Crime Time

Drifter pleads guilty to killing, decapitating hiker

A 61-year-old drifter has pleaded guilty to killing and decapitating a young female hiker in north Georgia and was immediately sentenced to life in prison.

Gary Michael Hilton signed a plea agreement that would allow for parole after 30 year incarceration.

Hilton pleaded guilty to killing Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old hiker who went missing while hiking in northern Georgia mountains. Hilton led police to her body.

You can read more here.

--Lance Murray

Old Glory remains target of bad guys

Someone has an American flag addiction. For the second time in a week, Archie Mayes of Bedford had his flag stolen from his front porch.

And that was the ninth time since last winter. The most recent theft happened Friday night.

The bad guys took the flagpole and smashed one of Mayes' windows. He found his flag near his home.

Repairing his home and putting up flags were not the ways the 87-year-old retired Air Force brigadier general wanted to spend his days.

-- Domingo Ramirez Jr.

Progress indicated in high-profile murders

It seems police agencies in North Texas are making some progress on two high-profile murders in December.

Staff Writer Domingo Ramirez reports that police in North Richland Hills released the names of two men who are "persons of interest" in the slaying of Marianne Bourland Wilkinson. She was the 68-year-old woman who was fatally shot Dec. 9 as she answered the door of her home in the 8400 block of Spence Court.

Investigators said they believe Dennis Michael Taylor and Vincent Lane "may have relevant information concerning circumstances or direct knowledge of person or persons responsible for the murder of Mrs. Wilkinson."

In Frisco, police reported the arrests of three people in connection with the Dec. 26 killing of Craig William Nail. The 36-year-old man was found with multiple gunshot wounds at his home in Frisco. A woman he was dating also was shot but survived.

The suspects include Nail's estranged wife and another man; both are charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder. The alleged shooter is also in custody, but he is charged with capital murder.

Meanwhile, Staff Writer Susan Schrock reports that murder suspect Shari Eggum of Arlington was arrested Thursday.

Arlington police haven't confirmed that, but the family of murder victim Richard Holmes, her boyfriend, said she was arrested in Wyoming.

Police have said, however, that they suspect Eggum stabbed Holmes on Tuesday night at their Brentwood Apartments home. Eggum, 33, fled the scene, they said. Holmes, 31, died that night at Arlington Memorial Hospital.

-- Bill Miller

Who has the bishop's crown?

The Greek Orthodox Church wants its crown back. Some one broke into a car parked outside Picolo Mondo restaurant in north Arlington on Friday evening and took a bag that contained a golden crown that belonged to Metropolitan Isaiah, bishop of the Northwest Region of the Greek Orthodox Archdioceses of America. It was the first gift given to him as a bishop more than two decades ago. Church officials are to announce reward for info about the theft during a 3 p.m. news conference today at Arlington police headquarters. Two priests are scheduled to be there. If you know who has the crown, call Arlington police at 817-459-6486 or call Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477. You could collect $1,000.Check www.star-telegram.com for more details.

- Kristin Sullivan

Autopsy: Baby was dead before being thrown onto roadway

The baby whose body was found next to a car seat in Galveston died before being thrown onto the roadside, an autopsy has determined.

The infant's death has been ruled a homicide. According to the medical examiner, the 3-month-old baby boy died of blunt force head trauma.

Police are looking for the baby's father, Travis Mullis, 21, who was the last person seen with the child. He reportedly left with the baby early Tuesday morning and has not been seen since. An Alvin woman, who is the baby's mother, contacted the police saying she hadn't seen her son since Mullis left with him.

A couple bird-watching along the roadway found the baby's body.

You can read more here.

-- Lance Murray

2 kids allegedly burned by mom are flown to Texas

Two of the four children who police say survived being set ablaze by their mother in Colorado Springs, Colo., have been flown to the Shriners Hospital burn center in Galveston, Texas.

A fifth child, a 16-month-old girl, died after police say their mother doused them with gasoline in the master bedroom of the family's home and set them on fire.

Police have advised the mother, Maria Darlen Joseph, that first-degree murder charges could be filed against her.

The horrible incident is reminiscent of a similar tragedy in September in Haltom City in which a mother is accused of pouring gasoline on her three daughters and setting them ablaze. One of the girls died.

You can read more of the Colorado Springs Gazette's continuing coverage of this case here.

-- Lance Murray

Nurse admits stealing body parts for transplants

Some crimes are like something out of a bad horror film. This is one of them.

A nurse in Philadelphia has admitted that he cut body part from 244 corpses, some of them diseased, so that they could be used on patients in need of transplant.

Lee Cruceta, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, taking part in a corrupt organization, abuse of a corpse and 244 counts each of theft and forgery.

He was the lead cutter in a group that was trafficking in more than 1,000 stolen body parts in a profitable transplant scheme that victimized unsuspecting patients.

You can read more here.

-- Lance Murray

8 bags filled with woman's body parts found on highway

I'm sure motorists on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania are accustomed to seeing workers collecting bags of trash along the highway. But after eight bags containing a woman's body parts were discovered littered along the roadway on Tuesday, motorists have been watching a full-scale police investigation and search.

Police believe all the body parts, including the head, belong to the same woman.

The woman's identity has not been established. You can read more here.

-- Lance Murray

Mom reportedly ignites gasoline on kids; one dies

In a case similar to one last year in Haltom City, police in Colorado Springs, Colo., say that a 25-year-old mother is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder after they say she poured gasoline on her children and set them on fire. Her 16-month-old daughter died.

Four other children -- ages 3 to 9 -- were critically injured in the fire, police say.

Authorities say that Maria Joseph is in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center without bond. Killed in the fire was Ashia Joseph. She died from smoke inhalation and burns, officials said. This case is reminiscent of a case in September in Haltom City in which a mother is accused of pouring gasoline on her three daughters and setting them ablaze. One of the girls died.

Colorado Department of Human Services officials are reviewing the child's death, too, and say that the agency had contact with the family in the past five years.  The fatal fire isn't the only tragic event that happened in the house.

Joseph's husband, Simeon Joseph, committed suicide in the house last fall.

You can read the account today in The Gazette of Colorado Springs here.

-- Lance Murray

Princess Diana inquest told blood samples unreliable

A forensic scientist hired by the family of Dodi Fayed testifying before the coroner's inquest into the death of Princess Diana has called into question the handling of blood samples taken from Henri Paul, the man driving the car the night she died, the Times of London is reporting today. Fayed and Paul also died in the crash inside a Paris tunnel.

According to the newspaper's Web site, Peter Vanezis told the court that French scientists who were investigating the now infamous crash behaved in a chaotic manner and that the samples were therefore unreliable.

The inquest, which began on Oct. 2, has listened to scores of witnesses so far and reviewed many pieces of evidence.

If you'd like to read transcripts, look at the evidence and find out who has said what, here is a link to the official Web site of the inquest. It's fascinating, and time-consuming, reading.

-- Lance Murray