WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors say two 12-year-old southeastern Wisconsin girls stabbed their 12-year-old friend nearly to death to please a fictional character they learned about online.
Both girls were charged with first-degree attempted homicide Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court. A court commissioner set bail at $500,000 cash per girl.
The criminal complaint says that one of the girls told a detective they had to kill someone to become proxies of a character called Slender Man they learned about on a horror-story website. The complaint says the girls started planning to kill their friend as early as December.
The three girls had a slumber party Friday. The two stabbed their friend 19 times in a wooded park Saturday.
The girl managed to crawl away and was found by a bicyclist. She is hospitalized.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — An unsettled weather pattern has five Midwestern states facing a moderate risk of severe storms on Tuesday.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, warned Monday that portions of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois are at a heightened risk of severe storms with hail, high winds and possibly tornadoes. The weather service says the tornadoes could be strong, if they occur.
Greg Carvin, lead forecaster for the Storm Prediction Center, says numerous thunderstorms will be fueled by warm, moist air in the upper Midwest.
Localized rainfall may not be too great because the storms will be so fast-moving, but Carvin says the risk of flash flooding exists.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man was armed with an unloaded rifle when he was fatally shot by deputies who forced their way into a Lincoln house to remove him.
Lincoln police say 64-year-old Doug DaMoude had barricaded himself in his former residence on Friday afternoon. He’d broken back into the home after he was evicted.
Lincoln Police Chief Jim Peschong (peh-SHAHNG’) said Monday that locksmiths disabled the locks and deputies rammed into the entryway, where they were confronted by DaMoude. One deputy grabbed the rifle and struggled with DaMoude. Peschong says two other deputies fired five shots, hitting DaMoude four times.
Peschong says DaMoude had written his department and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, saying he didn’t recognize their authority and would kill officers if they tried to break into his home.
BRIDGEPORT, Neb. (AP) — A 38-year-old Gering man facing five years in prison in a Scotts Bluff County child sex assault case has been found not guilty in a Morrill County case involving the same girl.
A Morrill County jury acquitted Richard Cobos last week after a two-day trial. He’d been charged with abusing the then 9-year-old girl in 2009.
In April he was convicted in Scotts Bluff County District Court of sexually assaulting the girl on several occasions between 2009 and 2012. Prosecutors say the girl was not a student in the Mitchell school district, where Cobos taught junior high math.
His Scotts Bluff County sentencing is scheduled for June 4.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The parents of a 2-year-old boy who was mauled to death after falling into a wild African dogs exhibit have settled their lawsuit against the Pittsburgh zoo.
The attorneys for the boy’s parents, Jason and Elizabeth Derkosh, issued a joint statement with the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium on Monday.
Their son, Maddox, lunged from his mother’s grasp and fell some 10 feet past a wooden railing into an enclosed exhibit below in 2012. He had bounced off a net meant to catch falling debris and trash, then into the exhibit, where several dogs fatally attacked him.
The bespectacled boy, who had vision problems, became the only visitor in the zoo’s 116-year history to die.
The statement says the settlement is confidential and that the family seeks privacy.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A long-term plan for supplying Lincoln with water 50 years from now suggests the city develop a well field near the Missouri River more than 40 miles away.
Buying and developing the well field, building water treatment plants and laying pipes to Lincoln could cost $1.2 billion by 2044.
Lincoln’s more than 265,000 residents have been getting their water from a well field on the Platte River, but officials say the city should diversify its water supply to meet its future needs.
Two public hearings are schedule later this month on whether the city should approve the master plan.
ARAPAHOE, Neb. (AP) — A fire started by a lightning strike has destroyed a bell tower on a church in south-central Nebraska.
The fire was reported a little before 11:30 a.m. Sunday at St. Germanus Catholic Church in Arapahoe. Firefighters from several departments responded to calls for extra help.
No injuries have been reported. Arapahoe Fire Chief Brian Sisson said the tower was destroyed, but he thinks the bell is fine.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A 48-year-old Grand Island man is scheduled to be sentenced next month for trying to kill his estranged wife.
Online court records say Jesus Parra pleaded no contest to three charges and was convicted last week. The three are attempted murder, assault and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person. Sentencing is set for July 17.
Prosecutors dropped six other charges in exchange for Parra’s pleas.
In February he’d been declared mentally incompetent and was sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. He was to remain there until “the disability is removed.” In April Parra was declared competent to stand trial as long as he continued to take his medication.
Police say he attacked and injured Rosa Olivas de Parra at her home in April 2013.
A pack of North Platte residents are in jail on felony charges after a strange series of events at a North Platte apartment complex.
At around 6:40 a.m., on May 31, North Platte Police responded to a disturbance at Elm’s Lodge Apartments, 1211 East 4th Street.
According to Officer Rodney Brown, a 21-year-old female advised officers that 20-year-old Levi Unruh, of Wallace, had pushed her down some stairs.
Brown said the woman was transported to Great Plains Regional Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
Further investigation revealed that the woman had not been pushed down the stairs, but had fallen or jumped “as a result of her own actions.”
However, officers learned that several of the woman’s items, a cell phone and a wallet containing a SSI card and ATM card, had been taken or lost during the incident.
At around 1:45 p.m. that afternoon, officers returned to Elm’s Lodge after learning that some of the victim’s lost items had been found.
Brown said residents of the apartment had turned over the phone and SSI card, but did not have the ATM card.
Following further investigation, officers were able to determine that 33-year-old Maria Burke and 26-year-old Anthony McGilvray had been present when the victim fell, and had taken the phone and wallet from the scene.
Investigators say McGilvray then spoke to Unruh and another suspect, 25-year-old Nathan Beebe, about having access to the PIN number and using the ATM card to withdraw cash from a nearby ATM.
Unruh was then allegedly given the card, at which time police believe he went to the ATM, stole the money and shared it with the others.
In the end, Beebe was charged with felony theft by deception, and Burke was charged with felony tampering with physical evidence and aiding and abetting theft by deception. McGilvray and Unruh were both charged with felony aiding and abetting theft by deception.
All were jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center, with the exception of Burke who was processed and released.
Gretchen Luise Witt, 53, of North Platte, NE, passed away Friday, May 30, 2014, at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte.
Gretchen was born June 2, 1960, to Randall Jaye and Helen Gertrude Lehmann Witt in Omaha, NE. She grew up in North Platte and graduated from E.S.U. 16 in 1983. Gretchen then went to work at the North Platte Opportunity Center in the General Store and Copy Shop. She also worked at First National Bank as a Junior Clerk.
Gretchen was a member of First Evangelical Lutheran Church where she helped with communion, ushering, Sunday School and Bible School. She loved music, books and playing Scrabble and Canasta. Gretchen enjoyed collecting Star Trek memorabilia, articles about Abraham Lincoln, autographs and angels.
She is survived by her mother, Helen Witt, of North Platte; her sister, Christa (Terry) Speed, of Grand Island, NE; a niece, Anna Speed, of Omaha, NE; her aunts, Ruth Lehmann and Linda Lehmann, both of North Platte; cousins, Jennifer (Mike) Swain, of North Platte, Larry Pederson, of Granby, CT and Leno Pederson, of Louisville, KY; and other family and her many friends.
Gretchen was preceded in death by her father, Randall Witt; uncle, Carl Lehmann; aunt, Sue Juker; and her grandparents.
Cremation was chosen. A memorial service will be 10 a.m. Thursday, June 5, 2014, at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church with Pastor Frank Fitch III officiating. Inurnment will follow in Fort McPherson National Cemetery. The memorial book may be signed from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday at Odean Colonial Chapel at C & Sycamore. Condolences may also be shared at odeanchapel.com. A memorial has been established for the General Store at the North Platte Opportunity Center. Odean Colonial Chapel at C & Sycamore is in charge of arrangements.
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors say two 12-year-old southeastern Wisconsin girls stabbed their 12-year-old friend nearly to death to please a fictional character they learned about online.
