Crime Time

Police: Woman tried to cut baby from pregnant homeless woman

A 49-year-old woman in Maryland has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after police said she befriended a pregnant homeless woman and tried to cut the baby from her womb.

Authorities said the 29-year-old mother-to-be was kept bound by Veronica Deramous who tried to cut the baby out. The victim was able to escape her bindings. She later gave birth to a baby girl at a hospital.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Woman tried twice to kill baby of husband's mistress

Police in Brooklyn, N.Y., say that a woman went to great lengths to try to kill the love child of her wayward husband.

They said she plotted a scheme involving a fake prescription to get her husband's mistress to take a medication that induces abortions. The woman took the drug and delivered a premature baby that ended up in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Then, police said, the wife took fake breast milk to the hospital in the guise of the baby's mother. Hospital personnel realized it wasn't breast milk and called the cops, the New York Post reported. Police are still trying to determine if that liquid was poisoned.

-- Lance Murray

Man shoots teen taking shortcut through yard, police say

Police in Gardena, Calif., have charged a 36-year-old man there with attempted murder after they said he shot a 17-year-old student who was taking a shortcut through his yard.

The student, who was struck in the upper torso, was treated and released from a hospital. Police said that Eiji Takara had found the teen on his wall and ordered him off. He then apparently shot the teen as he was on his driveway, the Los Angeles Times reported.

-- Lance Murray

Man sentenced for torturing, mutillating acquaintance

Harry Klages II viciously tortured and attacked an acquaintance in January 2008, mutilating his victim's eyes and genitals after a party at an apartment in Massena, N.Y.

On Monday, Klages pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 38 years in prison.

His victim, now blind in one eye, has undergone multiple surgeries and is trying to relearn such things as picking up a fork and walking unassisted.

-- Lance Murray

Man hacks off girlfriend's fingers with machete

Law enforcement officials in North Lauderdale, Fla., say a man repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend with a knife before hacking off four of her fingers with a machete.

The Broward Sheriff's department said that the woman, Jacqueline Yulfo, 42, underwent emergency surgery at North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach. Her condition couldn't be determined.

Authorities say the suspect, Christian Ramos-Murillo, has been charged with attempted murder and was taken to that hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Arrest ends plot to kill cops before trial

Police in New Jersey say that they have arrested a man from Ohio who was hired to kill two police officers before they could testify in a trial.

Authorities say that Elvin Copson faces a charge of attempted capital murder. He's in jail on $1 million bail.

-- Lance Murray

Guilty: Airman laced wife's food to induce miscarriage

Military authorities in Alaska say that an airman has been convicted of trying to kill his wife's unborn child and will spend nearly 10 years behind bars.

Officials say that Airman 1st Clas Scott Boie laced his wife's food with ulcer medication in an attempt to make her miscarry.

Boie was convicted in a court martial of attempting to kill the unborn child and he was also dishonorably discharged from the Air Force. He was found not guilty of killing the unborn child.

His attorney had contended that the wife's history of smoking and difficult pregnancies may have caused her miscarriage last year.

-- Lance Murray

New Craigslist arrest: Man wanted to kill woman after sex

Here's another arrest related to advertising on the Craigslist Web site.

Police in Seattle, Wash., say they have arrested a man who they said placed an ad on the site in which he indicated that he wanted to have sex with a woman and then kill her.

The ad was labeled "a strange desire" and was posted in the "casual encounters" section.

Police said the emailed the man and arranged for him to meet a victim at a motel. The man showed up with a chain and a knife, police said.

-- Lance Murray

Prosecutor: Man tried to cut breast implants from ex-girlfriend

Prosecutors in Victorville, Calif., say a man on trial for attempted murder stabbed his ex-girlfriend so that he could reclaim the breast implants he said he had paid for.

Thomas Lee Rowley waited in ambush in the dark, prosecutors say, and then stabbed Shanon Perry multiple times. A friend of Rowley testified he heard the man say he wanted the implants back.

“I’m gonna cut ’em out and get em back”, former roommate Dennis McGill testified that Rowley had told him.

In later testimony, Perry told the court that Rowley had not paid the full amount for the implants -- that she had paid half the cost. A doctor testified that Perry nearly died from the attack.

-- Lance Murray

Police say 13-year-old robbery suspect fired at them

I love flautas, and you can get some good ones in Juarez, Mexico.

But, according to a report by El Paso Times reporter Daniel Borunda, a 13-year-old boy had more on his mind that just a tasty meal.

Police said the boy shot at Juárez police after they said he robbed a flautas stand Saturday night. Police said he had two accomplices, ages 12 and 13.

His accomplices escaped, but as officers cornered the teen to arrest him, police said he tossed a 9mm handgun on the ground.

The 13-year-old, who told police it wasn't his first robbery, faces attempted murder and robbery charges.

-- Lance Murray