Van der Sloot pleads guilty to killing Peru woman

LIMA, Peru (AP) — After Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 2010 murder of a Peruvian woman he met at a Lima casino, his lawyer argued that the killing was tragically triggered by fallout from the very event that originally brought his client notoriety.

The "persecution" suffered by Van der Sloot after the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway five years earlier scarred him psychologically with a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, defense attorney Jose Jimenez told the three female judges who are to sentence his client Friday.

The young Dutchman has been the prime suspect in the Holloway case since she disappeared on Aruba five years to the day before the killing of the 21-year-old Peruvian woman, business student Stephany Flores.

With the evidence against him in the Peru killing strong, Van der Sloot entered a guilty plea Wednesday at his lawyer's urging, hoping for a reduced sentence.

"I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad," the 24-year-old defendant said, showing no emotion in a brief admission of guilt in fractured Spanish. He did not use the Dutch translator provided for the proceeding.

Prosecutors are asking for a 30-year prison sentence under charges that carry a 15-year minimum.

Van der Sloot, physically imposing at well over six feet tall, bowed his head minutes later as his lawyer argued that he killed Flores in a "severe emotional reaction to extreme psychological trauma" related to the Holloway disappearance, "something he says he never did and for which no evidence at all exists."

Van der Sloot did not exhibit signs of remorse, and he briefly smiled while conferring with Jimenez before leaving the courtroom.

The judges have 48 hours to render a sentence and the presiding magistrate, Victoria Montoya, said the panel would reconvene Friday to do so.

Van der Sloot's trial opened last week but was adjourned until Wednesday after he asked for more time to decide how to plead. He said then that he did not accept the aggravated murder charges the prosecution sought.

Van der Sloot, who wore faded jeans and an untucked light-blue button-down shirt, had confessed to the May 30, 2010, killing long ago.

He told police shortly after the murder that he killed Flores in a fit of rage after she discovered his connection to the disappearance of Holloway on his laptop while they played poker online.

The defense says it was manslaughter, for which the minimum sentence is 5 years.

Police forensic experts disputed that claim and a lawyer for the victim's prominent family contends Van der Sloot killed Flores in order to rob her.

Prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder and theft.

The prosecution maintained Van der Sloot killed Flores with "ferocity" and "cruelty," concealing the crime and fleeing to Chile, where he was caught two days after Flores' rotting body was found.

He took more than $200 in cash plus credit cards from the victim and made his initial getaway in her car, leaving it in a different part of Lima, prosecutors say.

"Van der Sloot is far too cold and calculating," Peru's chief homicide detective at the time, Miguel Canlla, told The Associated Press shortly after the killing.

The coroner's report said the killer elbowed Flores in the face, thrusting her against a wall and drawing blood.

"She begins to defend herself and he starts beating her and then grabs her by the neck and strangles her," Canlla said. "He takes off his shirt and then asphyxiates her (with it)."

The length of the Van der Sloot's sentence is at the judges' discretion, said court officials and a leading Peruvian criminal attorney, Luis Lamas.

In Peru, convicts can become eligible for parole after serving half their sentences if they work or study.

The attorney for the family of the victim, Edwar Alvarez, has argued for life in prison and deemed a sentence reduction unacceptable.

"In the court record, this man has submitted to psychological examinations and they have concluded that he is a psychopathic person," he told reporters. "What judge would give a psychopath a penal benefit?"

The victim's father, circus impresario and former race car driver Ricardo Flores, attended the opening of the trial but not Wednesday's hearing.

Reached by phone before Van der Sloot's plea, he said he could not bear to even watch the proceedings on TV.

"This matter hurts us," he told The Associated Press.

Ricardo Flores told the AP on Friday that the family, as a party to the trial, had planned to introduce testimony from friends of his daughter and casino employees proving that she won $10,000 there and that Van der Sloot had learned of it. He said the casino had videotape of his daughter cashing in the chips.

Video taken at the Atlantic City Casino, where the victim met Van der Sloot, shows the two leaving together, and closed-circuit images from the downmarket TAC Hotel shows the pair entering his room together and Van der Sloot leaving alone hours later, bags packed.

To hide the crime after killing Flores, Van der Sloot left the hotel, bought two cups of coffee, and asked a hotel employee to open his room when he returned, prosecutor Jose Santiesteban said in the trial's opening argument.

Van der Sloot continues to be dogged by the case of Holloway, a 19-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, disappeared during a high school graduation trip in 2005 to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where Van der Sloot grew up.

She was last seen leaving a nightclub with him. Her body has never been found.

The case received a storm of media attention and the tall, garrulous Dutchman became a staple of true-crime TV shows. In several interviews, he described himself as a pathological liar, and in one clandestinely taped conversation he told a Dutch TV reporter he was involved in Holloway's disappearance.

Van der Sloot's trip to Lima may have been funded by continued fallout from that case.

U.S. officials, who indicted him on extortion and fraud charges days after the Flores killing, say Van der Sloot had extorted $25,000 from Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, by offering to lead her attorney, John Q. Kelly, to Holloway's body in Aruba.

After meeting with Kelly there, without delivering on his offer, Van der Sloot flew to Lima on May 14, 2010, they say. Two weeks later, Flores was killed.

Ricardo Flores said he doesn't believe Van der Sloot is contrite over his daughter's death and wants the defendant to experience greater deprivation.

That could include being extradited to the United States to stand trial there once he's been sentenced in Peru.

In a statement Wednesday, Kelly said that after Van der Sloot is sentenced "we anticipate that U.S. authorities will move quickly to bring him to Alabama to face pending federal charges, and to answer for his past conduct in Aruba."

Peru's Foreign Ministry says it has no U.S. extradition request for Van der Sloot.

U.S. authorities have requested his arrest through Interpol "should he be released on the charges there" so he could be brought to Alabama, for trial, said Peggy Sanford, a spokeswoman the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham, Alabama.

No members of Van der Sloot's family have attended the trial.

His lawyer said his client's mother, Anita, did not want the media attention. The defendant's father, a prominent lawyer, died of a heart attack at age 57 in February 2010.

___

Associated Press writers Carla Salazar, Martin Villena and Franklin Briceno contributed to this report.

Continue Reading... Labels: guilty, killing, pleads, Sloot, Woman

Okla. Woman Shoots, Kills Intruder: 911 Operators Say It's Okay to Shoot

A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder to protect her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer.

Sarah McKinley says that a week earlier a man named Justin Martin dropped by on the day of her husband's funeral, claiming that he was a neighbor who wanted to say hello. The 18-year-old Oklahoma City area woman did not let him into her home that day.

On New Year's Eve Martin returned with another man, Dustin Stewart, and this time was armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. The two soon began trying to break into McKinley's home.

As one of the men was going from door to door outside her home trying to gain entry, McKinley called 911 and grabbed her 12-gauge shotgun.

McKinley told ABC News Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO that she quickly got her 12 gauge, went into her bedroom and got a pistol, put the bottle in the baby's mouth and called 911.

"I've got two guns in my hand -- is it okay to shoot him if he comes in this door?" the young mother asked the 911 dispatcher. "I'm here by myself with my infant baby, can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?"

The 911 dispatcher confirmed with McKinley that the doors to her home were locked as she asked again if it was okay to shoot the intruder if he were to come through her door.

"I can't tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby," the dispatcher told her. McKinley was on the phone with 911 for a total of 21 minutes.

When Martin kicked in the door and came after her with the knife, the teen mom shot and killed the 24-year-old. Police are calling the shooting justified.

"You're allowed to shoot an unauthorized person that is in your home. The law provides you the remedy, and sanctions the use of deadly force," Det. Dan Huff of the Blanchard police said.

Stewart soon turned himself in to police.

McKinley said that she was at home alone with her newborn that night because her husband just died of cancer on Christmas Day.

"I wouldn't have done it, but it was my son," McKinley told ABC News Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO. "It's not an easy decision to make, but it was either going to be him or my son. And it wasn't going to be my son. There's nothing more dangerous than a woman with a child."

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Continue Reading... Labels: Intruder:, kills, Okla., Operators, Shoot, Shoots, Woman

Woman found dead after abduction

2 January 2012 Last updated at 09:25 ET

A 20-year-old woman has been found dead after she was abducted from an address in east London where two other people had been stabbed.

Police said they believe the woman was called Kirsty Treloar.

She was taken from Brownlow Road, Hackney, at 07:10 GMT on Monday, and was later found stabbed in a car on Ryder Mews in Homerton, police said.

Just before she was kidnapped, a man aged 22 and a 24-year-old woman were attacked at the same address.

The man is in stable condition, while the woman suffered a minor injury.

Suspect 'fled'

A month old baby girl was also taken from the address to hospital as a precaution. She remains in hospital under observation.

Scotland Yard said it had launched a murder investigation.

A spokesman said officers were called to a row on Brownlow Road but, before they arrived, a suspect had fled in a grey Fiat Stilo car with the 20-year-old woman.

This vehicle was found abandoned in Ryder Mews, just off Homerton High Street, at about 08:30 GMT, and the woman's body was inside.

Police said they believe she is the same person who was kidnapped, although they said they were awaiting formal identification.

No further details of the suspect or any of the victims have been released.

Continue Reading... Labels: abduction, After, found, Woman

Swedish woman finds wedding ring after 16 years, on a carrot

A Swedish woman who lost her wedding ring 16 years ago was flabbergasted when she found it again, around a carrot growing in her garden, media reported Saturday.

Lena Paahlsson had taken off the white gold ring before a Christmas baking session with her daughters in 1995, but it had disappeared from the kitchen counter where she placed it.

After looking everywhere, and even pulling up floorboards in the search, Paahlsson and her family, who live on a farm in northern Sweden, had given up on seeing the ring again, she told the Dagens Nyheter daily.

That was until October this year, when she was picking the last carrots in her garden and suddenly found one with her ring glimmering around it.

The family thinks the ring must have fallen into the sink back in 1995 and been mixed with potato peels that were composted or fed to the sheep, since all the soil in the garden comes from composted vegetables and sheep dung.

The ring no longer fits Paahlsson, but she told Dagens Nyheter she plans to have it enlarged.

"I had given up hope. Now that I have found the ring again ... I want to be able to use it," she said.

Continue Reading... Labels: After, carrot, finds, Swedish, wedding, Woman, years

Saudi Arabia executes woman convicted of 'sorcery'

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery.

The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place Monday, but gave no details on the woman's crime.

The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 per session.

The paper said a female investigator followed up, and the woman was arrested in April, 2009, and later convicted in a Saudi court.

It did not give the woman's name, but said she was in her 60s.

The execution brings the total to 76 this year in Saudi Arabia, according to an Associated Press count. At least three have been women.

Continue Reading... Labels: 'sorcery', Arabia, convicted, executes, Saudi, Woman

Woman Leaves $13M Fortune to Pet Cat

A 4-year-old stray cat that was rescued from the streets of Rome has inherited a $13 million fortune from its owner, the wealthy widow of an Italian property tycoon. Maria Assunta left the fortune to her beloved kitty Tommaso when she died two weeks ago...

A 4-year-old stray cat that was rescued from the streets of Rome has inherited a $13 million fortune from its owner, the wealthy widow of an Italian property tycoon.

Maria Assunta left the fortune to her beloved kitty Tommaso when she died two weeks ago at the age of 94. The feline's newfound riches include cash, as well as properties in Rome, Milan and land in Calabria.

As her health began to fail two years ago, Assunta, who had no children, began to seek out a way to see that Tommaso was properly cared for after she died. In November 2009, she bequeathed her entire estate to the alley cat that she'd rescued.

Initially, Assunta had instructed her attorneys to "identify an animal welfare association or group to which to leave the estate and the commitment of looking after Tommaso," according to the Daily Telegraph.

Unable to find a satisfactory association to see to it that Tommaso was loved and cared for, Assunta decided to leave all her money to the cat via her nurse, Stefania, who cared for her until her dying day. Her last name has not been disclosed.

"She had become very fond towards the nurse who assisted her," Anna Orecchioni, one of the lawyers, told Il Messaggero newspaper.

"We're convinced that Stefania is the right person to carry out the old lady's wishes. She loves animals just like the woman she devoted herself to right up until the end."

Stefania told the Telegraph that she had no idea the woman that she was caring for was so incredibly wealthy.

"The old lady suffered from loneliness," the nurse said. "She looked after that cat more than you'd look after a son.

"I promised her that I would look after the cat when she was no longer around. She wanted to be sure that Tommaso would be loved and cuddled. But I never imagined that she had this sort of wealth," she said. "She was very discreet and quite. I knew very little of her private life. She only told me that she had suffered from loneliness a lot."

Tommaso and Stefania, along with another cat, are living outside Rome at an address that is undisclosed, so to avoid con artists and potential kidnappers.

"We have gotten lots of email messages from candidates who wanted to adopt the little Tommasino," the cat's lawyer told ABC News.

The windfall for Tommaso places him No.3 on the list of wealthy pets, behind Kalu the chimp, whose owner left him $80 million dollars, and top dog Gunther IV, a German shepherd who inherited $372 million dollars from his father,  Gunther III,  the beloved companion of an eccentric German countess.

Real estate magnate Leona Helmsley famously left $12 million to her little dog Trouble, although her human descendents contested, and Trouble's pot was cut to $2 million.

Continue Reading... Labels: fortune, Leaves, Woman

Buried woman 'used ring to flee'

6 December 2011 Last updated at 14:26 ET

Patryk Borys and his co-accused deny attempted murder

A woman who was buried alive in a cardboard box has told a jury she used her diamond engagement ring to free herself.

Michelina Lewandowska, 27, said she prayed as she tried to free herself in woodland near Huddersfield on 28 May.

Ms Lewandowska told Leeds Crown Court she was first attacked with a Taser stun gun in the home she shared with Marcin Kasprzak, 25.

Mr Kasprzak and Patryk Borys, 18, from Huddersfield, deny attempted murder.

Ms Lewandowska told the jury how she had been placed in the box by her partner, with whom she has a three-year-old son, after he attacked her with the 300,000 volt Taser at their home in Huddersfield and bound and gagged her with tape.

Heard digging

She told the court her partner had told her he "hated her" and said she was not as attractive as some women he saw at the gym.

The court was told she was placed in the boot of a car by Mr Kasprzak, of Penistone Road, and Mr Borys, of Rashcliffe Hill Road, and driven to a wooded area near Huddersfield where the box was buried in a shallow grave.

Ms Lewandowska recalled how she heard digging and then soil being placed on top of the box, allegedly by Mr Kasprzak.

"He was putting the soil on top of me. I wanted to reply. I wanted to put my two fingers through the hole but I was afraid if he could see it he may break my fingers with the shovel," she said.

Cut tape

Miss Lewandowska, who is Polish and who spoke through an interpreter, said: "I thought about my ring, that I could take it off my finger and try to cut through the tape with it.

"I cut the tape from my legs with this ring. I put the ring back on my finger then I put my whole hand through the opening.

"I was focusing on the hole I had just made. I took my head out from the box through the hole and at that point the soil was getting in."

The court was told she could hear music from a nearby pub and as she stumbled down to the road she stopped a passing motorist who took her home and raised the alarm.

The case continues.

Continue Reading... Labels: 'used, Buried, flee', Woman

Woman pepper sprays other Black Friday shoppers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman trying to improve her chance to buy cheap electronics at a Walmart in a wealthy suburb spewed pepper spray on a crowd of shoppers and 20 people suffered minor injuries, police said Friday.

The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale at the Walmart in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

The store had brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd had formed to wait for the unwrapping, when the woman began spraying people "in order to get an advantage," police Sgt. Jose Valle said.

"Faces were red," shopper John Lopez told ABC News Radio. "This one guy was coming up to my wife going, 'Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!'"

Matthew Lopez, 18, told the Los Angeles Times he heard screaming and yelling.

"Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up," he said.

In the aftermath, video showed dozens of shoppers milling around while employees urge them to back up and make room.

It was the only major violence reported at a Southern California store involving Black Friday Thanksgiving holiday sales.

Ten people were slightly injured by the pepper spray and 10 others suffered minor bumps and bruises in the chaos, Valle said. They were treated at the scene.

"People could have gotten trampled," he said. "Good thing there were no small kids."

The woman got away in the confusion, but it was not immediately clear whether she got an Xbox, Valle said.

"Walmart is going through register receipts to see if it was purchased," he said.

The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray kept shopping.

"This was an unfortunate situation. We're glad everyone seems to be OK," Walmart said in a statement. "We're working with law enforcement to provide what information we have, such as surveillance video, to assist in their investigation."

The woman could face felony battery charges if she is found, Valle said.

Continue Reading... Labels: Black, Friday, other, pepper, shoppers, sprays, Woman

Woman Claims She Heard Natalie Wood’s Cries for Help on Night Actress Died

ABC News’ Suzan Clarke and Sheila Marikar report:

Police have reopened the investigation into the drowning death of actress Natalie Wood, and a witness has now come forward to say she heard the actress screaming for help on the night she died.

Wood died Nov. 29, 1981 while she was boating with her husband, Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken, off Catalina Island in California.

Even though the couple had reportedly argued that night, there was no determination of foul play following Wood’s death. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said the actress could have slipped and fallen into the water while trying to secure a dinghy to the boat.

The official cause of death was determined to be accidental drowning, but because there has been little concrete information about the circumstances surrounding the events of that night, speculation has been rife and the case remains one of Hollywood’s longest-running mysteries.

But now California resident Marilyn Wayne, who was boating in the same area that night — approximately 40 yards away from the Splendour, the yacht upon which the actors were staying — said she heard a woman’s cries for help.

In a sworn statement to investigators, Wayne said she and her boyfriend, John Payne, were sleeping aboard a sailboat, the Capricorn, on Nov. 28, 1981. The window of the cabin was open.

“A woman’s voice, crying for help from drowning awakened John, and he awakened me. ‘Help me, someone please help me, I’m drowning’ we heard repeatedly. Alarmed, I called out to my son, who also heard the cries, and looked at his new digital watch: it was just minutes after 11:00 P.M.,” she said in her statement.

According to Wayne’s statement, Payne turned on the sailboat’s beam light and played it over the area while she went up onto the deck, though it was dark and damp and she says that she was unable to see anything.

“While listening to the cries, we called the harbor patrol but no one answered. Then we called the sheriff’s office in Avalon, 12 miles away, and whoever answered told us a helicopter would be sent, but it did not come. We heard loud music coming from somewhere, so thought there was a party on a nearby boat,” the statement said. “Then I heard a man’s voice, slurred, and in aggravated tone, say something to the effect of, “Oh, hold on, we’re coming to get you,” and not long after, the cries for help subsided, but we heard the cries for up to 15 minutes. We returned to bed, terribly disturbed.”

When she woke up the next morning, she says, she saw police at the boat located near the Capricorn, and learned that Wood, a passenger on that board, had drowned.

Wayne, a former stockbroker, said in the statement that she doesn’t believe the initial investigation was thorough enough, that police never interviewed her and that she received a threatening note cautioning her to keep quiet about what she knew.

“After all I’ve learned since my own direct experience with the death of Natalie, I am stunned that Robert Wagner has never been properly interrogated in regards to Natalie Wood’s death. In my opinion, Natalie Wood’s case is one of the top most botched cases of the 20th century, and I am still willing to offer my assistance should you finally realize that this case needs what every death case deserves: a full and proper investigation,” her statement said.

Wagner has never been charged, and police plan to reach out to him as part of the re-opened investigation, but they say he is not a suspect.

The “Hart to Hart” actor — who is now 81 — has always maintained that there was no foul play involved in his wife’s death.

Wagner and Wood had been married to each other twice, and reportedly had a volatile relationship.

Police have said media interest sparked the renewed interest in the case. A Vanity Fair/CBS’ “48 Hours” special about the case aired on Saturday.

The captain of the Splendour, Dennis Davern, said that he believes that Wagner is to blame for Woods’ death.

“Yes I would say so,” Davern said on NBC’s “Today” last week when he was asked if Wagner was responsible. He admitted that he may have been at fault as well, saying, “We didn’t take any steps to see if we could locate her. It was a matter of don’t look too hard, don’t turn on search light, don’t call anyone.”

Davern also said that he lied to officials in the initial police report. Corina declined to comment on whether Davern could face charges if that’s true.

Davern and Marti Rulli co-authored the 2009 book “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour,” about the circumstances surrounding the actress’ death. He and Lana Wood, Natalie Wood’s sister, asked authorities to reopen the case last year.

Wood’s body was found floating in the water about a mile away from the yacht. According to police reports, she was found wearing a long nightgown, socks, and a down jacket. She had dozens of bruises on her body, according to the autopsy report, including injuries to her face and arms.

Wood appeared in more than 56 films, including “West Side Story” and notably as James Dean’s love interest in “Rebel Without a Cause.”

Wagner and Wood married in 1957, divorced about five years later and remarried in 1972.

Wagner and Walken, who was filming “Brainstorm” with Wood at the time, reportedly got into an alcohol-fueled argument prior to her death. Wood is believed to have gone into the master cabin bathroom while they were arguing, but as Wagner was going to bed, he noticed Wood wasn’t there.

Wood’s aversion to water was famous. She couldn’t swim and once said in a TV interview that her greatest fear was of dark seawater.

The investigation has the support of the Wagner family.

“Although no one in the Wagner family has heard from the L.A. County Sheriff’s department about this matter, they fully support the efforts of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death,” Robert Wagner’s publicist Alan Nierob said in a statement.

Walken, who has hired an attorney, is not considered a suspect, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Continue Reading... Labels: Actress, Claims, Cries, Heard, Natalie, Night, Woman, Wood’s

NC police: Woman kills 1 and herself, wounds 5

White House shooting suspect charged with attempting to assassinate #Obama: http://t.co/eM6kuxzc

Continue Reading... Labels: herself, kills, police:, Woman, wounds

Michelle Parker: Woman Goes Missing After 'The People's Court' Episode Airs

Authorities are continuing to search for a missing Orlando mom who vanished last week following the airing of "The People's Court" episode she appeared on.

Michelle Parker disappeared Thursday afternoon, the same day a previously taped episode of the court show aired featuring her and her ex-fiancée, Dale Smith.

The couple appeared in court to settle over a $5,000 engagement ring.

Parker was last seen dropping off the couple's twins at Smith's home.

Her abandoned truck was found a day later.

Police gathered items from Smith's home and searched the nearby woods, but have not gone so far as to call him a suspect or a person of interest.

Parker's parents said they don't think that Smith is not involved in their daughter's disappearance, according to ABC News affiliate WFTV.

"He (Smith) has fully cooperated," said Yvonne Stewart, Parker's mother. "They have found absolutely no evidence that there's any foul play on his part."

Parker's parents told WFTV Saturday that believe their daughter was a "victim of a random crime."

Her family is making desperate pleas for her return.

Parker's mother, Yvonne Stewart, is frantic.

"If anybody has her and are holding her hostage, please let her go. Let her come home so she can raise her babies," she said.

Rocky Relationship

In their argument on "The People's Court," Parker revealed deeper conflicts in their relationship.

"He shouldn't have put his hands on me and he shouldn't have put his hands on me prior. He shouldn't have left me three or four times over the past year and a half that we we've been together," she said on the show.

The show could provide clues for investigators.

"You know it's always possible that anytime you have a public display of animosity between two individuals in a relationship, it's going to exacerbate the problems between those two individuals," said Rod Wheeler, former Washington D.C. homicide investigator and current homicide consultant.

It's not the first time daytime TV has shared the headlines with a case.

Back in 1996, a man was convicted of murdering an acquaintance, after he claimed the "Jenny Jones Show" ambushed him with a gay crush confessional.

And for this case, a private dispute that played out for television audiences could be linked to this family's nightmare.

Parker's father, Brad Parker said family members, friends, volunteers and Texas Equusearch members are searching for his daughter.

"So let's hope we find her and bring her home…," he said.

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Continue Reading... Labels: After, Court', Episode, Michelle, Missing, Parker:, People's, Woman