Dead newly born infant found in snow-covered duffel outside Chicago fire station

This is the second time in January that a newborn was just dumped in the United States

By Edward Era Barbacena

A dead newborn was found dumped in a snow-covered duffel bag outside a Chicago fire station over the weekend, officials said.

Crews only made the grim discovery at about 5 a.m. Saturday when they went outside to start shoveling the snow at the Near North Side fire station, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“They were in and out so much that morning that no one heard the doorbell,” Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

Authorities don’t know how long the baby boy was outside in the freezing temperatures — or whether he was alive when he was left there.

Langford said the location where the baby was left is used as an air supply maintenance facility, which means crews are often out servicing supplies at other firehouses.

Cops are still trying to obtain surveillance footage from the area to determine who left the infant.

Under state law, infants less than 30 days old can be handed over to safe haven sites — like fire stations — with no questions asked.

Crews made the grim discovery at about 5 a.m. Saturday
when they went outside to start shoveling the snow.

The firehouse where the baby was found is a designated save haven.

But the fire spokesman said that for the safe haven law to work, babies needed to be “passed person-to-person” — and not dumped outside.

“We’re trying to make it clear that you have to make contact. Ringing a bell is not making contact. You have to physically see someone and hand the child over,” Langford said.

He added that whoever left the newborn should have called 911 to report they were leaving it if they couldn’t make contact with anyone inside.

The newborn’s cause of death has not yet been determined after the autopsy was deemed inconclusive.

 

Anders Breivik gave the Nazi salute while carrying signs that read,
“Stop Your Genocide Against Our White Nations” and “Nazi-Civil-War.”

Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik gives Nazi salute during parole hearing

Anders Behring Breivik has also said he regretted not killing more people during the massacre

By Edward Era Barbacena

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer behind one of the country’s worst massacres, gave a Nazi salute in court Tuesday during a parole hearing to decide if he should be released after serving 10 years behind bars.

The far-right extremist, who killed 77 people in Norway — mostly teenagers — during shocking car bomb and shooting attacks in Oslo and at a Labor Party youth camp on July 22, 2011, put up the white supremacist salute as he entered Telemark District Court.

Appearing before the court with a shaven head and black suit, the convicted killer carried signs that read, “Stop Your Genocide Against Our White Nations” and “Nazi-Civil-War.”

“I don’t want to see anything of the kind when the prosecutor speaks,” Judge Dag Bjørvik told Breivik, who was set to address the court later Tuesday.

The court is hearing Breivik’s case after prosecutors last year rejected his application for early release

“Our position is that it is necessary with [continued] confinement to protect society,” prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir told Reuters.

Breivik, who has legally changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, is serving the maximum 21-year prison term allowed under Norwegian law, but that sentence can be extended indefinitely as long as he’s considered a danger to society.

Despite the magnitude of his crimes, he can apply for parole after serving 10 years.

The hearing marks the latest courtroom antics by Breivik, who also made a Nazi salute during a proceeding in 2016 in a bid to improve conditions inside the Norwegian prison where he’s being held.

Prosecutors argued Tuesday that he presented a danger to society.

Relatives of survivors had feared that the hearing would provide Breivik with a public platform to further expose his extremist views while experts have said he’s unlikely to be granted an early release.

“The only thing I am afraid of is if he has the opportunity to talk freely and convey his extreme views to people who have the same mindset,” Lisbeth Kristine Røyneland, who runs a family and survivors support group, told the Associated Press prior to the hearing.

In 2016, Breivik entered a courtroom during his criminal trial while putting up a clenched fist, portraying himself as a crusader trying to protect Norway and Europe from Muslim immigration. Four years earlier, he was convicted on murder and terrorism charges and found criminally sane, rejecting prosecutors’ views that he was psychotic at the time.

 

BBM-Sara tandem dominates 2022 election survey in Caloocan City

By Edward Era Barbacena

The tandem of presidential aspirant former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio emerged as the most preferred by Caloocan City residents to win the highest national seats in the 2022 elections.

This was based on a survey conducted by the Actual and Comprehensive Evaluation, Inc. in December 2021.

Marcos Jr. dominated the survey, getting the nod of 71 percent of the 5,164 respondents from the city’s three districts.

The survey showed that Vice President Leni Robredo and Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso both got 10 percent, followed by Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson with five percent and Sen. Manny Pacquiao with two percent, while two percent of the participants remain undecided.

Marcos led with 74 percent in Caloocan City’s first district, 67 percent in District 27, and 71 percent in the third district.

Meanwhile, Duterte Carpio also led the survey for the vice-presidential race with 49 percent

 

Lawrence Rudolph allegedly shot and killed his wife Bianca Finizio Rudolph on a trip to Zambia in 2016, then claimed nearly $5 million in insurance benefits.

Pennsylvania man and a dentist Lawrence Rudolph accused of killing wife during Africa hunting trip to claim for insurance money

Bianca Rudolph's other acquaintances corroborated suspicions of an affair.

By Edward Era Barbacena

There are so many news about husband or wife murdering their spouses  just to gain alot of money  from insurance. This has become w common crime among married couples who are mostly white wherein they will end up killing their partners in life just for the sake of money. 

A Pennsylvania white dentist and big-game hunter is accused of killing his wife of 34 years while on a hunting trip in Zambia in 2016 in a scheme to collect millions of dollars in life insurance money.

Big-game hunter Lawrence Rudolph, 67, allegedly shot and killed his wife Bianca Finizio Rudolph on a trip to Zambia in 2016, then claimed nearly $5 million in insurance benefits, according to a federal criminal complaint obtained by CBS 2.

Rudolph, who founded and operates the Three Rivers Dental in Pittsburgh, allegedly rushed to have his wife’s remains cremated in Africa just days after her death, officials said.

Lawrence and Bianca were active big-game hunters. Bianca had hopes to kill a leopard during the 2016 trip, but she ended up being the one allegedly hunted.

He has now been charged with foreign murder and mail fraud, officials said.

According to federal investigators, Rudolph made life insurance claims through seven different life insurance companies for a $4.8 million payout for his wife’s death, which was ruled as accidental by Zambian law enforcement officials.

On Oct. 11, 2016 at 5:30 a.m. local time, Bianca was shot in the chest with a shotgun

Rudolph told Zambian police that he was in the bathroom of their cabin and Bianca in the bedroom area when he heard a gunshot. The dentist claimed he came out of the bathroom and found his wife lying on the ground and bleeding from her chest. He told police he believed that the shotgun had been left loaded from a hunt the day prior and it had discharged as she tried to pack it in its case.

A professional hunting guide on scene allegedly “recalled seeing the shotgun and an expanded shotshell on the ground. The shotgun was inside a partially zipped gun case.”

Rudolph and his wife – both apparently accomplished big-game hunters – had frequently traveled to Africa for hunting excursions. On this particular trip, Bianca’s goal was to kill a leopard. She never got her leopard, but killed “numerous other animals.” Rudolph was on the trip, but didn’t hunt. 

Officials said later that afternoon at around 4:30 p.m., Rudolph phoned the US Embassy to discuss his wife’s funeral options, and his desire to have her body cremated while her body was held in a local funeral home. He spoke with the consular chief, who after their chat “told the FBI he had a bad feeling about the situation, which he thought was moving too quickly.” The chief traveled with two others from the embassy to the funeral to take photographs of Bianca’s body to preserve evidence.

The consular chief, a 20 year veteran in US Marines,  described the wound as “straight on the heart” and said the wound was not caused by a “tight group of pellets.” He found no gas burns typical to a contact wound, and estimated that Bianca had been shot from 6.5 to 8 feet away.

Rudolph called the consular chief and was “livid” that he had photographed his wife’s dead body. They met at the funeral home and discussed notifying family members, officials said. Rudolph allegedly told him that wanted to personally tell his family about the death, saying the children were from a different marriage and were not Bianca’s. At one point, Rudolph suggested that Bianca may have committed suicide, according to the allegations against him.

Bianca had filed her first life insurance policy in 1987, according to investigators, and updated the policy in 2016, when she died.

Four of the seven companies hired a private investigation firm to look into Bianca’s death. All of the insurance policies determined that Rudolph should receive his payment from the policy.

After her death, a  “friend” contacted the FBI in Pretoria, South Africa and said she wanted the FBI to investigate further. The friend said that she “suspected foul play” because Rudolph “had been involved in prior extramarital affairs and had been having an affair at the time of Bianca’s death.” She allegedly said Rudolph was “verbally abusive” and the two had fought over money.

The friend said that Rudolph’s kids didn’t find out about Bianca’s death until a week after she died, and other friends and family didn’t know until the funeral. She allegedly said she believed Bianca, a “strict Catholic”, would not have wanted to be cremated, despite Rudolph’s claims that is what she had always planned.

The friend said that Rudolph’s kids didn’t find out about Bianca’s death until a week after she died, and other friends and family didn’t know until the funeral. She allegedly said she believed Bianca, a “strict Catholic”, would not have wanted to be cremated, despite Rudolph’s claims that is what she had always planned.

The acquaintance told federal investigators: “Larry is never going to divorce her because he doesn’t want to lose his money, and she’s never going to divorce him because of her Catholicism.” Other acquaintances corroborated suspicions of an affair.

Another friend, the ex-wife of a pro-hunting guide who was present at the time of Bianca’s death and who’d known Bianca since 2010, said the gun may have been customized and repeatedly jammed. She also raised concerns over the choice of cremation and Bianca’s religious beliefs, the report said.

Investigators interviewed a former employee at Three Rivers Dental who’d worked there from February 2015 to February 2016, when she said Rudolph’s “girlfriend” who was also white was the manager. The ex-employee said the alleged girlfriend had told her she had been in a relationship with Rudolph for 15-20 years. The mistress allegedly told the employee that she had given him “an ultimatum of one year to sell his dental offices and leave Bianca.”

Investigators said that by January 2017, Rudolph was living with the girlfriend. Records showed the couple traveled together to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico in 2010, twice in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, July 2016, and in 2017 right after Bianca’s death.

Financial records showed that on Oct. 23, 2016 — the day of Bianca’s funeral — Rudolph purchased a plane ticket for the girlfriend to travel to his home in Arizona, according to the affidavit. The purchase was canceled later that day. However, three days later he purchased another ticket to fly a different woman to Las Vegas on Oct. 26, investigators claimed.

During the FBI’s investigation, the Zambia consular chief’s photos of the body were reviewed by the Colorado Medical Examiner, who said in a statement: “In my opinion, it would be physically impossible to accidentally fire this shotgun in its carrying case and produce the entrance defect noted on the body of Ms. Rudolph

Rudolph’s attorney filed motions on Tuesday to get him out of a Colorado detention center to Arizona,where he owns a home. His attorneys have allegedly argued that he and Bianca signed a prenuptial agreement, and he would not have lost much in a divorce. They’ve further said that he has no financial motive to kill her, with his dental practices valued at $8 million, according to reports.

“This is an outrageous prosecution against Dr. Larry Rudolph, a man who loved his wife of 34 years and did not kill her,” Lawrence’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said in a statement obtained by People. “Back in 2016, his wife had a terrible accident during a hunting trip in Zambia. The investigators on the scene concluded it was an accident. Several insurance companies also investigated and agreed.”

“Now, more than five years later, the government is seeking to manufacture a case against this well-respected and law-abiding dentist. Dr. Rudolph looks forward to his trial, where he will demonstrate his innocence.”

 

Social media influencer Adalia Rose Williams with rare genetic condition dead at 15: ‘She is no longer in pain’

By Edward Era Barbacena

YouTuber Adalia Rose Williams, who was open with her fans about life with a rare genetic disease, has died at the age of 15.

Williams, who was diagnosed as a baby with Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome — also known as the “Benjamin Button” disease — passed away Wednesday evening, according to her Facebook page.

“She came into [life] quietly and left quietly, but her life was far from it,” read the heartbreaking post, which has received upwards of 714,000 reactions, 138,000 comments and 93,000 shares. “She is no longer in pain and is now dancing away to all the music she loves.”

Her family thanked Williams’ loyal followers that “love and supported her,” and asked for privacy as they mourn her loss.

Many fans left comments of love and support below the post, hoping that she “rests in peace.”

“I loved her so much,” one follower from India posted. “She has been an inspiration to many and has touched millions of lives.”

“What a beautiful bright light she was and will continue to be through all the lives she touched,” wrote a fan.

“She taught us how to live without limitations,” said another.

On Instagram, the 380,000 users that followed her handle expressed similar sentiments in response to the tragic announcement, which came just three weeks after she lost her hearing.

Williams was an avid YouTuber who posted across other social media platforms as well. In documenting her life, she shed light on the realities of navigating the world while dealing with progeria, a chronic, progressive condition that she was diagnosed with at just 3 months old.

The syndrome currently lacks a cure and causes rapid aging, accompanied by slowed growth and hair loss. According to the Progeria Research Foundation, around 400 children worldwide are currently living with the disease.

The Texas-based teen, who exceeded the average life expectancy for those with the condition upon making past 13 years old, began vlogging in 2012. Uploading her videos on YouTube, she eventually amassed 2.9 million subscribers.

She didn’t just post health updates — she dabbled in makeup tutorials, dances and skits featuring other members of her family.

“She touched MILLIONS of people and left the biggest imprint in everyone that knew her,” her family posted to Facebook.

 

Ruth Lambert (R) and her partner Jessica Silvester (L) would disguise themselves as nurses to enter elderly patients homes and steal their pills to fuel their opioid habit.

Paramedic couple who stole drugs from dying patients sentenced to five years in prison

Ruth Lambert  and her partner Jessica Silvester would disguise themselves as nurses to enter elderly patients homes and steal their pills to fuel their opioid habit.

By Edward Era Barbacena

A heartless paramedic white couple who stole drugs from dead or dying patients to fuel their addiction have been caged for five years each.

Ruth Lambert, 33, and Jessica Silvester, 29, dressed as nurses to dupe elderly victims into letting them into their homes during lockdown

Once inside, the couple raided medicine cabinets for painkillers to feed their opiate addiction.

The “callous” pair are believed to have targeted almost 30 vulnerable patients in an “astonishing abuse of power”.

They reviewed patient records to pick out their next victim through their jobs for South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb).

The couple then took turns researching the addresses and exchanged WhatsApp messages to confirm who would carry out the raid.

Some of the patients’ families read heartbreaking victim statements as Lambert and Silvester were caged for five years today after admitting conspiring to burgle and conspiring to commit theft.

Colin Singleton told Canterbury Crown Court how the evil pair stole his late wife’s crucial medication after she passed away from terminal cancer.

He said: “Within five hours of my wife’s death someone phoned me from the district nurses.

“I couldn’t believe they would be so callous as to phone me so quickly, but they put me under pressure to come around and collect the drugs. They were there within five minutes.

“They asked for more [and] when I gave them some of them, I was so annoyed I basically told them to go away, or words to that effect.”

Colin, who had cared for his wife Linda in her final months, eventually phoned the hospital and was “sickened” to discover he had been duped.

The court was told the couple carried out an estimated 25 burglaries in a nine month scheme across Thanet, Canterbury, Whitstable, Faversham and Herne Bay.

As well as drugs, they also stole a £14,000 ultrasound machine from the NHS.

Silvester’s login details were used 1,847 times in three months to access the NHS computer system.

Once they found a target, they would dress as nurses to enter the homes of the dead or dying.

‘CALLOUS’

The couple’s crimes eventually came to an end in August last year when police received a number of reports of distraction burglaries.

Police seized medications bearing the names of other people as well as nurses’ uniforms and NHS computer equipment from their home.

Judge Rupert Lowe described their actions as an “extraordinarily callous and uncaring form of exploitation of the most vulnerable people – often, when they were terminally ill, or dying, or in some cases when they had actually died”.

Detective Sergeant Jay Robinson, from the Kent Chief Constable’s Crime Squad said: “When reports came in regarding suspicious individuals visiting properties looking for medication, further work was carried out to review earlier burglary reports to Kent Police to see if they were linked.

“This led to the scale of Lambert and Silvester’s offending becoming clear. These offences were an astonishing abuse of position.

“These two thieves, whose jobs were to care for those in need, were plotting and stealing crucial medication from terminally ill patients.

“Many of their victims have since passed away and will never know that justice has been done. Our investigation was carried out, knowing we had to represent those victims and do the very best for them.”

 

Queen Elizabeth Strips Prince Andrew of His Titles Amid Sex Abuse Court Case

Queen’s second son agrees to not be called ‘His Royal Highness’ as Buckingham Palace Cuts Ties

By Edward Era Barbacena

Prince Andrew had his military links and royal patronages removed on Thursday and will no longer be known as "His Royal Highness", Buckingham Palace said, as the son of Queen Elizabeth fights a U.S. lawsuit in which he is accused of sex abuse.

Andrew, 61, the Duke of York, was forced to step down from public duties in 2019 because of his connections to convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and after a disastrous BBC TV interview which the prince had hoped would clear his name.

Thursday's move by the royal family means he will now lose all his royal connections.

"With the queen's approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen," Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

"The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen."

On Wednesday, Andrew's lawyers failed to persuade a U.S. judge to dismiss a civil lawsuit in which Virginia Giuffre accuses him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. read more

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Giuffre, 38, could pursue claims that Andrew battered her and intentionally caused her emotional distress while Epstein - a financier who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting his sex trafficking trial - was trafficking her.

The prince, the 95-year-old queen's second son, has denied Giuffre's accusations that he forced her to have sex more than two decades ago at a London home of former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and abused her at two Epstein properties.

The judge's decision means Andrew could be forced to give evidence at a trial which could begin between September and December 2022 if no settlement were reached.

'MARATHON NOT A SPRINT'

"Given the robustness with which Judge Kaplan greeted our arguments, we are unsurprised by the ruling," a source close to Andrew said.

"However, it was not a judgement on the merits of Ms Giuffre’s allegations. This is a marathon not a sprint and the Duke will continue to defend himself against these claims."

A representative for Giuffre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Andrew's links to Epstein had led to a swathe of damaging media reports, leading the prince to decide to do an TV interview in November 2019 which he hoped would resolve the matter.

It instead led to ridicule and further questions, and as the controversy grew, Buckingham Palace had increasingly distanced itself from the prince, declining to comment and referring all questions to his lawyers.

The U.S. conviction last month of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell on sex trafficking and other charges of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse, together with his own case, had left his reputation in the British media in tatters.

A royal source said the decision over Andrew came after wide discussions among the Windsors, and that his military affiliations and patronages would be redistributed to other members of the family.

Earlier, an open letter to the queen, signed by more than 150 veterans calling for Andrew too have his military titles taken away and "if necessary, that he be dishonourably discharged", was published by the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic.

They called for Elizabeth to take immediate action because her son had been "uncooperative and less than truthful" about his relationship with Epstein, and had brought the armed services he represented into disrepute.

"Regardless of the result of Virginia Giuffre’s civil case against Prince Andrew, his position in Britain's armed forces is now untenable," the veterans' letter said.

The scandal surrounding Andrew comes on the heels of the damage caused after the queen's grandson Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan quit royal duties to forge new careers in Los Angeles, later accusing the royal household of racism.

They too were stripped of all their patronages, the 'His and Her Royal Highness' titles, and Harry also lost his prized military roles.