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. This time around I have enlisted the aid of my fellow reporters who covered the stories as they unfolded. No. 6 (tie): “Spice”  cannabicyclohexanol Military reporter Hope [...]

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. This time around I have enlisted the aid of my fellow reporters who covered the stories as they unfolded. No. 6 (tie): “Pelican Grief”   Pelecanus conspicillatus Topsail [...]

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. This time around I have enlisted the aid of my fellow reporters who covered the stories as they unfolded. No. 7: “In the public eye part III [...]

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. This time around I have enlisted the aid of my fellow reporters who covered the stories as they unfolded. No. 8: “…not again…”  Anneka Lasseter Editorial assistant [...]

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. This time around I have enlisted the aid of my fellow reporters who covered the stories as they unfolded. No. 9: “Lunch money”  Ralph Thomas Carteret County [...]

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. This time around I have enlisted the aid of my fellow reporters who covered the stories as they unfolded. No. 10: “Big Crock”  Peter Wann Sports writer [...]

The family of a South Carolina man have taken umbrage to the idea he killed Jennifer Hamilton Morton. According to the mother and step-mother of Garrett Mahn, DNA tests were conducted and have cleared their son. The police will not confirm or deny this, and will not grant The Daily News access to the files. [...]

- Hopefully by the time you read this, Jacksonville police will have arrested a suspect in a Thursday night homicide. Wanted, armed and dangerous – Jamel Terry fled the scene in a white Chevrolet Equinox SUV. He is described as a black man, approximately five feet, 10-inches tall and weighing about 235 pounds. Read news here. [...]

Murder charges against Vickie Babbitt and Rodger Gill have been dropped. Read the news. Babbitt was having an extramarital affair with George Hayden in 1972. Gill was thier friend. Hayden used an M-16 to gun down Vickie’s husband, Camp Lejeune Marine Sgt. Bill Miller. Hayden escaped justice for 36 years. Then the stars aligned to bring his victim’s sister, who had [...]

“New Kid on D Block” Cody Richardson should be settling into his new life in Raleigh’s Central Prison as Inmate Number 1168825. Read Richardson’s N.C. Department of Correction file. I am told that “Walmart 1, 2, 3. Click. Click. Click,” may be a reference to a 2008 New Kids on the Block song. ——————————————————– “From defendant to [...]

Dana Browning threw out her baby with the bath water. Her mother, Janet Mogelinicki Starling, is in prison for fraud. And her sister, Brandy Sawyer, is serving life for starving her stepdaughter to death. Brandy was posting on jdnews.com how angry she was at her sister for dumping her baby in the trash in 2008, but then she [...]

Cody Richardson creeps me out. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to strangling his wife and sleeping in the bed with her for two days. Click the above article link to read his five-page confession, two suicide notes and a letter from his victim’s mother to the court asking for leniency (no, seriously). I did not include [...]

- A N.C. Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that Dennis Connolley was insane and therefore not guilty of the 2007 shooting death of his sister. I know people are skeptical of insanity pleas (Lord knows I am), but in this case the defendant seems to be, in fact, crazy. The doctors who testified as to [...]

- God told Dennis Connolley, accused of allegedly killing his sister and injuring his mother in 2007, to kill his entire seven-member family, according to court testimony from three psychiatrists Monday. Good thing for the Connolley family that Dennis is a classic underachiever. Oh, and religion scares me. – Not sure who told Marine Pvt. Jonathan Law [...]

The recent arrest in Craven County of a person central to the Jennifer Hamilton Morton case has renewed a lively discussion on this blog of the circumstances surrounding her tragic death. This case has been of interest to Mike McHugh and I since we first wrote about it. The recent comments have not been ignored [...]

- The Hubert father allegedly stabbed by his son last month is about to start  physical rehab for his injuries. – Despite earlier reports, the New River Marine accused of killing his friend’s baby girl out in California has not been discharged. – Looks like prosecutors are waiting to see how George Hayden’s appeal goes before [...]

Mike McHugh has an excellent column in Sunday’s newspaper about the area’s homeless and how useless it is to help some of them. Read the online version here. The column is stark in its honesty. And it comes from a very real, personal place inside Mike. The column is the result of a philosophical journey [...]