Hit-and-Run Sparks Soul-Searching

(NEWSER) - A year after a hit-and-run accident in downtown Hartford, Conn., captured international attention, and just days after the victim died of his injuries, police have made an arrest, the Courant reports. “The defendant appeared to have remained in the area for at least the past year and never made an attempt to contact officials,” said the prosecutor. “These are actions that are cold and callous.” More»

Aghast preschool teachers call police, he's busted

(NEWSER) - How dopey was dad? So dopey he accidentally dropped his joint into his toddler son's lunchbox as he was packing it up, Connecticut police report. The marijuana was discovered by aghast preschool teachers, who promptly called the cops, authorities said. The toddler's parents agreed to a search of their home, and police found less than an ounce of marijuana and smoking paraphernalia in the basement, reports the Daily Mail . Dad John Sulzbach, 33, was charged with possession of a controlled substance and impairing the morals of a child. He was released from custody, but has a court date just before Christmas. More»

Connecticut man Aaron Thomas arrested in 14-year-old case

(NEWSER) - US Marshals descended on a Connecticut home yesterday and emerged with the man they say is responsible for at least 17 rapes over 14 years up and down the East Coast. New Haven police today said DNA confirmed Aaron Thomas, 39, is the East Coast rapist; investigators reportedly got his DNA off a discarded cigarette. A Marshals' spokesman said a tip from Virginia authorities led them to Thomas. The East Coast Rapist has eluded cops since 1997 , with at least 17 violent attacks linked by DNA in Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The last known attack was in 2009 in Northern Virginia, on two teenage girls headed home from trick-or-treating. More»

Conn. man convicted in fatal home invasion

(AP) - A Connecticut man was condemned to death today for a night of terror inside a suburban home in which Jennifer Hawke-Petit was strangled and her two daughters tied to their beds, doused in gasoline, and left to die in a fire. Jurors in New Haven Superior Court voted unanimously to send Steven Hayes to death row after deliberating over the span of four days. The judge will impose the sentence. More»

Bank surveillance tape shows mother's desperate bid to save family

(NEWSER) - In a desperate bid to save her family, a Connecticut mom withdrew $15,000 for home invaders who were holding her husband and two daughters hostage. Despite the payoff, she and her children were sexually assaulted and murdered, prosecutors said yesterday. Jennifer Hawke-Petit withdrew the money while at least one of her abductors waited for her in a car outside. "We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says her husband and children are being held at their house," a clerk reported on a 911 call. "They told her they wouldn't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money. She believes them." More»