Crime Time

Police: FW man strangled wife's puppy in domestic dispute

Unrelated incidents involve tenderizer, chunk of wood

Who says assaults can only be made with fists?

A 31-year-old woman allegedly found a new use for a steel meat tenderizer early Wednesday when she used it to pummel her estranged husband during a fight inside her home. The man, who police say had “waffle-like” patterned injuries on his arms, refused to be taken to the hospital.

Things turned even uglier in an unrelated domestic disturbance at another Fort Worth residence later that morning. Police arrived at a Fort Worth home to find a puppy dead. The puppy’s owner told police that her husband had choked the dog during a fight.

Justen Arthur Zeuner (left) had fled on foot after the incident but was located by police in the 3300 block of E. Lancaster Ave. and taken into custody, according to a police report.

The husband was arrested for cruelty to an animal. The wife was arrested too -– for allegedly striking her husband with a board for what he had done.

Staff Writer Deanna Boyd reports.

Your blotter: Amphibious arrest; sandwich shop robbed

Man tried to swim from police

Police finally got their man -- beneath a boat dock.

It started early Thursday when police started chasing a man on motorcycle near the Northwest Campus of Tarrant County College in northwest Fort Worth.

But the man ditched his bike and jumped into nearby Marine Creek Lake.

After a long swim, Code Blue Citizens On Patrol spotted the man beneath a dock near the west shore of the lake.

Read what happened next in this report from Staff Writer Bill Miller.

UPDATE: THE SUSPECT, JAMES CARNEY, 23, OF WEATHERFORD (ABOVE) WAS ALREADY ON PROBATION FOR TRYING TO FLEE FROM HALTOM CITY POLICE IN 2007. FOLLOW THE LINK ABOVE TO READ MORE.

Sandwich shop robbed in north Fort Worth

A man approached two Subway restaurant workers late Wednesday in north Fort Worth and asked them "if they smoked weed," police said.

Then he pulled a gun and robbed the restaurant, located at 3529 Heritage Trace Parkway.

Staff Writer Bill Miller reports.

Sleeping Greyhound bus passenger killed, beheaded

This is a cliche, but the following crime is a like something from a horror movie.

Police in Canada report that a sleeping passenger on a Greyhound bus was killed and decapitated by his seatmate while the bus was headed across the Canadian prairies.

"All of a sudden, we all heard this scream, this bloodcurdling scream," a witness, Garnet Caton, told CBC Television.

"The attacker was standing up right over top of the guy with a large hunting knife — a survival, Rambo knife — holding the guy and continually stabbing him, stabbing him, stabbing him in the chest area," the man said.

The assault went on as fellow passengers fled. They waited on the desolate stretch of the the TransCanada Highway near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, for police arrive.

Caton said he helped block the door so that the attacker could not leave the bus.

"He calmly walks up to the front (of the bus) with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," Caton told CBC.

"There was no rage in him ... It was just like he was a robot or something," he said.

The attacker was taken into custody by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

-- Lance Murray

Overall crime down, but homicides up in Arlington

Mayor: 'We need badges

and uniforms and guns ...'

Overall crime was down in Arlington for the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

Violent crime was down 6.2 percent and property crimes 7.9 percent, according to police statistics. But with 14 homicides reported through June, the city could see more slayings than the record 26 in 1991.

"Clearly, we’re not satisfied with the homicide rate," Mayor Robert Cluck said.

Cluck said the city is adding police staffing.

"We need badges and uniforms and guns, people who can take forceful action if necessary," Cluck said.

Click here to read more of this report from Staff Writer Mitch Mitchell, including a slate of Arlington crime statistics.

-- Bill Miller

What crimes were making news a year ago?

There's a million stories in the naked city ...

That's what Lance Murray first wrote when Crime Time was launched on this date a year ago.

As we mark the first anniversary of Crime Time, we wonder what other crime stories, besides the Tattoo Bandit were making news back then.

Crime Time headlines on this date in 2007 included "Another family massacre," "Four fetuses found at Maryland home," and "Band of youths pounce on man, stab him 15 times."

Click here for a retrospective, but please note, the links to stories have expired.

-- Bill Miller

Nearly 2 million hits later, Crime Time turns 1

Happy birthday to us!

Today marks one year since the first words went online in this blog. Oh, how time flies.

Since then, the blog has had more than 1.75 million hits from loyal readers looking for what's happening in the world of crime. Sometimes it's really awful and sometimes it's just plain unbelievable.

So what started it all? Here's the first item we posted one year ago today.

'Woman with tats strikes again'

She's done it again, that tatted up woman with a gun. This time she hit a convenience store in Grapevine.

Smile, you're on surveillance camera."

Yes, It was the "Tattoo Bandit" who got Crime Time off to such a successful start.

To all of you, we say thanks.

-- Lance Murray

POSTSCRIPT: But what happened next to Phyllis Dawn Harvey, the Tattoo Bandit?

Harvey (left) was eventually arrested, and in April, she received 18 life sentences and a 75-year sentence for her 2007 crime spree.

In 12 days, Harvey robbed stores in eight cities and carjacked four people to feed her drug addiction. During her sentencing, Harvey said a previous prison sentence wasn’t enough to keep her out of trouble with drugs.

"I came home and made an attempt to do good, but I didn’t stay clean long," she said. "When it came down to how I was going to support my habit, I made some bad choices."

-- Bill Miller

A body in his freezer, preacher arrested during sermon

I'll bet the congregation in south Alabama was surprised when officer's arrested their evangelist preacher on a murder charge as he delivered a sermon about forgiveness that had congregants saying "amens" from their seats.

Police say preacher Anthony Hopkins, 37, who was being held Wednesday in the Mobile County Jail.

They say they found a body in Hopkins' freezer and they believe it is that of his wife, Arletha Hopkins, 36. She was the mother of eight children and has not been seen for three years,  but was never reported missing.

A relative of the preacher had contacted police, officials said. Hopkins was arrested Monday night while delivering his sermon.

-- Lance Murray

Dallas PD nabs pet hotel robbers via You Tube

It's getting hard out there for a criminal, now that the cops are turning to the world wide web for help.

In January, the Dallas police launched their own You Tube page, where they post surveillance video of suspects and ask viewers for tips. This week, DPD nabbed their first suspects spotted on You Tube. These two guys ran into a swanky Pet Ritz on West Mockingbird Lane and ripped some flat screens off the wall. (What will Fi-Fi do without her soap operas!?) There are three other videos on the page, so check it out and see if you can help fight crime.

-- Rick Press

Police: Suspect was father of slain soldier's unborn child

Police say that the North Carolina soldier arrested in connection with the slaying of fellow soldier Megan Touma's was the father of her unborn baby.

Sgt. Edgar Patino faces first-degree murder charges, authorities said. They said two anonymous "confession" letters mailed to police were attempts to derail the investigation.

Touma's body was found decomposing in June in a motel bathtub by a maintenance supervisor who noticed a foul smell coming from the room that had a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.

-- Lance Murray

Blotter: Arlington mother laments killer's sentence

'I wanted him locked way and never heard from again'

For Quintarick Wilson’s mother, this summer has been marked with reminders of the life her son (right) could have had.

On June 6, Tretobia Sharkey sat in her son’s chair at Sam Houston High School’s graduation ceremony and walked across the stage to receive a diploma on his behalf. A couple of weeks later, she celebrated what would have been his 19th birthday.

And last week, she attended the sentencing of DeAngelo Cortez Morton, 20, who pleaded guilty to engaging in organized criminal activity/murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Wilson on Sept. 15 at a house party in Arlington.

Police said the killing stemmed from a disagreement between rival gangs.

Morton was sentenced to 30 years in prison, leaving Sharkey displeased.

"I didn’t think it was enough time," she said Tuesday. "I think since I can’t ever see my son again, I wanted him locked way and never heard from again. That’s what I feel.

"Thirty years was not enough time for the pain that he’s caused me and my family."

Staff Writer Traci Shurley reports.

North Richland Hills police seek burglary suspects

Police asked for help Wednesday to identify four men suspected of breaking into a Metro PCS on July 18 and stealing about $4,000 worth of equipment and cash.

Investigators released photographs taken from a store surveillance camera.

Authorities believe that the men could be responsible for other similar burglaries at businesses in Northeast Tarrant County in recent weeks.

Staff Writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. reports.

Family car peppered with bullets in Dallas

Three children were critically wounded early Wednesday when they were shot as their family car was fired upon in the Pleasant Grove area of southeast Dallas, police said.

The children -- ages 4, 10 and 12 -- are being treated at Dallas hospitals.

Police on Wednesday were questioning ''people of interest in the case."

The shooting occurred at an apartment complex in the 300 block of Jim Miller Road,  police said.

Staff Writer Bill Miller reports.

Woman, 3 teens arrested in robbery, slaying

A 29-year-old man’s quest for sex apparently led to his slaying early Sunday, police said.

Police believe that Javier Santos had gone to a home in the 4200 block of Yellowleaf Drive to buy sex but instead was robbed and stabbed in the chest and had his throat cut.

Arrested on warrants Monday were Ivan Eugene Shepherd, 19, his cousin Landon Jarrod Shepherd, 17, and Jerrodick Campbell, also 17, all of whom face charges of capital murder. Diedre Nicole Mason, 21, faces a charge of murder.

Staff Writer Deanna Boyd reports.

-- Bill Miller