MOTHER POISONED 17-MONTH OLD SON WHO HAD DOWNS SYNDROME

A Louisiana mother who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her infant son allegedly told police that she killed the baby, who had Down syndrome, as an act of mercy. Erika Wigstrom, 20, told police that sheinjected Germ-X hand sanitizer into her baby’s feeding tube because she didn’t want him to suffer anymore, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. She was arrested Tuesday after allegedly confessing to police. Her 17-month-old son, Lucas Ruiz, who was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect, died from alcohol poisoning Jan. 24. The active ingredient in the hand sanitizer is ethyl alcohol. READ MORE HERE

CHARLOTTE, MI— The 27-year-old Eaton County man charged this week with attempted murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct is accused of raping and trying to strangle a 10-year-old girl, court documents show. Higinio Rivera III, an Iraq War veteran, was arraigned Monday in Eaton County District Court on the charges. A judge set bond at $1 million. READ MORE HERE

College student shares spring break nightmare of kidnapping, rape

MICHIGAN – A student at Michigan State University, who will remain anonymous, went on a spring break trip like many college kids do.  But she encountered a horrifying experience — one she is now sharing with others to warn about the dangers of thinking you’re invincible. She was with her friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at a club. They decided to go back to the hotel for the night, but she says she couldn’t find her friends so she was going to get a cab by herself. READ MORE HERE

Mother let man she was having affair with rape her 5-year-old daughter

A mum let her neighbor rape her daughter from the age of five, a court heard yesterday. The man led the little girl around on a dog lead before abusing her, Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court heard. She was also subjected to shocking abuse from her mother for four years before the offences came to light when she was taken into care. The 47-year-old woman had pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing to a total 12 charges, including sexual assault, willful neglect or ill treatment, as well as using her daughter for the purpose of sexual exploitation. READ MORE HERE

Acts of cruelty to animals are not mere indications of a minor personality flaw in the abuser; they are symptomatic of a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don’t stop there—many of them move on to their fellow humans. “Murderers … very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids,” says Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).(1)

Studies have shown that violent and aggressive criminals are more likely to have abused animals as children than criminals who are considered non-aggressive.(2) A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found that all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well.(3) According to a New South Wales newspaper, a police study in Australia revealed that “100 percent of sexual homicide offenders examined had a history of animal cruelty.”(4) To researchers, a fascination with cruelty to animals is a red flag in the backgrounds of serial killers and rapists. According to the FBI’s Ressler, “These are the kids who never learned it’s wrong to poke out a puppy’s eyes.”(5) READ MORE HERE

Children Abusing Animals

Understanding The Link Between Animal Abuse and Family Violence

Animal Cruelty and Human Violence

The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome – NYTimes.com

Links between child abuse, animal abuse and domestic abuse

14-year-old girl films father’s sexual abuse with webcam

A lack of so-called hard evidence has been known to unravel even a strong sexual assault case, but that shouldn’t be a problem for a 14-year-old French girl who thought to secretly film one of her allegedly abusive father’s attacks with a bedroom webcam. Even after the victim had initially come forward, spilling details of the relationship with her father to a counselor at her school in Florensac, a small town in the southern Hérault region, police could not arrest him until she delivered video proof of her allegations. Now she’s in a women’s shelter, and he’s awaiting trial in Béziers prison. Investigators are still trying to gauge the mother’s complicity, though she appears to have been a victim as well. READ MORE HERE

National Human Trafficking Center

Operating the central 24-hour national human trafficking hotline for the United States and connecting professionals, victims, and community members to information and services.  Call 1-888-373-7888 or text BeFree (233733). The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls and texts from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.

The NHTRC is a program of Polaris Project, a non-profit, non-governmental organization working exclusively on the issue of human trafficking. We are not a government entity, law enforcement or an immigration authority.

Call us at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733).

• To report a tip;
• To connect with anti-trafficking services in your area; or,
• To request training and technical assistance, general information or specific anti-trafficking resources.

READ MORE HERE

SPRINGFIELD, MA — A man wanted out of New England for almost two decades was captured in Euharlee early Monday morning. Just before 6:30 a.m. agents with the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force, U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Fugitive Operations Unit arrested Phillip Andrew Lewis at 19 Campfire Trail in Euharlee. READ MORE HERE

Woodland elementary school principal accused of child abuse

WOODLAND, Washington — Woodland Police are investigating a child abuse accusation against Woodland Primary School Principal Mark Houk. Sources tell KATU News the child is a student at the school and the district alerted police last week. Police are still investigating and have not made an arrest. “I’m shocked,” said parent Tiffany Hall. “When you’re a mom, your first instinct is definitely to protect your children.”  Another parent wasn’t as convinced there was something to be concerned about. READ MORE HERE

NEW BERN, NC – A judge has denied a New Bern woman’s request to have her bond reduced from $2 million. The court ruling happened Wednesday morning in a case that started about a year ago. 25-year-old Amber Sandvig is facing charges in the death of her 6-year-old daughter Alanna on Feb. 22, 2013. Sandvig is accused of driving high on drugs when she crashed the car with her two children in the backseat. Sandvig’s 2-year-old son survived the crash. READ MORE HERE

Father ‘kicked her so hard he left a boot imprint on her chest’

A former soldier accused of killing his five-year-old daughter kicked her so hard that he left a boot imprint on her chest, prosecutors have said at the opening of his murder trial. Naeem Williams, 34, appeared in court in Honolulu, Hawaii, near to where he was based at Wheeler Army Air Force Base, for the first day of the trial on Tuesday morning. He is accused of inflicting seven months of abuse on his daughter Talia – including making her eat her own feces and tying her to a bed before beating her with a belt – before killing her in 2005. READ MORE HERE

14 other daycare children were found hiding in basement

GREENVILLE, SC – Scott Respass can’t forget the day deputies swarmed his neighborhood. “All you could hear was the sirens because the fire department is down the road,” said the father of three. On February 21, emergency crews found a 3-month old baby girl unresponsive. She was being cared for at the home of Pamela Clark Wood on Donington Drive in Greenville. The little girl later died. When deputies arrived to investigate, they say wood was hiding something…literally. READ MORE HERE

Abuse charges roil heavily Catholic Puerto Rico

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico — First, the Catholic Church announced it had defrocked six priests accused of sex abuse in the Puerto Rican town of Arecibo. Then, local prosecutors disclosed that at least 11 other priests on the island were under investigation for similar accusations. Now, as U.S. authorities acknowledge that they, too, are looking into abuse allegations by priests on this devoutly Catholic island, many are reeling from revelations of abuse involving some of the U.S. territory’s most beloved clerics. Puerto Ricans had largely been spared the lurid accounts of sex abuse involving the Catholic Church, and many had come to believe they were immune. But Barbara Dorris, a director with the U.S.-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the new reports mean it’s likely the problem is much worse than previously imagined. READ MORE HERE

A little league coach stopped a kidnapping when a man approached one of his players on the practice field

SAN DIEGO – A man attempted to kidnap a child from a little league practice field and might have succeeded if not for the actions of the coach. Police arrested Jarrod West, 28, and charged him with attempted kidnapping and resisting a police officer after he approached a boy on the baseball field and declared he was the boy’s father, NBC reported.  READ MORE HERE