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MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Kirk Kubousek says that he and his wife, Melissa, traveled from their home in Plymouth to downtown Minneapolis for a night out together on St. Patrick's Day when they were attacked by a mob of about 10 young males.

The couple had just finished dinner at Rosa Mexicano and were headed back to their room at the Marquette at about 10 p.m. when they noticed a group of black males walking toward them down a sidewalk near Seventh and Marquette. With the sidewalk blocked, they either had to walk into the street to get around the group or try to walk through them.

They opted for the latter. "One of the individuals stepped aside to let us walk through," Kirk said. "While we walked through the crowd, I was punched in the side of my face out of my line of sight."

As punches started flying, Kirk, a 35-year-old attorney, says he remembers yelling, "Are you kidding me?!"

Melissa screamed as three separate youths came at Kirk, throwing punches. Kirk says he was able to dodge the blows. He remembers one of the assailants smiling while he threw punches, "like it was fun." As people on the street started to take notice of the attack, the mob dispersed, leaving Kirk one-on-one with a man he says was over 6 feet tall.

"I dodged several of his punches before he ran off," Kirk said, adding that he himself didn't punch anyone. "I believe that if it wasn't for my wife's screaming I would have been seriously injured." Thankfully, he ended up with nothing more than a swollen neck. Melissa, a 33-year-old school teacher, was pushed, and one of the assailants burned her hand with a cigarette, she says.

Police called Saturday found blood in several places in a St. Paul home and 32-year-old Carolyn Marie Leete dead, according to charges filed today against her boyfriend. Brent Lanier Lynch, 26, of St. Paul, told a neighbor that Leete was drunk so he brought her upstairs. He said he tried to throw Leete on the bed, "but she missed and hit her head on the floor," said the criminal complaint charging him with second-degree murder. He said all the blood was coming from Leete's nose and the bed sheets were wet because he threw water on Leete to revive her. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office found Leete's blood-alcohol concentration was less than 0.04 at the time of her death. They said the cause of her death was traumatic head injury due to physical assault. There were "numerous contusions to the back of Leete's head and chin, lacerations on both lips...fractured nasal bones...numerous contusions of the body, and a fractured rib," the complaint said. The complaint, filed in Ramsey County District Court, gives this information about the case: A woman called 911 at about 6:10 a.m. Saturday and said, "You better start an ambulance, someone needs CPR. We need police and medics," the complaint said. The phone went dead and police responded to the 800 block of West Minnehaha Avenue to investigate. Police saw Leete on a bed, with her legs hanging off the side. She had no pants on, her shirt pulled up and one boot on. She had no pulse and was unresponsive. There were numerous bruises on her arms, and what appeared to be defensive marks and scratches on her hands. Her head was covered in blood that appeared to be coming from her mouth, nose and eyes. Two feet from Leete's head was a large blood splatter on the wall, about 12 inches in diameter. Officers also found blood at the bottom of the stairs, where there appeared to have been a fight. There were blood drops on the stairs to the second-floor landing and on the base of a wooden bookshelf...View Article

KANSAS CITY, MO  — A 13-year-old high school student suffered first-degree burns after two teens poured gasoline on him and set him on fire as he was walking home from school. CBS affiliate KCTV reports the teenager was rushed to Children's Mercy Hospital after the flames ignited. Police say his hair and face were burned. The boy was walking home from East High School when he was attacked by two other boys around 3 p.m. Feb 28. ABC affiliate KMBC reports that Melissa Coon said her son turned from the school's stadium onto Quincy Avenue and noticed two teenagers following him. She said the teens followed her son home and attacked him outside his front door. "They rushed him on the porch as he tried to get the door open," she said. "(One of them) poured the gasoline, then flicked the Bic, and said, 'This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy.'" The second teen then used a lighter to ignite the gasoline, which "produced a large fireball burning the face and hair" of the victim, according to a Kansas City Police Department report. "You could smell the burned skin," said Coon. "You could smell the burned hair. It was just horrible." Her son lost some of his eyelashes, eyebrows, and some of the hair around his face was singed. Coon said she knows her son is lucky - but also can't believe someone would do that to her child. The teen's father, 36, said he wants to prosecute the suspects. The boy is white, and the two suspects are black. Police are investigating whether this was a hate crime. Police are asking for the public's help in locating the two suspects who are described as being around 16-years- old. One was wearing a blue beanie, blue jacket and blue-green Nike Air Jordans with #23 written on the shoes. The second suspect was wearing a black hoodie and black sunglasses with silver on the side...View Article

JACKSON, MS — Mark Cassity, 15, is charged with killing Joseph Wright, 34. Cassity is officially charged with murder and made his first court appearance Friday morning. A judge denied bond and Cassity is now in a Hinds County jail. Police believe he shot and killed Wright Tuesday afternoon on Pocohantas Avenue. Police found Wright sitting in his car with a bullet in his head. He was taken to UMC where he later died. Police have not said anything about a motive or if Wright and Cassity knew each other. Wright's funeral will be held Saturday in Ridgeland...View Article

MEMPHIS, TN — A 16-year-old Tennessee boy faces a first-degree murder charge in the fatal stabbing of his principal. The district attorney's office in Tennessee's Shelby County said Tuesday that Eduardo Marmolejo of Memphis has been indicted in the death of 49-year-old Suzette York. York was the principal of Memphis Junior Academy, a private high school affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist church. Police said Marmolejo planned York's death for months before stabbing her repeatedly in a classroom on the third day of school last August. Marmolejo has been held without bond since his transfer from juvenile court to adult court. His lawyer, Leslie Ballin, said Marmolejo is unable to clearly understand the legal process and is not mentally able to stand trial as an adult...View Article

PRATTVILLE, AL — A Selma man has been indicted on rape and murder charges in connection with the 2005 homicide of an Autauga County woman. The Autauga County grand jury wrapped up deliberations last week. The panel returned the indictments against Clifford Wynn, 50, in the December 2005 slaying of Patricia Gayle Laserre, courthouse records show. Wynn was arrested in 2008 and charged with murder in the case. But a different grand jury decided in August 2009 not to indict him. District Attorney Randall Houston said at the time that there was not enough evidence for an indictment. More physical evidence has been discovered since August 2009, the prosecutor said. He wouldn’t elaborate on that evidence. “Sometimes what we believe and what we can prove are two different things,” he said of the previous grand jury’s decision. “We were able to present our evidence again last week, including new evidence that had been collected, and we were able to get an indictment.”...View Article

HANFORD, CA — A preliminary hearing got underway Wednesday in the July 2011 murder of Denise McVay. The 49 year old nurse was brutally stabbed and slashed to death after stopping at a car wash in Hanford. Jose Saldana, 17, is the suspect in the brutal murder. The victim's mother was among the family members who heard the horrible story of McVays death. The key witness in the case, 18 year old Mauricio Ortiz, testified Saldana came to his home they day of the murder, his clothes covered in dried blood and told him he had money and a car and wanted to go shopping. He testified they went to the Visalia Mall in the dead woman's car where Saldana bought new clothes and changed in a dressing room. He testified Saldana admitted to stabbing a woman and showed him the knife he used. Ortiz testified Saldana told him he saw the 49 year old woman at a Hanford car wash at around 4:30 in the morning. He testified Saldana told him he flipped a coin, tails she would live, heads she would die. Ortiz testified Saldana told him he stabbed the woman from behind, then demanded money. He said Saldana told him the woman said she didn't have any money, but he became angry after finding $300 on her. Ortiz said Saldana told him he continued stabbing her, and slashed her throat because she wouldn't stop screaming. A Hanford Police Detective testified McVay was stabbed 64 times. Her throat had been repeatedly slashed. Saldana listened without showing any emotion...View Article

BERKELEY, CA — The parents of a suspect arrested for allegedly killing a man in the Berkeley hills over the weekend on Monday said their son has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and argued the mental health system has failed him. 23-year-old Alameda resident Daniel Jordan Dewitt is in jail on suspicion of murder after police say he fatally attacked another man outside the man's home in the Berkeley hills. Police said Dewitt trespassed onto the property of 67-year-old Peter Cukor's 6,500-square-foot home Saturday night. Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said a woman called police Saturday night and reported that she and her husband had arrived home to find a stranger near their garage. When he asked Dewitt to leave, the suspect allegedly dragged Cukor into some bushes and hit him with a flower pot. Kusmiss said an officer arrested Daniel Jordan Dewitt at a park about a block from the scene shortly after the attack. Cukor died later in the hospital. The victim's friends and family said he worked as an engineer and owned a logistics consulting firm. He was remembered as a wonderful man...View Article

CORAL SPRINGS, FL — Police say a South Florida mother managed to call 911 as a would-be burglar raped, beat and choked her while her newborn baby lay on the bed beside her. Coral Springs police say dispatchers heard the assault taking place Sunday night after the 25-year-old woman called 911 on her cell phone. The woman was able to dial 911 and couldn't say anything but left the line open, NBCMiami.com reported. As officers neared the scene, the woman was able to call from a land line and tell police her attacker was running out of the house, Sgt. Dave Kirkland told NBCMiami.com. Police set up a perimeter around the South Florida neighborhood and arrested Gary L. Holmes, 19. According to the TV station, Holmes gave a detailed description of what happened inside the home and admitted he raped the woman. Authorities say Holmes faces multiple felony charges, including three counts of armed sexual battery, and is being held without bond in the Broward County Jail. Police believe Holmes, armed with a knife, broke into the home through an open door. Holmes demanded the woman's valuables, then pushed her to her bedroom floor and struck her multiple times, according to a police report. Police say Holmes assaulted the woman three times. He spotted the cell phone on his way out and tossed it in the garbage. The baby was not injured...View Article

SPOKANE, WA — Spokane Police detectives say homicide victim Evon Moore was still alive when her killer ran her over with a truck. Derrick Vargas made his first court appearance Wednesday on homicide charges in that case. Evon Moore's longtime partner wants answers to her loved ones murder case. Moore was found dead in a Spokane alleyway last August. Police arrested the suspect Derrick Vargas on an unrelated rape case. Wednesday, months later, he made an appearance on first degree murder charges. Investigators now say Moore was still alive when Vargas ran her over with his pick-up truck. They say he picked her up in the area of Sprague and Altamont. Police say she was working as a prostitute the night she was killed. Vargas had a history of sexual based offenses the night he allegedly killed Moore. He was released from jail before serving his full sentence for other crimes. Vargas remains in jail on $1 million bond. Moore's family says they won't take a plea deal; they want to see Vargas go to trial...View Article

HAGERSTOWN, MD — Crime-scene photographs of Carol Brown’s body and other forensic evidence were shown to the jury Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court in the second day of trial for a Hagerstown man accused of killing her nearly four years ago. Darrol Chris Sands, 44, is serving a 15-year state prison sentence on a 2011 drug-trafficking conviction. He was indicted in 2010 with the April 19, 2008, murder of Brown, a 22-year-old mother of two found dead in the bathtub of her Mitchell Avenue apartment in Hagerstown. Jeffrey Kercheval of the Western Maryland Regional Crime Laboratory testified Wednesday that discoloration to Brown’s face was indicative of capillary damage from strangulation, although he said, “I’ve never seen it to that extent.” Kercheval also testified about bloodstains collected from the comforter and sheets of Brown’s bed, as well as blood evidence and fingerprints from the bathroom and other rooms. Some, but not all, of the fingerprints could be linked to individuals, Kercheval testified. Deputy State’s Attorney Joseph Michael said in his opening statement on Tuesday that the palm print on the bathtub belonged to Sands...View Article

An international murder investigation has been launched after an American socialite and interior designer was murdered in her luxury Bangkok hotel room. Wendy Albano, from Florida, who is known to have decorated Derek Jeter's $20 million Manhattan home, was found stabbed to death by a maid on Monday morning. The U.S. Embassy in Thailand broke the news to Ms Albano's family earlier this week. Police believe the 52-year-old was murdered by her Indian boyfriend, who she was seen checking into the hotel with on February 9. According to News 13, the pair met through business and were working on a fashion import project together. Detectives said surveillance video caught the suspect leaving Albano's room with luggage an hour after he entered. Police believe the couple got into an argument and he killed her. She was choked and stabbed multiple times in the chest. Immigration said he left the country three hours after he was captured leaving her hotel room. Her friends have said she may have had the intention of breaking up with the man, who is 26-years-old...View Article

ANCHORAGE, AK — An Anchorage jury on Tuesday convicted 25-year-old James Coven of murder in the deaths of two teenage drug dealers in a 2009 Oxycontin exchange gone wrong. Coven shot and killed Christon Lee and Matthew Peterson, both 19, during the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 2009, on Russian Jack Drive, according to the charges. "It was supposed to be a drug run, and a rip off, because nobody had any money," said prosecutor John Darnall. Just a couple hours into deliberations Tuesday, the jury found Coven guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, evidence tampering and misconduct involving drugs. Wearing a lavender shirt and khaki pants and holding a folded hand under his chin, Coven seemed to stare off into space as the verdicts were read. On the day of the murders, Coven picked up an AK-47 before he and three accomplices met Lee and Peterson. That's according to Darnall and plea agreements signed by Coven's partners, two of whom testified against him in exchange for more lenient sentences...View Article

PARK RIDGE, IL — A 34-year-old Chicago man has been charged with killing the man whose body was found last week along a Park Ridge street. Yuron Robinson, 34, of 7651 S. Dante, Chicago, was charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of 39-year-old Henry “Chip” Mallek, Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski said Wednesday. Robinson, who police said has an extensive criminal history, is accused of strangling Mallek after the two argued over money Robinson owed the victim for drug deals, Kaminski said. “The motive seems to be related to money and drugs, and probably a poor business transaction that didn’t work,” Kaminski said. Mallek’s body was found shortly before 2:30 a.m. Feb. 9 in a parking area along the Union Pacific railroad tracks in the 200 block of Summit Avenue. His hands had been bound in front of him with plastic ties, Kaminski said...View Article

ROCKVILLE, MD — She is a convicted, cold-blooded killer and masterful liar. Now for the first time, we get to see Brittany Norwood in action. Bowing to requests from the media, the judge overseeing the Lululemon Athletica murder case released two videotape interviews Norwood gave to Montgomery County Police homicide detectives in the days following the March 2011 crime. Also made public for the first time, Norwood's first recorded interview with police (audio only) the day the crime scene was discovered. And we're also seeing surveillance video from inside the Apple store next to Lululemon Athletica store. Two employees can be seen reacting to screams coming from the other side of the wall adjoining the two stores along Bethesda Row. After hearing Jayna Murray's screams for help, the Apple employees did not call police. Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy, who successfully prosecuted the case, calls the videotapes he presented at trial "chilling."...View Article

NASHVILLE, TN — A jury today convicted a man, already serving a 37-year sentence for stabbing a woman outside a Nashville Target, of several additional felonies. 25-year-old Timothy Kelly was convicted in 2011 of stabbing a woman outside the Target on White Bridge Road while trying to steal her purse. On Thursday, Kelly was in court for additional robberies that occurred in October 2009. He was charged for snatching a woman's purse outside of a Wal-Mart store on Charlotte Pike. Kelly was also accused of robbing several people on Halloween night near the movie theatre at 100 Oaks Mall and for robberies at an apartment complex on Thompson Lane. Kelly was found guilty of three counts of especially aggravated robbery and one count of assault. A sentencing was scheduled for March 30, 2012...View Article

NASHVILLE, TN — Thirty-two years after she was strangled to death inside her Hermitage home, Cold Case detectives made an arrest for the murder of Ethel Hethcote. Police said that 72-year-old Hethcote was found dead by her daughter inside their Radford Drive home back in January of 1979. At the time, investigators believed the robbery was the motive for the murder, as several items were missing from the home. Last Friday, Cold Case Detectives indicted Freddie Lee Johnson on first degree murder charges. The indictment came after months of interviews and the development of evidence by Cold Case Unit Sergeant Pat Postiglione and Detective Danny Satterfield. 60-year-old Freddie Johnson was a registered sex offender as the result of a 1979 rape conviction out of Mississippi. He has also been charged with more than 50 crimes in Nashville including robbery, theft burglary and criminal trespassing. Johnson was booked into the Davidson County Jail. He was held in lieu of $500,000 bond...View Article

Miami Beach police say Martin Gallegos and his 14-year-old companion were looking for someone to rob and a car to steal, and Cordell Cooper wanted some crack cocaine when the three met on a North Beach street in August. By the end of the night, police say Cooper was dead — beaten, stabbed and strangled during an hour-long struggle and then burned along with his car — and Gallegos and teenager Anthony Andy were murderers in the first degree. Whether Cooper would have been spared had his bank account held more than $16 is unclear. On Monday, Miami Beach police announced they had arrested Gallegos, Anthony and alleged accomplice Ellis McDaniel, who is accused of advising that Gallegos burn away the evidence of the murder. All three are being held without bond. Cooper’s Aug. 17 murder, as laid out in an affidavit by Detective Orlando Sosa, was a brutal and unforgiving act plotted out over two counties and at times at high speeds with the victim tied up in the back of his car and pleading for his life. At one point, Sosa said Gallegos even crashed Cooper’s car and then changed a flat tire before driving on to a Hollywood bank and then back to the 900 block of Bay Drive, where Cooper was killed and his car charred in a gasoline fire...View Article

MANATEE, FL — The long-delayed murder trial of Gregory Kennon has begun at the Manatee County courthouse. About 70 people are being interviewed as part of jury selection. Kennon is accused of being one of up to three people who kicked down a door at the DeSoto Village apartments on July 12, 2009, and shot to death 19-year-old Crystal Johnson. Johnson died at the scene. Her unborn child died later. Kennon is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and armed burglary. If convicted of first-degree murder, Kennon would be sentenced to life in prison. During the break-in, Johnson’s boyfriend, Lawrence Funsch, returned fire, wounding Kennon and his alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Everrick Houston. Kennon’s blood was found on the sidewalk. Houston’s blood was also found nearby outside the apartment, according to investigators. Murder charges against Houston were dropped in 2010 after a judge ruled the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies illegally took his DNA from his bloodied clothes at Manatee Memorial Hospital. Johnson died early that morning, but doctors were able to deliver her baby. The infant girl died eight hours later at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg...View Article

WICHITA, KS — On Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld a capital murder conviction of Ted Burnett, the man who was hired to kill 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks and her unborn daughter in 2006. Now, Chelsea's mother, Terri Brooks reacts to the Supreme Court decision, "he's in jail for the rest of his life." She said, "It's been five years, six years in June and some days you live it like it was yesterday and some days you just can't believe that it's been five years." The father of Chelsea's unborn baby, Elgin Robinson, hired Burnett to kill Chelsea, who was nine months pregnant at the time of her murder. Burnett tried to argue that the prosecutors in the case improperly showed autopsy photographs to the jury and misstated the state's aiding and abetting law in closing arguments. The Supreme Court disagreed, and now Burnett will stay behind bars for life. "It's a relief that -- that part of it is closed, it's over. We don't have to think about him anymore, we don't have to worry about parole hearings from him. He's gone," she said...View Article