Australian Facebook killer gets life (AFP)

MELBOURNE (AFP) – A vengeful Australian man who wrote on his Facebook page he was "bout to kill ma kid" minutes before stabbing his two-year-old daughter to death was jailed for life on Friday.

Consumed by hatred and a desire to punish his ex-partner Rachelle D'Argent, Ramazan Acar, 24, kidnapped daughter Yazmina from her Melbourne home last November.

The Victorian Supreme Court heard that as well as posting the disturbing Facebook message, Acar sent taunting text messages to D'Argent before killing his daughter.

At the time, he was serving a suspended sentence for assaulting his ex-partner and Justice Elizabeth Curtain said it was a chilling murder and a fundamental breach of trust.

"The victim was your innocent daughter. She was killed by the one man in the world whose (role) was to love, nurture and protect her," Curtain said.

"You committed this murder for the worst possible motive -- revenge and spite. You killed your daughter to get back at her mother."

Acar was jailed for life with a 33-year non-parole period.

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Mexican judge gives 60 years to killer of top cop (AP)

MEXICO CITY – A judge sentenced a man to 60 years in prison for the 2008 murder of Mexico's acting federal police chief Edgar Millan Gomez, federal prosecutors said Saturday.

Alejandro Ramirez Baez was convicted of homicide and possessing restricted weapons, the Federal Attorney General's Office said in a statement. A second man was sentenced to one year in prison for illegal arms possession. Both were found to be part of a cell of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, the statement said.

Millan, one of the highest ranking police officials killed by drug cartels in recent years, was attacked in his Mexico City home in May 2008. The Sinaloa cartel had been a key target of operations led by Millan prior to his death.

Also Saturday, Mexican troops discovered almost two tons of methamphetamine stored in water tanks and buried in the ground in the northern state of Coahuila, the Defense Department said. Eleven kilograms (24 pounds) of heroin were found in the same spot after a patrol found dug-up earth in the municipality of Castanos, a Defense Department statement said.

Mexican troops have conducted three other seizures this month in Coahuila, across the border from Texas. Most have been weapons seizures, the most recent one allegedly belonging to the brutal Zetas cartel. Coahuila is one of several northern Mexican states where the Gulf and Zetas cartels are fighting for control.

In the northern state of Durango, a 70-year-old farmer and his two grown sons were gunned down by unknown assailants, the state's prosecutor's office said Saturday. The men had been tending to cattle when they were killed. At least 100 empty shells from an AK-47 were found near the scene, the prosecutor's office said.

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Victims' group declines proceeds from serial killer Gacy's artwork

'Pogo the Clown' self-portrait was done by killer John Wayne Gacy, whose art is on sale in Las Vegas.Exhibit coordinator: "I see it as an opportunity to help from something that was bad"The exhibit of John Wayne Gacy's artwork includes a painting of Jeffrey Dahmer's skullGacy created the 74 pieces of art while he was on death row awaiting execution Among the paintings expected to be displayed is a self-portrait that Gacy gave to pen-palsFor more on this story, see CNN affiliate KTNV

(CNN) -- A Las Vegas art coordinator's planned charity sale of serial killer John Wayne Gacy's paintings is under fire from the very crime victims group that is supposed to benefit from the proceeds.

The National Center for Victims of Crime is demanding that its name not be associated with the exhibit, entitled "Multiples: The Artwork of John Wayne Gacy," saying it did not agree to be a beneficiary of the sale.

In a written statement Thursday to CNN affiliate KTNV, the crime victims group said it sent a cease-and-desist letter to the gallery owner.

Since word spread that Gacy's work would be displayed at the Arts Factory beginning this month through September, the event has been surprisingly controversial in a city where very little surprises.

Westly Myles, the owner of the Arts Factory, said he opted to coordinate the show because he believed Gacy's work would provoke discussion and provide financial help to those who have been hurt by crime.

"People can think what they like, I see it as an opportunity to help from something that was bad," Myles said.

Gacy was convicted of raping and killing 33 boys and young men during a six-year span that culminated with his capture in 1978. Most of his victims were buried in and around his home.

He was dubbed "the Killer Clown" because he often performed as "Pogo the Clown" at events for children.

While awaiting execution, Gacy began painting.

After his execution in 1994, his attorney auctioned off his artwork.

Some of it was purchased and destroyed in a bonfire attended by 300 people, including some family members of Gacy's victims.

Gacy's paintings have often generated controversy in galleries across the nation.

"Multiples: The Artwork of John Wayne Gacy," is meant to reflect the multiple aspects of his life, according to johnwaynegacyart.com, a website set up to promote the show.

"We are familiar with multiple aspects of Gacy's story. He worked multiple jobs, lived multiple lives and committed multiple crimes," the site said. "What we are unfamiliar with is the art Gacy created while awaiting execution: multiple paintings."

Seventy-four pieces will be put up for sale at the Las Vegas exhibition. They include pencil drawings and audio recordings, and paintings of skulls, clowns and the seven dwarves from the Snow White fairy tale.

Included among the collection is an oil painting entitled "Dahmer Skull," which is price at $2,000 and was inspired by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

But perhaps the most controversial piece is a self-portrait entitled "Goodbye Pogos" listed at $4,500.

Gacy reportedly gave these portraits to "close pen-pals at the end of his life," according the website.

Also for sale, according to the site, are reproduction and merchandising rights to Gacy's artwork.

Myles said the proceeds would be divided evenly among the charities. If the crime victims group doesn't want the money, Myles said he would find another organization to donate the proceeds.

Meanwhile, two other organizations named as beneficiaries of the sale say they are reconsidering accepting the money. .

"I think anyone would be pretty creeped out by it," Anne Mulford, the board president of the Contemporary Arts Center, told KTNV.

The Contemporary Arts Center, a nonprofit gallery, is among those to receive monies from the sale.

"I'll just be honest with you, that's how I feel, I don't want to see the art," Mulford said.

CNN

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Official: 4 sets of Long Island remains aren't linked to serial killer

Police divers search for human remains in waters near Point Lookout, New York, in April.NEW: The DA urges patience, saying the serial killer probe "is not an episode of 'CSI' "NEW: Three homicide cases are opened due to the new findings, none linked to a serial killerThe four sets of remains were found in March and April near where four others had beenTwo were dismembered, one was an Asian male and another a female toddler, says the DA

(CNN) -- The four sets of human remains most recently discovered on a Long Island beach don't appear to be related to four others discovered nearby that have been linked to a suspected serial killer, the Suffolk County district attorney said Monday.

The evidence suggests that perhaps two other killers dumped bodies along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, about 40 miles east of New York City. But they don't shed any light on the investigation into the person or people who authorities believe killed at least four sex workers whose bodies were found last December.

"This investigation is not an episode of 'CSI' or 'Criminal Minds' that is going to be solved in a one-hour period," District Attorney Thomas Spota said of the serial killer probe. "Most likely, it ... is going to take a very long period of time to complete."

The four latest sets of remains were found March 29 and April 4. Homicide cases are now open based on three of the four latest discoveries, according to the district attorney.

The first set of newly discovered remains include the head, hands and forearms of a woman Spota identified as Jessica Taylor. The rest of her body had been found in 2003 in Manorville, a community about 45 miles east on Long Island.

Like the four victims found last year, Taylor was a prostitute, the district attorney said. She had been working in Washington and had come up to New York City for a few days before going missing. Spota said that, despite extensive interviews, there were no suspects in her death and the case went cold -- until now.

More body parts -- a head, hands and a right foot -- were found slightly farther east along the parkway. While no name has been attached to them, Spota said they match with a body found in 2000, also in Manorville.

Both these two women's alleged killer or killers "went to extraordinary lengths to prevent the victims from being identified," said the district attorney, pointing to efforts to hide a tattoo on Taylor as an example. "This is clearly not so with any of the other remains."

The only set among those recently discovered that didn't show any signs of trauma is "the full skeletal remains" of what is thought to be a female toddler, according to Spota. This unidentified child, who was probably between 18 and 24 months old when she died, was wrapped in a blanket and deposited in the same stretch along the parkway. The county medical examiner has yet to indicate a cause of death in the girl's case, which isn't now considered a homicide.

The last of the recently discovered bodies was an unidentified male, thought to be Asian and in his late teens or early 20s. Spota said the medical examiner's office determined that he'd been dead for "years," and his skeleton shows "evidence of trauma, but the cause of death is radically different from all the other remains."

"What is now very clear is that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Spota said. "But there is no evidence that all these remains are the result of a single killer."

Previously, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said that authorities believed one or more person was most likely responsible for the deaths of four women whose remains were found within a quarter-mile of each other in that same area last winter.

More still unidentified remains have been found as part of the serial killer investigation in nearby Nassau County. But police have yet to link those to any other case.

All the while, the woman who originally prompted the searches -- 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert -- remains missing.

The New Jersey woman was last seen in May 2010 while attending a private party at a home in the Oak Beach community. Like the four victims who were found in December and have been identified, Gilbert had advertised prostitution services on Websites such as Craigslist.

Dormer told reporters Monday that authorities haven't given up their search for her.

"We're still concerned about the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert," the police commissioner said. "We're going to continue our efforts to find her ... both for our investigation and for her family."

CNN

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South looks to recover from killer twisters

By Jim R. Bounds, AP

Morgan Barfeild carries her grandfather's World War 2 American flag across what was left of her grandmother's home in Colerain, N.C., on Monday,

EnlargeCloseBy Jim R. Bounds, AP

Morgan Barfeild carries her grandfather's World War 2 American flag across what was left of her grandmother's home in Colerain, N.C., on Monday,

More than 100 employees and customers screamed in near unison when the steel roof curled off overhead Saturday. The store was becoming part of the wreckage left by a ferocious storm system bristling with killer twisters that ripped through the South.

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South looks to recover from killer twisters

Hollowell told The Associated Press on Sunday.

PHOTO: Deadly storms hammer SouthThose in the store did not become part of the death toll that totaled at least 45 across six states, and officials said quick action by Hollowell and his employees helped them all make it out alive in Sanford, about 40 miles south of Raleigh.

In all of Lee County, where Sanford is located, officials said there was just one confirmed fatality during the storm, which claimed at least 21 lives statewide, damaged hundreds of homes and left a swath of destruction unmatched by any spring storm since the mid-1980s.

In Raleigh early Monday, authorities were blocking access to a mobile home park of about 200 homes where three children were killed. Officials planned to assess conditions after sunrise before deciding whether to allow residents to return home.

Power lines and trees still covered nearby roads. Where roads were clear, there were massive piles of debris that had been pushed to the side of the street.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said Monday morning on NBC

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Police hack '18 spots' in serial killer case

Man describes seeing victim aliveSTORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Authorities finished searching 18 "spots of interest" in Long Island, New York on ThursdayNEW: Their search did not uncover additional evidence in their investigation of a possible serial killerA helicopter has been hovering over the Tobay Beach area since morningThe remains are not linked to the bodies of four prostitutes found near Atlantic City in 2006 New York (CNN) -- Police and FBI agents finished searching 18 "spots of interest" in Long Island, New York on Thursday without uncovering additional evidence in their investigation of a possible serial killer.

"We didn't uncover anything that was noteworthy," said Nassau County Police spokesperson Kevin Smith. "Most of it was debris."

Their efforts are part of a probe into suspected serial killings that have turned up at least eight bodies -- four of them identified as prostitutes -- since December 2010.

New York State troopers alongside some 30 police officers from Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk counties hacked their way through the area's thick brush and bramble, using guidance from a helicopter overhead and, in some cases, using chainsaws to cut through the thick foliage.

Aviation teams that flew over parts of Long Island had "identified a significant number of items that aren't natural for the area," said Nassau County Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter.

But as of Thursday, authorities had not uncovered any further human remains.

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Serial killer probe finds 9th set of remains

9th body found on Long Island beachSTORY HIGHLIGHTS The discoveries are about 5 miles from where 8 other human remains were found
What's thought to be a human skull is found Monday in Oyster Bay, police say
A medical examiner is trying to determine whether a separate set of remains is human
A county official says, "We want to bring to justice this animal"
New York (CNN) -- Police are examining what appears to be a human skull found on the outskirts of a bird sanctuary in Long Island, New York, potentially the ninth set of remains discovered in the probe of a suspected serial killer.

Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said the skull was found Monday around 3:30 p.m. in the town of Oyster Bay. About four hours earlier, a New York state police officer and his cadaver dog spotted another set of remains about a mile and a half away, and authorities worked to determine whether those remains are human.

Authorities could continue their search on Tuesday.

These discoveries come on the first day that authorities probing the deaths of several young women searched for evidence in and around Nassau County. Since December, eight sets of human remains have been found in Suffolk County, just to the east of Nassau County and roughly five miles from the sites of Monday's discoveries.

"It's just been very startling, all of it has been," Smith told reporters Monday. "It's just amazing that we're finding these things. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do."

Authorities are working on the presumption that a single person is responsible for the women's killings. The four victims who have been identified thus far all advertised prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist, police have said.

"Collectively, we want to bring to justice this animal who has obviously taken the lives of a number of people," said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano on Monday.

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Search for missing woman expands as police look for serial killer

STORY HIGHLIGHTSPolice say the search for a missing woman will expand MondayInvestigators are embroiled in a manhunt for a potential serial killerThree bodies found last week were uncovered within a few miles of each otherA woman's body was also found March 29 west of Cedar Beach New York (CNN) -- Police say the search for a missing woman, which led investigators to the closely grouped remains of eight bodies in Long Island, New York, will expand Monday.

Investigators -- now embroiled in a manhunt for a potential serial killer -- are expected to spread out along the Nassau County line, working westward from Jones Beach in their search for Shannan Gilbert, who has been missing since May.

"We will be looking for human remains and any possible evidence," said Nassau Police spokesman Kevin Smith.

On Thursday, investigators said they were nearly finished with at least one part of the search effort in the Oak Beach area, where four female bodies were found stuffed in bushes along a quarter mile strip of beachfront property in December.

"Our search for (Gilbert) will continue, even though this component of the search is nearly over," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer told reporters.

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