Dateline: Russia— Officials from the Russian Orthodox Church told BBC News that a 200-year-old church was recently stolen. The Church of the Resurrection had stood near the village of Komarovo since 1809. It was still standing in July, but some time in early October, thieves made off with it brick by brick. The disappearance of the historic church was not immediately noticed since it was in an out-of-the-way area and was not being used at the time. Church officials said they had been considering resuming services there. Unfortunately, all that remains now are the foundations and some sections of wall. It is assumed the church was sold off for building materials. Dateline: Massachusetts— Authorities in Framingham are trying to get to the bottom of a meaty mystery—determining who’s been dumping butcher-quality cuts of beef in the Town Center common. Police said someone has been placing the meat cuts at the location at least once a week for the past five weeks. Investigators told WCVB-TV Boston the most recent find in the town square consisted of a large, unwrapped meat chunk of what appeared to be liver and assorted bones. Police are sending the meat to a state lab for testing. Dateline: North Carolina— Gladwyn Taft Russ III, wanted for threatening his ex-wife, was Tasered by police while acting as a pallbearer at his father’s funeral. Russ was helping load his father’s casket into the hearse last Saturday when five undercover sheriff’s deputies approached him. Relatives said two officers grabbed Russ and kneed him in the back before using a Taser on him, causing other pallbearers to almost drop the casket. New Hanover County Chief Deputy Ed McMahon said when deputies approached Russ he “went wild” and spat on officers. Russ had earlier agreed to surrender to authorities after the funeral. New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey told the Star-News of Wilmington that five of the officers involved would be disciplined, although he declined to say what their punishment would be. Dateline: Florida— An 11-year-old boy, accused of hitting his mother in the head with a saw, tried to buy her off with a $5 bribe. The altercation happened last Wednesday morning in Fort Pierce after James Patrick Fitzgerald and his 41-year-old mother argued over whether he needed to take his medication. Following the argument, reports TCPalm.com, the boy bicycled to a nearby house where he started hitting a tree with a saw. The mother followed him but he still refused to take his medication. Fitzgerald then raised the saw and hit his mother on top of the head. “When he saw the blood coming from her head he threw down the saw and started to plead with the victim to not call the police,” the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office report stated. Fitzgerald then reportedly offered a $5 bill to his mother if she did not notify authorities. The money obviously wasn’t enough to sway her. Fitzgerald is now facing an aggravated battery charge. He is also accused of trying to cut his pregnant 19-year-old sister with a fork, looking up bomb-making instructions on the Internet and using hair spray and a cigarette lighter to set the family cat on fire. Dateline: Florida— A 19-year-old resident of Port St. Lucie has been charged with domestic battery and child abuse after hitting his girlfriend with a sandwich, which knocked her glasses off and nearly caused a traffic accident. The mobile melee began after the 19-year-old victim picked up Emmanuelle Rodriguez—her boyfriend and child’s father—from his mother’s house. While driving to their new apartment with their 7-month-old son asleep in the backseat, the couple started arguing. Rodriguez told investigators that he “didn’t want to hit her, so he threw a sandwich at her, striking her in the face knocking her glasses off.” The type of sandwich employed in the assault was not specified in the police report. Rodriguez was later released from county jail on $7,500 bond. Dateline: Georgia— Last Monday, a judge in Atlanta sentenced a 25-year-old rapper to 20 years in jail after the songwriter bragged about shooting another man in a song he recorded. Rico Todriquez Wright even mentioned his victim by name. Chad Blue, 28, told police he recognized Wright’s voice on a CD containing the lyrics “Chad Blue knows how I shoot.” Blue admitted he had known Wright before the September 2006 shooting but that the men weren’t friendly. He testified companions egged Wright on as he chased and shot his victim in the thigh and groin. In the wake of Wright’s hip-hop confession, he was sentenced to 20 years on two counts of aggravated assault and 20 years probation.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. E-mail your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
