Woman charged with 93-year-old Stockport great gran's murder
Greater Manchester Police said it had referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct because its officers had previous contact with Mrs Zussman.
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Luigi Mangione is granted major perk while waiting in jail ahead of his murder trial
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Daily Mail
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Daughter of murderous ex-MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini's victims speaks out after he gunned down in-laws
Adrienne Spohr, the daughter of Gary Spohr and Wendy Wood, has spoken out after disgraced former MLB player Daniel Serafini gunned down her parents. Serafini, 51, was found guilty in July of murdering his father-in-law and attempting to kill his mother-in-law. The former Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs pitcher broke into Spohr and Wood's Lake Tahoe-area home in 2021 and shot dead Spohr at close range before firing at Wood, 69. Wood, who suffered brain damage as a result of the shooting, killed herself in 2023 at an assisted-living facility. Now, Adrienne, the 35-year-old sister of Serafini's wife Erin, paid an emotional tribute to her parents as she opened up on their tragic deaths. 'My parents were forces of nature. They were strong, adventurous, generous and they loved deeply,' Adrienne told People. 'That's how I want people to remember them — not as victims but as the incredible people they were.' Prosecutors claimed that Spohr was 'executed' with a bullet to the back of his head, while Wood was struck by gunfire, vomited and bled on the couch before she crawled to a bathroom, where she managed to call 911. She was so badly injured that she could only gasp for air. Still, emergency responders rushed to the scene, where they found Spohr's body along with bullet shell casings and bloodstains splattered around the luxury home. Medics found Wood in the bathroom, and flew her to the hospital in Reno, where she spent the next month in intensive care. Adrienne said that in the following weeks her mother 'relearned how to walk and write and even went hiking.' However, Wood suffered with depression and anxiety, ultimately taking her life in 2023. 'The heartbreak of losing my dad — and knowing who was responsible [for his death] — became too much,' Adrienne said. 'She said it felt like she had lost her right arm.' Last month, a California jury declared that Serafini was guilty of first-degree murder for his father-in-law's death, as well as the attempted murder of his mother-in-law and burglary, CBS News reported. The jury also found Serafini was guilty of charge enhancements, including discharging of a firearm to cause great bodily injury, lying in wait and that the attack was woeful, willful and premeditated, according to KCRA. However, the 10-woman, two-man jury found Serafini was not guilty of child endangerment as his children were not at the house at the time of the deadly shooting. Prosecutors have claimed throughout the months-long trial that Serafini had been in desperate need of cash following an acrimonious divorce and a failed bar venture for which he lost $14 million in earnings from his baseball career. They also argued that the former baseball star hated his wealthy in-laws and even told others that he wanted them dead, as he continued his affair with the nanny, Samantha Scott, 35. Serafini, they said, ultimately devised a plan to sneak into his wealthy in-laws home on June 5, 2021 when he knew they were spending time out on the lake with his wife and children. He then waited with a .22-caliber gun for his wife and children to return to their Reno, Nevada home, and when Spohr and Wood were watching television shortly before 9am, Serafini opened fire, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Miller told jurors. She ultimately hanged herself in 2023, and her will is now the subject of a contentious legal battle between Serafini's wife, Erin, and Adrienne. The two sisters are fighting to get custody of the couple's estate - which they estimate to be worth $10 million. It now seems that Serafini's relationship with his in-laws had been fraught from the beginning - and tensions only grew worse as the former pitcher and his wife found themselves partially reliant on handouts from her wealthy parents. Making matters worse, her parents forced Serafini to sign a post-nuptial agreement one year after their wedding - meaning he would not get any of her money if their marriage were to end, Erin testified in court, according to the Sacramento Bee. Wearing a backpack and black hoodie, the man thought to be the killer carried a concealed .22-caliber gun as he strolled around Lake Tahoe on the day of the murder As the investigation into the shooting continued, authorities also discovered Serafini once said he would pay to have his in-laws killed. ''I'll pay $20,000 to have them killed. They're wealthy pieces of s***.' That's what he said about his in-laws,' Miller told jurors back in May. He said Serafini made the comment in 2012, the same year he married their daughter, Erin, now 36. Then, just three months before the murder, Serafini was also overheard by a mine foreman saying he wanted to kill them in a furious phone call. Transcripts of angry emails and text messages between Serafini and his wife's parents further showed a heated, ongoing dispute over a $1.3 million loan from his in-laws to help fund Erin's fledgling horse ranch business. Yet the in-laws continued to help out their daughter - even providing her a check for $90,0000 on the day of the grisly murder. Erin and Serafini's two young children had visited the Lake Tahoe compound that day, and as they spent hours boating on the lake, a masked man was caught on camera sneaking into Spohr's Tahoe City shortly after 5pm. Just over an hour later, five gunshots were heard in rapid succession from inside the property with the masked killer caught leaving the home a few minutes before 9pm. The former baseball star is now due to be sentenced on August 18, when he faces the possibility of life behind bars. Serafini was an MLB pitcher who was drafted in 1992 and whose career spanned 11 years with multiple teams. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs and finished his career with the Colorado Rockies back in 2007.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
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Mother 'murdered her two young children then went to group therapy and JOKED about it'
A mother charged with murdering her two youngest children went to a group therapy meeting hours after their deaths and joked about strangling them, prosecutors allege. Catherine Hoggle was arrested and charged on Friday with the 2014 murders of three-year-old Sarah and two-year-old Jacob. Three years prior, a judge had dismissed an earlier indictment charging her with the same crimes, deeming her unfit to stand trial due to her mental health. On Tuesday, the court heard prosecutors reveal they have new evidence implying she confessed to the murders. Montgomery County State Attorney John McCarthy told the court she attended a group-therapy session with the father of the children, Troy Turney, hours after their deaths. 'At that point in time, she made a comment to a woman that was in those therapy sessions with her that she had strangled her children,' McCarthy said. He alleged Hoggle made a 'strangling' motion with her hands before ultimately insisting she was joking. He argued against her request to be released on bond, noting there was a third, surviving child she could attempt to harm if freed. Police allege Hoggle was last seen with little Jacob on September 7, 2014, after driving off with him. She returned home and allegedly told family members she had dropped him to a friend's house for a sleepover. That night, police allege Hoggle secretly took Sarah from the home. Neither Sarah or Jacob have ever been seen again. The new warrant states investigators met with a criminal profiler with the FBI who noted: 'It was their belief that the children were murdered, likely by strangulation and their bodies were disposed of via an outside trash container.' Hoggle had allegedly intended to abduct the children's older brother, then five, from his school bus stop but the plan was foiled by the boy's father. She was initially arrested and charged with neglect and abduction, both misdemeanors. She was sent to the state-run psychiatric hospital for treatment. Then in 2017, she was indicted on murder charges. A judge ruled she was incompetent to stand trial and imposed continuing court-ordered treatment. Under state law, authorities had five years to declare her competent to stand trial; otherwise, criminal charges would be dismissed. Hoggle has long suffered from severe mental illness. She has a history of schizophrenia and was treated with antipsychotic medications after her arrest. In 2022, a Montgomery County judge dropped the charges against her, citing the five-year time limit. Hoggle was ordered to remain involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment because she was still considered a danger to herself or others. McCarthy vowed then that if she were ever deemed no longer a threat and released, he would charge her again with murder.
