Missing UK Man Found Drowned

Missing man James Brindley inexplicably vanished this month during a Christmas party at a pub in Stoke-on-Trent. Days later his corpse was fished out of a nearby canal.

Staffordshire Police said the 28-year-old's disappearance and death was now being treated as "unexplained" and that some of his personal items were also retrieved on the canal's towpath in the water-rescue team's search for him.

Brindley's disappearance from a downtown bar and his apparent cold-weather drowning is similar to many others confounding cops in the UK in recent years. Even Spain and France are beginning to see a similar pattern in their river districts.

Until then such cases -- dubbed the Smiley Face Murders -- had been a decades-old phenomenon largely limited to the United States and Canada, and particularly concentrated in the Great Lakes region where both Canada and the US share a border.

UK authorities are presently awaiting autopsy and toxicology results before listing a cause or manner of death for James Brindley.

Eponymous Rox

Police Confirm: Hannah Graham Found Slain

BREAKING NEWS: Hannah Graham skeletal remains confirmed as those found in a dry creek bed near childhood home of alleged and jailed assailant Jesse Matthew.

Officially today the search for missing student Hannah Graham, a University of Virginia sophomore who vanished in thin air last month during a night of excessive partying, is over.

Her case "has now become a death investigation," police grimly are assuring the public.

On October 18th, would-be rescuers of the missing teen found a badly-decomposed body roughly five miles from where missing college student Morgan Harrington was discovered raped and slain in 2009, and. coincidentally, the same distance from Matthew's mother's home where he was raised.

At that time authorities announced that they strongly believed "it is the missing student" and the corpse was subsequently sent to the coroner's office for further analysis and a formal identification, which finally came in today. 

The results of a complete autopsy to pinpoint the exact cause of death are still pending.

The lone suspect in this case, Jesse Matthew -- last seen with Hannah Graham on security cameras the night she vanished -- is already in custody and also being charged for similar disappearances, rapes, and murders of young women in that region.

Matthew, 32 and a former footballer, wrestler and taxi driver, has a history of sexual assault dating as far back as his college years. Many victims like Graham went missing when he was in their area.

This story is developing. Check the comment section for more updates

Eponymous Rox

TEXAS EBOLA OUTBREAK: Liberian Deliberately Infected US

While the Texas Ebola outbreak predictably begins to spread, experts worldwide still insist the virus is "not airborne." Of course, if all it need do is quietly board an airplane, then those assurances don't amount to very much...

This week we've learned that's precisely what happened here: A Liberian man from an Ebola-ravaged neighborhood in Ebola-ravaged Liberia, who knew darn well he'd infected himself with the deadly contagious disease, lied to airport authorities so he could take a flight out of his country and into the United States.

Destination Dallas.

Now, already a hundred citizens who "may" have come in contact with this guy are on high alert, with at least a handful of those, likely to be symptomatic "any day" themselves, locked in their homes via a police-enforced quarantine.

Little doubt worried onlookers watching that scary/bizarre spectacle will think twice about reporting their own symptoms, should they develop. And, by the way, that's how a contagion gets a stranglehold on a population and then rapidly spreads beyond.

Outraged officials in Liberia responding to the Texas Ebola outbreak stated today they intend to prosecute the man ASAP. But that's going to be easier said than done, as he's currently in hospital fighting for his life and not in the traveling mood anymore.

What do you think? Did this lying Liberian simply come to America for fear that otherwise he would die in his Ebola beleaguered homeland, just like everyone else he knew there? Or was this a cold, calculating act of bio-terrorism?

E.R.

POLICE: Hannah Graham Kidnapper a Serial Killer

The vanishing of Hannah Graham from her Virginia university town in mid-September is the fifth such disappearance of a young female from that particular locale in as many years. And only one body has ever been found. 

That's the bad news, considering the search for Graham -- or what remains of the 18-year-old -- has become more desperate by the hour.

The good news is that police now believe they finally have the serial killer in custody after DNA evidence linked Jesse Matthew, the prime suspect in Graham's disappearance, to a similar attempted abduction and sex assault in 2005 as well as to the rape and slaying of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington four years later.

If their theory is correct, then the 32-year-old exceptional athlete with an exceptionally checkered past that includes a rape charge would also be an exceptional serial murderer too, since, by and large, such violent sadists are supposed to be young white males.

That has been the longstanding supposition, of course, with infamous Ted Bundy the standard bearer.

Lately, though, experts have been cautioning homicide investigators that the rule book on this class of deadly perpetrator contains some outdated and extremely faulty data; namely that black offenders just like Jesse Matthew are grossly underrepresented in it, and they and their victims wrongly falling under the radar as a result.

How, in the land of Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown could that happen?!

Because, as with most other types of criminal profiling, when law enforcement officials try to pinpoint who a likely serial killer may be, and who he likely could not be, they rely on age-old beliefs borne mainly out of bias: Maniacally murderous men who successfully evade detection and arrest are smart (really, really smart like Jack the Ripper was) and Caucasian males are obviously way smarter than African American males are. At the very least because they're better educated.

It's called racial stereotyping at its most perverse and reverse, but the myth of a deviously-brilliant white man butchering for sport and eluding capture for years or even decades might not only be bigoted to the core. It could in fact be the only reason why some serial killers are never caught.

After all, the crime experts appear to be dead right in their latest assessments -- a majority of the world's homicidal sociopaths did not turn out to be anywhere near the geniuses once thought, and a fair number of them have also been dark-skinned as well.

So too the perceived status of victims and their communities unjustly factor into the criminal justice equation, more often than not, determining the speed and depth to which certain investigations are conducted, if at all. 

Thus, cases of affluent individuals who are missing or murdered in affluent areas typically garner greater public attention and resources than those of down-and-out vagabonds, prostitutes or drug addicts. Especially if the latter unfortunates fell victim to foul play in economically-depressed neighborhoods -- the exact environments where, studies show, serial killers of color almost exclusively prey.

That historically prejudicial treatment by police and the press explains why we know and care so much right now about still-missing college coed Hannah Graham and her unlucky lookalike predecessor Morgan Harrington. Yet the same killer's equally tragic victims who were themselves either black or lesser privileged ... not so much.

A societal slant which, to the opportunistic predators hiding among us, makes for fertile hunting grounds.

Eponymous Rox

*Look for more case updates in the comment section

UPDATE: Authorities are offering a $100,000 reward for information which leads to the safe return of Graham. The University of Virginia sophomore’s been uncharacteristically missing since September 13th.

Additionally, they are now examining a number of other unsolved homicides and missing person cases of young people throughout the Virginia areas that suspect Jesse L. Matthew was known to have either lived or worked in.

For instance, in Campbell County police are searching for a link to the abduction, rape and murder of Cassandra Morton, whose body was dumped in woods near Lynchburg in late 2009. 

Orange County police are also re-investigating the case of Samantha Ann Clarke, missing since September 13, 2010.

And in nearby Montgomery County, the sheriff's office is revisiting the 2009 double homicide of Virginia Tech students Heidi Childs and David Metzler. The two were in a long term relationship and sitting together in a parked vehicle the night they both were shot to death and then robbed. DNA evidence emerged in the case a few years later but their murders remain unsolved to date.

MISSING PERSON ALERT: Lucius Robbi

Missing person Lucius Robbi, 21, was headed to college in Montana this week, but why he never made it there is still a total mystery, say friends and family.

An avid outdoorsman and extreme-sport enthusiast, Robbi was reportedly considering camping along his journey from Horseshoe Bend Idaho toward school and orientation.

Indeed, surveillance footage taken at a Chevron gas station in Garden Valley Idaho is believed to have captured a fleeting image of his Suburu with a kayak strapped atop it.

However, apart from that early video and despite intensely scouring the hills and highways that the missing student may have traveled, there's been no further sign of him.

According to his father, Marc Robbi, it's entirely atypical for the youth to disappear without telling anyone where he was going, or to not follow through on his commitments. 

"We're very, very worried at this point," Mr. Robbi conceded.

Greatly hindering the search for his missing son is the fact that no one seems to know the exact route Lucius Robbi took through the wilderness -- a course which could have involved any number of possibilities, including Highway 93 to Montana, Highway 21 to Stanley, Highway 75 to Challis ... etc.

The youth has not been sighted nor heard from in over week now, but his mother, Tina Glaessner, still remains optimistic. 'If anybody can survive out there for seven days, he can do it,' she claims.

Robbi is five-foot-eleven and 160 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was driving a green 1997 Subaru Legacy with California license plates 6 CCP 540.

Anyone with information about him is urged to contact the Boise County Sheriff’s Office at (208) 392-4411, Tina Glaessner at (707) 296-0048; Custer County Idaho Sheriff's Office at (208) 879-2232; or the Ravalli County Sheriff's Office (406) 363-3033.

Eponymous Rox

Mayfair Murder Mystery

Philadelphia police probe Mayfair murder mystery, amid reports that a similar attempt was made last month on the victim's grandson:

Two females were found killed "execution style" this weekend in the 4700 block of Vista Street in Mayfair -- one of them had been put to death in the livingroom and the other upstairs.

Although neither homicide victim is related to each other, they were reportedly very good friends, and both were murdered with a single gunshot to the head.

Police say an unidentified individual was seen running from the house only moments before the bodies were discovered. However, there were no indications of forced entry.

Deepening the Mayfair murder mystery is that the older woman was well known throughout the community for her many good deeds in helping out those who were struggling.

"Grandma," as 67-year-old Dollie Evans was affectionately called by everybody, "was one of the sweetest persons that you could ever meet,” neighbors said.

Oddly enough though, the deceased woman's brother, Lloyd Knox, claims she had in fact received some death threats recently, but added he didn't know why.

Knox was the last person to see his sister and her friend, Ruby Thomas, alive. "It could have been me," he said. "I'm normally still around, but today I just unloaded stuff and left."

The slain 59-year-old Thomas is said to have been a regular guest of Dollie Evans and a frequent recipient of her benevolence. It's not clear why she was targeted either.

In perhaps the only clue offered thus far, family members state a grandson of Evans also lived at her Mayfair residence and, curiously, escaped a similar fate there last month. No arrests were made at the time and both incidents are now being examined by authorities to see if there's a connection.

Regrettably, a pit bull named Kilo was home when the slayings occurred, but the guard dog was locked in the basement. Something which the killer, or killers, may have known...

E.R.

POLICE: Erin Corwin Killer was 'Lying in Wait' for Her

The killer of Erin Corwin was "lying in wait" for her to come for a preplanned romantic tryst, investigators say, drastically elevating the charges and penalty for her vicious murder.

If true, the pretty 19-year-old Californian was betrayed in the most classic and horrific of ways -- by an illicit lover, and, in this case, her very own next-door neighbor, Christopher Lee.

Corwin went inexplicably missing this summer after telling her husband she was going to Joshua Tree National Park for a couple of hours. Her car was later located a few miles shy of that location.

Following an intensive weeks-long search for the newly pregnant woman, Corwin's decomposed corpse was finally located on August 16th less than two miles from her home at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft.

Her paramour, the long suspected Lee, was taken into custody the very next day in Alaska where the former marine and his childhood-sweetheart/wife Nichole had recently moved together.

Nichole Lee has now been labeled "a person of interest" in the ongoing murder investigation.

Homicide victim Erin Corwin was believed to have been secretly seeing Christopher Lee, and even carrying his baby, for months. But those in the know also claim that Lee expressed grave concerns about how his own spouse would react if she found out.

At his arraignment, prosecutors further disclosed that Lee had conducted several online searches on how to "dispose of a dead body."  The avid hunter and ex-soldier stood shackled and unshaven in court on Tuesday.

Lee's allegedly temperamental wife has been under intense scrutiny herself ever since making some shadowy observations regarding the inability of authorities to bring murder charges against someone if a missing person can't be found. 

She is said to have additionally hinted that the whereabouts of Corwin's remains would "never" be discovered and that detectives "missed" important evidence when they first came to the couple's home to execute a search warrant.

Christopher and Nicole Lee have one child by marriage. It's not clear what will become of their offspring if both parents are to be charged now.

E.R.

Michael Brown Autopsy: Shot Red-handed and Stoned?

Michael Brown autopsy reveals the hulking robbery suspect had drugs in his bloodstream and wasn't killed running in fear from officer Darren Wilson, as claimed by Brown's companion and alleged accomplice Dorian Johnson:

Johnson and Brown -- who stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 300 pounds -- were both the prime suspects in a cigar store robbery that had just taken place only minutes and blocks from the scene of Brown's botched arrest on August 9th.

Witnesses to the events which led up to Brown's street killing that day admit the gargantuan youth fiercely struggled with, and even likely injured, patrolman Wilson who during the altercation discharged his revolver approximately six times.

The four initial gunshots Wilson fired were apparently intended to disable Brown, standard protocol in cases where a suspect is presenting deadly force to resist arrest. 

Autopsy diagrams also indicate that each of those first bullets lodged nonlethally in Brown's extended and massive arms. The last ones, however, were aimed directly at his head and deemed fatal.

Said to be found on Brown's person at the time of his premature demise: A fistful of cigarellos, traceable to the cigar store heist.

These qualifying factors and other incriminating evidence are finally beginning to trickle out this week, just as Missouri's heavily armed National Guard is being dispatched to the beleaguered suburb of Ferguson in Saint Louis where Michael Brown once lived.

Indeed, the rioting, looting and related criminal acts going on there now -- all purportedly staged in protest against the in-custody death of an allegedly unarmed Michael Brown -- have gotten so out of control and over the top that the first day of school for many of Saint Louis' youngsters had to be postponed today.

And further stoking the already tragic-enough situation is "Reverend" Al Sharpton, who evidently hopes to make the Brown shooting controversy akin to the Trayvon Martin slaying.

Opportunistic, rabble-rousing Sharpton rose to public prominence decades ago under similarly dubious circumstances when he aided infamous teen Tawana Brawley in falsely accusing local police officers and high-ranking officials of beating and gang-raping her, then smearing her suspiciously unbruised body with racial epithets using their own bodily fluids and feces.

One gigantic nationwide uproar later, astonished Americans learned that the emotionally troubled young girl had completely fabricated her frightening story in order to avoid punishment from her parents for having been wayward again. 

Today Ms. Brawley lives and works under an alias, shunning the limelight she once so shamelessly sought. Neither she nor Sharpton have ever fully paid the money damages awarded to their numerous victims for what was at the time an unprecedented campaign of slander and defamation.

E.R.

Craigslist Dog Torturer and Killer being Sheltered

Hunted Craigslist dog torturer and killer Jason Brown has "issues" his lawyer says, so the serial killer of canines is being sheltered now from the growing mobs eager to put him down.

Brown, 24 and a meth head, went on a canine killing spree last month at a Motel 8 in Nevada. His defenseless victims were all dogs he had "adopted" for that purpose via Craigslist.

His gruesome acts, which included decapitation and dismemberment, took place this July and were discovered at that time by a maid who was finally able to enter Brown's chained up room.

The horrified woman immediately notified management and the police because there was "blood everywhere" she said, "and dog heads in the bathtub and refrigerator."

Investigators also found evidence of torture and small body parts like ears, tails and penises. They say it's clear thus far that at least six dogs were victimized there, but continue to examine the entire case, as it is now known that any individual who abuses helpless animals in such a manner will often go on to become a full-blown serial killer.

Brown himself has readily admitted to having homicidal "urges of rage" and that butchering dogs "made [him] high." When questioned as to whether he also has similar feelings toward human beings, he replied, "Dogs are good for right now."

Sporting a face so evil it would make even Ted Bundy seem angelic, Jason Brown was apprehended at the Super 8 motel on July 9th 2014, when he unexpectedly returned to the scene of his crimes while officials were still investigating.

Since then the demented Craigslist dog killer has been held at an undisclosed location in lieu of $70,000 bail; his name removed from the Nevada police registries and websites "for his protection."

But activists everywhere are up in arms over his unprecedented case of premeditated animal cruelty. They are demanding Brown's jail bond be rescinded so he can remain in police custody while awaiting trial. At least.

E.R.

Pistol Packing Pistorius Pleads Paraplegia

Shameless Oscar Pistorius is groveling for his freedom today, claiming in the wrap-up stage of his murder trial that he shot his actress-girlfriend to death last year because he has no legs.

Since his heartless slaying of Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013, Pistorius has continued to shock and startle the world with public acts of drunkenness and brutality amid a mountain of troubling revelations regarding similar misconduct in the past.

As a result, the young, disabled Olympian -- once celebrated in his homeland of South Africa and admired across the globe for overcoming his legless birth defect -- is all but shunned these days.

 

And now, whilst still ridiculously insisting he "accidentally" killed the unarmed Steenkamp at his home during a heated argument, the gun-toting Pistorius also wants everyone to believe that the decision to repeatedly discharge his weapon that night was solely influenced by his missing legs.

Of course that totally lame excuse shouldn't surprise anybody either -- gutless Oscar Pistorius has made a spectacle of himself throughout the entire court proceedings. Not only by stupidly refusing to man up about the crime, but by bawling, puking, and even hiding his guilty face in his hands and threatening to faint.

It's poor drama, to be sure, and thus far his feeble acting has utterly failed to suspend disbelief, but nevertheless one still can't help but wonder whether this pathetic parolympian perpetrator may have somehow missed his calling.

E.R.

Cowardly Charles Manson Follower "Killed to Be Loved"

Charles Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkel, gave a rare jailhouse interview recently, pathetically confessing she "was a coward" who took part in the grisly Tate/LaBianca murder spree solely "to be loved" by the bloodthirsty psychopath.

Krenwinkel was just one of a harem of femme fatales who, on the orders of Manson, arrived at the Hollywood residence of Roman Polanski in the early morning hours of August 9, 1969 and brutally butchered his then 8 1/2 months pregnant wife -- actress Sharon Tate -- along with her friends and fetus.

The famed director, an infamous pedophile himself, was not home at the time.

Now, lifer and model-inmate Patricia Krenwinkel, age 66, is no longer wearing her hallmark creepy smirk. Instead, she's soulfully claiming that she participated in the Tate massacre, as well as the LaBianca murders staged shortly thereafter, simply because she was desperate for "Charlie's love."

Together, the beautiful but ill-fated starlet Tate and her equally hapless entourage were stabbed hundreds of times, even after they were already dead, and their blood then used as finger-paint.

Following carnival-like court trials, killer Krenwinkel and her crazed cohorts were each sentenced to die for their roles in the gory crime spree, but while awaiting execution their sentences were commuted to life when California's death penalty was briefly overturned.

Thankfully though, none of these depraved degenerates will ever see the light of day again ... nor do a group hug.

E.R.

Welcome Home, Abigail Hernandez

This July, Abigail Hernandez surprised everybody. Missing nine months and presumed dead, she defied the statistical odds by surviving a brutal abduction and finding her way home again -- welcome back, Abby Hernandez. Well done.

Nine days of total seclusion later, she would stun us all once more, showing up in court to face the accused kidnapper she'd been quietly helping investigators to finger. He in chains this time; she stoical but stone-faced, and seeming so much older than the little girl pictured in her missing person poster. So much wiser than her mere 15 years.

July 29, 2014, Conway District Court, NH:  She still sees it all in her mind's eye. She still feels imprisoned in her soul. She thinks this monster standing in front of the judge's bench, who would snatch a young girl like some coveted object on a store shelf, has robbed her of more than just time. 

He's taken things she can't retrieve anymore, no matter how hard she might try. He's stolen her childhood, her naiveté, her innocence ... she might never laugh or love again.

Beside the gaunt, pale and hard-jawed Abigail Hernandez sits her stricken mother Zenya. She's overjoyed to have a long lost child at her side once more of course, but, like her traumatized daughter, she too wears a grave and tortured expression. 

Together the two solemnly watch the court proceedings unfold from the first row; both bearing an uncannily sad family resemblance and defiantly eying the lanky, shackled defendant who boldly turns to glance at them.

His name is Nathaniel Kibby, age 34, and he has a criminal rap sheet as long as he is tall, dating all the way back to when he was a teenager.

If convicted of abducting Abby Hernandez on October 9th 2013 and cruelly confining her for nearly a year in a soundproof shipping container next to his mobile home, Kibby will receive only a seven-year sentence. 

Which means the career criminal would likely serve about five years max, assuming that throughout this brief period of incarceration he at all times exhibits "good behavior."

On the other hand, if "Crazy Nate" Kibby can be linked to other eerily similar disappearances in the area, then the good people of New Hampshire could probably put him away for life...

Missing in New Hampshire

EBOLA PANDEMIC? Airplanes Aid Serial Killing Virus

As killer Ebola threatens to claim the life of another leading physician stationed in Africa, world health agencies scramble to quell growing fears that hundreds may now be carrying the disease worldwide:

The virus is so lethal it has a 90-percent mortality rate and is known to be one of the most contagious on the planet. There is also no known cure.

Prior to American doctor and missionary Kent Brantly taking sick with it this past week, Patrick Sawyer, 40, also contracted the disease while in the region. But, whilst the "gravely ill" Brantly is presently in quarantine, denied permission to return to his homeland or go elsewhere for needed treatment, Sawyer was allowed to freely travel wherever he pleased.

In fact, the then highly-infectious government official managed to board a number of international flights without detection, during which he came in direct physical contact with hundreds of unsuspecting air passengers and employees.

Scarier still is that, on the last leg of his journey, Sawyer was visibly ill with fever, sweats, diarrhea, bleeding and vomiting, yet only trace amounts of sweat, feces, blood, urine, saliva or vomit are necessary for transmitting the Ebola virus to other persons. 

And, although upon landing, Patrick Sawyer was whisked away to a hospital where he then succumbed to the final throes of the disease, all those he could have infected before dying continued onward in their travels to different countries.

The case of Dr. Brantly, said to be on his own deathbed now, bears frightening similarities in that his wife and young children had just come to see him in Africa where he was stationed to assist in containing the runaway ebola epidemic.

They all recently returned to the United States, evidently without being subjected to a single screening and only a few days before the doctor's dire diagnosis was finally released.

In the interim, yet another American aid worker has been stricken with Ebola; this one a young female charged with the duty of decontaminating patients, operating rooms, and other parts of the medical facility where she was employed as a nurse.

Dr. Brantly's family members are apparently all in good health at the moment. However, it's still too soon to say that none of them contracted the virus during their African visit because it can take up to three weeks to become fully symptomatic.

Nevertheless, health-agency spokesmen are today adamantly insisting that America is "absolutely in no danger" of a deadly Ebola outbreak such as the one Dr. Brantly, Nurse Writebol, and their various healthcare associates were sent to address in Africa.

But that doesn't seem to make any sense, now does it?

Maybe that's why the CDC sent an Ebola alert to U.S. doctors just yesterday, in it demanding they question, test, and isolate all patients who might be infected with the killer virus...

E.R.

BREAKING NEWS: Abigail Hernandez Abductor Arrested

A man residing near Abigail Hernandez was arrested today and charged with felony kidnapping and confinement of the 15-year-old girl nine months ago:

A traumatized "Abby" Hernandez somehow returned to her Conway New Hampshire home last weekend in a perilously malnourished state and since then has been quietly recuperating and cooperating with authorities still working her missing person case.

Earlier in the week, based on the teen's descriptions, police released an artist's sketch of a possible male suspect, and by Friday reported they were actively pursuing at least 20 "good leads" so far.

The arrest today of 34-year-old Nathaniel Kibby "without incident" at his Gorham, NH trailer home, just 30 miles north of where Abby Hernandez lives, was therefore a relatively swift -- but long overdue -- break in one of the strangest disappearances on record.

Kibby has been charged with felony kidnapping and is scheduled for arraignment tomorrow (Tuesday, July 29th) at Conway District Court. 

It is not known if the defendant has his own lawyer yet or if one will be appointed for him, but a press briefing has been scheduled for Tuesday immediately following the arraignment.

E.R.

MARKET BASKET MUTINY: Corporate Greed Take Heed

The Market Basket Mutiny has got to be the most effective workers strike since the historic labor revolts of the 1920s and 30s, and it's swiftly brought a four-billion-dollar, tri-state grocery chain to its knees. So why aren't the national news corporations covering it?

After all, at the heart of this larger-than-life dispute between employees and management lies all the major elements of a bestselling story: A longstanding family feud, a sinister board of directors, a hostile takeover and ousted CEO, and a David versus Goliath struggle that, rightly so, sees the 'little guy' ably winning.

 

Corporate Greed Crime of the Century:

Kudos to the savvy and well organized mutineers -- nearly 20,000 strong -- who have succinctly put a halt to Big Business's typical business-as-usual mindset and bloodletting. They should be proud and, nationwide, their fearless actions emulated.

Yet, just a few short weeks ago, it was the family-owned company's powerful board of directors and their newly-appointed CEO who were slapping themselves on the back. No doubt, wild with anticipation about their own 4-percent raises, and those job layoffs and pay cuts they'd *necessarily* be making soon in order to increase corporate profitability and shareholders' earnings.

Today though, in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire where the super-sized supermarket chain runs over 70 stores in all, it's clear that the board's subversive plan has backfired considerably. 

The shelves of MARKET BASKET are almost empty this week, whilst its warehouse workers and shipping forces join the checkout clerks and baggers in a massive public protest over the firing of their beloved and benevolent former CEO, "Arthur T" Demoulas and the hiring instead of his allegedly wicked, scheming cousin, "Arthur S" Demoulas.

As to the mobs of once-loyal shoppers, they too have picked sides, the majority actively supporting strikers with a crippling boycott, petitions by the score, and storefront rallies that are now drawing in thousands of people at a pop.

Mom and Pop (and Uncle Mike):

Early in the 20th century, newly-landed immigrants Athanasios (Arthur) and Efrosini Demoulas opened a deli in Lowell Massachusetts. Together the Greek couple successfully sold lamb there for decades until retiring in 1954 and handing off their still-small but thriving enterprise to favored sons, George and Mike. 

Fifteen years and 15 stores after that, the two Demoulas brothers were well on their way to snagging the American Dream and creating the multi-billion-dollar grocery business known today as "Market Basket."

Soon thereafter, however -- with one greedy brother dipping into the till while the other one wasn't looking -- this happy tale takes a rather sad but predictable twist. The kind which would make Mom and Pop Demoulas roll in their graves perpetually, and leave their heirs forever fractured and feuding.

So perhaps the current contest pales in comparison with that of thieving Uncle Mike, although his selfish acts at least only served to siphon off some of the family's whopping profits, not strip all their stores bare.

Yes, We Have No Bananas:

Actually, the one thing there's now a glut of at the beleaguered supermarket's many outlets is bananas ... but these fruits don't keep well of course, so they're being given away before they rot. 

Ditto for sliced bread, hotdog rolls, and hamburger buns.

Bread Alone:

Obviously, emptied stores and wasted produce isn't a business model that can be maintained for very long, and, albeit the filthy rich and fighting Demoulas may be used to operating well amidst chronic stress and strife, by week three of the standoff it's becoming perfectly clear this isn't a family quarrel either side will win.

Their business is at a virtual standstill. Their customers are practically nil. Their paid employees are picketing.

All that has to happen now to seal their corporate doom is that the national news agencies catch wind of all this...

E.R.

Abigail Hernandez Update: Police Sketch Released

Authorities investigating the Abigail Hernandez nine-month disappearance from her Conway, New Hampshire community say the formerly-missing teen is cooperating with them, to some degree.

Thus far, however, scant details have been released to the public, and no one but prosecutors, police and her family even know where the girl actually was throughout the entire time she was missing. Let alone whether Hernandez willingly ran off last autumn, was lured away from her residence by someone she trusted, or outright abducted by a stranger.

But a police sketch of a possible suspect in this strange missing person case is now being widely circulated. 

Officials are hoping someone may recognize the thirty-something male in the pencil portrait or remember seeing him in the vicinity of the Hernandez home, either on the day she vanished -- October 9th 2013 -- or in the days preceding the event.

The unknown male subject depicted in the police handout was described by Abigail Hernandez herself as having darkish skin, dark brown eyes, and black stubble facial hair. She also noted that he was slightly overweight and stood not much taller than her own 5-foot-4 frame.

Whether this individual aided the then 14-year-old as a voluntary runaway or is in fact her kidnapper still isn't clear, officials state. But either way, custodial interference of a minor child is a felony, so the man is being sought now for more than just questioning.

E.R.

MISSING PERSON: Erin Corwin

Three weeks after Erin Corwin, 19 and newly pregnant, disappeared en route to meet her married paramour in Joshua Tree National Park there is still no sign of her:

California investigators now claim the pretty and petite 19-year-old and her ex-marine lover, Christopher Lee, were rendezvousing there on June 28th "to go hunting" together "in celebration" of the surprise pregnancy. 

They also suspect that therein lies a hidden and bloody crime scene, albeit numerous searches of the vast forest reserve for clues as to the missing young woman's fate has thus far turned up nothing.

Records indicate -- and Lee has admitted -- that the former marine was in fact hunting within Joshua Tree park grounds at the same time Corwin was alleged to have gone there to meet him. She has not been seen nor heard from since.

Corwin is herself the wife of an active-duty soldier, although her husband is no longer considered a suspect in her disappearance. Attention instead is now squarely on Christopher Lee who, not incidentally, has been apprehended on a separate but "unrelated" weapons charge.

Neighbors of both Corwin and Lee allege the two have been secretly seeing each other "for awhile" and that Lee expressed fears he might lose custody of his own legitimate child if the illicit affair and pregnancy was revealed to his wife.

A concern like that is often motive enough for a premeditated killing, police are aware, as is the wrath of an extremely jealous spouse...

However, despite the strong belief that "a felony occurred" in the missing person case of Erin Corwin, authorities have not yet ruled out the possibility she may have left the area voluntarily and are therefore asking the public to be vigilant.

Corwin is described as 5'2" tall, 120 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, and will be turning 20 soon. She has no known medical or psychological issues which could otherwise account for her sudden and unplanned absence.

Anyone with knowledge of this missing woman's current whereabouts or her remains is urged to call the San Bernardino County sheriff’s Specialized Investigation Division at (909) 387-3589 or the sheriff’s dispatch at (909) 387-8313. Anonymous tips can also be submitted via the WeTip hotline at (800) 782-7463.

E.R.

Missing Abigail Hernandez Mystery Deepens: Home Safe?

The disappearance of New Hampshire teen Abigail Hernandez, home after nine months missing, remains as mysterious as the day she vanished:

This past weekend the now-15-year-old girl -- believed by many to be dead -- suddenly came home, putting an end to the seemingly fruitless and heart-wrenching search for her, but not to the intrigue surrounding the case.

To be sure, Hernandez's return to her family and hometown "in good condition" this July is an unusually happy ending for one who has been gone so long without a trace. But it still leaves all the important questions about her strange absence unanswered.

Did she willingly leave with someone according to a secret plan? Or was she snatched, drugged, and transported someplace to be exploited and abused by strangers? And where has this child actually been all the months she was missing?

“At the time of her disappearance, Abigail was 14-years-old and had no known means to facilitate her disappearance or provide herself with shelter, meals, or other necessities over the ensuing nine months,” reads a joint statement released early this week by New Hampshire prosecutors and police.

“Should the investigation reveal evidence that a person or persons were involved with Abigail’s disappearance and/or detainment or concealment, then the appropriate criminal charges will be brought.”

Fighting words and a daunting goal, but in truth all that's really left to go on still are the missing-person posters bearing a prodigal daughter's Mona Lisa expression and her equally beguiling smile. And even these are now quickly fading from view.

So, with no satisfactory explanation in hand nor suspects in custody, investigators are determined to once and for all resolve the Hernandez mystery.

In that renewed effort, they're amping up their criminal probe into what exactly occurred that afternoon in October 2013 when young Abigail Hernandez walked home after school but for some bizarre reason never made it to her house again.

Which means either she herself can't remember what happened ... or else she isn't telling.

E.R.

First article since February -- apologies for my own unexplained vanishing act -- rumors of my death, however, are great exaggerations. (Or at least a bit premature.)

Quadruple Murderer Escapes Michigan Jail

Quadruple murderer Michael David Elliot is a free man today. At least until he's recaptured:

Officials in Michigan say the 40-year-old convicted killer escaped from prison overnight by digging a hole in the ground near a security fence. 

True to form, he then abducted a woman at knife point and took off with her in her car.

His hostage somehow managed to get away and notify police shortly thereafter, but Elliot -- and the shaken woman's vehicle -- are still nowhere to be found today.

Authorities believe this armed and dangerous quadruple murderer may now be in Indiana and ask that anybody who spots the suspect keep their distance and call 911 immediately.

Michael David Elliot is described as a middle-aged Caucasian male, about 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds. He has short dark hair and, when last sighted, was sporting a beard and a hooded sweatshirt.

A gas station attendant where the escapee stopped to refuel the stolen car says he's driving a red Jeep Liberty 2004 model registered in the state of Michigan. The license plate number is 5FTG55.

Elliot is a career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet that includes armed robbery, arson, breaking and entering, and homicide. He's also known to have used various aliases in the past, such as Michael D. Delarosa, Michael David Shreader, and Michael David Delarose.

A nationwide alert has been issued for his apprehension.

Twisted Tweets and Demons: Teleka Patrick Tortured, Still Missing

"I can't take much more of this," Dr. Teleka Patrick tweeted on December fourth, just one day before she deleted her Twitter accounts and mysteriously vanished from Kalamazoo Michigan without a trace:

"There are normal ways to contact people you know," she added in her highly public reproach of a thus-far unidentified recipient, "but you reach me through a demonic power. That gives demons power over me and dilutes my spiritual authority."

Dozens of not-so-sweet nothings like that one were posted online in the days, weeks and months before Patrick disappeared. A fact which even her family seemed unaware of until now and which has led investigators to at last conclude that the missing woman vanished on purpose for "emotional reasons."

Whatever turns out to be the explanation for her puzzling absence, one thing has become crystal clear: Teleka Patrick was a tormented soul. And that was manifested in a tortuous and allegedly unrequited obsession with a Grammy-winning gospel singer who Patrick likely began to perceive was actually a devil.

"Because you are using a demon to contact me, when I turn my heart towards you, it passes through a demonic power. When I say I love you, I am also saying I love you to a demon because that is how you made me fall for you," she plaintively posted via @PatientMunchkin.

Patrick's apparent descent into madness seems to have happened quite suddenly, since only last spring the otherwise outwardly contented 30-year-old had graduated with a medical degree and a doctorate in biochemistry.

Today, however, people close to her and afar are speculating that she took those accolades all the way from California to Western Michigan University School of Medicine solely to be near to the object of her desire, Reverend Marvin Sapp, and against his express wishes.

By September 2013 that unwavering fixation had developed into outright stalking and thus earned the new and religiously devout doctor a restraining order from Sapp, at which point her tweets show her coming unhinged.

"I basically got papers in the mail which were a whole bunch of lies," she cryptically acknowledged on Twitter. "I chose not to fight anything. If I was really guilty, I would have just started spreading lies about you. Or the truth. That's just as bad. But I'm not that type of person. I answer to God. That is why I protect you."

The brilliant but addled Dr. Patrick then disappeared after completing shift-work at Borgess Hospital on December 5th 2013, and has not been seen or heard from again. 

All her online profiles and bank accounts have similarly gone inactive.

Kansas Killer Strikes Again? Michael Packard Found Dead

This weekend popular DJ Michael Packard unwittingly joined a growing list of missing young males found dead in the Lawrence Kansas area:

The 26-year-old vanished New Year's eve while "working the door" at the Granada Theater. 

He was officially reported missing by friends when he subsequently failed to show for a regular disc jockey gig at the Bottleneck bar on Thursday evening. 

Following a fruitless search for him, Packard's corpse was just discovered Friday on the grounds of Clinton State Park. 

Why he would have gone there at all still remains a mystery, but, as with other young men who've met up with a similar fate in this district recently, police are already claiming there was "no foul play" involved in either his disappearance or premature demise.

However, a cause of death for Michael Packard has yet to be determined.

MORE MISSING-FOUND-DEAD IN KANSAS

$10,000 QUESTION: Where is Dr. Teleka Patrick?

Baffling case of missing doctor Teleka Patrick gets even weirder with new revelations she "was hearing voices" and stalking Marvin Sapp -- a Grammy-winning gospel singer and popular Michigan pastor -- for over a year. Read up-to-date coverage of this developing story now, and read Killing Killer's original missing-person alert dated 12/19/13 below:

Dr. Patrick disappeared from Kalamazoo Michigan on December 5th 2013 and has not been seen or heard from since.

The 30-year-old new doctor-in-residence at Borgess Medical Center vanished under very peculiar circumstances and now authorities from two states and her loved ones are left to work with odd pieces of a puzzle in hopes of finding her again:

Who mysteriously cell-phoned Patrick the day before she vanished causing her such visible distress?

Why did she attempt to get a hotel room near to the hospital where she worked when she had her own apartment?

Why was her car observed driven "erratically" a few hours later on Interstate 94 in Indiana, only to be found shortly thereafter abandoned at the side of that highway with a flat tire?

Where did she then go on foot, presuming she was the driver?

And where is this brilliant woman now?

Teleka Patrick is an African-American female about 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She went missing from the same medical facility -- and in the same manner -- as 30-year old out patient Shay Lynn Eisenhardt in 2003.

Eisenhardt's remains where discovered three years later scattered in a wooded area across from the hospital grounds.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information which leads to Dr. Patrick's return. Anyone who knows what may have happened to her and/or her current whereabouts is asked to call 911 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100.

The young doctor has been gone without a trace for more than two weeks ... time is of the essence.

E.R.

CASE UPDATES HERE

NOTE: Found drowned -- "no foul play suspected".