Image courtesy of Oleg Volk.

Dyanna Powell
Shot and killed on June 21, 2004

(MO) Husband charged in murder of estranged wife

Aldona Buciene
Shot and killed on May 16, 2004

(IL) West Chicago woman dies in apparent murder/suicide
"Aldona Buciene, 49, of the 800 block of Brentwood Drive, West Chicago, was found dead Sunday afternoon in the second floor master bedroom of her home. Buciene was lying on the floor, and police suspected foul play was involved.   Her boyfriend, Antanas Ramanauskas of Aurora, was identified as a suspect, and investigators drove to his home. By the time police arrived, Ramanauskas was already dead in his home."

Martha Raney
Stabbed to death on October 14, 2003
Murderer convicted on June 22, 2004

(VA) Ex-boyfriend convicted on murder charge
"Raney, 53, was stabbed 29 times in the kitchen of her apartment in the 200 block of Laurel Fork Drive in South Richmond. A cabinet drawer was open when police arrived, and seven knives with bent or broken blades were in, on or around her body." ... "Calvert Carrington, a neighbor of Raney, testified he received a call from her when he got home just before midnight. She told him someone was banging at her door and she was afraid.  Carrington checked and saw Wyatt, who told him he was looking for Martha. "I told him there was no Martha there, to go away," Carrington recalled.  He went back to his apartment and told Raney over the phone not to answer the door and to call 911, Carrington testified. Then he heard a crash and saw Wyatt dive through the window, Carrington said."

Maranda Leigh Williams
Shot and killed on September 3, 2003

(SC) Woman killed during hostage incident at Eastside grocery
"Charles Christopher Williams, 20, of 506 Waxford Way in Simpsonville was charged Wednesday night with murder, kidnapping and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, according to arrest warrants.  Williams, whom investigators described as Maranda Williams' ex-boyfriend, was out on bond for a July 16 incident at the same store in which he was accused of punching her in the parking lot, according to an arrest warrant charging him with assault and battery with intent to kill."

STRANGLED! Unknown Woman
Strangled to death on May 7, 2003

(IL) Woman found dead in car on N. Side
"Chicago police are investigating the death of an unidentified woman who was found with a rope
around her neck in a car on the city's Far North Side.  The victim was found shortly after midnight in the back seat of a red Nissan in the 7000 block of North Clark Street, in the Rogers Park neighborhood, police said. The woman showed signs of head trauma.  No further information was immediately available."

(IL) 30-year boyfriend charged in slaying
"A Carpentersville woman whose boyfriend was charged with her murder Monday had recently begun to fear the man she had taken care of for 30 years, her brother said.  Kathy Ginesi, 51, of the 300 block of Amarillo Drive, was found dead in her home Sunday. She died of blunt trauma to the head and neck, a preliminary autopsy report said." ... "In early April, Kathy Ginesi called her brother to say that Kadlec had started acting strangely and that she was fearful he might hurt her, Ginesi said. "She took him to the doctor, and they upped [the dosage] on his medicine," he said."

(KY) Man suspected in wife's death ends standoff
"Authorities said Dennis Greene, 30, is suspected in the slaying of Tara Greene Sunday at the Derby Ridge apartment complex in Lakeside Park.  "Her wounds were very severe, to the point of either partial or complete decapitation," Shannon Metzger, spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service Chicago office.  Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden said officers responded to a hostage situation in the 7800 block of South Bishop Street around 4 p.m. Thursday after U.S. marshals tried to serve Greene with a murder warrant."

Crystal Brame
Died on May 3, 2003; shot on April 26, 2003

(WA) Brame's wife dies; Tacoma in turmoil
"A disturbing mix of domestic tragedy and political controversy continued to shake the city yesterday as Police Chief David Brame was buried and his wife was declared dead at his hand Crystal Brame died in a Seattle hospital one week after Brame shot her in the head and turned his police revolver on himself." ... "Last night, the Tacoma City Council met behind closed doors to struggle with the question of who knew what when about the chief's volatility, and to look at the role City Manager Ray Corpuz, Jr., played in the hiring, promoting and protecting of David Brame."

(IL) Boyfriend held in slayings of woman, father
"The 26-year-old boyfriend of Cathy Bradley was charged with murdering her and her father in their Englewood home, police said Saturday.  Anthony Pitchford, who lived with Bradley, 48, and her father, Henry Wood, 79, in the 6200 block of South Paulina Street, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, authorities said.  Pitchford turned himself in Thursday and confessed to the crime, police said.  Bradley's daughter found her mother's body in a bedroom and her grandfather's body on the stairs.  Both had been shot, police said.  Pitchford will appear Monday in bond court."

• Update: Suspect denied bond in killings

(FL) Ex-cop kills former wife at Panhandle day care center
"A former police officer fatally shot his ex-wife in front of several young children in the parking lot outside a day care center Thursday when she arrived to drop off their 3-year-old daughter, authorities said. No one else was injured.  Laurie A. Barnicoat, 40, was taken to Twin Cities Hospital here where she later died, said Okaloosa County sheriff's spokesman Rick Hord." ... "Barnicoat was taken to the county jail in Crestview where he was booked on an open count of murder and held without bond. A grand jury or prosecutors will later decide the degree of the alleged crime.  The divorced couple lived at separate addresses in Niceville. Hord said there had been a history of domestic violence. He said the victim was employed by an accounting firm and her former husband did landscape work."

Brenda Rosario
Shot and killed on April 16, 2003

(IL) Wife slain, husband turns gun on himself
"A Logan Square woman was fatally shot early Wednesday in the apartment she shared with three of her four children, and her estranged husband was hospitalized with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his head, police said." ... "The owner of the two-flat where Rosario lived in a second-floor apartment said he awoke to the sound of four gunshots around 7 a.m.  Declining to identify himself, the landlord said Rosario and Cotto had separated recently. He didn't know if Cotto had arrived at the apartment Wednesday morning or spent the night there."

RAPED & STRANGLED! Indre Garbauskaite
Guilty plea entered on April 9, 2003; occurred in December of 2001

(IL) Man pleads guilty to friend's murder
"A Chicago man who allegedly admitted raping and strangling his ex-girlfriend in her Libertyville apartment pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder and sexual assault.  Rolando Vargas, 33, of the 400 block of McClurg Court, allegedly told police he visited Indre Garbauskaite, 22, of the 700 block of West Park Avenue, in December 2001 because he was upset she no longer wanted to see him." ... "Vargas described how he knocked Garbauskaite to the floor and tied her hands together with a piece of clothing, police said.  After strangling her, Vargas allegedly told authorities, he took the body into the bathroom and propped it up in the tub, which he filled with water to make it appear she had died accidentally, authorities said."

STRANGLED!  Olga Grbic
Strangled to death on April 2, 2003

(IL) 85-year-old woman strangled in hotel room
"An 85-year-old woman was found strangled in a North Side hotel room, , police spokeswoman JoAnn Taylor said Thursday.  Olga Grbic was found dead in a room at the Ambers Hotel, 1632 W. Belmont Avenue, when emergency crews arrived about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, said a medical examiner's office spokesman.  She was pronounced dead at 2:40 a.m. Thursday at the Stein Institute, and an autopsy Thursday found the cause of death to be strangulation, the medical examiner's spokesman said. Police are conducting an investigation."

Connie Waldrop, and her son Joshua, age 21
Shot and killed on March 22, 2003

(SC) Easley man charged in deaths of wife, son
"An Easley woman and her son were shot to death and their suburban brick home was the scene of an hourlong standoff between her husband and police Saturday morning, authorities said.  Rod R. Waldrop, 43, of 202 Ridgecrest Drive, was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Connie, and his son, Joshua, according to warrants and authorities.  Both Mrs. Waldrop, 43, and Joshua, 21, died of multiple gunshot wounds at their home at about 10:30 a.m., said Phillip Snow, a deputy coroner in Pickens County." ... "Police responded at 10:34 a.m. to a 911 call about gunshots being fired, said Maj. Keith Vinson, of the Easley Police Department. When police arrived at the house, they found the glass front storm door shattered and a man standing at the door with a rifle in his hand, Vinson said.  Police immediately took cover and used a loudspeaker and telephone to talk to the man, who walked outside unarmed and surrendered to officers about an hour later with no further shots fired, Vinson said."

Melinda Rose Glenn
Shot and killed on March 22, 2003

(SC) Woman slain on visit to estranged husband's home to get belongings
"A woman retrieving her belongings from a shed behind a mobile home was shot in the head and killed by her estranged husband Saturday, police said.  Melinda Rose Glenn, 31, died at the scene of a single gunshot wound, investigators said. Her husband, David Wayne Glenn Sr., also allegedly shot her brother in the shoulder and then ran into nearby woods, prompting a manhunt by the Anderson County Sheriff's Office." ... "Melinda Glenn recently left her husband and moved in with a friend, said Greg Shore, Anderson County coroner. The Glenns were separated and had four children, he said.  Investigators said Melinda Glenn, who had a restraining order against her husband, was with Sammons (her brother) and two friends to get her possessions. Attorneys worked out the exchange and Puckhaber said David Glenn was not supposed to be at home."

andChoni Dade, 
2-year-old Jailan Carter, and 5-year-old sister Dashay Barlow
Shot and stabbed on March 17, 2003

(IL) Woman shot fatally, 2 children critically hurt
"Chicago police today were investigating the slaying of a 25-year-old woman found shot and stabbed, along with two critically injured children, in their Southwest Side home Monday.  No suspects were in custody in the shooting death of Choni Dade and the stabbings of a 2-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, said police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak. A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office identified Dade early today.  Police officers found Dade bleeding on a bedroom floor in a house in the 8000 block of South Troy Street after responding to a 911 call placed at 10:50 a.m. Monday from a woman in the home, police said. It was not clear whether Dade was the woman who placed the call.  The boy and girl, who had their throats slit, were found in a different bedroom, according to a police official. All three were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.  Dade, whose throat also had been slit, died an hour later at the hospital. The two children were in critical condition, according to police. A spokeswoman for the hospital early today would not release the children's conditions.  Kubiak said she was not sure how the three were related."

(IN) Man shoots wife, woman before killing self
"A man fatally shot his wife and another woman with a 12-gauge shotgun before turning the weapon on himself, police said.  LaPorte County officers found all three dead Tuesday at a two-story home in Otis, a rural town about 20 miles northeast of Valparaiso.  The victims' names were not immediately released because their relatives had not yet been notified. Sheriff Jim Arnold said two of the victims were a married couple and the third was a relative of the couple.  Police responding to a disturbance at the home found one woman lying dead alongside a van in the driveway and the other woman inside the van.  About 60 officers surrounded the home and stormed the house about three hours later.  Police found the man inside dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Arnold said.  Neighbors say the couple were still living together despite marital troubles.  "I knew the capability (for violence) was always there. I guess I didn't think it would actually happen," said Sandy Peters, who lives nearby.  The couple had two teenage sons, but police said they were not home at the time of the shootings."

Method Unknown! Ruth Simpson, and grandchildren Destiny and Robert Wren
Died on or about February 8, 2003

(IL) Cops I.D. slain grandmother, children
"Simpson’s daughter found the bodies Monday night when she went to their apartment because she had not heard from her mother for a few days, police said.  The victims were found huddled together in a bedroom, on a mattress that had been set on fire in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime, authorities said. The fire was confined to the bedroom. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment.  The Lake County, Ind., coroner’s office said all three deaths were homicides. Police said they are awaiting official word from the coroner on the causes of death."

Unidentified Woman
Shot and killed on February 7, 2003

(IL) Woman slain, man wounded in shooting at North Side home
"A 40-year-old woman was killed and a 21-year-old man was in critical condition after being shot in their North Side home Friday, police said.  The woman was found fatally shot in her home in the 1000 block of West Hollywood Avenue at 6:15 p.m. Friday, said police spokeswoman Alice Casanova.  An unidentified 21-year-old man of the same address was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, said a hospital spokesman.  Police said witnesses who heard gunshots saw a masked man fleeing."

STRANGLED! Unidentified Woman
Strangled to death on February 6, 2003

(IL) Woman in bag was strangled
"Police are investigating the death of a woman found in a South Side alley wrapped in a cloth bag, authorities said.  An autopsy Friday determined that the woman, who has not yet been identified, was strangled, said a Cook County medical examiner's spokesman.  Witnesses said they saw something being thrown from the side door of a late model black Chevrolet van as it drove through an alley in the 5900 block of South Maplewood Avenue at 9:07 p.m. Thursday, said police spokesman Carlos Harrier.  Police found the woman's body inside a blue cloth bag in the alley, Harrier said.  The van fled westbound on 60th Street, Harrier said."