So sad

I don't care how you feel about politics. This is still wrong. Murder does not repay murder does not repay murder. Innocent Palestinians should not be dying. Innocent Israeli civilians should not have been killed during the October 7th attacks by Hamas. This young couple should not have died. He had bought a ring and was about to propose to her. A whole life ahead of them, eradicated. So many lives stolen. So much blood. When will this end?

2 Israeli Embassy staff shoot and killed in front of Capital Jewish Museum in DC

Sixteen

I'm going to count this even though it's very short.

16. Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper.

It's delightful.

So sad...grad student shot in Mexico for being in the wrong place at the wrong time

When I first entered college in 1984, my plans were to study social impacts on the environment and was majoring in biology heading towards a specialisation in oecology, as well as sociology as a second major. I never would have dreamed it was dangerous at all. My heart goes out to the family of this graduate student, Gabriel Trujillo. He sought to make the world better by finding a way to bring back the buttonbush to its native environment. Such an innocuous but important endeavour, and he died being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

U.S. Grad Student Brutally Killed on Mexican Field Trip: Gabriel Trujillo’s father says his 31-year-old son was shot seven times.

[PS While I kept the sociology major and paired it with history instead of biology, the change was because during Animal Biology my teacher chloroformed a lab rat in front of me...and dissected it right then. I was sick and dizzy. I love animals. This seemed so cruel. I got out of biology the next semester, although I loved it otherwise. I cannot abide that sort of indifference to animals.]

Terribly sad...

Witnesses: Man Cut the Throats of Two MAX Passengers Who Tried to Stop Anti-Muslim Bullying of Women on Northeast Portland Train

Political, community leaders condemn MAX killings, praise 'courageous bystanders'

Reactions poured from elected leaders and community members to Friday's slaying, praising the Good Samaritans who confronted Jeremy Joseph Christian as he spewed hate speech aboard a MAX commuter train, directed at two women, one wearing a hijab.

MAX stabbing victim graduated from Reed College

One of the victims in the attack was identified by his mother on her Facebook page as Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23. He and others interceded when the suspect was verbally attacking two young women on the train. Two people were killed, one injured in the stabbing. Here is a statement released by Namkai Meche's family:

Taliesin Myrddin lived a joyous and full life. His enthusiasm was infectious. We lost him in a senseless act that brought close to home the insidious rift of prejudice and intolerance that is too familiar, too common. He was resolute in his conduct (and) respect of all people. In his final act of bravery, he held true to what he believed is the way forward. He will live in our hearts forever as the just, brave, loving, hilarious and beautiful soul he was. We ask that in honor of his memory, we use this tragedy as an opportunity for reflection and change. We choose love. Safe journey Taliesin. We love you.

The other person killed was identified as Ricky Best, 53, a Portland city employee, 23-year army veteran, and father of four:

These Are The Victims Of The Portland Train Stabbing Attack

Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, was also stabbed, but is expected to survive.

These men are heroes.

I know there will always be those consumed by hatred for someone they define as 'other'. I firmly believe that love and brotherhood can win over such baser qualities, but it disturbs me that these sorts of things are on the rise. May these heroes rest in peace, and their families take some solace in their character, and my thoughts are with their families, the injured person, and those who experienced this horrible event.

Hate is the domain of no race, no gender, no nation. It kills the spirit, shrivels the heart, leaves us out of touch with our fellow humans and our interconnectedness, leading to monstrous spirits and deeds. Hatred killed so many in the terrorist attack on the Ariana Grande concert the other day in Manchester, on 9/11, in other terrorist attacks. But it also killed people worshipping in the church that Dylann Roof gunned down, and those victims of hundred of crimes where the body count might be smaller but is no less devastating to those left behind. It killed in Portland, consuming the perpetrator of these crimes and using him to spread fear and terror, claiming precious lives. But hatred does not live on its own in a vacuum. It must invade the human heart, and to do so, the person must let it in and nurture it. We can counter hatred with education, kindness, interaction, and love, but sometimes it must be countered directly, such as in Portland. I am just so sorry it meant death and that these good people had to lose their lives standing up to hate.

So terribly senseless

In Lahore, pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death

In an apparent 'honour killing', a 25-year-old pregnant woman was brutally beaten and stoned to death on Tuesday outside the high court here by her father and brothers for marrying the man of her choice.

I just don't understand

a world where a 16-year-old boy has no regard for the lives of younger children, one of which was only 12 and he reportedly attacked in a rape, the other of which, who was only 8, he apparently beat to death when the boy came to his sister's aid. Sorrow does not begin to describe what I feel, much less the feelings of the victims' family and loved one, I'm sure.

Boy, 8, Killed Defending Sister From Rapist: Cops

My hometown went on lockdown today

after police received a 911 call from a nine-year-old reporting a robbery at a pawn shop and found three adults--the child's parents, co-owners of the business, and a customer shot dead. Also inside was the boy's sibling, whose age has been reported between eighteen and 20 months. The children apparently hid, and were unharmed. The shooter is still at large, although the lockdown of schools, including Centre College, has expired. Danville residents were warned of the danger through reverse 911 calls this morning shortly after the discovery. The ATF is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the murderer. (I originally linked to that story by LEX18, but the video automatically ran an advertisement when the page was loaded and I didn't want to have that happening, as I find it very annoying for videos to autoplay.)

Victims identified in triple homicide at Danville pawn shop

UPDATE: Three Dead In Pawn Shop Shooting; No Suspects In Custody

Danville Police Searching For Suspect Who Killed Three In Pawn Shop Robbery

Danville, Kentucky is a small town of about 16,000 people. According to Wikipedia, 'in 2001, Danville received a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 2011, Money placed Danville as the fourth-best place to retire in the United States. Danville has recently been twice chosen to host U.S. Vice-Presidential debates, in 2000 and in 2012.' Although I wasn't raised there, I was born in Danville, started elementary school in nearby Junction City, and finished high school at Danville High. My family has been in the county for generations. It's a nice town with a goodly amount of history for the area, an excellent college, and an annual brass band festival. Murders do happen occasionally, but this was shocking. I am so sorry to hear that this little boy and girl are now without parents because of someone's needless violence, and to have witnessed what they did was horrible. They are in my thoughts and prayers, along with the families of all the victims. Police are looking for a white man in his 40s to 50s, in a green camouflage jacket, and in some reports with a pot belly or heavyset. The Danville police can be reached at: (859) 238-1220. I so hope they catch the person who did this soon.

I hope this case is moving forward

Each day, there is usually one news story, often involving a child, that just chills me to the bone. Today's was the callous murder of a toddler during a robbery attempt Thursday in Georgia. So I was somewhat heartened to hear that the police there have two suspects in custody, one 17, one 14. Still, it's a horrible thing, for all involved.

Two youths arrested in shooting death of Georgia baby

"A boy approached me and told me he wanted my money, and I told him I didn't have any money. And he said, 'Give me your money or I'm going to kill you and I'm going to shoot your baby and kill your baby,' and I said, 'I don't have any money,' and 'Don't kill my baby.'" The boy tried to grab her purse and opened fire when she said tried to tell him she had no money, West said, with the shot grazing her head. She said the boy then shot her in the leg.

West continued, "And then, all of a sudden, he walked over and he shot my baby in the face."

The boy who was shot was in his stroller, and was just a little over a year old. My thoughts are with the family of this toddler, and for the two boys involved in his death. Something, somewhere went totally wrong somewhere there. I do agree with charging the 17 year old as an adult, and the 14 year old as a juvenile. The whole thing is just so sad.

Maybe I shouldn't read the news

Seriously? How could any human being do this to another for bike parts??? And at 15 and 17, they should clearly know right from wrong.

Brothers killed 12-year-old NJ girl for bike parts, authorities say

Two teenage brothers have been charged in the death of 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale, whose body was found in a recycling bin, a New Jersey prosecutor says.

Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said Pasquale died in a manner consistent with strangulation.

"Preliminary investigation shows no signs of sexual assault,” Dalton said, adding “she was lured to the juveniles’ house where this crime was committed," Dalton said.

"It was for the purpose of obtaining parts from the BMX bike," he said.

Autumn was last seen around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday leaving her Clayton home while riding a white BMX bike to a friend's house. The girl’s parents called police after she never made it to that friend's house.

How terribly sad.

How horrible

Hopes pinned on wounded girl in French Alps killings

This seven-year-old and her four-year-old sister survived a terrible attack on their family, which left her mother, father, and grandmother dead, as well as a person who happened upon the scene. The four-year-old survived by hiding for eight hours under her dead mother's skirt, but has been unable to give authorities much information. The seven-year-old is in a medically-induced coma after being shot and beaten. Such a horrible thing for such innocent children to witness and endure.

This story makes me sad

Pregnant Russell County woman fought her attacker before being slain, coroner says

She was out on a run with her sister, felt like she couldn't finish, and headed back to their car. On the way, a man attacked and robbed her, strangling her and leaving her body under a bush. According to the autopsy, she was 10-11 weeks pregnant (she had three other children whom she leaves behind, along with her husband). The alleged assailant walked into the local hospital with injuries consistent with her fighting back, and has confessed to the crime, which was apparently random. So sad, and it just underscores that you're never really safe anywhere, although of course you can't live your life afraid of what could happen.

Crazy, in so many ways, and so sad

Mother slain, baby abducted: kidnapper had suffered miscarriage: Verna McClain, who has been accused of killing a young mother and stealing her baby, is said to have been trying to replace the one she lost

McClain had told her fiancé she had given birth to their child. Instead, McClain had miscarried, said Capt. Bruce Zenor of the Montgomery County sheriff's office.

Her fiancé, who was not identified Wednesday, is being interviewed by authorities.

Sheriff Tommy Gage said 28-year-old Kala Golden had placed Keegan into her pickup truck Tuesday afternoon after leaving Northwoods Pediatric Center in Spring, about 20 miles north of Houston. The suspected shooter was parked next to her, Gage said.

The woman repeatedly shot Golden, then snatched the child from her truck and drove away, according to witness accounts. The dying woman leaned into the vehicle and tried to take the boy back, screaming, "My baby!" but her attacker sped off.

Even dying, she tried to save her three-day-old child. It's so sad that this little boy will never know his mother, because of a random, crazy act. McClain has stated that she was looking for any baby, rather than targeting a particular mother and child. I'm so glad the baby is okay, though.

How horrible

Woman Is Burned Alive in an Elevator in Brooklyn

It sounds like a strange 'Law & Order' episode opening. A man dressed as an exterminator ambushed a woman in a Brooklyn apartment building elevator by spraying her in the face and on her body with accelerant, lighting a Molotov cocktail, and igniting her with it. He then left her to burn alive and escaped the building. New York police are questioning a suspect.

That anyone could do something like this to another person baffles me. I hope they catch him soon. I want to know if she was targeted for a specific reason or if this guy just wanted to kill someone and she was convenient, an older woman trapped in an elevator, holding groceries.

My heart goes out to those who knew her--family and friends--and again, I hope they catch him soon.

[This comes just a couple of days after a woman was accidentally killed in a New York elevator, when her foot got caught in the door and the elevator moved up suddenly with the doors still open, dragging her to her death, in front of elevator passengers. My thoughts are also with her friends and family, in what seems to have been a freak accident.]

Senseless

Kentucky's child protection system under scrutiny after girl's murder

When Kimberly Dye was trying to adopt her great-niece in 2006, she said her two sons were excited about a little sister joining the family, according to state documents.

Garrett Dye, then 12, was asked to write what he would tell friends about his new sister, Amy, who was 5, and what he hoped she would be like.

"I will tell them that she is the best sister ever," he wrote. "I would like her to be funny and happy wherever she goes."

Not quite five years later, on a bitter-cold evening in February, Garrett beat Amy, 9, to death in the gravel driveway of their Todd County home with a metal jack handle, then dragged her body about 100 yards behind the house and hid it in a thicket.

This kid didn't stand a chance. Her family, the system, all failed her. Such a shame. I don't understand why sibling-on-sibling abuse is not taken more seriously.

I truly do no understand

how any person can do this to another human being. And I am so glad that I do not.

Savagely beaten, tied to a lamppost and burned alive: Horrific fate of hotel manager who was murdered 'for being gay'

Later reports corrected the being tied to a lamppost, but unfortunately the manner of death is correct. I cannot fathom the kind of person who would do this to someone. Fortunately there are decent people in the world who turned out in support for his funeral.

Thousand mourners attend funeral of Stuart Walker

That's from a town of only 9,000 people. They have a suspect in custody, thankfully.

Thanks to Joe.My.God for the links. RIP Stuart Walker. May you find peace, and your murderer find justice.

Dear God

Woman Who Stole Fetus Charged With First Degree Homicide

A Milwaukee mother of three who was desperate to give her boyfriend a son allegedly hunted for pregnant women until she found one alone, clubbed her with a bat, strangled her and used an Exacto knife to steal her fetus.

The mother and fetus died, and Annette Morales-Rodriguez, 33, was charged today with two counts of murder.

What a horrible way to die, and all because someone has lost touch with things like reality and right and wrong. And the alleged murderess was a mother of three, desperate not only to give her boyfriend a child, but a boy, no doubt to carry on the name and such. I've always found this bias for boys to be inexplicable; that a child be born healthy and intelligent would be my main wishes, girl or boy. Unfortunately, this child had no chance. It chills me to think of her killing this woman, and I feel so sorry for the family who have now lost a mother/wife and child/brother.

So sad, and sickening, and wrong. I hope she gets the justice she deserves.

How horrible a life to lead, abandoned by a mother and abused by the ones who should have cared for her

Four arrested over death of Phoenix girl locked inside box as punishment, say cops

Police said Thursday that Ame Deal had been abused for a long time, and had been locked in a chest as punishment, reports CBS affiliate KPHO.

Authorities say before being locked in, the girl was forced to run and do other exercises in the backyard, despite nearly triple-digit heat.

Police investigators said the girl apparently had been put in the box at least five times in recent months for misbehaving, and had been beaten with a wooden paddle, forced to swallow hot sauce and to eat dog feces.

Police said the girl slept on the floor of a stall shower in the home with no blanket or pillow as a disciplinary measure for bed wetting.

Relatives charged in murder of 10-year-old found locked in box

When first questioned, the family members told police that Deal had climbed into the box and suffocated while playing hide-and-seek, police said.

Kansas woman says she found out about death of 10-year-old daughter in Phoenix via online

A Kansas woman who found out about the death of her 10-year-old daughter in Phoenix by reading about it online said she hasn't stopped crying since.

Shirley Deal fled from what she described as an abusive household several years ago. The child she left behind perished in the same household.

I am horrified that anyone would treat a child this way. I also do not have fond thoughts of a mother who leaves her child with people she believes to be abusive, the family of an ex-husband she says she is not even sure is the father of the child. And the child's supposed father was there, and although he has not been charged, you have to wonder if he simply did not know that four people were abusing his daughter, or if he knew and did nothing.

The very people who should have cared for and loved that girl failed her at best and allegedly murdered her at worst. How terrible that she was surrounded by these types of people. I am also interested if there were any suspicions of abuse that were reported to the authorities, and if they, too, failed this child.

So sad. Oh, and the offence for which she was locked in the box? She apparently stole a Popsicle from the freezer. For that she suffocated and died. I hope these people get exactly what they deserve.

This is one reason I'm not an advocate for the death penalty

Oh, there are many people who need to be gaoled for life, without ever having the possibility of parole. They need to be removed from society, and never interact with it again. Punishment? My idea of punishment requires Star Trek-level technology, where you record the relevant parts of the victim's experience and then force the perpetrator to relive it every day for the rest of his or her life, in full experience as if he or she was the victim. But we're not there yet. I think putting people on Death Row is expensive and does nothing to really punish, nor does it really bring closure. And of course, Death Row inmates are by definition not going to be rehabilitated, which is the stated reason some people use concerning prisons, those who prefer to not focus on the punishment factor.

Then there are those who may be innocent. There are cases of men (usually) and women who have been incarcerated for years, sometimes on Death Row, for crimes they did not commit. This appears to be one of those cases.

Fresh DNA evidence boosts defense in 1993 Arkansas slayings

Newly tested DNA evidence in the 1993 killings of three 8-year-old Cub Scouts in Arkansas has failed to link the crimes to the men convicted in the murders, including one on Death Row, advocates for the men said on Wednesday.

The DNA, including materials from the crime scene, instead matched three unidentified people, furthering supporters' claims that the so-called West Memphis Three are innocent, the advocates told Reuters.

This is one of the reasons I will probably never serve on a jury where the death penalty is on the table. I realise (and have told the court in the past, when I have been selected for jury duty), that I do not think I could sentence someone to death. Give me a throw-them-in-gaol-and-throw-away-the-key option, and I'm fine. Some people have to be put away for the safety of everyone else, either because they're deranged, or because they're just plain evil, and are not likely to rehabilitate. But for others, I think the punishment should fit the crime, that it can be a turning point in their lives from which they can choose a different path when they get out, and that there should be ways to integrate them back into society.

If these men are innocent, it would have meant that they were teenagers when arrested for a crime 18 years ago--meaning they've lost a great deal of their lives. If true, they should be freed and compensated, although nothing can replace nearly two decades of lost freedom. Also, I hope the DNA evidence helps find those who were responsible for the murders of these children. For more on the West Memphis Three, and the mess the case was, see the Wikipedia article.

Sad that such a close-knit community must become wary of their own

Leiby Kletzky Killing Brings Doubt and Unrest to Local Community

Ben Herb, a Borough Park resident tells the New York Times, “Here in the center of Borough Park is where you have to be very careful. Most of your neighbors are Orthodox Jews with which children are comfortable. That, in itself, is a risk.

Parents like Herb feel that now more than ever, they must emphasize to their children how to react to an unfamiliar person regardless of their racial or religious background.

“My children don’t talk to strangers whether they wear a yarmulke or a do-rag,” Herb said.

In case you had not heard, 8-year old Leiby Kletzky, who had become lost coming back from a day camp, was caught on video getting into the car of Levy Aron, who later confessed to his killing after the boy's dismembered body was found in his freezer and in a dumped suitcase some miles away.

So sad. This child's life was ended in a most horrific way. Children are so easy to trust, so innocent, although in general less so in New York. But this was one of their own, and someone within the community, no drifter or such. I think those are the hardest predators to guard against, because they blend in better, no matter the community itself.

Horrible what was done

and also horrible that society allowed it to happen by letting this boy fall between the cracks in a dismal, horrific existence.

Caged and doomed, boy leaves sad account of his life

"Why did no one miss him? Why didn't anyone seem to even notice he wasn't around?"

The body of a boy named Christian Choate, 13, had been found encased in cement and buried in a shallow grave in Lake County, Indiana. Police and prosecutors there alleged that he had been forced to live in a dog cage, and was kept naked except for a diaper. They alleged that his father, Riley Lowell Choate, 39, and his stepmother, Kimberly Leona Kubina, 45, had regularly beaten and kicked the boy, deprived him of food, and chained his hands to the top of the cage. They have been charged with murder, battery, neglect of a dependent and criminal confinement. They have pleaded not guilty; Riley Choate is scheduled to be back in court on Tuesday.

One of the most saddening aspects of the case is that Christian was killed more than two years before his body was found in May, yet during all that time, according to police investigators, there is no indication that anyone was looking for him.

He had been pulled out of school long ago, so there were no teachers who wondered where he might be. The state of Indiana did not have an investigation of his family open at the time of his death and disappearance; the state's child protective agency had no idea he was gone. According to police, his father had "punched him with full force several times in the front, side and back of his head" in April of 2009 because the boy was too ill to eat; when Christian, back in the cage, stopped breathing, police said, he was put into a garbage bag, covered with cement and hidden beneath the ground.

Incredibly, authorities have a collection of letters Christian wrote in captivity, letters he was assigned to write by his stepmother. And although the family was investigated many times--including once for reports of a child under 'house arrest', most were found to be insubstantiated. Christian's letters speak of a child waiting for someone to find him, wondering why he deserved what was done to him and internalising the abuse, wanting others to like him, and wanting to die to end it all because no one liked the way he acted. As can sometimes be found in abuse cases, Christian was singled out while other children in the home were free to play, a fact that is very apparent from his writings, and which only underscored his isolation.

Words fail me for what I think should be done to anyone who could treat a child this way.

Several years ago I did a bulletin board during October for child abuse awareness and was asked to change it because of some of the language I'd used being 'too strong'. I had stated that sometimes the monsters are in the home.

For this boy this was certainly the case. The people who did this were monsters, without any compassion or sense of humane treatment. I hope they are prosecuted to the extent possible. Ironically, no matter what the outcome of any legal proceedings, they will be treated more humanely than this boy.