Indiana
Prosecutors seek DNA from suspect in seven deaths
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — Prosecutors are seeking a DNA sample from the man who is charged in the strangulation deaths of two women in northwestern Indiana and is suspected of killing five more.
A Lake County court has scheduled a Dec. 5 hearing on the request for a DNA mouth swab from 43-year-old Darren Vann of Gary.
The Times of Munster reports that a second court-appointed attorney, Teresa Hollandsworth, has joined Matthew Fech on Vann’s defense team.
Vann faces murder charges in the death of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy and 35-year-old Anith Jones. Police say Hardy was killed at a Hammond motel and that Vann led investigators to the bodies of Jones and five other women inside abandoned houses in Gary.
Maine
Teen charged with naked break-ins
FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) — Police say an 18-year-old Maine man has been arrested after allegedly breaking into two homes while naked, at about the same time his own home was destroyed in a fire.
Logan Valle faces charges including burglary, theft and attempted theft.
Police allege Valle forced his way into two homes late Saturday night looking to steal car keys. He was found in the attic of one of them.
At about the same time, the nearby home owned by his parents was destroyed in a fire. No one was injured.
Valle’s vehicle was found in a country club parking lot nearby, and police say it appears as if someone tried to set fire to it.
Valle was held without bail over the weekend and it’s unclear if he has a lawyer.
Illinois
Man convicted in Virginia faces trial in Illinois
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A former Marine sentenced to death in Virginia in a Navy sailor’s 2009 slaying has been returned to Illinois to stand trial on charges that he killed two young girls nine years ago.
Jorge Torrez was 16 when he allegedly stabbed 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias on Mother’s Day in 2005. The girls were playing in a forest preserve in Zion, north of Chicago.
A bond hearing was held Saturday in Illinois’ Lake County in which a judge ordered that Torrez be arraigned on Dec. 10, according to The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald.
The girls’ killings generated national attention largely because Laura Hobbs’ father, Jerry Hobbs, was charged in the slayings after giving what he said was a false confession following more than 20 hours of questioning. Hobbs spent five years in jail before DNA evidence taken from his daughter’s body linked Torrez to the crime.
Earlier this year, Torrez, a native of Zion, was convicted in federal court in the slaying of a sailor at a barracks in northern Virginia. During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors told jurors that Torrez had killed the two girls.
Prosecutors showed jurors photos of one of the girl’s bodies that had stab wounds. They told jurors that DNA from Torrez’s semen was found on one of the bodies and that Torrez had confessed to a fellow inmate that he stabbed the girls.
Illinois does not have a death penalty, but Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim had said he intended to bring Torrez back to the state to stand trial even before Torrez’s conviction in Virginia. He said the girls’ families support the move.
“We look forward to bringing justice, and eventually some closure to the families of the victims as well as the entire community,” said Nerheim, who was not state’s attorney when Jerry Hobbs was charged. “I want to do everything in my power to make sure justice is done in Lake County in this case.”
Kansas
Shelter in won’t allow gay couples
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A nonprofit homeless shelter in Kansas City will not allow legally married same-sex couples to stay overnight together because officials believe those relationships violate biblical principles.
Leaders of the City Union Mission in Kansas City debated the decision for three or four years, but decided it must adhere to its Christian beliefs, executive director Dan Doty said. “Our view is that it (same-sex marriage) is inappropriate,” he said.
Married, same-sex couples who insist on staying together will be referred to other area shelters, such as the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph and reStart Inc.
Last week, some county clerks in Kansas handed out marriage license applications to gay couples after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriage. A separate federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s gay marriage ban has yet to be resolved. In Missouri, a federal judge has overturned the state’s ban, which is being appealed.
City Union is a private nonprofit that receives no government funding, meaning it is not bound by anti-discrimination rules. Officials at the Topeka Rescue Mission, another private, nonprofit Christian shelter, are still discussing the issue, The Kansas City Star reported.
City Union leaders have been considering their response for three or four years as the possibility of same-sex marriage becoming legal increased, Doty said.
The Salvation Army, which receives some government funding, already allows same-sex couples to stay, said Maj. Evie Diaz, divisional commander of the post that serves western Missouri and all of Kansas.
“Our policy is non-discrimination toward anyone,” Diaz said. “We help. If you’re homeless and need a place to stay, we help.”
Shelters run by Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Lawrence Community Shelter also allow same-sex couples to stay.
California
Man sentenced in dragging slaying
WILLITS, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California family says it is still trying to understand what led to the slaying of their 84-year-old father, who was killed by being dragged behind a pickup truck for six miles.
A Mendocino County judge sentenced 25-year-old Kenneth Wilkinson, the victim's grandson, to 25 years-to-life in prison on Friday in the 2012 slaying of Richard "Mel" Wilkinson in the Willits area. Kenneth Wilkinson had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
According to court records, he acknowledged hitting his grandfather in the head with an ax during an argument. A blood test indicated Kenneth Wilkinson had drugs in his system.
His attorney, Jan Cole-Wilson, says he dragged what he thought was a dead body behind the truck.
Lori Tharp, Richard Wilkinson's daughter, tells the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa family members are struggling to understand what happened.
