The murder of Nicole Sesker

A behind the scenes look at the murder of former BPD commissioner Hamm's step daughter.

Well, that's depressing

Annals of Epidemiology: Black men survive longer in prison than out

110, 111

110: Jawan Vonel Weeden, 30, died 2 days after being shot Tuesday night.

111: An Unidentified Male was shot to death Friday afternoon at the intersection of N. Franklintown Rd. and W. Baltimore St.

4 people were seriously injured in Thursday night shootings, including 2 security guards who are both seriously injured.

Two plainclothes police officers open fire on an armed man during a traffic stop gone awry.

1st degree murder charges have been dropped in the deadly July 4th stabbing.

The NSA employee accused of espionage has been sentenced to probation for leaking classified information.

85-year-old Daniel J. Minnick; co-owner of Minnick's Restaurant, and brother of Del. Sonny Minnic, has been charged alongside 3 others for running illegal gambling machines.

The harrowing story of a woman and her child who were forced to jump out of their car after being carjacked by Terron Alvin White, 22.

"Marshall Law - The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther" has been banned by a Maryland prison.

Padonia pool pedo Fred Rigger, 52, will soon plead guilty to possession of child pornography.

Baltimore resident Brian Hill, 20, has been convicted in the shooting of a Carroll County deputy.

Baltimore resident Amr Gamal Shedid, age 24, was arrested for possessing 13 knives at BWI Marshall Airport.

An attempted kidnapping of a 2-year-old boy at a Best Buy was prevented thanks to the quick action of the boy's father and several other witnesses. 23-year-old convicted felon Jermaine Palmer was arrested at the scene.

90 years for Montgomery county sicko Nathanial Hart, age 35.

Salisbury drug kingpin sentenced to 10 years in the Federal Pen thanks in part to the the IRS.

'He had class'

The Atlantic Wire has a picture of Barry Landau, a man whose love for presidential documents allegedly turned criminal at the MD Historical Society

8-Year-Old Boy Abducted, Later Found Safe

8-year-old boy found safe in an abandoned house by a fast thinking good Samaritan.

Police have arrested 20-year-old Nathaniel Booker. (Pictured Right) Another suspect, Raheem Taylor, 21, is wanted as a possible accomplice.

Guilty pleas in the Baltimore police towing scandal, or "Towmageddon" as I affectionately call it. Hernan Alexis Moreno and Edwin Javier Mejia, brother/co-owners of Majestic Auto Repair have plead guilty in federal court.

Homicide detectives were called to the scene of a serious double shooting Monday evening.

Investigators are widening their probe into the attempted theft of priceless Maryland artifacts.

Frederick police are searching for Melvin William Smith, 27, wanted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, 33-year-old Tranice Richardson.

In happier news, Officer Teresa Rigby has been released from her rehabilitation center.

Second scumbag rock-climbing instructor 31-year-old Michael Lyons has been charged with sex offenses against a minor.

25-year-old Ravon Tyrone Anderson arrested in AACO for a a street brawl turned stabbing.

Finally, 15 years in Federal prison for career criminal Steven Butler, age 24. Found with a loaded 9mm, cocaine, and a respectable chuck or cash.

107, 108, 109

Three people killed in the last 12 hours. Richard Mills and Jerel McFadden were stabbed and shot to death respectively last night. An unidentifed woman was found dead this afternoon.

More woes for city nightclub Sonar, as its principal owner, Daniel McIn­tosh, has been indicted in a massive federal drug conspiracy.

Charges are likely in raid of bar that is co-owned by Delegate Sonny Minnick.

10 years for 35-year-old Charles Dean Novak for secretly recording over 260 women. I know one person who wouldn't mind seeing him receive 260 years... but to the best of my knowledge Judge Hackner never requested my opinion.

July 4th Stabbing Arrest, Fatal Stabbing, and More...

Arrest in July 4th inner harbor stabbing. Marcus Harris, 32, turned himself in today for the murder of Joseph Calo.

A still unidentified 25 year old man was stabbed to death downtown.

A one year look into the progress of improving city sex offense investigations.

A federal judge has denied a Stay in the Ehrlich robo-call case.

26-year-old Frederick Williams has been charged with theJune 21st shooting, and eventual death of Sterling Kelly.

Police discover a man's body in back of a locked trunk in city impound lot.

Tapes from scene of where Baltimore Police Officer Teresa Rigby was thrown off I-83.

Edvin Giovanni Ceron Reyes, 23, and Santiago A. Gonzalez-Miner, 43, have been charged with arson and attempted murder in a Howard County attempted firebombing.

Trial date for yoga shop killing has been set.

Second conviction, for fraudster David Garth Thompson II, 31, nets federal prison term.

Mistakes, mistakes...

Baltimore man Hasen Champion, 22 (Pictured Right), was mistakenly released from Central Booking. Police are still on the lookout.

In another corrections snafu, Baltimore convict David Rogers, 31, is wanted for leaving his work release.

Frederick residents be on the lookout for 27-year-old Melvin Smith, wanted for the murder of his former girlfriend.

Weekend Crime Roundup... and More.

More information regarding the July 4th Harbor violence including photos of a person of interest, and an update on the recovery of the 4-year-old boy who was shot.

Baltimore's mayoral candidates chime in with their opinions on the recent July 4th violence.

A crazed man attempts to attack a speed enforcement officer on the beltway this morning, and police are still ISO the 50-60 year old white male who is believed to be armed and dangerous.

Keep your eyees peeled for a group faux police officers committing armed robberies throughout Baltimore.

Police release city wide crime stats for the year so far. Statistics to note include an increase in non-fatal shootings, robberies and rapes, but a decrease in total violent crime and arrests without charges, which was well documented in an earlier Sun story

Lavelva Merritt, one of two people accused of participating in the robbery-murder of JHU research technician Stephen Pitcairn, has almost worked out a new deal with city prosecutors.

28-year-old Brian Lamont Eggleston Jr., has been arrested in the murder of his his girlfrind, Alicia Avery, who happened to be a city murder witness, and her daughter.

An unexpected confession in the 1998 killing of a Maryland doctor
by 57-year-old Tennessee gun dealer Dale Mardis.

An argument between neighbors escelates to the point of gunfire in a Baltimore parking garage.

Corrupt local bail-bondsman Milton Tillman Jr. and his son are to be sentenced in Federal court on Friday.

Life in prison for Frederick Christian in the 2009 murder of his then girlfriend Jereyell Foster.

Skyesville scumbag Donald Ray Pevia Jr. gets 60 years for the murder of his ex-girlfriends 8-month-old child.

Anther guilty plea from one of Baltimore's finest. 33-year-old Luis Nunez plead guilty to his involvement in the large scale towing kickback scheme.

City police have pulled a body from the Patapsco River. Defined for the moment as a "possible suicide."

An as of yet unidentified 20-year-old man was shot in the head and killed Saturday.

A Dundalk couple has been charged with for astabbing in a High's convenience store. Shawn Allen Novak, age 28, and Ann Marie Preston, age 27 have been charged for the drug related stabbing.

36-year-old George William Bryant Jr. was shot to death infront of a Rosedale nightclub early last Saturday.

Harford buisness owner robbed in his own parking lot. No arrests have been made.

Oh dosn't he wish it were all a dream... 48-year-old Michael Anthony Hickson, leader of Dream Home mortgage conspiracy, was sentenced to 10 years in Federal prision.

3 years in the Federal pen for an Oxen Hill man, who was caught impersonating an FBI agent.

Post fireworks mayhem at the Inner Harbor, four year old shot and man stabbed to death.

The murder of Melody Smith

A behind the scenes look at the murder of Melody Smith.

Inside the mind of a murderer

Former BDP homicide detective takes a look inside the mind of killer William Jones, who murdered a teenage girl and her amputee mother in drunken rage.

So upsetting

The woman found murdered at the Welcome Inn Apartments with her 4-year-old daughter was a witness in an upcoming city case.

...

Patch has your Northern-District robberies

Julie Bykowicz talks Same-Sex Marriage bills, NY vs MD

A-town court employee's civil suit for alleged violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act reaches SCOTUS

Jurors stick it to the man with punitive damages for Exxon in the lastest twist in the epic case of Jacksonville's leaky service station

New term of the day: SLAPP suit (thanks CO), a BS suit brought to punish someone for griping about the government (fait attention, Belinda Conaway...)

.. and Cafe Hon's Denise Whiting has been granted a restraining order against protestor Steve Akers... & it looks like Akers' Boycott Cafe Hon & No One Owns Hon Hon FB pages have been taken down?

The fading “exclusionary rule”

Interesting SCOTUS Blog post about how the Supreme Court has slowly been whittling away at the Exclusionary Rule.

Why Do We Kill?

Former homicide detective Kelvin Sewell and IV reporter Stephen Janis try to answer that question in their new book which includes the inside scoop on some of the city's worst homicide cases

You Tell 'em Marta Mossburg

Marta Mossburg muses on the raison d'être of the Baltimore Development Corporation: "Is it for the sake of taxpayers or for the sake of itself and a few developers who have benefitted at the same time the city sheds thousands of jobs each year?"

Indentities and so much more...

Several Recent Homicide Victims Identified:

94. 6 person shooting death Id'd as Charles Lassane, age 55.

95. Still unidentified at the moment.

96. Edge-tomb Circle victim Id'd as 52-year-old Anthony Carr.

97. Id'd as 23-year-old Andre Womack.

27-year-old Thomas Green has been arrested for the hit and run of two Hopkins students from early May.

Police release new details, actually, 8 pages worth of new details to be exact, regarding the February 2010 shooting of unarmed informant Dennis Gregory.

Newly convicted cabbie-killer Robert Lee Murphy was sentenced to Life plus 20 for the killing of a Frederick cab driver.

An inmate facing Capital murder charges for the 2006 killing of a now defunct "House of Correction" prison guard loses his pretrial appeal.

Youth is fleeting, especially when you spend it in prison... is what 14-year-old Shemarr Gilbert will realize, after being arrested on first-degree rape charges.

PG County congressman Jack Johnson's wife will plead guilty next week to charges relating to her husbands political corruption.

In keeping with a recent disturbing trend in Maryland courts, the 1994 Manslaughter conviction of Ricky Savoy has been overturned.

A Baltimore priest has been banned from Catholic ministry in light of a recent child sexual abuse case.

In the first of what will soon become a flurry of guilty pleas, two Baltimore cops plead guilty to extortion relating to their involvement in the Baltimore Police towing scandal. 28-year-old Jermaine Rice and 41-year-old David Reeping are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

Watch out Maryland bath salt enthusiasts! Bath salts have now been officially banned in PA, adding to the growing number of states to have officially banned the sale of the drug.

Gilmor Homes drug dealer "Mud" is sentenced to 13 years in the Federal pen.

Unsubtle

Study: lighter-skinned women get shorter prison sentences (in North Carolina anyway)

Welcome to reader

.. Duane Davis

97

A man fatally shot on McClean Blvd

Shocking! Cheating & fraud found at two city public schools

Julius Henson's lawyer accused Gansler of trying to "score political points." (Gansler is expected to run for governor in 2014, really?)

Officer mowed down

on Northbound 83, police spokesperson says she was thrown down a 30-foot embankment

Meister to file motion to dismiss

as Belinda Conaway's lawyer owns up to his client's 'inadvertent' tax fraud

Liberties

Len Lazarick does a nice little state politics roundup if you're into that kind of thing. He always seems fair and balanced, though I hear the MD Reporter is funded by the Franklin Center, a "right leaning" North Dakota group with ties to the libertarian Koch brothers and pro-Walkerites in Madison, WI. Most interesting...

Edge-tomb Circle

Man shot to death last night in the 2900 block of S. Edgecombe Circle (a rue familière to regular readers)

Gitit gurl!

... the local news is full of corpses today, but they can stay dead because I am giddy with happiness that finally a Baltimore musician has achieved International-level celebrity (the first since Mario, right?) ... if you haven't checked out Rye Rye yet you oughter, she's an M.I.A.-protege now with a soon-to-heavily rotate 104.3-ful single with Robyn. Here she is performing somewhere in Baltimore (& awesome official video for "Hardcore Girls", is that her grandma?) ... & a Britney Spears cover with a video that looks like it was filmed in juvie. You must love her!

Ok, back to corpses...

Henson -> Icing -> Cake

Slumlord Watch reports that alleged robo-calling mastermind Julius Henson is also owner of a weed-tree riddled aspiring crack house on Liberty Heights Ave.

That's going to hurt

The Maryland Court of Appeals has overturned the convictions of triple-child killers Policarpio Espinoza Perez and Adan Canela.

Rats!

Ehrlich's aides Julius Henson and Paul Schurick were indicted for conspiracy to violate election laws for those "relax" robocalls, and Bykowicz + Linskey have all the deets. Apparently the call list came from Henson's previous clients...

TDR bullet-points the Office of Legislative Audits' shocking discoveries in Frank Conaway's office

"'Beware the Ides of March,' Julius Caesar was warned before he was stabbed to death on March 15. But Michael Smith, an inmate in the Maryland correctional system, had no such warning on March 15, 2007," sayeth Van Smith, when members of the Bloods gang, allegedly angered by his performance as a behind-bars pot dealer, stabbed him in a prison van. Now his meticulous lawsuit exposes the City Detention Center's piss-poor non-efforts at controlling gang networks

Blog comment of the day: "dontae nichols u need to die for shootng montrell williams i hope brun in hell"

Owner of Cockeysville's Padonia Park Club, a "swim and child care center," charged in child porn case. "... detectives seized a Dell laptop computer with images of young girls that Rigger allegedly used at the Jennifer Road pool and at his home." Wait, what?

and don't miss Rat Bites Cop, replete with a photo of the perp in a baggie

Oh, Frank

What is it going to take for the city to get rid of this doddering bozo whose incompetence cost taxpayers $7.8 MILLION in just one year?

.. two more fatal shootings bring the mid-year toll to 93.

& shiteous father->mother- & two-daughter stabbing this morning in Crofton.

and Baltimoreans' life expectancy is a smidge better than it was a decade ago, but still some sobering numbers, eg. "average life expectancy in Hollins Market is 20 years shorter than in wealthier Roland Park." (also see "Shocking Stats Dept.")

What's going on at Hopkins? A whole lotta shroomin'!

Closet-peeping HoCo video pedocop pleads

Former Laurel police officer pled guilty to receiving kid porn about a year after HoCo police discovered he'd placed a hidden camera in a minor female’s closet and possessed sadomasochistic images and videos of children under 12. And in Bowie, one John Shutt pled guilty to possessing and distributing child porn, a hobby he admits to dabbling in for the past quindecade.

... In honor of these pervs I've added Tiger, Tiger to the librury-- horrific-but-enlightening memoir of a woman's 14-year relationship with a pedophile. Also the Gift of Fear, which I now have to re-read to get over being traumatized by the memoir.

BPD Police Admin chief leaving

amidst rumors of some re-shuffling in top command....

Killing us softly

Check out this report on the city's water quality. Chloroform?! Radium and Uranium?!?!

Elijah Cummings' Nephew Fatally Shot in Random Robbery

... not here in Baltimore, but at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. Tragic.

in other news, no murders since two on Thursday night, it looks like. Whoops, I take that back, a 23-year-old man fatally shot in West Baltimore at 1:54 p.m. on Sunday.

"Dollar" got 25 years for illegal possession of a firearm and admitted to the 2009 murder of Kinlaw Jones

Eighteen months in the can for Tracy Queen, who was busted bilking the city for bogus tutoring by Brew contributor Joan Jacobson. Jacobson says she's still "waiting to find out what the city school system has done to prevent this theft from happening again.”

Thirty-seven months for Alicia Simmons, a former corrections employee accused of smuggling heroin and other goodies to imprisoned BGF members

Former ministry director at Loyola University accused of sex abuse of two minors in HoCo

Baltimore cop to attend Harvard Law

"A former Montgomery County police officer who pleaded guilty to illegally using computers to help her drug-dealing fiancé is set to be sentenced"

.. and here's something to burn yr britches: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention." Right on the heels of the conclusion of the Thomas Drake case, in which we learned that the government has been spending billions to stockpile citizens' every text and email. (How incredible to go in one generation from being worried about the Reds taking over to seeing our own government adopt the Stasi style, right down to the Division of Garbage Analysis (and without even the paper trail of accountability)

No word on Select Lounge shooting

But lots more training for the BPD. Maybe they could just tell us....

Killer Keystone Kops

Gahiji Tshamba was convicted of manslaughter but acquitted of murder.

Former prison guard and gang member Alicia Simmons received a 37-month prison sentence for smuggling phones and drugs.

Two shootings, one death. The fatal shooting was in Park Heights, the non-fatal one was on Erdman Avenue in NE Baltimore.

18 months in prison for tutoring fraud.

Alleged Baltimore MS-13 member and murder suspect arrested in Minnesota.

Loma International Business Group is in trouble for running an immigration scam.

Tshamba verdict expected soon

The judge has recessed to review evidence. Tshamba took the stand yesterday, testifying he was "scared" before shooting Tyrone Brown 12 times.

BPD officer pleads guilty

The first officer to admit he took money to refer business to tow company.

Alleged rapist in custody

A woman moving into Mt Vernon on Tuesday got a welcome-to-the-neighborhood sex assault, police arrested one Kareem Mason for the deed(s)

Profiling?

Gun rights advocates accuse city police of profiling.

Bad brothers

Three bad brothers have now been arrested for a double homicide in Pikesville. BaltoCo homicides are up to 13 for the year.

Burning car with a body in it in Laurel. No other details available yet.

Anonymous

The prosecution wrapped up its case against Gahiji Tshamba without calling key witnesses

Court of Appeals approves anonymous juries

Don't miss Fenton's excellent Sunday object lesson on the swift retribution of street justice

Not Baltimore, but can't stop thinking about this very upsetting story of slave labor in Iraq.

Sex offender can keep sick pay receieved whle in prison

Former DPW worker earned it, even though the IG concluded it was fraudulently obtained.

Unhooked?

Is the city's tow industry crooked and need of repair?

84, 85, 86, 87

A flurry of recent city homicide victims were identified;

#84: Payton Rivers, 34
#85: Maurice Gray, 35
#86: John Kelly, 25
#87: Durran Banks, 25

As well as two previously unknown victims that were not disclosed by police: 27 year-old Anthony Sherman and 57 year-old Kevin Jones.

Baltimore states attorney Gregg Bernstein revealed his new division Friday. The "Major Investigations Unit" will investigate repeat violent offenders, and will be headed by Thiruvendran Vignarajah.


Police are still ISO missing firefighter recruit Rodney Goggins Jr.

An 80 year old woman is in the hospital after a pit bull visciously attacked her.

Police have arrested 23-year-old Anthon Lavar Diggs for the May 21st murder of Jalil Al-Salim.

An KFC robbery turns into a attempted murder in Harford County when a female employee is stabbed by a would be robber.

When you can't trust "e-gold," what can you trust? The U.S. Attorney's Office has seized over 19 million dollars and is looking to seize 8.6 million dollars from e-gold, Ltd.

Mysterious!

Bernstein is holding a press conference at 4 today to "announce the formation of a new unit and to introduce the division’s chief."

Lawyers gone bad

Attorney Stanley Needleman has been charged with stealing a law textbook from a judicial clerk.

The trial of Gahiji Tshamba starts today. Two other police officers are prepared to testify that Tshamba appeared drunk when he put a dozen bullets into Tyrone Brown.

A shooting on E. Eager Street and a burnt body in Northeast Baltimore.

83 murders so far this year, and it looks like Lois Smyth has the dubious honor of being the second white Baltimore murder victim of 2011.

Police arrest two brothers in Pikesville double homicide.

First-degree murder conviction for the 2009 death of Kenneth Johnson at a family cookout. This looks like a rare case where city prosecutors are seeking life w/o parole.

Another burned kitten. Stories like that are really too depressing to comment on.

Looks like it is legal to take pictures of the Light Rail after all.

Yet another depressing story. Darian Kess was a promising wrestler in high school but then screwed up and started breaking the law. He cleaned up his act, got cancer and beat it, and then was stabbed to death in a home invasion.

School fighting

Teachers are getting their collective asses kicked in city schools, according to recent injury claims.

Your tax dollars at play

City pension board charges taxpayers for 6 night stay in South Beach to attend a two-day conference.

Goldbergian 80

At Liberty Heights & Eldorado aves, a man in an SUV is shot to death then mowed down a pedestrian, who survived with a broken leg.
Will we ever find out who was gunning for the driver and why? .. unlikely, but you never know...

Firefighter -v- trans

A Baltimore city firefighter who got into a physical altercation with a transsexual woman was awarded a nice chunk of change by the city despite the objections of CC President Jack Young