Police in Houston have charged two men for the brutal murder of 14-year-old Jose Meraz, who was slashed to death with a machete. The boy’s mutilated body was discovered in a heavily wooded area near the Addicks Reservoir by a dog walker. A third suspect, a 14-year-old male is being referred to Harris County Juvenile Probation Department authorities on a murder charge. READ MORE HERE
MAN WORKED AT HEAD START DAYCARE CENTER
GREENE COUNTY — Leland Rodgers, 39, has been arrested on a charge of raping a minor in Greene County. Rodgers reportedly worked for the Miami Valley Child Development Center, at the Springfield Children’s Center location. Mary Burns, president of the center’s Head Start program, says Rodgers was a cook at the center and was never alone with children at the center. And the alleged victim was reportedly not from the center. Burns said the center performed the required background checks with the state Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the FBI. Those checks resulted in nothing that would lead center staff to believe Rodgers was capable of these accusations. READ MORE HERE
Las Vegas police were investigating what they called a murder-suicide of a man and his 18-month-old foster child Sunday morning. Officers responded at about 8:15 a.m. to the Oasis Vinings apartment complex at 6100 Carmen Blvd., near North Jones Boulevard and Vegas Drive. The man’s body was found inside of a car, and the girl’s body was inside a crib in an apartment, police said. The man’s wife told police the couple recently had become the foster parents of two children, the girl and another baby. READ MORE HERE
MEMPHIS, TN – A 39-year-old North Memphis man was convicted Friday of raping an 11-year-old girl who was a relative of an acquaintance, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich. After the Criminal Court jury’s verdict, Christopher Bailey of the 900 block of North Watkins was automatically sentenced to 25 years in prison with no parole. The young girl testified that between December 2009 and April of 2012 Bailey often forced her to perform oral sex on him and that Bailey also threatened to hurt her if she told anyone. READ MORE HERE
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — A Kent State University student and Cuyahoga Falls resident is accused of possessing more than 100 pictures and nine videos depicting child pornography. Justin L. Williams, 22, of Cuyahoga Falls faces eight felony charges of possessing child pornography. More charges could be be added when the case is presented to a Summit County grand jury. READ MORE HERE
Disturbing news has been reported about founding Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. The musician’s ex-wife, Marina Ginn, has filed an affidavit accusing Ginn of child abuse, including acts of denying food to 10 and 7-year-old daughters, threatening them with physical abuse, emotionally harassing them and doing drugs in front of both daughters. After a 10-year hiatus, Greg Ginn and vocalist Ron Reyes re-formed Black Flag. Ginn, who owns the Black Flag name, unsuccessfully sued former Black Flag members Keith Morris, Dez Cadena, Chuck Dukowski and Bill Stevenson for performing live under the name FLAG. READ MORE HERE
It is a scene of domestic mayhem you might see at any family home in middle England. With the school day over, five-year-old Dylan can’t wait to chase his little sister Mia through their Victorian terraced family home. As the children shriek uproariously, their parents, Jill and Iain Kelly, laugh indulgently at their antics. Yet behind the laughter and the smiles lies a heartbreaking confession. For the truth is that had Jill and Iain understood how desperately ill their little boy would be, they would have opted for a course of action that many still find unthinkable. They would have terminated the pregnancy. ‘I love my son. He’s changed our lives,’ Jill says. ‘But if I’d known everything that Dylan would have to go through, and will have to go through, there’s no doubt in my mind that, given the correct information, I would have asked for a termination. READ MORE HERE
A judgment filed today with the Clark County Superior Court outlines a record-setting settlement reached between the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and five siblings who were beaten and starved for nearly a decade inside their Vancouver home at the hands of their parents. The state of Washington will pay the children a total of $9.75 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of the children in 2013. The suit alleged that DSHS social workers and their supervisors did not follow state policy or law when they received dozens of warnings that the children (now between the ages of 13 and 19) were in harm’s way. READ MORE HERE
Mother of seven ‘forced her adopted teenage daughter to eat dirty cat litter and tried to sew her mouth shut’
A mother from Pennsylvania has been charged with assault and child endangerment after police say she forced her adopted teenage daughter to eat used cat litter and toothpaste, and started to sew her mouth shut with a needle. Rana Cooper, 46, was arrested this week for what police are calling excessive punishment and neglect that also included forcing her 16-year-old daughter to scrape the inside of a toilet and eat what was on her finger. According to police, the teen had to earn enough points for cleaning the house just so she could eat or use the bathroom. READ MORE HERE
WATSONVILLE — Two people were killed and one person was injured in a Watsonville restaurant shooting Friday night. A 4-year-old girl and a 34-year-old man died in the shooting at the Fish House Bar and Grill at 972 Main St. Watsonville police and officers of the Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force responded to the restaurant at 11:55 p.m. after receiving multiple reports of people fighting. When officers arrived, they heard a number of gunshots and noticed several people running from the scene. READ MORE HERE
PARLIN, N.J. – Seven students were charged with sex crimes Friday after an investigation into hazing on a high school football team found that they held other children against their will and improperly touched them, prosecutors said. Three of the students were charged with aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint, hazing and other crimes for an act of sexual penetration upon one of the children, Middlesex County prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said. The four other students were charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact and other crimes for what happened at Sayreville War Memorial High School, a regional football power whose season was canceled amid the investigation. READ MORE HERE
HARDWICK, Vermont – New developments in the death of a disabled Hardwick teenager. The case is now being called a homicide and two people are in custody. The child’s mother and her boyfriend are now facing second-degree murder charges. The couple is accused of putting alcohol in the boy’s IV. Police say on Aug. 22 they were called to the Hardwick home of Melissa Robitille and Walter Richters. First responders say they found 13-year-old Isaac Robitille dead inside. The boy had significant medical conditions, including multiple physical handicaps that required the assistance of caretakers, feeding tubes and IVs to keep him alive. The child’s autopsy revealed he had a BAC of 0.146, almost twice the legal limit for an adult to drive. READ MORE HERE
A man accused of ‘marrying’ and having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to ongoing child sex abuse. The 27-year-old Lebanese student, who can’t be named, pleaded guilty in Burwood Local Court on Thursday to one count of persistent sexual abuse of a child, which carries a 25-year maximum jail sentence. The charge takes in 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 14, with which the man was originally charged. READ MORE HERE
Connor Gibson, 23, battered and shook 2-year-old Kacey Hambleton
A violent killer shook his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter with such ferocity that her fatal injuries resembled those of a car crash victim, a court heard today. Connor Gibson, 23, was said to have had a violent ‘flare up’ during which he grabbed and battered Kacey Hambleton in an assault which left her crying in pain. The youngster was later found unresponsive when police were called to her family home in Blackpool at around 10am in April this year. Today at Preston Crown Court, Gibson, from Blackpool, admitted manslaughter after his not guilty plea to murder was accepted by the prosecution. READ MORE HERE
DREAMCATCHERS FOR ABUSED CHILDREN, INC. is an official non-profit 501(c)3 child abuse & neglect organization. Our mission is to educate the public on all aspects of child abuse such as symptoms, intervention, prevention, statistics, reporting, and helping victims locate the proper resources necessary to achieve a full recovery. We also cover areas such as bullying, teen suicide & prevention, children\'s rights, child trafficking, missing & exploited children, online safety, and pedophiles/sex offenders.
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