Missing Arizona Girl Thought to Have Been Killed, Dumped in Trash

PHOENIX –  Police now believe a 5-year-old Arizona girl missing for more than two months was killed and that her body was dumped in a trash bin across town before her mother reported her missing -- the most substantive information detectives have released about what they think happened to the girl.

Police in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale stopped short of saying who they think killed Jhessye Shockley, but Glendale police Sgt. Brent Coombs reiterated Wednesday that the girl's mother is the "No. 1 focus."

"We're in what we believed to be the worst-case scenario from the beginning," Coombs said.

A month ago, detectives arrested Jhessye's mother, Jerice Hunter, on a child abuse charge related to the girl, announcing at the time that they didn't believe they'd find the girl alive.

Hunter was released from jail days later, and the charge against her was dropped. Prosecutors said at the time that they wanted further investigation and were worried that Hunter would not be eligible for a potential murder charge if she was convicted of abusing Shockley, a situation known as double jeopardy.

A call to Hunter's home was not immediately returned Wednesday, but she has previously maintained her innocence.

Coombs said tips that came in following Hunter's arrest and evidence collected during search warrants led police to believe Jhessye's body was dumped in Tempe. He declined to elaborate.

Coombs did say detectives firmly believe Jhessye's body is now in a landfill south of the Phoenix area, and that detectives are deciding whether to search for it.

"There's such a scientific method behind trying to pinpoint a location within a particular cell within that landfill. It's a very difficult thing to do," he said, also noting that decomposition is an issue. "The reason we're taking such a long time is we want to be as confident as we can be prior to starting any operation that we're going to do the very best job we can."

Hunter reported Jhessye missing Oct. 11, telling police that she left Jhessye with the girl's older siblings while she ran an errand and returned to find her gone.

But a court document released last month says Hunter's teenage daughter later told police that she hadn't seen Jhessye since September. She told them that a few days before Hunter reported the girl missing, she saw Hunter cleaning her shoes and a closet where she kept Jhessye.

Police said they found a receipt that showed Hunter bought food and a bottle of bleach Oct. 9.

The teen also told police that Hunter deprived Jhessye of food and water while keeping her in the closet, and that she saw the girl with black eyes, bruises and cuts to her face and body.

"(She) reported that Jhessye's hair had been pulled out and described Jhessye as not looking alive and that she looked like a zombie," the document said. "(She) said that the closet where Jhessye had been looked like a grave and smelled like dead people."

The teen also said Hunter became angry with Jhessye sometime in September when she returned home to find the girl wearing a long T-shirt while watching TV with a neighbor boy. Hunter told Jhessye she was a "ho" before taking her into a bedroom, according to the document. The teen said she then heard her sister screaming and crying in the room.

Police say Hunter has declined to submit to a lie-detector test.

Hunter has said she had nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance, and has been critical of investigators.

"We feel that law enforcement is not active in finding Jhessye and that they're more active in persecuting me instead of finding out where she is," Hunter said in October.

Child welfare workers removed Hunter's other children, including a newborn, from her apartment the day after she reported Jhessye missing.

Hunter came under scrutiny during the investigation for an October 2005 arrest with her then-husband, George Shockley, on child abuse charges in California. Hunter pleaded no contest to corporal punishment and served about four years in prison before she was released on parole in May 2010.

Hunter's oldest child, 14 at the time, has told police his mother routinely beat the children. George Shockley is a convicted sex offender and is still in a California prison.

Hunter's mother, Shirley Johnson, has said her daughter changed after prison and became a loving mother.

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Michael Douglas' Son Stunned, Sentenced to Four and a Half More Years in Prison

Cameron Douglas, the scion of one of Hollywood's most famous acting families, was sentenced to an additional 4 1/2 years behind bars Wednesday, on top of his current five-year prison sentence for drug dealing.

The 33-year-old troubled son of Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas was sentenced in April 2010 for drug trafficking but got another 4 1/2 years, more than twice what prosecutors were seeking, for possessing drugs while in prison.

"I feel ashamed," Douglas said before he was sentenced.

After the court hearing in New York, Douglas' mom Diandra Douglas wept and refused to talk with reporters.

Inside Manhattan federal court, Diandra Douglas' eyes widened and jaw dropped when she heard how much time her son had received. She was so distraught that she left her cellphone behind once the hearing was over.

Michael Douglas did not attend the hearing.

Cameron Douglas had been looking for another chance, writing to the judge earlier this week that he was "saturated in my own shame and penitence."

He had also begged for "the opportunity to build myself and gain the tools I need to shape my future."

"I feel so strongly, for the first time in my life, that I am truly ripe for positive reform and real achievement," he stated in the Manhattan federal court filing.

Douglas, who turned rat and got five years in jail following his 2009 arrest for dealing meth, noted that he has "been battling this disease of addiction, as you know, for more than half of my life."

Instead, Judge Richard Berman showed him very little mercy with the hefty prison sentence and a $4,000 fine, calling him "reckless, disruptive and non-compliant."

Douglas was also given a two-year ban for family visits and will receive immediate drug treatment while in prison.

The feds had only asked for two years.

Berman added that Douglas had "blown the biggest opportunity of his life."

Douglas' lawyer Nick De Feis said his client has never been given a chance to clean himself up while in prison.

"There are just so many times I can say, 'Give us another chance,'" Berman responded.

Britney Spears' First Husband: Her Engagement to Jason Trawick Is Fake

Published December 21, 2011

| NewsCore

Jason Alexander, the childhood friend Britney Spears married for 55 hours after a "wild, crazy" night in Las Vegas in 2004, believes that Spears' recent engagement to former agent Jason Trawick is "fake."

"I know everyone wants me to be happy about this, but I am not," Alexander told Us Weekly. "I think it's fake and I think people are afraid to say it."

While Alexander hasn't spoken to Spears about her relationship, he says that a picture is worth a thousand words.

"If you look at all the pictures between them there is no connection," explains Alexander, a mixed martial arts fighter.

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"They look like they are going through the motions. It seems like an answer to the court thing ... Sort of a nice way to sew it all up -- she marries her handler. That way she always has someone controlling her."

Alexander is referring to Spears' court conservatorship. In 2008, the pop star's legal and financial affairs were put under her father Jamie's control following an infamous public meltdown by the pop star in the wake of her split from Kevin Federline. The conservatorship is ongoing.

Four months before Spears met Federline, and seven months before they wed, Spears walked down the aisle of The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas with Alexander, wearing torn jeans and a belly-baring shirt.

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Just 55 hours later, a judge dissolved the union on the grounds that Spears "lacked understanding of her actions."

Alexander explained the impulse for the marriage at the time by telling Access Hollywood, "It was just crazy, man. We were just looking at each other and said, 'Let's do something wild, crazy. Let's go get married, just for the hell of it."'

Trawick and Spears' decision to marry appears to be far more planned. The two started dating in 2009, but didn't reveal they were a couple until May of last year, when they ended their professional relationship.

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Trawick proposed to Spears on Thursday night. The next morning she tweeted, "OMG. Last night Jason surprised me with the one gift I've been waiting for. Can't wait to show you! SO SO SO excited!!!! Xxo."

But Alexander doesn't think the news is so exciting. "It's sort of sad," he sniped.

Chicago Man Thought to Be Gacy Victim Found Alive, Says He 'Ran Away'

By Mike Tobin

Published December 21, 2011

| FoxNews.com

The renewed interest in the horrors of the John Wayne Gacy case has brought about a bright spot -- a reunion just in time for Christmas.

Theodore “Ted” Szal disappeared in March 1977. He was 24 years old and loosely fit the type of victims Gacy preyed upon. His car was found abandoned at Chicago's O’Hare airport, which was near Gacy’s home. He also worked construction. Gacy would often attract victims with promises of construction work.

Szal had a habit of disengaging with his family, for months at a time. So when he disappeared, the family never filed a missing person’s report. Over time, they just adopted the thought that he had fallen victim to Gacy’s murderous trap.

“That’s just what I thought,” his 87-year-old father, Ted Szal, told Fox News. “He used to go into Chicago and get into fights. I figured he probably met that guy and got killed by him.”

His father carried a photograph of Ted Jr. around. But the family never made much of an effort to track him down. He was working under his own name, using the same social security number and paying taxes. Thirty-four years later, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart re-opened the case in an effort to identify the eight unknown victims found on Gacy’s property.

That encouraged Ted Jr.’s sister, Marcia Carlson, to contact the sheriff’s office through its website. A DNA swab ruled out a connection to any of the remains.

Furthermore, a quick check of Ted’s information revealed that he was alive and well, working in Beaverton, Ore.

The younger Ted Szal told sheriff’s investigators he left Chicago because he broke up with his wife and had a disagreement with his family.

"My family thought I was dead. That hurt when I heard that," the 59-year-old carpenter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "There's a difference between being murdered and running away, and I basically just ran away."

His family felt hurt, too.

“I’m not too happy, because he didn’t get in touch with any of us,” Szal's father told Fox News.

That could change for this Christmas. Family members have made contact, and the wheels have started turning for a reunion.

This is the third case closed since the Gacy files were re-opened. Another presumed Gacy victim, Harold Wayne Lovell, was found living and working in Florida.

Sadly, DNA test told the family of William George Bundy that he was among the unidentified victims buried on the Gacy property. He disappeared when he was 19 years old. His family said the last thing they heard from Bundy was that he was going to a party.

Man Wins Then Crashes $380G Lamborghini

Published December 21, 2011

| Associated Press

SANTAQUIN, Utah –  A Utah man who won a $380,000 Lamborghini in a convenience store chain's contest crashed the sports car six hours after he got it.

The lime green Murcielago Roadster was set to leave for a Las Vegas body shop Wednesday for repairs, just days after Santaquin resident David Dopp won it in Maverik stores' "Joe Schmo to Lambo" contest.

"Yeah, I got it on Saturday and I wrecked it on Saturday," Dopp told KSL-TV.

Read: 2012 Lamborghini Aventador Review

He said he was taking friends and family on joy rides that evening on the outskirts of town. He said he took a curve at 40 or 50 mph when the vehicle hit ice or loose gravel and started spinning.

The car crashed through some fence posts before coming to rest in a field.

Dopp wasn't injured, but his wife said she was shocked.

"My heart pretty much fell out," Annette Dopp told KSL. "They said they were OK. Then (came), you know, that feeling when your heart drops and you're like, 'Oh, my gosh. What do we do now?'"

The 640-horsepower Lamborghini has front-end damage, a punctured wheel and scratches along the passenger side. The vehicle is insured.

David Dopp was videotaped last month jumping up and down and hollering in speechless disbelief when contest officials announced during a college football game that he won the car.

The giveaway, which awarded participants for using a rewards card at Maverik stores, was co-sponsored by nonprofit organization "teamgive," which raises awareness about rare neurological diseases.

David Dopp said it was strange seeing the flashy, exotic car in his humble driveway. He told ABC 4 in Salt Lake City that he plans to sell the vehicle to pay off bills and buy his wife another car — as soon as the Lamborghini's drivable again.

"It's going to be all nice and pretty here in a couple of months, I'm sure," David Dopp said.

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