Tag: kidnapping

Laken Riley’s Alleged Killer Indicted, Also Accused of Being ‘Peeping Tom’

Virginia Star Staff

A Georgia grand jury has formally indicted the man accused of killing 22-year-old student Laken Riley on ten charges, including murder, kidnapping and being a peeping Tom.

Jose Ibarra is charged with malice murder, three counts of felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, tampering with evidence and interfering with a 911 call for help, Superior Court of Clarke County records show. The 26-year-old Venezuelan national was also handed down a “peeping Tom” charge related to his activities the day of Riley’s murder.

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Texas, U.S. Officials Warn Americans Not to Travel to Mexico as Cartel Violence Escalates

The Center Square

The U.S. State Department and Texas Department of Public Safety have warned Americans not to travel to Mexico because of escalating cartel violence. While some news reports have suggested the warnings were for spring break, the warnings have been issued since at least last August and remain indefinite.

They’ve also been issued after more than 550 Americans have been reported and remain missing in Mexico.

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Bail Revoked for Defendant in Killing of Eliza Fletcher, After Being Charged with Murder

Just the News

The defendant in the killing of Tennessee teacher Eliza Fletcher was on Wednesday ordered held without bond, after he was charged with first-degree murder.

“In light of the change of circumstance, I’m going to order that there be no bond,” said a Shelby County Circuit judge. “The $500,000 bond is revoked.”

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Commentary: As New Trial Looms, Justice Department Silent on Whitmer Kidnapping Plot

Admin

For the first time since the government failed to win a single conviction in the alleged criminal plot to “kidnap” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, a top Justice Department official was publicly confronted about the FBI’s primary role in concocting the hoax.

It was not a welcome line of inquiry, to say the least.

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Gang Blamed for Kidnapping 17 American Missionaries in Haiti

Virginia Star Staff
Missionaries of Charity in Haiti

A gang known for previous abductions has been blamed for the kidnapping of 17 American missionaries in Haiti on Saturday, NBC News reported.

The Christian Aid Ministries missionaries were kidnapped on their way from the construction of an orphanage, according to a message from Ohio-based ministry, NBC reported.

“This is a special prayer alert,” the ministry’s one-minute message said. “Pray that the gang members would come to repentance.”

The U.S. Embassy is working with the field director of the mission, whose family stayed at the ministry’s base with an unidentified man while the abduction took place, the message said.

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FBI Arrests Couple Allegedly Involved in Cross-Border Kidnapping Ring of Americans

Virginia Star Staff

An American woman and her boyfriend were arrested and charged for allegedly collecting ransom money as part of their involvement in a deadly kidnapping conspiracy of U.S. residents in Tijuana, Mexico.

Leslie Briana Matla, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen who lived in Mexico, and her boyfriend, Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez, a 25-year-old resident of Tijuana, were arrested by U.S. authorities pursuant to money-laundering conspiracy charges, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

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