Category: Violent Crimes
The latimes.com website reported in an article on June 6, 2009 that Wendy DeRodio, 61 was found dead in a house she shared with her elderly parents. Shockingly, this homicide in California comes just two weeks after a couple were also stabbed and killed in their home after encountering an intruder. A neighbor who asked not to be identified said, “Everyone’s on guard. Everyone’s wondering what will happen next.” Will Hoag, a retired Ventura County personnel manager who has lived in the Ventura Keys for 36 years said, “I don’t want to sit in fear with the doors closed.” Investigators… Read More
The latimes.com website reported in an account on June 9th, 2009 that Nel Rasmussen, father of Sherri Rae Rasmussen had told investigators about an “ex-girlfriend” who was in the LAPD and had threatened his daughter several times shortly before she was found beaten and shot to death in her apartment. According to the family’s lawyer, Rasmussen’s appeals were disregarded by detectives and they followed other possibilities to how Sherri was murdered. Detectives are opening up thousands of old homicide files in an attempt to solve them using modern technology. After opening the investigation, detectives again interviewed Rasmussen. He reiterated that… Read More
The latimes.com website reported in a story on June 11, 2009 that a 13 year old Oxnard teenager was shot multiple times and killed on a street corner in Oxnard. David Keith, Oxnard Police spokesman, said that the teenager was walking toward the corner sometime before 8 p.m. when he was shot in this violent crime. He was rushed to St. John’s Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead just about an hour later. Dozens of police officers were searching the neighborhood and interviewing neighbors in an attempt to figure out what happened. Keith stated that police have no… Read More
A latimes.com article reported on May 8, 2009 that a former bakery handyman has confessed to fatally shooting a writer who was writing about the bakery’s financial troubles in addition to also killing another man just a few weeks earlier. Devaughndre Broussard, 21, entered his admission to two counts of voluntary manslaughter in California as part of an arrangement with prosecutors. Broussard confessed to killing Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey and another man. Family members of Baily, sat present in Alameda County Superior Court, as Broussard told Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson that he was guilty of manslaughter in Bailey’s… Read More
The latimes.com website reported in a story on May 10, 2009 that a Corona man Amado Esqueda, 39 was arrested for murdering his daughters; a 2 month old and a 6 year old. Esqueda also assaulted his wife, seriously injuring her. According to police reports, Esqueda attacked the family in their home at the 700 block of Via Paraiso. When police and emergency personnel arrived they tried desperately to save the girls, but were unsuccessful and the children were pronounced dead soon after arriving at Corona Regional Medical Center. Irene Gonzalez, the 33 year old mother, was listed in serious… Read More
A latimes.com website account from May 11, 2009 reported that Belinda Magana, 23 and Naresh Narine, 36 were detained by Corona police after authorities found the missing 2 year old toddler’s body in San Bernardino County. The boy’s mother had reported that the toddler had been abducted. She was then was arrested, suspected of having a connection with the death of the boy. Rene Tarkington, Corona police spokeswoman, reported that the mother was booked on suspicion of child abuse and being an accessory to murder in San Bernardino. Narine, the boyfriend, was booked on suspicion of murder, torture and child… Read More
The website hbindependent.com reported in an account on April 9, 2009 that Fountain Valley police were able to make Mary Katheryn Sharpski, 46 confess during a police interview to conspiracy in a plot to murder her husband with a machete. Mary Sharpski’s lover and tenant, Michael Calvin Shores II, 39, and Antonio Cinco Ortega, 23, of Santa Ana are also being charged with plotting to kill Frank Sharpski. According to authorities, Mary Sharpski revealed her husband’s daily routes and offered to pay Ortega, who owns a personal knife collection, for the murder. Ortega was employed as a meat clerk at… Read More
The website abcnews.com reported in a story on April 12, 2009 that Melissa Huckaby, 28, a Sunday school teacher, had been arrested for the California murder of Sandra Cantu, an 8 year old girl from Tracy, California. Cantu was a playmate of Huckaby’s daughter. Cantu’s body was found inside a suitcase in a dairy farm pond. Authorities arrested Huckaby after she admitted to police that she owned the suitcase in which Cantu’s body was found. Tony Sheneman of the Tracy police department said, “I couldn’t begin to even theorize what her motive is. The outcome is is beyond explanation.” Cantu’s… Read More
According to reports, on April 12, 2009 two unidentified men, one appearing to be in his mid fifties and the second appearing to be in his mid twenties, were shot. Lt. Paul Vernon, head of detective for the LAPD’s Central Police Division said, “The motive for the shooting is not clear. And, while this may have happened on Skid Row, the crime had nothing to do with the homeless. These types of disputes tend to be about drugs and money.” According to police reports, they received a call around 5 a.m. of shots fired at the Lamp Lodge, located at… Read More
The website burbankleader.com reported in an account on April 12, 2009 that Bella Stepanyan, 26 was in Pasadena Superior Court where she pled not guilty to the slaying of Jasmine Voskanian, 49. According to authorities, Voskanian was killed with gun shot to the head when she answered the door bell or knock to her front door. Jane Robinson, Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokeswoman, said that Stepanyan faces one count of murder in Los Angeles with a special allegation of lying in wait. Authorities claim that Stepanyan plotted the murder and that Armen Mangasaryan, 29 was the actual shooter,… Read More
