Closing arguments are expected in the trial of a man accused of killing a North Carolina college student 14 years ago. Faith Hedgepeth was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she was fatally beaten in her off-campus apartment in 2012. Miguel Salguero Olivares was arrested nine years later. He has pleaded not guilty to murder, rape and burglary charges. Closing arguments are scheduled Thursday. Prosecutors say Salguero Olivares was a stranger who killed Hedgepeth in a fit of rage and left his DNA behind. They say he provided a DNA sample after his arrest in 2021 for driving while intoxicated and it matched evidence from the crime scene.
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Police say a 46-year-old man was fatally shot as he drove over the George Washington Bridge. The shooting happened toward the end of the Tuesday evening rush on the upper deck of the bridge that connects New York City and New Jersey. Authorities say that while responding to calls about the shooting on the New Jersey-bound side, they found the man unconscious with a gunshot wound in the vehicle's driver’s seat. He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Police identified the man as Koran Irvine of Valley Cottage, New York. They haven't made any arrests or given a possible motive for the attack. Con Edison says the victim worked for the utility and called his death “senseless.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has commuted the death sentence of Toforest Johnson to life in prison without parole. Johnson was convicted of the 1995 murder of Deputy Sheriff William Hardy, but he has maintained his innocence. On Tuesday, Ivey expressed concerns about the lack of direct evidence for a death sentence. Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, elected in 2018, supports a new trial, citing unraveling evidence and credible alibi witnesses. Johnson’s attorneys are grateful for the commutation and continue to fight for a new trial. Several former judges and prosecutors have also raised doubts about the conviction.
A Kenyan doomsday cult leader has been convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult. Justice Diana Kavedza ruled Monday that Pastor Paul Mackenzie used religious teachings to compel followers to fast to death. Mackenzie led the Good News International Church in coastal Kenya. He ordered followers to starve themselves to meet Jesus and set up a leadership structure to enforce this. In 2023, authorities exhumed over 400 bodies from shallow graves on the Chakama Ranch in Kilifi County. Followers lived in mud huts there, away from local communities and authorities. This is one of Kenya’s most significant religious convictions.
Mississippi’s attorney general says a Senatobia police officer was justified in the June shooting death of a 1-year-old boy. Kohen Wiley was killed as Senatobia officers responded to a shoplifting call at a local Walmart, where they saw Kohen, his mother and her friend leave the store and begin driving away. In a statement released after the shooting, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations said the vehicle drove toward law enforcement, at which point an officer opened fire. Kohen’s mother disputes that claim.
An argument on a subway platform in midtown Manhattan turned deadly Saturday, leaving one man fatally shot and train service disrupted. Police were called to the 7th Avenue Station at 12:21 p.m., where they found an adult male with a gunshot wound to his chest. A spokesperson said the shooting occurred on the E train platform at 53rd St. Two or three men were possibly involved. Emergency crews transported the victim to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests were immediately reported. Trains that normally stop at that station were bypassing the area as a police investigation continues.
Lebanese authorities are investigating how a former Syrian militia commander was kidnapped in Lebanon and taken to Syria. Syria’s intelligence department said Thursday that it had detained Ali Kayali as he tried to flee across the border. Kayali is also known as Mihrac Ural. Kayali is suspected of killings in 2013 in the town of Baniyas. Lebanese officials said Friday that authorities opened an investigation and were analyzing telecommunication calls. A photo of Kayali in handcuffs surfaced on social media. It raised questions about whether it was taken at the Syrian Embassy in Lebanon. Such kidnappings in Lebanon aren't uncommon.
Prosecutors and lawyers for Alex Murdaugh have returned to court to dispute evidence for his retrial on murder charges next year. The hearing is Friday in South Carolina. Murdaugh faces another trial in April over the 2021 shooting deaths of his wife and son. The state Supreme Court overturned his convictions earlier this year, saying a court clerk influenced jurors to find him guilty. Friday's arguments focus on DNA testing and whether authorities must share ballistics evidence. Defense lawyers also want to know if a grand jury is investigating a police officer friend of Murdaugh as a possible accomplice. Murdaugh remains in prison serving decades for financial crimes
A Norwegian teenager has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for traveling to Britain to carry out a contract killing for an international crime gang linked to Iran. The 19-year-old Johannes Kongsnes Natland was found guilty in July of conspiracy to murder for agreeing to shoot an unknown target for 25,000 euros last year. He was arrested at a hotel in northern England with two guns and ammunition two days after arriving in the U.K. Natland was recruited by a Swedish organized crime group known as the Foxtrot Network while playing a game online. The U.K. government has sanctioned it for violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe. Natland was sentenced on Friday.
Authorities say a Florida man whose former fiancee went missing nearly 15 years ago, just hours after they appeared together on a pretaped episode of “The People’s Court,” has been charged with her murder. Orlando police announced the arrest on Wednesday of Dale Smith Jr. on a charge of second-degree murder. The body of Michelle Parker has not recovered, but police say all evidence leads to Smith as the person responsible for her death. Smith’s attorney said during a hearing Thursday afternoon that he didn’t believe the state could meet its burden of proof to convict Smith based on the information presented in the criminal complaint. A judge ordered Smith to be held without bond pending a detention hearing, which wasn’t immediately scheduled.