Emmett Till's Casket Found 'Rusted, Battered'

Investigators hope new DNA techniques will help nail prime suspect

(NEWSER) - A little girl's body has been exhumed 54 years after her murder, by cops who now think they can nail the killer using new forensics techniques. Prime suspect Jack McCullough, a former neighbor of the 7-year-old girl, has already been extradited from Washington to Illinois to face charges. "We're confident we have the right person," said a police spokesman. The case got a boost last year when McCullough's ex-girlfriend found a train ticket hidden behind a photo, notes ABC News . McCullough, now 71, was seen talking to Maria Ridulph before she vanished in 1957. Her bones were found five months later 120 miles from her home. More»

Obama prepares to pitch Chitown Olympics as city reels from murder

(NEWSER) - As Barack Obama prepares to make a pitch to hold the Olympics in his hometown, the White House is decrying a "chilling" videotaped beating death of a teenager in the same city. It's one of the most shocking things "you can ever see," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday. Four people have been arrested in the death of honor student Derrion Albert, who was fatally pummeled with wooden planks in the middle of a gang melee outside a city high school last week. More»

Police beef up patrols after savage gang melee

(NEWSER) - Chicago police are stepping up patrols today at a high school where a 16-year-old honor student's gruesome beating death in a gang melee was captured on video. Students scream in horror as Derrion Albert crumples to the ground and covers his head in vain as he's repeatedly pummeled with wooden planks in the video shot by a female student. Police are questioning suspects in the tape, which was turned over by the student to police and the local Fox news station. More»

(NEWSER) - Police declared the whole of Burr Oak cemetery in the Chicago suburbs to be a crime scene last night, after hundreds of families reported empty or missing graves, including an entire section of the cemetery called Babyland, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Relatives will be barred from the site for about the next week. The local sheriff believes well over 300 graves were excavated by four employees who dumped remains in a mass grave and resold their plots. More»

Illinois cemetery employees excavated graves, dumped remains for cash

(NEWSER) - Four employees of a historic Chicago-area cemetery face charges after police uncovered a gruesome scheme to excavate graves, remove the human remains, and resell the plots, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. One manager and three grave diggers at Burr Oak Cemetery are charged with dismembering a human body, which carries of a sentence of 6 to 30 years. Cook County police estimate the quartet dug up about 300 graves and made hundreds of thousands of dollars. More»