News of Doom 2.0

TOLEDO, Ohio — A drunken driver from Michigan sped down a highway in the wrong direction for about seven miles before his pickup truck slammed into a minivan carrying a family home after a holiday trip, police said.

A woman and four children in the minivan, including two authorities say were from Michigan, were killed in the crash that scattered toys, stuffed animals and bits of gift wrap along the edge of the road.

Tests showed that the pickup truck's wrong-way driver had a blood-alcohol level of .254 percent, more than three times the legal limit in Ohio of .08, police said.

Michael Gagnon, 24, of Adrian, Mich., was charged Monday with aggravated vehicular homicide. His speech was slurred and he smelled of alcohol at the crash scene, according to a police report.

His truck was going north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 280 Sunday night, fire officials said.

Three of the victims were a mother from Maryland and her two children.

Bethany Griffin, 36, Jordan Griffin, 10, and Verde Griffin, 6 months, all of Parkville, Md., were killed along with Lacie Burkman, 7, and Haley Burkman, 10, both of Redford Township, Mich., near Detroit, according to the Lucas County Coroner's office.

Both drivers tried to avoid each other, but the crash ripped a side door off the minivan, throwing out some of the victims.

An infant seat wrapped with pink baby blankets landed in the roadway.

Gagnon also was taken to a hospital, but his injuries were not as serious.

An 11-year-old Queens boy was shot in the chest Sunday night at the front door of his house by a cold-hearted gunman looking to take revenge on the child's teenage brother, cops said.

Tyshon Falconer, who was in critical but stable condition Sunday night, answered a ring at the door of his parents' Springfield Gardens home about 8:30 p.m. to find someone looking for his brother Tony, 16.

Tyshon said his brother wasn't home and tried to close the door, but not before the man fired a shot that went into his chest and through his back, cops said.

An unconscious Tayvon Evans had cuts on his wrists from being restrained, a burn on his leg, bruising, lacerations, and injuries to his head and chest, police said.

The mother's boyfriend admitted to police he had beaten the child and said the abuse had occurred over the course of several days, according to court records. The toddler died shortly after being taken to the hospital.

Mitchell Moore, 20, of 1702 Ottawa Drive and the child's mother, Antionette Hairston, 25, who lives at the same address, were arrested and charged Wednesday with felony child endangering.

According to court records, the toddler was burned, beaten with a belt and a plastic hanger, and also punched and hit while his wrists were restrained.

Mr. Moore told police he abused the child because "he wouldn't behave," Captain Carroll said. The mother apparently had seen the child's injuries, but told police her boyfriend concocted a story of how the child was hurt.

BARSTOW, Calif. — A San Bernardino County woman was mauled to death by a pack of pit bulls.

The Sheriff's Department says deputies were called to a home in Yermo at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. They found 45-year-old Kelly Caldwell lying in the street. She later died at a hospital.

Authorities say three dogs surrounded and attacked Caldwell, then ran to a nearby house.

One dog was shot to death by deputies when it returned to the scene and acted aggressively as paramedics were trying to save Caldwell's life.

A second dog was shot to death Wednesday morning when it, too returned. Deputies say it became aggressive as an animal control officer was trying to capture it.

Authorities say at least one dog belonged to a neighbor.

A Peabody, Mass., woman will face a judge in Maine Wednesday as prosecutors attempt to have her brought to Massachusetts to face charges of killing her infant daughter.

On Friday, a grand jury indicted Jennifer Ward, 37, on charges she shook her 9-month-old baby, Jocelyn Ward Anderson, so badly she died. The Essex County District Attorney's office said the cause of death was determined to be abusive head trauma.

DSS had previously taken the baby away from Ward for a brief time.

State Department of Social Services spokesman Richard Nangle said the agency took custody of the baby shortly after birth in February when both mother and daughter tested positive for drugs.

Ward regained custody after agreeing to outpatient therapy, but Nangle says the baby was again removed by the DSS after a report of neglect.

Ward regained custody of the baby a second time after completing a drug treatment and parenting education program.

A Denver man accused in the brutal sexual assault of a 61-year old woman, who later died, was advised of the charges against him Monday.

Willie Trimble, 45, has been charged with sexual assault and felony murder.

Investigators said DNA tests link Trimble to the crime.

The victim, Judith Pyle, was working as an usher at the Pepsi Center and had ridden a bus home from work on Dec. 8.

She was assaulted in an alley near 35th Avenue and Clayton Street in northeast Denver.

"The attack left her traumatized," said the victim's friend, Mark Rands. "She was on the ground in the snow for 2 hours, in 3 degree weather."

"This is a horrible, unspeakable act no matter who it happened to," said the victim's son, Ronald Pyle. "That it happened to my mother just makes it worse."

Ronald was home cooking dinner on the night of the attack. When his mom failed to show, he assumed that she was staying at a friends house because of the snow storm.

"While I was sitting there waiting and cooking her food and wondering, she was just a block and a half away in the alley screaming for help."

A neighbor finally heard her cries and called police.

Pyle was taken to a hospital, but died from exposure.

A man killed two women and left their bodies in the basement of a house, then beat and raped the daughter of one of the victims in the same home, authorities and a relative of the victims said.

Fabian Hands, 46, was booked on two counts of homicide and two counts of use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Officers were called to the house in north Omaha Monday night. When they arrived, a 20-year-old woman came out of a bedroom and said she had been sexually assaulted. Hands followed her out of the bedroom and assaulted her in front of officers, according to a police report. Officers subdued him and took him into custody.

Police found the bodies of the woman's 36-year-old mother and 48-year-old aunt in the basement during a search of the house, authorities said. Paramedics pronounced the women dead at the scene.

Police arriving at the home of a retired British school teacher to tell her that her husband was critically injured in a car crash instead stumbled on a gruesome find — the woman's battered corpse stuffed among the presents under the couple's Christmas tree.

Police in West Sussex, England, say Roger Goswell, 66, rammed his car into a tree just two miles from their home, after bludgeoning his wife, Susan, 61, and crudely trying to hide her body beneath the tree, the Daily Mail newspaper reported. Roger Goswell later died at the hospital.

A 9 month old was in critical condition Sunday after suffering what police described as a severe beating.

The boyfriend of the boy's mother was arrested Saturday night by Palm Bay Police and charged with aggravated child abuse.

According to a police spokeswoman, the child was left in the care of 25 year old Jason Welch at Welch's home on Parsons Circle when the mother of the baby went to work Saturday.

Around 5pm, Welch called the mother and said the child had fallen off the couch and "didn't look right".

He took the boy to the mother's workplace and she noticed several bruises.

She took the child to the emergency room at a local hospital where Palm Bay detectives responded, interviewing the mother and Welch.

Welch reportedly told detectives that he didn't know how the baby got the bruises, which were on his head, face and lower back.

After talking to police, Welch was arrested and charged with beating the child.

Doctors told police that the injuries to the boy are severe and life threatening.

WOODBURY, N.J. -- A woman charged with slashing her 6-year-old son's throat Saturday is being held on $500,000 bond.

Martina Harding, 42, also wounded herself after the attack, which claimed the life of her son, according to police and prosecutors. She remained hospitalized under police guard, with a self-inflicted neck wound.

Harding's 9-year-old daughter called 911 about 7:30 a.m., reporting that her brother had been injured. Police said she made the call at the direction of her father, Christian Harding. Neither was injured.

Prosecutor Thomas Sullivan said Christian Harding told detectives he had witnessed at least part of the attack, but was "too distraught" to continue talking.

Police searched the house late Saturday afternoon and took a 13-inch kitchen knife they said they believe is the weapon used in the killing.

Police said they had no motive for the attack. But they did confirm that both Hardings recently lost their jobs.

A man is in a coma after three boys, one as young as 10, bashed him with a letterbox attached to a metal pipe, leaving him bleeding on a road where he was struck by a car, NSW police say.

The boys, believed aged between 10 and 17, allegedly beat him with a letterbox attached to a metre-length piece of pipe.

Police said a passing motorist stopped and confronted the boys, and they fled, leaving their victim on the road with severe head injuries.

Before the injured man could be moved, a second car struck him, resulting in further injuries.

The 41-year-old man was treated at the scene for head injuries and rushed to Gosford Hospital in a serious condition, where he has later placed in a medically-induced coma.

A South Florida family was speaking out Thursday morning about a vicious attack that permanently injured a 14-year-old autistic boy.

The boy's accused attacker is his own aunt.

Investigators said Lisa Babington stood over the teenager's bed while he slept and stabbed him in both eyes. She then stabbed one of her own eyes.

The victim's grandmother was home when it happened and said his aunt said 'she had to do it.'

Alex, the victim, lost his left eye and will never fully regain his eyesight in his right eye.

Milwaukee, WI (LifeNews.com) -- A Wisconsin pastor has been murder because she refused to fund her step-grandson's request for his girlfriend to have an abortion. After the woman, identified as 75-year-old Anne Gordon, said she wouldn't give him the money, 30-year-old Eric Henry allegedly took her life.

According to police, Henry killed Gordon by using duct-tape to seal a plastic bag over her head and binding her hands and feet with the tape so she would be unable to remove it.

Police say Gordon asked God to forgive Henry for what he was doing as he allegedly bound and killed her.

Authorities say Henry asked Gordon for $300 to pay for his girlfriend's abortion and she refused him the money.

According to WTMJ-AM, a criminal report indicates Henry told police another unidentified man forced him to kill Gordon, but officials say they doubt that story and have no evidence that Henry did anything other than act alone in the murder.

Henry told police that he told Gordon the money would be used for a paternity test, not an abortion, but she would not give him the money. Instead, Gordon asked Henry to pray with her about the situation.

Afterwards, Henry left Gordon's home and later returned to her apartment with another man with the intention of robbing Gordon. As he stayed by the front door, the man went upstairs to steal money from Gordon but came away empty-handed.

LAKE WALES, Fla. -- A woman who was set on fire during a robbery of a Polk County insurance office last week died on Tuesday night, according to authorities.

Yvonne Bustamante, 26, died at about 10 p.m. after suffering burns over 80 percent of her body.

Luciano's baby, who was delivered by Caesarian section after the incident, died Thursday night at an Orlando hospital. The baby, who was born more than three months premature, weighed 1 pound, 2 ounces.

Leon Davis Jr., 30, was charged in the incident and officials said they believe Davis killed two employees of a BP gas station in another Polk County city on Dec. 7.

Two men have been charged with murder in the slaying of a pregnant woman whose home in an unincorporated area north of Richmond was sprayed with gunfire the night before she was to have been married, authorities said Tuesday.

Robert Valentino Hernandez III, 19, and Robert Joe Leyva, 22, are each charged with two counts of murder and one count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling.

Hernandez fired the shots from a high-powered assault rifle Feb. 13 that killed Luz Maria Aguilar-Bucio, a 32-year-old mother of three, and her fetus in the unincorporated Montalvin Manor neighborhood, said Contra Costa County sheriff's Capt. Dan Terry.

A motive for the shooting isn't clear, but neither Aguilar-Bucio nor her fiance, Roberto Orellana, knew the suspects, Terry said.

Aguilar-Bucio and Orellana were in bed about 11 p.m. when the shots slammed into their home on Michele Drive.