Top crime stories of 2013
On Feb. 3, 2013, Christopher
Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer who was bitter over being fired in
2008, began a killing spree that ended with four dead, including two law enforcement
officers. After a massive state-wide manhunt, Dorner killed himself during a standoff with authorities at a San
Bernardino Mountains cabin on February 12, 2013.
Steubenville Rape case
In March 2013 two Steubenville High School student football players, Ma'lik Richmond (right) and Trent Mays, were convicted in a juvenile court of raping an intoxicated 16-year-old girl at a party. Richmond was sentenced to one year in prison. Mays, who was also convicted of disseminating child pornography for taking and sharing photographs of the girl in states of undress, got two years. Numerous photographs of the incident were collected as evidence from several students. The victim testified in the trial that she did had no recollection of what had happened that night. The case made national headlines when Anonymous, an internet hacker group, got involved, holding rallies in support of the victim and threatening to expose information about the people at the party.
Boston Marathon Bombing
Two women and an 8-year-old boy were killed and more than 260 people were injured after two bombs were set off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev (left), 26, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, were identified as the suspects. On April 19, 2013, The FBI released photos and videos of the two young men, who were seen carrying backpacks as they mingled among revelers at the marathon. A few hours later, the brothers engaged in a long night of violence that allegedly included killing an MIT police officer on campus in Cambridge, Mass., then stealing a car at gunpoint, injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died during the gunfire exchange and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested and charged in connection with the bombing. He is now awaiting trial.
Ariel Castro
Three young women escaped a decade of captivity inside a Cleveland, Ohio home after one kicked through a storm door on May 6, 2013 and caught the attention of some neighbors. Ariel Castro, 52, had kidnapped Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus between 2002 and 2004 and kept them prisoner raping, beating and chaining them inside the home for 10 years. A 6-year-old child borne by Berry was also found inside the home. Castro pleaded guilty on
July 27, 2013 to 937 criminal counts of rape, kidnapping, and aggravated murder
as part of a plea bargain. He was
subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus
1,000 years. On Sept. 3 prison guards found Castro dead in his cell after
he had hung himself. His death was ruled a suicide.
Ricin letters sent to Obama and Bloomberg
Shannon Guess Richardson, a Texas woman and former actress, pleaded guilty on Dec. 10 to a federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin. Richardson admitted sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in April 2013. Under the plea deal, Richardson’s prison time will cap at 18 years. Prosecutors say that before Richardson was arrested in June, she tried to frame her now-estranged husband for mailing the letters containing ricin, a powdery substance that can cause respiratory failure if inhaled. The letter to Obama, according to a federal indictment, said: "What's in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president." Richardson first contacted authorities to implicate Nathan Richardson in the scheme, but she later failed a polygraph exam and made inconsistent statements to authorities.
Jodi Arias
Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013 in the 2008 fatal stabbing and shooting of her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander. During the murder trial that started in January 2013, Arias claimed she killed Alexander in self-defense. She said Alexander abused her physically and emotionally during their turbulent relationship. The jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether she should serve life in prison or get the death penalty. A new jury is expected to decide what Arias’ sentence will be in 2014.
Montana newlywed murder
On July 7, 2013, Jordan Graham, 22, allegedly pushed her husband of eight days off a cliff in Montana’s Glacier National Park after the two got into an argument on a ledge. Investigators said Graham was having doubts about marriage to Cody Johnson, 25. Graham initially pleaded not guilty, but on Dec. 12, Graham agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal. She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when she is sentenced on March 27.
George Zimmerman
On
July 13, 2013 George Zimmerman, 30, was acquitted of
second-degree murder charges in the February, 2012 shooting death of unarmed
17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The case sparked a nationwide debate about race and
self-defense laws. Zimmerman,
who was part of a neighborhood watch group and who identifies himself as
Hispanic, was accused of racially profiling the black teen. He maintains that he killed Martin in self-defense during an altercation.
Aaron Hernandez
Former New England Patriots’ tight end Aaron Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and weapon charges in the June 17, 2013 death of Boston semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. The 27-year-old victim was found dead near Hernandez’s home in North Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez is being held without bail pending trial, he faces life in prison.
Kidnapping of Hannah Anderson
On Aug. 3, 2013, Hannah Anderson,16, was kidnapped by family friend James Dimaggio after cheerleading practice at her high school in Southern California. The next day, authorities found the burned bodies of Hannah’s mother, Christina, and 8-year-old brother, Ethan, in the charred wreckage of Dimaggio’s home in Boulevard, Calif. The search for Hannah sparked a massive manhunt. Dimaggio was killed in a shootout with police in Cascade, Idaho on August 10. Hannah returned to Calif. with her father.
NYPD's Stop and Frisk
The New York City Police Department's "stop and frisk" tactic came under unprecedented scrutiny in 2013. The practice allows officers to stop anyone who seems suspicious and search them to determine if the person involved in some type of criminal activity. Those who support the tactic say it prevents crime, but critics say it unfairly targets blacks and Latinos - who are the vast majority of those stopped and searched. In August 2013, a federal judge ruled that the policy was unconstitutional because it violates citizens' civil rights by discriminating on the basis of race.Washington Navy Yard mass shooting
On Sept. 16, 2013, authorities say Aaron Alexis, 34, opened fire at the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Wash., D.C. The Fort Worth native fatally shot 12 people before being killed in a shootout with police. Alexis had legitimate access to the Washington Navy Yard as a result of his work as a contractor. Scratched into the Remington 870 shotgun he used were the phrases, "End to the torment," "Not what y'all say," "Better off this way" and "My ELF weapon". According to police, Alexis blamed his actions on ELF, or Extra Low Frequencies. He believed he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves for the past three months, investigators said.
Recently, some of the families of the victims of the shooting have filed suit against the government claiming that they inadequately secured the facility and improperly monitored Alexis, who had a history of mental health problems.
"Baby Hope"
On Oct. 12, 2013, Conrado Juarez was arrested and charged with the murder of a 4-year-old girl whose naked, emaciated body was found in a cooler in July 1991. The child, who police could not identify, came to be known as "Baby Hope." Over the summer, police placed fliers in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood where the girl's body was found, hoping to drum up a lead. It worked: a woman came forward and said she thought she had spoken to a woman who was the child's sister. Investigators used DNA to identify the girl as Anjelica Castillo. The girl's mother told police that she never reported her daughter missing because she was concerned the child's father would harm her, and was worried about exposing her status as an undocumented immigrant. Juarez, 52, was the girl’s
cousin. He reportedly told police that the girl's father left her with his family soon after taking her from her mother. Juarez has pleaded not guilty.
Cyber-bullying and suicide
Rehtaeh Parsons (left) a 17-year-old from Nova Scotia, Canada hung herself on April 4, 2013. Rehtaeh’s mother said her daughter killed herself because she was bullied over a photo of her being sexually assaulted in 2011 went viral.
After a year-long investigation, police concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge the four boys in connection with the case.
On Sept. 9, 2013, 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick (right) leapt to her death from an abandoned concrete plant near her Lakeland, Fla., home. Rebecca had allegedly been bullied through social media for one and half years. Two girls, ages 12 and 14, were charged with felony aggravated stalking in connection with the case. Both pleaded not guilty and charges were later dropped. And in April 2013, three California teens were charged in relation to the alleged sexual assault of Audrie Pott, a 15-year-old who committed suicide eight days after photos of her alleged rape were passed around among her peers via social media and text message. The case against the teens is ongoing. Meanwhile, the California legislature is considering a bill that would allows school officials to expel a student who participates in cyber-bullying.James "Whitey" Bulger trial
Former leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, James "Whitey" Bulger, was sentenced on Nov. 14 to two life sentences for his murderous reign in the 1970s and '80s. The sentencing brought to a close a case that exposed FBI corruption so deep that many people across the city thought they would never see justice. Bulger was convicted in August in a broad indictment that included racketeering charges in a string of murders, extortion, money-laundering and weapons charges. Bulger was caught by the FBI in Santa Monica, Calif. in 2011 after being on the run for 16 years. He had been keeping a low-profile living with his longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig.