I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 1: “Parallel Lives”� I know, you’re thinking that there are several stories to go and I have run out of room. But those remaining stories have [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 2: “Saddest story I have ever had to write” � A child of proud gun-owning parents found a pistol in his Southwest area home and was [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 3: “Pit Bulls” Whether the victim or the aggressor, pit bulls played a major role in local crime stories in 2009. To kick it off, Camp [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 4: “Cold Case Homicide” As 2009 opened, Rodger Gill, a man who had lived most of his life in obscurity in Illinois was thrust into the [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 5: “Operation Patriot” No, this is not a young Lex Luthor, it is a man with a diabolical plot of his very own. It was news [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 6: “Suicide by Cop”� John Traub and Sam�Jarolim had several things in common: Battles with addiction,�loving families, and deaths at the hands of law enforcement. Both [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 7: In the public eye (2009)� Local politics are always fun. Often the alleged antics of our elected official land them in court. Then I get [...]

I overheard in the newsroom that Reese Phipps was looking for me. I thought he read where I called his daddy a crazy man in my crime story countdown and was coming to kill me. I considered diving out the back door, but figured I should face the music. To my relief and everyone else’s [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 8: “Hooligans” Jacksonville Police Chief Mike Yaniero was asking for funds from the city for nuisance abatement early in the year. Whispers that Hooligans would be [...]

I have compiled what I believe to the 10 most captivating local crime stories of the last year. These are the crime stories that got our readership talking. No. 9: “Hanging Judge” When Duplin County crazy man Lacy Phipps started dressing mannequins up like local court officials and hanging them in effigy, no one in [...]

When Jan. 1, 2009, arrived, the newspaper was taking heat for running a front-page year later look back at the Maria Lauterbach homicide and Rodger Gill was about to be arrested in Illinois, accused in a shooting 37 years earlier. Some of the biggest stories of the previous year would continue to grab headlines, but [...]