Crime Time

$15,000 reward offered in adbuction of Oklahoma girl whose mother was slain

 A $15,000 reward is being offered in the reported kidnapping of a 7-year-old Oklahoma girl whose mother was found slain earlier this week.

Texas authorities issued an Amber Alert in the case but later discontinued it because of a lack of leads.

The reward is being offered by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service in Oklahoma for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Lester William Hobbs, 46, according to a release from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

He's suspected of kidnapping Aja Danielle Johnson and of killing her mother, Tonya Hobbs, according to the release.

Aja is 4 feet tall, with brown eyes and brown hair and weighs 65 pounds.

Lester Hobbs is described as 6 feet-1-inch tall and 190 pounds. Hobbs has green eyes, brown hair, and multiple tattoos, including wings on his chest and the word “Tony” on his left forearm.

He last was seen driving a white 1995 Toyota Paseo with Oklahoma license plate 577BPW, according to the release. The rear window may be broken out, the release said.

Anyone with information should call the U.S. Marshals Service in Oklahoma City at 405-231-4206.

-- Lance Murray

Remains identified as those of missing lottery winner

Authorities in Florida say that the body found buried in backyard is indeed that of Abraham Shakespeare, the missing Florida lottery winner.  The case is being called a homicide investigation.

Medical examiners used fingerprints to identify the remains, officials said. No cause of death has been established, however.

The remains of the 43-year-old truck driver's assistant -- who took a $17 million cash payout of a $31 million  lottery jackpot in 2006 -- were found at a Plant City home of a man linked to Dorice Moore, a woman who had befriended Shakespeare.

She's been called a "person of interest" in Shakespeare's disappearance. Police said Moore had transferred $1 million from Shakespeare's account to her own. She told police it was a gift.  Moore has not been charged with any crime, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Woman left baby in cold outside bar while she drank

Police in Reno, Nev., have arrested a 41-year-old woman for allegedly leaving her 1-year-old child in a stroller in the cold outside a bar as she drank inside -- her 2-year-old daughter asleep alone at home.

Christine Yvette Lobe was arrested on suspicion of two counts of child endangerment or neglect.

Police were alerted at about midnight Wednesday by bar patrons who reported a child in a stroller alone outside the bar wearing only an infant bodysuit. The temperature that night was in the lower 30s, police said. Lobe allegedly left the the older child at home and walked with the other child to the bar to drink.

The girls were placed with their father, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Man convicted of murdering Kansas abortion doctor

A jury in Wichita, Kan., has convicted a 51-year-old man of premeditated first-degree murder in the killing a Kansas abortion provider.

During testimony, Scott Roeder had admitted walking into Dr. George Tiller's church and shooting the physician in the head.

Roeder, who claimed the killing was justified in order to save the lives of unborn children, will face a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

3 overnight homicides keep Dallas police busy

Dallas police were investigating three overnight homicides Friday.

The first killing occurred at about 11:12 p.m., said Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse, police spokesman.

He said that Reginald Kenneth Johnson, 36, was shot in a parking lot at 13030 Audelia Road by an unknown person. Johnson was able to drive from that lot in his car to a  7-11 store at Audelia and Walnut Street, where the clerk called 911.  Johnson was transported to Baylor Hospital where he died, Janse said. Police have no suspect in the case.

Less than an hour later, the second killing was reported at 5821 Bonnieview.

Police were dispatched at 12:08 a.m. where they found David Logan, 24, shot inside an apartment. Janse said that two men entered the apartment and shot Logan and two other men who were inside the apartment. The condition of the other men was not available. Logan was pronounced dead later at Methodist Hospital.

Janse said the gunmen fled the scene and that the incident might be drug-related.

The third killing occurred at 1:45 a.m. at 1227 Deerwood, where a husband and wife lying in bed were both struck by gunfire that entered the residence through a window, Janse said.

Ricardo Zamarron, 31, was killed. His wife was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her lower body, Janse said. He said the shooting did not appear to be random and that the house or the couple were possibly targeted.

-- Lance Murray

Burleson officials: No evidence of attempted child abductions

Staff writer Alex Branch is reporting that officials in the city of Burleson saying that investigators have found no evidence that four recent reports attempted child abductions were actually that.

Three of the well-publicized incidents have been reclassified as suspicious person cases, he reports.

The FBI helped city police in the case and Branch reports that some of the original reports from children have been recanted, changed or unable to have evidence verified.

Officials still are warning children and parents to be vigilant.

You can read Branch's full report here.

-- Lance Murray

Arizona police officer fatally shot during traffic stop

A traffic stop Thursday night proved fatal for a Phoenix-area police officer when he was shot by two men.

The suspects were later wounded during a high speed chase that erupted into a fusillade of bullets, the Associated Press reported.

The slain officer was identified as Lt. Eric Shulander of the Gilbert Police Department.  He was shot late Thursday near Mesa and died later at a hospital.

Police spotted the vehicle that Shulander had stopped minutes after his shooting and pursued it east through several Phoenix-area communities. Shots were fired during the chase and the suspects were hit multiple times, The Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Human remains may be missing lottery winner, police say

Winning the lottery doesn't guarantee happiness, some people have said.

In the case of missing Florida lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare, right, who won $31 million in the Florida lottery in 2006, police are investigating whether it led to foul play.

Police say that the human remains found near a Plant City home may be those of Shakespeare. The home is owned by the boyfriend of a woman who has been called a "person of interest" in his disappearance.

Police said that the woman had transferred $1 million from Shakespeare's account into hers, but she has told police it was a gift.

The medical examiner will determine if the remains are Shakespeare's. No arrests have been made and police said their investigation is continuing, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Couple found slain in their Ellis County home

Police in the Ellis County community of Ferris are investigating the discovery Thursday morning of a couple slain in their home.

"Someone came into the department and said there was blood splattered on the walls," Ferris Police Chief Frank Mooney told the Ellis County Press. "Right in the walkway there was a young man shot as you open the front door and in the kitchen a young female's body was discovered."

Police said the couple had just recently moved into the home in the community south of Dallas, the Ellis County Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Parole board denies 'Onion Field' killer's bid for freedom

Yesterday, we told you that notorious 'Onion Field' killer Gregory Powell was up for parole in California.

We can report that the state's parole board announced late Wednesday night that it had denied his bid for freedom for the 11th time.

Powell, 76, was convicted along with onetime Fort Worth resident Jimmy Lee Smith, of kidnapping Los Angeles police officer Ian Campbell and his partner during a 1963 traffic stop, driving them to an onion field in Bakersfield, Calif., and fatally shooting Campbell. The other kidnapped officer, Karl Hettinger, was able to escape.

The incident became the subject of a best-selling novel by Joseph Wambaugh and later a well-regarded movie in which actor James Woods portrayed Powell.

-- Lance Murray