All Blog Posts from Crimesider

NEW YORK - Miss Congeniality was nowhere to be found when dethroned beauty queen Carrie Prejean turned up on "The View" and talked about... the sex tape. Yes, that sex tape.

"But Miss Prejean, you made the tape, you have [topless] photos of yourself, you didn't go along with the morals clause which is in the pageant's rules, and yet you say you're a victim — I don't totally buy it!"

Those were the doubting words of Joy Behar to Prejean on the daytime talkfest's Tuesday episode.

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CLEVELAND - "The Cleveland Strangler" is what many people are now calling Anthony Sowell, the alleged Ohio serial killer whose home and yard were found to be littered with the body parts of 11 women.

But "roommate" and "boyfriend" is what Lori Frazier, the niece of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, called Sowell until recently. Frazier said she started a romance with Sowell soon after he was released from prison in 2005 and lived with the accused killer while a terrible stench, since learned to be rotting bodies, permeated his home.

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TUSCUMBIA, Ala. - Police in Tuscumbia, Ala., are on the lookout for a noseless robber after a man got the tip of his nose bitten off, they say, while stealing around $100 in cash from a home.

Police said a man armed with a knife and small screwdriver entered a private home about 11:30 a.m. Monday in this small town 2 1/2 hours north west of Birgmingham. He fought with two men inside, police say, and one of them bit off the tip of his nose during the struggle.

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NEW YORK - As American families mourn loved ones lost in combat and celebrate the heroes of war, the loss of 13 men and women in last week's Fort Hood, Texas massacre runs especially deep.

Those who died that day were young and old, natural-born and immigrants, but all were serving this country when they were allegedly gunned down by Army psychologist Nidal Malik Hasan.

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NEW YORK - At a New York Wal-Mart, last year's Black Friday wasn't just busy, it was deadly. A massive crowd crushed temporary Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour to death.

In 2009, the world's largest retailer says it will do better and is ready to face the massive crowd of bargain hunters.

Wal-Mart Stores announced Wednesday it will keep its stores open 24 hours to prevent a rush at its doors and take new crowd-control measures during the 2009 Thanksgiving weekend.

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ATLANTA - "Pimp" comedian Katt Williams hasn't had it easy the lately.

Last Tuesday, Williams was accused of kidnapping a teen after a 911 call. On Sunday, he was thrown in jail on suspicions he had burglarized a suburban Atlanta mansion where he is staying while filming a movie.

But things have turned around for the controversial comic.

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CHICAGO - Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman who was attacked by a 200-pound (90-kilogram) chimpanzee named Travis has revealed her horribly mangled face and says she's ready to heal and move forward.

On Wednesday's episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Nash, 56, said she's starting to get stronger.

The animal ripped off Nash's hands, nose, lips and eyelids during the February 2009 attack. She's being treated at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - "You would never imagine in a million years that your child would even have something to do with that," said the mother of one of three teens accused of setting 15-year-old Michael Brewer on fire, reports the Sun Sentinel.

"We are very, very sorry for what has happened to this little boy, Michael Brewer," said Cheri Bent, who spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday.

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CLEVELAND - Investigators trying to learn the horrible fate of 11 bodies found in suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell's Cleveland home are enlisting a rather unusual ally – insects that were crawling on the corpses.

Entomologist Joe Keiper is one of the few scientists who study both insects and crime scenes. The coroner called Keiper to the Cleveland home to help estimate when the victims died, by analyzing the types and number of insects found on the remains.

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NEW YORK - A few good men?

A group of robbers in Milwaukee showed respect for Veterans Day this week when they returned the property of an Army reservist after finding his military identification card in the wallet they had stolen at gunpoint.

The 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student and Army reservist said he was walking home from work about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when the men came out from between two houses. He thought about running to the other side of the street but decided against it.

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