WIFE TOO FAT FOR COMIC KILLER MICHAEL GEORGE

ACCUSED comic book killer Michael George and his wife Barbara were constantly at each other's throats, a witness told his murder trial in Detroit. Michael George , 51, is charged with the July 13, 1990 murder of Barbara, found dead inside their comic book shop.
Kim Koliba--who didn't actually know the couple personally--says she overheard at least 30 of the pair's arguments in the summer of 1990. Koliba worked at a nail salon in a strip mall near the comic store owned by the Georges, testified about a July 13, 1990, spat over money between the pair with a tone more disturbing than the
rest.She said: "The argument that day was a different-than-normal argument. It was much louder. He was much angrier. It seemed more violent."Four hours later Barbara was dead with a bullet in her brain. George was convicted in 2008. A judge granted a new trial later that year, citing prosecutorial misconduct and potential new evidence.The motive: money, she was overweight and he was having an affair--with one of their employees.


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COPS NAB DAVID GRIMES IN 1974 MURDER OF WIDOW, 75

BUSTED

SHE was smothered to death in her bed 34-years ago, but although cops had a suspect they didn't have enough to nail him.
At the time they suspected David Grimes, now 64, in the death of 75-year-old Ruth VanHouten, because he'd been arrested several times near her Ithaca, NY home for residential burglaries. 
Many of the cases involved residential burglaries and the assault of elderly women who lived alone.  But thanks to their excellent and painstaking evidence collection at the time, in January 2010, when Lieutenant Christopher Townsend reviewed the case he got a break.
When he sent it the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany, using current technology, DNA was gathered from the evidence and entered into a DNA database.
It came back with a match - the man they'd suspected all along. 
Grimes is currently an inmate at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York  and when investigators gathered a DNA sample from Grimes in prison, which came back positive for a match.
As he is currently serving a 50 years to life sentence for burglary, robbery and assault convictions from crimes he committed in Ithaca VanHouten's family made the decision not to hold a criminal trial.

His first scheduled parole hearing in 2040, when he will be 93 years old, so they took that into account that Grimes is serving a life sentence, and did not want to relive the events of the crime.

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COPS BUST PENA IN 1982 MURDER OF SHEREE STRONG

MANUEL Richard Pena is surely a prince among men. Over the past 30 years he has been accused of all kinds of violent acts against his family. In 1976, he shot a now ex-wife in the genitals during a spat, in 1989 punched his stepfather, 72, and in 2004 he beat his grandson, 7, so severely he gave the boy a bloody nose. And he always managed to pretty much walk away--until now.
On Friday, the 69-year-old headcase was charged with the 1982 murder of his then girlfriend, Sherri Strong. Cops found her in his house lying facedown,
nude and with a rope around her neck. She was pregnant. Pena, then 34, told detectives he found her in the garage which was clearly staged. But there didn't appear to be enough evidence in 1982 and the case was put on the shelf. Strong had dumped him before the murder because--take a guess--he was physically abusive. And she was terrified of him.
Now, on his seventh marriage, the old monster runs a photo studio out of his home. According to cops, he didn't think he would ever get busted for Sherri Strong. He was wrong.

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TAWNYA KNIGHT'S '96 MURDER WENT COLD QUICKLY

WHO killed Tawnya D. Knight? The pretty 15-year-old was reported missing on Dec. 8, 1996 and was last seen in Spring Hill, Kansas the day before after walking away from a party.  She had been waiting for a ride that never came. Six months later her remains were found in a farmer's off of U.S. 169. The case was ruled a homicide and went cold fast. Investigations Division: 913-715-5560. Tips Hotline: 816-474-TIPS (8477)

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FINGERPRINT NAILS RONALD MACDONALD IN '78 SLAY

JUSTICE was a long time coming for Arlene Roberts but it did finally arrive. The widow, 80, was murdered on Oct. 30, 1978 in her trailer at a mobile home park on Lake Washington. Late last week cops busted a man in Reno named Ronald Wayne MacDonald, 50, as the murderer of long ago. King County detectives said a single fingerprint pointed the finger at MacDonald for the evil killing.
Sheriff Sue Rahr said: “DNA gets all the attention.
But other advances, including fingerprint identification ... solve crimes as well. It is very gratifying to finally solve the murder of an 80 year-old woman, thanks to AFIS and great detective work."
Roberts was found with hands and feet bound with nylon stockings and there was a gag in her mouth. A hair net was tightened around her neck. The trailer had been ransacked. Cops always theorized that robbery was the motive. But with little evidence the case went cold--until now. Cops got three finger print hits on MacDonald. MORE IN THE RENTON REPORTER

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DEANIE PETERS VANISHED IN '81; WOULD HAVE BEEN 45

SHE WOULD be approaching middle age now. Perhaps with children, maybe grandchildren. Instead, she is a question mark. Deanie Peters was just 14-years-old when she vanished on Feb. 5, 1981. Friends and family recently remembered the pretty brunette on what would have been her 45th birthday. In her honor, they gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan and released 45 white balloons. Each of the ballons had her picture on it. Her former boyfriend Rob Mackey was
there. He told the Grand Rapids Press: "There are a lot of loved ones here. We're going to release these balloons in memory of Deanie, with hope and prayers that we'll get to the bottom of it. We'll not forget."
Leaders of a cold case team say they believe a man named Bruce Bunch was responsible for Deanie's disappearance and he buried her after killing her. He died in Kentucky before he could be questioned.
Deanie's body was never found. In February on the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in collaboration with the Kent County Metro Cold Case team, has issued an alert that contains a rendering of what Peters, then 14, could look like as a 40-year-old. For more, check out SECRETS OF DEANIE PETERS

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P-DIDDY PROTEGE G-DEP CONFESSED TO 1993 MURDER

KILLER

A FORMER P-Diddy protege, G-Dep who confessed to an 18-year-old murder could end up spending the next 15-year behind bars.
Back in 1993, the once promising rapper, who's real name is Trevell Coleman gunned down John Henkel outside of a New York housing complex.
He then went on to be signed by Bad Boy records owned by Sean Combs AKA P-Diddy, but his album Child Of The Ghetto peaked at just 106 in the charts and he was quickly dropped.   
Although he scored a few hits since then, the 36-year-old's life has been mired with drug and alcohol problems and he made he admitted the murder in a bid to unburden himself as part of a 12-step drug program.
"I'm just trying to get right with God," he said at the time.
But it seems he hadn't realized that Henkel had died as a result of the attack and now the New York DA is refusing his bid to have the charges downgraded to manslaughter according to the New York Post.
Defense lawyer Anthony Ricco said: "I realize there are a lot of public pressure issues, and image issues."
He blamed the prosecution's hard line on the press the case has garnered and a publicity-conscious new DA, Cyrus Vance, adding the case would have remained ice cold without his client coming forward.
But prosecutors are refusing to budge and he now faces up to 15-years behind bars.

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