The Murder Book 2008

July 14th -- 1 dead, young woman in the Bronx...

Saoni Casado, a 21-year-old Latina female, was stabbed to death early Sunday morning. According to police reports, Casado brought or was taken to Bronx Lebanon Hospital with stab wounds to her chest; she later died there from her injuries. 

Police later arrested Diana German, 20, and charged her with Casado's murder. Police reported that Casado and German had some type of dispute that led to the stabbing. German was arrested at home at 1665 Morris Avenue in the Bronx.

Saoni's friends put together this tibute to her on youtube.

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Read the full story behind the murder of dancer Catherine Woods, subject of my book "Death of a Dream," co-authored by CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty. This is the behind the scenes story of Catherine's controversial lifestyle, the two men in her life, and the trial of Paul Cortez. Reviewers called the book: "compelling" and "a chilling good read." Available at bookstores under 'true crime' and online.

First chapter available free.

July 11th -- 4 dead...arrest made in Patrick Hernandez murder case...

Patrick Hernandez, an 18-year-old black youth, was shot and killed early Thursday in the crime-ridden Far Rockaway section of Queens, according to the Daily News.

On Friday afternoon, police arrested Karon Lenihan, 17, and charged him with Hernandez' murder.

Hernandez, an honor roll student who was to go to college at SUNY Cortland this fall, was shot to death by a thug who jumped out of a passing car, shouted "What now?" and pumped a shotgun blast into Hernandez' chest as his stunned 16-year-old brother looked on, the News story reported. The shooting took place in front of 249 Beach 15th Street at 10:30 a.m. after the brothers had just finished cleaning a neighborhood beach.

Ralphael Jones, Hernandez' brother, told the News: "He stumbled, ran a little bit and then fell down. I said, 'Pat, hold on, hold on.' I held his hand and said, 'Pat, I love you,' but he couldn't say anything. He was trying hard to breathe, and then he just passed."

Hernandez became at least the third teenager killed in Far Rockaway since May. Reportedly, the shooter was an area thug who'd been feuding with Hernandez.

Hernandez played on his high school football team and made a strong impression on coach Walter Wilkerson who told the News: "He was a good leader on the team and a good role model on the field. The other kids looked up to him. I thought he'd be someone who I'd see three or four years from now and say, 'Hey, this kid made it.'"

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Carlos Rios, a 17-year-old Latino youth, was stabbed to death Thursday evening after arguing with Jose Fuentes, 22, at 89th Street and Northern Blvd. in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, according to a brief in the Daily News.

Police say Fuentes stabbed Rios several times in the chest; the teen was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center but died a short time later. Fuentes was arrested and charged with his murder.

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An unidentified female in her 50s was found bludgeoned to death Thursday in a building on Boynton and Watson Avenues in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx, according to a brief in the NY Post. Police arrested the woman who lived in the apartment, 49-year-old Ana Jurado. Reportedly, Jurado hit the unidentified woman several times in the head with a blunt object, and left her on the living room floor. She was discovered after neighbors complained of a foul odor.

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An unidentified 20-year-old Latino male was stabbed to death early Friday morning in front of 2301 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, according to a police report. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

 

July 8th & 9th -- 2 dead...

Grant Fleming, a 21-year-old black male, was shot to death with his own gun Tuesday evening while he apparently was attempting to rob someone, according to a story in the Daily News.

Fleming was shot on the fifth floor of a building in the Richmond Terrace Houses on Staten Island. He collapsed and was taken to Richmond University Medical Center where he later died. The News story reported that Fleming was from a "criminal family" and that two of his brothers are in prison.

Rudy Fleming, 23, was convicted of killing Nicole duFresne on the lower East Side in 2005. Another brother, Royal Fleming, 29, beat a man with a baseball bat during a robbery last year, according to the story.

A police source told The News: "It looks like he was shot with his own gun. This family is very well known to us on Staten Island for their long and glorious history of criminal behavior."

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An unidentified Latino male, believed to be between 17 and 20 years old, was found stabbed to death at West 162nd Street and Broadway in upper Manhattan, according to a police report. He was taken to Columbia Presbysterian Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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July 5th -- 3 dead, including father of four in hit & run...

Marvin Chamorro, a 42-year-old Latino male and father of four, was struck and killed by a speeding hit and run driver at 8:30 p.m. Thursday as he was crossing Castle Hill Avenue in the Bronx, according to a story in the Daily News.

Chamorro (photo left) worked as a butcher to provide for his family. His wife Carmen Martinez told The News: "He was a good husband and a good father. I hope they catch him (the driver). I just want justice. He left the scene - it's not right."

A deli worker who witnessed the accident said: "The car must have been flying. Life is so unpredictable. When your time comes, that's it." Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

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Elea-cha Oliver Ragoo, a 3-year-old girl, died last Thursday after allegedly being shaken by her mother's boyfriend who was in jail on assault and child endangerment charges. A story in the Daily News reports that the charges are now likely to be upgraded since the girl's death.

The little girl spent two weeks on life support at Brookdale University Hospital after being admitted on June 21st. Anthony Merritt, 24, allegedly told police that he lost his temper while babysitting at his girlfriend's apartment in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He allegedly admitted to shaking the child five times, and hit her head on a faucet, according to the story.

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Kent Gonzalez, a 38-year-old black male, was shot in the chest and stomach early Friday at the corner of Church Avenue and East 17th Street in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, according to a story in the Daily News. He was taken by his friends to Kings County Hospital where he died hours later.

Police said they believed Gonzalez' friends had witnessed the shooting but were not cooperating with the police, according to the News story. No arrests.

June 25th -- 5 dead in shootings and stabbings...

Five people were murdered in a 12-hour period in NYC Monday night into Tuesday morning, and it merited a story on page 28 of The News, a few briefs in the NY Post, and nothing in the NY Times. The bloody roll call includes:

Vincent Cruz, a 17-year-old Latino youth, was found shot to death early Tuesday in front of 205 Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, according to a police report and a story in the Daily News. He had been shot one time in the head, and was pronounced dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital. Sources told The News that the shooting may have been in retalliation for a remark Cruz made against someone's girlfriend earlier in the day.

Jonathan Diaz, a friend of Cruz, told The News: "He's too young. He didn't deserve that."

No arrests.

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Tynel Van-Kallen, a 22-year-old black male from South Carolina, was found stabbed several times in the neck and chest Monday night near Hughes Avenue and E. 181st Street in the Bronx, according to a police report. Van-Kallen, who was in the city visiting a cousin, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he later died. Police arrested Jermaine Elston, 29, of the Bronx and charged him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

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Guillermo Rojas, a 24-year-old Latino male, was found stabbed once in the chest late Monday night in front of 87-33 112th Street in Queens, according to a police report. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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Christopher Cruz, a 19-year-old Latino youth, was found stabbed in the chest Monday night in front of 2190 Second Avenue in Manhattan, according to police report. He was taken to Metropolitan Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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An unidentified black male was found shot to death early Tuesday morning inside 466 W. 150th Street in Harlem, according to a police report. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Harlem Hospital. No arrests.

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June 23rd -- 5 dead in separate arguments....

Larry Talley, a 23-year-old Latino male and father of a baby girl, was stabbed in the head and chest early Sunday morning after Talley came to the aid of a friend who was being beaten by a group of young men, according to a story in the Daily News.

Talley was trying to protect friend Carlos Garcia who was set upon by a group of men who had just left a club at 538 Claremont Parkway in the Bronx. The men turned on Talley and one or more stabbed Talley. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Talley had only become a father two months ago, according to the News article, and prided himself on being a doting father. He was working at the Hunts Point Fish Market, and saving money to get married.

His girlfriend Francis Hernandez was with Talley at the hospital when he died. She told The News: "His eyes were open. I gave him a kiss. I told him to come back - that his daughter and me needed him. But he didn't come back."

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Robert Leandry, a 28-year-old male, was shot to death early Sunday morning after getting into an argument with another man in a courtyard of the Jacob Riis Houses near E. 10th St. in the East Village, according to police and briefs in the NY Post and Daily News. No arrests.

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Kevin Macklin, a 41-year-old male, was shot to death early Sunday morning utside his home, at 112-02 148th St., in the Jamaica section of Queens, according to a brief in the Daily News. Macklin's foe left the sidewalk, but returned 15 minutes later with a gun, shot Macklin once in the face, then fled, said cops.

He was taken to Jamaica Hospital but died hours later. No arrests.

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An unidentified 20-year-old black male was found shot to death Saturday evening in front of 502 Cleveland Street in the East New York section of Brooklyn, according to a police report and a brief in the NY Post.The police said that the man was in an argument with another male when he was shot in torso. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrests.

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An unidentified 63-year-old white male died yesterday from a head wound he received on Friday in front of 415 51st Street in Manhattan, according to a police report. The man was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where he remained in critical condition until Sunday when he died from his injuries. An investigation revealed he'd been beaten, allegedly by Theodore Bonnemere, 50, of the Bronx, who was arrested and charged with manslaughter, police said.

June 22nd -- 2 young men dead....

Adolfo Gonzalez, a 25-year-old Latino male, was shot to death, after getting involved in an argument with a driver who had rear-ended the car in which Gonzalez was a passenger, according to stories in the NY Post and Daily News.

Gonzalez, a truck driver, was riding in a friend's black Acura when it was rear-ended by another car at the corner of White Plains Road and Morris Park Avenue in the Bronx. Gonzalez got out to look at the damage and got into an argument with driver Antoine Lewis whom he knew from the neighborhood, according to the News story.

Lewis and friends rode off but hailed a cab, and returned to the scene of the accident where Lewis allegedly shot Gonzalez several times. A gun was later found in the cab, and Lewis was later charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Police were investigating whether the car accident was a ruse to get back at Gonzalez for some perceived slight.

The News caught up with Gonzalez' mother Maria Castillo, a special education teacher, who said: "He's the only thing I have. He was a very nice boy - a lovely boy. It's a shame what happened. I have a lot of questions, but I don't have answers to them."

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Darcy Antoine, a 19-year-old black male, was beaten to death on June 14th after leaving a party in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and his parents and family are determined to find those who killed him, according to a story in the Daily News.

Antoine had left Brooklyn to play football at a college in Pittsburgh but had returned to attend a party. After it broke up, he and some friends had words with another group of young men and several of them stomped and beat Antoine.

Friend Marcos Flores was with Antoine when the fatal confrontation occurred. He told The News: "One of them said, 'What's up, your man spilled a drink on me,' and pointed at our friend. I tried to apologize to tell them it was an accident ... but they jumped us anyway. They came at us hard and they had us outnumbered. I saw six kids stomping on Darcy before they ran off. I grabbed him and said, 'Yo, Darcy, you all right?' He was looking right through me and he was twitching and coughing. And then he took one big breath and I knew he was gone."

Antoine's family has posted a memorial for their son at a blog affiliated with his university. To read more about this young man and his senseless death, please click here.  

June 21st -- 3 dead, including child starved to death....

Matthew Mason, a 7-week-old white baby boy, died last March from complications brought on by starvation, and his parents were charged Friday with manslaughter, according to stories in the Daily News and Staten Island Advance.

Matthew's parents, Joanne Fezza, 42, and Peter Mason, 46, (S.I. Advance photo) yesterday were arraigned on manslaughter, and held on $500,000 bail each after an autopsy revealed that they'd allegedly starved their baby son to death. Matthew weighed less than two pounds when he was taken from his family's home on March 23rd.

The couple also faces charges of child endangerment for allegedly failing to provide for their 5-year-old son who was taken away by the Administration for Children's Services on Friday.

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Olga Rodriguez, a 49-year-old Latina female, was found stabbed to death Friday in her apartment at 715 Eagle Avenue in the Bronx, according to a police report and media reports. The building superintendent, who went to her apartment to pick up the rent, apparently found her and called police. She had multiple stab wounds to her body, and was pronounced dead on arrival by responding EMS workers. No arrests.

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Dorrian Sweeney, a 20-year-old black male, died early last week from a stab wound he received back on June 11th in front of 88-40 173rd Street, according to a police report. Sweeney survived for a couple of days at Mary Immaculate Hospital but died on June 13th. Police arrested Aerris Grant, 28, of Queens, and charged him with Sweeney's murder.

 

June 19th -- 4 dead in Queens fire intentionally set....

William Salazar, a 32-year-old Latino male, yesterday became the 4th victim of the Queens Father's Day fire that now seems intentionally set, according to an article in theDaily News.

Salazar was the boyfriend of Agnes Bermudez -- described by The News as a "stunning brunette" -- apparently was so angry at Salazar that she doused him with carpet cleaner and lit a flame, according to what sources told The News. Bermudez herself was severely burned in the fire and remains in critical condition fighting for her life.

Investigators are unsure whether she was trying to kill herself. What is sure is that three family members who lived in the same building also lost their lives -- Heriberto Garcia-Vera, 68, his wife Flor Sandoval, 48, and their son Felipe Garcia-Vera, 20.

Friends and relatives who knew Salazar and Bermudez describe them as a happy couple.

June 8th -- 3 dead & 2 arrests in 3 year old's death...

A Brooklyn couple charged with caring for 3-year-old Kyle Smith yesterday was charged with contributing to the little boy's death by beating and sodomizing him, according to stories in the NY Times, The Daily News and the NY Post.

Smith's godmother, Nymeen Cheatham, 30, and her live-in boyfrend Lemar Martin, 25, (photo) both of 129 Patchen Avenue, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, were charged with assault and acting in a manner to injure the child, the police said. More charges -- including murder -- are pending more investigation in Smith's death.

Smith's battered body showed the classic signs of horrendous child abuse, including burns, bruises and at least one broken bone. Neighbors said they had seen Cheatham yell at the child and force him to sit outside in barely any clothing when it was 16 degrees outside.

One neighbor told The Times: "Everybody feels horrible now because nobody did nothing about it. But now it’s too late.”

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Akeem (Moe) Blyden, a 22-year-old black male, was shot to death outside the Coney Island Houses Saturday early morning after he and his killer both pulled handguns on each other, according to a report in the Daily News. Blyden's gun jammed but the shooter's did not.

Blyden was hit in the head and chest, and died on the spot. According to the News article, Blyden was a gang member who had survived a previous shooting. The friend said Blyden was living on borrowed time. "It was coming," he told the News. 

A worker at a nearby deli was blase about the shooting and murder, saying "It happens every weekend here. They play with guns all the time." No arrests.

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An unidentified 18-year-old black youth was shot to death last Saturday night at W. 150th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, according to a police report. He was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital by a group of friends but died soon after. Reportedly, the friends and the dead youth were arguing with another group of youths. No arrests.

It was another in a series of murders involving teenagers and reminiscent of the murder of Maurice McIver, 15, last month.

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An unidentified Latino male believed to be in his 20's was found stabbed to death in front of 410 Harmon Street in Brooklyn, according to a police report. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests.

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Read the full story behind the murder of dancer Catherine Woods, subject of my book "Death of a Dream," co-authored by CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty. This is the behind the scenes story of Catherine's controversial lifestyle, the two men in her life, and the trial of Paul Cortez. Reviewers called the book: "compelling" and "a chilling good read." Available at bookstores under 'true crime' and online.

First chapter available free.