Fireman Dead in Fla. Wendy's Shooting

Another family wiped out in murder-suicide

(NEWSER) - California police believe they've found another case of a family wiped out in a murder-suicide—the second such tragedy in eight days, reports the AP . The discovery of the body of a man who apparently leaped to his death from a highway overpass near San Diego led investigators to a home where the corpses of his lover and her two young children were found. Just last week a man, his wife, and their two daughters were found drowned in the pool and bathtub of their San Diego home in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide likely carried out by the father. More»

Legendary link is just that—a legend: criminal justice experts

(NEWSER) - Crime rises with the temperature and climbs during weekends—but not during the time of the full moon, illuminating new research reveals. Crime statistics for San Antonio helped criminologists shed some light on the deeply entrenched belief in what the researchers called "the lunar-crime relationship," reports USA Today . "Although popular culture, folk lore, and even certain occupational lore suggested the 'freaks' come out during full moons, this phenomenon was not reflected," the researchers wrote. More»

Wounded in chest, stomach, boy hid in trash bin

(NEWSER) - A gravely wounded 3-year-old boy hid in a garbage can for 12 hours after his father fatally shot his mom, then killed himself, according to law enforcement authorities. Police followed a trail of blood to the trash can where they found the boy bleeding from 3 gunshot wounds to his shoulder, stomach and chest. His parents lay dead on lawn chairs outside the Anaheim home, and his uninjured 5-year-old brother was hiding elsewhere in the house. The older boy told police he could hear his baby brother "screaming and hollering," but didn't know where he was. More»

Family was in Baltimore visiting college daughter

(NEWSER) - A troubled Long Island attorney killed his wife, two children and himself in a Baltimore hotel, police said yesterday. "The why and the motive in this is just a big blank right now," said a police official of attorney William Parente, 59, who had an estate and tax planning practice in Manhattan. The parents "loved each other, and they loved those girls," said a Garden City neighbor. More»

(NEWSER) - While seizing Bernie Madoff's Palm Beach possessions yesterday, US Marshals got an eyeful of the fraudster's home furnishings, reports the Palm Beach Post. And they weren't impressed. "I've never seen so much bull in my life," said one deputy. "Pictures of bulls, bull statues, even bulls on clothing. There's a lot of bull in the house." And at the marina, one of the two seized vessels was a 55-foot yacht. Its name? Bull. More»