Oklahoma
Autopsy results inconclusive in family’s deaths
KINTA, Okla. (AP) — Autopsy results were inconclusive for a family whose remains were found by hunters in a wooded area four years after they disappeared in rural Oklahoma, the state Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Bobby Jamison, Sherilyn Jamison and 6-year-old Madyson Stormy Jamison were last seen in October 2009 near the San Bois Mountains while scouting for land to purchase. There was no sign of the family until last November, when hunters discovered their skeletal remains in southeastern Oklahoma, about 3 miles from where they were last spotted.
In a report, Dr. Joshua Lanter, the deputy chief medical examiner, listed the cause of death for each family member as unknown, noting there were no signs of trauma that would have caused their deaths, the Tulsa World reported Wednesday.
However, the report said medical examiners were unable to exclude trauma or natural disease because the bodies had decomposed and there was carnivore or rodent damage to the bones.
Shoes that apparently belonged to the couple and child were recovered. A dried flower was found with Madyson’s effects, and with Bobby’s effects “a fragment of a flexible material with a cloth material on one side” was found, the report said.
Investigators said at the time that there was no sign of foul play in the family’s disappearance and that it appeared the family planned to return to their truck, which they had parked as they went to look at a 40-acre plot of land.
Authorities said a wallet, purse, cell phones, cash and Madyson’s small dog were found inside the truck.
New Jersey
Princeton prof is accused of lawn sign thefts
PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Police have charged a Princeton University professor with stealing lawn signs belonging to a computer repair business.
Owner Ted Horodynsky tells The Times of Trenton his signs began to disappear after a traffic incident with professor John Mulvey. Horodynsky says he set up a surveillance camera which showed Mulvey driving off with the signs that he placed on clients’ lawns.
Mulvey tells the newspaper he was just picking up debris. The 67-year-old professor of operations research and financial engineering says some people don’t like the signs and throw them in the woods. Mulvey says he makes it his job to pick them up.
All 21 signs have been recovered and have a total value of $471.
California
Convicted child molester gets 194 year term
MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California man has been sentenced to 194 years to life in prison for molesting boys in the 1990s.
A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge on Tuesday imposed consecutive sentences for 53-year-old Gordon Blake of Brentwood, who was convicted last month of 32 felonies.
Judge John W. Kennedy said the sexual abuse was “particularly callous and cruel,” noting that some of the victims were vulnerable because they lacked family support and had no father figure.
The Contra Costa Times reports that Blake was active in local politics and twice ran for state office.
The case came to light when a county jail inmate told police and prosecutors that he was molested by Blake. Eventually, three other accusers came forward and testified at the trial.
Utah
Man sentenced to 5 year term in synagogue attack
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 22-year-old Salt Lake City man has been sentenced to five years in prison for shooting out windows at a Utah synagogue two years ago in what prosecutors considered a religiously motivated attack.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release Tuesday that Macon Openshaw must also pay $1,969 to repair the damage at the Congregation Kol Ami synagogue in Salt Lake City.
Openshaw pleaded guilty in April to two charges of unlawful gun possession.
Prosecutors say that Openshaw acknowledged as part of a plea deal that he fired three rounds from a .22-caliber handgun at the unoccupied temple because of its religious identity.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the conviction and sentence shows that religiously motivated violence won’t be tolerated.
Utah
No charges for marshal in court assault shooting
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal prosecutors say they will not file charges against a deputy U.S. marshal who shot and killed a defendant during a federal court trial in Salt Lake City, authorities said.
The case was closed after the Department of Justice reviewed it and declined to prosecute, FBI officials said in a statement late Monday.
The FBI added it will not release the name of the marshal involved because “it serves no legitimate public interest.”
Authorities said 25-year-old defendant Siale Angilau got out of his seat, grabbed a pen and rushed a witness “in an aggressive, threatening manner” during his trial April 21.
The deputy fired four shots, all of which hit Angilau, who later died at a hospital. Nobody else was injured.
About 30 minutes after the shooting, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell brought the attorneys back into the courtroom and declared a mistrial.
Officials said Angilau and the witness he rushed, Vaiola Tenifa, were members of the same Tongan Crip gang.
Angilau was one of 17 people named in a 2010 indictment accusing Tongan Crip members of assault, conspiracy, robbery and weapons offenses. He was the last defendant in the case to stand trial, with previous defendants being sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.
North Carolina
FBI: Members of Cartel accused kidnapping man
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The FBI says three men affiliated with a Mexican drug cartel are accused of kidnapping a South Carolina man and holding him for ransom in a dispute over $200,000 in marijuana.
The FBI says the man was kidnapped July 9 and rescued Tuesday by agents after they tracked him to a home in North Carolina. The St. Matthews man hasn’t been identified. He is not in custody.
FBI agent Dave Thomas says the kidnappers posed as police officers and abducted the man. He was found in Roseboro, North Carolina, about 160 miles northeast of his hometown.
The FBI says Juan Manuel Fuentes-Morales, Ruben Ceja-Rangel, Luis Castro Villeda appeared in federal court in Raleigh on Wednesday on a charge of conspiracy to kidnap. Court records listed no attorneys.
