Free Republic

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama is "outraged" by the murders in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico of three people connected with the U.S. consulate there, a White House official said on Sunday. "In concert with Mexican authorities, we will work tirelessly to bring their killers to justice," White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement. A consulate employee and her husband, both U.S. citizens, were killed along with the husband of another employee who is a Mexican citizen, the statement said. "The president is deeply saddened and outraged by the news," Hammer said, adding that Obama "shares in...

A suspect has been arrested in the 2001 rape and murder of Gladys Conrad, 84, Carlsbad police said Wednesday. Mexican national Alejandro Avalos Fernandez, 33, was extradited to the United States from Mexico on Tuesday and booked into the Vista jail on suspicion of murder, rape, sodomy, torture, and assault. He is being held without bail ... San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, along with Carlsbad Police Department Chief Tom Zoll and Investigations Lt. Kelly Cain, are expected to release details about the case at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Police Department's Conference Center, 2560 Orion Way. Fernandez, a...

CENTENNIAL — Arapahoe County jurors today returned guilty verdicts in 18 criminal charges against Francis Hernandez, the man accused of causing a car accident that killed three people in 2008. Hernandez was charged with 19 criminal counts, including vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving death, and child abuse resulting in death related to the deadly crash at an Aurora Baskin-Robbins shop. After the verdict, Arapahoe County District Court Judge John Wheeler found Hernandez guilty of the 19th charge, driving while under restraint, in a trial before the court. Hernandez faces more than 100 years in prison if...

The infant boy sealed in concrete by a Brooklyn couple charged with pimping out his enslaved hooker mom, was beaten to death, the Daily News has learned. The baby, Carlos Santillana, was only 2 months old when he died, but his brief life was miserable. A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner said little Carlos suffered blunt impact injuries to his head, torso and extremities. "The cause of death is battered child syndrome," said spokeswoman Ellen Borakove. Federal agents and cops made the horrifying discovery of Carlos' body sealed inside a Rubbermaid storage bin on Nov. 25 after raiding a...

Both suspects sought in the slaying of a Millard County sheriff's deputy were captured Wednesday morning in Beaver County. Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel confirmed that Roberto Miramontes Roman, the alleged killer of Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox, and a "person of interest," Ruben Chavez Reyes, were taken into custody without incident about 8:15 a.m. "We got a tip and found them asleep in a shed. Deputies and SWAT officers went in and removed them," Noel said. He said Millard County authorities were on the way to take the men into custody. Millard County sheriff's officials confirmed the capture, but were...

In Mexico the narco insurgents scored a record number of kills in 2009 as reported by Mario Gonzalez and Dave Alsup for CNN: Mexico ended 2009 with a record number of drug-related deaths, greatly surpassing the then-record tally reached in 2008, unofficial counts indicate. The government has not released official figures, but national media say 7,600 Mexicans lost their lives in the war on drugs in 2009. Mexican President Felipe Calderon said earlier this year that 6,500 Mexicans died in drug violence in 2008. * * * Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, leads all other Mexican...

On Wednesday, the staff at Anaheim Medical Center became suspicious of the story given them by Juana Perez Valencia, 19, who though showing all of the signs, claimed she had not just given birth. Orange County deputies arrived and questioned her, eventually finding the corpse of her newborn daughter in the dumpster behind Sombrero’s restaurant, where Valencia works as a waitress. Apparently, Valencia gave birth to the girl on Tuesday night in the restaurant’s bathroom, and allegedly placed the baby into a plastic bag, before tossing her into the dumpster. An autopsy concluded that the baby had in fact been...

On Saturday night, Virginia Beach police arrested Jorge Alberto Fuertes Loredo, 31, and Isidor Loredo Amaya, 31, after Florentino Martinez-Melendez, 40, was shot to death in a trailer park. A second victim survived the shooting but remains in critical condition in a local hospital. Apparently, the fatal shooting was the result of a heated argument. Both Loredo and Amaya have been charged with murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Both Mexican nationals are in the country illegally, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have placed a hold on them. Virginia Beach Commonwealth Attorney, Harvey Bryant,...

Set in the 1940s, "A Christmas Story" depicts a series of family vignettes through the eyes of 9-year-old Ralphie Parker, who yearns for that gift of all gifts: the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. This was boyhood before "bang-bang you're dead" was banned. Family life prior to "One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads," and Christmas without the ACLU. If children could choose their families, most would opt for the kind depicted in this film, where mother is a homemaker, father is a regular working stiff, and between them they have zero repertoire of psychobabble to rub together. Although...

I swear we don’t plan this stuff out. But no sooner than does a series of articles about the Collier County Sheriff’s Office program to deport troublesome illegal aliens conclude than an illegal alien is in the headlines, and not in a good way. The sheriff’s program, as outlined in stories Sunday and Monday, targets illegal immigrants who run afoul of the law. Deputies, through extra training, are empowered to enforce federal laws and begin deportation proceedings as they see fit. In places without the program, local authorities have to rely on federal agents to undertake the deportation process against...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - An illegal immigrant who drove away after hitting a toddler in a Salem parking lot has been sentenced to one year and five months in prison. Juan Lopez-Perez pleaded guilty Thursday morning to failing to perform the duties of a driver in a crash. Defense attorney Steven Walls said his client left the scene Nov. 24 because a crowd was gathering, he feared for his safety and he was in the country illegally. Before his conviction, the district attorney’s office said Lopez-Perez told witnesses he knew he’d struck and killed a child and that he tried...

Las Vegas Metro Police Officer and Marine veteran Trevor Nettleton was murdered by alleged gang members during a robbery of his home, and there's some moving video of his funeral services. My question is how come this country is so behind the eight-ball in tackling the gang problem that is so pervasive. I do a lot of research into gangs, and I know that law enforcement is dedicated to the issue and routinely is bringing them down; however, it seems like the hydra's head and for every gang enterprise that gets busted another 100 pop up. A lot of innocent...

A U.S. citizen from Brownville has died of a gunshot wound she reportedly suffered across the Rio Grande in the Mexican border city of Matamoros. "We are in contact with the corresponding Mexican authorities, who we hope will conduct a thorough and expeditious investigation," Quigley said. Matamoros newspapers quoted witnesses as saying that Marin was at a friend's home in Matamoros when she was struck by a stray bullet accidentally fired by a Mexican army soldier participating in a nearby drug raid. One newspaper said the soldier's gun went off as he climbed into a vehicle. Authorities in Tamaulipas state...

A teenage boy pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to fatally shooting Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas during a robbery attempt at the U.S.-Mexico border. Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez, 17, admitted to illegally crossing into the United States near Campo with a group of others July 23 and luring Rosas from his patrol vehicle to rob him, according to the plea agreement.

Marine Corporal Brian Mathews was home on a three-day leave for the 2006 Thanksgiving holiday. He had finished an eight-month tour of duty in Iraq and was planning to leave the military in June, 2007. Corporal Mathews, 21 years old, had enlisted in the Marines on his 17th birthday. Brian’s mom, Trudy, had been worried about her son’s decision to enlist. This trip home was a rare moment of peace for her. “He felt on top of his world,” Mrs. Mathews said. “He was real happy. Very, very happy.” Brian told his mom how Southwest Airlines had let him board...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - A gang of gunmen killed an off-duty U.S. airman and five other people early today at a bar in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. Authorities say four other men were killed outside an elementary school in another part of town. That raises to 30 the number of homicides in Ciudad Juarez in just four days. There was no immediate information on a motive for the early morning attack at the Amadeus bar, which also left a seventh person wounded. But Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state, says the methods bore...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) – Gunmen with automatic weapons burst into a Mexican strip club on the U.S. border, opened fire on patrons and killed six people including an American soldier, the army said on Wednesday. The hooded gunmen stormed into the bar in Ciudad Juarez as strippers were dancing for customers, sought out the six men and shot them each several times. A 26-year-old off-duty U.S. soldier who had crossed over from El Paso, Texas, was among the dead, army spokesman Enrique Torres said. "It appears drugs were being sold at the place," Torres said of the strip joint....

On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor told a judge in D.C Superior Court that accused murderer and gang member Ingmar Guandique, 28, along with members of the MS-13 gang threatened to kill a witness and his family, if he testifies at Guandique’s January trial.A Salvadoran national in this country illegally, Guandique was arrested last April for the murder of missing intern Chandra Levy, who disappeared in 2001. Her skeletal remains were discovered a year later in D.C.’s Rock Creek Park.At the time of his arrest for the Levy murder, he was already in prison for the assault of two...

A caretaker has been charged with the murder of a priest whose body was found in the rectory of his US church. Jose Feliciano, 64, stabbed and slashed Rev Ed Hinds 32 times with a kitchen knife after the pair had an argument, according to prosecutors. The 61-year-old pastor had been in his clerical robes when he was killed and Feliciano was one of two people who said they found the body, it is claimed. The body was discovered at about 8am on Friday after Rev Hinds failed to attend Mass at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, New...

LOS ANGELES — A homeless man was arrested and charged with arson for starting a tiny blaze in August near the spot where a gigantic wildfire erupted several days later, killing two firefighters, homicide detectives said Monday. Babatunsin Olukunle, 25, is the strongest lead to date in the arson investigation stemming from a fire that destroyed 89 homes, burned 250 square miles of national forest and killed two firefighters when their truck plunged off a road. It was one of the largest fires in Southern California history.