KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man allegedly involved in a series of church burglaries was charged with murder after DNA evidence from one of the churches linked him to the stabbing death of his aunt nearly 16 years ago.
Jerloin C. Weaver, 34, was never charged in the church burglaries because he helped implicate two other men in the crimes. But when blood found at one church matched DNA evidence from the 1988 slaying, police sought a search warrant to obtain Weaver's DNA.
Tests completed Wednesday showed a match and Weaver was arrested. An innocent plea was entered for him Friday on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action, and he is being held on $500,000 cash bond.
Although Weaver cooperated with police and has provided details of the slaying, an innocent plea is standard until an attorney for Weaver is appointed, said John Liebnitz, a prosecution spokesman.
Claudia E. Walker, 58, was stabbed 53 times and strangled in her home on April 3, 1988.
According to court records, Weaver told police he attacked his aunt after she caught him trying to take cash from her purse. He allegedly took $14 then fled, returning later for a television and stereo which were traded for crack cocaine.
Associated Press
INDIANOLA, Iowa -- A farmer was sentenced to life in prison Friday for killing his neighbor over a disputed piece of land, then dumping the body in a well and covering it up with hay bales.
Rodney Heemstra, 44, was convicted of murder in October, admitting that he shot his 52-year-old neighbor, Tom Lyon. Heemstra claimed it was in self-defense.
"You have destroyed a happy family, all because of your greed," Lyon's widow, Ronda, said at Heemstra's sentencing.
The farmers had been arguing over a parcel of land that Lyon was leasing, and Heemstra had recently bought.
Investigators followed a trail of blood through a cornfield that led to the body, which was stuffed headfirst in the well.
Associated Press
ATLANTA -- What was once a house of sin will soon become a house of worship.
A nondenominational church will lease the Gold Club building and hold its first services there early next year. The infamous Atlanta strip club was shut down by the federal government after a sensational racketeering trial in 2001.
Church members will start cleaning out the building this weekend.
"We're going to take something that was a mess and turn it into something good and usable," said the Rev. Dan Garrett of the Christian Church of Buckhead.
The club was closed after owner Steve Kaplan pleaded guilty in 2001 to racketeering charges in a case that featured strippers, mobsters and pro athletes.
The trial became a celebrity spectacle, with athletes such as basketball star Patrick Ewing and Atlanta Braves outfielder Andruw Jones testifying about their escapades.
A group of developers paid $5.25 million for the property this week. The church will lease the building until it is torn down to make way for a condominium tower in the spring.
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Authorities said Friday that gunfire that hit two school buses this week is connected to 16 other shootings along a stretch of highway.
Seven of the earlier shootings on Interstate 270 on the city's south side have been linked by ballistic tests. Authorities said there's no ballistic evidence in the latest cases, but the shooting of one bus was near a house struck by a bullet that's been matched to some of the shootings.
The shootings began in May; a woman passenger in a car was killed in one shooting last month.
South-Western City Schools, a district of about 20,000 students located southwest of the highway, canceled classes Thursday and Friday after bullet marks were found near the taillights of its buses during maintenance inspections on Wednesday. The district's two-week winter break begins next week.
A message left with the district seeking comment Friday was not immediately returned.
Businesses have increased to $40,000 the reward for information leading to an arrest and charges, Martin said. More than 2,350 tips have been called in.
Associated Press
BALTIMORE -- A 2-year-old Johns Hopkins cancer patient died after apparently receiving excessive levels of potassium in an intravenous-feeding solution, the hospital said Friday.
The Johns Hopkins Children's Center said human error was the most likely explanation for the Dec. 4 death of Brianna Cohen. The hospital said it accepted full responsibility.
Brianna's parents said at a news conference Friday that the statement issued by the hospital failed to entirely portray what happened to their daughter.
They said she died not from a single mistake, "but a cascade of failures" in a system without enough safeguards.
"Losing a child is one thing, but losing a child the way it happened with Brianna is really hard," the child's mother, Mindie Cohen, said before breaking into tears.
An autopsy was not performed on the child at the family's request, but tests following the death showed "excessively high levels of potassium" in the Total Parenteral Nutrition solution, which contains proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, the statement said.
The amount of potassium was four to five times higher than called for, the Children's Center said.
"Although our analysis is incomplete, and we are as yet unable to recreate the precise series of events that occurred, Hopkins fully accepts that the most likely explanation for this tragic event is that human error occurred in the manual formulation of the solutions," the statement said.
Miscommunication between the hospital and one of its pharmacies may have been a contributing factor, the hospital said.
In response to the death, the hospital said the preparation of all Home Care TNP solutions for children and adults will be done by fully automated systems now used for Hopkins inpatients.
The family's attorney, Gary A. Wais, said Brianna's potassium level steadily rose in three days leading to her death. The father, Mark Cohen, said the hospital staff ignored the trend.
A lawsuit has not been filed, and Wais said there has been no discussion regarding a settlement.
In 2001, the Children's Center launched a patient safety initiative after the death of an 18-month-old. The toddler died after the staff failed to treat her for severe dehydration.
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson plans to gather with family and friends at his Neverland Ranch this weekend -- an event described by his spokesman as "reinforcement and support" for the entertainer returning to his estate after being charged with child molestation.
"It's a private gathering to welcome him home to Neverland," Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said Friday. "The plan is for him to be there."
Jackson has been spending time in Las Vegas and other undisclosed locations since he surrendered to Santa Barbara County authorities Nov. 20 and posted $3 million bail.
The weekend event was described as a combination holiday party and thank you to supporters.
Backerman said that the guest list for Saturday's event originally included about 300 people, but seemed to be expanding daily and may be double that.
"There will be a goodly chunk of people including celebrities," he said, but added he did not have any names yet of famous people who might attend.
Jackson was charged Thursday with seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. Jackson's lawyer has declared he is innocent.
The gathering at Jackson's place was originally billed as a Jackson family reunion at which relatives would be taken on a tour to see damage done by sheriff's deputies when they searched Neverland. But the focus has changed.
"It's for family and friends to say thank you from Michael to people he loves and who have supported him," said Brian Oxman, a lawyer and close Jackson family friend who will attend the event. "It's not a party. It's not a pep rally. It's not hoopla or celebration."
"They wanted to do something simple and quiet," said Oxman, "and the fact that it's mushroomed into these huge proportions is just the nature of Michael's life."
With legal proceedings on hold until Jackson's arraignment Jan. 16, legal experts said Jackson should try to fade out of the headlines as much as possible.
"He should disappear," said attorney Dana Cole. "Maybe a couple of charity visits would be OK. But he should stay out of situations where the press will be throwing questions at him."
Jackson's plans for the coming weeks may remove him from the center of the publicity storm. He is heading for England to fulfill some contractual obligations, his lawyer has said. Authorities in Santa Barbara County approved the trip.
Backerman said he doesn't know what Jackson will be doing during the trip. There have been reports that he will be promoting his latest CD, "Number Ones," which is doing in better in the United Kingdom than it is in the United States.
Ben Todd, deputy show business editor at The Sunday Mirror in London, called British fans' response to Jackson "amazing."
"You don't get worse publicity than he had and even then the album went straight to No. 1," Todd said. "Despite the allegations, despite his increasing eccentricity and despite the fact he hasn't released a decent album for 10 or 15 years, his fans are incredibly loyal."
Illinois jury indicts woman and boyfriend in drowning of her three children
Associated Press
CLINTON, Ill. -- A mother and her boyfriend were indicted on murder charges in the drownings of her three children last September.
The indictments against Amanda Hamm and Maurice Lagrone Jr. replace nearly identical charges filed against them last week, eliminating the need for preliminary hearings, where prosecutors would have had to disclose details of the crimes.
Hamm and Lagrone are charged in the deaths of Christopher Hamm, 6, Austin Brown, 3, and Kyleigh Hamm, 23 months. Authorities accuse the pair of putting the children in a car and then watching as it rolled into Clinton Lake.
Hamm's lawyer, Steve Skelton, said he had not seen the indictments, which were returned late Thursday.
But, Skelton said he has talked to Hamm, noting "she's distressed and I'd say probably depressed."
The charges also carry aggravating factors that could, upon conviction, make Hamm and Lagrone eligible for a death sentence.
Hamm and Lagrone are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 7. Neither has entered a plea, and they remain jailed on $5 million bond each.
Associated Press
NAPLES, Fla. -- A suspect in a jewelry heist got caught after he tried to get away -- in the sheriff's car.
The two men dressed in black jumped into a car they apparently thought was a getaway car, only to bolt again when they noticed the driver wore a badge. They were fleeing as a sheriff's helicopter and K-9 units searched for burglary suspects shortly after a break-in.
Combing a gated community for men who had stolen jewelry from a home, Collier County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Maxfield saw two men run out of the bushes and toward his unmarked car.
The men's backs were turned as they got into the car, and they didn't notice his sheriff's jacket until they were inside.
Maxfield said he yelled "sheriff's office, freeze!" But the men scrambled out of the car and started running.
Maxfield caught up with Dale McClain, 45, who was later charged with grand theft and burglary.
The other man escaped and the jewelry has not been found, Maxfield said.
"For me to be in that place, at that time, in that car, everything must have been in alignment," Maxfield said.
McClain was jailed on $105,000 bail.
SANTA MONICA -- Longtime peace activist Jerry Rubin belatedly celebrated his 60th birthday by registering to vote with his new name: Jerry Peace Activist Rubin.
Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber on Thursday granted Rubin's request to legally change his name to the monicker which has long appeared in the telephone directory to avoid confusion with the late "Chicago Seven" defendant Jerry Rubin who lived in the same area.
The bearded activist, who went to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge the city's refusal to print "peace activist" as his occupation on the ballot, pleaded before Haber on his birthday Dec. 11 to grant the name change.
"I even put on long pants for court. Anything for peace," Rubin said.
But Haber wanted to think about it, and a dejected Rubin left the courtroom.
"I'm very pleased," said a jubilant Rubin, whose crusade for peace began in June 1969. "It's a good thing for peace and a good thing for activism."
Rubin conceded the name change won't have a dramatic day-to-day impact.
"Most people just call me 'Hey you!' You can still call me Jerry. But I'll sign everything Jerry Peace Activist Rubin."
The city refused to print the "peace activist" designation after Rubin's name when he unsuccessfully ran for a City Council seat in 2000. City election officials contended the phrase violated state rules that ban misleading occupational descriptions.
Rubin sued in federal court and lost. He appealed and lost. He then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined earlier this year to hear the case.
WESTON, Fla. -- A mother of three got a lot more than breakfast at a McDonald's drive-thru.
Janice Meissner says she ordered a bagel and a Diet Coke last week, but when she got her bag it seemed "super heavy."
That was because it had hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in a sealed plastic bag - money that turned out to be the restaurant's bank deposit.
McDonald's officials, who wouldn't say how much money was in the bag, said the deposit was placed in a food bag as a security procedure to make it less conspicuous before it was taken to the bank. They said it was accidentally left too close to the drive-thru window.
"Someone didn't check twice before sending it out the window, obviously," said spokeswoman Beth Plotkin.
Meissner, who had just dropped off her 5-year-old daughter at preschool, paused for a moment before backing up her minivan to the pickup window and returning the money to the employee who handed her the bag.
"I said, 'Do you want to know what was in this bag?' " Meissner recalled. "She turned white as a ghost. She didn't realize the money was missing yet. She thanked me. And that was that."
McDonald's officials said Thursday they are going to send Meissner a thank-you letter and $50 in gift certificates.
Associated Press
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. -- Eminem's ex-wife, Kimberly Mathers, has pleaded guilty to a drug charge and a driving offense as part of an agreement to resolve two drug cases, the prosecutor's office said.
Mathers, who's been the subject of some of the rapper's songs, appeared Thursday before Circuit Court Judge Edward A. Servitto and entered the pleas to a charge of possessing 25 grams or less of cocaine and failing to give adequate space to an emergency vehicle. The charges came from a June traffic stop in St. Clair Shores.
A third charge of driving with a suspended license will be dropped and a charge of maintaining a drug house, from a Warren hotel party in September where police confiscated marijuana and Ecstasy, will be dismissed, said David Portuesi, chief of the drug crimes unit for the Macomb County prosecutor's office.
"Probation is an outcome that's recommended here within the state guidelines," Portuesi told The Macomb Daily for Friday's editions.
While the St. Clair Shores case was pending, the 28-year-old Mathers failed to appear in court. On Nov. 1, she broke or removed an electronic tether designed to monitor her whereabouts. Mathers turned herself in later that month.
Portuesi said the judge has removed the tether and house arrest as conditions of Mathers' bond.
Defense attorney Michael Sinutko asked for Mathers to get consideration under a legal provision where offenders convicted of their first drug crime can abide by probation or other terms and get their convictions sealed or expunged. Servitto likely will rule on the request at Mathers' Jan. 21 sentencing.
EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- She knows the way to San Jose -- and East Orange as well.
Dionne Warwick, an East Orange, N.J., native, dropped by her old school Thursday to give presents to every one of the 561 students and 77 staff members.
The singer said she stayed up most of the night before wrapping the gifts for those at the former Lincoln School, which since has been renamed Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics ad Entrepreneurship.
"You will never know how proud I am to be associated with you," said Warwick, 63, who now lives in Brazil. "You have done magnificently."
Her hits include "Walk on By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" and "That's What Friends Are For."
WOODLAND HILLS -- Polished fashionistas like Jennifer Aniston -- who plays a Ralph Lauren staffer on "Friends" -- and the makeover crew on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" were singled out for having top tresses in a recent celebrity hair survey.
To determine the year's best and worst in hair, Wella conducted unscientific surveys after the MTV Video Music Awards, the Emmys and the American Music Awards.
Aniston won best overall hair and best highlights, while other TV stars won some other categories: "Miss Match" star Alicia Silverstone's golden locks earned top honors, Jennifer Garner of "Alias" was named best brilliant brunette and "Will & Grace's" Debra Messing was called the most ravishing redhead.
The only pop star to rate a "best" rating was Britney Spears, who was named best blond bombshell along with Pamela Anderson. Christina Aguilera and Pink made Wella's list, but in a "worst" category. Aguilera's "Dirrty" black mane and Pink's streaks were named worst female hair color. Rounding out the "worst" category was red carpet interviewer and E! host Melissa Rivers, who was singled out for the worst red carpet hair.
When it came to the men, the Wella results were mixed. Besides the "Queer Eye" cast, "best" hair honors went to stringy-haired rocker Kid Rock and actor Rob Lowe. For worst male hair, respondents singled out Justin Timberlake as the star they'd like to see with longer hair and Tim McGraw and Adam Sandler as the celebrities who should stop hiding their hair under hats.
NEW YORK -- This year's special guest for the Times Square countdown to 2004 will be Shoshana Johnson, who spent 22 days as a prisoner of war in Iraq after being shot during an ambush.
Johnson was in a war "that was started right across the street from where we are today, on 9-11," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference Thursday at a hotel facing the World Trade Center site.
He called the 30-year-old former U.S. Army specialist from El Paso, Texas -- who has relatives in New York City -- "the perfect choice to be our New Year's guest." He said she'll push the globe triggering the drop of a 1,070-pound Waterford crystal ball and lead a 60-second countdown to 2004.
Johnson, who was discharged from the Army last week, told New Yorkers: "Thank you for your support of my Army, my armed forces, my fellow soldiers, who were willing to do what is necessary for our freedom, for us to sit back and enjoy such a wonderful New Year's Eve."
She was a cook for the 507th Maintenance Company when it was ambushed in March. She was shot in both ankles and captured with five other soldiers, including Jessica Lynch. Nine soldiers died in the attack.
Johnson was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War Medal for her service in Iraq.
SYDNEY, Australia -- Nicole Kidman says she was so humiliated after her split with actor-husband Tom Cruise that she had to be coaxed out of bed to go back to work.
"I sort of thought at that time that I was going to curl up in a ball and just never get out of bed," the 36-year-old actress told Australian television's Nine network Thursday. "But I have two kids and I had to get out of bed."
Cruise and Kidman divorced in 2001 after about 10 years of marriage.
She was in her hometown for the Australian premiere of her latest movie, "Cold Mountain," directed by Anthony Minghella and also starring Jude Law and Renee Zellweger.
The Civil War epic received eight Golden Globe nominations Thursday, including a lead dramatic actress nomination for Kidman, who plays a prim Southerner, and a best director nomination for Minghella.
"She has got a great appetite for work," said Minghella, who also attended the Sydney premiere. "She has got a laugh like a hyena."
Kidman won the best-actress Oscar this year for her portrayal of troubled author Virginia Woolf in "The Hours."
"Cold Mountain" opens in the United States on Christmas Day.
NEW YORK -- A court ruling has stopped hip-hop magazine The Source from distributing a disc of a previously unreleased recording by Eminem that includes phrases such as "black girls are dumb."
Manhattan federal Judge Gerald Lynch granted the rapper's lawyers an injunction preventing the magazine from enclosing the CD in its February issue, which goes on sale in mid-January. The magazine had planned extensive coverage of the recording.
The Source said it exposed the Eminem track while investigating the forces corrupting hip-hop, including racism.
"The fact that our opinion regarding the prevalence of racism in the music industry is being censored is just another step in the effort to cover up the racial bias destroying hip-hop culture," The Source said in a statement Thursday.
Eminem's record company, Interscope Records, declined comment on the ruling.
The rapper's lawyers had argued that distributing the CD violates copyright laws.
Last month, The Source held a news conference to accuse Eminem, who is white, of racism, citing lyrics on the recording such as "black girls are dumb, and white girls are good chicks."
The tape was provided to the magazine by "three white hip-hop fans from Detroit who were peers of Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, in the early '90s, at the time of the recording," the Source said last month.
The 31-year-old rapper has said the recording was "foolishness" that he'd made as a teen "out of anger, stupidity and frustration" after breaking up with a black girlfriend.
Besides winning several Grammys, Eminem won an Oscar this year for his song "Lose Yourself" from the film "8 Mile."
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The family of Pauline Phillips, better known as advice columnist Abigail Van Buren, has teamed up with an anonymous donor to contribute $10 million to the Mayo Clinic for research into Alzheimer's disease.
Phillips, who began writing Dear Abby in 1956, formally retired last year after she was found to have Alzheimer's. She hadn't been actively writing the column for several years.
Alzheimer's, which afflicts more than 4 million Americans, is a progressive degenerative disease that results in impaired memory, judgment and behavior. There's no cure, although some drugs appear to slow its progress in some patients.
The gift, announced Wednesday, is the largest donation to fight the disease ever given to the Mayo Clinic, which said it will rename its research center the Mayo Clinic Abigail Van Buren Alzheimer's Disease Research Clinic.
Phillips, 85, lives in Minnetonka with her husband, Morton.
Her twin sister, Esther "Eppie" Lederer, also doled out advice to thousands of readers under the name Ann Landers. Lederer died last year.
"This is a very important gift," said Dr. Ronald Petersen, who heads the Alzheimer's research center at the Mayo Clinic. "We're moving toward prediction and prevention for this disease, and the research this finances can take us pretty far down that road."
The gift includes $5 million from Phillips' family and $5 million given by an anonymous donor from the Washington, D.C., area who isn't related to the Phillips family, Mayo officials said.
On the Net:
NEW YORK -- Twin teen actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen can stop checking their mailbox for college acceptances.
New York University has invited them to join the class of 2008, People magazine reports in its Dec. 29 issue.
"Like every other senior, they had been sweating out their acceptance and they are absolutely thrilled," their representative, Michael Pagnotta, is quoted as saying. "They have always taken academics very seriously. This is a major achievement for them."
The magazine says the twins will be enrolled next fall at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, a college within NYU that lets students tailor their own curriculums.
Their new movie, "New York Minute," will be released next year.
Mary-Kate and Ashley, now 17, alternated the role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom "Full House," which ran from 1987-95.
On the Net:
http://www.marykateandashley.com/
NEW YORK -- Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, stars of Fox network's "The Simple Life," will help count down the final moments of 2003 on "America's Party," airing live on New Year's Eve from Las Vegas.
Ashanti, Metallica, Puddle of Mudd, Hootie and the Blowfish and keith urban will be among the performers, Fox announced Thursday. The show will be broadcast from the Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino (11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. EST).
"Paris and Nicole turned Altus, Ark., upside-down on 'The Simple Life' and were the talk of the 2003 Billboard Music Awards, so imagine what celebratory antics the beautiful duo will get into as they help ring in the New Year on 'America's Party,' " Fox said.
On the Net:
Posted in Backpage on Saturday, December 20, 2003 12:00 am Updated: 9:05 pm.
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