New Hampshire
Woman gets jail for digging up grave for 'will'
LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire woman who told police she dug up her father's grave in search of his "real will" but found only vodka and cigarettes has been sentenced to 1 ½ to three years in prison.
Melanie Nash didn't speak during her sentencing Tuesday. She told police last year she dug up the grave "with respect" and her father "would be okay with it."
The 53-year-old Nash was one of four accused in the plan to open Eddie Nash's vault in Colebrook, then rifle through his casket last May in a scene a prosecutor compared to an Edgar Allan Poe story. Two pleaded guilty and one was acquitted.
Police said Nash felt she was shorted in her share of the inheritance after her father died in 2004. But no will was found in the casket.
Nash's lawyer asked for a jail sentence of up to a year, with home confinement after a few months. Family members testified that Nash suffers from chronic pain.
The Caledonian Record reports Judge Peter Bornstein noted the smashed concrete vault that housed the coffin of Eddie Nash and the disturbed body found the next morning.
"The patrolman said the gravesite of Eddie Nash did not look right," Bornstein said. "That is the understatement of the century."
The remains have since been re-interred at the cemetery.
Wisconsin
Girlfriend says gunman suffered from depression
MENASHA, Wis. (AP) - An eastern Wisconsin man who randomly shot and killed three people and wounded another before taking his own life was irrational and suffered from depression, his girlfriend said Tuesday.
Police say Haylie Peterson and Sergio Valencia del Toro argued Sunday evening a couple of hours before he headed to the Fox Cities Trestle Trail bridge and fatally shot Jon Stoffel, his 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Adam Bentdahl.
Stoffel's wife, Erin, was wounded in the shooting and is hospitalized in serious condition.
Valencia del Toro then turned the gun on himself and died at a hospital Sunday night.
Peterson, 24, said she had expressed concern to Valencia del Toro about his depression that evening, but that she then went out, leaving him at the house they shared in Menasha, so they could both cool off.
"I left because we agreed we both needed time to process our emotions," she told Post-Crescent Media Tuesday (http://post.cr/1E89hHW ).
Peterson said when she returned home later Sunday evening, Valencia del Toro was gone and weapons were missing from the house. She said she went to the east end of the bridge after learning about the commotion there.
"I sensed it," Peterson said. "I just had a bad feeling and went down there. I can't explain it."
She said she saw medical personnel carry Valencia del Toro off the bridge on a stretcher. When she recognized him, she cried out and fell to the ground, she said.
Peterson released a statement Tuesday on behalf of her family and Valencia del Toro's family expressing sympathy for the family and friends of the Stoffels and Bentdahl.
"We mourn and grieve with you and for all affected by this," the statement said.
A police investigation continues.
Valencia del Toro was a second-semester freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Connecticut
Police: Soccer player assaulted girl over award
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - A University of Bridgeport women's soccer player has been charged with assaulting a teammate over what police say was a perceived snub at an awards ceremony.
Danielle Puddefoot is accused of head-butting a teammate in a dorm room on April 30 following the annual sports awards banquet, the Connecticut Post reported.
Police say the 22-year-old senior from Slough, England, was upset after not receiving an award and confronted teammates at a post-banquet party.
The injured teammate was treated at a hospital for swelling on the right side of her face and two black eyes.
Puddefoot, who was described by teammates as extremely drunk, shoved another player then began slamming her own head against closet doors and a concrete wall, until she passed out, police said.
Puddefoot was charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct and released on a promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Thursday.
Messages seeking comment from Puddefoot and the soccer team left with the school's sports information director were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Puddefoot's phone number is not listed in the school's directory.
Missouri
Woman pleads guilty in relatives' poisoning deaths
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri woman has pleaded guilty to her role in the fatal poisonings of her father and brother and an attempt to kill a sister with antifreeze.
As part of her plea Tuesday, 24-year-old Rachel Staudte (STAW-dee), of Springfield, agreed to testify against her mother, who is also charged in the deadly plot.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that Staudte pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, one count of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree assault. She agreed to serve two life sentences and testify against her mother, Diane.
Staudte's father, Mark, and her brother, Shawn, died in 2012, and her sister, Sarah, became ill but survived. An anonymous tip led authorities to investigate the deaths.
Staudte's mother, Diane, is scheduled for trial in November.
Florida
Woman seeks rescue in online pizza order
AVON PARK, Fla. (AP) - A central Florida woman helped save herself and her children by sending a message in an online pizza order that asked employees to call 911 because she was being held hostage.
The Avon Park Pizza Hut employees spotted what Cheryl Treadway wrote in the comment section of her online order. Employees recognized Treadway as a regular customer and called the sheriff's office.
Highlands County Sheriff's deputies went to the home, where they were greeted by Treadway, who was carrying a small child. She told them her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson, 26, was inside the home, armed with a knife. Her other two children were also inside.
Treadway and the child were escorted to safety.
WFLA-TV reports Lt. Curtis Ludden started talking to Nickerson through a closed door.
It took about 20 minutes for Ludden to talk Nickerson into coming out peacefully. The children were not harmed.
Published: Thu, May 07, 2015
