Source: CBS News

Yesterday we reported on the miraculous escape of three Ohio kidnapping victims who were allegedly held captive for over ten years by Ariel Castro and two of his brothers. As America continues to celebrate the victims’ safe return, gruesome details have begun to emerge regarding the inhumane treatment suffered by these young women during the 10+ years that they were confined to Castro’s home.

One source told ABC 5 that there were “multiple” pregnancies between Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle McKnight. The source went on to say that one of the victims suffered two to three miscarriages during the years spent in Castro’s home because she was malnourished. A police source revealed that there were “five pregnancies inside” the Seymour Avenue residence. The source did not disclose whether or not Berry’s 6-year-old daughter was included in that number, but they did reveal that more children were recovered from the home.

According to WKYC, the women were also repeatedly raped and beaten during their pregnancies.  Ariel, Pedro and Oneil Castro were arrested on Monday night in relation to the kidnappings. Investigators continue to comb Ariel Castro’s home for clues. It is being reported that “disturbed dirt”was discovered in the backyard, but it has yet to be revealed whether or not this clue has any relation to the aforementioned crimes.

We will continue to keep you posted as this story develops.

Judy Eddy/WENN.com

A promoter who found himself in a bad situation is determined to hold Nas accountable for it, one way or another.

Concert promoter Patrick Alloco is suing Nas for $10 million dollars for what he believes in Nas’ role in a kidnapping and TMZ has, of course, obtained the documentation.  Not sure if you heard about this but the concert promoter was kidnapped in Angola after Nas did not show up for a concert on New Year’s Eve in December 2011 after he was paid $300,000.  Singer Jeremih was also part of the bill and didn’t show up but the assumption is that he was only paid $15,000 for his performance. The Angolan promoter that was involved, Henrique Miguel, was allegedly very upset because he put up a lot of money for Nas’ appearance and when he didn’t show up, he allegedly sent his “henchmen” out to capture Patrick until he got his money back.

Alloco and his son were held captive for 50 days – until February 2012 – when the U.S. Embassy finally stepped in and were able able to get them released (the Angolan authorities were aware of what was going on – they, in fact, held Alloco for over seven hours for questioning).

In the lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday, Alloco said he was threatened constantly and beaten during the time he was held hostage.  He also states that as a result of him being away from the states for so long and being unable to do business, he has lost his company and his home.

That is a lot of money and we already know Nas has had IRS money problems, ex-wife money problems, etc.  This case seems like it’ll be interesting (if Nas doesn’t settle out of court) because the only reason Alloco was kidnapped was because Nas didn’t show up for the show.  Now, who knows if he’ll actually get $10 million but you have to wonder if a judge would see things in his favor in some part.

What do you think? Should Nas be held somewhat responsible?

Source: Toledoblade.com

Verna McClain is facing capital murder charges in the state of Texas for the shooting death of 28-year-old wife and mother Kala Golden. The nurse and mother of three is said to have shot Golden in the parking lot of a suburban Houston pediatric clinic and then took the woman’s 3-day-old son, Keegan Schuchardt. According to McClain’s sister, whom the infant was found safe with hours later, McClain planned to adopt the boy.

Defense attorney E. Tay Bond said lawyers will be reviewing McClain’s mental state. She currently plans to plead not guilty, and bond added that a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was “certainly something we will be visiting.” It seems McClain had suffered a miscarriage and was desperate to find a baby after telling her fiancé that she’d given birth to their child. McClain’s court-appointed lawyers said she was confused, visibly upset, and mumbling to them during a brief court hearing held earlier yesterday.

“It will take a while … for her to have an appreciation for what the situation is, if she ever does appreciate it,” Bond said after the hearing.

A bond hearing for McClain was delayed until Monday to allow lawyers more time to review the case. Until then, McClain will be held without bond in a jail cell by herself under 24-hour watch. Bond said he didn’t believe any of her relatives had visited her and he hopes McClain is granted a reasonable bond so she can take care of her three children, who are being looked after by a relative in Houston.

Capital murder carries a possible death sentence, but Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said his office hasn’t decided whether to seek the death penalty yet. Bond and McClain’s other attorney, Stephen Jackson, said they don’t think that punishment would be appropriate.

“One of the things they have to prove is future dangerousness,” Bond said. “When you have an isolated incident with somebody who has no prior criminal history, it is very difficult to prove that that person would be a future danger.”

Do you think a not guilty plea by reason of insanity will work in this case?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Missing person stories don’t often have a happy ending, especially after several years have passed, but when it comes to missing Texas boy, Miguel Morin, the outcome is all good.

Miguel went missing in 2004 when he was just an infant, and although his baby sitter and godmother, Krystle Tanner, 26, was suspected of kidnapping back then, it wasn’t until Monday that police were finally able to arrest her. Authorities caught up to Krystle late last summer when child welfare investigators in San Augustine County received a complaint that Tanner and her boyfriend were neglecting their two children. Krystle told the investigators different stories about the child, that he went by different names and she had been keeping him briefly for a woman that she had met in a park.  Police tried to find the other child, and in January they began investigating Miguel as a missing person, although they had no records and little information.

According to the NY Daily News, neither Child Protective Services nor law enforcement knew about the 2004 Houston kidnapping case at the time because the boy had been removed from the national missing children’s database. When CPS officials learned that Krystle was suspected in the 2004 kidnapping, police arrested her Monday, and one of her relatives led detectives to the boy.

Miguel will have to undergo DNA tests to confirm his identify, although police are certain they have the right boy. Miguel’s mother, Auboni Champion-Morin, can hardly wait to be reunited with her son later this week.

“I want to hold him in my arms and let him know who I am. I hope he can feel the same thing I feel for him.

Chief Deputy Gary Cunningham of the San Augustine Sheriff’s Department, said the family will likely undergo counseling because the 8-year-old boy has never been in school, and was reportedly referred to as “dirty” by name. So far, it’s unclear whether anyone else will be arrested in the case, and what motive Krystle had for snatching the boy when she was just 18, but thankfully the mother and son will be reunited soon:

“I prayed every night that he was safe, loved and he would come home one day,” his mother said.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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In May 2009, Bonnie Sweeten called 911 and told police she had been carjacked by two African American men and that they kidnapped her and her 9-year-old daughter, sparking a nationwide search. What really happened is Bonnie faked the carjacking after swindling her boss and an elderly relative out of more than $1 million, and she was chilling at a Disney resort. Yesterday, the 40-year-old Feasterville con woman was sentenced to 100 months behind bars after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last July.

Bonnie’s scheme started long before her arrest in 2009. In 2004, she stole roughly $640,000 from a U.S. attorney’s office where she was working and then took an additional $280,000 from an elderly relative’s retirement account. She also forged a passport, driver’s license, and a court order. When she was arrested in 2009, she had spent the money on an expensive home, cars, vacations, and in-vitro fertilization treatments, which she and her lawyer argued is what caused her to steal the money after experiencing numerous miscarriages.

The judge had no sympathy. In addition to an eight-year sentence, he also ordered Bonnie to pay back more than $1 million in restitution, and told her she should be ashamed for rousing racial profiling when she accused black men of kidnapping her.

“This is a wound we want to heal, the racial divide,” Bucks County Court Judge Jeffrey L. Finley told Sweeten. “You picked at it that day and reopened it.”

I’m glad the judge understood the full scope of her wrongdoing. Do you think Bonnie’s sentence fits the crime?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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(MSNBC) — A woman who raised a baby girl she allegedly took from a Harlem hospital more than 20 years ago has been indicted for kidnapping.  A federal grand jury in New York brought the charges against Ann Pettway for “unlawfully, willfully and knowingly” taking Carlina White, now 23, from her hospital crib at Harlem Hospital in 1987. The baby was 19 days old. The grand jury said Pettway “abducted” and “willfully transported” the baby out of state. Under the name of Nejdra Nance, White grew up in Connecticut and later Georgia under Pettway’s care.

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(New York Times) — The details of that summer day in 1987 remind New Yorkers of what a different place the city was then. Murders were trending toward a historic high, with street crime ingrained as a fact of life.  Amid that chaos, a woman dressed in the white dress of a nurse took a stranger’s baby, hot with a fever; descended from the 17th floor of Harlem Hospital to the streets below; and walked away.

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(News One) — A woman who raised a baby girl kidnapped from a Harlem hospital has been taken into custody, more than 20 years after her alleged crime, NBC New York reports.  It is unclear if Ann Pettway turned herself in or if she was arrested. Stratford, Conn. police confirmed she was in police custody. Pettway is formally wanted for violating her parole on an attempted embezzlement but officials also want to question her about the infant girl’s 1987 abduction, in the spotlight after the now grown woman’s amazing reunion with her real Bronx family.

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(AP) — More than two decades ago, a newborn sick with fever was snatched from a New York City hospital, her frantic mother returning to the emergency room to find an empty crib. On Wednesday, police said the baby — now a woman living in Atlanta — has been found.  Carlina White was just 19 days old when she disappeared from Harlem Hospital on Aug. 4, 1987. Police searched for her kidnappers but never found enough evidence to charge any suspects. Her mother, Joy White, always had a feeling that her baby was alive, her family said.

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