News of Doom 2.0

ALBERTVILLE, Ala. -- A violent attack in Alabama led to the arrest of a teenager who is charged with raping his mother.

Albertville police said Gary Helms Jr., 19, is charged with first-degree rape. Police allege that he sought revenge against his brother after the two argued over a girlfriend and apparently targeted his 45-year-old mother.

Police Sgt. James Smith said the victim was sexually assaulted last weekend in her mobile home. Helms, according to Smith, confessed to the attack.

Investigators said they have a suspect in the Oct. 21 hit-and-run accident that killed 19-year-old Karen Elizabeth Herndon.

Woodfin police have not filed charges against anyone.

â??Thereâ??s some details of the case that weâ??re still working on,â?? Detective Don Guge said. He declined to elaborate.

â??The department as a whole is making sure that all our ducks are in a row, that nothing messes up the investigation,â?? he said.

WEAVERVILLE â?? She was a 19-year-old fireball with a love for life and family and a heart with a soft spot for strays â?? people or animals.

And on Sunday, it was these traits her father shared between tears a day after Karen Elizabeth Herndon was killed in a hit-and-run in Woodfin.

Herndon, a North Buncombe High School graduate, was struck after she had gotten out of the car her mother was driving on Weaverville Highway Saturday morning after an argument with another passenger, her father Charlie Herndon said.

She became the victim of the second hit-and-run in the county in about one week. Last Saturday, a hit-and-run in an Oteen mobile home park left a toddler dead.

Herndon was struck by a vehicle on the 72nd block of the highway about 2:30 a.m., said Charlie Robinson, with the Woodfin Police Department.

She had been living at home in Weaverville while attending Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College after a stint at UNC Charlotte, her father said.

â??She was very likeable, very bright,â?? said Charlie Herndon, who couldnâ??t help but laugh at himself. â??I sound like a father, donâ??t I?â??

But as he began to explain what his daughter was like â?? gregarious with a very subtle and dry sense of humor â?? the tears began to come.

â??I have a note right here on my desk from her. It says, â??Youâ??re such a loser,â??â?? he said. â??And itâ??s the most important note I have right now â?? because that meant that she loved me. We were very close. We had a very open, honest relationship. It worked for us, for our family.â??

She is survived by her father; her mother, Gwendolynn; her sister, Lindsey Cheryl Herndon, 21; her foster brother Micah Herndon, 17; and her paternal grandparents, Clifford and Dorothy Perkins Herndon.

â??We will miss her every day,â?? Charlie Herndon said.

Karen Herndon was also a member of the New Bridge Baptist Church, where she joined on her own despite growing up in a nonchurch-going family, her father said.

That was where she spent much of her time â?? going on mission trips to West Virginia, Oklahoma and Honduras, Charlie Herndon said.

â??And if we didnâ??t put a stop to it, she would have had every stray in the neighborhood in the house â?? people and animals,â?? he said. â??But she also had a temper, like any teenager.â??

And it was an apparent argument that sent the 19-year-old out of the vehicle and onto the road early Saturday morning.

â??She had an argument with another person in the car and got out,â?? her father said. â??My wife was panicked and just trying to figure out what to do. Thereâ??s very little detail right now.â??

Robinson said police are investigating and working to get a description of the vehicle that hit the woman.

Anyone with information should call the Woodfin Police Department at 253-4889.

A Spanaway, Pierce County, man has become the first person charged under the state's new felony bestiality law.

Michael Patrick McPhail, 26, was charged Thursday with one count of first-degree animal cruelty after his wife allegedly caught him having sex with the family's pit bull, according to charging papers filed in Pierce County Superior Court.

The woman snapped two photos with her cellphone camera, then dialed 911, authorities said.

McPhail was bailed out of jail on Friday, two days after the alleged incident.

According to Rita Morgan, national cruelty coordinator for Pasado's Safe Haven, McPhail is the first person in the state charged under the new law, which makes bestiality a Class C felony, punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

A 44-year-old Saginaw man remains jailed today on charges of bestiality after he was seen engaged in sexual acts with a dead dog, Michigan State Police troopers said.

Ronald Kuch was arrested after police searched the area of Midland and Carter roads Friday for a man who ran away from a Bay County Animal Control officer. The entire incident was within view of a nearby day care center.

Kuch is charged with crimes against nature and assaulting a law enforcement officer.

Troopers said a woman from the day care center called for animal control because there was a dead dog near the property that had been hit by a car several days earlier.

Before officers could arrive, the man showed up and began engaging in sexual acts with the dog, police said. The animal control officer also reported seeing Kuch involved in the sex act and as he approached him, Kuch shoved him away and ran off.

State troopers searched the area and found the man hiding in the attic of a nearby house.

Officers determined that the house belonged to the man's girlfriend and later learned that the dog, a black Labrador retriever, also belonged to the girlfriend. The dog had been dead for four or five days.

The official charge of crimes against nature carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. If the person is a repeat offender, the maximum is life in prison.

MONTICELLO — — A Pulaski County woman who drove her vehicle into Lake Cumberland, resulting in the death of her 8-year-old son, now faces murder charges, according to a news report.

WLEX-TV reported a Wayne County grand jury has upgraded the charges against Wynema Worley to murder and attempted murder.

The Lexington television station said Worley was indicted in Wayne County on Wednesday.

Worley, 27, of Bronston, had previously been charged with second-degree manslaughter by the Kentucky State Police when she was arrested on Aug. 23.

Worley drove her car into Lake Cumberland with both her 8-year-old son, Dylan Rambo, and 6-year-old daughter, Misty Rambo, shortly after midnight Saturday morning, Aug. 19, at Cumberland Point Boat Ramp in Wayne County.

Both Worley and Misty Rambo were able to escape, while Dylan Rambo later died. He was pronounced dead at 2:48 a.m. at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital. Dylan was a third-grader at Burnside Elementary.

A release from the Kentucky State Police said Worley was traveling to a relative’s residence near the boat ramp.

After Worley’s arrest Detective Doug Boyd with the Kentucky State Police said, “After a thorough investigation, we could not substantiate (the crash) was intentional.” He added the incident “fit the elements” of second-degree manslaughter.

However, WLEX reported on Wednesday that the charges were upgraded after a witness testified to the grand jury, alleging Worley intentionally drove her car into the lake.

“It’s been reported that Worley’s daughter allegedly told a nurse at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital that her mother suddenly said she was going to drive her car into the lake,” reported WLEX. “However, the Commonwealth’s Attorney tells us that the nurse is not the witness. In fact, it’s another person who claims the damaging information actually came directly from Worley herself. But prosecutors are not revealing who that person is at this time.”

Worley is currently lodged in the Wayne County Detention Center, where her bond is set at $30,000 cash or two times property.

Worley has entered a plea of not guilty.

NEW ORLEANS — Police discovered the remains of a 26-year-old woman dismembered and cooked in her French Quarter apartment after her boyfriend leapt to his death from a hotel with a confession note in his pocket, police said Wednesday.

Police spokesmen confirmed that the woman's body was found Tuesday night, dismembered, in her apartment above a voodoo shop on the edge of the Quarter.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune and WWL-TV quoted unidentified police sources Wednesday as saying the woman's charred head was in a pot on the stove, her legs and feet were baked in the oven and the rest of her dismembered body had been placed in a trash bag in the refrigerator.

The grisly discovery came after a man jumped from seventh-floor of the Omni Royal Hotel in the French Quarter on Tuesday night. Police on the scene found a five-page note detailing the location of the woman's body and an out-of-state contact, according to the Times-Picayune. Police said the note indicated she was killed on Oct. 5.

Police spokesman Officer Gary Flot confirmed the body was dismembered but released no other details. Police and the coroner's office declined to release the identities of the couple, saying family members had not yet been notified.

The Times-Picayune identified the woman as Adrian "Addie" Hall and the man as Zackery Bowen. Both had been bartenders in the city prior to Hurricane Katrina, opting to weather the storm in the French Quarter.

Two teens were arrested in the brutal sexual assault of a developmentally disabled man who was attacked with a plumbing snake in a Shirley bowling alley bathroom, Suffolk police said yesterday.

The 21-year-old victim was hospitalized at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, and two Shirley teens, ages 17 and 19, were charged with first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, police said.

The attackers followed the victim into a bathroom at the AMF Shirley Lanes on the Green, off William Floyd Parkway, police said.

While one attacker held down the victim, the other forced the plumbing snake, which is used to unclog drains, into the worker's rectum and spun it several times, causing him severe pain, internal injury and bleeding, according to a police news release, which said the worker was "sadistically assaulted."

The snake was removed at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital, police said. No information on the victim's condition was available last night.

Steven Rodriguez, 19, of Hounslow Rd., was arrested Monday and arraigned Tuesday in First District Court, Central Islip. He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail, or $200,000 bond, at the Riverhead jail. Michael Lunsford, 17, of Lexington Ave., was arrested yesterday and was being held at the Seventh Precinct for arraignment today in First District Court.

An Orange County man was arrested by federal agents after he sent sexual pictures of himself and his 15-month-old daughter over the Internet, authorities said.

The man was ordered to be held without bail at a court appearance in federal court Monday. He faces child-pornography charges, and has been assigned an assistant federal public defender.

The Associated Press will not release the man's name to protect his daughter's identity.

An Internet sting conducted by the Central Florida Innocent Images Task Force, which includes a Seminole County sheriff's detective, led to his arrest.

The man "admitted to producing three videos of himself and his daughter engaged in sexual activity," FBI agent Keith Scott wrote in a charging affidavit. The suspect also "admitted to transmitting these videos to multiple individuals over the Internet."

He also chatted online with a Tennessee-based FBI agent posing as a 13-year-old.

Internet subscriber and user records kept by Yahoo, BellSouth and Level 3 Communications linked the Yahoo screen name used by the suspect to his address at an apartment complex.

Agents showed the e-mailed video files to the girl's mother, who identified the child. The girl remains with her mother, who is not suspected of any wrongdoing, agents said.

A disabled 14-year-old Winnipeg boy is lucky to be alive after he was shoved into a burning shed on Saturday by a group of kids who then barricaded the door and ran away.

After spending nine years in foster care, Brian McKay recently moved into his grandparents' home in Winnipeg.

McKay has spina bifida, a curvature of the spine caused by a neurological defect. He is small for his age and has to wear leg braces to get around.

He was at a Gilbert Park Housing complex neighborhood playground near around 5 p.m. Saturday, trying to make some new friends. When he peeked through a hole in the fence to see what the neighborhood kids were doing, he saw cardboard on fire inside a shed.

When he approached to take a closer look, the kids shoved him inside and barricaded the door, McKay told CTV News.

"They locked it up with a big stick or piece of metal" as the flames started climbing the walls with him trapped inside, McKay said as he stood outside the shed, recounting his near brush with death. "I screamed for help. I thought I was gone."

The boy's screams prompted Joseph Bird to run out from his home nearby. With the help of three young girls on the scene, they rescued the teenager.

Winnipeg police are trying to track those who committed the crime and say this is one of the worst incidents they have seen.

"It is horrendous and unfortunately these youths cannot be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act," because the suspects are believed to be between eight and 11 years old, said Const. Jacqueline Chaput.

She said if police find the children involved, they'll likely be referred to a program for children under 12 who come into contact with the law.