Associated Press

HOUSTON - In a dramatic turnaround from her first murder trial, Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday in the drowning of her children in the bathtub.

The 42-year-old woman will be committed to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat. If she had been convicted of murder, she would have been sentenced to life in prison.

Yates stared wide-eyed as the verdict was read, then bowed her head and wept quietly. Her relatives also shed tears, and the children's father, Rusty Yates, muttered, "Wow!" as he, too, cried.

Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of murder, rejecting claims that she was so psychotic she thought she was saving the souls of her five children by killing them. An appeals court overturned the convictions because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness.

Yates' chief attorney, George Parnham, called Wednesday's verdict a "watershed for mental illness and the criminal justice system."

Wendell Odom, another of Yates' attorneys, suggested that attitudes have changed since the first trial: "Five years ago there were a lot of people who could not get past the anger of what happened."

Yates' 2002 conviction triggered debate over whether Texas' legal standard for mental illness was too rigid, whether the courts treated postpartum depression seriously enough, and whether a mother who killed could ever find sympathy and understanding in a tough-on-crime state like Texas.

Yates drowned 6-month-old Mary, 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, 5-year-old John and 7-year-old Noah in their Houston-area home in June 2001. Her attorneys said she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a delusional state, believed that Satan was inside her and that killing the youngsters would save them from hell.

"The jury looked past what happened and looked at why it happened," Rusty Yates, who divorced his wife last year, said outside the courthouse. "Yes, she was psychotic. That's the whole truth."

Juror Todd Frank said it was clear to him that Yates had psychosis before, during and after the drownings.

"She needs help," Frank said. "Although she's treated, I think she's worse than she was before. I think she'll probably need treatment for the rest of her life."

Prosecutors had maintained that Yates failed to meet the state's definition of insanity: that she was so severely mentally ill that she did not know her actions were wrong.

"I'm very disappointed," prosecutor Kaylynn Williford said. "For five years, we've tried to seek justice for these children."

Prosecutors had sought Yates' execution in the first trial but could not in the second because the first jury had rejected a death sentence.

That could help explain the different verdict in the retrial, said Charles P. Ewing, a law and psychiatry professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Juries considering execution tend to be more harsh, he said.

Another difference is that awareness of mental health issues has grown since the first trial, he said.

"There is a bit more sympathy in these cases than there used to be," said Ewing, who was not involved with the case but wrote a book, "Minds on Trial," with a chapter about it.

Yates will be sent after a commitment hearing Thursday to North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, a prison-like maximum-security facility encircled by a 17-foot fence and guard towers. Experts say it can take decades before psychiatrists decide that a patient is healthy enough to be released, and even then a judge can reject those findings.

The jury, split evenly between men and women, deliberated for about 13 hours over three days. The jurors, in accordance with state law, had not been told that Yates would be committed to a mental institution if found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Yates did not testify. Her lawyers presented much of the same evidence as in the first trial, including half a dozen psychiatrists who testified that Yates was insane.

During a videotaped 2001 jail interview, Yates told a psychiatrist that her children had not been progressing normally because she was a bad mother, and that she killed them because "in their innocence, they would go to heaven."

The jury was told about Yates' two hospitalizations after two suicide attempts in 1999, and about her stays in a mental hospital a few months before the drownings.

But prosecution witness Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that Yates killed the youngsters because she felt overwhelmed and inadequate as a mother, not to save their souls. He said that it was not until a day after the killings that she talked about Satan and saving her children from hell.

Welner also said Yates showed that she knew her actions were wrong by waiting until her husband left for work to kill them, covering the bodies with a sheet and calling 911 soon after the crime.

Yates' 2002 conviction was overturned after Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist, told the jury that before the drownings, NBC ran a "Law & Order" episode about a woman who was acquitted by reason of insanity after drowning her children. It was later learned that no such episode existed.

As in the first trial, Yates was tried only in the deaths of Mary, John and Noah. Although the district attorney could pursue charges in the deaths of Luke and Paul, prosecutor Joe Owmby said he is recommending against such a move.

Six firefighters injured in Nevada wildfire; two hospitalized

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Six firefighters were treated after a wildfire in remote north-central Nevada swept over their position, fire officials said Wednesday.

Two of the six firefighters, all members of the Eldorado National Forest Hotshot crew based near Placerville were flown to the burn center at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, about 350 miles south.

Frank Mosbacher, public information officer in Placerville, said the two hospitalized firefighters received first- and second-degree burns over 50 percent of their bodies. They were expected to undergo treatment for seven to 10 days.

The other four firefighters were released after being treated at Humboldt General Hospital in Winnemucca for minor burns, blisters and smoke inhalation.

A federal interagency serious accident investigation team was scheduled to arrive in Winnemucca on Wednesday. Peliminary indications blamed wind - possibly a dust devil - for sweeping flames over the firefighters as they fought the fire Tuesday.

The fire was one of more than a dozen lightning-sparked fires that have blackened more than 110 square miles of the state in the past week.

The largest fires burning in the state are the Hambly fire, which has covered 25,000 acres 13 miles northeast of Hiko; the 15,000-acre Range fire 16 miles southeast of Hiko; and the New York Peak fire at 6,000 acres.

Elsewhere, California firefighters aided by cooler weather reported steady progress on the Horse fire, which has burned for nearly four days through the Cleveland National Forest east of San Diego.

"The temperatures were a little cooler. The winds were calmer. Humidities were still on the high side," said Roxanne Provaznik of the California Department of Forestry.

The blaze had burned 16,455 acres, or more than 25 square miles. It triggered evacuation of the small community of Carveacre, and a half-dozen other little clusters of homes were on notice they might be next.

Range fires in eastern Oregon burned on tens of thousands of acres of grazing land. The largest blaze was in rangeland east of Steens Mountain in the state's southeastern corner. The Happy Valley fire grew to 60,000 acres, or 94 square miles. Firefighters said they were trying to protect features in a wilderness study area and six threatened structures, and they didn't expect containment until the end of the week.

The 10,000-acre Foster Gulch fire, burning in rangeland at the southern edge of Oregon's Wallowa Mountains, threatened about 20 buildings, and firefighters said weather could intensify the fire Wednesday.

In western Montana, ground crews aided by helicopters and air tankers kept a fast-growing wildfire from several homes, but officials say at least a dozen houses are in the fire's path and remain in danger.

The blaze, which started east of Florence Tuesday afternoon and grew to 500 acres by Wednesday morning, destroyed one trailer house near Florence early on and led to the evacuation of about a dozen homes, fire information officials said.

On the Net:

National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov

Kansas father pleads guilty to killing sons, 6 and 4, by setting fire to camper

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A man accused of setting fire to a camper as his two young sons slept inside pleaded guilty Wednesday to reduced murder charges, sparing him the death penalty. - One day into his retrial, Robert Fox admitted he caused the deaths of Chance Fox, 6, and Rowdy Fox, 4. The boys lived with their mother in Hooker, Okla., and were visiting their father in southwest Kansas when they died March 27, 2004.

Initially charged with capital murder and first-degree murder, Fox pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless second-degree murder. He faces nine to 41 years in prison on each count.

Attorney General Phill Kline said the defense has agreed not to request a lesser sentence, and prosecutors will ask that the terms be served consecutively at a hearing to be set later this week.

Fox, 55, is accused of killed his sons because of a fight with their mother, Angie McCane, according to earlier testimony.

Claude Burns, the boys' maternal grandfather, was unhappy with the plea agreement. "I'd rather see (Fox) buried," Burns told The Hutchinson News.

Fox's first trial ended in a mistrial in February after prosecutors realized they did not have a report from a fire detective.

Prosecutors described Fox then as a man who was familiar with fire. A week before the deadly blaze, he had taken Chance to a fire station and asked for a tour.

But the defense portrayed him as an overmedicated man who mixed drugs with alcohol after finding out he had colon cancer. He was in the camper when it caught fire and escaped with burns.

Truck collides with train in Colorado; at least 6 injured

DENVER (AP) - A tractor-trailer slammed into a train carrying tourists in southern Colorado on Wednesday, injuring at least six people and leaving dozens of passengers stranded, authorities said.

Sheriff's officials were investigating what caused the truck to strike the San Luis Express in Blanca around 4:30 p.m. and catch fire.

"We felt the impact, and all the debris started coming in the windows," said passenger Connie Frick of Aurora. "When everything came to a stop, the fire was right in front of us. It was a massive fire."

Ed Ellis, president of Rio Grande Scenic Rail Excursions, which runs the train's trips, said five of the 56 tourists aboard were treated for bumps and scrapes and released from a hospital. Ellis said the driver of the truck was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries.

The train was traveling 30 mph and was about 250 feet from the crossing when crew members noticed the truck heading toward the tracks and used the emergency brakes, he said.

"He wasn't going to stop," Ellis said.

Dozens of tourists packed into Lu's Main Street Cafe to wait for buses to take them to Alamosa, said Salina Pacheco, said a waitress at the restaurant.

The San Luis Express departs from Alamosa and passes through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on its way to La Veta before it returns back to Alamosa.

Blanca is about 160 miles south of Denver.

Videotape evidence tossed in Girls Gone Wild case

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - Hundreds of hours of videotape seized by deputies in their 2003 search of "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joseph Francis' condominium cannot be used in court, a judge ruled.

Circuit Judge Dedee Costello suppressed all evidence Tuesday gathered during the searches. Defense attorneys argued the search warrants were not specific about what deputies were looking for in the condominium.

Francis was arrested after two 17-year-old girls claimed a "Girls Gone Wild" cameraman videotaped them in sexual situations. Authorities say Francis targeted underage girls for his videos.

Deputies seized 700 items that formed the basis for most of the 42 charges against Francis and his company. The case is set for trial this year, and Francis, 33, could face decades in prison if convicted.

State Attorney Steve Meadows said he would have to wait until the order is finalized to know how badly it would damage his case.

"The obvious strength of this case is that much of the illegal conduct alleged is caught on videotape," he said.

4 California condor chicks die of West Nile at breeding center

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Efforts to save the critically endangered California condor suffered a minor setback last week when four 3-month-old chicks died of the West Nile virus, biologists said.

Their demise leaves just eight condor hatchlings at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, where biologists have been breeding the federally protected scavengers since 1994.

These are the first condors to die from the mosquito-borne virus at the center.

Bill Heinrich, the center's species restoration manager, said the deaths aren't a devastating blow to his $1.3 million annual condor breeding program. But they mean the facility in 2006 will provide fewer than half the 20 birds it took last year for release into the wild.

Condors, which have nearly 10-foot wingspans, have been listed as endangered since 1967. They once ranged from Mexico to Canada, but by 1987, there were just 22 documented birds. The population was decimated by shooting, lead and pesticide poisoning, and egg collecting.

Today, California condors still number just 299, with 159 in captivity and 140 in the wild in Arizona, California and Mexico, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Most Boise-produced condors are sent to northern Arizona for release.

Man who died after riding Florida roller coaster had health problems

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A man who died after riding a roller coaster at Busch Gardens suffered from high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries, a medical examiner said Wednesday.

Thomas M. Welch, 52, of Palm Harbor, had trouble breathing, then collapsed after riding the Gwazi roller coaster Monday morning. Paramedics put a tube in Welch after they noticed a pink, frothy fluid coming from his mouth and nose, according to a report by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office.

Welch was pronounced dead at University Community Hospital less than two hours later, Busch Gardens spokesman Gerard Hoeppner said.

The ride, which reaches 50 mph at its highest speed and drops from a 90-foot lift, was closed for less than an hour after the incident to make sure it was functioning properly, Hoeppner said.

Gwazi has written and audio warnings along the way cautioning guests from boarding the ride if they have high blood pressure, heart problems or other illnesses, he said.

11 corrections employees fired in Washington

WASHINGTON (AP) - Eleven corrections employees were fired Wednesday after an internal investigation found that worker negligence helped two inmates escape from the city jail last month.

They were among 12 Department of Corrections employees placed on paid administrative leave after the June 3 escape, said Sharon Gang, a spokeswoman for Mayor Anthony A. Williams. The other worker was exonerated.

"It was not ineptitude, but all of us have a responsibility - and our duties - to perform. Negligence did contribute to this mishap," said Devon Brown, corrections department director.

Brown would not release the employees' names.

In addition to the workers being fired, Brown said security improvements, such as additional security cameras and fencing, have been made at the jail.

Inmates Ricardo Jones and Joseph Leaks were captured the day after the escape. They were awaiting trial in connection with a shooting last year.

At least 9 dead and dozens missing as Kaemi brings more rain in China

BEIJING (AP) -- Flooding washed away a military barracks in southern China, killing at least six people and leaving 38 missing, state media said Thursday, as workers rushed to rebuild a levee brought down by Tropical Storm Kaemi.

The torrent that struck the barracks was triggered Wednesday in Jiangxi province, where Kaemi brought heavy rains and winds, the official Xinhua News Agency reported without providing details.

It wasn't immediately clear if the deaths at the barracks were included in the overall official toll of nine dead since Kaemi made landfall as a typhoon in southern China on Tuesday.

A man who answered the telephone at the Jiangxi anti-flood headquarters said the office was still calculating the number of deaths and could not release any figures.

In neighboring coastal Fujian province, workers in Zhao'an county had labored around the clock to fill a breach 650-foot-long levee that had threatened flooding in six villages with at least 20,000 residents.

"The leak is basically under control," an official from the Zhao'an county government said in a telephone interview. "More than 300 people worked for hours to fill the breach with sandbags, tree stumps and clay." He gave only his surname, Huang.

An official from the county flood prevention office, who gave only his surname, Shen, said some 40,000 villagers had been evacuated as a precaution.

The levee collapse destroyed 400 homes but no injuries were reported, Shen said.

The state meteorological bureau said more rain was expected to lash southern China on Thursday, especially Fujian, Jiangxi and the inland province of Hunan, which was hardest-hit by Tropical Storm Bilis earlier this month.

State television showed footage of workers removing chunks of concrete and rock and clearing mud of roads in Jiangxi, Guangdong and Hunan.

Kaemi was the seventh typhoon to hit during China's rainy summer season. Each year, hundreds die as floods and mudslides rush down mountains and overwhelm villages, and dams are smashed by rising torrents.

Kaemi hit just as the region was recovering from Bilis, which caused landslides and rising waters that killed more than 600 people.

Xinhua reported Wednesday that seven of the deaths caused by Kaemi were in Jiangxi. Two people died in a landslide in Guangdong province, south of Fujian.

Kaemi (pronounced GEH Mee), the Korean word for ant, dumped rain on the Philippines and Taiwan, knocking out power lines and swelling rivers.

Before roaring ashore in Fujian, the storm hit the province with up to six inches of rain and high winds, Xinhua said. There were no reports of deaths or serious damage in the province but hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated and fishing boats were forced back to port.

Among preparations, authorities sent more than 3 million mobile phone warnings to people in Fujian, the government's chief rescue agency said on its Web site.

Homeless man finds $21,000 in trash, returns it to owner

DETROIT (AP) -- A homeless man has found it pays to be honest.

Charles Moore was searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin last week when he found $21,000 worth of U.S. savings bonds. He took the bonds to a 24-hour walk-in homeless shelter, where a staffer made some phone calls and tracked down the owner's family.

Moore, 59, was originally given $100 from the son of the deceased bond owner, but other people decided that wasn't enough.

Three people pledged a combined $2,500, while two businessmen donated $1,200, a shopping spree at a men's clothing store and a lead on a job.

"I was thankful for it," said Moore, who lost his job in Ohio as a roofer, moved back to his native Michigan and couldn't find a job.

David C. Smith, of Albuquerque, N.M., pledged $1,000 and said he and his fiance wouldn't have thought twice about what to do if the bonds had belonged to them.

"We would have given him the whole amount, period," Smith said. "No questions asked."

Moore said he plans to use the money to find an apartment.

Man rides rollercoaster for 3 days, wins car

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) -- A 23-year-old man who rode a roller coaster for three days has won a different form of transportation - a new car.

Thomas Welsher was one of eight contestants who boarded the Viper roller coaster Friday morning to vie for a two-year lease on a 2006 Suzuki Reno.

The contest at Six Flags Darien Lake in Genesee County, about 50 miles southwest of Rochester, ended at 5 a.m. Monday when Welsher's last remaining opponent relented and got off the ride, said Mary Christa Sellan, a spokeswoman for the amusement park.

By the end of the competition, Welsher had been on the roller coaster 395 times.

Contestants were permitted to leave the ride for a 20-minute break every three hours. They rode with other customers when the park was open and remained in their seats after the park closed.

Welsher's fiance nominated him for the contest, sponsored by a local radio station, because she was embarrassed by his current car, which she had to enter by climbing through a window.

Illinois law lets wine connoisseurs recork bottle to go

CHICAGO (AP) -- Wine connoisseurs soon will be able to head home from restaurants with an unfinished bottle of their favorite vintage.

A new state law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday lets restaurant-goers recork and take home leftover wine as long as it is wrapped in a tamperproof bag.

Officials hope it will discourage diners from chugging that last glass of wine, then getting behind the wheel.

The change takes effect Jan. 1.

Illinois law currently bars people from having open liquor containers in vehicles. But the new law lets them drive with bottles that have been sealed in the specialty bags. That way, if police stop the driver, they'll be able to see whether the wine has been illegally reopened.

Illinois joins 16 other states in requiring the use of special bags for the wine, according to the Web site of a company that makes the bags.

"At first blush, it can strike one as a frivolous piece of legislation, but it serves a couple of legitimate purposes," said Rep. John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat and the law's House sponsor.

Insufficient stability blamed for cargo ship on its side off Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The owner of a cargo ship that was crippled when it listed almost completely on its side said Wednesday that the problem occurred when its ballast tank was adjusted in the open seas of the North Pacific.

Two days after its bruised and battered crew was hoisted to safety, the Cougar Ace remained floating on its side 230 miles south of Adak Island in Alaska's Aleutian chain.

The mishap appeared to have been caused by insufficient stability within the vessel, not by a collision or outside flooding, said Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which owns the 654-foot car carrier.

"There clearly was imbalance in the intake of ballast water. The company investigation ultimately will tell us what caused that imbalance," he said.

Still unknown was the fate of the nearly 5,000 cars -- mostly Mazdas -- secured in compartments with heavy chains inside the vessel, which had been headed from Japan to Canadian and U.S. ports. Watertight compartments and doors in the ship could be helping it stay afloat, Beuerman said.

Coast Guard officials said a cutter will remain at the remote site until a salvage tow arrives next week to retrieve the Singapore-flagged ship. The ship had been carrying 430 metric tons of fuel oil or 112 metric tons of diesel fuel, but only a light sheen has been detected around the ship, said Petty Officer Jesami Statesir.

Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard helicopters rescued the 23 crew members Monday night, 24 hours after the ship tilted sharply in the space of 10 minutes. The crew was in Anchorage Wednesday, being interviewed by company officials, insurance agents and attorneys, Beuerman said.

The Cougar Ace's captain told officials the vessel began to list when the crew was changing the water level in the ballast tank, which regulates the ship's weight and balance. Beuerman said he didn't know anything about earlier reports a large wave hit the ship during the adjustment.

The Coast Guard said it is monitoring the ship but is not taking an enforcement role because the ship ran into trouble in international waters.

Prosecutor: Teen charged in Indiana highway shootings had been on hunting trip

BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (AP) -- A teenager accused of killing a man and wounding another in a series of highway shootings had argued with relatives during a hunting trip and drove off in anger shortly before the attacks, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Zachariah Blanton, 17, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder, attempted murder and three counts of criminal recklessness. He stared at the sidewalk as officers led him into the Jackson County Courthouse where Circuit Judge William Vance set a tentative Dec. 13 trial date.

Blanton could face life in prison without parole.

Police believe that after the hunting trip argument, Blanton drove to a nearby overpass outside Seymour early Sunday, aimed his rifle over the trunk of his vehicle and fired at trucks on Interstate 65 about 60 miles south of Indianapolis.

One bullet killed a passenger in a pickup and another wounded a man. Two hours later, a tractor-trailer and unoccupied sport utility vehicle were hit by bullets about 100 miles to the north, close to the teenager's hometown of Gaston.

"He said he in fact did do the shootings, however, only with the intention of relieving pressure," John Kelly, an Indiana State Police crime scene technician, testified at a hearing Tuesday.

The teen apparently had been arguing with relatives over gutting a deer during a hunting trip about 20 miles south of Seymour, said Jackson County Prosecutor Stephen Pierson.

When investigators questioned him Tuesday after receiving a tip that he might have been involved, his demeanor was "cooperative, it was remorseful," said Sheriff George Sheridan Jr. of Delaware County, where the second set of shootings occurred.

The teen lived with his grandparents in Gaston, where detectives found the rifle they believe was used in the shootings, authorities said. Blanton's grandmother, Patricia Blanton, was charged Tuesday with obstruction of justice.

Sheridan said the 58-year-old woman's charge was related to the rifle but would not say whether she hid it or knew where it was.

Zachariah Blanton came to the attention of investigators on Monday after an acquaintance told a Delaware County reserve deputy that the teen might be involved in the shootings, State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell said. Pierson said police had recovered a rifle they believed was used in the shooting death of Jerry L. Ross, 40, of New Albany.

A second attempted murder charge could be added because a bullet might have grazed the head of a passenger in Ross' vehicle, the prosecutor said.

Pierson said after Wednesday's hearing that he would decide by Blanton's next court date of Oct. 13 whether to pursue the death penalty. But state law and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling do not allow execution of people who committed their crimes when they were younger than 18.

Blanton had previous brushes with the law for what Sheridan would describe only as "crimes of sex and of theft." On his Internet page on MySpace.com, he listed his interests as "Huntin, Fishin, Muddin and goin out with friends."

There was no immediate response to a call seeking comment from Blanton's grandparents, who police said were his legal guardians.

Blanton's great-aunt Denise Blanton told The Star Press of Muncie that she was shocked by the allegations.

"I can't imagine that he would be involved," she said.

Kenneth Shipley, 59, a family friend who lives in Gaston, said he was also surprised.

"This isn't the Zach I knew," he said. "I took this real hard. Zach just needed some attention, someone to talk to."

Court claim: 104-year-old philanthropist lives in squalor

NEW YORK (AP) -- She wears torn nightgowns and sleeps on a couch that smells of urine. Her bland diet includes pureed peas and oatmeal. Her dogs, once a source of comfort, are kept locked in a pantry.

A court filing alleges that this is the life of 104-year-old Brooke Astor, the multimillionaire Manhattan socialite who dedicated much of her vast fortune to promoting culture and alleviating human misery.

Astor married into a family that at one time was among America's wealthiest and most prominent. Her late husband's father, John Jacob Astor 4th, died in the sinking of the Titanic; his grandmother, Caroline Astor, led New York society for 25 years during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century; and his great-great-grandfather, John Jacob Astor, became America's wealthiest man by 1840.

The court papers -- filed last week and reported on Wednesday by the Daily News -- blame the alleged misery and squalor inside Astor's Park Avenue duplex on her only child, Anthony Marshall, who controls her $45 million portfolio.

The accuser: Astor's grandson Philip Marshall.

He alleges in a sworn statement that his 82-year-old father "has turned a blind eye to her, intentionally and repeatedly ignoring her health, safety, personal and household needs, while enriching himself with millions of dollars."

The court papers -- which were sealed on Wednesday -- seek to remove Anthony Marshall as legal guardian and replace him with Annette de la Renta, the wife of Oscar de la Renta, and J.P. Morgan Chase bank.

A call to Anthony Marshall was not immediately returned. The former diplomat and Broadway producer declined to discuss the case with the Daily News, saying, "It is a matter that is going to be coming up in a court of law and it should be left to the court." A hearing was scheduled for Aug. 8.

Philip Marshall's allegations regarding his grandmother have the backing in sworn statements of such famous names as Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller, who both attended Astor's 100th birthday gala four years ago.

"This is a remarkable and extraordinary woman who has given so much to so many, and he wants to see that in her last days she's given what she needs," said Rockefeller spokesman Fraser Seitel. "She can afford it, and she deserves it."

Astor ran the Astor Foundation after the death of her third husband, Vincent Astor, in 1959.

Brooke Astor gave millions to the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and the Museum of Natural History. But she also funded smaller projects such as new windows for a nursing home and was noted for personally visiting the places she helped out.

"Money is like manure, it should be spread around," was her oft-quoted motto.

Astor has faded from sight in recent years amid declining health, including two broken hips. Once she was confined to her apartment, court papers allege, she was denied many of the staples of her high-society life.

Her son allegedly replaced her costly face creams with petroleum jelly. A French chef was fired, leaving her at the mercy of an "unmotivated cook" serving pureed peas, liver, carrots and oatmeal, court papers say.

Her dogs, Boysie and Girlsie, have been confined to a pantry for the last six months to keep them from damaging the apartment, the papers say. Philip Marshall also alleges that nurses had to use their own money to buy hair bonnets and no-skid socks for the elderly woman when requests for the items were denied.

"Her bedroom is so cold in the winter that my grandmother is forced to sleep in the TV room in torn nightgowns on a filthy couch that smells, probably from dog urine," Philip Marshall said in his affidavit.

Pennsylvania judge won't allow dead man to divorce

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A judge on Wednesday refused to issue a posthumous divorce decree to a man who was killed the day before he was to sign the last of his divorce papers.

Dr. John Yelenic, 39, was found slain in his Blairsville home on April 13, a crime that has not been solved. The dentist and his wife, Michele, separated in 2002 and had agreed to the divorce and a property settlement.

Yelenic's attorney, Effie Alexander, asked a judge to issue the divorce decree because he believed the divorce was important to Yelenic.

But Indiana County Judge Carol Hanna ruled that Yelenic's marriage ended with his death, even if all parties agreed to a legal decree stating otherwise.

The request was mostly symbolic, because the couple had already decided how to split up their property. Attorneys for Yelenic's wife and his estate agreed not to contest Alexander's request because it was largely a matter of principle that would not affect that property settlement.

Hanna cited a 1927 Pennsylvania ruling that says, "Marriage is the union of two lives which can be dissolved either by death or by process of law … you cannot untie a knot which has already been untied."

Although Yelenic signed a request to enter the divorce decree, he had not signed the final paperwork before he died.

Attorneys for the dentist, his estate and Michele Yelenic did not immediately return calls for comment.

Guard stabbed to death by 3 inmates at maximum-security prison in Maryland

JESSUP, Md. (AP) -- Three prison inmates who may have gotten free by jamming the locks of their cells stabbed a guard to death in Maryland's troubled House of Correction, prison officials said Wednesday.

It was the second killing of an on-duty corrections officer in the state this year.

David McGuinn, 42, was counting inmates alone in the maximum-security prison late Tuesday when he was attacked and stabbed several times in the neck and back, said Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Division of Correction.

The prison was in lockdown Wednesday, and security teams from other prisons were sent to assist with a search of the entire facility, Doggett said. She said the three inmates suspected in the attack may have jammed their cell doors but declined to elaborate. The three had not yet been charged.

The Maryland House of Correction, built in 1878, has been wracked by violence in recent months. Three inmates have been killed there since May, and inmates assaulted two officers in April. Doggett said officials don't believe the assaults were related, but they are investigating that possibility.

This week, a new warden was named in an effort to restore safety inside the 1,100-bed prison.

"We've had lockdowns here. We've had searches here. We realize we're trying to manage a population that is violent and given to committing acts of violence," Doggett said.

Correctional officers union chief Ron Bailey, however, said the prisons are understaffed, morale is low and the entire system is in crisis. In late January, another Maryland corrections officer died after he was shot in the face with his own gun, allegedly by an inmate he was guarding at a Hagerstown hospital.

"We're furious because this is another of these situations where we say, 'I told you so,"' Bailey said.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich said McGuinn's death "reminds you of how dangerous that job is."

"We have people who could make far more money in less dangerous jobs," the governor said. "Our thought and prayers go to the family and our thanks go to the people who put on that uniform every day."

Woman testifies in swallowed cell phone case

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) -- Prosecutors say a man shoved a cell phone down his girlfriend's throat because he was angry and jealous. But defense attorneys insisted as a trial got underway that the woman swallowed the phone intentionally to keep the defendant from seeing whom she had been calling.

Marlon Brando Gill, 24, is charged with first-degree assault in the December incident involving 25-year-old Melinda Abell.

Abell has given inconsistent accounts of what happened before she was taken to a hospital, where an emergency room doctor removed the phone.

She testified Tuesday on the first day of Gill's trial that she couldn't remember how the phone got in her throat, saying she had too much to drink that night.

She said in court that she could not recall writing a statement to police after the incident, in which she said: "I think he thought I'd been talking to other guys. … He took my phone to see who I had been calling."

The statement added: "If I didn't want him to see my phone, I would have just thrown it out the window and busted it."

Much of her testimony centered on her relationship with Gill, of Kansas City, which started in 2004.

"It was good at first, then it got rocky," Abell said.

She testified that he had verbally and physically abused her, but under cross-examination she acknowledged she never told police about the abuse and continued to live with Gill until the cell phone incident.

Sept. 11 charities get part of 'WTC' opening box office

NEW YORK (AP) -- "World Trade Center," Oliver Stone's movie about the rescue of two police officers from the towers on Sept. 11, will donate 10 percent of its opening weekend box office receipts to a ground zero memorial and three other Sept. 11-related charities.

The Paramount Pictures film, starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena as two Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers trapped for hours in the rubble, opens at more than 2,000 theaters nationwide on Aug. 9.

Five percent of the box-office proceeds from Aug. 9 through Aug. 13 will be donated to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which is raising money to build a $510 million memorial to the 2001 terrorist attacks at the trade center site. An additional 5 percent will be split equally between three charities.

They are Tuesday's Children, a services organization for children who lost a parent on Sept. 11; The Tribute WTC Visitor Center, a family-run memorial museum scheduled to open this summer; and the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.

On the Net:

World Trade Center movie: www.wtcmovie.com

WTC Memorial Foundation: www.buildthememorial.org

Tuesday's Children: www.tuesdayschildren.org

Visitor Center: www.tributenyc.org

Police and Fire Widows: www.nypfwc.org

Teen arrested for allegedly beating puppy to death

OAKLAND (AP) -- A teenager has been arrested for killing a six-week old yellow Labrador retriever puppy by kicking it and slamming it on a sidewalk, police said Wednesday.

Prosecutors have charged Bernadette Hutcherson, 19, with felony animal abuse in the Sunday attack. Police said Hutcherson kicked the dog, causing it to flip over five times, before slamming the puppy on the sidewalk.

A witness tried to save the pup but it died within minutes. The veterinarian who examined it found its skull was fractured and severely bruised.

Prosecutors charged Hutcherson with a felony "because of the malicious and intentional nature of the killing," authorities said.

Hutcherson remained in custody Wednesday.

Dilbert's creator weds aboard yacht on SF Bay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- "Dilbert" comic strip creator Scott Adams called his weekend wedding aboard a yacht in the San Francisco Bay "tremendous," but said he doesn't expect to win a dance competition anytime soon.

Adams, 49, and Shelly Miles, 37, were married Saturday evening on the Commodore Galaxy yacht by the ship's captain. About 150 guests attended the ceremony. It's the first marriage for Adams and the second for Miles.

The couple met at Adams' health club four years ago. Miles has two children, a 6-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, and both participated in the wedding, Adams said.

"We included the kids in the vows because we're making a new family unit," Adams said Tuesday, reached by phone at his home in Dublin, Calif. "The kids had to promise to pretend to enjoy my jokes."

Adams said he and Miles exchanged rings and gave the children family medallions.

The couple also took dance lessons in the months leading up to the wedding, Adams said. He chronicled his anxiety on his Web journal.

"This wedding has taken more planning than the invasion of Iraq. And yet there is still one guaranteed failure built into the plan: the first dance," he wrote in an entry dated Saturday.

The first song was Keith Urban's "You're the Only One," and it was "not as embarrassing as I thought it would be," he said Tuesday. "We had actual moves."

On Friday, the couple, Miles' children and both sets of parents plan to head to the western Caribbean for a Disney cruise honeymoon, Adams said.

There will be no vacation for Dilbert, though. Adams said he has a week's worth of comic strips ready.

Hepburn gown in charity auction

LONDON (AP) -- The iconic black gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" will be auctioned for charity later this year.

In the opening scenes of the movie, Hepburn's character, Holly Golightly, is wearing the gown as she emerges from a taxi with her brown-bag breakfast to ogle diamonds and luxury goods in the storefront windows of Manhattan's Tiffany & Co.

The gown, designed by Hubert de Givenchy, is expected to fetch $130,000 at the Dec. 5 auction, Christie's said Wednesday.

Proceeds will benefit City of Joy Aid, a charity that provides relief to impoverished children in India. The founders of the charity received the gown as a gift from Givenchy.

The Parisian couturier was famous for dressing the most glamorous women of the 1950s and 1960s, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Princess Grace of Monaco.

He designed Hepburn's wardrobe for many of her films, including "Sabrina" and "Funny Face," a movie about the French fashion world. He considered Hepburn as his muse, and her willowy frame, long neck and intelligent face became hallmarks of 1960s beauty.

Images of Hepburn dressed as Golightly - with gloves, an elaborate pearl choker and trademark cigarette holder - still endure.

Hepburn won an Academy Award for her performance in 1953's "Roman Holiday," co-starring Gregory Peck.

She went on to star in more than 20 films before becoming a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She died in 1993.

Her movies remain popular favorites, and the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" dress itself continues to inspire. Givenchy head designer Riccardo Tisci recreated the famous gown's silhouette for the label's 2006 autumn/winter line - including its cutout crescent-shaped back.

On the Net:

http://www.cityofjoyaid.org/

San Francisco officer killed by van in chase

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A San Francisco police officer died early Wednesday after a van involved in a chase hit his cruiser, flipping it onto the sidewalk.

The 39-year-old officer, whose name has not been released, arrived at an intersection in the city's Bayview District to assist other officers pursuing a van matching the description of a vehicle used in a robbery at a city bus station, according to San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong.

The officers chased the van down a city street and onto Interstate 280 before it exited the freeway in the southern part of the city where the officer killed was stationed. The van hit his vehicle, causing it to hit a curb and flip on its side.

The crash occurred just after 1 a.m.

The officer received CPR at the scene and was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital where he later died, police said. The officer had been on the force for five years.

Four suspects in the van were taken into custody, police said.

The last San Francisco police officer to die in the line of duty was Sgt. Darryl Tsujimoto. The 41-year-old department veteran died May 1 during a canine training exercise on Treasure Island.

LA detectives sifting through tips on 50 women in killer's photos

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sheriff's investigators got what they wanted -- a flood of telephone calls and e-mails with leads on many of some 50 women photographed decades ago by a double murderer who implied to his jury he'd killed others.

Now the challenge is tracking down the tips, including two from women claiming they were among the images that cold-case detectives publicized Tuesday and a single e-mail from an unidentified sender listing 12 names. The Los Angeles County sheriff's Web site had 25,000 hits alone since Tuesday.

In all, investigators are hoping the first round of leads will help identify 14 more of the women, though none has been verified yet, sheriff's Sgt. Robert Taylor said Wednesday. At least four have been recognized so far, one of them as a murder victim.

"I can't say it's for sure, but were working toward making some identifications," said Taylor.

Detectives are concerned that some of the women could have been victims of rape or murder between 1975 and 1984.

The photographs belonged to William Richard Bradford, who is now on death row for killing two aspiring models in the early 1980s. Authorities say Bradford, now 60, posed as a freelance photographer and shot photos of women he met at bars and elsewhere.

About 50 of his photos of women, many scantily clad and striking poses like amateur models, languished in an evidence room since being seized from Bradford's home in 1984 until detectives rediscovered them last month.

"It's old news," said Bradford's appellate attorney, Darlene Ricker. "The existence of these photos has been known for 20 years. All of a sudden, for whatever reason, law enforcement has decided to look into them."

Ricker said she hadn't spoken with Bradford, imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison, since sheriff's officials went public with his photos, but she guessed what his response might be.

"I'm sure Bill would say, if he could: 'The man was a photographer. Gee, what a surprise they find photographs in his belongings."'

One woman in the photos has since been identified as Donnalee Campbell Duhamel, a 31-year-old mother of two whose decapitated body was found in a Malibu canyon in 1978. A sheriff's official said Tuesday that the body was found a few days after the woman met Bradford at a bar. Bradford was never charged in that case.

On Wednesday, her daughter questioned why it took so long but was relieved that authorities were investigating.

"My mom just disappeared, and now she's getting the attention I feel she deserves," said Lisa Mora, 36, who was only 7 when her mother vanished. The family got confirmation of the death eight years later, she said.

Tracking down the remaining women won't be easy.

Investigators have received well over 100 calls since Tuesday. With Bradford's past whereabouts extending to Illinois, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and elsewhere, there could be leads across the country. And even with possible names, investigators will have to do lengthy background checks and interviews to match the photos.

"We're trying to put it all together," said sheriff's Lt. Debra Lenhart. "We're hopeful."

Bradford was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder in the stranglings of Shari Miller, 21, who he met in a bar, and Tracey Campbell, 15, a neighbor. Prosecutors said he lured them into accompanying him with promises to help their modeling careers.

Miller's body was found in a West Los Angeles parking lot in July 1984, while Tracey's decomposed body was found in August 1984 at a campsite in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

Mora, who lives in the Los Angeles area, believes Duhamel had never met Bradford before she went missing and that her mother had a boyfriend at the time.

"I'm really surprised and pretty shocked," said Mora, who was raised by her grandmother after her mother's death. "I still my miss my mom."

On the Net:

Photos of the women: http://lacountymurders.com/wanted/LADIES1.html

Natural phenomena drive listening gallery at University of Alaska museum

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- When the next big earthquake hits, John Luther Adams jokes, he'll be running into the University of Alaska Museum of the North while everyone else runs out.

He won't be able to resist hearing music the quake generates in the provocative gallery he designed, The Place Where You Go to Listen.

What nature left quiet, Adams has assigned sound. The 53-year-old avant-garde composer gave digital notes to natural phenomena such as earthquakes, the aurora borealis and the moon, then let their movements dictate the composition in a never-ending chamber music performance. He calls it tuning the world.

"It's a self-contained world of sound and light that is directly connected to the real world," Adams says. "My job was to map that world, tune it, set it in motion and trust the forces of nature to provide the moment-to-moment music and atmosphere in the space."

The space is roughly 21-feet-by-9-feet. All is white, except for five coated glass panels measuring 10 feet high and 20 feet wide, lighted by colors that change with the position of the sun.

Data feeds from five seismic stations north and south of Fairbanks send readings of earthquake activity to a computer that translates them into sound. Likewise, magnetometers from Kaktovik on the Arctic coast to Gakona in the Alaska Range send in live readings of disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field, which on dark nights, are reflected as the aurora borealis.

Sky conditions and the position of the sun and moon add to the concert. Sound pours through 14 speakers in the walls and ceiling.

Under bright skies a few days after summer solstice, the glass panels glowed yellow across the top and a deep blue along the bottom. As might be expected with nearly 22 hours of daylight, the sun sound dominated, high and bright, like fairies gabbing. Rumbling below, tied to feeds from the seismic stations, were dark, foreboding rumblings of what Adams calls "earth drums."

The moon -- a soloist in the composition -- was just a sliver. Likewise, aurora activity was minimal, leaving those two voices out of the sound landscape except to the keenest ear.

The moon showed up a few days later, almost reedy, like a child blowing on an empty Coke bottle. It took the edge off the bright sun sound, like putting on a pair of sunglasses on a radiant day.

To the first-time visitor, it can be just so much noise. But people who linger may detect subtle changes, feeling the sounds pulsate, picking out voices in the choir.

The juxtaposition of sounds is a mix of audacious, unearthly tones that baffles anyone expecting a traditional melody.

Adams is used to causing such sensations. His compositions have been described as mesmerizing, abrasive or unsettling - and if nothing else, challenging. His album, "The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies," a 70-minute piece for a percussion soloist, includes eight minutes of crashing cymbals and an entire movement written for an air-raid siren.

As planning began for a $42 million museum expansion, Director Aldona Jonaitis wanted something that appealed to the ear. She credits Adams for the concept. Adams said it was her idea. "She asked me for a quiet, contemplative space within this busy, vibrant museum," he says.

"I thought this was a great opportunity to have a sound experience that communicated the sense of place in Alaska, which is what the whole museum is about," Jonaitis says.

That part was easy for Adams, who has looked for inspiration from the landscape, birds, Yukon River and Native Alaskans.

He likes to say he's not interested in telling stories or painting pictures with music, but evoking the experience of visiting a special place.

"I want music to be a kind of wilderness, and I want to get hopelessly lost in it," he says. "Some of the moments when I've felt most alive, most aware, have been times when I've been out, miles and miles from roads, in the middle of all that expanse."

Just as the wilderness doesn't come with directions, Adams provides minimal explanation.

"I could have used natural sounds," he says. "I could have been much more illustrative and given the sounds much higher profiles and made the thing much more active than it is, but that isn't what I wanted to do. This is about extending our awareness."

Adams lets the elements control the music's pacing. The sound changes on real time. Many visitors walk out with the comment, "It doesn't change." The gallery has no way to let them hear how the room might sound on winter solstice with northern lights shimmering above. If you want to hear that, you have to come back in December.

"This piece requires, and I hope, seduces and invites, the listener to become a participant and to find her own way into this and have her own experience inside this work," Adams says.

Adams didn't so much compose the music as unleash it.

"Every time I walk in that door I'm as surprised as anyone," he says.

On the Net:

John Luther Adams: http://www.johnlutheradams.com/

University of Alaska Museum of the North: http://www.uaf.edu/museum/

Ford released from Vail hospital; treated for shortness of breath

VAIL, Colo. (AP) -- Former President Ford was released from Vail Valley Medical Center Wednesday, two days after he was admitted for shortness of breath, the hospital said.

Ford, 93, was admitted on Monday afternoon and released at noon Wednesday, the hospital said in a written release.

Ford's chief of staff, Penny Circle, said in a statement that Ford planned to return to his home in nearby Beaver Creek. She did not immediately return telephone messages.

It was at least the second time Ford has been hospitalized this year. He was admitted to a Rancho Mirage, Calif., hospital for treatment of pneumonia on Jan. 14 and released after 12 days.

Ford suffered two small strokes five years ago and spent about a week in a hospital.

He became the nation's oldest living former president after the death of Ronald Reagan in 2004.

Ford was House minority leader when President Nixon chose him to replace the resigned Spiro Agnew as vice president in 1973. Ford became president on Aug. 9, 1974, when Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

Ford's ties to Vail date to 1968, when the family visited the resort while he was a congressman from Michigan. He later bought a condominium in the area. He and his wife, Betty, helped raise money to build the town's Ford Amphitheater and Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.

Ford celebrated his birthday in Vail on July 14. Circle said at the time the couple expected to spend the summer there.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was hospitalized for a few hours in Aspen on July 7 after reporting lightheadedness blamed on the town's 7,900-foot elevation. Powell, 69, was in town for a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Police: Diary key to arresting 3 in Las Vegas torture slaying

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A diary found when two people were arrested in a stolen car in Florida has police trying to fill in the gruesome missing chapters of the torture slaying of a man whose body may have been dumped in the desert outside Las Vegas.

Police have three people in custody and a graphic account of the slaying of 42-year-old Michael McClain, who hasn't been seen since early June, Las Vegas police Sgt. Russell Shoemaker said Wednesday.

"This is what TV movies are made from," Shoemaker said.

The case centers on a written account kept by Cassandra Thomas, 23, of Las Vegas, and has ties to Aurora, Colo., Marietta, Ga., and Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

"We're hoping some folks come forward in Florida or Colorado or Las Vegas who can provide information about the whereabouts and activities of the three suspects in this case in the end of May through June," Shoemaker said.

Thomas was being held at the county jail in Las Vegas on murder and driving without a license charges. Her boyfriend, 29-year-old Corey Pearce, remained in custody in Jacksonville Beach pending his return to Las Vegas on a murder warrant and an unrelated robbery warrant, Shoemaker said.

A third person, Joey Salas, 30, was being held on a felony murder charge at the Clark County jail after his arrest July 19 at a low-budget downtown hotel.

"Probably the common factor that brought them together was drug abuse," Shoemaker said.

Police believe they were with McClain in a southwest Las Vegas home owned by a woman who was jailed on drug charges. Thomas told detectives the trio blamed McClain for the arrest of the homeowner, Michelle Denise Schwandt, 39.

Thomas and Pearce told police in Florida that Salas and Pearce bludgeoned McClain with a table leg and a baseball bat, and that Pearce shoved a screwdriver into McClain's temple and a pencil into the base of his skull before leaving him to convulse.

"She was very descriptive about that," said Jacksonville Beach Detective Corporal Lee Amonette.

Three days later, the trio wrapped McClain's body in a shower curtain, bundled it into a rented 1996 Ford Thunderbird, dumped it in the desert and covered it with debris, according to police.

The Thunderbird, which Shoemaker said Thomas rented under a fake name, was later found abandoned in Aurora, Colo.

"We have an abundance of what we believe to be evidence inside the vehicle," Shoemaker said. He declined to provide specifics.

Shoemaker said police recently found McClain's Ford Ranger pickup in parking garage at a casino not far from Schwandt's home.

"We've conducted an extensive search," the police sergeant said. "We have not found the body of Michael McClain."

McClain's 38-year-old brother, Nolan McClain of Las Vegas, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the family hoped finding the body would bring closure in the case.

"We need to find Mike," he said.

Las Vegas police were first contacted by Jacksonville Beach police, who said they arrested Thomas and Pearce early June 26 sleeping in a red Jeep Cherokee parked near the beach. The vehicle, stolen in the Atlanta area, contained marijuana and chemicals that could be mixed to make methamphetamine.

"They had the makings of a meth lab," Amonette said.

He said the investigation took a grim turn when a police evidence technician found and opened Thomas' diary to a section describing torture "and how terrible it was for this victim named Mike who ended up dead."

Thomas initially refused to tell detectives about the slaying, but then opened up, Amonette said.

"Finally it all just came out. She just started talking," Amonette said.

Thomas spent four emotional hours describing McClain's slow death. She blamed Pearce but acknowledged she blocked the door to prevent McClain from escaping.

Thomas told police that while McClain continued to convulse in an upstairs bedroom, Pearce put a plastic bag over his head.

"She said he came down and said, 'The guy just won't die,"' Amonette said.

65-year-old woman accused in shooting deaths of 2 N.C. couples

STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A 65-year-old woman with no known criminal record was ordered held without bond Wednesday, accused of killing two couples who owned convenience stores.

Authorities declined to discuss a motive or the specific evidence against Barbara Ann Evans.

James and Ruth Powell were found in their Union Grove home on Jan. 21, 2005. Don and Sue Barker were discovered Sept. 15 in their home, about six miles north of Statesville. In both instances, police said that there were no signs of forced entry or that anything of value had been taken.

James Powell was a retired convenience store owner, while Don Barker ran a store in Statesville, about 35 miles north of Charlotte.

Iredell County Sheriff Phillip Redmond said that Evans knew all four victims and that investigators "have quite a bit of forensic evidence." The sheriff's office has said the same gun was used in all the killings.

A man who answered the phone at the home of Evans' daughter, Rhonda Jones, said the family had no comment.

Marlene Barker, who is married to the Barkers' son Allen, said she did not know Evans but recognized her as a customer at her in-laws' store.

"She was in there last Thursday, after the sheriff's department had been to her house," Barker said.

Harry Frye, who lives next door to Evans in Statesville, said that police were at her home about a month ago and that she knew investigators considered her a suspect.

Evans' husband, Bill, died in 2003, Frye said.

Spain reopens cave art museum in Canary Islands

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- A museum with cave paintings that may date from the sixth century reopened Wednesday in the Canary Islands after a 24-year closure, providing a rare glimpse at the art of the Spanish archipelago's early inhabitants.

The works at the so-called Cueva Pintada -- red and white geometric patterns such as triangles and labyrinthlike spirals -- are one of the few examples of painted caves in Europe that have survived to modern times.

The cave on the island of Grand Canary is part of a larger village complex, of which it was believed to be a ritual site.

"Cueva Pintada is the most important example of representative art from the aboriginal culture of Gran Canaria," said Jose Manuel Soria, leader of the island's local government.

Scientific analysis has dated parts of the art to the sixth century. The paintings were discovered by a farmer in 1873.

"There are many theories about what the paintings might have meant. Some research has suggested that they could represent a calendar," said Fernando Perez, the museum's curator. "Whatever their meaning, this new museum offers a great platform from which to contemplate aboriginal art which is unique to the Canary Islands."

In 1972, the caves were declared a national treasure. Soon after, modern agricultural irrigation methods began to cause serious damage to the surface of the images through seepage. The underground complex was closed to protect it from tourists in 1982.

Since then, careful research and restoration work was carried out.

Up to 150,000 visitors a year will now be able to admire the art from inside a see-through bubble that will isolate them from the paintings, preventing further damage.

On the Net:

http://www.cuevapintada.org