Free Republic

(12-27) 09:39 PST SAN QUENTIN -- The self-proclaimed "Sausage King" sentenced to death in February for murdering three meat inspectors during a 2000 rampage was found dead in his prison cell this morning. Prison spokesman Sgt. Eric Messick said a correctional officer conducting routine rounds at 4:30 a.m. noticed that Stuart Alexander, 44, did not appear to be breathing. "He was quickly removed from his cell," Messick said. "All attempts to revive him failed." The prison physician pronounced Alexander dead at 5:15 a.m. The Marin County Coroner is scheduled to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death. "There...

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Two off-duty border agents based in Texas were found dead Friday near Tucson in what authorities were investigating as a murder-suicide. The male and female agents, who both worked for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso, were found around 2:30 a.m. by a Tohono O'odham Nation police officer who was responding to a report of an abandoned vehicle 10 miles southwest of Tucson, the tribe said. Doug Mosier, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in El Paso, said the agents were identified as Arturo Betancourt, 45, and Elizabeth Granillo, 31. Betancourt had worked for the...