National Roundup

Missouri
Woman accused of stabbing boyfriend who drank her blood
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Police say a 19-year-old Missouri woman allowed her intoxicated boyfriend to drink her blood then stabbed the wannabe vampire during a subsequent argument.

Victoria Vanatter of Springfield pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action in the Nov. 23 incident.

Police say Vanatter told them she agreed her boyfriend could slice her arm with a box cutter and drink her blood. But then the two argued and Vanatter stabbed her boyfriend in the shoulder.

When police arrived at their home, they discovered the bloodied couple and “I’m sorry” inside a heart scrawled in blood on the wall. Vanatter warned an investigator that she has the potential to become a serial killer.

Both were treated at a hospital. Vanatter is jailed on $150,000 bond.

Missouri
Man accused of stabbing and raping girlfriend
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man is accused of beating, stabbing and raping his girlfriend and confining her to a dog crate.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 25-year-old Michael Damrell of Hazelwood in St. Louis County is charged with kidnapping, rape, domestic assault and armed criminal action. He is not in custody.

According to charging documents, Damrell struck his former girlfriend in the head and body with a gun and a wrench, confined her to a dog crate and stabbed her in the arms and face with a knife. He is also accused of dragging her through several rooms by her hair and raping her.

The documents say the abuse took place in February.

Pennsylvania
Jail guard charged with pepper spraying inmate’s genitals
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania county jail guard has been placed on paid leave and charged with simple assault for allegedly pepper-spraying an inmate’s genitals.

The (Scranton) Times-Tribune says the incident involving Lackawanna County jail Sgt. Scott Blume occurred Sept. 24, but didn’t come to light until the inmate wrote to a judge to complain Oct. 18.

District Attorney Shane Scanlon says in a criminal complaint that the incident happened after the inmate became intoxicated from homemade alcohol made from leftover fruit. That’s when Blume made the inmate change clothes so he could be placed in restrictive housing and sprayed the inmate through a jail door opening when he refused to change.

Scanlon says he filed the charges because force wasn’t necessary.

Blume’s attorney declined comment Tuesday. Blume faces a disciplinary hearing and could be fired.

Massachusetts
DA: Mom charged after overdosing while shopping with toddler
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — Authorities say a New Hampshire mother who allegedly overdosed and collapsed to the floor while shopping with her 2-year-old daughter in a Massachusetts dollar store faces a charge of child endangerment.

The Essex County District Attorney’s office says Mandy McGowan, of Salem, New Hampshire, was arraigned on the charge on Monday. She was placed on probation and was ordered to continue drug treatment until her case is resolved.

Police released video in September that showed McGowan sprawled in an aisle of a Family Dollar store in Lawrence and her daughter desperately trying to wake her up.

The child was taken into state custody.

McGowan’s attorney said Monday that his client was 67 days into a drug treatment program.

South Carolina
Real estate agent suspected of killing 7 people
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man suspected of being a serial killer was formally charged with three additional counts of murder Monday for bodies found buried on his land.

The murder warrants against Todd Kohlhepp weren’t a surprise. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright already said the 45-year-old real estate agent was responsible for those three killings and four more at a motorcycle shop in 2003.

Kohlhepp was charged with killing 32-year-old Charlie Carver between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2. Carver went to see Kohlhepp with his girlfriend to check on a cleaning job when he was shot and killed and she was kidnapped, authorities said.

Kohlhepp was arrested Nov. 3 after deputies found Carver’s girlfriend chained in a storage container, Wright said.

Kohlhepp shot 25-year-old Meagan McCraw-Coxie on Christmas or Dec. 26 after holding her against her will for about a week, according to arrest warrants that include a kidnapping charge.

Her husband, 29-year-old Johnny Coxie was shot and killed a week earlier, a warrant said.

The Coxies were reported missing last December. Coxie was killed a day after his wife was released from jail. McCraw-Coxie had told her mother she needed to be bonded out so she could go to a job, but then her mother lost contact, Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Bobo said.

Kohlhepp already faces four additional murder charges for killing the owner, service manager, mechanic and bookkeeper at a motorcycle shop in 2003.

Kohlhepp waived a bond hearing Monday night, according to media reports.

California
Paralyzed woman sues over falling tree branch
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco woman who was paralyzed by a falling tree branch at a local park has filed a lawsuit against the city for negligence.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 36-year-old Emma Zhou was with her daughters in Washington Square Park in August when she was hit by a 100-pound branch that fell from a Canary Island pine tree.

The accident caused a brain injury and a severed spinal cord, leaving Zhou paralyzed below the waist.

The lawsuit filed Monday in San Francisco Superior Court says the tree was “negligently pruned” in a way that causes rapid growth of heavy, weakly attacked branches.

City attorney spokesman John Cote says officials haven’t been served with the lawsuit so can’t comment on the specifics of the case. He called what happened to Zhou “heartbreaking.”