Albert Cronkite

Separate lines of police work led to Efram Palafox before a co-defendant later said he forced her to participate in an assault. REDMOND, Ore. — Two investigations moving on separate tracks in Central Oregon converged within hours in August, linking a drug inquiry to the disappearance of a man from a hospital and ultimately to kidnapping and assault allegations against Efram Palafox and Chelsey Moore. The first track involved suspected drug distribution. Redmond police said …

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The infant was not a daycare client, officials said, as the employee charged in her death now awaits further court proceedings. PERRY, Iowa — From the first hours of an investigation into a newborn found dead at an Iowa child care facility, police and the organization operating the center emphasized one point: The infant was not enrolled there and had never been placed in the daycare’s care. That distinction became important after officers discovered the …

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Authorities say physical findings, family testimony and alleged admissions link Chardae Sapp to the Kingsessing fire that killed Raymond Bell. PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The murder case arising from a fatal Kingsessing house fire is built publicly around three kinds of evidence: a fire marshal’s finding that the blaze was deliberately set, witnesses who placed Chardae Sapp in the room where it began and statements investigators say she later made about starting the fire. Those strands …

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Michael Sean Jones was hospitalized in New York as Pennsylvania authorities charged him in the death of his mother, Andrea Vail. BRACKNEY, Pa. — The killing of Andrea Lynn Vail began as a Pennsylvania State Police investigation at a rural home near the New York border, then quickly became a two-state case when the man accused of killing her was taken to a hospital in Johnson City, New York. Michael Sean Jones, 46, is charged …

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Victoria Moreno’s statements and surveillance footage became key parts of a prosecution that ended with a guilty plea and 40-year sentence. CHICAGO, Ill. — Surveillance video, accounts from people at Navy Pier and statements Victoria Moreno gave police formed the central public record of a murder case that ended nearly four years later with her guilty plea and a 40-year prison sentence. Cook County prosecutors had been prepared to use that evidence to argue that …

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Witnesses told investigators Marris Virgil bought the console while Darrius S. Shelton paid to repair it, creating the dispute prosecutors say preceded gunfire. MILWAUKEE, Wis. — One man had helped buy the PlayStation. Another had paid to repair it. A $260 offer failed to settle who should keep it. Prosecutors say that narrow ownership dispute then escalated inside a Milwaukee home, ending with 37-year-old Marris Virgil fatally shot and 21-year-old Darrius S. Shelton accused of …

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Alberto Molinet’s case moved from a September 2023 shooting to a July 2026 conviction and a September life sentence. MIAMI, Fla. — A homicide investigation that began before dawn on Sept. 10, 2023, reached its sentencing conclusion almost three years later when a Miami-Dade judge ordered Alberto Molinet to spend life in prison for the second-degree murder of his wife, Yulima Romero. The case unfolded across three defining dates. Romero was killed inside the couple’s …

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Larry Brister was less than a mile from home when a brief February 2023 trip led to injuries he did not survive. SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Larry Brister’s trip on Feb. 11, 2023, was supposed to be short. The 80-year-old left his North Side home to pick up dinner nearby. Instead, he was found critically injured in a roadway, his truck was gone and a criminal case began that would outlast him by more than …

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The legal case ended quickly, but records and family statements show a household already dealing with conflict, illness and loss. NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio — The murder charge against Ameen Farraj has been dismissed, closing the criminal case that followed his brother’s fatal shooting but leaving a North Olmsted family to confront a death that unfolded amid claims of violence inside their own home. Abdulla Farraj, 22, died after he was shot Sept. 16 during a …

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The 69-year-old social worker was remembered for music, nature and helping others after his killing inside a Mastic apartment. MASTIC, N.Y. — Edward Wade Brown spent much of his life helping other people see the best in themselves, his family said after his death. Prosecutors now say the 69-year-old social worker died inside his Long Island apartment in an attack allegedly carried out by one of his own sons. The contrast between Brown’s family remembrance …

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