GLOUCESTER CITY, N.J. (AP) -- A teenager who fatally stabbed her father has sold her story to a Hollywood production company, her lawyer said.
Robert DePersia said a television division of Sony Pictures paid Jasmine Karo for the rights to her story, but he did not disclose the amount. A message left with a Sony spokeswoman was not immediately returned Friday.
Karo, 19, stabbed her father, Alan Karo, with a kitchen knife during an argument at their home May 6. She had broad support in the tight-knit Philadelphia suburb of Gloucester City; a state assemblyman posted her bail and several lawyers offered their services. She and community members said her father was abusive.
Prosecutors had charged the teen with murder, but a grand jury in June declined to indict her.
Though Karo has rarely spoken publicly about the incident, she traveled to New York on Nov. 12 to tape an interview scheduled to air in January on Montel Williams' syndicated talk show.
"A lot of shows have been contacting us -- nonstop," DePersia told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill in a story that appeared Friday. "We were very hesitant because we wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be simply a tabloid."
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Police seized a computer used by a former girlfriend of slain Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson in a search of the newspaper office where she once worked.
Sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at The Indianapolis Star's downtown office Wednesday and seized the computer used by former employee Jennifer Gaddis, 24, who worked in the human resources department, Sheriff's Lt. Bob Hendrickson confirmed Friday.
Police also questioned Gaddis for at least nine hours last week and searched her Indianapolis home. Authorities removed items from the house, but refused to provide details.
According to police reports, Gaddis had sent threatening text messages to Stenson's cell phone two weeks before he was kidnapped and killed in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, where he was playing in the Arizona Fall League.
"U better pray I never see you U again, I swear Dernell U R worth a murder charge 4 & that is all U R worth," one message said, according to a report filed with Scottsdale, Ariz., Police Department.
Scottsdale police told Gaddis to stop contacting Stenson. According to the police report, Gaddis said she was pregnant with Stenson's child and that they had an 8-month-old child together.
Chandler police have called Gaddis an investigative lead in Stenson's death but said she is not a suspect.
Gaddis could not be reached for comment Friday. A telephone listing for her Indianapolis home had been disconnected.
Stenson, 25, was found dead Nov. 5 after a night out with friends. He had been shot multiple times and run over by a vehicle, according to police. Four men have been arrested in connection with the killing, including one who was found driving Stenson's SUV.
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The former manager of Mexican pop singer Gloria Trevi was extradited to Mexico on Friday to face charges of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors.
Sergio Andrade, 48, was accompanied by Mexican police on a flight from Sao Paulo to Mexico City, Brazilian federal police said.
Trevi, known as "Mexico's Madonna," was one of that nation's biggest pop stars in the 1990s. Her first three records, featuring songs of adolescent frustration, sold over 5 million copies. Her last hit was in 1996.
Prosecutors say Trevi and Andrade sexually abused girls who joined their entourage in hopes of becoming pop stars. One of the girls abandoned a baby in Spain in 1998, claiming Andrade was the father. Trevi and Andrade then disappeared.
Andrade was arrested with Trevi and backup singer Maria Raquenel Portillo in January 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, where they had been living for more than a year after fleeing Mexico.
After a long legal battle, Trevi was extradited to Mexico in December. She is being held in a maximum security prison in Chihuahua, 760 miles northwest of Mexico City.
Portillo, also known as "Mary Boquitas," was extradited from Brazil to Mexico in March to face charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors and is in custody in Chihuahua.
Original wire story (a0506):
INONGO, Congo (AP) -- Congo's government promised Friday to prosecute those responsible for a ferry collision that left 182 people confirmed dead and scores more missing, saying investigators were questioning the larger vessel's owner and captain.
As work crews buried as many as four victims to a grave along the thickly forested shores of west Congo's Mai-Indombe lake, 3,000 mourners filled a cathedral in the lakeside town of Inongo for a Mass remembering victims of Tuesday's disaster.
As many as 500 fishermen, traders and other travelers were crowded into the ferry Dieu Merci and a smaller vessel, with both boats lashed together as they moved across the lake, authorities said.
The lake, 275 miles north of the capital, Kinshasa, is off the Congo River.
A sudden storm late Tuesday whipped up waves nearing 8 feet, smashing together the two boats and sending all aboard into the water as both vessels broke into pieces.
The government says 222 people are known to have survived. The Dieu Merci's manifest recorded only 30 of those aboard, making it unlikely a precise death toll would ever be known -- although it likely will pass 200.
After initially blaming the storm, Congolese authorities said Friday that ferry overcrowding also was a major factor.
"We will take measures to determine responsibilities because the guilty absolutely must be punished," Congo Vice President Azarias Ruberwa said. "Overcrowded as the boat involved in the accident was, even if there hadn't been bad weather, they should have seen this happening."
Aid workers said the Dieu Merci -- which means "Thank God" in French, the main nonresident language in Congo -- was designed for about 100 people.
Authorities were questioning the Dieu Merci's owner and captain, among others, Ruberwa said.
On Friday, villagers helped a sole government-provided search boat retrieve bodies from the lake and its shores. Burial teams then placed the bodies of men, women and children on mats, putting them in common graves.
Families of those still missing agonized.
"Our sorrow is even greater because we don't know if they are alive or dead," said Nkande Pape Bolawe, whose family lost two men. "Now, we think it's impossible to find them alive -- we're waiting at least for the bodies."
Congo's government reopened the river to commercial traffic in April after closing it during the country's nearly five-year war, fearing rebels could use it to move on the capital.
Congo, a nation the size of Western Europe, has only a few hundred miles of paved roads, making the river and its tributaries lifelines of the vast country's commerce.
In March, another overloaded ferry sank in Lake Tanganyika in Congo's far east, killing 111.
Africa's worst ferry accident occurred Sept. 26, 2002, when Senegal's state-run ferry -- carrying nearly four times its intended capacity -- overturned in a gale in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 1,863 people.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Gail Knisley was headed on a freeway outside Columbus to a doctor's appointment when a bullet ripped through the driver's door.
"What was that?" she asked the friend driving, then she slumped forward, fatally wounded.
Authorities said for the first time Friday they had linked Knisley's death to at least one of nine other reports of shots fired at vehicles along about a five-mile stretch of the same highway -- and they said the shooting was not an accident. Police won't use the term "sniper," but they say more of the shootings could be connected.
"You just can't believe someone would be sick enough to be shooting at cars," Missi Knisley, Knisley's daughter-in-law, said Friday. "It's a nightmare."
The first reported shooting on the southern section of Interstate 270 or in its immediate area was in May. The rest have been in the last seven weeks. The shots have been fired at different times of day, piercing trucks, cars, vans and pickups, shattering windows and flattening tires, and, last week, killing Knisley. One of the vehicles hit was a UPS delivery truck.
Authorities have released few details, saying only that tests on the bullets connected Knisley's shooting to one of the others, though they wouldn't identify which one. They declined to speculate on the type of weapon used.
Franklin County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin said it's unclear whether one shooter or more was involved.
"I'm not in a position where I can tell you exactly what happened, whether someone was stationary or mobile when any of these shots were fired," he said.
Authorities on Friday asked whoever is responsible to call the sheriff's office. Martin also said the public should watch for changes in the behavior of friends and relatives, such as missing work or appointments, showing excessive interest in the shootings or changing appearance.
Extra patrols have been assigned to the leg of the highway, also called Jack Nicklaus Highway after the pro golfer from suburban Dublin. The route runs through a sparsely populated area that includes woods frequented by hunters and people practicing target shooting. Industrial sites line part of the stretch, along with some residential neighborhoods. A shopping mall is nearby.
Edward Cable was headed home to southern Ohio through that area on Nov. 21 when he heard a noise in his minivan. He found a bullet hole and shell fragment about 16 inches behind the driver's seat.
Trucker William Briggs was hauling two empty trailers back from Roanoke, Va., about 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 19 when his driver's side window exploded.
Briggs had just entered I-270 from U.S. 23 and was in the center of the three westbound lanes. He kept driving, assuming he had been hit by a rock, and turned on his dome light to search for the stone but couldn't find it. A few minutes later, stopped at a truck terminal, he discovered the bullet.
"It didn't miss my face but a couple of inches at most," said Briggs, a Vietnam veteran from suburban Hilliard. "It was really luck on my part and ineptness on his part."
Knisley, a homemaker who lived about 40 miles away from Columbus, didn't like to drive in the city and was being chauffeured Nov. 25 by her friend Mary Cox. After Knisley's checkup following minor surgery on skin cancer lesions on her nose, the two had planned to go to lunch and go Christmas shopping.
They were talking when they heard a pop.
"What was that? What was that?" Knisley, 62, said before slumping forward, according to the recording of Cox's 911 call.
Hours later, a pickup truck was hit on U.S. 23, not far from its intersection with I-270, deputies said.
Martin said the task force has received more than 100 tips. Department crime analysts also are reviewing this year's more than 1,000 vandalism reports to see if any fit the pattern, police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said.
Some who live, work and travel through the area say they are nervous.
Mary Hammond, 46, whose yard is next to the highway, said Friday that she and her husband are taking back roads to get to work now. "I've got two kids to raise," she explained.
Tom Milligan, 35, of Marysville said he found himself driving faster and "looking to the right and left, that's for sure. I'm not paying too much attention to the road."
Cable, 53, is leery of returning to Columbus but said he will keep making the 75-mile drive from his home in Lucasville. The retired prison guard travels often to his daughter's suburban home north of Columbus to help her and her husband with their construction business and see his two grandsons.
Cable said Friday that news of the linked shootings gave him hope a perpetrator would be found.
"They don't know exactly what they're looking for, but it gives them a lot better idea and will help direct them with their investigation," he said.
Briggs said he drove past the site of his shooting the next night and isn't afraid to travel there. "They didn't get me over there," he said, referring to the Vietnam War, "they're not going to get me here."
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson, whose albums once generated tens of millions of dollars in sales, would like the world to believe he has a billion dollar fortune at his disposal.
Others who have tried to estimate the pop icon's wealth say his status is so precarious he has trouble paying his bills.
The truth about Jackson's finances is as mysterious as what goes on behind the gates of his Neverland estate. Depending on the source, the man who once danced atop the pop-music universe is either spending his way into bankruptcy or presiding over a wealthy music and real estate empire.
Forbes magazine has estimated Jackson's net worth at $350 million, a figure that would be much higher if not for an estimated $200 million in debt. His assets include his 2,600-acre Santa Barbara County ranch, homes in Las Vegas and Encino, Calif., and other properties.
His stake in Sony/ATV, which includes catalogs for the Beatles and many Elvis Presley songs, is estimated by Forbes to be worth at least $350 million. Jackson bought ATV in 1985 for about $47.5 million and sold it to Sony for about $95 million in 1995, retaining a half interest.
According to some newspaper reports, his Sony/ATV stake helped Jackson secure a $200 million loan in 2001 from Bank of America to fund his living expenses and the cost of producing his "Invincible" album. Sony Music would not comment on the report, and Jackson's financial adviser did not return calls seeking comment.
Jackson also continues to receive steady income from his own recordings, although his album sales have spiraled downward for years. He hit his peak in 1982 when "Thriller" generated $115 million in sales, his best-selling album.
While Jackson's star has faded in the United States, his popularity abroad has helped prop up his financial empire.
His latest greatest hits album debuted last week at only 13th on the U.S. charts but No. 1 in Britain, while selling well in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. Next spring, a Japanese clothing maker is scheduled to roll out an "MJ" line of business suits that will sell for about $480 in U.S. dollars.
This week, the Wakita Co. said it would move forward with its plans despite accusations that Jackson molested a 13-year-old boy. A spokesman said the contracts to sell the suits at department stores were delayed because the allegations surfaced just as the deals were about to be signed.
"If he is convicted, it will not be good for our image and we will have to reconsider the plan," Wakita Co. spokesman Junichi Ota said from company offices in Japan.
Jackson has been dogged for years by rumors of souring finances. Declining record sales, a fading endorsement career, lawsuits, settlements and the singer's lavish spending habits have created the impression that his financial house is a shambles.
In a BBC documentary aired in February on ABC, he is seen buying millions of dollars worth of items, including a chess set, urns, tables, paintings and other objects from a gift shop inside a Las Vegas casino.
He tells the reporter he is worth $1 billion or more. He also is shown telling a young visitor to Neverland that he plans to build a waterpark on the property.
The Neverland estate remains one of Jackson's prime assets. He paid $14.6 million for it in 1998. Real estate appraisers estimate the property's current market value at more than $50 million, according to a report in the Santa Barbara News-Press. It now includes amusement park rides, a train and a zoo, requiring about $3 million in annual operating costs.
The closest the public has come to gaining credible insight into Jackson's finances came in a lawsuit filed in May in which a former adviser alleged Jackson was "a ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment."
Union Finance and Investment Corp. of South Korea claimed Jackson owed the firm $12 million in fees and expenses, plus interest.
Jackson had hired Union Finance in 1998 to help straighten out his finances, according to the lawsuit. The firm said it soon discovered that Jackson had only two months worth of available funds.
A month before the lawsuit was settled, exhibits containing Jackson's financial details were sealed by a judge. The agreement included a confidentiality clause, a standard part of many of the lawsuits Jackson has settled in the past.
Jackson has been the target of numerous lawsuits over the years, many of which have cost him millions.
In 1993, he paid an estimated $15 million to $20 million to the family of a boy who accused him of molestation. Jackson never faced charges.
In January, Sotheby's auction house sued Jackson's production company, saying the pop singer bid $1.3 million for two paintings and then changed his mind and refused to pay. The lawsuit asked the court to award at least $1.6 million in damages.
In March, Jackson was ordered to pay concert promoter Marcel Avram $5.3 million for pulling out of two millennium concerts.
Not every lawsuit has gone against the 45-year-old singer.
In 1997, five former Neverland employees lost a wrongful termination suit against Jackson and were ordered to pay $1.4 million in attorney fees and $60,000 in damages.
A jury rejected claims that the employees were fired for cooperating in a probe into the 1993 molestation allegations.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- A janitor who won $3 million in a lottery was not about to leave his night shift at McDonald's early.
Kissun Lal of Burnaby discovered that he'd won in Wednesday's Lotto 6-49 draw when he picked up a copy of the newspaper near the end of his shift.
"Everyone at work told me to go home right away, but I wanted to finish my shift," said Lal Thursday as he picked up his check. "I did eventually go home and calmly made some coffee, had a shower and waited for my family to wake up."
When his daughter, Nika, woke up all, he told her was, "I have to go to Richmond to pick up $3 million."
Nika immediately telephoned the British Columbia Lottery Corp. and confirmed her father's win.
When his wife Kirat woke up, Lal asked her if she wanted to go with him to pick up the check.
"She didn't believe me. I think she thinks I was kidding," he said. "She works at McDonald's, too, and she didn't want to miss a shift."
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) -- They're not clerks and sales personnel, but every year they brace themselves for the onslaught that follows Thanksgiving.
Plumbers.
"The day after Thanksgiving is our busiest day of the year," said David Deasis, assistant manager of the local office of Rescue Rooter. "A lot of people stuff what's left from dinner down the drain and it gets all clogged up. Then they call us."
One problem is that people assume a sink garbage disposal can grind and flush just about any scrapings from the plate, including chunky turkey bones.
"They're called garbage disposals, so people think they can stuff anything in the whole world down there," said Chris McIlrath, owner of AA Plumbing, "but they're not made for that.
"If you put the food on a plate into the garbage can and just rinse the plate off into the disposer, you'll never have a problem."
Thanksgiving also can produce plumbing problems elsewhere in the house as visiting friends and relatives overload toilets and sink and shower drains, said Robin French, a Roto-Rooter production manager in Lynnwood.
"The more usage, the more chance for them to get clogged," he said.
ST. PETER, Minn. (AP) -- Call it "Operation Sweet Tooth."
Ernie and Bonnie Brandt are mailing more than a half-ton of candy to troops in Iraq where their son, Don, is serving in Mosul.
If all goes well, the candy will arrive in Iraq around Christmas thanks to the Brandts and many of their friends.
"If not, I'm sure they'll still enjoy it when they do get it," said Bonnie Brandt.
The candy project was born of opportunity. Ernie Brandt was talking with owners of the recently closed Shari Candies plant in Mankato about buying some candy to send to the troops. Company officials liked the idea and gave him a good deal: He left with nearly two pallets of 2.5-pound bags of mixed candies.
The Brandts then called several military officials, seeking help in shipping the 1,100 pounds of candy to troops. Their efforts ran into government bureaucracy.
"We aren't going to wait for the government to ship it for free if they don't get it over there until next July," Bonnie Brandt said.
Mailing the 29 boxes of candy will cost $1,000, and when word circulated among friends, other military families and business colleagues, donations began to come in.
The couple has raised nearly enough to cover the postage.
DRIGGS, Idaho (AP) -- Officials say the grizzly bear was confused.
That's why it had been hanging out in people's doorways and garages before wildlife managers from Idaho and Wyoming finally captured it last week and moved it out of state.
By now, most bears have found a place to hibernate for the winter.
Idaho Fish and Game biologist Gregg Losinski said this could be the 2-year-old bear's first winter on her own, and maybe her denning instinct was confused. He said the homes probably looked warm and inviting to her.
The bear is being moved to a remote location near Cody, Wyo.
LONDON (AP) -- Singer Meat Loaf, who underwent heart surgery after collapsing onstage in London last week, said Friday that doctors have cleared him to resume his stalled British tour.
But the burly belter, renowned for his theatrical, sweat-soaked shows, said the health scare has shaken his confidence.
"I've never really been nervous about going onstage, but I'm a little bit nervous," Meat Loaf told reporters in London. "I'm having a few anxiety attacks.
"I just have to talk myself into being a bit calmer when I take the stage."
The 52-year-old singer collapsed during a show at London's Wembley Arena Nov. 17 and was taken to a hospital with a suspected heart attack. He was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which causes an irregular heartbeat and can lead to dizziness and fainting.
He had a catheter ablation, a procedure in which tissue is removed to restore a normal heartbeat, in London on Nov. 21.
The musician, famous for epic power ballads such as "Bat Out of Hell" and "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," said he experienced dizzy spells all summer but hadn't seen a doctor.
"I just chalked it up to being old," said Meat Loaf, whose real name is Marvin Lee Aday.
The singer said the episode had been "pretty scary," but that the treatment he'd received when he was rushed to the state-run Northwick Park Hospital had been "spectacular."
Meat Loaf had said he hoped to resume his tour Sunday in Manchester, but his record company later said he'd been advised to have a few more days' rest. He now hopes to perform Tuesday in Dublin, followed by dates in other cities.
"I've literally been in bed for almost two and a half weeks now, pretty much not doing a thing, so I'm not in show shape," Meat Loaf said.
The singer said he'd play Wembley again in January, so that fans who'd attended the shortened show would have the chance to see the full performance.
Meat Loaf first gained fame with the 1977 album "Bat Out of Hell," which has sold more than 30 million copies. He also has appeared in films including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Fight Club."
LEROY, Wis. (AP) -- A hunter found human remains that authorities believe are from a man reported missing more than 20 years ago.
Officials did not release the name of the 60-year-old man who had been missing since October 1983. Partial dental records and identification found around the body led to the identification, Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls said.
Nehls said he called family members Thursday.
"The family stated they always held a glimmer of hope he would be located alive," Nehls said, adding that they were thankful nonetheless to learn what had happened to him.
Nehls said no foul play is suspected in the man's death.
The sheriff's department said a hunter saw the remains as he was trying to cross a 10-foot-deep crevice late at night. He went back the next day with another hunter and found a skull and other bones.
Authorities went to the scene Wednesday and cordoned off the area to hunters. The remains were recovered Thursday.
"It was a stroke of luck the hunter found the remains," Nehls said. "Where the remains were found, it could have been another 100 years before anyone found them."
REISTERSTOWN, Md. (AP) -- A naked man who was shot in the back showed up at the home of retired Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken on Thanksgiving night and pleaded for help, police said.
Ripken said he called 911, though police did not identify him by name.
"The homeowner called and said there was a man banging on his door and he didn't know what was going on," said Baltimore County police spokesman Shawn Vinson. "He called back a short time later and said the victim appeared to have been shot."
The wounded man, Brian Robins, 20, of Baltimore, was found on Ripken's porch around 9 p.m. Thursday. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital and was released early Friday, officials said.
Robins told police that he was kidnapped Thursday by three men who held him captive for nine hours, forced him into the trunk of their car, then ordered him to strip and run, Vinson said. Robins said he was shot as he ran away, according to police.
Police are investigating the incident and have not yet made any arrests.
"This was obviously an unusual and upsetting situation for me and my family, but I did what any other person would do given the circumstances," Ripken said in a statement. "I called the police, and they responded immediately and it is now in their hands."
VAIL, Colo. (AP) -- The powder is already deep on Vail's double-diamond run Prima and at many other Western ski resorts, raising hopes of another boom year for the industry after 2002's record season.
Most resorts opened early in Utah, which led the nation with more than 100 inches of snow by Thanksgiving.
"We could not ask for anything more this year," said Kip Pitou, president of Ski Utah.
The snow that blanketed Utah also helped out elsewhere. Powderhorn in western Colorado opened for the Thanksgiving weekend for the first time in more than 20 years, while Mount Spokane in Washington was open for the first time in seven years.
Last year, the U.S. ski industry reported a record 57.6 million skier visits. A skier visit represents the purchase and use of a lift ticket by a skier or snowboarder.
But executives were more nervous this season with the industry facing increasing competition for the leisure dollar. Even cruise lines are offering cheap deals in prime ski markets, and last-minute Internet bookings are making resort management more complicated.
Vail Resorts recently posted its first fiscal year net loss in a decade, blaming the effect of the war in Iraq on travel.
Bill Jensen, chief operating officer for Vail Mountain, the nation's busiest resort, and others are hoping a weaker U.S. dollar, good snow for a second straight year, an improving economy and fewer air travel problems will mean more visitors.
Resorts have cut ticket prices, and many are offering discounted season passes or special deals including lodging, air tickets and lift tickets. That makes revenue from resort-owned restaurants and lodging the difference between profit and loss.
So far, reservations are looking good. "We've had four times as many visits on our Web site than anytime in our history," Ski Utah's Pitou said.
"We are considerably ahead of this same point last year, as much as 30 percent," added Frank Johnson, president of the Vail Valley Chamber and Tourism Bureau.
Warm weather hindered some resorts in the East this week, but the forecast is for colder temperatures and snow. Killington, Vt., was one of a handful of resorts that opened for the holiday. Most Midwestern ski areas planned to open later.
The news was better in the West.
Jackson Hole, Wyo., has 80 inches of snow and expects to be able to offer skiing on its infamous Lower Face on opening day, Dec. 6.
"We are looking at the best early season conditions I can remember, possibly the best ever," said Jerry Blann, president of the resort.
Mammoth Mountain in California celebrated its 50th season with a new gondola at the resort's new base village. Snowriders can now check e-mail on the lift at Lake Tahoe's Squaw Valley, which installed a wireless network in the offseason.
ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) -- A father accidentally backed his truck over his 13-month-old son on Thanksgiving morning, killing the boy.
Aaron Holt died at Tampa General Hospital later Thursday after suffering severe head injuries.
The toddler's parents, Michael and Donna Holt, had been preparing for a Thanksgiving dinner when the boy went outside, where his father was unloading a table and chairs from the truck, authorities said.
Michael Holt did not realize his son was outside when he backed the truck out of the carport and onto a lawn, striking the boy, Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said.
Posted in Backpage on Saturday, November 29, 2003 12:00 am Updated: 9:31 pm.
© Copyright 2009, North County Times - Californian, Escondido, CA | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
