Thousands of people lit candles at 7 p.m. Friday to remember Scotty McMillan, the 3-year-old Philadelphia-area boy who prosecutors said was tortured and killed by his mother’s boyfriend. “How could you do that to a 3-year-old boy?” asked Jeff Messantonio, of Norristown, Pa., who started the Facebook page calling for people to simultaneously light candles, wherever they are, to “light the way to heaven” for Scotty. More than 16,000 people joined the event and honored the Chester County boy, who investigators said had already died before arriving at a local hospital Tuesday night.

SAN BERNARDINO, California — A business associate was arrested in the murders of a family of four, including two young boys, whose disappearance from their San Diego County home in 2010 was a mystery until their remains were discovered in graves in the California desert last year, officials said Friday. San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon identified the suspect as Charles Merritt, who was due in court later in the day to face four counts of murder.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — A set of Utah parents were awakened Friday to an unsettling noise for 4:30 in the morning: the sound of their front door opening and their 5-year-old daughter talking. When the father rushed outside in his pajama pants and hoodie he saw the terrifying sight of his 5-year-old stepdaughter in the arms of a stranger who was carrying her away across the front lawn. The man had snatched the girl out of her bed in the basement moments earlier after coming in the house through an unlocked door, police said.

POPLAR BLUFF — Poplar Bluff police are searching for a violent sex offender that allegedly cut his electronic ankle monitor and fled. John L. Squires, 55, was last seen at a doctor’s appointment in Poplar Bluff on Wednesday, where he removed his monitor and took off. According to police, Squires is considered a sexual predator with violent tendencies and is currently wanted on a no-bond warrant for absconding. Anyone with information about the whereabouts or with any other information about Squires is asked to call local law enforcement or the Poplar Bluff Police Department at (573) 686-8685.

MISSING SKELTON BROTHERS DETROIT, MI — Michigan State Police have released new age-progressed photos of three brothers who went missing four years ago. On the day after Thanksgiving in 2010, Alex, Andrew and Tanner Skelton went missing from Morenci, Michigan.  At the time, the boys went missing they were in the care of their father, John Skelton, […]

In a killing described as “an American horror story,” a man and his girlfriend were charged with murder for beating her 3-year-old son to death in their West Caln mobile home, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said Thursday. Hogan said his office will seek the death penalty against Gary Fellenbaum, 23, and Jillian Tait, 31, for torturing Tait’s son, Scott McMillan, to death over three days with a homemade whip, a curtain rod, a piece of aluminum siding, and their fists, at one point while he was taped to a chair. The boy was discovered Tuesday after he died, and Fellenbaum’s wife, Amber Fellenbaum, who lives with the couple, called 911. He was covered with bruises, cuts and puncture wounds, and his brain was bleeding.

Selling children into sex trafficking may seem like a remote issue, something that happens in far-off places where kids live in extreme poverty and their rights aren’t valued. But it’s happening right here, all over the United States. And a new campaign wants people to take note that more than 100,000 children are victims of sex trafficking in America every year. ECPTAT-USA, a nonprofit that works to stop the sexual exploitation of children, recently released an eye-opening PSA that demonstrates how little most Americans know about the rampant child sex trade.

The body of a 6-year-old boy has been found in the waters of Oregon’s Yaquina Bay after his mother told officials she threw him off a bridge. London McCabe’s body was found by Newport police in water roughly a mile away from the span after an extensive search in which two coastguard boats and a helicopter were deployed. His mother, 34-year-old Jillian Meredith McCabe, had called 911 four hours earlier.

The mother of an 11-month-old girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered in 1997 recently told an Oklahoma TV station that the man convicted of the crime, who is the next person scheduled to be executed in the state, should not face the death penalty. Charles Frederick Warner was arrested on Aug. 22, 1997 for allegedly sexually assaulting and murdering his girlfriend’s daughter, Adrianna Waller.

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is reported to have reached a plea agreement that will allow him to plead no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault concerning his child abuse case in Texas. The deal will allow the Vikings star to avoid a felony child-abuse conviction and instead he can expect to be sentenced to probation and community service, plus a monetary fine. Peterson would be subject to 80 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine, reports Pro Football Talk.

A father is facing murder charges after he invited his 14-year-old daughter’s alleged rapist over for dinner, and then burned his genitals with heated tongs before strangling him to death. According to The Indian Express, the 36-year-old father in India was getting revenge on his underage daughter’s 45-year-old alleged rapist. “He served him dinner,” an officer told the Indian Express. “After the meal, the father overpowered the man and tied him to a chair. He got heated tongs and burned the supplier’s genitals before strangling him to death. He came to the police station and surrendered himself.”

A 58-year-old teacher was found with 5,000 photos of teenage boys at his school, in a cache of 60,000 indecent images of other children stored on his computer. Timothy Arthur, who claims he has never had a sexual relationship, was caught as part of an international investigation into the sale of child abuse materials by a Canadian company. As well as 86 extreme images of children being raped, tortured or abused with animals, he had a further 59,477 indecent images and two movies.

A 56-year-old ‘Teacher of the Year’ lured one of his 14-year-old students with a fake Facebook profile before raping her in his car, it has been claimed. Joaquim Andrade, who teaches English at Brockton High School in Massachusetts, allegedly engaged the teenager in conversation about soccer via the popular social networking site. He then reportedly drove to her home, picked her up and traveled to another location, where he sexually assaulted her. The attack took place on October 7 off school grounds, it is alleged. Andrade was arraigned on Friday and charged with the rape of a child with force, the enticement of a child, indecent assault and battery on a child over 14, Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office said.

SANTA ANA, California — A California driver who police say struck and killed three teenage trick-or-treaters on Halloween before fleeing with his own children had recently pleaded guilty to a separate hit-and run, authorities said Monday. Jaquinn Bell, 31, of Orange, drove a black Honda SUV through a marked crosswalk Friday near an elementary school in Santa Ana, hitting 13-year-old twin sisters Lexi and Lexandra Perez and their friend Andrea Gonzalez, police said. The victims, wearing costumes, were found lying in the street.