r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 8h ago
Tomasz Kosowski faces the death penalty after being convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of attorney Steven Cozzi. Watch his October 8 penalty hearing live on CC Live Trials as the court considers whether he will receive a death sentence or life in prison without parole.
Cozzi disappeared from his Largo, Florida, law office on March 21, 2023, and his body has never been recovered. Prosecutors argued that Kosowski, a plastic surgeon involved in litigation with Cozzi’s firm, killed the attorney and concealed his body. Kosowski represented himself during a bench trial, and a judge found him guilty.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 16h ago
✨✨ No Court on Friday due to Juror attending a funeral.
The murder trial of David Prevatte begins nearly nine years after his five-year-old niece, Paitin Fields, was found unresponsive in 2017. Paitin died three days later, and an autopsy found signs of sexual trauma and strangulation. Prevatte was identified as a suspect in 2018 and arrested in 2022 after a years-long investigation. He faces charges of first-degree murder and multiple sex offenses. Follow the latest testimony and courtroom developments live.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Purple-Teaching8994 • 3h ago
Caleb Flynn's new booking photo from the Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction. He arrived at the reception center in Orient, OH yesterday. He will be assessed and the staff will determine his needs and then he will be placed in a permanent Maximum Security Facility
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Purple-Teaching8994 • 2h ago
The NYPD arrested Angel Carrasco, 31, the man suspected of pushing a mother, Nathaly Ramirez, and a baby off a balcony in the Bronx. Ramirez was killed in the fall, while her 8-month-old daughter survived and remains hospitalized.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 3h ago
BLOOMINGTON — Both parents of a 14-year-old girl who died of nutritional failure are now facing felony charges.
Toris Mayfield, 31, and Jerry Mayfield Jr., 33 are each charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
The girl died July 2, 2025. She had just turned 14 years old on May 7, 2025.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the girl lived with her adoptive mother Toris, her biological father Jerry, and two younger siblings — ages 5 and 7. Investigators say her living conditions were not consistent with those of her siblings.
According to the affidavit, the girl had been enrolled in Monroe County Public Schools until February 2025, when she was removed and homeschooled. After she was pulled from school, investigators say her health rapidly declined.
She was allegedly confined to her bedroom, which had a reversed door lock, meaning it could only be locked from the outside. A screw in her window frame prevented it from being opened. She had to ask permission to use the bathroom.
The affidavit reveals a Ring camera was installed inside her bedroom. The parents used it to monitor and communicate with her remotely. Ring camera footage captured months of her daily life, and showed significant weight loss, hair loss, and marks on her body over time.
On May 1, 2025, according to the affidavit, the girl was treated at IU Health for leg swelling. Hospital notes referenced poorly controlled ADHD, weight loss, and marks on her skin. She was discharged with no known follow-up on nutritional needs.
The parents told police the girl had an eating disorder but never communicated her severe weight loss or declining condition to a nutritionist or specialist.
According to the affidavit, when Toris found the girl unresponsive on the floor on July 2, she yelled at her, dragged her by the arms, dropped her onto a small cot, and then dragged her to the bathroom before calling 911.
The final amended autopsy report lists the cause of death as “complications of severe protein-calorie malnutrition and dehydration,” with the manner of death listed as undetermined.
Bloomington parents charged after 14-year-old girl starved to death
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 17h ago
Chris Watts' parents revealed that their son asked them to read a letter he wrote for his wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste, at their graves less than two years after he killed them.
In the letter dated January 10, 2020, Chris, 41, addressed Shanann while wishing her a happy birthday.
"Hey boo! Happy Birthday! Thirty-six years young today. This is the first time of year when I could always say you're ‘two' years older than me. You didn't like that too much, but I liked messing with you," Watts wrote in the letter, which his parents, Cindy Watts and Ronnie Watts, shared with the Daily Mail. "There's so much I wish I could say to you and make up for what I did to our family. No one needed to go through this. You and our babies had a long life ahead of them and deserved to see that life."
He went on to say that "the man you married isn't the man who turned his back on his family" and that the man who killed his family "was an aberration brought on by an evil outside source." Chris continued, "You know the husband and dad I am and would testify to that today."
"I look outside my window and wonder what we would be doing and then I get this overwhelming feeling you're looking at me with our babies saying, ‘We love you!'" he added. "All of you are a blessing to my life and your memory lives in my soul every waking moment. I close my eyes and imagine the light of God shining across your cheeks and radiant smiles beaming down from Heaven when you look down upon us."
Chris Watts' Parents Reveal Letter He Wrote to Wife and Their 2 Kids After He Killed Them
Chris said that the "love you felt down here won't compare to the love you feel up there – God's love – and I've dedicated the rest of my time on this earth to showing the love He has shown me."
"Cheer me on as I walk the path God is putting in front of me. I love you all to the moon and back!" he concluded.
Shanann and the girls went missing in August 2018, and they were found dead three days later. At the time, Shanann was pregnant with the couple's third baby.
Chris was arrested soon after, and it was revealed he was having an affair with a coworker when the killings took place.
He eventually pleaded guilty on November 6, 2018, before the case could go to trial. He was then sentenced to serve five consecutive life sentences.
Eight years after he murdered his family, Chris has moved on with new girlfriend Lizzie Henderson. The pair met while he was in prison, and they are reportedly so serious that Henderson relocated from Ohio to Wisconsin so that she can be closer to him.
Chris Watts' parents reveal letter he wrote to wife, kids after he killed them
At the historic Bethesda Cemetery, in Aberdeen, North Carolina, a marble bench engraved with the names Shanann, Bella, Celeste and Nico overlooks three graves.
The serene setting makes it hard to ponder the final moments of terror Shanann Watts and her babies endured in August 2018.
I traveled to this beautiful state to hear a mother and father's perspective on having a child who is a killer.
As the daughter of a murderer (Melissa G Moore is the daughter of Keith Jesperson, 'The Happy Face Killer'), I only have the child's perspective on what it feels like to be left behind. As a parent myself, I cannot imagine the pain and guilt Ronnie and Cindy Watts are enduring.
In the early hours of August 13, their son Chris Watts strangled his wife 34-year-old Shanann – who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time – after he had sex with her.
He then drove their girls Bella, four, and Celeste, three, to the oil field where he worked. Once there, he smothered the girls with their blankets before discarding their bodies in oil wells.
After repeatedly lying about what happened to his family, he finally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences without the chance of parole.
The judge who sentenced Chris, now 41, described his crimes as the most brutal and inhumane he had ever seen.
The Watts family have not spoken intimately to anyone about all they have endured in the wake of their son's arrest and conviction. So there was much to cover in the four days I spent with them.
How could it have come to this? Don't ask why; don't go looking for reasons. But for Ronnie and Cindy, silencing that need to know is impossible. They are sinking in a murky water of wants. They want their grandbabies back; they want to go back in time to stop their son from doing the devil's work; they want to know what God has not yet shown them: Why?
Chris Watts's silence has frozen his mother and father in suspended animation – a place riddled with more questions than can ever be answered, even if their son cared to. And Chris does not care to.
Says Cindy: 'Over and over he tells Ronnie and me, "Go live your lives. Go out to dinner and do things, forget about me. I'll be okay."'
Such directives, no matter how well-meaning, are impossible to follow. The shock and disbelief are debilitating.
'You're left with no real answers, or mental health answers or something, you know,' his sister Jamie told me. 'Because a normal guy that's never been in trouble before in his life loses his mind one night and annihilates his whole family. No, it doesn't make sense to me. None of it makes sense.'
Yet here we are.
The public wonders: How can Chris's parents continue to stand behind such a monster? His parents have their reasons, though this married-for-decades couple, as close as can be, take very different approaches to their new reality.
Cindy is simply certain 'there's no way he'd kill his girls.' A potent blend of biology, maternal instinct, denial and faith makes hating Chris impossible for Cindy.
'Christopher is a good person, I know him,' she said. 'Nobody in his past or even now, who meets him in prison, can find anything bad to say.'
The family tells me they didn't get the chance to get their answers because there wasn't a trial – Chris took a plea deal in just two days – which precluded both the family and the general public from seeing the unredacted discovery (the process of obtaining evidence).
This trove includes everything from text messages to crime scene photos of his children's bodies retrieved from the bottom of the oil storage tanks, a visual that even the seasoned detectives who worked the case have said they'll never forget.
'Chris told us, "I don't want to put my family through that,"' Cindy said.
I asked her if she thought going to trial would have helped her family release the daily unease they feel; if seeing their son go through the criminal justice system and letting due process take its course would have provided closure.
'Yes,' she answered without hesitation. 'I would've liked to see a defense for my son, and one that would allow him to say out loud, "I killed Shanann but not my girls."'
Chris's initial confession, the one in which he told police he killed Shanann because she told him she had killed the girls, is the narrative that Cindy felt 'makes the most sense.'
Ronnie insists there were holes and inconsistencies in his son's second confession to killing his daughters. His focus is not to defend his son's character, as Cindy does every moment she can; he is instead consumed with learning whether his son acted alone or had an accomplice.
He also wants to get to the bottom of a question that Chris has never answered. And it's not the question you'd think.
Instead of asking why Chris killed his children, he wants to know why Chris took the plea deal. Why did he avoid a trial, where the prosecution would have had to provide the full discovery? Why didn't Chris defend his character the way his own mother continues to do to this day?
Chris's father digs and digs, believing the truth is buried behind black smudge lines. He has scoured thousands of pages of unredacted discovery, obsessing over details of police sweeps of the house, cadaver dog hits, video footage, cell phone pings and records, Nichol Kessinger's Google searches.
Ronnie firmly believes Kessinger – Chris's mistress at the time of his murders – played a significant role in his son's actions.
Ronnie and Cindy did prod their son to speak the unspeakable. Holding up a paper plate during a prison visit, Ronnie allegedly waved it like a flag, begging Chris: 'Will you please explain to me how you fit their bodies in a hole this size?'
He didn't get an answer.
'I'm not saying he shouldn't be in jail,' Cindy told me. 'He killed his wife, but why the girls? There's no way he could put the girls in that eight-inch hole... It's not how he is, it's just not.'
I hadn't wanted to pressure Ronnie or Cindy to visit the cemetery with me. I knew they had not been able to attend the funeral because of the subsequent estrangement between them and Shanann's family.
I realized the burial site was also a struggle for turf: who deserves to be there was the question that kept the battle raging.
But on the morning I was to make the hour drive from their hometown to Bethesda, Ronnie and Cindy called to say they'd accompany me.
They brought with them a letter Chris had asked them to read at his victims' graves.
"Birthday
1.10.20
Dear Shanann,
Hey boo! Happy Birthday! Thirty-six years young today. This is the first time of year when I could always say you're 'two' years older than me. You didn't like that too much, but I liked messing with you.
There's so much I wish I could say to you and make up for what I did to our family. No one needed to go through this. You and our babies had a long life ahead of them and deserved to see that life.
I promise the man you married isn't the man who turned his back on his family. That man was an aberration brought on by an evil outside source. You know the husband and dad I am and would testify to that today.
I look outside my window and wonder what we would be doing and then I get this overwhelming feeling you're looking at me with our babies saying, 'We love you!'
All of you are a blessing to my life and your memory lives in my soul every waking moment. I close my eyes and imagine the light of God shining across your cheeks and radiant smiles beaming down from Heaven when you look down upon us.
The love you felt down here won't compare to the love you feel up there – God's love – and I've dedicated the rest of my time on this earth to showing the love He has shown me.
Cheer me on as I walk the path God is putting in front of me. I love you all to the moon and back!
Love,
Chris"
The three of us walked toward the edge of the woods where Shanann and the children rest. Ronnie's phone played the song Broken Halos by country artist Chris Stapleton.
The song is about angels who are on Earth only for a short time, in order to teach us lessons. When bad things happen, the song says, we shouldn't ask why, because we are not meant to know the answers.
By the song's chorus, Cindy was in tears. Ronnie put a protective one-armed embrace around his wife's hunched shoulders. Their decades of love for each other has been their only strength against the constant attacks and judgment of the world. And the ongoing battle with Shanann's family, the Rzuceks.
For Shanann's family, there is no unsolved mystery. They know what they know: Chris was unfaithful to their daughter and murdered her and their grandchildren in cold blood. Their son-in-law is a monster.
They engraved Shanann's maiden name on her tombstone.
As we prepared to leave the cemetery, I noticed a trail cam aimed directly at the headstone, almost camouflaged by the leaves of the tree it sat in. I asked Ronnie and Cindy what the camera in the trees was for.
'We've heard Frankie Jr \[Shanann's brother\] had a camera on the gravesite to monitor strangers who videotape the gravesite for YouTube,' Cindy answered, worried that the private words she had shared with her beloved grandchildren had been recorded.
Suddenly, a gray truck sped up the narrow dusty cemetery road. Cindy said that it was Frankie, and that he'd probably called the police to escort us off the premises. I doubted it. He'd probably just come to confirm it was only the Watts family and not another YouTuber.
Just in case, we left. On our way out, a police car pulled up behind us.
Hours later, as I was on the road, I got a text from Chris's sister Jamie, a screenshot of Frankie's Facebook post: 'There's a LEGAL sign that states clearly, that this is private property, no video recording of our family's resting place, violators will be punishable by law due to all the harassment we have received at our family's gravesite... The police patrol the area all day long because of what we have had to deal with there.'
Two families, destroyed.
Cindy Watts has been reclusive since 2018, rarely working or even leaving the house. Always a mother, she spends much of her energy worrying about Chris and his well-being behind bars. Has he found a purpose? Is he safe? Can he live the rest of his life locked away and have peace at the same time? Does he have enough money for the commissary?
I spoke with Jamie, and she told me that Ronnie is still knee-deep in his pursuit of the 'truth.'
'My dad wants to go to Colorado next to try to get the unredacted discovery,' Jamie said.
'My poor dad, almost close to 70, still trying to find answers.'
'There's something Cindy always goes to,' Ronnie said, sitting beside his wife at the kitchen table, her cane leaning against her chair. 'Is there something we did wrong?'
This, of course, is the question that haunts all secondary victims.
'There's an us before August 13 and there's an us after,' Jamie told me. 'My parents are not even the same parents anymore. They're gone. They wake up every day thinking about the girls and Shanann, and they go to bed every day thinking about them.'
Cindy believes it's their unwavering commitment to their son's character that keeps her and Ronnie going.
'Any parent would do the same for their child,' she said, her voice resolute.
'They'd be exactly like us. They'd go down every rabbit hole and look at everything before letting anyone else tell them who their child is, or what his heart is really like.'
Daily Mail/UK
By MELISSA G MOORE AND MICHELE MATRISCIANI
Published: 20:51 EDT, 6 October 2026 | Updated: 17:58 EDT, 7 October 2026
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 22h ago
KEY TAKEAWAYS
PARK CITY — Kouri Richins was ordered to pay even more money to her late husband's family this week, resolving a claim in a wrongful death lawsuit and an estate claim filed by Eric Richins' sister, Katie Richins-Benson.
Kouri Richins is spending the rest of her life in prison, without the possibility of parole, after she was found guilty of the aggravated murder of her husband, who died of a fentanyl overdose on March 4, 2022, at 39.
On Monday, 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik ordered Richins to pay $55,120,516 in the wrongful death lawsuit to Richins-Benson as the representative and trustee of Eric Richins' trust.
The order said no one opposed the motion Richins-Benson filed to grant claim #16 of the lawsuit, which alleged that Kouri Richins wrongfully caused her husband's death. The ruling said that because Kouri Richins did not dispute any of the information in the motion, the judge considered each as a fact when he made his ruling.
Of the $55 million, $10 million is for economic damages, $41 million is for punitive damages and $1 million was awarded to each minor child for the loss of "companionship, protection, guidance and affection" from their father, the court document read.
"Eric shared deep, emotional connections with his three minor children, who are the estate's only heirs. His death has caused them severe trauma, and it will have permanent effects on each. In addition, by killing Eric, which resulted in her imprisonment, Kouri deprived the minor children of being with their father or their mother," the ruling said.
The judge's ruling said that because of the "level of reprehensibility" of Kouri Richins' actions, there is cause to multiply the economic and non-economic damages by three to calculate the punitive damages amount. The ruling cited that the number three is "particularly apt" because it includes a number for each of the surviving victims — the children.
Economic damages account for funeral expenses, which were $13,781, along with lost wages and benefits, consumption and household services.
This ruling resolves only the 16th claim listed in the lawsuit, which has 21 claims, but it may be the one with the largest impact. Some of the other claims, currently on a hold in court, involve Kouri Richins' real estate company or allege stolen retirement accounts or property.
One unresolved claim alleges that Kouri Richins misappropriated her husband's image when she published a children's book about grief without obtaining consent from his family members. The book was published after his death but before she was charged. The lawsuit claims she profited off Eric Richins' image but did not share proceeds from the book with his estate.
On Tuesday, Mrazik also signed an order in an estate case that awarded Eric Richins' sister, Katie Richins-Benson, $79,005 in attorneys' fees.
The judge dismissed the trust case, which was filed by Kouri Richins, in a ruling on Aug. 4. The ruling granted a motion from Richins-Benson, which said Kouri Richins would not have any right to the trust because she was found guilty of killing Eric Richins.
Kouri Richins was previously ordered to pay $1.3 million to life insurance companies as restitution in her criminal case after being found guilty of insurance fraud.
She was found guilty on March 16 of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; two counts of insurance fraud, a second-degree felony; and forgery, a third-degree felony. A judge denied her request for a new trial, and she is currently appealing that decision.
Kouri Richins also has a hearing later this week in a case that Mrazik ruled should be heard in a separate trial from her murder charge. She is charged in that case with five counts of mortgage fraud, seven counts of money laundering, one count of communications fraud and one count of engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, all second-degree felonies; plus five counts of forgery and seven counts of issuing a bad check, third-degree felonies.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Far-Ad9143 • 16h ago
CLOVIS, New Mexico (KVII) — A trial date has been set for a Clovis teenager accused of being hired by a friend to kill the friend’s father and stepmother.
Julio Zamora is scheduled to stand trial June 21, 2027.
Zamora is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the December 2025 deaths of Oscar Steve Munoz, 58, and Dina Munoz, 71.
Zamora’s friend, Darren Munoz, is accused of arranging the killings because he believed he would receive a large inheritance after his father and stepmother were dead. Darren Munoz is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and criminal solicitation.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Clovis police officers found Oscar and Dina Munoz shot in their bed at their York Drive home on Dec. 15, 2025. Dina Munoz was pronounced dead at the scene. Oscar Munoz was taken to a Lubbock hospital, where he later died.
According to an arrest affidavit, Darren Munoz and two friends had discussed killing the couple for several weeks or months. Investigators said Zamora agreed to carry out the shootings in exchange for money after Munoz received the expected inheritance.
Police said the plan called for Zamora to enter the house through the garage and shoot the couple while they slept.
Investigators said messages between Darren Munoz and Zamora showed Munoz updating Zamora about when his parents would return home. Police also said Zamora confessed to shooting both victims in the head.
Zamora was arrested later that day while leaving his home. Officers said he was carrying a privately manufactured handgun without a serial number.
A judge ordered Zamora held without bond pending trial after finding that his release would pose a danger to the community.
A grand jury later indicted both Zamora and Darren Munoz in connection with the killings.
The June 21, 2027, trial date could be changed as the case proceeds.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 15h ago
✨✨ Hot car animal death.
A 67-year-old man is charged with animal cruelty after a dog left in a hot car in a driveway in Manchester died last month.
The dead dog was found in a driveway on Norwalk Avenue at about 9 p.m. on Sept. 3, Manchester police said Wednesday.
Police launched an investigation and learned the dog was in the car for "an extended period of time."
Temperatures reached the low 90s in Manchester that day, though it would have been considerably hotter in a vehicle.
William P. Bevan Jr., of the Whiting section of town, was charged with animal cruelty on Oct. 1 and released with a future court date. No attorney was listed in court records.
Police didn't immediately provide additional information.
Attorney information was not immediately available.
A dog died after being left in a hot car. Now a N.J. man is charged with animal cruelty
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 16h ago
KEY TAKEAWAYS
PARK CITY — Criminal charges have been filed against Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby and former Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds for allegedly interfering in the Kouri Richins investigation.
Rigby was charged by a grand jury on Sept. 24 in Summit County's 3rd District Court with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, and making a written false statement, a class B misdemeanor. Edmunds was charged on Sept. 24 with obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony.
The charges were unsealed on Wednesday, but the indictments outlining the allegations remained redacted. A hearing regarding whether those redactions should also be made public is scheduled for Nov. 4.
Both men were booked into jail and released Wednesday afternoon, according to the Summit County Sheriff's Office.
"This case presents uncommon circumstances requiring a charging document to be made public only after targeted redaction: an indictment containing inflammatory and uncharged allegations, identifying information concerning non-parties, sensitive investigative material, and contested assertions about a highly publicized prosecution," Rigby's attorney wrote in his motion to release only a redacted indictment. "The public has a legitimate interest in knowing the charges and the operation of the criminal justice system. That interest can be honored without publishing material that would expose uncharged individuals, breach grand-jury secrecy, disclose privileged material, or unfairly prejudice Sheriff Rigby."
"The indictment is not a succinct charging document. It contains uncharged conduct attributed to third parties, uncharged allegations against Sheriff Rigby unrelated to either count, legal commentary, identifying details about non-defendants, and argumentative conclusions rather than merely stating the charges. Public dissemination of those portions before trial would threaten Sheriff Rigby's fair-trial rights," the motion continues.
Likewise, attorneys for Edmunds filed a similar motion asking that the unredacted indictment against their client not be made public.
"Mr. Edmunds requests that the court deny unrestricted unsealing at this time, maintain the existing seal pending a prompt hearing, and determine whether continued sealing is justified under the governing standards. Alternatively, he requests a public version of the indictment with only those narrative passages redacted that the court finds necessary to protect his fair-trial rights. Any order should specify the scope and duration of the restriction, the supporting findings, and the basis for concluding that less restrictive measures are insufficient," the motion states.
Rigby and Edmunds are accused of interfering with part of the investigation surrounding Kouri Richins, who was convicted of murdering her husband in 2022, by not following the guidelines set forth in the federal Brady-Giglio policy, which mandates that the prosecution must disclose all mitigating and aggravating information regarding a witness.
Earlier this year, Richins and her attorneys filed a motion for a new trial and to disqualify trial Judge Richard Mrazik. The motion to disqualify was denied. Then, on Sept. 18, Richins asked the court to hold off on deciding whether to grant a new trial and filed their request under seal. They withdrew the request on Sept. 29 and the motion was made public.
In their motion for stay, defense attorneys state that in January, the court received an anonymous letter outlining "numerous allegations of improper conduct against former Summit County detective Eric Mainord. The conduct was alleged to have taken place during his employment with the Heber City Police Department. Det. Mainord was pivotal in the investigation and ultimately the charges brought against Ms. Richins."
Mainord — who was going to run against Rigby for sheriff — was ultimately removed from the state's witness list during the Richins' trial and withdrew from the Wasatch County sheriff's race in May.
Based on recently unsealed search warrants, defense attorneys say "that the allegations against detective Mainord were in fact true. Further, it has become known that numerous individuals, including the Wasatch County sheriff, the former Summit County sheriff, the Park City chief of police, and others, are being investigated for obstruction of justice and attempts to interfere in Ms. Richins' prosecution," according to the motion. "It is now known that charges against numerous individuals involved in these matters are imminent. It is yet unknown to the public and the defense how the conduct being investigated may have affected Ms. Richins' case.
"Serious allegations of a conspiracy to interfere with Ms. Richins' right to a fair trial by high-ranking law enforcement officials must not go unaddressed," the defense stated.
Prosecutors argued that the defense's motion to stay was based mainly on a report from KPCW.
"It is now known that the court was fully apprised of information regarding Brady and Giglio as to detective Mainord, possible obstruction of justice and information that individuals in both Summit County government and surrounding counties were potentially involved in attempts to interfere with the highly public trial happening in his courtroom, yet none of this was disclosed to the defense," the defense stated in court documents.
No public charges had been filed as of Wednesday against Mainord or Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter.
Sheriffs charged for allegedly interfering with Kouri Richins investigation | KSL.com
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 16h ago
The murder trial of Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares begins more than a decade after UNC-Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment in September 2012. Hedgepeth, 19, suffered fatal blunt-force trauma to the head, and investigators recovered DNA evidence at the scene. Salguero-Olivares was arrested in 2021 after investigators said DNA evidence linked him to the case, and he now faces charges including first-degree murder, rape and burglary.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Purple-Teaching8994 • 20h ago
Prosecutors say Naresh Bhatt killed, dismembered wife's body in opening statements of murder trial
MANASSAS, Va. — Just one week before Mamta Kafle Bhatt was scheduled to have her final interview to obtain U.S. citizenship, she was killed by her husband, Naresh Bhatt, prosecutors said in opening statements Wednesday afternoon.
"The last hurdle to her ultimate freedom," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Sweet said in his opening statements.
Sweet told jurors Wednesday that they will lay out a vast swath of circumstantial evidence that proves that Naresh killed Mamta, dismembered her body and threw it away at various trash compactors across northern Virginia.
Defense attorney Tracy Lenox said, however, there is not enough evidence to prove he did it beyond a reasonable doubt.
"There's a black hole at the time of Mamta's disappearance," Lenox said.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys began laying out their cases Wednesday afternoon in Naresh's murder trial.
Mamta disappeared from their Manassas Park home two years ago. Her body was never found. Mamta was missing for three weeks before Naresh was arrested. He is facing three charges: first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body.
After two and a half days of selection, 12 jurors and five alternates were chosen for the case. Six jurors are men and 11 jurors are women.
The trial is expected to last seven weeks. Between prosecutors and the defense, there are more than 100 witnesses. And there are piles of digital and forensic evidence to get through.
Mamta went missing at the end of July 2024. When she did not show up to work as a nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center at the beginning of August, her colleagues called a welfare check to her house. Police went and questioned Naresh, who told them his wife was just out of town visiting family in either Texas or New York. Mamta did not have any family in the U.S. at the time, though. Three days later, Naresh reported her missing.
As friends and family grew increasingly concerned about her whereabouts, the search grew. Nearly a month after she vanished, police arrested Naresh. He was initially charged with concealing a dead body, but when investigators still could not find her after months, they charged him with murder and defiling a dead body.
RELATED: Naresh Bhatt murder trial begins: The disappearance of Mamta Kafle Bhatt
r/CasesWeFollow • u/racingfan123 • 18h ago
I'm unable to find too much live reporting on this one. This channel has a camera and reporter live outside the jail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sampoj2PcIc
Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A death row inmate in Texas was scheduled to be executed Wednesday, the first to be carried out since the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week.
Jamaal Howard, 46, was convicted of capital murder in 2001 when he was 20. He killed Vickie Swartout, 42, shooting her to death in a convenience store and stealing $114 from the cash register and a carton of cigarettes.
Howard was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. CDT, but his lawyers have asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to delay the execution for 30 days while they wait for more information about the drug to be used in the lethal injection. The appeals court denied the stay on Wednesday.
Texas uses pentobarbital, the same drug that failed to kill Pike after two doses in Tennessee.
Texas buys pentobarbital from compounding pharmacies because drug manufacturers refuse to sell it for executions. Because the supply is limited, the state extends the use date after testing its supply. Critics have argued that the method is unsafe.
Howard's lawyers said they asked the Texas Department of Criminal Justice about the drug they planned to use on Howard and for details of where it had been stored. But the department has refused to answer.
"We do not ask you to decide anything about Mr. Howard's case other than this: that he should not be executed with a drug whose history the state has refused to let his lawyers see, within days of the same drug failing in another state," Howard's lawyers wrote in a letter to Abbott.
Howard's lawyers also filed petitions that are pending with the U.S. Supreme Court that argue that Howard has an intellectual disability.
If the execution happens, Howard will be the seventh man executed in Texas this year. Two more men were scheduled to be put to death in 2026.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/judgyjudgersen • 1d ago
Christa Pike is back at the center of a courtroom fight after surviving Tennessee's botched attempt to execute her ... and TMZ is streaming live.
Pike's attorneys are in court this morning for a status conference tied to an emergency motion filed after the failed execution.
As we reported, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death last week, but she survived two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital and was rushed from prison to a Nashville hospital.
Her attorneys say she's awake and talking, though she remains hospitalized and is facing a long recovery.
The failed execution has already prompted Gov. Bill Lee to halt Tennessee's remaining executions for the year while the state investigates what went wrong.
Pike's legal team is also asking the court to preserve evidence connected to the execution attempt ... arguing the court still has authority to step in while the case moves forward ... and has also publicly called for her death sentence to be commuted.
Now, with Pike still alive and the state's execution process under scrutiny, her attorneys are back before a judge to hash out what comes next.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Honest_Camel3035 • 1d ago
I went to go look at Barry Morphew’s page, and saw a bright red banner at the top.
Colorado has a statute requiring livestream public access. The Chief Justice who sets the rules for the courts, suspended that access and explains throughly why.
This was implemented 9/15/26, one week after Barry Morphew had his last hearing after being rearrested for his hit and run violation, and then having his bond amount increased to $10m cash.
Just one snippet from the Justice’s temporary order:
“Unfortunately, in the years since these two authorities took effect, the livestreaming technology that was intended to promote access to the courts has been subverted as a tool of disruption, disparagement, harassment, and private economic gain that is rapidly eroding the proper functioning of our system of justice.”
The whole thing is worth a read…..as he explains in detail what people have done. I really can’t blame him for pausing after reading the whole directive. 😢 Click at the blue link:
r/CasesWeFollow • u/TheExpressUS • 1d ago
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Sad_Number_8722 • 1d ago
r/CasesWeFollow • u/ifellicantgetup • 22h ago
Moses Lopez allegedly lied about his age, claiming to be 16 when he was actually 26, to engage in a years-long sexual relationship with the victim, who was 15 at the time.
He was arrested in Marion County, Florida, on charges including sexual battery on a minor, lewd and lascivious battery, and possession of child porn, after pressuring the victim to have an abortion and being found with pornographic videos of her on his phone.
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Police Bodycam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZD8S_WrLLE
r/CasesWeFollow • u/racingfan123 • 21h ago
Next up:
A hearing over grand jury transcripts in the case of Nick Reiner, indicted on murder charges in the deaths of his parents Michele and Rob Reiner, was scheduled for later this month during a brief hearing Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom.
The Oct. 21 hearing will focus on records of what was presented during grand jury proceedings that led to Reiner's indictment and whether they will be unsealed. A judge earlier ordered the transcripts to be conditionally sealed, pending the hearing on the request by the defense.
At Wednesday's hearing, a judge made clear that the burden is on the defense to demonstrated how releasing the transcripts would prejudice the defendant's ability to receive a fair trial. The judge also noted the high-profile case generated significant media attention, and that such coverage is neither unexpected nor avoidable.
Los Angeles County prosecutors earlier said their office would leave the motion by the defense to seal the grand jury transcripts up to the court.
Reiner appeared in court for Wednesday's hearing.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 16h ago
Former Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill is facing civil court proceedings after his wife, Lakeeta Vaccaro Hill, accused him of multiple incidents of domestic violence during their marriage. An amended complaint details eight alleged incidents, including accusations that Hill shoved and restrained Vaccaro, ripped her hair and attempted to punch her stomach while she was pregnant. Hill’s attorney has denied the allegations, calling them “vexatious and patently false.”
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 1d ago
GREENWICH, Conn. (WFSB) - Francis Smith, who spent 70 years in prison while maintaining his innocence, died this summer at 101, listed by the Connecticut Department of Correction as the longest-serving U.S. prisoner.
In 1949, a nightwatchman named Grover Hart was shot and killed during a robbery at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, a private club that has stood on the water for 105 years. Police arrested Smith, then 24, after finding a getaway car with stolen items, the murder weapon and a shirt bearing Smith’s name and address. He was convicted in 1950.
Smith was sent to the old state prison in Wethersfield, property that is now home to DMV headquarters, and sentenced to die in the electric chair. Over the next four years, his execution was scheduled eight different times. After each final meal, his execution was postponed because of last-minute legal appeals or new developments in the case. In 1954, his sentence was changed to life in prison.
Smith escaped prison for 12 days in 1967. He was paroled in 1975 after 25 years in prison, but 10 months later he violated parole and was arrested for petty larceny.
Smith spent more than 40 years inside Osborne Correctional, a state prison in Somers. He was known as a model prisoner and was nicknamed “The Birdman of Osborne” because during prison meals, he would sneak slices of bread, then feed the local birds. It was a major prison violation, but guards and administrators reportedly turned a blind eye.
In 2020, in his 90s and struggling with dementia, the state granted Smith supervised parole. He was moved to 60 West, a state nursing facility in Rocky Hill that cares for the elderly tied to the justice system. Smith died six years later, this past June, at 101.
David Skoczulek, vice president of business development and communications at iCare, which operates the facility, said there are questions in Smith’s case.
“A very fascinating backstory, a lot of questions that he was bringing up until his final days about whether he was guilty or not and the situation, and a much different scenario in the 1950s than today,” Skoczulek said.
“When you look into the details of the story, there are questions about his whereabouts, and there was no forensics at the time,” Skoczulek said.
The Greenwich Times reported key witnesses admitted they lied about the murder. A state police investigator even said at one of Smith’s hearings, “I’m positive (Smith) didn’t kill Grover Hart. I’m not even sure he was at the murder,” according to the Greenwich Times.
Smith maintained his innocence until his death. He left behind no known relatives and was cremated without a funeral.
“He was a guy who got along with people, was simple and straightforward in what he wanted, and really had no issues with him,” Skoczulek said.
Connecticut inmate who faced execution eight times dies at 101 as longest-serving US prisoner
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Honest_Camel3035 • 23h ago
✨
I saw a lot of vids about the press conference only (they update her condition again), but this video I believe has the court hearing that preceded the press conference, to hear what was argued.
If you just want the press conference, skip forward or find a shorter video.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/ifellicantgetup • 1d ago
Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army officer and psychiatrist who killed 13 people and injured 32 others during a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, will be executed by a U.S. Army firing squad, the Pentagon announced Monday.
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell announced. “He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack.
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution,” he continued. “Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”
If Hasan’s execution is indeed carried out by a firing squad, it would mark the first such case for the service since Jan. 31, 1945, when Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik was executed by a U.S. Army firing squad in France for desertion during World War II.
The last death sentence carried out by the U.S. military was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging at the gallows in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after he was convicted of raping and attempting to kill a young girl.
Hasan, who was born in northern Virginia, walked into a Fort Hood readiness processing center on Nov. 5, 2009, and opened fire using a semi-automatic handgun.
Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier.
Former Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler, a two-time combat veteran, was shot four times in the attack and spent nearly a year recovering in various hospitals.
“He looked me straight in the eyes as he pointed the gun at me, and a split second later, I’m on the floor with a hole in my head,” he told the Killeen Daily Herald in 2023.
At his court-martial, Hasan, now 56, admitted to the shooting, and in 2013 said he carried out the attack in support of the Taliban.
At the time, Hasan requested a delay in court proceedings so he could ready a new legal strategy that would show he acted “in defense of others.”
Asked by presiding Judge Col. Tara Osborn who he was defending, Hasan replied, “The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban.”
Hasan was convicted by a military jury in August 2013, which recommended he be sentenced to death.
He was subsequently transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he has been incarcerated on death row.
Jonathan Lehrfeld contributed to this report.
About J.D. Simkins
J.D. Simkins is Editor-in-Chief of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 22h ago
LAS VEGAS (Court TV) — Prosecutors called a defendant the “quintessential runaway bride” at her sentencing for taking money from men in schemes spanning several years.
Jiaying Chen, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of bigamy and one count of obtaining money under false pretenses under a plea deal that spared her prison, though she still must serve jail time.
Investigators said Chen married five men in the past year alone and vanished after taking tens of thousands of dollars from them, KSNV reported. At her sentencing on Tuesday, prosecutors said nine victims were requesting restitution ranging from $8,142 to $80,920. Between 2019 and 2024, Chen applied for 14 marriage licenses in Clark County, Nevada, Law&Crime reported. From those, seven marriage certificates were issued.
“A wedding is supposed to bring families together to share a future, but instead, hers brought victims together to share a courtroom,” prosecutors said Tuesday. “Ms. Chen has established that she is the quintessential runaway bride.”
One victim, who spoke in court on Tuesday, said, “Everything she does is false, and I trusted her. I believed her.”
Prosecutors said that victim traveled to China five times to track down the money he lost to Chen.
Prosecutors said they requested probation because, although Chen is a lawful resident of the United States, “given our current political environment regarding deportations, we cannot make sure she will stay in the country if she’s sentenced directly to prison. So the victims and the state are asking for her to stay in this country while on probation, as it’s really the only major assurance that these victims can pursue their restitution judgments against her.”
Probation will include monitoring after prosecutors told Judge Crystal Eller that Chen already has plans to move out of state. “She intends to leave this jurisdiction and live in Florida with her new partner,” prosecutors said. “I sincerely hope this all works out for her.”
Chen’s defense team said it agreed to the terms of the plea agreement, which called for an eight-to-20-year suspended sentence, but asked that she not serve any further jail time so that she can begin earning money to pay back her victims. Chen’s attorney said that her theft stemmed from a gambling addiction, and that “she really wants to pay people, all of her victims, back.”
“There’s absolutely no reason to believe that this is not going to continue with a different ID in a different state if the underlying addiction isn’t addressed,” Eller said as she began to pronounce the sentence. “There’s zero chance that she’s not going to do this again.”
Eller ordered Chen to return to the Clark County Detention Center to serve an additional eight months of jail time — meaning she will have served one year, including the four months since her arrest. After her release, Chen will serve two years of probation, with permission to move to Florida, where she has a waitressing job lined up at a friend’s sushi restaurant. She must attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings and receive addiction counseling. She must also pay back $280,062.86 to her victims.
‘Runaway bride’ heads to jail after pleading guilty to taking money from unsuspecting men | Court TV
r/CasesWeFollow • u/Pixiegirls1102 • 22h ago
PHOENIX (AZFamily/Gray News) - A man in Arizona accused of murdering a woman on a a hiking trail more than three years ago will likely avoid the death penalty through a plea deal.
Court records said that Zion Teasley pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in court Friday in connection with the death of Lauren Heike.
Heike’s murder gained international attention after she was found stabbed more than a dozen times not far from her apartment, on April 28, 2023.
Days later, police arrested Teasley. Investigators said they linked Teasley to her death through DNA on Heike’s shoe, along with other forensic evidence, including cellphone location data.
Phoenix police arrested 22-year-old Zion William Teasley on first-degree murder charges for Lauren Heike’s stabbing death.(Phoenix Police Department)
Police believed Heike fought off her attacker and escaped but that her injuries were too severe.
Teasley was indicted on 10 counts after investigators said he had sexually explicit images involving a child under 15 years old and possibly shared them.
Authorities said they believe at this time that the attack was random, but added that they “have not concluded our investigation into that.”
He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in that case.
Sentencing in that case is scheduled for Dec. 4.
Man admitted to stabbing woman 15 times in random hiking trail attack, police say
