Richard Ford

Investigators say the wife had been a victim of financial elder abuse before the couple died. BERMUDA DUNES, CA — An elderly California couple was found dead May 15 inside their Bermuda Dunes home after the wife was reportedly targeted by a scammer posing as actor Tom Selleck, authorities and a family friend said. Donald Whitaker, 80, and Karen Whitaker, 79, were found with traumatic injuries after deputies went to their home for a welfare …

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The Las Vegas driver won 234 races across NASCAR’s three national series. CONCORD, NC — Kyle Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and one of the most successful drivers in stock car racing history, died Thursday after being hospitalized with a severe illness. He was 41. The death was announced in a joint statement from the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR. No cause of death was given. The announcement came three days …

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Las Cruces police say one suspect is tied to both a May 4 church shooting and a May 11 attempted burglary. LAS CRUCES, NM — Two men face felony charges after police said an investigation into gunfire that damaged a Catholic church led officers to an attempted gun store burglary and a suspicious device found at a suspect’s home. Matthew Albian Alarcon, 40, is accused of firing a handgun toward St. Genevieve’s Catholic Church on …

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New warrants accuse former Alexander High School teacher Maris Nichols of sexual misconduct, grooming and tampering with evidence. DOUGLASVILLE, GA — A former Douglas County high school teacher already charged in a student sexual assault case now faces new allegations involving six teens, according to arrest warrants released Thursday. Maris Nichols, 25, a former biology teacher and football staff member at Alexander High School, is charged with child molestation, improper sexual contact by an employee, …

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A 1-month-old baby in one vehicle was not hurt as investigators searched for the gunman. DETROIT, MI — A brother and sister were fatally shot Wednesday afternoon while sitting in separate vehicles on Detroit’s east side, in what police described as a targeted attack that left a 1-month-old baby physically unharmed. The victims were identified by family as 33-year-old Raye Johnson and his sister, 27-year-old Tacoreya “Rita” Johnson. Detroit police said no arrests had been …

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Police said the woman had just left a Brickell gym when a gray Tesla began following her south. SOUTH MIAMI, FL — A 50-year-old Pinecrest man was arrested Wednesday after police said he followed a woman from Miami’s Brickell area and exposed himself beside her vehicle at a South Miami intersection last week. Rogerio Miranda De Souza faces a charge of indecent exposure after a South Miami Police Department investigation into the May 15 encounter. …

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The case centers on the deaths of four men aboard Brothers to the Rescue aircraft. MIAMI, FL — U.S. prosecutors unsealed charges Wednesday against former Cuban President Raúl Castro and five Cuban military figures, accusing them of roles in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes flown by the Miami exile group Brothers to the Rescue. The superseding indictment marks a major legal escalation in a case that has shaped Cuban American politics for three …

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Chautauqua County investigators are seeking information about a gray work van seen near Wilson’s van in 1988. JAMESTOWN, NY — Investigators are pursuing new leads in the 1988 abduction and murder of Kathy Wilson, a Jamestown mother of three whose case has remained unsolved for 38 years, authorities and her husband said this week. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office Unsolved Case Team is now focused on a construction-style work van seen near Wilson’s blue 1987 …

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Police said forensic work tied Charles Berry to evidence from the killing of Roberta Walls. VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — A Connecticut man has been arrested in the 1986 rape and killing of 22-year-old Roberta Walls, whose body was found in a Virginia Beach field nearly 40 years ago, police said. Charles Randell Berry, 66, of Newington, Connecticut, was arrested May 18 after a Virginia Beach cold case investigation used DNA evidence to identify him as …

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First responders were hospitalized after a suspected overdose call in rural New Mexico. MOUNTAINAIR, NM — Three people died and more than a dozen first responders were treated Wednesday after crews encountered an unknown substance during a suspected overdose call at a home in Mountainair, authorities said. New Mexico State Police took over the investigation after four people were found unresponsive at the residence in the rural Torrance County community east of Albuquerque. Officials said …

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