old, with dreadlocks and gold teeth.

Chaney said police don’t believe an “Antwan” exists, and the white Toyota Camry he allegedly drove is fictitious as well.

“It was all fabricated by Ms. Stinson to help cover her alibi for what she’d actually done,” Chaney said.

Stinson initially told police she was unconscious for a time in a park after being struck. But during interviews, police discovered she was at a wooded location nearby.

The injuries Stinson said she received were self-inflicted, Chaney said.

The toddler’s body was found uncovered in a wooded area in Largo on Tuesday afternoon, according to Chaney.

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S.C. — Authorities say a South Carolina woman has been charged with murder after killing her husband by putting eye drops into his water for several days.

York County deputies said 52-year-old Lana Clayton confessed to investigators after an autopsy uncovered a high amount of tetrahydrozoline in her husband’s body.

The chemical is found in over-the-counter eye drops such as Visine.

Authorities say 64-year-old Stephen Clayton was found dead July 21 in the couple’s home in Clover. WSOC-TV reports that his funeral was held in the home’s back yard before the autopsy results revealed the cause of death.

Arrest warrants and the statement from deputies didn’t give a motive for the alleged poisoning.

The Herald of Rock Hill, S.C. reports the couple lived in a house modeled after George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. Steven Clayton owned the home which was valued at more than $800,000.

Lana Clayton also is charged with malicious tampering with a drug product or food.

Jail records did not indicate if she had a lawyer.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on the killing of a champion golfer from Spain whose body was found on a golf course in central Iowa:

10:20 a.m.

A homeless man charged with killing a top amateur golfer from Spain at a course in central Iowa has been ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond.

Collin Daniel Richards made a brief court appearance Tuesday from the Story County jail in Nevada, Iowa.

The 22-year-old man is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Celia Barquin Arozamena, a student at Iowa State University, whose body was found in a pond at a golf course in Ames on Monday.

A conviction would result in a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

The public defender’s office, which has been appointed to represent Richards, says he doesn’t have an address or a job.

A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 28.

___

9:25 a.m.

A criminal complaint says a top amateur female golfer from Spain died after being repeatedly stabbed by a homeless man at a course near her university campus in Iowa.

A complaint filed Tuesday charges 22-year-old Collin Daniel Richards with first-degree murder in the slaying of Celia Barquin Arozamena, who attended Iowa State University.

Barquin was found dead Monday morning in a pond at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Des Moines. She had stab wounds to her upper torso, head and neck.

The complaint says Richards was living in a tent in a temporary camp near the golf course and that he had allegedly told an acquaintance about his “urge to rape and kill a woman.”

Officers say Richards had several scratches on his face and a deep laceration on his left hand. They recovered a knife in his possession.

___

8:20 a.m.

The women’s golf team of Iowa State University has withdrawn from a tournament and returned to Ames following the death of a teammate, a champion player from Spain.

The Cyclones said on Tuesday that they pulled out of the East & West Match Play in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to be with friends and family and to grieve the loss of Celia Barquin Arozamena.

The 22-year-old woman was found dead Monday at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames. Officers determined she was also assaulted.

Twenty-two-year-old Collin Daniel Richards has been charged with first-degree murder.

Barquin was a native of Puente San Miguel, Spain. She won a Big 12 title this past season and played in the U.S. Women’s Open in early June, missing the cut.

___

12 a.m.

A former Iowa State University golfer has been found dead at a golf course, and a man has been charged with murder.

Police said in a news release that 22-year-old Celia Barquin Arozamena was found dead Monday at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames and officers determined she had died after being assaulted. They said 22-year-old Collin Daniel Richards has been charged with first-degree murder.

Additional details weren’t immediately available.

Barquin Arozamena was the 2018 Big 12 champion and Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year. The university says the native of Puente San Miguel, Spain, was finishing her civil engineering degree this semester after exhausting her eligibility at Iowa State in 2017-2018.

Police said officers were called to the golf course around 10:20 a.m. Monday after golfers found a golf bag with no one around it. Officers found a body some distance from the bag.

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TROY (AP) — A Troy man has been charged in the fatal bludgeoning of his 55-year-old aunt with a 15-pound dumbbell.

Nayir Masrur was arraigned Wednesday on first-degree murder.

Rubab Huq was found slain Monday in the basement of a home in Troy, north of Detroit.

A police officer responding to a 911 call from the home saw a man jump from a second-story window of another house and flee through the neighborhood.

The 20-year-old Masrur was found hiding in a nearby marshy area and arrested. He was ordered held Wednesday without bond and faces a Nov. 27 probable cause conference.

Officials report that Masrur attends the University of Michigan. It was not clear Wednesday if he is represented by an attorney.

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Before learning he would never walk out of prison Monday, Chris Watts sat at the defense table, head down and leg bobbing, as his mother told him she loved him and his slain wife’s family called him a monster.

Shanann Watts with her daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.

Calling it perhaps “the most inhumane and vicious crime that I have handled out of the thousands of cases that I have seen,” Judge Marcelo Kopcow handed down five life sentences — three consecutive and two concurrent — with no possibility of parole, in the deaths of Watts’ daughters and pregnant wife.

Watts also received an additional 48 years for the death of his unborn son, who was to be named Nico Lee, and 36 more years for crimes related to his disposal of the bodies.

His hands were shackled at his waist and Watts wore an orange jumpsuit. He rarely looked up during the proceeding — not even when his mother turned around to face him and tearfully said, “We have loved you from the beginning and we still love you now.”

The only time Watts spoke during the proceeding was when Kopcow asked him if he wished to deliver a statement. “No, sir,” the former father replied.

Before Watts was sentenced, Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke revealed horrific details of how Watts strangled his wife, Shanann, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, before crudely disposing of them at a secluded site where he worked.

“The man seated to my right smothered his daughters,” Rourke said. “Imagine the horror in Bella’s mind as her father snuffed out her life. … She fought back for her life as her father smothered her.”

An attorney for Chris Watts followed Rourke’s statement, saying her client is “devastated,” and though Watts realizes his words are hollow, he is “sincerely sorry for all of this.”

Watts, 33, pleaded guilty this month to first-degree murder and other charges. With approval of his wife’s family, prosecutors dropped the possibility of the death penalty.

His sentencing comes days after a woman he had been dating told The Denver Post that he lied to her about being near the end of divorce proceedings. She cooperated with police before his arrest, she told the newspaper.

Plea from front porch
When Shanann Watts and the two girls went missing in mid-August, Chris Watts first told reporters they had gone to a friend’s house before later pleading for his family’s return in an interview with CNN affiliate KMGH.

“My kids are my life,” Watts said, standing on the front porch of their home in Frederick, about 30 miles north of Denver. “Those smiles light up my life.”

Watts told the station his wife came home from the airport about 2 a.m., and he left for work about 5:15 a.m. He said the two had an emotional but civil conversation before he left, but he didn’t elaborate.

Separately, he told law enforcement that on the morning of August 13, before leaving for work, he had informed his wife that he wanted a separation. They had not argued, but they were both upset and crying, he told police, according to an affidavit.

Chris Watts claimed he had called and texted his wife about three times that morning with no reply, he told KMGH. He said he realized something was wrong when Shanann Watts’ friend arrived at the couple’s home around noon.

“She just got back from Arizona, and I figured she was just busy, but when her friend showed up, that’s when it just registered — like all right, this isn’t right,” Watts said.

Story doesn’t add up
Three days later, Shanann Watts’ body, 15 weeks pregnant with their third child, was found in a shallow grave. The bodies of Bella and Celeste were found in commercial oil tanks at a company where Watts had worked.

After authorities found the bodies, Chris Watts changed his story, telling police he had strangled Shanann Watts in a fit of rage after seeing his wife choking Celeste.

On November 6, Watts pleaded guilty to nine charges, including three counts of first-degree murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

Authorities aren’t sure why he killed his family.

After the plea deal was announced, Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke told reporters that authorities have a partial motive. He would offer more thoughts after Watts is sentenced, he said.

Other woman tells her side of story
According to an unsealed Weld County arrest affidavit, investigators say they discovered Watts was “actively involved” in an affair with a co-worker.

It’s not clear if that was Nichol Kessinger, 30, who told The Denver Post she met him while working for the environmental department of a petroleum contractor.

“We had just met,” Kessinger told the newspaper. “I barely knew him.”

He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring when they were introduced, and she thought he was attractive, soft-spoken and a good listener, she said. When they first met outside of work in late June, he told her he was in the final stages of a divorce. She never met any of his relatives or friends, Kessinger told The Post.

Watts sent her a text August 13 to say his family had disappeared, and she was confused about why the media was at his house.

“When I read the news, I found out he was still married and his wife was 15 weeks pregnant,” Kessinger told the newspaper.

She peppered him with questions via phone calls and text, she said, and he changed his story about the divorce, showed little emotion about his family’s disappearance, and tried to change the subject.

“It got to a point that he was telling me so many lies that I eventually told him that I did not want to speak to him again until his family was found,” she told the paper, explaining that she called police on August 15 to report Watts’ lies.

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DETROIT (AP) — Authorities say the transgender status of a woman played a role in her fatal shooting in Detroit.

Albert Weathers of Sterling Heights was charged Monday with murder in the death of Kelly Stough, who was found dead on a Detroit street Friday.

The Wayne County prosecutor’s office says evidence about how Stough’s transgender status had a role will be presented in court. Spokeswoman Maria Miller declined further comment. A message seeking comment was left with Weathers’ lawyer.

Michigan’s next attorney general, Dana Nessel, says the case reflects the “excessive brutality” faced by members of Detroit’s transgender community. Nessel is president of Fair Michigan, a group committed to equal protection for gay, lesbian and transgender residents.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — Parole violation and suspicion of murder results in arrest of 57-year-old.

A man who jumped onstage at a 2015 Taylor Swift concert in California has been arrested on suspicion of beating a man to death in San Diego.

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Police say 29-year-old Christian Ewing was arrested for a parole violation a few days ago and re-arrested Monday on suspicion of murder. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Authorities say Ewing attacked 57-year-old Gregory Freeman on Dec. 5 in the Midway area and beat him with an object. Freeman died three days later.

(Photo by LISA O’CONNOR / AFP) 

Three years ago, Ewing sneaked into Swift’s concert at San Diego’s Petco Park and jumped onstage while she was performing.

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS)

He was tackled by security guards, one of whom suffered a broken rib. Ewing pleaded guilty to assault and got two years’ probation.

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NOVI, Mich. (PATCH) — A 36-year-old Novi woman has been charged with pre-meditated first degree murder and child abuse in the death of her 2-year-old son.

Chunhui Shi was arraigned Monday and was ordered by Magistrate Victor Zanolli to be held without bond. She has been in police custody at an area hospital since Friday and will be lodged at the Oakland County Jail, police said.

Police said that on Jan. 3, Novi Police received a 911 call from Shi’s husband after he arrived home on the 50000 block of Sevilla Circle to find Shi and toddler son, Mason, had been in some kind of accident.

Mason was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders and Shi was transported to an area hospital for treatment.

For the complete story visit here.

Today, breaking news updates about the two missing children whose mother and stepfather are suspected of being in a “doomsday cult” and have fled their home while refusing to cooperate with authorities.

The Dr. Oz Show / Season 11 / 11097

Dr. Oz and his expert panel break down the investigation and the alarming details uncovered about the couple’s past.  And, family members of the missing kids speak out about what they think may have happened.

Plus, Dr. Oz covers the latest news on the case of the missing Connecticut mom, Jennifer Dolus, who disappeared in May.  Now that her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, has been arrested for her murder, along with his girlfriend and former attorney, we investigate why authorities believe he did not act alone.

Watch THE DR. OZ SHOW, weekdays at 4 p.m. on CBS 62.

Today, Dr. Oz takes a closer look at the newly-released photos and information that are raising questions about how Jeffrey Epstein died.

The Dr. Oz Show / Season 11 / 11101

Renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, who was in the room during the controversial autopsy, speaks out on what he saw and why he thinks the alleged suicide may be possible murder.

The Dr. Oz Show / Season 11 / 11090

Plus, former SNL star Darrell Hammond, opens up about his mental health struggles caused by the childhood trauma inflicted at the hands of his mother.

Watch THE DR. OZ SHOW, weekdays at 4 p.m. on CBS 62.

MICHIGAN (CNN) – Michael Pagel appeared stoic as he was arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges for the planned killing of his wife, Renee Pagel, the mother of his three, now grown children.

Renee’s long time close friend, Chris Crandle says Renee was near the end of a difficult divorce and she expressed concerns that her husband may harm her or the kids.

According to the Kent County Sheriff’s Office, Renee was 41-years-old when she was stabbed to death in her Rockford-area home in August of 2006.

She was home recovering after donating a kidney to a parent of one of her students at the Kent County ISD.

Search warrants revealed that responding officers found her covered in blood, defensive wounds on her body and spatter on the headboard, walls and window.

“There was no sign of forced entry into the home. And there were valuables left in plain sight throughout the home so it kind of ruled out the fact that there was a theft,” said Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young of Kent County.

Mike Pagel was a person of interest from the beginning, but authorities struggled getting evidence linking him to the crime.

The case grew cold until 2 years ago when it was re-examined.

Pagel now faces a count of first-degree premeditated murder. The judge has ordered he be held on $2 million bond.

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DETROIT, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A man has been charged with first degree murder of a 27-year-old Detroit woman, according to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Police were dispatched to Darnell Hall’s apartment Feb. 7 in the 1600 block of Antietam in Detroit where they found Porcha Wheeler with multiple gunshot wounds inside the apartment.

She was pronounced dead at the scene and police arrested Hall.

Hall was charged with first degree murder and felony firearm Feb. 10.

Darnell Hall

A probable cause conference is scheduled for Feb. 24 and a preliminary examination date is set for March 2.

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ROME (AP) — An American woman wanted in the 2002 death of her husband, whose remains were so badly burned they weren’t identified for more than a decade, was arrested in Rome after a multinational search, police said Thursday.

Rome police arrested Beverly McCallum, 59, overnight after she and her teenage son checked into a Rome hotel on the northwest outskirts of the Italian capital. Italian hotels are required to register guests in an online system linked to a police database.

The process revealed that McCallum had an Interpol arrest warrant against her, police said in a statement.

The hotel, Papillo, which features Italian and European Union flags, is in a shopping mall in a nondescript area overlooking Rome’s main ring road. Staff confirmed she was arrested there.

U.S. authorities had been seeking to extradite McCallum from Pakistan, where she was believed to be living, to stand trial in the slaying of her husband, Robert Caraballo. In 2002, he was beaten and suffocated, and his body was dumped and burned in a blueberry patch in western Michigan.

Police said McCallum was being held at Rome’s Rebibbia prison.

In Michigan, the Eaton County sheriff’s office said it was aware of the arrest but had no immediate comment.

“We have seen media reports of a U.S. citizen arrested in Rome,” the U.S. State Department said. “Whenever a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services. Due to privacy considerations we have no further comment at this time.”

Caraballo’s badly burned remains were found in a scorched footlocker in a wooded area in Ottawa County, Michigan, in the days following his death. The identity of the victim was unknown until police received an anonymous tip in 2015.

In the years after the slaying, McCallum reportedly met a man from Pakistan over the internet and moved there. Rome police said she had fled to Pakistan after learning police were on her trail.

Murder charges were announced last year against McCallum, her daughter Dineane Ducharme, and Christopher McMillan, of Grand Rapids. The three also were charged with conspiracy, and disinterment and mutilation of a body.

McMillan pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He had been expected to testify against the other two. Ducharme was also in custody.

McMillan, a friend of Ducharme, told investigators that the slaying was planned and a “test run” was performed before killing Caraballo, Eaton County sheriff’s Detective James Maltby testified at a hearing last year.

According to the Lansing State Journal, Maltby said McMillan told investigators that McCallum pushed Caraballo down the basement stairs of a home, then beat him with at least one hammer in an attack so vicious that it got lodged in Caraballo’s skull. McCallum wrapped a plastic bag around the head of the still-breathing Caraballo, Maltby testified.

Ducharme, who was 21 at the time of the slaying, told police her mother killed Caraballo and that she helped dispose of her stepfather’s body, according to Maltby.

McCallum also has two younger daughters, who were 9 and 11 at the time. Maltby testified that McCallum brought the two younger girls with her when she burned Caraballo’s body.

Maltby said one of the two younger daughters later questioned her mother about what happened and said that McCallum told her she killed Caraballo in self-defense.

Sometime after the killing, Ducharme and her mother moved to Pasadena, Texas. McCallum subsequently moved to Pakistan after learning that the investigation into the slaying was progressing, Maltby said.

Rome police said McCallum’s teenage son was placed in custody by Rome social services after his mother’s arrest.

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Hazel Park – A Hazel Park man has been arraigned and charged for murdering his wife Monday in Hazel Park District Court, before Magistrate Nadine Hatten. He is in jail on a $3.5 million dollar bond.

Jeff Charles Sherwood stands accused of strangling to death his wife, Susan Louise Klepsch, 64 years old.

According to the Royal Oak Daily Tribune, Hazel Park Police Chief Brian Bucholz said a couple who knew the couple called police after not hearing from them in a while. They entered the home and found the suspect in bed with his wife, appearing to be sleeping. Jeff Charles Sherwood appeared incoherent. They walked out and called the police.

Police and fire responded, finding Susan Klepsch’s body in the bed and arrested Charles Sherwood. According to the Royal Oak Tribune, Chief Bucholz said, “he was acting lethargic”. He continued that Sherwood took large amounts of aspirin and found cuts on his arms and neck in a possible attempt to kill himself.

Apparently, Susan Klepsch accused her husband of cheating on her, an argument ensued, and he attacked her. Strangling her to death. An autopsy by the Oakland County Medical Examiner found the death to be a homicide by blunt force trauma to the head and neck. It appears she was laying in their bed – deceased for about a week before neighbors and police arrived.

The couple married in 2018. There was a domestic violence call in November of 2019 that the police responded to.

The Royal Oak Tribune wrote, Sherwood is charged for first-degree murder, and is scheduled to be back in court April 7, for a probable cause hearing to determine if he’ll seek or waive his right to a preliminary examination hearing on the evidence against him. Sherwood could be facing life in prison

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MCDONOUGH, Ga. (AP) — A Tulane University basketball player who recently declared for the NBA draft is charged with murder and other counts in a Georgia slaying.

Teshaun Hightower, who led the Green Wave in scoring last season, was booked into jail Saturday on multiple charges, including murder and aggravated assault, Henry County Jail records show.

ST LOUIS, MO – MARCH 09: Teshaun Hightower #10 of the Georgia Bulldogs shoots the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats during the quarterfinals round of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 9, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

He was one of six people wanted in connection with an April 8 homicide in Stockbridge, Georgia, Henry County police said in a Facebook post Friday. Police spokesman Capt. Randy Lee told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the victim, Devante Anthony Long, died from gunshot wounds after he was taken to a hospital.

Jail records show that five of the six men are now in police custody, including Hightower’s brother, Jeffrey Hightower.

On the day of the shooting, Teshaun Hightower posted a tweet that said “God protect my people.”

Tulane “immediately dismissed” Hightower from the basketball program after learning about his arrest, athletic director Troy Dannen said in a statement reported by news outlets.

Hightower, 22, said he was entering the NBA draft pool on April 18, just 10 days after Long’s death. In his announcement on Twitter, the junior guard noted he planned to maintain the option of returning to school with a year of eligibility left.

CHAPEL HILL, NC – DECEMBER 03: Head coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. of the Tulane Green Wave directs his team against the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at the Dean Smith Center on December 3, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

The 6-foot-5 Hightower, a native of Lithonia, Georgia, averaged 15.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game during the 2019-20 season, his only one at Tulane. He played the previous two seasons at Georgia before transferring.

Prior to college, Hightower attended Mt. Zion Prep near Baltimore.

It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. Jail records show he was scheduled to appear in court on Sunday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly twenty years after the slaying of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, federal prosecutors said they have solved one of New York City’s most enduring mysteries, charging two men from his own neighborhood with murder and suggesting that the hip-hop artist — celebrated for his anti-drug stance — was ambushed over a cocaine deal.
The suspects were identified in court papers as Ronald Washington, 56, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence stemming from a string of robberies while on the run from police after Jay’s 2002 death, and Karl Jordan Jr., 36, who is also charged with engaging in a cocaine distribution conspiracy in 2017.
Jason “Jay” Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay, formed Run-DMC with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel in the early 1980s. Together, they helped take hip-hop mainstream with hits like “It’s Tricky” and the Aerosmith remake collaboration “Walk This Way.”
Jay’s death, following the long unsolved slayings of rappers Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas in 1996 and Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace in New York City in 1997, shook the hip-hop world. Chuck D of Public Enemy compared his death to that of John Lennon. More than $60,000 in rewards was offered, but witnesses refused to come forward and the case languished.
“This is a case about a murder that for nearly two decades had gone unanswered,” Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said at a news conference announcing the charges. “Today, we begin to answer that question of who killed Jason Mizell, and why, and we’re confident that we can prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Washington, who had reportedly been living on a couch at Jay’s home in the days before the killing, was publicly named as a possible suspect or witness as far back as 2007. Prosecutors allege he waved a handgun and ordered another person at the recording studio to lie on the ground while Jordan shot Jay in the head Oct. 30, 2002.

Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, Joseph “DJ Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, of the rap group Run-DMC, pose at the Grammy Awards in this file photo from the 1980s. (Photo by Getty Images)

According to prosecutors, Jay would bring in bulk amounts of cocaine to sell retail and was killed as retribution for cutting Washington out of a plan to distribute 10 kilograms in Maryland.
“They walked in and murdered him in cold blood,” DuCharme said.
A message seeking comment was left with a publicist for Run-DMC. The group performed anti-drug concerts, established scholarships and held voter registration drives at its live shows. In Hollis, the Queens neighborhood where he grew up, Jay was seen as a role model. Friends were puzzled by his death, thinking him an unlikely target for violence.
If convicted, Washington and Jordan each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison, or the death penalty. Prosecutors said in court papers that Attorney General William Barr had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
Jordan pleaded not guilty at an arraigned held Monday by teleconference because of coronavirus-related precautions. His lawyer declined comment. Washington, who is imprisoned in Kentucky, will be arraigned later this week, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have asked that both be jailed pending trial.

Terri Corley-Mizell and her sons Jesse and T.J attend the 35th anniversary of the Addidas superstar sneaker honoring the life of Jam Master Jay February 25, 2005. (Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)

The 37-year-old Jay was shot once in the head with a .40-caliber bullet by a masked assailant at his studio in Hollis. Police identified at least four people in the studio with Jay when he was killed, including the two armed gunmen.
At Jay’s funeral, McDaniels remembered his friend and fellow Run-DMC star as “the embodiment of hip-hop.” He was also a husband and a father of three children.
“Jam Master Jay was not a thug,” McDaniels said. “Jam Master Jay was not a gangster. Jam Master Jay was a unique individual.”
Prosecutors, though, now say Jay had been bringing cocaine into the New York area since 1996.
At the time, Jay’s acquaintance with Washington — a repeat offender with convictions dating in 1982 — worried and upset his family.
Before ending up on Jay’s couch, Washington served prison time for grand larceny, assault, criminal use of a firearm, heroin possession and other charges. He was been linked to the 1995 fatal shooting of Randy Walker, a close associate of the late Tupac Shakur.
Afterward, prosecutors said, Washington hopped from motel-to-motel and robbed businesses including supermarkets and a Burger King while detectives pursued him in connection with Jay’s killing. He remained at large for nearly three months until police on Long Island nabbed him for robbing a motel.
Last month, as prosecutors were preparing to seek a grand jury indictment against him for Jay’s death, Washington filed a handwritten petition asking to immediately be released to home confinement, arguing his medical history put him at risk for complications from coronavirus. Federal prosecutors responded by asking for more time to respond, delaying any decision until after Washington was charged.
Jordan, just a teenager when Jay was killed, was declared a juvenile delinquent after a 1999 robbery arrest and had a firearm case dismissed when the complaining witness refused to cooperate with law enforcement. In recent years, prosecutors said, he’s been caught on audio and video surveillance six times selling cocaine to an undercover federal agent.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) —  On Tuesday, victim after victim lined up to describe Joseph DeAngelo as a “sick monster,” “horrible man” and “subhuman” who stole their innocence and changed their lives during a more than the decade-long reign of rape and murder that earned him the nickname Golden State Killer.

The daughter of one rape victim gave him an obscene hand gesture and cursed him during the first of four days of hearings in Sacramento County Superior Court before he is formally sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

Some read statements on behalf of their loved ones who could not testify in person, while others proudly gave their names now that DeAngelo, 74, is heading to prison.

“He and his knife had complete control over me for the next two hours,” the daughter of rape survivor Patricia Murphy read from her mother’s statement. “He truly is an evil monster with no soul.”

A photo of accused rapist and killer Joseph James DeAngelo is displayed during a news conference in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Murphy in her own statement raised her middle finger and said DeAngelo “can go straight to hell.”

DeAngelo is a former police officer in California who eluded capture for four decades. The scope of his crimes “is simply staggering,” prosecutors said in a court summary released Monday — 13 known murders and nearly 50 rapes between 1975 and 1986.

Sixteen of his Sacramento County rape victims began confronting him in a courthouse that is otherwise still sealed from the public because of the coronavirus. A similar number of people planned to tell Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman on Wednesday and Thursday how DeAngelo’s crimes changed their lives.

Pete Schultz recalled how DeAngelo “performed horrific acts against our mother while she was tied and blindfolded.” He himself was tied to a bedpost at age 11, while his 7-year-old sister was locked in her room during the attack on Wini Schultz.

Pete Schultz called DeAngelo a “sick monster” as the killer sat in an orange jail jumpsuit, wearing a mask to slow the spread of the coronavirus, staring straight ahead.

In June, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges. He also publicly admitted dozens of more sexual assaults for which the statute of limitations had expired.

Defense attorneys did not respond to requests for comment and did not file a reply to prosecutors’ outline of the case.
All told, he admitted harming 87 victims at 53 separate crime scenes spanning 11 California counties in a plea deal that spares him the death penalty, prosecutors said.

That’s a larger number of victims than prosecutors cited after his admission in June to 161 crimes involving 48 people, but Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten said the higher number includes those who chose not to participate in having DeAngelo publicly admit to crimes in which he could not be formally charged.

His nicknames showed the escalation and geographic sweep of his crimes, prosecutors said: the Visalia Ransacker, thought to be responsible for about 100 burglaries and one slaying in that San Joaquin Valley farm town; the East Area Rapist; the Original Night Stalker. And finally, the Golden State Killer when investigators eventually linked the crimes that stretched across much of the state.
“Each time, he escaped, slipping away silently into the night, leaving communities terrified for years,” prosecutors said.

He was finally identified and arrested in 2018 by using a new form of DNA tracing.

“This has been on my mind for 44 years. That’s a long time,” Jane Carson-Sandler said before giving her testimony.

Certain triggers can still bring flashbacks to that night in 1976 when DeAngelo confronted her with a butcher knife as she snuggled in bed with her 3-year-old son after her husband left for work at a nearby military base.

“I hope that he’ll be listening, but we know that during the hearing when he pleaded guilty, he never lifted his head,” she said.

She is among survivors and prosecutors who contend that DeAngelo is merely masquerading as a feeble old man in a wheelchair.

Prosecutors cited “his slow gait, the distorted twist of his hands” and his halting answers to Bowman in June. But, they said, his “agile movement and behavior in his jail cell indicate an individual who is healthy and physically active.”