Elias Abuelazam, Israeli-Arab, is accused of stabbing 18 people in three states, killing five. He was arrested at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where he was attempting to board a Delta flight to Tel-Aviv, Israel, where it’s believed he was born. Abuelazam has been charged one count of assault with intent to murder in connection with a July 27 attack in Flint, Mich. Though that charge can carry a life sentence, further charges are expected as the investigation continues.

Abuelazam worked at the Kingwater Market in Mt. Morris Township, was last at work Aug. 2. He told coworkers that he had to go to Virginia, where he has family. Authorities received a tip Wednesday that Abuelazam had not returned to work and had gone to Virginia. Police watched surveillance tapes and saw he matched the physical description of the suspect. Earlier this month he was charged for an assault against his brother-in-law. His green Chevy Blazer, colored green over gold – matching the suspect’s vehicle description – was impounded and police there found a knife and a hammer.

Police believe he came to Michigan in May, just days before the attacks began. Most of the stabbing victims were black men, but police declined to say the attacks were racially motivated: “We don’t have a motive yet but, as you know, many times the motive doesn’t appear until later in the investigation,” Leyton said. “Jury instructions don’t require us necessarily to have a motive.”

Those who knew him here say he was a serious flirt, and a quiet, “regular” guy, but his ex-wife’s family, former neighbors in Israel and court records show he was rough around the edges — and no stranger to the law. Not much is known about how Abuelazam made a living. Over the years, he moved around from Michigan to Virginia to Florida, and held multiple jobs, including mental health technician at a psychiatric facility. On July 5 of this year, he walked into Kingwater Market and asked for a job. Though he only worked at the party store for less than a month, regular customers said he was an OK guy who didn’t show any aggression or unusual behavior toward black customers. No one suspected a thing until an anonymous tip led to his arrest, and everyone — from his ex-mother-in-law to his buddies in Israel to his boss — is floored Abuelazam is suspected of being the internationally notorious Flint serial stabber.

-articles by Melissa Burden and Ron Fonger, and form abcnews.com, rewritten and adapted by admin-

The sketch of a white man wearing a baseball cap, with a mustache and goatee, is shown with a stud through the top of his left ear. The drawing is dated from Wednesday. He had earlier been described as being a muscular, light-haired man, between 5-foot-11 and 6-foot-2. Today, Michigan State Police, leading a task force, added that the man weighs between 180 to 210 pounds and is in his late 20s to early 30s.

Survivors have told police their attacker approached them with a story about needing help. Some said they were stabbed multiple times without warning. “He’s killed five people,” Flint Police Sgt. J. Leigh Golden said Thursday. “He’s just killing them, not robbing them.” Investigators said that since May, the serial killer has been targeting vulnerable, small-framed African-American men. Two of the men he stabbed had special needs, police said. “To me, he’s a bully. He’s picking on people smaller than him or somewhat vulnerable. He doesn’t give a warning; he doesn’t rob them. He gives them no reason at all,” said Flint police Lt. Tim Johnson during a news conference Thursday.

Most of the stabbings have occurred late at night or early in the morning near major roadways in Flint and Flint Township, where authorities said it is easier for the killer to stalk people and flee quickly. The last victim, a 26-year-old male, told the task force investigators that he had been stabbed by a suspect matching the serial killer’s description at about 3 a.m. July 27. The victim told police he was walking on Pierson Road near Fleming Road when the suspect approached him and stabbed him repeatedly. The suspect asked him for help with his vehicle before the attack. The victim told police the vehicle description was similar to the description released by police Monday — a Blazer-type vehicle, dark green over tan.

Authorities are working with a forensic psychologist to determine whether the stabbings are racially motivated hate crimes. Police say no other developments have occurred in the case since Monday evening. Anyone with information is asked to call the Flint Police Department or the Michigan State Police at 866-246-9500.

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William Dathan Holbert and his girlfriend Laura Michelle Reese, were arrested by authorities as they attempted to make their way into Nicaragua via Costa Rica, officials said. The two are wanted in connection with the deaths of seven fellow Americans in Panama, as well as two Panamanians, authorities said.

Holbert and Reese have quite a past. The couple operated a series of scams in the U.S.—including one that involved Holbert stealing a $200,000 house that didn’t belong to him—before fleeing the country in 2006. Panamanian police got suspicious after officers discovered two bodies near a house that Holbert and Reese were living in under fake names. The woman has been identified as Cheryl Lynn Hughes, from St Louis, Missouri, who had been living in Panama for 10 years but has been missing since March. The man was identified as Bo Icelar, who has been missing since November and is thought to be from New Mexico. Prosecutors allege Mr Holbert befriended Ms Hughes and Mr Icelar by posing as a potential investor before murdering them and taking over their properties – a hotel and a house.

Panamanian authorities say they have recovered three more bodies on his property. The bodies of a man, a woman and a child were found buried in the grounds of a hostel owned by William Holbert in the Bocas del Toro archipelago. Tests were planned to identify the latest remains. On Sunday, prosecutors quoted Holbert as admitting he killed a U.S. man named Mike Brown, his wife and small son about three years ago and buried them on his property. Prosecutors say Mr Holbert, 30, has confessed to killing five people to steal their money and property, and has been giving them information about where to find the bodies. “He picked out his victims after making their acquaintance,” said Angel Calderon, a prosecuting attorney, London’s Guardian reports. “Knowing that nobody would ask about them, he got rid of them.”

It is still unclear what role Reese played in the alleged scheme. The couple were using false documents in Panama and living under the aliases William and Jean Cortez, police said.

-articles by Michael Sheridan and Brian Moylan rewritten and adapted by admin-

The 28-year-old computer technician was taken into custody Tuesday in San Fernando City in La Union province, 139 miles north of Manila. A serial killer has been caught after he became a Facebook friend with the daughter of one of his victims. He was charged with killing nine people – six Filipinos, an American, a Canadian and a Briton – in three different robberies at hotels and homes this month in Angeles city. Police say the murder rampage began on July 12 when Canadian Geoffrey Allan Bennun, 60, and his Filipino girlfriend were shot to death in a hotel room. Four days later, Briton James Bolton Porter, 51, and his girlfriend were slain by a gunman inside their home. Then last week, American Albert Mitchell, 70, his wife and three Filipino domestic workers were killed inside their house.

“He had an account on Facebook and two witnesses positively identified him,” said police chief of Angeles city, Senior Superintendent Danilo Bautista, “We have an airtight case against him. I believe it is ironclad.” He said Dizon apparently closed his Facebook account after sensing police were on his heels, but two witnesses had already positively identified him using his profile picture.

The good-looking Dizon allegedly befriended the victims first to gain their trust, so they allowed him to go into their homes freely on the pretense of fixing their computers. Dizon then allegedly attacked them using a 9mm pistol and robbed them of valuables, including electronic gadgets. Angeles mayor Edgardo Pamintuan paraded a handcuffed Dizon before press photographers today and said murder charges had been filed against him: “I believe he knew what he was doing, because it was well-planned. It was good that we caught him because he would have struck again.”

-articles by Ted Ajlibe and Ayinde O. Chase, rewritten and adapted by admin-

Franklin allegedly killed seven women between 1985 and 1988, when his crimes seemed to abruptly stop, authorities say. The slayings resumed in 2002, another murder happened in 2003 and a third one in 2007, police said. They suspect Franklin may be responsible for more homicides during that gap.

Detectives have spent the last two days serching Franklin’s home, collecting photo albums, documents, business cards and other records that they hope can provide a better picture of the suspect and perhaps provide links to other victims. A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said police recovered multiple firearms from Franklin’s home and will be testing the weapons to see if there is a match to the ballistics evidence from the crime scenes. There is no DNA evidence in any of the 30 cases, which is significant because authorities said they tied Franklin to some of the 10 killings based on information from DNA databases. Many of the cases are three decades old and occurred during a period when several serial killers were allegedly operating in South L.A.

To many of his neighbors and customers, Lonnie Franklin Jr. was just a friendly mechanic who often stopped to chat as he tinkered on cars in the front driveway of his mint-green house on 81st Street. But after police identified him as a serial killer Wednesday, other neighbors recalled traits that suddenly seemed chilling. Some neighbors said Franklin made no secret of enjoying the company of sex workers, who he would often bring back to a camper parked in his backyard filled with old cars and junk. Another neighbor, Sherwood Howard, said Franklin would show off nude photos he took of the women from the neck down and talk about his exploits. He kept the pictures in the garage.

The 57-year-old man was arrested at least 15 times over four decades but was never sent to state prison despite the recommendation of probation officers, court and jail records show. He was arrested for burglary, car theft, firearms possession and assaults, but his crimes never were considered serious enough to send him to state prison or to warrant his entry in the state’s DNA database, authorities said. Despite the long and varied record, Franklin did not commit the kind of violent crimes against women that might have drawn the attention of detectives in the Grim Sleeper case. Investigators now plan to use DNA to tie Franklin to dozens more murders, looking at more than 30 cold case files dating to 1984, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Friday.

“Now that we know who he is, where he lives, the cars he drove, have people to interview, we will go over all those old cases and look for connections,” Beck said.

-articles from skcentral.com rewritten and adapted by admin-

The “Grim Sleeper” case has dogged police even though they had the killer’s DNA, a description from a survivor and had offered a $500,000 reward. The victims were shot, strangled, or both, usually after some kind of sexual contact. Ten victims were women and several were prostitutes. Police have said it’s possible that the male victim, Thomas Steele, who was shot in 1987, was a friend of another victim or discovered the killer’s identity. All the bodies were found outdoors, often in alleys a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 57, was arrested at his home in South Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after police said they made DNA matches linking him to the killings of 11 people over the last three decades. Prosecutors said they have charged Franklin with 10 counts of murder, noting that he is eligible for the death penalty. Dozens of police officials closed off a block around the 81st Street house where the arrest was made. Neighbors described the man who lives there as friendly and quiet. They said he was often seen working on cars in his front yard and would sometimes stop to chat with passers-by.

In recent days, the LAPD received the results of what is known as a familial DNA search, which trolls through state felon databases for partial DNA matches that would indicate a match to a relative. The suspect in the killings had left DNA evidence at several of the crime scenes. The LAPD learned that a man in state prison showed a strong familial match. Detectives questioned the man, who was too young to have committed several of the older murders, and he led detectives to his father, Franklin. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said detectives got a piece of discarded pizza with Franklin’s DNA to make the link.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4CP8WfzabM

The series of killings included victims, mostly female, in the city of Los Angeles, in unincorporated areas of L.A. County and in Inglewood since the 1980s. A survivor in 1988 described her attacker as black, in his 20s, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, about 160 pounds, soft-spoken and articulate, with neatly trimmed hair and a pockmarked face. DNA and ballistics evidence have connected the killings of 10 women and one man from 1985 to 2007, police said. After 1988, the killer did not commit any known homicides until 2002 and last struck on Jan. 1, 2007.

Franklin has twice been convicted of felonies, according to court records, both for receiving stolen property. One was in 1993 and the other was 2003. He served a year in jail for the first conviction and was sentenced to 270 days in jail in the 2003 case.

Franklin was expected to be arraigned Thursday.

-articles from various sources rewritten and adapted by admin-

On February 9, a five-year-old girl’s body was found stuffed in a gunny bag at a staircase in a Nehru Nagar building. A month later, on March 7, a riot-like situation had erupted in Kurla (east) after a nine-year-old girl Anjali Jaiswal was found raped and murdered on the terrace of the police quarters opposite the Nehru Nagar police station – the DNA shows both murders have been carried out by the same person.

The police is now waiting for the reports from the vaginal swabs of nine-year-old girl Nusrat Khursheed Alam Sheikh. Sheikh had been missing since June 6 was recovered dead in a decomposed condition at an abandoned room at Vatsalatai Naik Nagar on June 19. “We are now awaiting reports of the third rape and murder to confirm the role of the same person,” added the officer. They already arrested Mohammad Ajmeri, who is known for his violent behaviour, for allegedly raping and murdering one of the girls. The medical reports however, and a DNA test of Ajmeri proved negative.

The police has stated that citizens are coming forward to help them and not creating any law and order problems in Kurla. “Citizens are cooperating with us. This is a time when the entire force is working to crack the case,” added the officer.

So far, since the first rape and murder in February, police has tested the DNA samples of over 300 people – with no luck. They believe the man responsible for these crimes is a local and was aware that over 70% houses at Vatsala Tai Nagar and the nearby slum remain locked for three months during summer. That helped him hide and leave the place after committing the offenses.

In further investigation they discovered that the killer left a two-rupee coin next to each of the three girls’ bodies. “We are investigating this angle. It might yield a glimpse into his mind,” officials said. Bar owners are asked to provide information on any suspicious visitors. A policeman added that people often reveal many things under the influence of alcohol and information overheard in bars by informers or cops has in the past helped nab many criminals. The officer said that apart from bars and sensitive locations, a team of police officials are keeping a continuous vigil at schools in the locality.

Kamlesh Sharma, a new suspect, arrested on Wednesday by the Vinoba Bhave Nagar police in Kurla for trying to entice a minor girl to accompany him, was remanded in police custody till June 29 by the Kurla Metropolitan Magistrate. Officers said they need his custody to verify if he could be the rapist-killer. “Sharma, 41 and bearded, does not match the description of the wanted rapist, supposed to be in his twenties and clean-shaven. However, we are taking no chances and have sought police custody so we can have DNA tests done and keep Sharma available for an identification parade before the girl who had escaped the rapist,” said an officer with the VB Nagar police. So far, there are no other leads in the case.

-articles from various sources rewritten and adapted by admin-

Police are yet to nail the rapist who has been driving terror into the hearts of Nehru Nagar residents in Kurla. At 9.30 am on Saturday, residents of Vatsalatai Nagar hutment near Nehru Nagar tipped off police when they found a stench emanating from a shanty, which has been unoccupied for the past three months. When police broke open the door, they found the body of a minor bound by a copper wire. The body was too decomposed to be identified. According to police, there were wounds on the thighs but it will only be ascertained after the post mortem if she was raped. Police called in the parents of eight-year-old Nusrat Shaikh, who had been missing since June 6, to identify the body. Nusrat’s father Khurshid Alam Shaikh, 42, identified the body when he saw her clothes. The room had been sold three months ago. Though there is the possibility of someone dropping a body into the room through a gap in the roof, the police are questioning the owner, hoping he’s the key that will help them unlock this mystery and find the current owner.

“We have detained 30 people in this case,” said Jailendra Khandagale, ACP, Kurla. Nehru Nagar police have also issued a sketch of the suspect. They believe Nusrat’s murderer could be the one behind the other five crimes involving minors in Nehru Nagar. However, they can’t even be certain whether it’s one person, two persons, a group of people behind these 6 cases, or if it’s all just a plain coincidence. The only man authorities have actually arrested in connection with the case is a local goon named Ajmeri, who has been a frequent guest at the police station for several years now. Ajmeri is notorious for breaking into homes in the night and stealing money, mobile phones, and small household articles to support his supposed drug addiction. It’s such an accepted fact that his family doesn’t even make excuses for him.

Other five cases include:

February 9: Body of a five-year-old girl was found in a gunny bag on the staircase of a building in Nehru Nagar, Kurla (E). The post-mortem report revealed that the girl was raped and killed.

March 7: A nine-year-old girl was first murdered and then raped. The accused had dumped the victim’s body on the terrace of the residential quarter of senior police inspector Prakash Kale.

April 27: The father of a seven-year-old girl lodged a complaint with Nehru Nagar police that his daughter was kidnapped by unidentified men who had attempted to rape her.

April 28: An eight-year-old girl was playing near her house in Makadwala compound in Kurla (W) when an unknown person lured her on the pretext of buying her a cold drink. He took her to the terrace of the railway police quarters in Kurla (E), right in front of Nehru Nagar police station, and molested her. However, she managed to escape.

May 12: At Vatsalatai Nagar in Kurla (E), an unidentified man lured a girl aged four-and-a-half to a remote place and tried to molest her. The girl was playing outside her house at around 5.30 pm when a man approached her with a chocolate and five rupees and took her to an isolated place.

-article from SKCentral rewritten and adapted by admin-

In exclusive extracts from his new book The Lost British Serial Killer, Wilson reveals why he believes Tobin committed the three brutal, unsolved murders in Glasgow that have been blamed on Bible John. And he describes the bombshell courtroom moment when he became certain that Tobin was guilty of the murders.

Wilson, professor of criminology at the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at Birmingham University, became convinced he was looking at Bible John during Tobin’s trial for the 1991 murder of teenager Dinah McNicol. Hitch-hiker David Tremlett was a reluctant witness, as police initially suspected he had murdered Dinah.

“He shared a hitched lift from Liphook Music Festival in Hampshire with her. She was sitting in the front of Tobin’s cab while he was in the back and he overheard a conversation where Tobin said to Dinah that the Cambridge Folk Festival was ‘more my style’. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was trying to imply he was socially superior and that he could be trusted. This was the exactly the same type of conversation that witness Jeannie Williams had in the back of a Glasgow taxi all those years ago with Bible John. Jeannie recalled how the killer seemed to want to make out he was a cut above everyone else. He talked about how he didn’t support Celtic or Rangers, which was highly unusual in Glasgow, and how he didn’t drink at Hogmanay. He talked about his cousin’s hole-in-one at golf and it was exactly the same technique he was using.

“Tobin kept his head down and rarely made eye contact throughout the trial but he looked up at this statement and I thought, ‘You are looking up because you know the significance of that’. I looked around the court but no one else had picked up on it. Despite the decades between the conversations, the link, to me, was clear and I wanted to stand up and shout, ‘Peter Tobin is Bible John!’”

During his research for the book, Wilson visited the sites of the Bible John murders and interviewed witnesses and former detectives. The murders stopped when Tobin left Glasgow. His travels around Britain, raping and possibly murdering other women, could explain why the killings came to a sudden halt in 1969 after three deaths in less than two years.

Wilson first became interested in Tobin when he was convicted of murdering Angelika. The evil handyman hid her body under the floorboards of St Patrick ’s Church in Anderston, Glasgow. Wilson said: “I was fascinated that a man in his sixties was capable of such a violent crime. I tracked down his first wife Margaret Mackintosh. Bible John was a sexual sadist and we have testimony from Margaret of Tobin’s sexual sadism. Jeannie gave a surname for John and she thought it was something like ‘Sempleson’ or ‘Templeton’. Tobin used the name John Semple. That is a striking piece of evidence that cannot be coincidental.”

The criminologist accepts there may never be definitive proof that Tobin is the infamous serial killer but he added: “I am as convinced as it’s able to be. As far as I am concerned the case is closed.”

Tobin, 63, will die in jail, having been convicted of murdering Scots schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, Essex teenager Dinah and Polish student Angelika Kluk in Glasgow. He has since been linked with as many as 48 victims – and a special police operation has been set up to probe links between Tobin and a string of unsolved murders. We might never know the truth!

-article by Lynn Mcpherson rewritten and adapted by admin-

The shooting frenzy began close to Bird’s home village of Rowrah early in the morning. It is understood he shot dead his twin brother David, of Lamplugh, a former mechanic working as a lorry driver. He also killed Kevin Commons, the family solicitor. He set off for Whitehaven, where one of his first victims was Darren Rewcastle, 43, a taxi driver who had worked with Bird for years. Friends said they never had any problems in the past.

A taxi driver in Whitehaven, Cumbria, where Bird shot and killed two people, said last night: “From what I’ve been told, there was an argument between him and other drivers.” Afterwards Derrick shook all their hands and said: “There’s going to be a rampage tomorrow.” Bird then told his friend Peter Leder: “You won’t see me again.”

Turning the gun on two other taxi drivers, Bird killed one and injured another, believed to be Terry Kennedy, who is in his 40s. He moved on to the town of Egremont where he came across Susan Hughes, 57, who has two daughters, one of whom is understood to be severely disabled. She was walking home from a local shop when he killed her. Bird climbed out of the vehicle and shot her twice in the stomach with a .22 rifle before driving half a mile and shooting dead Ken Fishburn, a retired security worker who was in his 70s. He was believed to be on his way to a betting shop when he was killed. As he drove to Wilton, Bird killed a man, named locally as Spike Dixon. Last night it emerged that a couple named locally as Jimmy and Jennifer Jackson, both church stalwarts in their 60s, had also been shot dead at a house in Wilton, just outside Egremont. His next victim was Garry Purdham, 31, a former professional rugby league player, who played for Whitehaven and Egremont as well as Workington. Mr Purdham had been mending a fence on his father Jack’s farm near Gosforth. Bird fired twice and killed him.

Driving on to Seascale, Bird collided with a Land Rover being driven by Harry Berger, the landlord of the Woolpack pub at Boot. Bird fired two shots through his window. Mr Berger was hit but survived. Moments later, as he approached the village of Drigg, he came across Jane Robinson, 66, who was delivering catalogues. Bird passed and opened fire, killing her. Moments later Michael Pike was shot dead as he cycled past. Heading out of the village Bird opened fire once more, hitting a woman named locally as Jacqui Lewis.

It is believed Bird’s bloodbath claimed 12 victims and left 25 wounded with eight people in hospital, three fighting for their lives. By 12.41pm, Bird would have heard radio reports naming him as the gunman. From Seascale, he made the short journey to the hamlet of Boot where he left his car, walked into to a wood where he shot himself in the head.

Those who knew Bird said he was a quiet, “normal bloke” with two grown-up sons, one of whom had just become a father. He lived alone in Rowrah, near Frizington, Cumbria, and liked tinkering with his car. Bird was teased over his sex life and for being a “mummy’s boy”, later executing a friend who had taunted him for being a failure with women.

After a three hour manhunt, police found the serial killer lying in a pool of his own blood at 1.40pm.

-articles by Chris Riches, Rod Mills and Nick Fagge rewritten and adapted by admin-