PARK CITY, Kan. (AP) — The suburban house where Dennis Rader quietly raised his family while terrorizing Wichita as the BTK serial killer is up for auction.
It wasn't clear whether the homeowner's grim history would help or hurt the house's value during the auction in Rader's backyard Monday night.
The Web site of the company auctioning the home does not mention the case, but the site has drawn thousands of hits, and inquiries have come from around the country. Since Rader's arrest, curiosity seekers have routinely driven down his street.
The home's assessed value is $56,700, and the auction was open only to serious bidders who could prove their intentions with $2,500 in certified funds, said Lonny McCurdy, owner of McCurdy Auction Service.
"We are not encouraging sightseers," McCurdy said.
Rader pleaded guilty last month to killing 10 people in the Wichita area from 1974 to 1991. He called himself BTK, for "Bind, Torture, Kill," and sent taunting messages to police about the crimes — the same messages that eventually led to his arrest in February.
Rader's family has the right to accept or reject bids on the house, but what happens to the proceeds is up to the court. At least three wrongful death lawsuits have been filed by relatives of the victims. The latest lawsuit was filed Monday by Steven Relford, who was locked in a bathroom while his mother was strangled.
Rader's wife has made no public statement since her husband's arrest, and the couple's two grown children live in other states.
The three-bedroom home, built in 1954, does not stand out among others on the street, but McCurdy said the house is well-maintained.
"It shows good evidence of pride of ownership," he said.
BEIJING (AP) — An explosion in a coal mine in China's far west killed at least 65 miners, and rescuers were searching for 18 others, the government said Tuesday.
The explosion tore through the Shenlong Coal Mine in the Xinjiang region early Monday.
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with explosions, floods and fires killing thousands of workers each year. Accidents often are blamed on lack of safety equipment and lax safety rules.
Accidents killed 1,113 coal miners in the first three months of this year — up 20.8 percent from the same period of 2004, according to the government.
ATLANTA (AP) — A man who held authorities at bay atop an Atlanta construction crane for 56 hours was ordered to be sent back to Florida Monday to face murder charges in the death of his ex-girlfriend.
Carl Edward Roland, 41, of Clearwater, Fla., is charged with strangling 36-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez, whose body was found in a pond behind her apartment the day before Roland began a three-day standoff by climbing the crane.
Fulton County prosecutors will delay pursuing further action against Roland until he is tried in Florida, District Attorney's Office spokesman Erik Friedly said. Fulton County Magistrate Judge Richard Hicks said he would like Roland to be picked up in the next two days.
Roland has been in an Atlanta jail since he was arrested on charges of criminal trespassing, reckless conduct and first-degree criminal damage to property in connection with the crane standoff.
Atlanta police finally ended the standoff by shocking Roland with a stun gun as he crawled toward an officer for a cup of water.
PHOENIX (AP) — Archaeologists working at a proposed development site in Mesa say they have unearthed one of the largest integrated canal systems the Hohokam Indians ever built in the Phoenix area.
Twenty Hohokam canals, uncovered during an ongoing archaeological survey of the 240-acre site, have been found since October. The largest measures 45 feet wide and 16 feet deep.
"They are the size of canals in Phoenix today, but these were done with digging sticks and baskets," said Tom Wilson, an archaeologist and director of the Mesa Southwest Museum. "There are some extraordinary things there."
Other archaeological remains were also found, including a half-dozen pit houses and hundreds of pottery fragments and artifacts.
Historians believe the Hohokam lived in central and southern Arizona for about 1,500 years, sometime between 300 B.C. and A.D. 1400. They were a largely agricultural community known for their sophisticated canal systems.
The city could pay up to $250,000 for the archaeological study but would be reimbursed by the developers.
A portion of collected artifacts will be displayed at Banner Mesa Medical Center later this fall. And next May, the Mesa Southwest Museum will unveil a major Hohokam exhibit that will feature finds from the site, Wilson said.
City Manager Mike Hutchinson said talks are also ongoing with the developers to incorporate part of what has been found at the site into the project.
"It's an important finding and cultural asset for the whole state in terms of what it tells us," Hutchinson said.
NEW YORK (AP) — A financial company specializing in asset acquisition sued Michael Jackson on Monday, saying it is owed $48 million in fees for rescuing the singer's stake in the publishing rights to songs by the Beatles.
Prescient Acquisition Group Inc. said in its lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the pop music celebrity enlisted it in November 2004 to provide financial advice and to secure refinancing of a $272 million debt to Bank of America.
On behalf of Jackson and his company MJ Publishing Trust, Prescient secured $537 million in financing from Fortress Investment Group LLC, enough for Jackson to pay off the debt and exercise an option to buy the remaining 50 percent of the Beatles library he didn't already own, the lawsuit said.
Prescient said it was entitled to an immediate payment of $24.8 million, which is 9 percent of the financing used to pay off the Bank of America debt and a $3.3 million advance to Jackson and his company.
Prescient accused Jackson of breach of contract, saying that it had done what was expected in a written agreement and that Jackson and his company were not entitled to "retain the benefits of those services in equity and good conscience without paying to Prescient an amount to be determined at trial."
A lawyer for Jackson did not immediately return a telephone message for comment Monday.
CONRAD, Mont. (AP) — Prosecutors reached a plea deal Monday with the man accused of plotting to abduct David Letterman's young son, allowing him to plead guilty to lesser charges and dropping a kidnapping-related charge in return.
Kelly Frank pleaded guilty in state District Court to felony theft, misdemeanor obstruction and possessing illegally killed wildlife, a felony. In exchange, Teton County Attorney Joe Coble dropped a felony charge of solicitation, which accused Frank of plotting to kidnap the talk show host's son from Letterman's ranch.
The agreement calls for a 10-year sentence on the theft charge and lesser terms on the other pleas.
Frank, a convicted felon who had been hired to do painting work on Letterman's ranch, was arrested in March. Investigators said he told an acquaintance of his plan to abduct Letterman's then 16-month-old son and the boy's nanny and hold them for ransom. The acquaintance told authorities that Frank said he believed he could extort $5 million from Letterman by holding the two for 48 hours.
Frank had been scheduled to go to trial next Monday.
Coble said he agreed to dismiss the solicitation charge because he believed the plea agreement accomplished what he wanted.
"Kelly Frank needed to go to prison. This gets that done," he said after Monday's court hearing. "I was confident in the case. However, this plea agreement comes to the result I had hoped for without the risk of a jury trial or an appeal."
The agreement calls for the 10-year sentence on the theft charge, which accused Frank of overcharging Letterman between $1,000 and $1,500 for painting. It also calls for a six-month sentence on the obstruction charge and five years on the wildlife possession charge. The latter two sentences would be served concurrent to the 10-year term.
The obstruction charge accused Frank of lying to investigators who originally questioned him about the plot. The wildlife possession charged was filed only Friday as part of the plea agreement and accused Frank of having large mule deer buck that had been poached in January or February.
District Judge Marc Buyske said he would decide whether to accept the plea agreement after reviewing a pre-sentence investigation report. Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 13.
Frank's attorney, Jim Hunt of Helena, said his client agreed to the plea deal because he understood "that there was a risk in going to trial."
"He feels badly for the anxiety that this has caused the victims in this case and he wishes it hadn't happened," said Hunt, who insisted Frank's remarks about a kidnapping were merely "light-hearted conversation" and not a serious plan.
"There was no intention by Kelly Frank to kidnap David Letterman's son," he told reporters.
At the time of his arrest in March, Frank was on probation in another case in which he pleaded guilty to stalking and intimidating a woman who accused him of kidnapping and raping her.
Coble said he talked with Letterman in advance of reaching the plea agreement.
"I think he trusts my judgment," Coble said.
Neither Letterman, his son Harry Joseph, nor the boy's mother, Regina Lasko, were in Montana at the time the alleged plot was uncovered. But according to an affidavit filed in the case, Frank had told the acquaintance that he knew Letterman, Lasko and their son would be visiting the ranch soon, and that Frank had a key to the house and knew where the baby slept.
Letterman bought the 2,700-acre Montana spread along the edge of the rugged Rocky Mountain Front in 1999.
Tom Keaney, spokesman for Letterman's production company, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.
Felon with long rap sheet sentenced to 99 years for stealing cell phone
WACO, Texas (AP) — A convicted felon who went on profanity-laced tirades in court and told jurors he didn't care if they gave him life in prison was sentenced to 99 years for stealing a cell phone.
Jurors deliberated about 15 minutes before convicting Glenn Alvin Reed of robbery Thursday.
Reed, 31, was convicted as a habitual criminal because he had prior felony convictions for injury to an elderly person and robbery, which bumped the minimum sentence from five to 25 years. He also had 15 misdemeanor convictions dating to 1991.
Reed testified during both phases of the trial, swearing and telling jurors he didn't care if they sent him to prison for life.
"There's things I choose to do, like, if I go in a store and choose to take a Snicker's bar," Reed testified. "If you catch me, you catch me. If not, I'm going to go home and eat it up and go on about my business, dog."
At one point, he made an obscene hand gesture toward a retired Texas Ranger who testified against him. Reed had tried to rob the retired officer four years earlier but was overpowered by him.
In the cell phone incident, the owner had another phone with him and called the missing cell phone's number as he walked up the street. He could hear its distinctive "Aggie War Hymn" ring coming from Reed's pocket, so he followed him and demanded the phone back.
Reed gave back the phone but then hit the owner several times.
Prosecutors had offered Reed a 15-year plea deal before trial, but he rejected it.
COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — A power outage stranded about 130 people on a ride at the Orange County Fair for about 30 minutes during the weekend, officials said.
Fairgoers on the Sky Ride, which resembles a ski lift, got stuck when electricity failed in parts of Costa Mesa around 5:18 p.m. Sunday. A generator got the ride moving again.
The fair was among 2,501 Southern California Edison customers in Costa Mesa affected by an outage caused by underground equipment failure, said utility spokesman Paul Klein.
"It was a city issue, not a fairground issue," fair spokesman Jeff Wilson said.
About three-quarters of the ride's 89 chairs, which each seat three people, were filled during the outage, said the fair's Lisa MacDonald.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three years ago, Francine Corcoran set out to walk every mile of the city's streets.
On Sunday, at the foot of the Lake Street-Marshall Avenue Bridge, she said she had reached her goal.
"It's no big thing — 1,071 miles — been there, done that," Corcoran, 55, said Friday as she approached her personal finish line.
About 15 friends showered Corcoran with flowers and champagne. She teared up, then exhorted her friends to emulate her: "Minneapolis is a beautiful city — go on out there!"
Corcoran walked a few miles a day, logging her progress with a felt-tip highlighter on a city map tacked to her basement wall.
Corcoran has made walking part of her life since her childhood in Hokah in far southeastern Minnesota. She regularly walks 3 miles from her home in the Hiawatha neighborhood to her job at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Farmer Amphol Wangboon was hesitant to give up his beloved Thong Khaow for marriage until he found her the perfect match and a dowry he couldn't refuse: truckloads of fresh grass, hay, maize and $2,400.
So Thong Khaow and her new mate, Thong Kham — a pair of rare dwarf Brahman cattle — were married Sunday morning in a traditional Thai ceremony featuring a banquet for more than 2,000 human guests in central Sa Kaew province.
The animals wore silk outfits and jasmine garlands. Other beasts, including goats, also attended the wedding.
Amphol said Thong Kham's owner, Krachang Kanokprasert, offered him the cash and the feed dowry as part of the wedding festivities.
"I wasn't going to sell her — she's a special find — but Krachang said he would take care of her and wanted the couple for a display in front of his restaurant," Amphol said. "If he takes good care of her, I don't mind giving her to him."
JACKSONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Three strippers and two nightclub managers have been arrested for allegedly spanking a trucker at his 31st birthday bash and severely bruising his backside.
After his friends paid $25, Keith Lowery was handcuffed and spanked with a 3-foot-long paddle and a belt while one of the strippers restrained his head with her legs, investigators with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office said.
Kelly Eslick, 21, a stripper at Sensations nightclub in Jacksonville admitted to police that she used a paddle drilled with holes for less air resistance while the two other dancers, Lisa Nolen, 23, and Charlene Smith, 23, used the belt.
The three women were charged with misdemeanor battery and they and two other club employees, James Daugherty, 31, and Dena Mitchell, 30, were charged with participating in an obscene performance at a live public show, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Investigators said the club has agreed to discontinue all spankings. All five club employees were arraigned Friday and received an Aug. 4 court date in Pulaski County District Court.
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) — Being handcuffed behind his back wasn't enough to stop a vandalism suspect from driving away in a Wayne County Sheriff's Department cruiser.
Deputies answered a call about a man throwing rocks at a house in Highland Park about 5:50 a.m. Sunday, Deputy Chief Robert Dickerson said. They interviewed the alleged victim, then placed traditional bracelet-style handcuffs on the suspect and put him in the back seat.
The man managed to drive away, and the car was found abandoned several blocks away nearly six hours later, sheriff's spokesman John Roach told the Detroit Free Press. The suspect remained at large.
"It's happened before other times," Dickerson said. "This gentleman has a rather small frame, about 5 feet, 7 inches, and if the cuffs are not on tight, they can slip off."
It was not clear where the deputies were at the time the cruiser was driven away.
Posted in Backpage on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 12:00 am
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