It is the second family murder-suicide this week that might have been prompted by the bad economy.
Mark Meeks, 51, who had worked at a Honda dealership’s service garage, shot his wife, 8-year-old daughter and five-year-old son at their home near Columbus, Ohio, before turning the gun on himself, police said. The shooting happened on Wednesday afternoon, the Columbus Post-Dispatch reported.
Meeks’ boss told the newspaper that Meeks had been laid off, but then recently got his service-adviser job back. Police said there was a suicide note, but declined to release details. His wife, Jennifer Dallas-Meeks, was a stay at home mother. Both children, Abigail and Jimmy, had been home that day because of the snowstorm.
Earlier this week, a Los Angeles man who had been fired from his job at a hospital killed his wife and five children. Ervin Lupoe, mired in about $850,000 in debt, then shot himself in the head. Just before the Tuesday shooting, Lupoe and his wife had planned to move closer to family members in Kansas.
Unfortunately for Dad, the deal went bad. His daughter was carried off, but he never got his $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat. So he did what most people would do if they’ve been defrauded: He called the cops and asked for help getting his girl back.
On Monday, police arrested Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, of Greenfield, Calif., and charged him with “receiving money for causing person to cohabitate,” NBC News in Los Angeles reported. The groom didn’t get away either; Margarito de Jesus Galindo, 18, was charged with suspicion of statutory rape.
Arranged marriages, common in many cultures, are acceptable in the United States, as long as neither party was coerced and both are of legal age.
Laura Fernandez had followed her daddy outside when he went to move the car Saturday in front of their home in Simi Valley, Calif., the Ventura County Star reported. The father, who police declined to identify, didn’t see his 16-month-old daughter.
Each week, about 50 kids are hit as a car backs into them, and an average of two a week are fatalities, according to Kids and Cars, a safety advocacy group. Most are toddlers, and the person responsible is often a parent or close relative. Safety tips, including advice on how to teach young children about safety around cars, are here.
Fourteen-year-old Garrett Quedens never made it back to his Long Island, N.Y., home after a New Year’s Eve party. On Friday, police arrested two men, ages 19 and 23, and charged them with providing vodka to the teen, the Associated Press reported.
It’s not yet clear whether the alcohol was a factor in Garrett’s death. A newspaper deliveryman found Garrett’s body on the morning of New Year’s Day, near a wooded area popular with neighborhood kids. High winds on New Year’s Eve made the temperature feel like zero degrees.
Garrett’s parents began looking for him after he missed his midnight curfew. “I drove around looking for him and I couldn’t find him,” dad Thomas Quedens told the New York Daily News. “I’d like all the parents out there to know: know where your kid is, because I didn’t have a clue.”
James Manning had escaped the early morning fire but turned back for his two young children. His wife, severely burned, ran to get help from neighbors.
But when firefighters arrived, they found the bodies of the father and his two children, just 25 feet from the front door of their Missouri home, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. Manning, 11-year-old Austin and 7-year-old Cari were near a window.
Investigators don’t know yet what caused the New Year’s Day blaze. James Manning, 39, who worked inspecting fire alarms and security systems, was a popular Little League coach for his son’s team in Jefferson County.
The beginning of the new year brought other fire tragedies. Six people–including a four-year-old girl and boys ages 10 and 11–were killed when flames engulfed their Washington, D.C., bungalow. The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, but officials said there might have been an electrical problem between the basement and first floor, the Washington Post reported.
On New Year’s Eve, two toddler sisters died in house fire in Anderson, Ind. Six other family members escaped but heavy smoke prevented the girls, ages 1 and 2, from being rescued, the Star-Press reported.
More home fires occur during the winter than any other time of year. When the weather is cold, families often use several methods of heating, such as wood-burning stoves and space heaters, which can become hazards if safety precautions are not taken. Electrical outlets can also get overloaded. The U.S. Fire Administration has safety tips here.
Robert Dearborn of New Hampshire was caught on tape encouraging his teenage son in a fight with another boy. Police say the 35-year-old father can be heard saying “smash his head against the pavement” and “step on his head.”
Dearborn, who has been charged with reckless endangerment and faces a $2,000 fine and a year behind bars, complained to the Manchester Union Leader that the police are making him “look like a monster.”
Here’s what he says really happened: Cameron, 15, was jumped by three teens who followed him on the bus home from school on Oct. 23. Dearborn said he initially tried to lead Cameron away but that one of the boys pursued him. “I was literally protecting my son,” the father said.
Police opened an investigation recently after the video, made by a spectator and posted on You Tube, was discovered by school counselors. Dearborn was arrested just before Christmas.
For some readers commenting on the newspaper’s Web site, the father has a powerful argument. “Good job Dad! I wish my Dad would have stood up for me when I was in school. Please set up a defense fund, I was just laid off, but will still send you what I can,” wrote one man. But another reader said: “What a nice example the father is showing his son. Is this how he grew up? An eye for an eye!”
The video no longer seems to be on You Tube, but snippets can be seen in a report on a local TV station, WBZ. The teens will be tried in juvenile court.
In an unrelated incident, another New Hampshire dad was booked on similar charges when he drove his son to a neighbor’s house on Nov. 7 to beat up another kid. George Primeau, 46, allegedly told his son to knock the other kid out, police said. Further details were not available on that incident.
The father told the girl and her brother to try to walk 10 miles in the snow to their mother’s house after his truck broke down on Christmas Day. He stayed behind with the truck.
The 11-year-old girl, Sage Aragon, was found about 2.7 miles from where she set out in Idaho, almost buried under a snowdrift. She later died of hypothermia, the Associated Press reported. Her brother, Bear, 12, made it to a rest area off a highway, halfway to his mother’s home. He was found wearing only long underwear. He had taken off the rest of his clothes after becoming delusional from hypothermia.
Their father was charged with second-degree murder. Robert Aragon, 55, appeared in court briefly on Monday and was told he could face life in prison if convicted. He banged his head on the table as the charges were read.
Authorities said the father’s truck got stuck in a snowdrift as he was taking them to visit their mother in another town. Aragon told the kids to get out and walk to their mom’s house. He and another adult stayed behind to free the truck and then drove back to Aragon’s home, the mother, JoLeta Jenks, told police. She called police after she talked to the father and found out what he had done.
On Christmas Day, temperatures in the area ranged from 27 degrees to minus 5.
UPDATE: The girl’s uncle, who had stayed behind with her father and the truck, was arrested on New Year’s Day and charged with second-degree murder.
That’ll teach ‘em. Two brothers who were caught stealing an ax in Gering, Neb., were forced by their father to stand in front of the store, apologizing for their crimes on handwritten orange signs.
“My name is Cole,” the older boy’s sign said. “I was caught shoplifting at Dollar General. I will not shoplift again.” Cole Russell is 15; his brother Kip, who waited outside the store while Cole did the deed, is 12. (See a photo of the boys and their signs here.)
The two-hour punishment for the boys last month is nothing compared to the notoriety they’re receiving as the story belatedly makes its way around the Internet. Most commentators are applauding the father. “I won’t tolerate a thief, and hopefully this will teach them that they need to make the right choices,” Merle Russell told the Scottsbluff Star-Herald.
Cole Russell was due before a judge last week, but there’s no word on how that turned out. We’re hoping the boys were sentenced to spending more time in school. Both their signs misspelled “stealing” as “steeling.”
Photo by Drinksmachine
Buy this dad a brain.
Randy Lewis, 43, who told police that he had drunk at least 15 beers, apparently allowed the kid to drive the packed van. The boy was driving about 90 mph when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed in northeastern Tennesee on Sunday, authorities said.
Lewis was charged with seven violations, including driving under the influence and felony reckless endangerment, the Associated Press reported. Adults can be charged with DUI if they own the vehicle, even if they are not driving.
The other adult in the car, Paula Elaine Evans, 38, was charged with aggravated child abuse or neglect. She was seen trying to swallow as many pills as she could when deputies arrived at the scene, the AP reported.
The young driver, another 10-year-old and a six-year-old were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and are now under care of the state Children’s Services Department. Authorities said the kids are related to the adults, but declined to detail how. The adults were being held in jail; no word on whether Lewis changed his shirt after his mug shot was taken.
Et tu, Bambi?
Sunday morning, Seth Nolan of North Carolina suffered numerous injuries to his head and face from a deer, according to ABC News. In an interview, the four-year-old, whose right eye was still swollen from the attack, said: “He was trying to kill me,” while explaining that he’d been chasing the deer.
In an act of daddy heroism, Seth’s father, who ABC News did not identify, rescued his son by grabbing the deer by the antlers. “I know that’s stupid, but that’s the only thing I could think of to get him off my young’un,’” said the humble dad.
Based on the ABC News report, Seth has apparently recovered well enough to run, pat a cat and give media interviews about his harrowing wildlife encounter. There was no word on the fate of the deer.
Deer are involved in more human fatalities annually than any other wild animal in the United States, according to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. Of course, the vast majority of those deer-related deaths occur in traffic accidents.
Photo by James Marvin Phelps
