Auto-Tune The News 8

Busy Week

Sorry for the lack of posts.

So in the mean time, AutoTune The News 3.

People are mad-weird, yo.

Airport bathroom a tourist attraction

Travelers want to see where Craig sex sting unfolded

'MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - When tourists ask for the bathroom in the Minneapolis airport lately, it’s usually not because they have to go.

It’s because they want to see the stall made famous by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in a sex sting.

“It’s become a tourist attraction,” said Karen Evans, information specialist at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. “People are taking pictures.”

Craig was arrested June 11 by a Minneapolis airport police officer. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Craig has since said his guilty plea was a mistake. His request to withdraw the guilty plea will be heard Sept. 26, just four days before he has said he will step down from his Senate seat.

Just 15 minutes into her shift on Friday, Evans said she had been asked directions to the new tourist attraction four times. Other airport workers field the same question.

“It’s by the Lottery shop, right next to the shoeshine shop,” said newsstand worker Abdalla Said, adding he gets the question daily.

The Royal Zino Shoeshine shop owner’s grandson, Royal Zino, said it has been hectic.

“People have been going inside, taking pictures of the stall, taking pictures outside the bathroom door — man, it’s been crazy,” he said.

On their way to Guatemala, Jon and Sally Westby of Minneapolis made a visit.

“We had to just stop and check out the bathroom,” Sally said. “In fact, it’s Jon’s second time — he was here last week already.”'

Creepy

Photo of Missing Florida Woman Turns Up on Dating Web Sites for Seniors, Lesbians

'The photo of a Florida woman who has been missing for a year-and-a-half has turned up on Internet dating sites for lesbians and senior citizens.

A picture of Jennifer Kesse, who disappeared in Orlando when she was 24, has been posted with the profile of lindaneedslove on SeniorPeopleMeet.com and with that of chickcheckinaz on lesbianpersonalsonline.com.

“It’s disturbing,” her father, Drew Kesse, said in a phone interview. “Whoever cut and pasted it obviously had to go on her site to get it. They had to know she was missing. How someone can do that — it’s horrible.” The Web site dedicated to Jennifer's case is www.jenniferkesse.com.

Kesse, 50, said he and his wife, Joyce — who live in Bradenton, Fla. — are in the process of trying to copyright Jennifer’s image so they’ll at least be able to file a lawsuit against anyone who uses it without permission.

Jennifer Kesse was last heard from the night of Jan. 23, 2006. But on Jan. 24, she never made it to work at Westgate Resorts, where she manages the financial department that oversees timeshares.

Family and friends searched the area around her home and a nearby mall. Her car, a 2004 black four-door Chevrolet Malibu, was found abandoned about one mile from her home at Texas & Americana.

Surveillance video taken on the grounds of her Orlando apartment complex shows a person parking her car at about 1 p.m. on Jan. 24.

The investigator in charge of her case said there’s not much action that can be taken against those who have stolen Jennifer’s image to use with their profiles on dating Web sites.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” said Detective Joel Wright of the Orlando Police Department. “We can look into their background to see if it’s some sex offender, look into their history and see if it’s anybody who might have come into contact with her.”

He said it’s unlikely that those who have used Jennifer’s photograph have anything to do with her disappearance, however.

“More than likely, it’s somebody just trying to make themselves look better for someone they might want to meet later on,” Wright said. “I wonder what happens when they do meet that person.”

Lindaneedslove writes under the photo that it depicts “Linda after haircut.” She describes herself as a 25-year-old woman from Knoxville, Tenn., who has 75 percent hearing loss and is looking for “a special older man to love, to be very good friends with.” The “wonderful older man” she’s seeking will want to be with a young woman and “will love me for who I am,” she writes.

Wright said the discovery that Jennifer’s picture is being falsely used has been an annoying distraction in the investigation.

“All it does is slow me down,” he said. “All of a sudden, the calls start coming in. It’s more of a nuisance than anything else.”

Though there haven’t been any new leads in the case, Wright said he and the other investigators are going through old tips and entering them into a new state lead-tracking system to see if they might have missed something.

“We’re making progress,” he said.

Jennifer’s dad worries about the fact that the people who posted his daughter’s image on the dating sites are “very fraudulent, very deceitful. They’re out there looking for sexual contact.”

“Obviously you’ve got to be sick to do that,” Kesse said. “We don’t want Jennifer’s likeness abused. It’s just as simple as that.”

Anyone with any information is encouraged to call the Orlando Police Department at (321) 235-5300 or the Kesse family tip line at (407) 722-2162.'

Today In - 'Horrible Headlines'

Um, doy.

That's like saying: 'Heart attack victim loved red meat and Twinkies'

Jogger struck by lightning loved running, family says

'JEFFERSON COUNTY – The family of a jogger struck and killed by lightning said he loved to go swimming, rock climbing and running.

Our partners at The Denver Post talked to the family of Lucas "Luke" Simmons on Monday.

Simmons' family tells the Post the 24-year-old's favorite place to run was Matthews/Winter Park in Jefferson County.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says Simmons was jogging in the park Friday when he was struck and killed by lightning.

According to his family, Simmons was a project manager for Mortenson Construction Co. After the tsunami in Thailand, he volunteered to rebuild the home of a fisherman who had lost his entire family.'

And I thought I had some horrible bosses.

Boss allegedly killed workers who wanted raises

Car dealer was having financial problems, allegedly killed 2 in pay dispute

'EAST POINT, Ga. - The owner of a car dealership has been accused of killing two employees because they kept asking for pay raises.

Rolandas Milinavicius has been charged with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Inga Contreras, 25, and Martynas Simokaitis, 28.

All three are from the eastern European nation of Lithuania but had been living in Atlanta, authorities said.

Milinavicius, who was having financial problems, told police he shot the two Thursday after they kept asking for more pay, said police in East Point, which is just outside Atlanta.

“He told us that he was under a lot of stress,” East Point police Capt. Russell Popham said. “Unfortunately, he decided to take his anger out with violence.”

Milinavicius, who had been living in Alpharetta, started RM Auto International two years ago, hoping to meet the demand for American cars in Lithuania. He began shipping cars and later hired the two victims as his only employees.

Milinavicius, 38, turned himself in two days after the shootings and confessed to the killings, Popham said.

“As I understand, the employees were not really happy about the pay, and they had questioned him about it over the course of time,” Popham said. “That morning he said he just snapped.”

Contreras and Simokaitis were cremated and an informal memorial service was held at Simokaitis’ cousin’s apartment over the weekend. The remains were to be flown to Lithuania on Tuesday.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” the cousin, Jaunius Simokaitis, of Fayetteville, said Monday. “If he was having money problems, these two would have been the ones to help him get out of debt. They would have helped him make that money.”'

Don't mess with a rabid squirrel.

Or a 72 year-old man with a crutch.

Thanks to James!

Three injured as squirrel goes nuts

'A ferocious squirrel went on the rampage in Germany this week, attacking three people before meeting its match in an angry 72-year-old.

Police in the southern town of Passau said the creature attacked a 70-year-old woman on Tuesday, sinking its teeth into her hand.

It next entered a building site and jumped on a construction worker, injuring his hand and arm before he fought it off with a pole.

A police spokesman said the squirrel then finally met its end - but it didn't go down without a fight.

"The squirrel went into the 72-year-old man's garden and attacked him on the arms, hand and thigh," the spokesman said. "Then he killed it with his crutch."

He explained that experts thought the creature's behaviour could have been brought on by the mating season, or it could have been ill.'

Oh man.

'School administrators went on high alert. Police were called. Media outlets went berserk trying to be the first to get the story of a copycat Columbine attack posted on websites. Terrified parents rushed to the school to rescue their kids.

Pegues was hauled off in handcuffs, and detectives searched the family home looking for something - anything - that might suggest evidence of a diabolical plan.

That's when they found the potato gun, along with a computer, the toilet-bowl cleaner, a funnel and other supposedly suspicious objects.'

Potato-gun idiocy grounds for a peel

Best. Headline. Ever.

Butts charged with stealing toilet paper

'MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa—Police blame a woman named Butts for stealing toilet paper from a central Iowa courthouse, and while they're chuckling, the theft charge could put her in prison.

"She's facing potentially three years of incarceration for three rolls of toilet paper," Chief Lon Walker said, stifling a laugh as he talked to KCCI-TV about Suzanne Marie Butts. "See, I can't say it with a straight face."

Workers had noticed the rolls disappearing from the Marshall County Courthouse much faster than usual, Walker said.

Butts, 38, was caught last week after an employee saw her taking three rolls of two-ply tissue from a storage closet, Walker said.

Butts insisted it was the first time she'd pilfered toilet paper, but she declined to answer further questions on her attorney's advice.

The fifth-degree theft charge, a misdemeanor, normally carries a sentence of less than a year in jail. But Butts could face more time if convicted under the state's habitual offender law because she has prior theft convictions.

Walker did not know why Butts was at the courthouse, but said that she did not work there.'

FOOD FIGHT!!!!

3 arrested in massive high school food fight

'AURORA, Ill. (AP) - A high school senior accused of starting a massive food fight that left a police officer injured was among three students arrested in the prank.

At least 200 students were in West Aurora High School's cafeteria when french fries, milk, sandwiches and pizza slices were hurled in a free-for-all, authorities said.

"It was just insane," said senior Zach Little, who was in the cafeteria when the melee began Thursday. "Things like milk cartons, full pop bottles and blue slushies were flying around. Kids literally bought the food to throw it and, to me, that's a little expensive."

The alleged instigator, Demetrius Oglesby, 18, faces a felony charge of resisting arrest after authorities said he ran from a police officer. The officer tripped over another student who had fallen during the food fight, breaking his foot. A school official also suffered minor injuries.

Two juveniles also face misdemeanor charges from the incident, including a 15-year-old charged with mob action and disorderly conduct and a 14-year-old charged with assault.

Students said rumors of the food fight had been circulating throughout the 3,000-student school all week as a senior prank.

"A prank is something that's funny and doesn't harm anything or anyone, but a food fight is entirely different -- a bad choice, bad judgment," said Principal John Glimco.

Administrators increased security at the school 30 miles west of Chicago and closed the cafeteria on Friday. The lunch area will remain closed on Monday, the last day of classes.

"There will be consequences for the students involved," said Mike Chapin, a spokesman for West Aurora School District 129.'

Ha.

I'm getting hits from web searches on 'TB guy hot'.

TB guy is kinda cute.

Besides the TB thing, it's kind of a sweet gig. You get to call in sick for 18 months. I wonder who is paying for his treatment? The government?

The plot thickens.....

Aunt of Berthoud teen focus of inquiry

'THORNTON - Police are conducting an inquiry into allegations of a conflict of interest by one of the department's most visible officers, Lt. Lori Moriarty, and her involvement in a crash investigation in which her nephew lost his legs.

The Colorado State Patrol's accident reconstruction report shows Moriarty asked to be involved in the investigation from the start, held the camera of a video-taped reenactment of the scene that was submitted for evidence and even questioned the investigators' findings after the report was finished.

Thornton Police Chief Jim Nursey announced the inquiry into the allegations Tuesday.

"I stress, if it's been determined that regulations of the police department have been violated, then appropriate action will be taken," Nursey said.

The Thornton Police Department has a policy that states in part: Officers shouldn't investigate, participate in or render advice concerning any criminal case involving a relative.

Moriarty, who gained national recognition through her work with the North Metro Drug Task Force, is also Tyler Carron's aunt. The Berthoud teenager lost his legs, as did his friend Nikko Landeros, on Jan. 15 in an accident on highway 17 in rural Weld County.

The two were changing a tire when they were hit late at night after leaving a school dance. Court records filed by the driver's attorney show both of the boys had been drinking and were parked in the middle of the southbound lane when the crash occurred.

The driver who hit the teens, 17-year-old Michelle Berra, has been charged with two counts of careless driving resulting in injuries. Berra was never tested for drugs or alcohol following the crash.

9NEWS left several messages with Moriarty Tuesday. None of our calls were returned.

Denver attorney and 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson says this kind of involvement by a relative who happens to be in law enforcement could impact the case.

"Anything that taints the quality of the investigation is fair game for the defense," Robinson said in an interview with 9NEWS.

According to the State Patrol's report, mailed anonymously to 9NEWS, Moriarty asked to be at the scene as investigators conducted a reenactment. The report also shows Moriarty actually videotaped the reenactment tests that were submitted to the Larimer County District Attorney's office as evidence.'

Mmmmm. Beer.

Frothy mess after beer spills in rail accident

Quite the journey.

Red arrow is where the accident happened. Green arrow is where they found the body.

Body of 2-year-old found in river

'DENVER - The body of a missing 2-year-old boy swept away with his mother Monday by a flash flood was recovered in the South Platte River midday Wednesday.

Jose Matthew Jauregui III went missing during Monday night's heavy rain while with his mother in Lakewood Gulch, near the South Platte River.

9NEWS has learned that crews located a body near Franklin Street and Race Court shortly before 1 p.m.

They responded to the area after receiving reports from construction workers who said they saw a body floating in the river.

Denver Fire Chief Larry Trujillo confirms that it is the body of Jose and says it is a blessing that the body was found.

"I think we're blessed we found this child in this amount of time. As far as we knew it's been in our prayers for everybody, this child could've ended up all the way in Weld County," said Trujillo.

Jose's family arrived at the scene, including the boy's mother, Elsha Guel.

Jose's great aunt, Julie Guzman, says the family had gone to the river roughly and hour-and-a-half before the body was found and prayed.

"We prayed by the creek earlier today that he would be found and that Jesus would bring him home to us today and he did," she said. "When he was gone, I sort of lost a little bit of faith. I don't understand how this could happen."

"It's a sad day and a happy day. It's a sad day because we found him dead; it's a happy day that we found him," said Guzman.

She also asked that the family be given time to grieve the loss of Jose.

Fire rescue crews had been searching for the boy for the past two days without success. Wednesday morning crews focused on the banks of the river.

"The captain that was here was the captain that worked the other day said it really helped him bring some closure like all of us," said Trujillo after the boy was found Wednesday.

"The other day the aunt asked me, 'Promise me you'll find him.' I said, 'I don't make promises like that, I promise we'll keep trying,'" said Trujillo. "The odds of this I would definitely say are more than one in a million of being able to find this child. I think it's the prayers that brought him back."

Crews say they had switched to recovery mode Monday night after Jose went missing.

Guel was trapped by a tall concrete wall along the path and firefighters say there was not any way for her to get back up to the street level and away from the water. Firefighters say the water rushed in, in a matter of seconds, knocking her over and the stroller out of her hand.

"I can't imagine the horror of the woman seeing the child drift away perhaps forever," said Lt. Phil Champagne with the Denver Fire Department.

The water was so swift that elite divers with the fire department were almost swept away trying to get to her.

They say the Guel was clinging to a concrete section of a bridge when they finally got to her.

"The only question on her mind was had we rescued her child. When we told her we hadn't and we attempted to rescue her she looked at the rescuer, let go of the concrete barrier and said she no longer wanted to live without her child," said Champagne.

Rescuers pulled her out a few hundred yards away. She was taken to the hospital where she was treated and released.

After searching miles of waterway on Monday, crews had only found an empty stroller.

Lakewood Gulch is known as a hazard to flood and drainage engineers.

"That stretch there is no way out," said Bill DeGroot with the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District.

He says there are design plans to remedy the problem but there is no timeline yet for it to be implemented.

"The plan is to make it a lot wider, it would help with the flood depths and there would be a gradual slope of dirt and grass instead of a tall concrete wall along the path so that a person could easily walk out to safety," he said. '

Thank god they saved the stew!

Rescue team saves woman, dog and stew

'WALTERS, Okla. (AP) - A rescue team navigated flooded farmland in a boat to save a 70-year-old woman and her dog from rising floodwaters and made another critical rescue - a pot of stew from the woman's stove.

Geneva Taptto frantically began calling for help Wednesday when she realized her rural home near Walters was surrounded by floodwaters.

Local sheriff's deputies and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's lake division sent a rescue boat to save the woman and her dog.

"They couldn't get the boat to the house. They had to wade in water to get me and the dog," Taptto said. "They even brought the stew. I worked all morning on that stew."'

Finally, more details.

Boy kept in closet may have had history of abuse

'DENVER - Police records reveal a 7-year-old boy who weighed only 30 pounds may have had a history of malnourishment long before his death.

That is according to 9NEWS' partners at The Denver Post, who obtained a report on a traffic stop involving Chandler Grafner's mother.

The report, made by Wheat Ridge Police in March 2006, states than an officer pulled over Christina Grafner with her two sons, Chandler and his younger brother, in the truck.

The Post reports, the officer noticed one of the boys was very thin and that his front teeth were decayed. When the officer asked the boys when they had last eaten, the police report says the boys responded it had been three days.

Because the boys' names are blacked out in the police report, it is not clear which of them looked thin.

9NEWS has learned that paternity tests are pending to verify who Grafner's biological father is. One of the men who believes he is the father, told 9NEWS he is now saddened that he will never get the chance to be part of Grafner's life.

Josh Norris, 26, told 9NEWS he did not learn of Grafner's death until Thursday, when a reporter contacted him.

He says he is also angry because Jefferson County Social Services did not notify him when Christina Grafner lost custody of the children.

"No kid deserves to suffer through what Chandler did," Norris told 9NEWS.

Norris says he has not spoken with Christina Grafner since just after Chandler's birth. He says he never saw the child because he was out of state in the military for the first four years of the boy's life. When he returned to Colorado, he says he did not know how to contact Christina Grafner.

The couple arrested in Grafner's death was formally charged by the district attorney's office on Thursday.

The Denver District Attorney's Office charged 26-year-old Jon Phillips and 21-year-old Sarah Berry with first-degree murder causing the death of a child under 12, child abuse resulting in death and first-degree murder after deliberation.

The DA's office says Phillips and Berry intentionally and deliberately mistreated Chandler Grafner while he was in their care.

Both are being held without bond.

Grafner was found in an apartment complex at South Tamarac Drive and East Hampden Avenue on Sunday.

Authorities were called to the home on a report that a child was suffering a cardiac arrest.

Police sources tell 9NEWS Grafner weighed about 30 pounds and appeared to be severely malnourished. He was being kept in a closet, police sources say.

He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Phillips and Berry will appear in court again on May 14 to be formally advised of the charges.

A judge first gave custody of Grafner and his 5-year-old brother to their grandmother, Sandra Younger, after the judge took them away from her daughter, Christina Grafner, who Younger says has a drug problem.

Christina Grafner was charged last August with negligent child abuse, a third-degree misdemeanor. In October she served five days in jail because she missed a court hearing.

The judge later awarded Phillips custody of Grafner and his 5-year-old brother. The 5-year-old is Phillips' biological son and is now in foster care.

Berry is believed to be Phillips' common-law wife and worked at Grafner's school as a teacher's aide from time to time.

The official cause of Grafner's death has not yet been released and all documents in the case have been sealed.'

What the copy editor missed.

'"I had just started changing. I had just put on the dress," Ashley said. "He tried to come in. He hooked his arm around my neck." The terrified teen struggled with the perv and slammed the dressing room door against him to beat him off.'

MACY'S SHOPPER BAGS NAKED PERV

'Coz you gotta look pretty, even for armed burglary.

'In the tobacco shop robbery, one man was wearing a Broncos jersey with the player number, 26. Witnesses said it appeared that his eyebrows had been drawn or enhanced with makeup. '

Thieves use zip ties to bind victims

So that's why there were so many kids downtown this morning.

Immigrants and supporters rally in Denver

'DENVER (AP) - People from across the state are marching and rallying for immigration reform at Lincoln Park in northern Denver.

Organizers say they are upset about a recent string of immigration raids and want to put pressure on Congress to change immigration laws.

The event comes a year after rallies and protests drew more than a million people to the streets nationally. Smaller crowds are expected at marches, meetings and voter registration drives planned across the country.

In Denver, organizers of Colorado's event say people from across the state participated in the march. It left from the State Capitol and ended at Lincoln Park near I-25 and I-70.'