A Mesa woman who was spotted holding her 3-year-old son facedown in puddles on Friday claimed that Jesus told her to drown the boy, according to authorities.Perhaps not surprisingly, the woman, 30-year-old Victoria Soliz, eventually would tell a doctor that she uses crystal meth as medication, according to court documents…
It may or may not be hard to believe, but the individual pictured to the right — who has a criminal history that includes being an accessory to the murder of a cop — is accused of stabbing a woman.Frank Banashley, 31, has been out of prison (for a different…
A judge sentenced a former Pima County Sheriff’s deputy for his role in ripping off drug smugglers, attempting to distribute marijuana, and aiding a drug trafficking organization. Francisco Jimenez pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to commit offenses against the United States: stealing government…
Scottsdale police have identified the man shot and killed this morning by officers as 45-year-old Thomas Hawes.As you could probably tell by the orange jumpsuit Hawes is wearing in the photo on the right, Hawes has a bit of a criminal history, including a short stint in prison.See also:-Scottsdale Cops…
A drive to a local bootlegger for a bottle of vodka turned into an allegedly meth-addled murder, according to Navajo Nation police. Randly Begay, a member of the nation, his girlfriend, and a friend, piled into a gray GMC Safari van Monday morning and drove to near Tuba City to…
UPDATE: Thomas Hawes Identified as Man Fatally Shot by Scottsdale Cops; Five Detectives on LeaveScottsdale police officers shot and killed a man this morning who was wanted for questioning in sex crimes.Police haven’t released the 45-year-old man’s name, but Scottsdale Officer David Pubins says in an e-mail that the man…
The man who kind of made Governor Jan Brewer’s comments about headless bodies a reality pleaded no contest to cutting a man’s head off in Chandler in 2010.”Law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded,” Brewer said back…
The ACLU is trying to find out the extent of “militarization” of police forces across the country, including 10 law enforcement agencies in Arizona.Arizona’s ACLU, as well as those in 22 other states, are filing public records requests “to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally…
Court documents released in the arrest of convicted murderer Alan Champagne show how police believe Champagne’s responsible for two bodies in a homemade coffin in a backyard in Phoenix.Champagne, 42, was arrested yesterday on first-degree murder charges, a day after landscapers unearthed human remains in a wooden box, buried at…
Sure enough, Phoenix police believe Alan Champagne — the convicted murderer who happened to be a former resident of the house where human remains were found yesterday — is responsible for those remains.Additionally, Phoenix police say there were actually two bodies in the coffin, which was unearthed yesterday by landscapers,…
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but landscapers in Phoenix dug up a coffin containing what used to be a person at the former residence of a convicted murderer.Alan Champagne, 42, just happened to live in this home near 16th Street and Indian School Road home after he served 13 years in…
Marine Donald Linville’s career as a pornographer has not been very successful.Phoenix police arrested him and seized his computers in October after discovering that he’d broken into a woman’s apartment and set up a hidden camera. Now, Phoenix police say found not only child pornography on the computer, but secretly…
Ian MacDonald, the man accused of fatally stabbing former ASU wide receiver Tyrice Thompson outside a Scottsdale bar in late January, was “pissed” and “acting like a dick” before the stabbing, a witness tells New Times.That source, who was at the Martini Ranch bar with MacDonald’s group that night, agreed…
If you get pulled over with 1,000 pounds of weed in your vehicle, it’s probably going to be pretty hard to come up with an excuse.Case in point: Authorities say 31-year-old Efrain Nunez was pulled over in Glendale yesterday while driving a van with nearly 1,000 pounds of marijuana in…
The 26-year-old Tempe man arrested in the murder of former ASU wide receiver Tyrice Thompson has been released from jail.Ian MacDonald, a former Marine who had a “top security clearance” — at least, according to his lawyer — is accused of stabbing Thompson outside the Martini Ranch bar in Scottsdale,…
A bicyclist spotted a body floating in a Tempe canal earlier this week, and police haven’t been able to identify the body.The bicyclist called police on Sunday afternoon after spotting the body floating in a canal just east of Priest Drive, according to Tempe PD.See also:-Jeff Ahlers’ Death Ruled Suicide…
A physical education teacher at a Phoenix elementary school admitted that she had a “sexual relationship” with a female student who was 12 years old at the time, police say.According to court documents obtained by New Times, the alleged victim, who’s now 19 years old, just recently came forward with…
In a couple of weeks, the Phoenix Police Department will recognize the 50th anniversary of one of the most famous arrests in the department’s history — that of Ernesto Miranda.You probably recognize Miranda’s name by the “warning” named after him that lets an arrestee know he has the right to…
Something’s wrong with Jodi Arias, that much anyone can tell. Her lack of emotion combined with the brutality of her crime — stabbing, slashing and shooting her victim — have led some to call her a sociopath, or psychopath. Not that most people could give a medical definition of the…
The Mesa Police Department says a taxi driver for Discount Cab Company offered to waive the fare for two women, in exchange for “sexual favors.”Believe it or not, police say 43-year-old Eric Vincent didn’t get any takers…
Kristopher Harvey, the father from Surprise who was “just trying to teach his boys a lesson” by making them get really drunk, will spend the next three years on probation.Police described the boys, ages 13 and 14, as “highly intoxicated,” as officers discovered them on a June day in their…
The Jodi Arias trial took another turn for the nutty today with a “meltdown” by prosecutor Juan Martinez and, to some extent, the justice system. Arias, who claims she shot, stabbed and nearly decapitated her ex-boyfriend in self-defense, said in her third day of being cross-examined that Martinez was making…
