http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200902221211.htm

Rihanna puts on brave face after attack, thanks fans

London (IANS): Singer Rihanna has put on a brave face in her first public outing since ex-boyfriend Chris Brown allegedly attacked her almost two weeks ago. She has also thanked her fans for their support.

The Umbrella singer was photographed wearing a pair of sunglasses in a car in Los Angeles on Thursday night, the same evening that a website published a picture appearing to show her beaten and bruised, contactmusic.com reports.

The injuries are said to relate to a fight between Rihanna and Brown on February 8, which reportedly left her in need of hospital treatment.

Reports suggest Rihanna flew to Barbados to escape the media and to celebrate her 21st birthday on Friday.

The star also released her first statement since the alleged attack via her spokesperson on Friday, thanking fans for their support.

"She (Rihanna) wants to assure her fans that she remains strong, is doing well, and deeply appreciates the outpouring of support she has received during this difficult time," the statement said.

Brown was charged with making criminal threats following the incident and faces jail time if convicted.

Teen vanishes on way to school

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/22/amber.dubois/index.html

(CNN) -- Last Friday the 13th was supposed to be a special day for 14-year-old Amber Leeanne DuBois.

Loved ones say Amber Leeanne DuBois, 14, would never go anywhere without telling her parents or friends.

She left her home in Escondido, California, around 7 a.m. for school with a check in hand, a down payment on a baby lamb that she was going to raise and care for as part of her Future Farmers of America class.
It was a day that she'd been looking forward to for more than a year, her family says. But she never made it to school and hasn't been heard from since, prompting authorities to launch a massive search for the missing teen.
"She would not have given up that lamb for anything," her mother, Carrie McGonigle, said. "She's a wholesome kid. She doesn't run amok like most teenagers. She did not run away, I guarantee it."
Her cell phone was turned on once for about 20 seconds the day after she disappeared and has not been turned on since then, Escondido Police spokesman Lt. Bob Benton said.
Her mother and her live-in boyfriend voluntarily submitted to polygraph tests and passed, Benton said. Amber's father, who lives in Orange County, California, and other relatives have been interviewed, he added.
A classmate reported seeing Amber a week ago on Sunday, walking with an unidentified person about half a mile from her home, Benton said.
"We don't know the circumstances of her disappearance or the person she was walking with, but being 14 years old and missing as long as she has without ever having gone missing before is very suspicious," Benton said.

Student Tells How 2 Classmates Pretended To Rape Him

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Student Tells How 2 Classmates Pretended To Rape Him
Teen Says 2 Classmates Held Him Down, Simulated Sex Acts
POSTED: 9:50 pm EST February 13, 2009
UPDATED: 11:54 pm EST February 13, 2009

JUPITER, Fla. -- A former Jupiter High School student spoke out on Friday, saying two classmates held him down and pretended to perform sex acts on him at school.
Richard -- who did not want his last name revealed -- said he feared for his life after the incident and is now living in another part of Florida.

He said he doesn't know why the teenagers did it, but he wants them to pay for their actions.
He's 6 feet tall, 175 pounds and attended Jupiter High School until early January.
He said in November, two male classmates pretended to rape him in the locker room.
"After I got dressed, the two boys came over and started sexually assaulting me," Richard said. "They spread my legs, acting like they were having sex with me."
Richard said Storm Stockstill, 18, and a 16-year-old classmate were the ones who pretended to rape him.

He said it happened five different times on campus, sometimes in front of other students in the locker room and even in the presence of several physical education teachers.
"I was embarrassed and humiliated and I lost a lot of friends from the incident," Richard said.
He said he eventually built up enough courage to tell his mother and then school police. Stockstill and the other boy were suspended for 10 days. But Richard said it didn't solve the problem.
"When they came back, they threatened to kill me," Richard said. "I stayed indoors. I did not go outside. I was afraid to pick up my sister."

Richard's mother said the incident has damaged his spirit.

"He has become angry," she said. "It affected his GPA. His grades fell. His attendance in school was affected."
Police arrested Stockstill and the 16-year-old this week. They both face charges of felony battery and stalking a minor under 16.

Since Stockstill is 18 years old, Richard said he thinks he should be charged as a sex offender.
"I think that's good," Richard said. "He deserves it. If he didn't want to face the consequences, he shouldn't have done what he had done."

Richard said he moved to a different part of the state because he feared for his life.
The school district said the alleged incidents are under police investigation and the school took immediate and strong action.
Richard has enrolled in a school where he is living. His mother said he is doing fine.

Killer decapitates Va. Tech student, police say

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/22/virginia.tech.death/index.html

(CNN) -- A female graduate student at Virginia Tech was killed Wednesday night when a man she knew attacked her with a knife and decapitated her, a school spokesman said.

Virginia Tech police Chief Wendell Flinchum talks about the first slaying on campus since the 2007 shooting massacre.

Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said Thursday that Xin Yang's killing was the first on the campus since April 16, 2007, when a shooter killed 32 people before turning a gun on himself.
Yang, 22, from Beijing, China, was killed at the Au Bon Pain restaurant in the Graduate Life Center at around 7 p.m., school spokesman Larry Hincker said in a written statement.
Campus police took Haiyang Zhu, 25, into custody at the scene. The Ningbo, China, native has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail at a local jail, Hincker said.
Zhu did not say anything to the arresting officers, said campus police Chief Wendell Flinchum.
"There was blood on him," Flinchum said. The young woman and the suspect "were not seen arguing, or anything of that nature," he added, citing witness statements.
Authorities said the two students knew each other. "Based on emergency contact records maintained by the university, it is known that Zhu and Yang knew each other," Hincker said. No other details were provided.
The young woman had only arrived at the university two weeks ago to begin studies in accounting, he said in the statement.
Zhu is a graduate student pursuing a doctorate in agricultural and applied economics. He began studies at Virginia Tech in fall 2008, Hincker said.
"Our hearts go out to the victim and her family," President Charles W. Steger said in a letter to the campus community.
"An act of violence like this one brings back memories of the April 16 tragedy and I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught."
Authorities say on April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and professors before killing himself.

Cops: Cape Girardeau woman kills man who returned to rape her second time

Ronnie Preyer. ,
Photo from Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/31/2008

An intended rape victim shot and killed her attacker this morning in Cape Girardeau when he broke into her home to rape her a second time, police said.The 57-year-old woman shot Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender, in the chest with a shotgun when he broke through her locked basement door.

The woman told police he was the same man who raped her several days earlier. Officials do not intend to seek charges against her.In the first incident, the woman heard glass breaking in her basement about midnight on Saturday.

She went to leave the house, and the man attacked when she opened the front door. He punched her in the face and then forced her into a bedroom, where he raped her, said H. Morley Swingle, prosecuting attorney in Cape Girardeau County.

The victim reported the crime to police, and her landlord repaired the broken window. She was home alone again Friday about 2:15 a.m. when Preyer broke the same basement window. The victim was awake watching television, when Preyer switched off the electricity to her house. She tried to call 911, but couldn't because the power was off.

She got a shotgun and waited as the man began banging on the basement door. She fired when Preyer came crashing through the door. When Preyer collapsed, the woman escaped and went to a neighbor's home, where she called police.

Officers, who arrived within a minute, found a bleeding Preyer stumbling away from the house. He was taken to St. Francis Medical Center, where he died several hours later. Swingle said the victim identified Preyer as the attacker in both incidents.

Preyer, of Jackson, Mo., had wet caulking from the recently repaired basement window on his clothing when he was shot."I will not be filing any sort of charge against this 57-year-old woman, who was clearly justified under the law in shooting this intruder in her home," Swingle said.

Slain immigrant's brother hopes for hate-crime legacy

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/15/nyc.ecuadoran.killed/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mourning relatives say they hope a slain Latino immigrant can become a symbol against hate crimes.

Jose Sucuzhanay was kept on life support but died hours before his mother arrived from Ecuador.

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New York City police are still hunting for suspects in the killing of Ecuadorian Jose Sucuzhanay, who died Friday, five days after he was hit in the head with a bottle and beaten with a baseball bat.
Police say racial slurs were yelled during the attack in Brooklyn.
Sucuzhanay's brother, Diego Sucuzhanay, told CNN his brother would always be remembered as a victim of a hate crime and that it was time for them and others to speak out.
"Our brother wanted to make history when he died. And he did already, we should be proud of him, [despite] the way he died, we should be proud of him," he said.
Hundreds of people marched Sunday through the Brooklyn neighborhood where Sucuzhanay was attacked, carrying signs saying "no more hate crimes." Watch marchers protest against hate crimes »
Another Ecuadorian immigrant was killed last month in Long Island, 50 miles from Brooklyn. A teenager has been charged with first-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of Marcello Lucero, 37, who police said was stabbed in the chest as he walked to a friend's apartment.
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Family spokesman Francisco Moya said Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, had lived in the United States for more than a decade and was a legal resident.
Diego Sucuzhanay said Jose set up a successful real estate business in a low-income area, thinking he could make a difference there.
He said his brother wanted to help everyone and hired a diverse team, including four African-Americans and two Latinos. He was raising two children: a 9-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.
Sucuzhanay died of his injuries Friday at Elmhurst Hospital, hours before his mother arrived in New York from Ecuador, his family said.
Police said Jose Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel had left a party at a church when several men approached them in a car in Brooklyn's Bushwick section, about a block from the brothers' home, on December 7. The men shouted anti-gay and anti-Latino vulgarities and attacked the brothers, police said.
Romel, 34, escaped with minor scrapes and has talked with detectives. Police have released a sketch of one possible suspect in the case.
Police are offering a $22,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the attack.
In a statement, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the attack "a pointless and gutless crime." He promised authorities would find and prosecute those responsible

Slain student called 911, but no one came in time

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/16/grace.coldcase.zimmerman/index.html

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Brittany Zimmerman, a 21-year-old college student who wanted to be a doctor, called 911 as she was being attacked by a stranger, police say.

Brittany Zimmerman's screams and struggle for her life were captured by a 911 tape.

But the police did not come for 48 minutes. By that time, Zimmerman was dead. Her fiance found her body.
Although the dispatcher claimed later to have heard nothing, the 911 tape captured screams, gasps and what sounds like a struggle, according to the court documents.
Spring was in the air when college student Zimmerman returned April 2 from classes at the University of Wisconsin to the off-campus apartment she shared with her fiance, Jordan Gonnering.
He was out when she arrived home. He discovered her body when he returned.
Zimmerman had been stabbed multiple times in her chest, near her heart. She'd also been beaten and strangled, according to warrants released recently. Watch an update on the case »
Zimmerman managed to call 911 at 12:20 p.m. The call was taken by the Dane County 911 center and an internal investigation revealed the dispatcher did not hear any sounds that would signal an emergency.
Because of that, police were not sent to the apartment until 48 minutes after Zimmerman made the call. Her fiance was already there.
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Dane County has taken some harsh criticism from the public regarding the delay, and tough questions have been raised about whether a prompt response might have saved Zimmerman's life.
Police are still looking for her killer.
"We are working diligently on this case, have generated significant leads, and are making progress," said Joel De Spain of the Madison Police Department.
The police said they believe Zimmerman was attacked by a stranger. Her apartment door showed signs of forced entry.
After interviews with Zimmerman's family, friends and acquaintances, investigators determined there was no personal motive for the attack.
"In fact, we have not been able to determine any motive yet in this case," De Spain said. He emphasized that police have no reason to believe Zimmerman was the victim of a serial killer.
During the investigation, police have tracked leads pointing to vagrants in Zimmerman's off-campus neighborhood. The vagrants often would knock on doors and beg for money.
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"We are still investigating this avenue, but at this time we have not been able to develop any specific suspects," De Spain said.
Zimmerman's family and friends describe her as a loving, warm young woman, who had much to look forward to. She was engaged to the love of her life and had dreams of earning a medical degree, they said. She was idealistic, and her goal was to help people, not to earn a large salary, they said.
Other details in the released warrants reveal that Zimmerman was murdered in her bedroom, that her cell phone was found in "parts," and that her bloody slippers and bloody computer paper were recovered.
The murder weapon is described as a knife, two to five inches long. Police are not saying whether they have recovered it.
DNA was collected from Zimmerman's body, as well as hair, blood samples, footprints and fingerprints. So far, no match has been made to a suspect.
Zimmerman's family is offering a $14,000 reward, and Crime Stoppers is offering $1,000 for tips leading to the arrest and/or conviction of anyone responsible for Zimmerman's death. Please call the tip line at 608-266-6014.