MetaFilter posts tagged with Crime and murder

Boston in lockdown as hunt for marathon bombers unfolds

Rhaomi — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:22:07 -0800

What started as a report of a convenience store robbery near the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last night has sprawled into a chaotic manhunt for the perpetrators of the recent terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon. The deadly pursuit, involving a policeman's murder, a carjacking, a violent chase with thrown explosives, and the death of one suspect, has resulted in Governor Deval Patrick ordering an unprecedented lockdown of the entire Boston metropolitan area as an army of law enforcement searches house by house for the remaining gunman. The Associated Press has identified the duo as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, who remains at large. Both are immigrants from wartorn Chechnya in southwestern Russia. The Guardian liveblog is good for quick updates, and Reddit's updating crowdsourced timeline of events that has often outpaced mainstream media coverage of the situation. You can also get real-time reports straight from the (Java-based) local police scanner.

The Christopher Dorner Manhunt

fantodstic — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:44:29 -0800

Timeline: Christopher Dorner is a former U.S. marine and police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. He is wanted in the largest manhunt in LAPD history. Dorner is wanted for the alleged murder of a police officer and a young couple from Irvine (though evidence linking the murders to him is still largely circumstantial). During the ongoing investigation, LAPD officers have wounded various civilians in three separate cases of mistaken identity. In once incident, officers fired dozens of shots at a car in Torrance, CA, wounding two women who were delivering newspapers. Prominent in the case is Dorner's manifesto (also posted on facebook; part 1, part 2). In it, Dorner explains the events leading up to his discharge from the LAPD and his reasons for going on the revenge killing spree. Described as a "rage-filled" document, the manifesto has been dismissed by the head of the LAPD as "self serving" and "ramblings on the Internet." Although rambling and at times emotional, the letter is surprisingly candid and concise in its details of an ongoing corruption and culture of violence that plagues the Los Angeles Police Department and states his reasons for doing what he calls a “necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name.” The Huffington Post details the growing number of fans in social media sites supporting Dorner's cause (though most of them decry his violent actions). Reddit has a few prominent threads about the Christopher Dorner manhunt, including a detailed timeline of news updates regarding the case. Direct quotes from the manifesto/suicide note follow: "Journalist, I want you to investigate every location I resided in growing up. Find any incidents where I was ever accused of being a bully. You won’t, because it doesn’t exist. It’s not in my DNA. Never was. I was the only black kid in each of my elementary school classes from first grade to seventh grade in junior high and any instances where I was disciplined for fighting was in response to fellow students provoking common childhood schoolyard fights, or calling me a nigger or other derogatory racial names. I grew up in neighborhoods where blacks make up less than 1%. My first recollection of racism was in the first grade at Norwalk Christian elementary school in Norwalk, CA. A fellow student, Jim Armstrong if I can recall, called me a nigger on the playground. My response was swift and non-lethal. I struck him fast and hard with a punch an kick. He cried and reported it to a teacher. The teacher reported it to the principal. The principal swatted Jim for using a derogatory word toward me. He then for some unknown reason swatted me for striking Jim in response to him calling me a nigger. He stated as good Christians we are to turn the other cheek as Jesus did. Problem is, I’m not a fucking Christian and that old book, made of fiction and limited non-fiction, called the bible, never once stated Jesus was called a nigger. How dare you swat me for standing up for my rights for demanding that I be treated as a equal human being. That day I made a life decision that i will not tolerate racial derogatory terms spoken to me. " On Police Brutality: "It is endless the amount of times per week officers arrest an individual, label him a suspect-arrestee-defendant and then before arraignment or trial realize that he is innocent based on evidence. You know what they say when they realize an innocent man just had his life turned upside down?. “I guess he should have stayed at home that day he was discovered walking down the street and matching the suspects description. Oh well, he appeared to be a dirtbag anyways”. Meanwhile the falsely accused is left to pick up his life, get a new, family, friends, and sense of self worth. Don’t honor these fallen officers/dirtbags. When your family members die, they just see you as extra overtime at a crime scene and at a perimeter. Why would you value their lives when they clearly don’t value yours or your family members lives? I’ve heard many officers who state they see dead victims as ATV’s, Waverunners, RV’s and new clothes for their kids. Why would you shed a tear for them when they in return crack a smile for your loss because of the impending extra money they will receive in their next paycheck for sitting at your loved ones crime scene of 6 hours because of the overtime they will accrue. They take photos of your loved ones recently deceased bodies with their cellphones and play a game of who has the most graphic dead body of the night with officers from other divisions. This isn’t just the 20 something year old officers, this is the 50 year old officers with significant time on the job as well who participate." Threatening/taunting the LAPD: "I know your TTP’s, (techniques, tactics, and procedures). Any threat assessments you you generate will be useless. This is simple, I know your TTP’s and PPR’s. I will mitigate any of your attempts at preservation. ORM is my friend. I will mitigate all risks, threats and hazards. I assure you that Incident Command Posts will be target rich environments. KMA-367 license plate frames are great target indicators and make target selection even easier. I will conduct DA operations to destroy, exploit and seize designated targets. If unsuccessful or unable to meet objectives in these initial small scale offensive actions, I will reassess my BDA and re-attack until objectives are met. I have nothing to lose. My personal casualty means nothing. Just alike AAF’s, ACM’s, and AIF’s, you can not prevail against an enemy combatant who has no fear of death. An enemy who embraces death is a lose, lose situation for their enemy combatants. Hopefully you analyst have done your homework. You are aware that I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualifications in every unit I’ve been in. I will utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance, and survival training I’ve been given." On the Trayvon/Zimmerman case (previously on the blue): "If you continuously followed me while I was walking at dusk/night I would confront you as well. Too bad Trayvon didn’t smash your skull completely open, Zim. While Trayvon’s body erodes to bones 6 feet under, Zimmerman has put on no less than 40 pounds while out on bail. Zimmerman was arrested for battery on a Peace officer and avoided jail/prison because he completed a diversion program. Thats a history of being an asshole. Zimmerman couldn’t get hired by a LE agency because of poor credit/and a history of violence/restraining orders with women. So what does he do? Designate himself, neighborhood watch captain and make complaints to his city council about the horrible work ethic and laziness of the officers patrolling his neighborhood. Good one Zim. How classy that your father attempts to use his veterans status “disabled veteran” during your bail hearing but doesn’t state what his disability percentage is. Prior service personnel know it can be 5% disability to 100%. You and your attorneys always avoid mentioning your fathers occupation as a magistrate/judge because I’m sure he’s utilized his position to get you out of way more jams then the public has discovered and that your family is not indigent. Oh, tell your wife to stop perjuring herself in court." His shout out to pop culture icons and celebrities: Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” is the greatest piece of music ever, period. Hanz Zimmer, William Bell, Eric Clapton, BB King, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke, Metallica, Rob Zombie, Nora Jones, Marvin Gaye, Jay-Z, and the King (Louis Armstrong) are musical prodigies. Jeffrey Toobin and David Gergen, you are political geniuses and modern scholars. Hopefully Toobin is nominated for the Supreme Court and implements some damn common sense and reasoning instead of partisan bickering. But in true Toobin fashion, we all know he would not accept the nomination. , John and Ken from KFI, never mute your facts and personal opinions. You are one of the few media personalities who speak the truth, even when the truth is not popular. I will miss listening to your discussions. Bill Handel, your effin awesome. For years I enjoyed your show. Anthony Bourdain, you’re a modern renaissance man who epitomizes the saying “too cool for school”. Larry David, Kevin Hart, the late Patrice Oneal, Lisa Lampanelli, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Louis CK, Dave Chapelle, Jon Stewart, Wanda Sykes, Dennis Miller, and Jeff Ross are pure geniuses. I’m a big fan of all of your work. As a child my mom caught me watching Def Jam comedy at midnight when I should have been asleep. Instead of scolding me, the next night she let me stay up late and watch George Carlin, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor comedy specials with her for hours. My sides were sore for days. Larry David, I agree. 72-82 degrees is way to hot in a residence. 68 , degrees is perfect. As of this writing Dorner is still at large and is believed to be heavily armed.

Gene Weingarten: "Since 1979, Brian Murtagh has fought to keep convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in prison"

flex — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:18:42 -0800

Gene Weingarten: Since 1979, Brian Murtagh has fought to keep convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in prison. (Here is the single-page link.) Warning: graphic details of the murders of Colette MacDonald and her two small children.

If you are of a certain age, the story is familiar. In the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 1970, in an officer’s apartment at Fort Bragg, N.C., someone savagely attacked Colette MacDonald, 26, and her two daughters, Kimberly, 5, and Kristen, 2... Military police arrived, summoned by a gasping phone call from Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, 26. He told them he’d been awakened to the screams of his family, and was immediately set upon by scruffy intruders... The doctor’s wounds were trivial, at least compared with those of his family... Almost from the start, investigators focused on MacDonald, whose account of the attack seemed to contradict the physical evidence: the locations of bloodstains and spatters and of torn fibers from his pajamas, and the lack of evidence of a furious defensive struggle... he was prosecuted in 1979 in federal court, where he was convicted after a six-week trial. The jury was out only six hours. The prosecution’s methodical use of circumstantial evidence had overcome a signal weakness in the case: The state never presented an entirely convincing motive. The lurid crime was an international story that became even bigger with the publication in 1983 of “Fatal Vision,” the bestseller about the case by journalist Joe McGinniss; the book would lead to a TV miniseries and, later, to an excruciating spasm of self-examination by the media... From prison, MacDonald sued McGinniss for breach of contract, alleging that the writer had betrayed him. During trial and its preparations, McGinniss had been embedded with the defense team, ostensibly to write a book about an unjustly accused man. At some point, the writer became convinced of the doctor’s guilt but never told MacDonald, fearing he would lose the doctor’s cooperation. So, as he was ingratiating himself with the convicted killer, feigning incredulity over the verdict, encouraging MacDonald to send deeply self-revealing letters from prison, McGinniss was writing a book describing MacDonald as a narcissistic, psychopathic monster. McGinniss contends he behaved ethically in dealing with MacDonald under enormously difficult circumstances... [Brian] Murtagh today is unrecognizable from the news photos of him on the day of the verdict 33 years ago... It was only his second trial ever... Responsibility for the huge case had fallen into his inexperienced hands by default in 1975, when the original lead prosecutor, Victor Worheide, died suddenly of a heart attack. Murtagh has had an unconventional career: Half his professional life, he estimates, has been consumed by two cases only: the prosecution of Jeffrey MacDonald and the prosecution of the Libyan intelligence officer who masterminded the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He won them both.

Can Murder Be Tracked Like An Infectious Disease?

reenum — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:11:26 -0800

Researchers found that the pattern of murder in Newark, NJ is very similar in pattern to the spread of an infectious disease. Could this research show law enforcement a new way to predict where murders will occur?

Invisible People

Artw — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 10:24:59 -0800

He was methodical, he rode the highways, and he preyed on teenage girls. Girls who'd run away. Girls no one would miss. In the summer of 1985, the author was such a girl. One night on I-95, she hitched a ride from a stranger and endured the most terrifying moments of her life. Now, years later, she returns to the scenes of her fugitive youth looking for clues to that terror—and the girls who lost their lives to it - The Truck Stop Killer

Jailhouse interview with DC sniper Lee Malvo

silby — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 10:20:55 -0800

“I was a monster,” Malvo said. “If you look up the definition, that’s what a monster is. I was a ghoul. I was a thief. I stole people’s lives. I did someone else’s bidding just because they said so. . . . There is no rhyme or reason or sense.”

#bloodbath

Artw — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:26:49 -0800

#bloodbath: how social media might have changed one of history's most infamous crime sprees

Pawns in the War on Drugs

grobstein — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:04:56 -0800

Sarah Stillman for the New Yorker on confidential informants and the ends they meet -- "Gaither was tortured, beaten with a bat, shot with a pistol and a shotgun, run over by a car, and dragged by a chain through the woods."

“You can sit down with us and make a deal. Or you can go upstairs, get a lawyer, and get ready to be ass-rammed in prison.” “Letting a young, immature woman get into a car by herself with $13,000.00, to go off and meet two convicted felons that they knew were bringing at least one firearm with them, was an unconscionable decision that cost Ms. Hoffman her life,” the grand jury declared. “Less than fifteen minutes after she drove away from the offices of [the Tallahassee Police Department], she drove out of the sight of the officers who assured her they would be right on top of her watching and listening the whole time. She cried out for help as she was shot and killed and nobody was there to hear her.” “There’s no such thing as training an informant,” Brian Sallee, of B.B.S. Narcotics Enforcement Training and Consulting, told me. “You direct them what to do, and if they follow those directions that will make it safer for them. There’s always going to be a risk, but when things go bad it’s usually because they didn’t do as they were told to. They get themselves hurt, not the officers. The informants cause their own dilemma.” “Now I lost my baby for an ounce of weed,” Nelson said at her kitchen counter. “It’s like they just threw her away.”

An introduction to cult movies

Artw — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:40:56 -0800

"What is a cult film? A cult film is one that has a passionate following, but does not appeal to everyone. James Bond movies are not cult films, but chainsaw movies are. Just because a film has become a cult movie does not automatically guarantee quality. Some are very bad; others are very, very good. Some make an awful lot of money at the box office; others make no money at all. Some are considered quality films; others are exploitation movies. One thing cult movies do have in common is that they are all genre films - for example gangster films or westerns. They also have a tendency to slosh over from one genre into another, so that a science fiction film might also be a detective movie, or vice versa. They share common themes as well, themes that are found in all drama: love, murder and greed." - of the British TV film slots accompanied by an introduction perhaps the most celebrated is Moviedrome, running between 1988 and 2000 and presented first by Repo Man director Alex Cox and then film critic Mark Cousins. Alex Cox introduces... The Wicker Man The Parallax View Jabberwocky Stardust Memories Brazil An American Werewolf in London Knightriders What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Rabid Cry Baby Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Django Face to Face Requiescant The Andromeda Strain Coogan's Bluff The People Under The Stairs Halloween Psychomania Race the Devil Excalibur Nothing Lasts Forever Mark Cousins introduces... The Fly Society The Warriors The Fog Carlitos Way Don't Look Now ALSO ON BBC 2: The Forbidden Season... Alex Cox presents Django Kill Empire of the Censors Doing Rude Things 1, 2 ON BBC 4: Alex Cox presents... Five Westerns Part 1 Five Westerns Part 2 Moviedrome Guides part 1 & 2 in the free stuff section Alex Cox's website. Moviedrome archive. Previous Alex Cox. Previous Repo Man. Bonus insanity: Alex Cox interviews Sam Cohen, inventor of the neuron bomb

Faster and Furiouser

andoatnp — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:37:33 -0800

"The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal: A Fortune investigation reveals that the ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. How the world came to believe just the opposite is a tale of rivalry, murder, and political bloodlust." Previously.

A Case So Cold It Was Blue

Avenger50 — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:54:42 -0800

"A Case So Cold It Was Blue" is about Sherri Rasmussen's unsolved murder. The interrogation video.

Who Killed the Family Moore, why and what's the reason for?

IvoShandor — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:34:55 -0800

The Ax Murderer Who Got Away - Shortly after midnight on June 10, 1912—one hundred years ago this week—a stranger hefting an ax lifted the latch on the back door of a two-story timber house in the little Iowa town of Villisca. Further information (via the bottom of the linked article): *The Villisca Ax Murders Blog *1911-1912 Midwest Ax Murders - a transient serial killer? *Kingensmith, Beth H. "The 1910s Ax Murders" *Blood, gore and tourism (Salon)

Gingerbread House

The Whelk — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 11:39:39 -0800

"There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls. It’s been many years since any child was taken. But still, on nights like these, when the wind comes cold from Tsibeya, mothers hold their daughters tight and warn them not to stray too far from home. “Be back before dark,” they whisper. “The trees are hungry tonight.” Tor.com brings us some short horror/fairy tale fiction from Leigh Bardugo, "The Witch of Duva: A Ravkan Folk Tale."

A Tale of Two Carlos

Gyan — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:58:08 -0800

Los Tocayos Carlos - a comprehensive investigation by Columbia Law School Professor James Liebman and a team of students which uncovers evidence that Carlos DeLuna, a poor Hispanic man with childlike intelligence who was executed in Texas in 1989, was innocent. The issue of The Columbia Human Rights Law Review, entirely dedicated to this investigation, is available at this website.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try again.

Evilspork — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:53:12 -0800

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try again: black Mississippi man tried six times for the same crime.

Mark every death. Remember every victim. Follow every case.

BobbyVan — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:19:33 -0800

"Homicide Watch is a community-driven reporting project covering every murder in the District of Columbia. Using original reporting, court documents, social media, and the help of victims’ and suspects’ friends, family, neighbors and others, we cover every homicide from crime to conviction." Homicide Watch D.C. launched in late September 2010 as a WordPress blog and was recognized in August 2011 as a notable entry in the 2011 Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism. In addition to names and photos of the victims, the site maintains a court calendar and database of primary source documents.

"As with other online businesses, the site promised convenience and efficiency."

reenum — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 07:48:10 -0800

Need a spouse or uncooperative business associate taken care of? Have no fear! HitmanForHire.net is here.

In a Mailbox: A Shared Gun, Just for the Asking

reenum — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:39:37 -0800

With a tough economy and less money to go around, gang members in New York City are resorting to sharing guns hidden in easily accessible places.

of Spivs, Cosh boys & Creepers

madamjujujive — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:32:46 -0800

Flick Knives, Dance Music and Edwardian Suits: Teddy Boys, Christmas Humphreys and the murder of John Beckley on Clapham Common in 1953.

The Brand

reenum — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:00:05 -0800

David Grann of the New Yorker writes about the power of the Aryan Brotherhood inside America's federal prisons.

The (First) Crime of the Century

davidjmcgee — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:01:45 -0800

June 25th 1906, was the opening night of the musical revue Mamzelle Champagne on the roof of Madison Square Garden. In attendance were Stanford White, renowned architect (Washington Square Arch, Judson Memorial Church, Madison Square Garden itself), and Harry Kendall Thaw, eccentric coal and railroad scion. During the performance of the song I Could Love a Million Girls, Thaw "left his seat near the stage, passed between a number of tables, and, in full view of the players and of scores of persons, shot White through the head." (pdf) Standing over White’s body, Thaw said “You’ll never go out with that woman again.” Five years earlier, White (47, married), had been introduced to 16-year-old chorus girl and model Evelyn Nesbit. White took Nesbit to his apartment, which contained a red velvet swing (NSFW) "so that Nesbit and other young women in varying degrees of undress could entertain him." On a subsequent visit to the apartment, they drank champagne, and "White allegedly had sex with her after she had passed out from the alcohol." That same year, Nesbit was also being courted by 19-year-old John Barrymore. Nesbit’s mother did not believe him wealthy enough to marry her daughter. Barrymore proposed marriage; Nesbit declined. In 1903, Nesbit and Thaw met. He also proposed marriage. She confessed that she had lost her virginity to White. Enraged, Thaw began to carry a pistol. Thaw’s first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. During the second trial,

Thaw's attorneys took the insanity defense to murder to new extremes, successfully arguing that Thaw suffered from "dementia Americana," a condition supposedly unique to American men that caused Thaw to develop an uncontrollable desire to kill White after he learned of White's previous affair with Nesbit.

Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to an asylum, escaped to Canada in 1913, was extradited back to the US, and eventually freed in 1915. Nesbit attempted suicide (pdf) several times and became a sculpting teacher. The whole affair was dramatized by E.L. Doctorow in his novel Ragtime, which was adapted as a film and a musical. Madison Square Garden was demolished in 1925, replaced by the New York Life Building. Mamzelle Champagne closed after 60 performances. It has never been remounted.

Zaire Paige Not Only Played a Movie Killer, He Became One in Real Life.

reenum — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:23:17 -0800

Zaire Paige had a breakout role in Antoine Fuqua's movie, Brooklyn's Finest. He was seen as a rising star. But, it all went away when he murdered a gang rival and was sentenced to 107 years in prison. BONUS: Quotes from Wire cast members Hassan Johnson (Wee-Bey) and Michael K. Williams (Omar). SECOND BONUS: Here is a printable version of the article.

The durable Mike Malloy

reenum — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:46:27 -0800

In 1933, Anthony Marino, Joe Murphy, Frank Pasqua and Dan Kriesberg decided to make money by taking out life insurance on drunks and then letting the victims drink themselves to death. Then they encountered Mike Malloy...

Myra Hindley

Trurl — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:05:42 -0800

My purpose here has been to inquire into mediated understandings of Hindley, and to question how popular texts delineate between the deeds of a human being and the way those deeds are culturally inscribed. The task is neither conclusive nor complete, for monsters are illusive. There is always some part of them that evades both enunciation and comprehension.

Light in the Darkness

peeedro — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:47:40 -0800

Not in Our Town [autoplay 1hr PBS video]: the story of how the community of Patchogue, NY responded to the murder of Marcelo Lucero Patchogue's community response is especially notable because, at the time of the murder, it was considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center as having a "Climate of Fear" concerning violence towards latinos and the, at the time, County Executive was known as "The Enabler" because of his incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric. Excellent summary from NPR's Tell Me More. Resources on the web for working together for safe, inclusive communities - Not in our Town: Light in the Darkness