All Blog Posts from Crimesider

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. - Six weeks after a group of Florida teens doused 15-year-old Michael Brewer in rubbing alcohol and lit him on fire, burning over 65 percent of his body, one of the teens initially accused is speaking out and he claims he was "best friends" with the victim.

"I'm Jeremy Jarvis; I want to read something I wrote last night," the 13-year-old said Tuesday during a press conference.

"I want to express my deepest sympathy for Mikey and his family," he said. "I will pray for Mikey to grow stronger every day and have a speedy recovery."

Read full post…

MIAMI - His story captured the attention of the South Florida community and the world. A 15-year-old boy set on fire by five teenage friends in a dispute over money. Michael Brewer suffered burns over two-thirds of his body and now, his parents and grandmother have spoken exclusively to CBS affiliate WFOR reporter Shannon Hori.

His parents say their son hasn't been able to fully grasp what happened to him. But even with all the drugs he's on for the pain, he has horrible flashbacks. He asks for water in order to put out the flames.

Read full post…

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - A religious Christian in Florida tried to send Fort Hood massacre suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan a bouquet of flowers and a note that calls him a "hero," but the man got a knock on his door from the FBI instead, according to a Florida television station.

Read full post…

NEW YORK - Reid Gray entered his $4 million Florida mansion on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend 2009 to find that his beautiful wife, Quinn Gray, had been kidnapped.

"There are three men holding me right now and they want $50,000 cash," the 37-year-old blonde wrote in a ransom note to her husband. "Do not do anything stupid. NO COPS!"

Read full post…

CHIPLEY, Fla. - Sheriff Bobby Haddock may still be basking in the glow of the rare happy ending in the case of 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick, found after five days of searching -- alive and well -- in a box under her babysitter's bed.

But now investigators have to figure out exactly how the toddler wound up in a 2' x 3' box, apparently hidden there by Susan Elizabeth Baker.

Read full post…

Chipley,Fla. Investigators in Florida are looking into possible connections between the 1987 disappearance of a 3-year-old South Carolina child, Paul Leonard Baker, and the dramatic lost-and-found case of Florida infant Shannon Dedrick, who authorities say was found alive under her babysitter's bed after being missing for five days.

Authorities in both states think the link between the two missing-child cases could be Susan Elizabeth Baker, the babysitter for Shannon Dedrick.

Read full post…

CHIPLEY, Fla. - 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick, a Florida toddler who was missing for five days, has been found alive and apparently well, to the great relief and surprise of authorities. Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said the discovery left "grown men crying."

But the joyous discovery is accompanied by shock and sadness as well, as authorities announced they plan to charge the child's babysitter, Susan Elizabeth Baker, her husband James Arthur Baker, and the child's mother Chrystina Lynn Mercer, in connection with the disappearance.

Read full post…

TAMPA - Florida gambler Bill Seebeck was sure he'd hit the jackpot -- literally. He says the slot machine he was playing flashed a winning sum of more than $166 million. Seebeck told CBS affiliate WFTV "I was screaming, I was like up and around screaming."

But the casino says Seebeck's good fortune was a mistake -- a machine malfunction -- and is refusing to pay.

Can you say "call my lawyer?"

Read full post…

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The reward has grown to $45,000 for information leading to the killer of Somer Thompson, a 7-year-old north Florida girl whose body was found in a Georgia landfill.

She disappeared on the way home from school in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park two weeks ago.

Read full post…

CHIPLEY, Fla. Shannon Dedrick, a 7-month-old infant has gone missing from her home in Chipley, a small town on the Florida Panhandle.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office said Monday that Dedrick disappeared sometime between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Read full post…