VIDEO: Killing a Toyota

Beaten, raped Jacksonville woman, 83, gave attacker's details before dying

Christopher Lemar Johnson is charged in the slaying of Emma Jean Beasley.

A dying 83-year-old Jacksonville woman gave her daughter a brief description of the man who raped and beat her after breaking into her home Saturday, Jacksonville police said today.

Christopher Lemar Johnson, 20, is charged in the slaying of Emma Jean Beasley, police said. Johnson was arrested Monday. Police arrested him based on witness identifications - though not the victim's - and fingerprints found at the scene, an arrest report said.

"They [investigators] did a super, super job," said Geneva Griffin, the mother of Beasley's son-in-law, Danny Griffin. "Thank God."

Johnson's family expressed disbelief in the charges after he appeared in court Tuesday morning. Geneva Griffin's response: "We'll let the law take care of that."

Johnson, of the 7200 block of Colonial Creek Court, is charged with murder, armed sexual battery, armed robbery and burglary with an assault. He is being held without bail.

Court records show Johnson has prior arrests for trespassing, criminal mischief and defrauding an innkeeper. His arrest report lists him as unemployed and a former student at First Coast High.

Police said Beasley was surprised by a burglar who broke into her home in the 7000 block of Civic Club Road between 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday when her daughter and son-in-law were gone. Beasley had lived with the couple for about 10 years but did not often venture out.

Police do not believe the burglar knew Beasley was home at the time, said Lt. Rob Schoonover of the Sheriff's Office.

Investigators found that a large amount of change was stolen from a jar in the home. Jewelry and a black Harley Davidson T-shirt were also missing, the arrest report said.

Beasley was beaten with a blunt object, said Schoonover, who called the killing a "brutal, heinous crime."

"Any death or crime is horrible, but when it involves a child or an elderly person who basically can't defend themselves, it hits home. It's sad," Schoonover said.
The arrest report released Tuesday morning said the victim was able to tell her daughter she was raped by someone who was black. No other details were listed. Beasley was unable to give police any information before she was taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital, where she died, Schoonover said.

Police found a stranger's bloody white T-shirt on the floor next to the victim. Police also spoke with a witness who saw a man entering the home and later identified him as Johnson, the report said. Other witnesses also provided police with information about Johnson.

Fingerprints found at the scene also matched Johnson's, Schoonover said. Johnson was spotted by police on Moncrief Road West and arrested without incident. Schoonover said Johnson lived about a mile from the crime scene and was known to roam in the area. Several of his previous arrests occurred near his home, records show.

VIDEO: Norwegian shopkeeper stopped burglar with tractor

After a neighbor notified shop owner, 66-year-old Harald Mikkelsen, of Talvik Alta, that a man with a ski mask was prowling around his store in Talvik Alta, he rushed into action.

Jumping onto his tractor, he apprehended the thief as he attempted his getaway, by lifting the car with his forks. The two combatants then stared at each other for 45 minutes, before the police arrived.

Woman shooting at dog mistakenly kills husband

Police say a woman opened fire on a puppy that had threatened children, but wound up shooting and killing her husband.

Witnesses told US police the pit bull named "Cocaine" lunged at some children and tried to attack them on in Jackson, Mississippi, on Friday. The dead man's son says the children were taken inside and his father picked the dog up.

It was then that police say Betty Walker fired twice, hitting the dog once and her husband once in the chest. Police spokeswoman Colendula Green says the death of 53-year-old Robert Walker appears to have been accidental.

She said a grand jury will decide whether to charge Betty Walker. Animal control officers have taken the dog, and its owner could face charges.

OUCH

Lightning Kills Father, Son 48 Years Apart

A Hammonton, New Jersey man is dead after lightning struck so close to him that it sent a surge of electricity through his body.

Before Stephen Rooney, 54, walked away from his wife, family and friends at a barbecue on the Sunday he was struck. He'd just said, after seeing lightning in the sky, "Don't worry guys, lightning never strikes twice."

That line is much more than a clich� in the Rooney family. Stephen's father also died after being struck by lightning 48 years ago while he was fishing in Fortescue, N.J. Stephen was just five years old.

According to his family, Rooney was with his cousin Scott Digeralamo last Sunday when a bolt of lightning hit the ground where they were standing. The men had stepped away from the barbecue -- right by a tree -- to smoke a cigar when they were hit , according to police .

Digeralamo survived the strike. Rooney died five days later. His daughters are setting up a fund for him at St. Joseph's High School, which they all attended.. They are hoping to have an athletic field named after Rooney

JOKE: A guy gets pulled over by a cop

A guy gets pulled over by a cop for speeding. As the copper is writing up the ticket, the guy asks, "Can you arrest me for calling you a filthy name?"

"Yes" replies the cop.

He then asks, "Can you arrest me for thinking something?"

"No" replies the cop. "Well then," says the man, "I think you're an asshole".

GOT CAPTION? 7/18

GOT CAPTION? 7/18 v.2.0

Killer python crushed 2-year-old girl to death in her crib and tried to swallow her whole

Jaren Hare, 21, and her boyfriend, Charles Darnell, 34, face manslaughter charges for the death of Hare's baby by a pet python.

A killer python crushed a 2-year-old toddler to death in her crib and tried to eat the child whole, bone-chilling testimony revealed at the trial of the girl's parents.

"There were also several clusters of puncture wounds ... that represent bites from the snake as the snake was trying to ingest her, basically," medical examiner Wendy Lavezzi testified in Sumter County court in Florida.

The shocking tragedy unfolded in the Oxford, Fla., home of Jaren Hare, 21, and her boyfriend, Charles Darnell, 34, in 2009 when their pet albino Burmese python slithered into the Shanianna Hare's crib.

The couple have been charged with manslaughter and third-degree murder and face up to 35 year in prison if convicted.

Snake handlers have testified that the couple failed to properly house the 8-and-a-half-foot-long snake and that the creature seemed underfed and malnourished, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

The snake, named Gypsy, hadn't been fed in a month and escaped from the 200 gallon fish tank it was kept in just hours before the horrible attack.

Darnell had placed it into a mesh laundry bag with a hole in it and put it back to the tank, but the snake managed to escape again.

The tank was kept just 12 feet from Shanianna's room, which did not have a door.