murder – Michmutters
Categories
Australia

Woman found dead in Bluewater bushland was in relationship with man arrested over her death, Queensland police say

Detectives say a man arrested over the death of a woman in north Queensland had been in a relationship with the victim for several months.

Mother of four Tania Trickey, 44, was killed at Bluewater, near Townsville, some time on Saturday morning.

A group of teenagers riding quad bikes discovered the body on a sandy track in bushland that afternoon.

Police arrested a 38-year-old Deeragun man at a service station in Proserpine around 8:30pm on Sunday after his car was spotted by patrolling officers.

“Police were basically able to take him by surprise,” Detective Inspector Jason Shepherd said.

Police have seized the man’s vehicle, which will be subject to forensic examination.

“We hope to obviously find evidence that will link our person of interest and the vehicle to the crime scene [at Bluewater],” Detective Inspector Shepherd said.

Pair allegedly drove to remote area together

Witches hats line a sandy path at the crime scene
Police believe the woman died on Saturday.(ABC News: Lily Nothling)

Police said the man and Ms Trickey had been in a relationship for a few months.

The pair allegedly drove to the remote area at Bluewater together on Saturday where the woman was later found dead.

Detective Inspector Shepherd said they were able to identify the man after his vehicle was captured on dash-cam footage near the scene.

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Categories
Australia

Thor Morgan shooting death results in murder charge laid against Cambodian man

A man will face court today after he was charged with murder over the death of a 25-year-old man in Toowoomba earlier this year.

Police allege Thor Morgan was driving a car on Ruthven Street in Harlaxton when a firearm was discharged from a stolen dual cab and he was shot in the head about 2.50am on March 15.

Mr Morgan succumbed to his injuries at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital two months later on May 16.

Police say divers recovered a firearm from a northern branch of the Condamine River on July 26 which police will allege was the weapon used in the incident.

a police diver holds up a gun found in the river
Police say they found a firearm in the Condamine River in July.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)

A 24-year-old man has been charged with murder, arson of a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of weapons.

Police said they had been searching for the weapon for four months.

A gun sits in a ute tray
Police allege a weapon recovered from the river was used to shoot Mr Morgan.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)

They allege a number of stolen cars were involved in the incident — a gray station wagon, which had been stolen from a Newtown home in February, and a white SUV stolen from a Mount Lofty address in March.

The cars were later found burnt out — one in Felton and another one in the Oakey area.

Investigations are ongoing.

A police car parked on the left hand side of the road with police tape across the road
Police blocked off a Harlaxton street after the shooting in March.(ABC Southern Queensland: David Chen)

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Categories
US

Instagram model Courtney Clenney charged with murdering boyfriend Christian Toby Obumseli in Florida apartment

Social media model Courtney Clenney has been charged with second-degree murder over the April death of her boyfriend, Christian Toby Obumseli, Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Thursday. Clenney, 26, was arrested in Hawaii on Wednesday on a charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon.

At a press Tuesday, Rundle described an “extremely tempestuous and combative conference relationship” between the couple that began in November 2020. According to Clenney’s arrest warrant, there had been “multiple incidents of domestic violence from both sides” during the relationship.

She said that security staff at the building documented “many instances” of loud arguments between the pair after they moved into the apartment in January 2022, adding that tenants as far as two floors above the apartment had complained to the building about the noise.

Rundle also showed a video from a building elevator in February 2022 that appeared to show Clenney shoving and hitting Obumseli. According to the arrest warrant, she had also been charged with domestic battery against Obumseli in a hotel in Las Vegas in July 2021.

Rundle said that the couple briefly separated when Clenney kicked Obumseli out of her apartment in late March, but he returned on April 1. Police were called to the apartment later that day, and Clenney appeared “intoxicated” at the time, Rundle said.

Hawaii-Model-Arrested
This photo provided by the Hawaii Police Department shows Courtney Clenney.

/AP


On the day of Obumseli’s death, he left the apartment at 1:15 pm and returned at 4:33 pm with sandwiches for the pair, Rundle said. Clenney called her mother de ella at 4:43 and spoke for six minutes, and called her again at 4:49 and spoke for seven minutes, Rundle said. At 4:57, she called 911 to report that Obumseli had been stabbed. During that time, neighbors called the building about a disturbance and security also called 911, Rundle said.

Rundle said Obumseli can be heard saying that he was dying and losing feeling in his arm on her 911 call, and that Clenney was heard saying “I’m so sorry.” When police arrived, Clenney was cradling Obumseli’s body, according to her arrest warrant. He later died of his injuries at the hospital.

Clenney later told police she had stabbed Obumseli after he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her against the wall, Rundle said. She allegedly said she ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and threw it at him from about 10 feet away.

But Rundle said police did not find any evidence that Clenney had been harmed and said the medical examiner disputed her account of the incident, noting that Obumseli’s injury was much more consistent with a “downward strike” with the knife than with a throw from such a far distance.

Rundle said the chief medical examiner for Miami-Dade County determined that Obumseli was killed by a three-inch deep stab wound to the chest.

“The violent and toxic two-year relationship of Christian Obumseli and Courtney Clenney did not have to end in tragedy with Christian’s murder as a victim of domestic violence,” Rundle said.

In a recorded telephone statement to police documented in the arrest warrant, Clenney’s mother allegedly told authorities that she heard Clenney telling Obumseli to leave and Clenney saying that Obumseli was “lying.” Her mother did not say anything about her daughter being, the warrant said, and while she allegedly told investigators that she had not discussed Obumseli’s death with her daughter, the warrant cited a 5:25 pm text message from “mom” on the defendant’s phone that mentioned “self-defense” and told her not to speak with investigators without an attorney.

An attorney for Obumseli’s family said at the press conference the family “always believed that with a thorough and fair investigation, this day would come to reality.”

When why it took so long to press charges on the April incident, Miami police chief Manuel Morales said it was critical to ensure the charge would stand up in court.

“You only get one shot,” he told reporters. “You want to get it right.”

Hawaii County police said in a prior statement they assisted the US Marshals Service as they arrested Clenney in Laupahoehoe, which is on the Big Island. Officers used an arrest warrant issued by Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Clenney waived extradition during her initial court appearance Thursday in Hilo District Court, paving the way for her to return to Florida. She is being held at the East Hawaii Detention Center while she awaits that extradition, police said.

slate-copy.jpg
Christian Toby Obumseli

Facebook/Christian Toby Obumseli


Clenney uses the name Courtney Tailor on Instagram and OnlyFans, where she has more than 2 million followers.

Her Miami defense lawyer, Frank Prieto, told CBS Miami that she was in Hawaii while in rehabilitation for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I’m completely shocked, especially since we were cooperating with the investigation and offered to voluntarily surrender her if she were charged,” Prieto said before the Thursday press conference. “We look forward to clearing her name in court.”

Prieto said the two were together for about two years and their relationship was complicated.

“It was clearly a toxic relationship, (they) had their ups and downs and, unfortunately, it culminated with his death,” he said.

Prieto said Clenney was actively seeking professional help to process the trauma experienced on the night of the stabbing.

Obumseli’s family said that he was a soft-spoken man and the idea that this was warranted is unthinkable, CBS Miami reported.

“We have no cause to believe that this was a case of self-defense. Toby was raised with a, by a very strong family with strong morals, strong values, he does not come from that,” said Karen Egbuna, a cousin of Obumseli who also appeared at the press conference.

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Categories
US

Influencer Courtney Clenney Charged In April Stabbing of Boyfriend Christian ‘Toby’ Obumseli

An Instagram influencer has been charged with murder after allegedly fatally stabbing her boyfriend inside a luxury Miami high-rise in April.

Courtney Clenney, a 26-year-old OnlyFans model, was taken into custody on Wednesday in Hawaii after being charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection April 3 death of her boyfriend, 27-year-old Christian Obumseli, the miami herald first reported. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is set to hold a press conference about the arrest on Thursday afternoon, citing in a press conference that the arrest report is sealed but that a “social media personality” was charged in connection with Obumseli’s murder.

Clenney’s defense attorney, Frank Prieto, confirmed the charges to The Daily Beast and said his client had been at a Hawaiian rehab facility for PTSD. The lawyer added that they are “disappointed that the State Attorney sought an arrest warrant” and noted that his client of him has “cooperated with the investigation from the beginning.”

“We are completely shocked at Courtney’s arrest based upon the clear evidence of self-defense in this matter,” Prieto said. “Obumseli attacked her and choked her that evening; Courtney had no choice but to meet force with force.”

“We will vigorously defend Courtney and clear her of this unfounded and baseless charge,” he added.

The Miami Police Department did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.

The arrest marks the largest development in the investigation into the grayly slaying. The Miami Police Department previously said that on April 3, officers responded to a report of a stabbing at the One Paraiso luxury building around 5 pm, where they found Obumseli, who worked in cryptocurrency, with a “knife wound.”

“A female was located on scene and interviewed by detectives,” police said.

Obumseli was then transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. While the details of Obumseli’s death remain unclear, a police spokesperson previously The Daily Beast that the pair “had been involved in a physical altercation” prior to the attack.

Local media reports also indicated that Clenney was detained at the scene to be taken to a mental health facility under the state’s Baker Act—which allows police to involuntarily commit an individual for up to 72 hours.

At the time, Prieto insisted that Clenney had acted out of self-defense.

“We have always offered to self-surrender if charges were filed in an effort to begin the legal process of clearing her of the charges,” Prieto told The Daily Beast on Wednesday, noting that this is “an absolute injustice to charge a victim of domestic violence and human trafficking with a crime; Courtney was clearly defending herself.”

Clenney—who boasts 2 million followers on Instagram, 25,700 on TikTok, and 41,000 more on Twitter—describes herself as “that chick from the internet” on social media accounts under the name “Courtney Tailor.” On her Ella OnlyFans account, Clenney describes herself as a “Proud Texan! Full-time fitness model and foodie living with my 2 dogs, Jesse and Ranger. I just moved to Miami so I need your positive vibes! Scary BIG change for this lil texas girl.”

On April 2, an OnlyFans post on her page read, “talk dirty to me.” The day prior, her page of her posted: “I’m not always this nasty… wait, yes I am lol.”

According to the Dallas Morning Newsthe pair recently moved to Florida from Texas, and initial reports suggested the conflict that night was not the first time the couple had had a physical altercation.

“We’ve seen her hit him. I’ve never seen him hit her,” Ashley Vaughn, one of the couple’s friends, told Local10. “From what we’ve personally experienced between the both of them, we believe that Christian wouldn’t put her in a position where she would need to stab him to protect herself.” (A neighbor told the same outlet that they had witnessed Obumseli swing at her about a week before the incident.)

Another friend told the outlet the friend group in Miami was now reeling from the news—and the reality that both Clenney and Obumseli were lost to them. “We didn’t think this is how far it would have gone,” Tahki Banks said.

In a GoFundMe campaign, Obumseli’s family said the “unconscionable” tragedy occurred just a week before his 28th birthday—and it is hard to believe “someone’s selfish act ripped Christian away from this world.” Describing Obumseli as an “extremely compassionate” person with an “infectious smile that could light up any room” the family added that they were seeking justice for the “heinous act of violence.” The family did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.

“It is not enough to say we are shocked and hurting—We are utterly devastated,” the family said in the online campaign. “His murder leaves many unanswered questions and creates a void that can never be fixed or filled. Not even with time.”

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Categories
Australia

NSW corrections officer faces upgraded charge of murder over death of Indigenous inmate

More than 5,000 NSW Corrective Services officers will strike for 24 hours on Friday in response to one of their colleagues facing an upgraded murder charge over the fatal shooting of an inmate in 2019.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image of a person who has died.

Indigenous man Dwayne Johnstone, 43, had received treatment and was leaving Lismore Base Hospital while shackled in March 2019 when he attempted to escape custody.

A Corrective Services officer fired three shots, with Mr Johnstone dying from a single bullet wound, despite receiving medical care, an inquest has previously heard.

The officer, who cannot be named due to a court suppression order, was previously charged with a manslaughter.

“All the available evidence in this matter, including newly subpoenaed material, has been reviewed in preparation for the upcoming trial,” a spokesperson for the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said.

“The Director has determined that the appropriate charge is one of murder.”

Dwayne Johnstone
Dwayne Johnstone was shot and killed by a corrective services officer.

Public Service Association General Secretary Stewart Little said members would strike from 6am on Friday, affecting all areas of the correctional system and “very, very limited movements of inmates.”

Mr Little said a duty of care will be provided to inmates, with commissioned officers still deployed on sites and critical legal visits allowed.

“There is a huge degree of anger at this charge being brought,” he said.

Mr Little said both the original and upgraded charge came as “a shock” and the officer had an “impeccable record”.

“Every day, our members look after over 12,000 inmates across the prison system,” he said.

“When they have to take those inmates into the community, their job is to protect the community from those people.”

Mr Little said the events had caused members to question how they will deploy their weapons in the future.

He also called on the state government to support the “very difficult and dangerous job” they perform.

Mr Little said weapons carried by Corrective Services officers were not there “for show”.

“Inmates are under absolutely no illusion, when they’re on escort, they are told unequivocally if you try to escape that weapon can and will be deployed to prevent you escaping.”

The officer was granted bail last year when a magistrate requested he surrender his passport and not travel outside Australia.

Mr Johnstone’s mother, Kerry Crawford-Shanahan had traveled from Sydney to Lismore for the hearing, only to be told it would take place in a closed court.

The case returns to court next month.

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Categories
US

Nancy Bennallack’s killer identified by genetic genealogy analysis

More than five decades after Nancy Bennallack was stabbed to death in her Sacramento County apartment bedroom, her cold case has been solved with the same technology used to solve the Golden State Killer’s case, authorities said. “Time is the justice that examines all offenders. Nancy was never forgotten,” Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said while referring to the 51 years the case spanned. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday that Richard John Davis killed the then-28-year-old Bennallack in 1970. Davis had lived in the same apartment complex as Bennallack when he murdered her, authorities said. He died in 1997 from what investigators believe was related to alcoholism. “Due to the fact that Richard Davis is deceased, sadly, there won’t be any form of legal justice, but Linda and Tom, I hope this brings you, Nancy, and your family some peace,” said retired homicide detective Micki Links, who started working on Bennallack’s case in 2005 Timeline of murder Bennallack, who worked as a court reporter, and her fiancé returned to her apartment after a night out around 11:30 pm on Oct 25. Her fiancé, who also worked in the court system, returned to his home later that night.The following day, Bennallack did not show up for work. Her co-worker called her son de ella and asked him to check on her. With the help of the apartment manager, the co-worker’s son opened up Bennallack’s apartment and found her murdered. Sometime between 11:30 that night and the early morning hours of Oct. 26, Davis broke in. Links said Davis put tape over her fingertips, climbed up the second-story balcony of Bennallack’s apartment and stabbed her over 30 times, almost decapitating her. Bennallack also had wounds on her body de ella that indicated she fought with Davis, Links said. Davis had cut himself during the assault, and a trail of blood led from her apartment to the middle of the apartment complex parking lot. His DNA profile from the blood had been in state and national databases for years, and no matches were found. Then in 2019, the Sacramento County cold case team began a forensic genetic genealogy investigation, which is where the DNA profile is matched with relatives to narrow down who the suspect is. Links said a relative of Davis provided their DNA, and he was confirmed as the murderer on July 21. “All the while, time was passing these past 50 years, science was evolving,” Schubert said. The sheriff’s office said 11 cases with 17 murders, 59 rape cases and three unidentified remains have been solved using the new genetic testing. The technology is the same that linked Joseph DeAngelo to the murders of 13 people. Davis lived near Bennallack in the same apartment complex “In one month of Nancy’s murder, the sheriff’s office interviewed over 500 people,” Schubert said. Davis and his roommate were included in those interviews, but both alibied each other, she said. Davis, who was 27 years old at the time, had lived in apartment 23, while Bennallack lived in apartment 17. Investigators believe Davis could see across the pool into her apartment de ella, which could have led to the motivation behind her murder de ella . “Clearly, I intended to do what he did that day,” Links said. “This man put masking tape over every one of his fingers, I guess gloves weren’t that easy to find those days to conceal his fingerprints. Were he alive, I think we’re talking premeditated murder.”Links said Davis had no previous violent felony convictions but did have a DUI arrest.Family reactsThe Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office read out a letter from Nancy’s sister Linda Cox at Wednesday’s conference.“ After almost 52 years of missing my sister, we owe Micki Links so much gratitude. How many times my husband, Tom and myself have said Nancy would love our ranch, all our animals and land with wide open spaces. We have missed sharing our children and grandchildren and so much more,” part of the letter read. Bennallack’s fiancé, Sacramento County’s chief public defender Farris Salamy, died in 2014, “no doubt always wondering who was the man who took his fiancé,” Schubert said. Schubert made references to how different the times were back in 1970. “To give everyone a perspective on the meaning of this case, being here today, we have to start with 1970,” she said. “In 1970, the United States population was 200 million people, today it sits at 332 million people. The population in Sacramento County was 635,000. Today it sits at 1.6 million.”Schubert referenced how much a home and a gallon of gas cost compared to now. Richard Nixon was president at the time, and Ronald Reagan was the Governor of California. Reagan won a second term just a few days after Bennallack’s murder, Schubert said. She went on to say that Reagan died 20 years ago, “that tells you how long we’re talking about.””There’s no doubt that justice, in this case, was dormant for decades,” Schubert said. “It is passion and persistence that brings these answers.” Previous coverage in video below.

More than five decades after Nancy Bennallack was stabbed to death in her Sacramento County apartment bedroom, her cold case has been solved with the same technology used to solve the Golden State Killer’s case, authorities said.

“Time is the justice that examines all offenders. Nancy was never forgotten,” Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said while referring to the 51 years the case spanned.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday that Richard John Davis killed the then-28-year-old Bennallack in 1970. Davis had lived in the same apartment complex as Bennallack when he murdered her, authorities said. He died in 1997 from what investigators believe was related to alcoholism.

“Due to the fact that Richard Davis is deceased, sadly, there won’t be any form of legal justice, but Linda and Tom, I hope this brings you, Nancy, and your family some peace,” said retired homicide detective Micki Links , who started working on Bennallack’s case in 2005

Timeline of murder

Bennallack, who worked as a court reporter, and her fiancé returned to her apartment after a night out around 11:30 pm on Oct. 25. Her fiancé, who also worked in the court system, returned to his home later that night.

The following day, Bennallack did not show up for work. Her co-worker called her son de ella and asked him to check on her. With the help of the apartment manager, the co-worker’s son opened up Bennallack’s apartment and found her murdered.

Sometime between 11:30 that night and the early morning hours of Oct. 26, Davis broke in.

Links said Davis put tape over his fingertips, climbed up the second-story balcony of Bennallack’s apartment and stabbed her over 30 times, almost decapitating her. Bennallack also had wounds on her body de ella that indicated she fought with Davis, Links said.

Davis had cut himself during the assault, and a trail of blood led from her apartment to the middle of the apartment complex parking lot. His DNA profile from the blood had been in state and national databases for years, and no matches were found.

Then in 2019, the Sacramento County cold case team began a forensic genetic genealogy investigation, which is where the DNA profile is matched with relatives to narrow down who the suspect is. Links said a relative of Davis provided their DNA, and he was confirmed as the murderer on July 21.

“All the while, time was passing these past 50 years, science was evolving,” Schubert said.

The sheriff’s office said 11 cases with 17 murders, 59 rape cases and three unidentified remains have been solved using the new genetic testing. The technology is the same that linked Joseph DeAngelo to the murders of 13 people.

Davis lived near Bennallack in the same apartment complex

“In one month of Nancy’s murder, the sheriff’s office interviewed over 500 people,” Schubert said. Davis and his roommate were included in those interviews, but both alibied each other, she said.

Davis, who was 27 years old at the time, had lived in apartment 23, while Bennallack lived in apartment 17. Investigators believe Davis could see across the pool into her apartment, which could have led to the motivation behind her murder.

“Clearly, I intended to do what he did that day,” Links said. “This man put masking tape over every one of his fingers, I guess gloves weren’t that easy to find those days to conceal his fingerprints. Were he alive, I think we’re talking premeditated murder.”

Links said Davis had no previous violent felony convictions but did have a DUI arrest.

Family reacts

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office read out a letter from Nancy’s sister Linda Cox at Wednesday’s conference.

“After almost 52 years of missing my sister, we owe Micki Links so much gratitude. How many times my husband, Tom and myself have said Nancy would love our ranch, all our animals and land with wide open spaces. We have missed sharing our children and grandchildren and so much more,” part of the letter read.

Bennallack’s fiancé, Sacramento County’s chief public defender Farris Salamy, died in 2014, “no doubt always wondering who was the man who took his fiancé,” Schubert said.

Schubert made references to how different the times were back in 1970.

“To give everyone a perspective on the meaning of this case, being here today, we have to start with 1970,” she said. “In 1970, the United States population was 200 million people, today it sits at 332 million people. The population in Sacramento County was 635,000. Today it sits at 1.6 million.”

Schubert referenced how much a home and a gallon of gas cost compared to now. Richard Nixon was president at the time, and Ronald Reagan was the Governor of California. Reagan won a second term just a few days after Bennallack’s murder, Schubert said.

She went on to say that Reagan died 20 years ago, “that tells you how long we’re talking about.”

“There’s no doubt that justice, in this case, was dormant for decades,” Schubert said. “It is passion and persistence that brings these answers.”

Previous coverage in video below.

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Categories
Australia

Peter Dansie allowed to appeal against his conviction for murdering his wife who drowned in an Adelaide pond

Australia’s highest court has allowed a man found guilty of murdering his wife by pushing her wheelchair into a pond to appeal against his conviction.

Peter Rex Dansie, 73, was sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife, Helen Dansie, in Adelaide’s southern parklands.

Mrs Dansie drowned in a pond in Veale Gardens in April 2017.

Dansie lost a bid to appeal his conviction in South Australia’s Court of Criminal Appeal two years ago.

Today, two High Court judges dismissed Dansie’s application to appeal, but Justice Kevin Nicholson said he would have quashed the conviction as the evidence did not rule out the possibility that Mrs Dansie might have accidentally drowned.

“It would be dangerous in all the circumstances to allow the verdict of guilty of murder to stand,” Justice Nicholson said.

The High Court then granted Dansie’s application for special leave to appeal the majority decision of South Australia’s appeal court.

Helen Dansie smiling.
Helen Dansie drowned in a pond at Veale Gardens in Adelaide in 2017.(Supplied: SA Police)

The High Court unanimously found South Australia’s Court of Criminal Appeal misapplied the law and has allowed Dansie to appeal against his conviction.

The matter will be remitted to the South Australian Supreme Court for rehearing.

In allowing the appeal, the High Court said the Supreme Court needed “more than mere satisfaction” to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

“The appellant argues that the majority (of the Court of Criminal Appeal) misinterpreted and misapplied the approach required to be taken,” the judgment said.

“The appellant’s argument is well founded.

“The appeal must be allowed.

“What each member of the Court of Criminal Appeal needed to do in order to apply the test … was to ask whether he was independently satisfied as a result of his own assessment of the whole of the evidence added at the trial that the only rational inference available on that evidence was that the appellant deliberately pushed the wheelchair into the pond with intent to drown his wife.”

Divers in Veale Park pond
Police divers searching evidence in the pond at Veale Gardens in 2017.(Supplied: ABC News)

Mrs Dansie’s son Grant said he was “massively disappointed” the appeal had been granted.

“It’s like a never-ending story,” he said.

Dansie previously lost appeal

When Dansie was sentenced to a non-parole period of 25 years two years ago, Justice David Lovell said Mrs Dansie’s murder was the “ultimate act of domestic violence” and described it as an “evil and despicable act”.

“This was a chilling, planned murder of a person whose only mistake was to trust you,” he said.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged Dansie murdered his wife because he regarded her as a cost burden.

Mrs Dansie, a former microbiologist, suffered a stroke in the 1990s that left her with long-term disabilities.

The court at the time heard she was on an indexed pension for life, a large portion of which Mr Dansie was entitled to as her full-time carer.

Justice Lovell established a “dual motive” for the murder—a deterioration in Dansie’s feelings for his wife and an interest in pursuing a sexual relationship with another woman overseas.

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Categories
US

Grand jury declines to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham in connection with kidnapping of Emmett Till



CNN

A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the White woman who accused 14-year-old Emmett Till of making advances toward her nearly 70 years ago, allegations that led to the Black teen’s brutal death.

A Leflore County grand jury last week heard seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses but said there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter, according to a statement from District Attorney Dewayne Richardson.

The grand jury heard the testimony from witnesses detailing the investigation of the case from 2004 to the present day and considered both charges, according to the statement.

“After hearing every aspect of the investigation and evidence collected regarding Donham’s involvement, the Grand Jury returned a ‘No Bill’ to the charges of both Kidnapping and Manslaughter,” the statement said. “The murder of Emmett Till remains an unforgettable tragedy in this country and the thoughts and prayers of this nation continue to be with the family of Emmett Till.”

Carolyn Bryant, shown in September 1955 sitting in the office of her husbands' lawyer.

Family members of Emmett, whose killing in the Jim Crow-era South spurred the civil rights movement in America, said earlier this summer that they had unearthed an unserved arrest warrant for Bryant Donham, her late husband and his brother.

The warrant is dated August 29, 1955, and signed by the Leflore County clerk. The image of the warrant shows the current clerk certified the document as authentic on June 21.

A note on the back of the warrant says Bryant Donham was not arrested because she could not be located at the time, according to the New York Times, which cited filmmaker Keith A. Beauchamp, who was part of the team that discovered the warrant. CNN reached out to Bryant Donham at the time but didn’t hear back.

Emmett’s family had hoped the warrant would lead to charges and, ultimately, justice.

“Justice has to be served,” Emmett’s cousin Deborah Watts told CNN in late June, adding, “Emmett led us to it. I know that in my heart.”

CNN reached out Tuesday to Emmett’s family for comment but did not hear back.

While Emmett’s killing remains a touchstone moment in the United States’ long struggle with racial injustice and inequality, to this day, no one has been held criminally responsible.

Emmett, who lived in Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he had his fateful encounter with then-20-year-old Carolyn Bryant in the summer of 1955. Accounts from that day differ, but witnesses alleged Emmett whistled at the woman at the market she owned with her husband in the town of Money.

Four days later, Roy Bryant and JW Milam later took Emmett from his bed in the middle of the night, ordered him into the back of a pickup and beat him before shooting him in the head and tossing his body into the Tallahatchie River.

But they were both acquitted of murder by an all-White jury following a trial in which Carolyn Bryant testified that Emmett grabbed and verbally threatened her. The jury deliberated for barely an hour.

The men later admitted to the killing in a 1956 interview with Look magazine.

Emmett’s death captured attention far beyond Mississippi after a photo of his mutilated body was published in Jet Magazine and spread around the world. Her mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, had demanded he have an open-casket funeral so the entire world could see her son’s injuries and the results of racial terrorism – a decision that helped fuel the civil rights movement.

Milam died in 1980 and Bryant died in 1994. Bryant Donham is in her late 80s.

In 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict Bryant Donham on charges. And according to archived FBI documents, Milam and Roy Bryant were arrested on a kidnapping charge in 1955, but a grand jury failed to indict them. “The original court, District Attorney, and investigative records related to the 1955 investigation have apparently been lost,” the FBI said in a 2006 report.

Bryant Donham testified in 1955 that Emmett grabbed her hand, her waist and propositioned her, saying he had been with “White women before.” But years later, when professor Timothy Tyson raised that trial testimony in a 2008 interview with Bryant Donham, he claimed she told him, “That part’s not true.”

The prospect that the woman at the center of Emmett’s case had recanted her testimony – which the US Justice Department said in a memo would contradict statements she made during the state trial in 1955 and later to the FBI – sparked calls for authorities to investigate the case anew.

The DOJ, which had already re-examined and closed the case in 2007, reopened the probe into Emmett’s killing in 2018. But the case was closed in December after the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division concluded it could not prove Bryant Donham had lied. When questioned directly, Bryant Donham adamantly denied to investigators that she had recanted her testimony from her.

Emmett’s legacy, however, lives on: In March, President Joe Biden signed into law the landmark Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which made lynching a federal hate crime.

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Categories
US

Traveling Nurse Nicole Linton Charged With Six Counts of Murder After High Speed ​​Windsor Hills Crash

A traveling Texas nurse is facing multiple murder charges after running a red light and crashing into traffic while allegedly driving 90 mph in Windsor Hills, California.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced on Monday that Nicole Linton has been charged with six counts of murder and five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter for the multi-car crash, which left six people dead and Linton facing a 90-year prison sentence if convicted of all the charges.

Police say Linton was driving at high speed in a Mercedes on Thursday when she sped through a red light at the intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues. Multiple vehicles were hit and three of them were engulfed by flames in what authorities dubbed “a fiery wreck.”

Linton, from Houston, is a traveling nurse who was working in Los Angeles when the crash occurred. Authorities are investigating whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.

Killed in the crash were Asherey Ryan, 23, who was more than 8 months pregnant, her 11-month-old baby, Alonzo Quintero, and her boyfriend, Reynold Lester. The couple were en route to a doctor’s appointment when the crash happened.

Two other women, who have yet to be identified, were killed in another vehicle.

Six other vehicles were involved in the collision, including five people with minor injuries in an SUV and another driver in another vehicle.

Linton, 37, was seen in tears and in a wheelchair during her first court appearance at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center on Monday. Her brows were furrowed as tears streamed down her face, her left arm wrapped in a brace. She agreed as a judge denied her attorney’s request for a $300,000 bail.

“Today, we begin the process of holding accountable the person responsible for the deaths of six people, including a pregnant woman, and their families,” District Attorney Gascón said in a statement.

The case remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

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Categories
Australia

Police confirm woman killed in Stretton home was Jifeng (Eileen) Liu, man charged with two murders

Police have confirmed Jifeng (Eileen) Liu as one of the people found dead in a home in Stretton, in Brisbane’s south, yesterday.

A 49-year-old man has been charged with two counts of murder over the deaths of Ms Liu as well as a man in his early 20s.

Police, who were called to the home at Coolidge Court at 9:40am on Monday, found the man and the bodies of Ms Liu and the man on the second storey of the home.

The 49-year-old man was treated for injuries and taken to hospital where he remains under police guard.

He was charged by detectives overnight.

Police in blue HAZMAT suits taking photos.
Forensic police attended the scene. (ABC News: Alfred Beales)

Police confirmed the person who rank triple-0 was the 49-year-old male and the use of a Cantonese interpreter was required at the scene.

The scene remained cordoned off overnight, with forensic investigators remaining at the home. Police said they recovered two “bladed weapons” from the scene.

A police officer in a HAZMAT suit lifting up police tape.
Police say a 49-year-old man is in custody. (ABC News: Alfred Beales)

The relationships of the three people are yet to be fully established, but the police believed they were “linked”.

Late on Monday afternoon, detectives were seen removing two mobile phones, sealed in plastic bags, from the home.

Police are seeking information from neighbors and have asked anyone with information to come forward.

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