Jon Joseph The message was sent hours before Ethan Grasse shot his father and now anchors a self-defense claim headed to trial. EVANSTON, Wyo. — Hours before prosecutors say Ethan Grasse killed his father inside their Evanston home, the 23-year-old sent a message to his grandmother saying he would defend himself if someone broke into his bedroom. … Read more
Investigators say the officer knew of a positive test months before the relationship at issue began. PENSACOLA, Fla. — The felony charge against Pensacola police officer Pierce Cotton rests on a specific Florida law that does not require a public health emergency or a confirmed transmission, but instead focuses on disclosure before sex. Under Florida … Read more
The victim was found with gunshot wounds to both legs after she tried to stop someone from leaving with her daughter’s stolen Hyundai, say police. MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The clearest early picture of the Memphis shopping-center shooting starts not with the suspect, but with the victim on the ground and officers fastening two tourniquets to … Read more
Police say the suspect surrendered soon after the shooting, and the case now stands on a guilty plea. COLUMBUS, Neb. — What began as an emergency call to a Walmart parking lot in Columbus is now nearing its final court phase after Manuel Mesa-Cabrera admitted killing the man police identified as his stepfather during a … Read more
The investigation into Sheridan Gorman’s death quickly turned on surveillance footage, witness observations and a handgun later recovered in Rogers Park. CHICAGO, Ill. — The killing of Loyola University Chicago freshman Sheridan Gorman near Tobey Prinz Beach has been pieced together through witness accounts, surveillance video and ballistic evidence, according to court filings and public … Read more
Neighbors say the first sign of the killings was a group of frightened children running through the snow for help. LEXINGTON, Minn. — The first witnesses to the aftermath of a Lexington double homicide were not investigators or paramedics but children who ran through the snow and pounded on a neighbor’s door, saying their mother … Read more
Investigators moved from a welfare check to an arrest in South Carolina and, eventually, a decades-long prison sentence. CLEVELAND, N.C. — What began as a local welfare check on a Rowan County property became a state-led homicide case that ended March 19 with Stephen Eric Buchanan’s guilty plea to killing his uncle, Charles Knight, and … Read more
Investigators say surveillance footage and the recovery of a damaged Ford Expedition helped shift the case from a hit-and-run response to a murder charge. ABILENE, Texas — The murder case against Cristopher Covington-Smith took shape around a compact but serious set of evidence, with police and court records describing surveillance footage, a damaged white Ford … Read more
Prosecutors and the judge framed the case around both Tammy Leslie’s death and the confinement of the couple’s son and daughter inside the family home. BEATRICE, Neb. — Christopher Milke’s life sentence for killing Tammy Leslie settled the homicide count, but much of the case in Gage County turned on another question: what happened to … Read more
Melissa Wood’s relatives dispute an early infidelity claim, while Jason Chatham’s family recalls the man they lost in the March shooting near TPC Sawgrass. ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. — In the weeks since Melissa Wood and Jason Chatham were shot to death outside a Walgreens in Ponte Vedra Beach, relatives have tried to describe who they … Read more