DA: Suspect in NYC "Baby Hope" Death Changed His Story

The suspect in a decades-old child killing told investigators a series of stories about his involvement, first saying he unknowingly helping dispose of the little girl's body to eventually admitting he sexually abused and smothered her, a prosecutor said Thursday.

But Conrado Juarez' lawyer contested the alleged admission to killing the 4-year-old girl long known only as "Baby Hope."

"This alleged confession is completely suspect," attorney Michael Croce said as Juarez pleaded not guilty to murder.

Juarez, a 52-year-old kitchen worker, was arrested only last month in a case that stumped investigators for decades.

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Naked, folded and tied with rope, the girl's asphyxiated corpse was found in a cooler beside a Manhattan highway in 1991. There was semen on her body, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Melissa Mourges told a judge.

Until recently, detectives didn't even know the girl's name. They dubbed her "Baby Hope" and paid for her headstone — a marker that wasfinally engraved with her name, Anjelica Castillo, last week.

More Coverage: Baby Hope's Tombstone Engraved with Slain Girl's Real Name

An appeal for tips on the anniversary of her discovery led investigators to her mother, who had left Anjelica and another daughter with their biological father; he, in turn, deposited them with his relatives. Juarez, a cousin, was staying in the same apartment with Anjelica and her sister, authorities said.

"What is this about?" he asked a detective who came to see him Oct. 11, according to a prosecution document released Thursday.

Over the ensuing 14 hours, Juarez first told detectives he just helped his sister dispose of the cooler, unaware what was inside, according to Mourges and a prosecution document summarizing his remarks.

Then Juarez recounted finding Anjelica dead on the floor, packing her body into the cooler, piling soda cans on top to try to conceal the corpse, and helping his sister drop it by the highway, the authorities said.

Later, Juarez recounted sexually abusing the child while drunk but said that was unrelated to her death, they said.

"Finally, he admitted that he had sex with the victim and killed her by smothering her with a pillow," Mourges said.

The DA's office didn't release Juarez' eventual written and videotaped statements.

Juarez' lawyer suggested the interrogation was "coercive," noting its length, among other questions he raised about the reliability of the statements.

Croce declined to describe Juarez' own version of events. Juarez told newspapers the girl died accidentally, he helped his sister dispose of her body, and detectives pressured him into saying he killed her.

Police and prosecutors have expressed confidence in the confession. Prosecutors are awaiting DNA test results, Mourges said

3 San Jose State students suspended after alleged hate crime http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-jose-state-students-suspended-alleged-hate-crime-black-student-20131121,0,2771515.story#ixzz2lLehsR4D

Three San Jose State students were suspended after being charged with an alleged hate crime and battery against an African American student, school officials said Thursday afternoon.

The three white students are accused of various actions, incluidng taunting the 17-year-old victim with racial epithets and knocking him down while trying to place a bicycle lock around his neck, according to a report by university police.

A confederate flag was also displayed in the apartment the students shared and a racial slur was written on an eraser board, according to a copy of the report posted online by the San Jose Mercury News.

The confederate flag was draped around a cardboard cutout of Elvis Presley in the living room, the report says. The slur and flag were discovered by the victim after he returned from a weekend at his parents' home.

Late Wednesday, prosecutors filed misdemeanor hate crime and battery charges against the three students. They were suspended Thursday.

University spokeswoman Pat Harris told The Times that two of the students were removed from the dorm as soon the incident was reported to housing staff on Oct. 14. She said the third student was taken out of the room this week because he was not initially named as a suspect in the case.

The incidents allegedly occurred between Aug. 20 and Oct. 13, Harris said. The four students are freshmen.

The case has sparked shock and outrage on the campus.

On Thursday, students held a rally in front of the statues of former San Jose State students Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who raised theirs fists with black gloves in protest on the medal podium at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

University President Mohammad Qayoumi said Thursday that he was "outraged and saddened by these allegations."

"They are utterly inconsistent with our long cherished history of tolerance, respect for diversity and personal civility," Qayoumi said in a statement.

He said the university would conduct a review of its diversity programs and safety policies regarding campus housing.

Harris said the school would conduct administrative hearings over the next several months that could result in the three students being sanctioned or permanently barred from the California State University system.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-jose-state-students-suspended-alleged-hate-crime-black-student-20131121,0,2771515.story#ixzz2lLchxzKH

Mass. teenager charged with murdering, raping teacher

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts grand jury on Thursday indicted a 14-year-old high school student on charges of murder, aggravated rape and armed robbery in the death of a 24-year-old math teacher at his school near Boston last month.

Philip Chism, 14, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering Colleen Ritzer, whose body was found on October 22 in the woods behind the high school in Danvers, Massachusetts, about 20 miles north of Boston.

In indictments handed up on Thursday, an Essex County grand jury said Chism "did kill and murder" Ritzer, but that the exact cause of death remained undetermined, according to a statement from the Essex County District Attorney's Office.

"The indictments returned today detail horrific and unspeakable acts," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in the statement.

Prosecutors said Chism sexually assaulted Ritzer with an object and, armed with a box cutter, robbed her of credit cards, an iPhone and her underwear, the statement said.

Chism cut the woman in a second-floor bathroom of the school before disposing of her body and going to see the Woody Allen film "Blue Jasmine," the Boston Globe reported last month, citing an unnamed law enforcement official.

Ritzer's family said they continued to mourn her death.

"We are devastated and heartbroken by the details of the horrific circumstances surrounding the death of our beautiful daughter and sister, Colleen," the family said in a statement.

Prosecutors charged Chism as an adult, which allowed them to release his name and could mean he faces a longer sentence in an adult prison rather than a juvenile facility if he is convicted.

His attorney, Denise Regan, declined to comment on Thursday.

Chism, who played on the junior varsity soccer team at Danvers High School, had recently moved to the New England town from Tennessee.

Joseph Goodman: Jameis Winston saga shows sport needs reform

Penn State University covered up the systematic sexual assault of boys.

Despite the warning signs, the University of Miami snuggled up to a crook for his dirty money.

Florida State University will hold a gathering of more than 80,000 people Saturday to celebrate, among other things, school spirit, human achievement, civic pride and a quarterback who stands accused of sexual assault.

This is the legacy of major college football in America at the beginning of the 21st century. This is our legacy as a group of people. We are complicit and active participants in an enterprise that, with disturbing regularity, operates above the law, corrupts good people and protects the wicked.

Major college football in its present form is an incubator of deception. Your favorite conference is morally bankrupt. Your team's coach isn't trying to build tomorrow's leaders. Your school president doesn't care about education.

The sport isn't out of control. The sport is in total control.

It is beyond obvious that big-time college football in his present state should be torn down, demolished and rebuilt. Instead, leaders who are supposed to be operating under the public trust only want less regulation and more money.

The big five conferences of the NCAA — Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 — are in discussions about how to "reform" the sport, and if they don't absolutely get what they want they could threaten to break away. Ideas for "reforming" major college football include allowing schools to spend more and, as Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman put it to Sports Illustrated, maintain "control over our own destiny."

Here's the destiny of major college football:

On Tuesday, Jameis Winston, the quarterback at FSU, was accused of sexual assault and his accuser suggested in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times that police in Tallahassee tried to dissuade her from pursuing legal action by telling her that her life would be ruined.

"We requested assistance from an attorney friend to interact with law enforcement on the victim's behalf," the statement read. "When the attorney contacted Detective [Scott] Angulo immediately after Winston was identified, Detective Angulo told the attorney that Tallahassee was a big football town and the victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable."

That this isn't surprising is the most disturbing thing of all.

Only a few hours after that statement was released Wednesday, news was leaked to ESPN.com that DNA collected from the victim's underwear matched Winston's DNA. On Thursday morning in Tallahassee, Winston's attorney held a news conference to announce, among other things, that it "absolutely" was consensual sex.

"We are not surprised with the results of the DNA," said Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen. "We voluntarily submitted to a DNA test. The only thing we are surprised by is it was leaked out by law enforcement. The question the people should ask is why is it being leaked? For what purpose?"

Someone decided enough was enough. How's that for purpose?

Of course, people blindly will defend Winston up until the very moment he is either charged with sexual assault or cleared of all wrongdoing. But this isn't about Winston. It's bigger than that.

And it's bigger than FSU's coach, Jimbo Fisher, who mortgaged his career to play a quarterback who, at the very least, has been the subject of an open investigation all season.

Here's a statement by FSU president Eric Barron from last week when asked whether he thought this scandal would taint his school's image:

"The university and the athletic programs are much bigger than any one person. I believe in the strength of Florida State and the strength of the Florida State brand."

To protect the brand at all cost, that is your university's new mission.

One child dies, four others injured after car crashes into Minnesota pond

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - One child died and four others were seriously injured when the car they were riding in slid into a near-freezing pond in suburban Minneapolis on Thursday, police said.

Zenavia Rennie, 5, was killed after the vehicle she and the four other children, ages 1 to 7, were in veered off a rain-slicked highway ramp and plunged into the pond in St. Louis Park, Minnesota State Patrol spokesman Eric Roeske said.

They were rescued about a half hour after the car went into the water.

The children were unresponsive after being pulled from the car, which slid 40 feet down an embankment into a retention pond, said Jamie Zwilling, spokesman for St. Louis Park, a suburb west of Minneapolis.

The children were seriously injured, according to the Minnesota State Patrol website, and were being treated at Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital. The hospitals would not release further information.

The driver, 23-year-old Marion Guerrido of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, is the mother and stepmother of the children, Roeske said.

Witnesses said they heard Guerrido, who was apparently uninjured, calling for help.

"I could see someone screaming, 'Help me! Help me! Help me!'" said Jeffrey Robertson, 40, of St. Louis Park, who was in a nearby second-story apartment and called emergency services.

Robertson, who said Guerrido was standing knee deep in the water, could not see the car from his vantage point.

When he learned there were children in the water, "My heart just sank," he said.

A passerby, Joel Oine, also of St. Louis Park, tried to rescue the children but could not, according to Roeske. Initially, emergency responders also were unable to reach the children, he said.

A water rescue team was able to remove the children, and a tow truck pulled the car from the water.

Roeske said police were investigating what caused the car to go off the ramp, which does not have guardrails, and whether the children were in seat belts or car seats.

An emergency call was received at 6:10 a.m. and the last victim was retrieved at 6:55 a.m. The water was about nine feet deep where the car sank, Roeske said.

The four other children were identified as Aliyana Rennie, age 1; Zarihana Rennie, 6; Alarious Coleman-Guerrido, 7; and Amani Coleman-Guerrido, 5, all of Brooklyn Center, according to the Minnesota State Patrol website.

NORTHJERSEY.COM : NEWS : NATIONAL

1st 3 women Marines graduate from infantry course

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2013, 9:24 PM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAMP GEIGER, N.C. (AP) — Three Marines have become the first women to graduate from the Corps' tough-as-nails enlisted infantry training school in North Carolina, officials said Thursday.

The three completed the 59-day course and met the same test standards as the men, said Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Geraldine Carey.

The course includes a grueling 12-mile march with an 80-pound pack and a variety of combat fitness tests such as timed combat shuttle runs, timed ammunition container lifts and tests that simulate running under combat fire.

The step comes as the Marine Corps continues to evaluate where women might serve in combat. Earlier this year, the Pentagon lifted the ban on women serving in combat jobs, but each of the service branches is developing how this might be accomplished.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are looking at the standards required for serving in battlefront jobs such as infantry, armor and elite commando positions. They have until Jan. 1, 2016, to open as many jobs as possible to women, and to explain why if they decide to keep some closed.

The common requirements for men and women for each job would be based on specific tasks. Military officials have said the standards will not be lowered in order to bring women into any combat posts.

Carey identified the women as Pvt. 1st Class Julia Carroll, 18, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who is entering a school for signal intelligence training; Pvt. 1st Class Cristina Fuentes Monternegro, 25, of Coral Springs, Fla., who will study to become an aviation mechanic; and Pvt. 1st Class Katie Gorz, 19, of St. Paul, Minn., who is going to study logistics.

On its website, the Marine Corps said the Camp Geiger course is the follow-on training for Marines who graduate from basic training at Parris Island, S.C., and about 20,000 Marines train there every year. Marines who complete recruit training at the post near San Diego move on to the infantry school at Camp Pendleton in California.

Parris Island is the only site where female Marines go through basic training.

Carey said 15 women began the enlisted course with 254 men in September. It wasn't immediately clear exactly how many male Marines completed the course to graduation on Thursday.She said the course is separate from one that trains Marine infantry officers for leadership positions at Quantico, Va. Several women lieutenants have attempted to complete that course, but so far none has passed.

A new group of enlisted Marines enters the infantry course every two weeks, and each of the units currently in training has women in them, Carey said.

Under a 1994 Pentagon policy, women were prohibited from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level. A brigade is roughly 3,500 troops split into several battalions of about 800 soldiers each. Historically, brigades were based farther from the front lines, and they often included top command and support staff.

Last year the military opened up about 14,500 combat positions to women, most of them in the Army, by allowing them to serve in many jobs at the battalion level. The January order lifted the last barrier to women serving in combat, but allows the services to argue to keep some jobs closed.

The bulk of the nearly 240,000 jobs currently closed to women are in the Army, including those in infantry, armor, combat engineer and artillery units that are often close to the battlefront. Similar jobs in the Marine Corps are also closed

State police: 3 found dead in Hudson Valley town

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A father and his 9-year-old and 13-year-old sons were shot to death and investigators were searching their New York town using canines and air units for a woman related to them they believe was also injured, state police said Thursday.

The father, identified as Abbas Lodhi, 49, and one of his sons were found dead in a car parked at a supermarket in the Hudson Valley town of Pleasant Valley around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, said Capt. John Ryan of the state police investigative unit in Dutchess County.

After those bodies were found, police went to the family home and found the other boy shot dead.

The sons were identified as Zain Lodhi, 9, and Mugthba Lodhi, 13. Police didn't immediately specify which boy was found at which location.

Ryan said a shotgun believed to have been used in the killing was found with the car.

Ryan declined to discuss whether the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide, but called the deaths a "family tragedy" and said there is not a public safety concern.

A fourth family member, 43-year-old Sarwat Lodhi, was still missing Thursday night and police said she was believed to be a victim and may have been injured.

Authorities have stopped short of saying how she was injured or whether she was the children's mother, saying only that she was a member of the immediate family.

Ryan said the motive was unclear.

"I think it's one of the most or more tragic things I have seen," Ryan said at a news conference. "I find myself having two young boys that _ it's emotional seeing what has happened to these kids. I couldn't even put into words how tragic it is for all of us."

Pleasant Valley is a town of about 9,000 residents about 75 miles north of New York City, near Poughkeepsie.