Posts tagged "San Diego"

Mystery after San Diego surfer found dead covered with shark bites

Authorities are investigating the mysterious death of a San Diego surfer whose body was found covered with shark bites.

San Diego Lifeguard Lt. John Everhart says someone walking on the beach discovered the body before dawn Thursday.

Authorities believe the body is that of a 42-year-old man who was reported missing by his fiancee Wednesday night after he did not return from surfing. Neither the man’s name nor the name of his fiancee have been released, Fox 5 reports. 

Everhart tells Fox 5 that the man’s surfboard was found separately with his wetsuit tied around it, a detail Everhart found odd.

“I’ve been doing this 30 years almost and I’ve never seen someone do that,” he said.  “It’s just a very strange decision to make when you’re out on the water.”

Everhart says the body had wounds consistent with a shark attack, but there were no obvious signs of a struggle. The medical examiner concluded the attack occurred after the surfer had died.

Fellow surfer Neil Ratnavara tells Fox 5 he believes saw the man before he vanished.

“I just saw him paddle off shore out there, going north just by himself,” Ratnavara said. “There were still a few people in the water.  Not too many waves, but there was nothing odd about that.”

The man’s death is under investigation.

Click for more from Fox 5.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Mexican immigrant busted at border after getting tangled in razor wire

A suspected illegal immigrant was rescued Tuesday by San Diego firefighters after becoming ensnared in the razor wire on top of a fence at the U.S.-Mexico border, Fox5SanDiego.com reported.

Border Patrol agents saw the man stuck in the fence east of Otay Mesa just before 3:45 p.m., and they called the San Diego Fire Department, the report said. It took rescuers more than an hour to free the man stuck some 20 feet above the ground. The undocumented man was evaluated by EMTs at the scene and was not injured. He was handed over to border agents and taken into custody, the report said.

The concertina wire on top of the fence is two rows deep and designed to make moving forward or backward excruciatingly painful. One strategy border crossers use to scale the fence successfully is to employ a ladder and then drape a blanket over the razor wire.

“The secondary fence is designed to slow, to impede the pedestrian traffic,” Ken Hamill, a border agent, told Fox5SanDiego.com. Adding just a few minutes to the climb enables authorities to swoop in.

Reports of an individual stuck on the fence is not particularly uncommon. In the past year, 21 people have had to be rescued while attempting to cross the border, Border Patrol told the station. In October, for example, a jeep got stuck on the wall in Yuma, Ariz.

Click for more from Fox5SanDiego.com

Bieber Endorses Prepaid Debit Card Like the Kind Advocates Question

Justin Bieber has been appointed a spokesman for a prepaid debit card company, raising eyebrows among some consumer advocates who caution against fees associated with the products. SpendSmart Payments Co., based in San Diego, announced … See all stories on this topic »

ABC News (blog)

Voice of Charlie Brown pleads guilty to threatening and stalking in California

The man who was the voice of Charlie Brown in the first “Peanuts” television specials has pleaded guilty to threatening and stalking both his ex-girlfriend and a plastic surgeon who gave her a breast enhancement he paid for.

City News Service says 56-year-old Peter Robbins entered the plea Wednesday in a San Diego court and could get up to three years in prison at his sentencing next month.

Prosecutors say Robbins called his former girlfriend dozens of times a day and told her he would kill her and her son if she did not give back his dog and car.

They say he made similar threats and demanded a refund from the plastic surgeon.

Robbins provided the voice of the title character in 1965′s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and 1966′s “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

Signing On: Former Lion Deon Butler inks contract with San Diego

After becoming the 91st overall pick out of Penn State in the 2009 NFL Draft, Butler played in 29 games over his first two years in the league, before a broken right leg cut his 2010 season short. The play, which resulted in a two-yard touchdown …
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Timeline of the whereabouts of suspected strangler

Authorities have pieced together a 24-page timeline that tracks accused killer Samuel Little’s activity across the country since his birth. Little stands charged in the slayings of three Los Angeles women in the 1980s, and investigators in other states are now scouring cold case files and running DNA tests to determine whether Little may be a suspect in other crimes. A timeline of his whereabouts, according to police and public records:

June 7, 1940: Samuel Little is born in Reynolds, Ga. He grows up with his grandmother in Lorain, Ohio.

Nov. 29, 1956: Little is arrested for burglary in Omaha, Neb. He serves time with a youth authority.

1957-1975: Little, who sometimes went by Samuel McDowell, is arrested by police officers 26 times in 11 states including Ohio, Maryland, Florida, Massachusetts, California, Oregon, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Arizona, Illinois and Georgia. Charges included shoplifting, theft, assault, rape, aggravated assault on a police officer, DUI, fraud, breaking and entering, solicitation of a prostitute.

December 1976: Little is convicted of assaulting Pamela Kay Smith in Sunset Hills, Mo., with the intent to ravish-rape and is sentenced to three months in county jail.

Sept. 12, 1982: The body of Patricia Ann Mount is found in rural Forest Grove, Fla.

October 1982: The skeletal remains of Melinda LaPree are found in a Gautier, Miss., cemetery. She was last seen in Pascagoula a month earlier after getting into a brown wood-paneled station wagon with a man later identified by witnesses as Little. During the investigation two prostitutes come forward and allege Little also assaulted them in Pascagoula in 1980 and 1981.

November 1982: Little is arrested for shoplifting in Pascagoula and police realize he matches the description of the suspect in the LaPree slaying. Little is charged with murder and the aggravated assaults of the two other prostitutes, but a grand jury does not indict. He is extradited to Florida to face charges in the Mount slaying.

January 1984: After several days of trial, a Florida jury acquits Little of murder charges in the Mount case.

October 1984: San Diego police officers find Little with a woman who accuses him of attacking her. He is arrested and charged in that assault and one a month earlier also in San Diego. Little is tried for attempted murder in the cases, but the jury deadlocks. He pleads guilty to assault and false imprisonment and serves about 2.5 years on a four-year sentence.

Feb. 1, 1987: Little is paroled and moves to Los Angeles.

July 13, 1987: Carol Alford is found dead in a South LA alley.

Aug. 14, 1989: Audrey Nelson is found dead in a downtown LA trash bin.

Sept. 3, 1989: Guadalupe Apodaca is found dead in an abandoned commercial garage in South LA.

1990-2006: Little continues to encounter law enforcement in seven states for DUI, burglary, larceny, theft and shoplifting, among other charges.

May-August 2007: Little is arrested for possession of cocaine in Los Angeles. He pleads guilty and is sentenced to a drug diversion program, but he fails to attend or appear in court to report his progress. A judge issues a bench warrant, but it is non-extraditable.

2007-2012: Little has about a dozen contacts with law enforcement officers, some of whom find the outstanding warrant but, because it was non-extraditable, authorities let him go.

April 2012: LAPD Detective Mitzi Roberts gets a DNA match on the Nelson and Apodaca cases, and then a DNA match in the statewide offender database to Little.

Sept. 5, 2012: Roberts receives a call from Louisiana sheriff’s deputies saying they’ve traced an ATM purchase by Little to a Louisville, Ky., minimart. Little is found at a nearby Christian shelter and arrested.

November 2012: Little is sentenced to three years in California on the outstanding narcotics warrant. Meanwhile, detectives get a third DNA match to Little on the Alford cold case.

January 2013: Little is charged with three counts of murder in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He remains in custody with no bail, pending trial. He has pleaded not guilty.

Two men charged in kidnapping of 10-year-old Los Angeles girl

Two men with criminal pasts were charged Wednesday in the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl who was abducted at knifepoint and sexually assaulted after being taken from her Los Angeles home in the middle of the night.

Prosecutors filed nearly three dozen counts of sexual assault against 30-year-old fugitive Tobias Summers. He also faces kidnapping and burglary charges along with suspected accomplice Daniel Martinez.

If convicted, Summers could face multiple life terms in prison.

Authorities believe Martinez waited in a car outside the girl’s home and drove a short distance with Summers and the girl after they emerged from the house.

Martinez then left and wasn’t involved any further, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Martinez, 29, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to one count each of kidnapping and burglary. Bail was set at $150,000 and he was scheduled to return to court April 10.

If convicted, he could face up to 12 years in prison.

The girl was abducted about 3 a.m. on March 27 and found about 12 hours later wandering near a Starbucks about six miles away. She was barefoot, had bruises and scratches, and wasn’t wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished.

Police have said Summers took the girl to an abandoned home in her neighborhood and held her captive. Court records accuse him of forcing her to perform sexual acts and pose for nude photographs.

Police are searching for Summers, a transient they identified as a suspect over the weekend. Summers has a criminal record dating back to 2002 that includes arrests for robbery, battery and grand theft auto.

Court records show Martinez has been convicted of burglary and grand theft.

Police have received as many as 90 tips in the past several days regarding Summers, who they believe may have fled to San Diego or Mexico and changed his appearance by shaving his head.

Judge to decide whether to try Marine wife case

A San Diego County judge is expected to rule on whether three people allegedly involved in a sex bondage ring will stand trial for the killing of a 22-year-old Marine Corps wife.

Prosecutors plan to present their final testimonies in the case of Brittany Killgore at San Diego Superior Court on Monday.

Investigators say Killgore was kidnapped and made an unwilling participant in bondage and torture before she was strangled.

Prosecutors say the Fallbrook woman disappeared April 13 after agreeing to go on a dinner cruise with Marine Sgt. Louis Perez.

Her nude body was found near a lake four days later.

Perez, Jessica Lopez and Dorothy Maraglino have pleaded not guilty to murder.

Perez told investigators he dropped Killgore off at a night club in downtown San Diego.

Friend: Marine’s wife went out with murder suspect

The wife of a Camp Pendleton Marine agreed to go on a dinner cruise with another Marine on the night she disappeared and a plea for help was sent on her cellphone, a friend of the victim testified Monday.

Channy Tal said her friend Brittany Killgore, who was later found dead, had met defendant Marine Sgt. Louis Ray Perez through a friend who lived in the same apartment complex.

Perez is one of three people charged with kidnapping and torturing the 22-year-old Killgore during sadomasochistic sex then killing her.

Testifying at a preliminary hearing, Tal did not say how long Killgore and Perez had known each other before April 13, the last time Killgore was seen.

Tal said Perez stopped by Killgore’s apartment that day and insisted she go on a dinner cruise with him.

Tal was in the apartment, helping Killgore pack because she was planning on moving back to Pennsylvania.

Killgore had recently filed for divorce from her husband, Lance Cpl. Cory Killgore, who was deployed to Afghanistan at the time.

Killgore agreed to go on the cruise after calling Perez’s girlfriend — a pregnant woman named “Dee” — and getting her approval, Tal said.

Perez had promised Killgore in return that he would find five people who would help with the move, Tal said.

Still, Tal said, Killgore felt uncomfortable about going.

Tal lent her a purple evening gown for the formal dinner. Tal said she also got the phone numbers of Perez and his girlfriend and told Killgore she would give the police the numbers if she did not hear from Killgore.

Tal said she later received the one-word text message, “Help,” from Killgore’s phone.

Tal said she spent the rest of the evening sending her friend text messages asking if she was OK.

After texting, “Brittany, are you ok? I’m freaking out,” Tal said she got a message from Killgore’s phone saying “yes.” Tal testified that made her suspicious because her friend always would text “yeah” not “yes” in her messages.

Tal then sent a text telling her friend to call.

Tal said she got a call from Killgore’s phone but only heard loud music and no one spoke. Tal texted her again to call but heard the same loud music and no one on the other end during the call.

She never spoke to Killgore again.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last five days and determine if the case goes to trial.

Perez, Jessica Lopez and Dorothy Maraglino have pleaded not guilty. Maraglino has given birth since her arrest.

Killgore’s relationship to the defendants has been unclear.

Prosecutors have contended that she met them when she and a friend went to a home in Fallbrook, north of San Diego, to buy an item being sold online, according to the North County Times (http://bit.ly/XehcUC ).

Authorities say Killgore was later kidnapped and made an unwilling participant in bondage and torture before she was strangled.

Sheriff’s detectives said they found “bondage-type sex apparatuses, toys and tools” in the Fallbrook home where the defendants lived.

Killgore’s nude body was found three days later in a ditch near Lake Skinner in Riverside County.

Perez was arrested on April 15 on suspicion of possessing a stolen assault rifle and was later charged with murder.

Lopez was arrested on April 17 at a San Diego hotel where authorities said she was discovered with self-inflicted cuts.

Authorities also found a letter in which Lopez allegedly claimed she killed Killgore out of fear that the woman would steal away Perez, whom she described as her “master.”

California environmentalists fight Navy offshore training program

Environmentalists say that a five-year training program proposed by the Navy off the coast of Southern California would ramp up sonar activity and underwater detonations that could pose a threat to endangered marine mammals like the blue whale.

The California Coastal Commission is expected to rule at a hearing in San Diego on Friday on whether more protective measures are needed before the program begins in January and runs through 2019.

In its proposal, the Navy estimates the increased activity would have a negligible impact on marine populations.

“We believe mitigation measures that are highly effective have been in place for years,” said Alex Stone, who directs the Navy’s program.

The Navy’s testing area encompasses 120,000 nautical square miles of the Pacific off the Southern California coast and includes a corridor between the state and Hawaii, among other areas.

The commission’s staff has recommended that approval be contingent on a list of conditions. They include requiring that the Navy create safety zones that would guarantee no high-intensity sonar activity near marine sanctuaries and protected areas and in spots that experience a high concentration of blue, fin and gray whales seasonally. The staff says a kilometer from shore should also be off-limits to protect bottlenose dolphins.

Stone declined to comment on the conditions until after he testifies at Friday’s hearing.

The commission set out similar conditions to the Navy in 2007 and 2009 but the Navy refused to accept them both times.

The commission sued the Navy over the matter, leading to a preliminary injunction in 2008, though then-President George W. Bush gave an exemption for the training. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the lower court’s decision.

“Twice the commission has approved the Navy’s plans but set reasonable conditions to protect coastal wildlife, and twice the Navy has spurned the commission’s recommendations,” said Michael Jasny with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We think this time the commission should give us a stronger message and object to the Navy proposal and ask them to return with a more responsible plan that achieves military readiness and protects the coastal resources of this state.”

Jasny’s organization and three dozen others say they want the Navy to avoid important habitat for vulnerable species, like endangered blue and fin whales, beaked whales, and migrating gray whales. They also want the Navy to not use sonar training and underwater detonations at night, when marine mammals are extremely hard to detect. And they want the Navy to be required to use its own acoustic monitoring network to help detect marine mammals.

They also say that from May through October ships should slow to 10 knots in areas with baleen whales, to avoid hitting them.

Scientists say there is still much to be learned about how much sonar activity affects marine animals. Studies have shown some species such as beaked whales may be adversely affected by some forms of it.