Crime Time

Testimony: Couple died lashed to anchor tossed into sea

Thomas and Jackie Hawks were deeply in love, by all accounts, and spent much of their time sailing the Sea of Cortez on their boat, The Well-Deserved.

They died lashed to an anchor that was thrown from the deck of their yacht, prosecutors say, by Skylar Deleon and accomplices.

Deleon is on trial accused of duping the couple into giving him a test sail in the yacht on the pretext of buying it. The couple wanted to sell the yacht and move closer to their new grandchild, according to testimony.

The Los Angeles Times has a riveting story about the testimony in Deleon's trial.

-- Lance Murray

Police: 'At her wits' end,' woman, 75, kills her husband

A 75-year-old Arkansas woman is being held without bond after police say she fatally shot her 74-year-old husband as he slept.

She told police she was "at her wits' end."

According to court documents, here is what she told police:

The woman and her husband had been drinking. He wanted sex. She didn't. She retrieved a gun and -- in the dark -- shot him, saying she could no longer tolerate the mental abuse. She told police she was sorry for shooting him, but was glad he was gone.

-- Lance Murray

'Precious Doe' murder trial begins in Kansas City

The name "Precious Doe," became well known across the nation seven years ago. It was the name given to a young girl whose headless body was found in the woods in Missouri.

The trial of the man accused of her killing starts today with jury selection in Kansas City.

Harrell Johnson, 29, is accused of killing the girl who went unidentified for four years. Her real name: Erica Michelle Marie Green. She was 3 years old and her photograph is at left. Police say Johnson was dating the girl's mother at the time.

You can read more of the background on this case at the Kansas City Star.

-- Lance Murray

Prosecutors: Man coerced girl into helping kill his niece

A Vermont man charged with drugging, sexually assaulting and killing his 12-year-old niece was aided by a juvenile girl who he told that he was part of a child-sex club that occasionally targeted girls for "termination," federal prosecutors said.

The man, Michael Jacks, used a plastic bag to smother his niece, prosecutors said. A federal grand jury indicted Jacks and handed up special finding that make him eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors said Jacks coerced the second juvenile into having sex with him by saying the fictitious club called "Breckenridge" would harm her or her family if she didn't cooperate.

-- Lance Murray

Man indicted in connection with house fire that killed 9

A Cleveland house fire that was set in 2005 killed nine people -- eight of them children at a birthday party sleepover -- and it set off outrage in that city.

Now, word comes that there has been an indictment in the case. Antun Lewis, 24, was already in prison on unrelated charges. Authorities say they believe gasoline was used to start the fire in a poor neighborhood of Cleveland.

-- Lance Murray

Hell's Angels president gunned down

Could the Hell's Angels and the Monguls be at it again?

The fatal shooting of the president of the San Francisco branch of the Hell's Angel motorcycle club has area residents and the police edgy because the are reports he was shot by a member of the Mongols, a rival motorcycle gang, television station KTVU is reporting.

You might recall that it was Hell's Angels and Mongols who clashed six years ago at Harrah's Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. Three people died in that battle.

-- Lance Murray

6 shot to death during man's long-distance rampage

Police in Washington state have arrested a 28-year-old man who they say left a bloody trail of six bodies that stretched from a small town to the state's business highway.

Included among the dead in the shooting rampage were a deputy sheriff, two construction workers and a motorist, officials said.

The man's mother described her son, Isaac Zamora, as "desperately mentally ill." Zamora was recently released from prison, officials said. He turned himself in to authorities at the Skagit County Sheriff's Office.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Homeless man kills honors student then watches 'Saw'

Kevin Pravia was a 19-year-old honors student at Pace University.

Jeromie Cancel is a 22-year-old homeless man in New York City.

This past weekend their two paths crossed for the first time and police say that Cancel killed Pravia at the student's apartment and then hung around and watched the horror film, "Saw," before leaving with Pravia's cell phone, laptop and iPod.

Cancel then sold the electronics items, police said. Cancel has been arrested on murder charges. He told police that he had killed Pravia while being questioned about an unrelated case, police said.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Man killed girlfriend's mom, stuffed her in suitcase

A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder in Houston, after authorities say, he killed his girlfriend's mother and stuffed the body into a suitcase.

The suitcase was later found in the woods off a secluded private road by a man driving on the roadway.

Gerson Funes-Reina is charged with killing Maria Rodriguez, 55, the Houston Chronicle reported. His girlfriend, Priscilla Rodriguez, 17, also faces a charge of abuse of a corpse -- her mother's.

-- Lance Murray

Crossword nearby, 100-year-old woman found slain

Police in North Haven on Long Island are investigating a rather unusual killing -- the fatal shooting of a 100-year-old woman as she sat in a recliner in the living room of her daughter's estate.

Police were combing the house and the 2.9-acre, $1.2 million property for clues in the killing of Jessie Burke, officials said.

Burke was shot in the head. Police found a crossword puzzle near her body, police said.

"A 100-year-old woman being shot is unique," Suffolk Police Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said.

You can read the Newsday story here.

-- Lance Murray