Crime Scene

Her mop is mightier than the knife

 

A brave woman used a mop to outpower two shoplifters who attacked her with a knife.

Two men walked into the store and took beer.

Their mistake: Before walking out, one of them turned and smiled at the woman who was mopping the floor.

"When he did, that made me a little bit mad," Teresa Fowler said in a South Carolina TV station report . "I whacked him as hard as I could."

Surveillance video shows one of the shoplifters pushed her to the ground. She got back up.  

"I just kept swinging," she said."Don't mess with me!"

She recovered the beer. Police arrested the men.

Watch the video. 

Graphic stuff at work: Body parts, blood, bugs

With unemployment rising, here is a look at a job no one dreamed of as a kid but may want to consider.  

After police and detectives leave, cleaners dressed like ghost busters follow. The professionals face a place where horror usually has a smell.

Being a crime scene cleaner has hazards like no other profession, and nausea, they say, is part of the job.

Watch Investigation Discovery follow a crime scene cleaner at work.

Miami Herald reporters take a look at other less gruesome crime scene jobs.

Suspected bank robber gets romantic

Today's funny story --  Bank suspect: I hoped to take my gal shopping.

It seems this guy may have wanted to celebrate Valentines day a little early. Here is what Miami Herald's users had to say:

-- DBeck wrote "Cupid....or should I say Stupid!"

-- SunFish wrote "He sounds like a real "Don Juan"

Scurrilous had a good question: "I wonder if the girlfriend will wait for him to get out of prison?"

Scurrilous, I think she may just find her self another boyfriend.

Feds: Jailed ex-CIA spy uses son to get Russian money

Here is a crazy espionage story. A jailed former CIA spy trains his 24-year-old son in the craft.

His son then becomes his assistant in a mission to sell U.S. secrets for thousands of dollars.

It reads like a movie script.  

Men can kill for breast implants

We all know men do crazy things for breasts. But these two men (who happen to share a middle name) lost their minds for them:

-- When his relationship failed, Thomas Lee Rowley, 28, regreted paying for his lover's breast aumentation. He attacked his ex with a knife. As he stabbed her six times, he screamed "I'm gonna cut 'em out and get em back." 

-- Nikita Lee Weis, 18, wanted to buy his girlfriends some implants, so he thought he had a brilliant idea: Hire men to kill his mother, and use her money to buy some big ones. His mother survived the attempt and detectives uncovered his plot.

Both women survived the crazy "Lee" effect. Rowley's girlfriend's puncture implants were repaired.

Google helps cops bust pot farmers

A buzzworthy story out of Switzerland today, where police say they used satellite images from Google Earth to sniff out a big marijuana crop.

It helped cops find a two-acre field where more than 1.2 tons of pot was growing. They arrested 16 people in what investigators said was a "interesting chance discovery."

Police google farmers, find marijuana field

Hey all you hemp lovers, big brother is watching.

Marijuana farms now have a new enemy: Google Earth.

Swiss police said Thursday detectives spotted two acres of marijuana plants after they Googled the address of two suspects.

Humbold police said  their detectives Google regularly. It figures, their county is one of the largest marijuana-growing regions in the United States.

The Racine County Sheriff’s Department's largest finding was also courtesy of Google Earth after deputies arrested a man carrying a GPS unit around his neck with a series of coordinates.

Jackpot: Every single location was a marijuana field.

You want to know where these counties are? Google Earth knows. I think it knows everything.

Footprint on victims forehead is vital clue

This guy was beat so badly, the suspect who robbed him left a clue on his forehead -- a foot print.

Forensic officers took close-up photos of the footprint.

These were scanned into police computers to be digitally compared with footprints already in the system and from future crime scenes.

Detective Sergeant Julie Connor told the Daily Mail that their efforts may pay off:  'Many people have been convicted of crimes by matching the footprint to the footwear.'

Man shoots party crasher

This is one way to take care of uninvited wedding guests.

Francisco Oliveros-Alvarez, 42, apparently fired at four people who showed up unannounced to a wedding reception at his Lake Placid, Fla. home over the weekend.

 After the four men, apparently gang members, refused to leave the house Oliveros-Alvarez pulled a .22 and fired at the ground.

He hit one of the men in the foot.

Oliveros-Alvarez was drinking at the time. The report said he had the smell of booze "emanating from his person.''

He was arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed firearm and using a firearm under the influence of alcohol.

Read the full story here.

* Thanks Harry for the tip.

Burglar steals meat and lube

Police outside Atlanta are searching for a perp who broke into a 26-year-old woman's home and stole exactly four items from her freezer:

-Chicken legs ($10)

-Pork ribs ($10)

-Ground beef ($10)

-Eros-brand personal lubricant ($40)

Two notable things here. First, I resisted the urge to use a MasterCard-esque "priceless" joke. And secondofly: Lube in the freezer?!? Really? Sounds p-p-p-painful.