Attorney, 3 Cops, 5 Others Accused in Crazy Murder

Man who scavenged metal was allegedly killed because of it
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 15, 2015 7:25 PM CDT
Attorney, 3 Cops, 5 Others Accused in Crazy Murder
Officers at the California home of attorney Frank Carson on Aug. 14. He was arrested in connection with the killing of 26-year-old Korey Kauffman, who was reported missing in 2012.   (John Westberg/The Modesto Bee via AP)

In a plot seemingly right out of this season of True Detective, a well-known criminal defense attorney and three California Highway Patrol officers, along with five other people, were arrested yesterday in connection with the 2012 murder of a 26-year-old man whose body was discovered in a remote forest near Yosemite National Park, the Los Angeles Times reports. Frank Carson, who ran for district attorney in Stanislaus County last year, allegedly orchestrated the killing of 26-year-old Korey Kauffman because he was irate over repeated burglaries of metal and antiques from his yard. The last time anyone saw Kauffman, who scavenged metal for a living, he was talking about swiping some irrigation pipes from Carson's yard, the Times reports.

Two current and one former CHP officers were arrested, one on suspicion of murder and two for allegedly helping cover it up. The other five arrests were Carson's wife and daughter on suspicion of being accessories, two brothers who own the Pop-N-Cork liquor stores and allegedly hosted parties for officers in their businesses, and a felon Carson is accused of bailing out of jail to "do something" about the burglaries. Charges against all of them are expected to be filed next week. Kauffman's father tells the Modesto Bee he never approved of his son's "scrapping," but he was a good kid who didn't deserve what he got. (More crime stories.)

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