- 23 October 2008
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Japanese police report that a 43-year-old woman took her virtual
divorce from her 'husband' in the online Maple Story game world badly. The
33-year-old office worker whose character she had 'married' had given her his login
information during their times of bliss, and she used those details to kill
off his character. When he noticed that his avatar, one year in the
creating, no longer existed, he contacted the police. A police official in Sapporo
said the woman explained that she had been divorced without any warning and that
this had made her angry. Arrested for illegal access on a computer and
manipulating electronic data, she could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine
of roughly 4000 euros.
- 10 November 2008
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Further information has been released on events surrounding Czech
woman Barbora Skrlova, who fled to Norway in the guise of a 13-year-old to avoid
testifying against Klara Mauerova in a child abuse trial (see 21 January 2008
Clippings). Mauerova's two sons - along with a seemingly innocent Skrlova -
had been freed from Mauerova's home by police officers after images from the
home's child monitor reached a similar system owned by a neighbour.
A court in Brno has heard that relatives had partially skinned
Mauerova's eight-year-old son, Ondrej, and ate the raw flesh. He was made to
eat some himself as well. Ondrej and his 10-year-old brother described
having cigarettes stubbed out on their skin by Mauerova and other relatives, being
kept locked in a cellar, being forced to cut themselves with knives. etc.
Mauerova has been sentenced to nine years in jail, and several others have been
given shorter prison terms in connection with the affair.
Japan's Tatsuhiko Kawata agreed to wed his mistress. On the night
before the ceremony was to take place, he splashed oil on the floor of the
wedding venue, in a resort hotel in Hokuto, and started a fire. When he didn't
show up for the wedding, his mistress rang him, whereupon he told her that he'd
not invited any guests. The woman cancelled the wedding, which prompted the hotel
to link the fire with the couple.
Kawata later explained to the police that 'I started the fire
because I didn't want to break up with my wife ... and I didn't want to split with
my mistress either'.
- 5 January 2009
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A search for a missing child was mounted also in Florida, where Meagen
McCormick had told police that her six-month-old son and his nanny had
vanished. After a search over Christmas, she confessed that neither the boy nor the
nanny had ever existed and that she'd made up the tale to bring ex-boyfriend John
Buchness back into her life. Buchness, who did indeed return to Miami to plea
for the return of his son, was unaware that McCormick had had a miscarriage in
March.
Police, about 20 of whom participated in the search for the
nonexistent child on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, have asked the state attorney's
office to make McCormick pay for the wasted resources.
- 23 January 2009
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In northern Germany, two other young people decided that they had
somewhere to go in a hurry. According to Holger Jureczko of the
Hanover police, six-year-old Mika and five-year-old Anna-Bell 'are
very much in love and decided to get married in Africa where it is
warm'. Mika's seven-year-old sister would be a witness.
On New
Year's Day, the three children packed summer clothes, sunglasses, and
provisions for the journey and left their
apparently sleeping parents behind. The children caught the attention
of a guard while waiting
for a train to the airport. He struck up a conversation with them and convinced
them that getting to Africa would be difficult without much
money or an aeroplane ticket. They were treated to a mini-holiday in
the form of a tour of the police station, where their parents
collected them.
Dr. Richard Batista says he is tired of custody negotiations with his
ex-wife and that he is demanding that she return the kidney he gave
her. Batista, 49, said he would settle for $1.5 million, alternatively.
He says that he had no regrets about the kidney donation, which
he described as 'as if I could put my arm around Jesus Christ', and
adds that 'to this day I would still do it again'.
- 15 February 2009
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A Chardon, Ohio, woman has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for
exercising her husband to death. Surveillance video shows
41-year-old Christine Newton-John (also known as John Vallandingham)
pulling 73-year-old James Mason around a backyard swimming pool by the
arms and
legs for some time. After watching surveillance camera footage,
Middlefield police chief Joseph Stehlik said that he counted 43
times in which Newton-John prevented Mason from leaving the water when
he was gasping for breath. Mason died of a heart attack.
- 22 March 2009
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Police were called in to resolve a domestic disturbance that erupted
in Overland Park, Kansas, when a woman found out that her husband was
married to
the resident of another flat in the same building. Charles L. Clemens
Jr. was splitting his time between the woman he'd married 22 years
ago and a woman he wedded in 2006 with the aid of his father's
identity. In addition to the bigamy, Clemens is accused of stealing
jewellery and money from his second wife.
- 7 May 2009
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Florida's Lorena Alvarez went out for a drive to look for her
boyfriend. When the 33-year-old Alvarez found him sitting in his
truck in a supermarket car park, she decided to ram the truck with her
car, with her children, ages one and seven, along for the ride. She
later explained to the police that she had crashed into his truck in
an attempt to prevent him from driving while intoxicated.
- 20 May 2009
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Maliea Martin reported that she'd been assaulted, so the Hannibal,
Missouri, police visited her home to investigate. When they arrived,
the man of the house confronted the officers, making threats. One of the officers
displayed a Taser. In response, Martin, 20, handed her one-year-old
child to the man, as a human shield to prevent the officer from using the Taser. Both
adults were taken into custody, and the child was placed with another
family member.
From Bakersfield, California, we have Angelo Vidal Mendoza, Sr., a
34-year-old man who decided to bite out one of his son's eyes and
badly mutilate the other. After rendering the boy blind, he then
rolled his wheelchair out of his flat and attacked his own legs with an axe. The
child later explained to the police that 'my daddy ate my eyes'.
A report later said that the elder Mendoza was showing signs of being
under the influence of PCP. Both he and the child's mother had
pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges related to PCP use in
2006, and a warrant had gone out on the mother last year for failing to
complete a drugs-related programme.
After ending a long-term relationship, Janet Cunliffe moved back to
England to move in with her 29-year-old daughter, Jane. To cure her
depression, Janet decided to undergo surgery to look like Jane,
explaining: 'Why shouldn't I? She's good-looking. [...] I love her
look and she's part of me. So why not?', while her daughter was
against the surgery at first. The two now put on identical clothes and
make-up before going out for the evening.
- 9 June 2009
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Not sure what was going on here, but it probably wasn't healthy
A California woman decided to kidnap her daughter's boyfriend and haul
him to another part of the state. The mother, 35-year-old Anna
Gaffney, and an older woman of no fixed address showed up at the man's home
with duct tape and explained their plan for getting him to leave the
daughter, 21-year-old Savannah Lackey, alone. The would-be kidnappers
were arrested. Lackey was arrested later for her attempts to get her
boyfriend to tell the police he'd made up the story.
- 5 October 2009
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Michigan's Aimee Louise Sword gave up her five-year-old son for
adoption about a decade ago. The 35-year-old Sword recently got back
in touch with him over the Internet. She is accused of seducing
him and successfully cultivating a sexual relationship with him.
Others, defending Sword, claim that he was the one doing the seducing
and that she was taken advantage of.
- 11 March 2010
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Off to a good start...
According to AP reports, Idaho bridegroom Nathan Lewis, 21, was
arrested twice on his wedding night. First he was booked for drunken
and disorderly conduct. Once released on bail, he proceeded to slap and
choke his bride. He also racked up a charge of interfering with a
report of domestic violence.
The Baltimore Sun reports that Harold Montaize Alford was
unhappy with his girlfriend for communicating with a male on the Facebook social
networking site. Alford, 22, woke her at her home and began attacking
her. Her nephew, 27-year-old Adam Couther, intervened. For his trouble, he was fatally
stabbed in the neck with the knife attachment of a bottle opener. Later,
Alford stressed his innocence and explained that he had seen something
fly through the air just before Couther began bleeding. He has been arrested anyway.
- 28 April 2010
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A Crestview, Florida, man sent a text message to lady-friend Jennifer
Lovett to report that he wouldn't arrive home for a while. Lovett
responded that she would wait for him at his home. She did not;
she left early, after stealing his computer, camcorder, calculator,
and leather bag. The next two text messages in the exchange were a
demand for the return of these items and 'Good luck finding me'.
Authorities arrested Lovett some time later, after she pawned the bag
and computer, and she faces various charges.
Mainichi Shimbun reports that 58-year-old Masako Iwase woke to
her son asking her: 'Who cancelled the Internet?'. It was her husband
who had terminated the family's ISP contract, but son Takayuki decided
to stab her too with a kitchen knife. In total, he stabbed five
members of his family, then set light to his futon. The 30-year-old
Takayuki later told the police: 'I thought the house should be burnt
down and I wanted to kill my family'.