Jim Hagerty

The girlfriend of the Midwestern man who allegedly gunned down three people inside an “adult-themed” party bus last weekend is also facing charges in connection with the shooting. Rockford, Illinois, resident Lakeacia D. Kizart, 21, is charged with preventing the apprehension of a fugitive and aiding a fugitive, the Rockford Register Star reported. Police say […]

An “adult-themed” party bus was the scene of a triple homicide Saturday, April 7, and police in Illinois are now searching for the gunman. Authorities allege that 22-year-old Raheem King used what they are reporting as an assault rifle to shoot three other passengers as the vehicle was traveling on the city’s west side, according […]

A man who admitted to brutally killing a toddler nearly 30 years ago has been released from an Illinois prison. Richard Howard, 62, was released from the Dixon Correctional Facility on Sunday. He’s been there since 2000, when he was sentenced to 45 years for killing 22-month-old Carrie Lynn Gaines in the early 1990s. Howard […]

Things could not have been any worse for an Illinois grandma when she was out trying to enjoy her birthday Sunday, March 18. Instead of leaving Golden Corral in Peoria full of smiles and gratitude for the enjoyable time, the unnamed woman was forced to collect herself after dodging flying chairs and taking cover from […]

A new true-crime documentary series due to air in April will explore an old theory that a serial killer killed Teresa Halbach in 2005, not Steven Avery, the Manitowoc, Wisconsin, subject of Making a Murderer. The series, It Was Him: The Many Murders of Ed Edwards, debuts at 9 p.m. April 16 on the Paramount […]

A musician preparing for a public performance with one of his students was not prepared for the phone call he received on March 3. That’s the day hornist and band leader Harlan Jefferson received news that 14-year-old Christopher Ruckman would not be attending his school’s jazz concert for which Jefferson was a guest musician. The […]

Police say a nationally renowned political science professor allegedly killed his two sons before taking his own life inside their suburban Illinois home. According to officials in Winnebago County, police were called to the home of Peter S. Ruckman Jr., commonly known as P.S. Ruckman, at around 7 a.m. Saturday, to perform a welfare check. […]

A security guard is being credited with stopping what police say could have been a student’s plot to carry out a shooting at a southern California high school. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the guard was working at El Camino High School in Whittier, California, on February 16 when he heard a […]

A man who claimed he found his wife dead nearly 30 years ago has been charged with her murder and is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin. Authorities say U.S. Border Patrol Officers arrested 70-year-old Mark Bringe Monday, February 12, at his home in Sahurita, Arizona. He’s been charged in Columbia County, Wisconsin, with first-degree intentional homicide […]

Jerry Buting, one of Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery’s defense lawyers, made sure he gave Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Colborn a snarky retirement sendoff Saturday. Buting, who, at trial, strongly suggested that Colborn and Manitowoc Lt. Detective James Lenk planted evidence against his client, tweeted a photo of the officers Photoshopped onto a […]

An Illinois man who has served almost 20 years of a 100-year prison term for killing his daughter maintains that police did not spend enough time linking his girlfriend to the crime. Bart McNeil told police he found the body of 3-year-old Christina McNeil on June 16, 1998, when he went to wake her after […]

A Wisconsin man could spend the next decade in prison after entering an Alford plea in the 1990 killing of an 18-year-old woman. A judge in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, accepted the plea Friday from 64-year-old Dennis Brantner and found him guilty of second-degree reckless homicide in the death of Berit Beck. Beck was […]

Former Brendan Dassey lawyer Len Kachinsky denies allegations that he harassed his court clerk last year. The clerk, on Tuesday, January 30, was granted a temporary order of protection against the now municipal judge, one that bars him from any contact with the unnamed female petitioner. She asked for the order because she says Kachinsky […]

The top at-home coffee company is buying the company known for a popular soft drink and iced tea. Keurig announced on Monday that it is buying Dr Pepper Snapple Group. The purchase will form a new company, Keurig Dr Pepper, allowing it to market “hot and cold beverages to satisfy every consumer throughout the day,” […]

An Illinois man was shot dead by a police officer after authorities say he drove his vehicle toward the patrolman during a traffic stop. Police say the incident unfolded Friday, January 26, when Nathaniel T. Edwards, 43, was stopped by a Rock Falls Police officer after what has been reported as a “lengthy pursuit.” According […]

Exactly how an Illinois police officer and the driver of a pickup truck died during a traffic stop last fall is still unclear, prompting coroner’s inquests in both deaths. The inquest for Rockford Police Officer Jaimie Cox, 30, is scheduled for Wednesday, January 31. The inquest for 49-year-old Eddie Patterson will convene Friday, February 2. […]

Fans of the Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer are expected to be “glued” to a 13-part podcast about the 21-year-old murder of a French filmmaker. The murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier will be the subject of the podcast, West Cork, on Amazon’s Audible service. The series begins February 8. Du Plantier, 39, was found […]

A northern Illinois man wanted for armed robbery was arrested this week while he was streaming on Facebook Live. Police in Freeport, Illinois, were monitoring Facebook Monday, Jan. 8, when they came across a live video featuring Freeport resident, 18-year-old Jalen Anderson, the Rockford Register Star reported. What appeared to be a loaded gun and […]

A Catholic priest in Illinois has been charged with multiple counts of child pornography and drug possession. According to a report by the Belleville News-Democrat, Reverend Gerald R. Hechenberger, 54, was charged Tuesday, January 9 with seven counts of possession of child pornography (photographs) and one count of possessing a pornographic video of a child. […]

Minor-league hockey player Pierre-Cedric Labrie kept his phone close to him on Saturday, December 30, because his girlfriend was ready to deliver their first child. What he didn’t expect was the turn of events that helped him begin the new chapter of his life. Labrie, who plays for the Milwaukee Admirals, the American Hockey League […]

A Cincinnati mother accused of starving and beating her daughter to death has accepted a plea deal. Andrea Bradley, 31, pleaded no contest in Hamilton County, Ohio, on Wednesday. It is the second deal she was offered in her case. She previously rejected an agreement that would have taken the death penalty off the table […]

A Milwaukee man who froze to death while hiding from police after an alleged hit-and-run accident was on parole for a 2010 crash that left a pedestrian dead and another seriously injured. Mark Henderson, 34, caused a four-car crash December 30 when he allegedly ran a red light around 99th Street and Good Hope Road. […]

A 67-year-old man faces a multitude of criminal charges for his alleged role in a common email scam that promises recipients a fortune. Police say Michael Neu, 67, of Slidell, Louisiana, bilked people out of thousands of dollars in the “Nigerian Prince” scam. He was arrested after an 18-month investigation, and faces 269 counts of […]

As Kathleen Zellner, post-conviction attorney for Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery, awaits a ruling about whether he’ll be granted an evidentiary hearing in circuit court, she’s released what she claims is proof that her client’s blood was planted inside Teresa Halbach’s Toyota RAV4 more than 12 years ago. “The killer took the blood out […]

Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey won’t be home for Christmas, and he’ll miss WrestleMania again after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2016 ruling that the confession he gave in the 2005 murder of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach was coerced. His lawyers, however, say they are not stopping their fight to prove […]

Although Steven Avery’s post-conviction attorney claims a bullet found in his garage never passed through bone, the man who prosecuted him, and Brendan Dassey, say he never made such an assertion. The bullet in question, which Avery supporters have dubbed the “magic bullet,” is actually a mangled fragment found in 2006, after Dassey told investigators […]

While Steven Avery claims that he and nephew Brendan Dassey had a bonfire behind his garage the evening of October 31, 2005, it wasn’t the alibi he gave police during the Teresa Halbach missing person’s investigation. Within hours of the report that the photographer was missing, Avery was naming alibi witnesses, those able to verify […]

Charges against Making a Murderer subjects Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are being discussed again, drawing questions about links to Teresa Halbach and how investigators theorized that she had been sexually assaulted in 2005. Police uncovered no physical evidence that Halbach had been sexually assaulted. There was no semen found in Avery’s trailer, and only […]

As convicted murderer Steven Avery’s post-conviction lawyer continues her push to win him a new trial in the killing of Teresa Halbach, his early statements to police may reveal that he could not keep his story straight about what happened on his property on Halloween 2005. Avery is one of two main subjects of the […]

In a bizarre turn of events, Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery was involved in a heated exchange with his sister and brother-in-law over a motion filed by his attorney. The motion, filed by Kathleen Zellner late last month, claimed Avery’s brother-in-law Scott Tadych and nephew Bobby Dassey committed perjury and put themselves in the […]

Post-conviction attorney Kathleen Zellner on Monday furthered her claim that there were more viable suspects in the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach than Making a Murderer’s Steven Avery. As she alleged this spring, Halbach’s on-again, off-again boyfriend was directly tied to the crime scene. In the 1,200-page motion filed on June 7, she suggested the […]

As Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery continues to fight for his freedom in the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, fans of the documentary are still basking in conspiracy theories about who the “real” killer might be. The latest was rehatched on Reddit, in the group /r/TickTockManitowoc, a band of web sleuths determined to prove […]

Officers at a suburban Detroit police station were greeted with a sugary surprise this week when a man brought them a dozen doughnuts when he showed up to be arrested. The dramatic surrender was that of Michael Zaydel, 21, who was wanted for probation violation and outstanding warrants when he showed up at the Redford […]

A Salt Lake City Police officer who drew fire for arresting a nurse earlier this year has been fired, the department announced Wednesday, October 11. Jeff Payne, a 27-year veteran of the department, made news when body-cam footage showing him arguing with University Hospital emergency room nurse Alex Wubbels July 26 over blood the officer […]

Kathleen Zellner, attorney for Making a Murderer‘s Steven Avery, filed a motion Friday to vacate an earlier decision to deny him a new trial. Zellner, who took Avery’s case in January 2016, asked the court to vacate the order issued Tuesday by Sheboygan County Circuit Judge Angela Sutkiewicz. Zellner is asking the court to relieve […]

Murder charges against a man who spent 23 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections have been dropped. John W. Horton, 41, stood in front of Winnebago County Chief Judge Joe McGraw Wednesday, October 4, and heard the words he has been fighting for since the day he was sent to prison for life: “case […]

While Making a Murderer subjects Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey were convicted of the same offense in the death of Teresa Halbach, their post-conviction cases couldn’t be any different, according to Avery’s post-conviction attorney Kathleen Zellner. “People do not realize that Brendan’s case is 10 years further advanced than Steven’s and is in a very […]

Although the lawyer for Making a Murderer‘s Steven Avery will file a motion to vacate a trial court judge’s decision to deny him a new trial, she says the case will likely be decided elsewhere. Saying Tuesday’s decision was “not a big deal,” Kathleen Zellner turned to Twitter with another message Wednesday, one that indicates […]

A Wisconsin judge has denied Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery a new trial after reviewing a 1,200-page motion filed by his attorney earlier this year. Sheboygan County Circuit Judge Angela Sutkiewicz issued the ruling Tuesday, four months after Kathleen Zellner filed her motion that included more than 800 pages of exhibits. “In light of […]

With the en banc hearing in the case of Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey in the books, the now 27-year-old’s fate is in the hands of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. And although Dassey’s lawyer made one argument in his petition for habeas corpus relief, it is likely that the panel of seven […]

Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey will continue to await his fate as the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prepares a decision as to whether it will uphold a 2016 ruling that his confession in the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach was coerced. A panel of seven judges on Tuesday, September 26, heard arguments […]

There is no telling what the outcome will be for Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey after Tuesday’s en banc hearing in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, but there is a strong likelihood the case will be appealed to U.S. Supreme Court. The state of Wisconsin could bring the case to the high court […]

A rural Illinois woman faces murder charges in the death of her infant son. Elizabeth Roen, 27, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after a follow-up probe into the May 15 death of 5-month-old Tripp C. Luebke. Jo Daviess County State’s Attorney John Hay told reporters the charges include two theories of […]

In the state that produced the Teresa Halbach story and Making a Murderer, another dramatic case of homicide is developing in Wisconsin as a man faces a multitude of charges in an explosion that killed his wife. Steven Pirus, 59, has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, arson and five counts of animal mistreatment for […]

While detractors of Kathleen Zellner, the attorney for Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery, have had plenty to say about her on social media, the noted post-conviction lawyer says she’s been busy trying to free her client. She also scoffed at specific online threads that suggest she’s had a falling out with filmmakers Moira Demos […]

Although it is believed that Brendan Dassey was interrogated at a Wisconsin hotel before his arrest, his mother says those reports are not accurate. Barb Tadych (Barb Janda in Making a Murderer) says she vividly remembers February 27, 2006. It was the day police took her son out of school and questioned him before bringing […]

A Wisconsin teen, who prosecutors called a monster, will spend more than a dozen years in prison for raping an 86-year-old woman. Sixteen-year-old Christopher E. Brooks Jr., of Beloit, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars September 14. He was initially charged with burglary while committing battery, aggravated battery of an elderly person, and […]

Although former defense lawyer Len Kachinsky says he made a valiant attempt to suppress Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey’s 2006 confession, his argument was not based on case law used by Dassey’s current attorneys. Kachinsky told the Inquisitr on September 11 that his inability to convince Judge Jerome Fox that Dassey’s confession was involuntary […]

There are arguably many problems with the American criminal justice system, and one of them is a low regard for defendants who cannot afford legal counsel, according to a recently retired judge from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. “The basic thing is that most judges regard these people as kind of […]

As Making a Murderer subject Brendan Dassey’s en banc hearing in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals draws near, his former lawyer, Len Kachinsky, says he hopes the court’s eight judges make a ruling to help juveniles accused of crimes. “I hope the Seventh Circuit decides whether juveniles are entitled or not to the rights […]