Man Killed in Hit-Run While at Scene of Fatal Crash

Old news, but very sad and very crazy:

WEST WARWICK -- An 18-year-old male was killed in a hit-and-run accident early this morning while apparently visiting a make-shift memorial to a 14-year-old boy who died after driving a van into a utility pole at the site hours before.

Neither victim has been identified by local police, who said both were from West Warwick.

Police say they have no suspect or witnesses in the second crash, and are actively seeking any information about it or the driver.

In a press release today, police said that the first collision occurred at about 11:20 last night, when a Ford van operated by the boy struck the pole at 782 Main St.

He was alone in the van, police said.

The 14-year-old was brought to Kent Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

At about 4 a.m., the second crash occurred.

Police responded to a report of "male down on the sidewalk" at the same location, according to the press release.

On arriving, they found the 18-year-old with "life-threatening injuries" and evidence consistent with a hit-and-run collision. He had apparently been visiting a makeshift memorial to the the youth involved in the earlier accident.

He was brought to Kent Hospital as well and pronounced dead.

Police believe the driver in the second crash fled on Main Street toward the Hope section of Coventry. The vehicle probably sustained front-end damage, police added.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact police headquarters at 401-821-4323 or the detective division at 401-827-9044.

At midday, family members and friends of the 18-year-old were gathered at the site, marked by a T-shirt being signed by friends of the 14-year-old victim and a big, red fabric heart.

They included a man who identified himself as the father of the second crash victim, who said he was from West Greenwich.

As traffic passed on the busy road, near the site where the old Phenix mill burned in two years ago, he, too, asked those at the scene to help find those who might know more about the crash and the driver.

Help Find Amber Bielat!

From News Channel 12, Facebook:
Sandra Amaral Young-
my niece has been missing since saturday 6pm in Woonsocket RI. I am her aunt and live here in fairfield,CT I have posted this on my wall and a good precentage of my friends have reposted this as well. I have also contacted the local news stations in Rhode Island to air this as well. I have emailed half of her frien...ds on face book asking them for their help, the woonsocket police are also looking for her and she is no where to be found.. Please repost this in hopes that we may find her.. thank u

Name: Amber Bielat
age 15
DOB 12/12/1994
weight 115 lbs
height 5' 6"
hair color : dyed Black (natural is dirty blonde)
last seen on November 6th 2010 at about 6pm on Elm Street Woonsocket , RI
I am asking all of amber's friends to repost this we love and miss her and want her to come home... I have contacted all the news stations and newspaper in the woonsocket area and they should be airing it tonight... please please keep this going I know u don't know me I am her Aunt who she lived with for almost 2 years in MA before she moved back to Rhode Island and we moved to CT .. we are very worried about her and I cannot stop crying.

Unknown Hit and Run Driver Still Eludes Justice

On December 23, 1982, 15 year old Sherry Miller and her brother in law were walking along Route 101 in the town of Dayville, just miles from the Rhode Island border.

Just before 9PM that night, She was fatally hit by an older model dark-colored pick-up-truck. The vehicle was described as having damage to the right front side it was also missing a mirror and a radio antennae. It has been 25 years since this hit and run driver has eluded justice and her family desperately wants to find the individual(s) responsible for her untimely death.

If you have any information, please call the State Police at Troop D at 860-779-3900.

Connecticut Be Buggin' Today!

BRANFORD, Conn. — Police and FBI agents Friday night said a tractor-trailer stopped in Branford, Conn., and suspected of carrying explosives was empty, NBC station WVIT of Hartford reported.

Branford first selectman Anthony DaRos earlier said police told him authorities were holding the semitrailer at a travel stop on Interstate 95.

The Hartford Courant reported troopers approached the vehicle and took the driver and a passenger into custody at gunpoint, then checked the vehicle for hazards. It also reported that the state police bomb squad was en route.

Police were told to be on the lookout for a brown Peterbilt tractor-trailer that may have a bomb in it that was en route from Rhode Island to New York City, the New Haven Register reported. Officers were told if they encountered it to stop it and create a perimeter and stand by.

Branford is about 80 miles north of New York City.

In another incident, around 6:21 p.m. Friday, a Connecticut state trooper shot and killed a motorist after what police said was a routine traffic stop on I-84 near Danbury, the Courant reported. Danbury is about 45 miles away from Branford.

The driver opened fire on the officer, who returned fire and shot the motorist multiple times. The trooper was uninjured, the Courant said.

The two passengers fled.

The highway was closed in both directions Friday night.

On Wednesday, two men were found in a Mercedes with what appeared to be a pipe bomb, ammunition, gas masks and other materials. Authorities say it's unclear whether they planned to use the explosives because they are not talking to investigators. Both were being held on $500,000 bond.

Judge says DNA can be taken from accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff

BOSTON — Prosecutors can obtain a DNA sample from the former Boston University medical student charged with killing a masseuse he met on Craigslist, a Massachusetts judge ruled Monday.

Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney, said Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano granted a motion to take DNA from an oral swab of Philip Markoff, who is being held without bail. The judge said the sample could only be compared with biological evidence seized by investigators in the case.

Markoff has pleaded not guilty in the April 14 shooting death of Julissa Brisman, of New York City, and the armed robbery four days later of a Las Vegas woman, both at upscale Boston hotels. He has also been charged in an alleged attack on a stripper in Warwick, R.I.

Markoff met the women through advertisements for erotic services posted on Craigslist, a classified advertising Web site, prosecutors said.

"Investigators have recovered biological evidence in several locations in this case and one more DNA profile to compare that biological evidence against (Markoff) can only make that case stronger," Wark said.

A call to Markoff’s attorney, John Salsberg, was not immediately returned.

Gaziano ruled on a motion originally made by the district attorney’s office in October.

According to the motion, criminalists from the Boston Police Department crime lab identified two blood stains taken from swabs on a handgun that was seized during a search of Markoff’s apartment in Quincy, Mass. Prosecutors allege that Markoff used the weapon to bludgeon Brisman before the victim was shot three times at close range.

Investigators also found several other items in the apartment, including four pairs of women’s underwear wrapped inside of socks and hidden in a box spring.

"A comparison of any DNA profiles generated from the items of evidence can be compared to the DNA profile of the defendant and the three victims to either include or exclude those individuals as possible donors of said profiles," the motion read.

The next court date in the case is March 29, Wark said. A trial date has not been set.

Markoff was engaged to Megan McAllister at the time of his arrest.

McAllister ended the relationship with Markoff after visiting him in jail in June, and their wedding scheduled for August was subsequently canceled.

Neighbors Save Boy From Abduction

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News police arrested a 47-year-old man after they say he tried to kidnap a 3-year-old boy.

Police say the man, identified as Wesley Stuart Brown, approached the boy playing outside Thursday afternoon in Paul's Park Trailer Park off Warwick Boulevard. The suspect then put the child in a wagon and walked off right in front of the toddler's grandmother, Angie Craig.

The grandmother's screams got the neighborhood's attention and neighbors surrounded the man. Police say two women drove up and took the child from Brown and put him in their car until police arrived.

William Rhodes, on his way home from work, heard Brown say, "I'm not going to jail. Everything's ok. He wants to go with me! He wants to go with me!"

Officers got the young boy to safety and took the man into custody.

Craig said, "When [the neighbors] found out what was going on, they all came running because that's what they do here. And they do it every time, especially when it's a child."

Brown is charged with one count of Abduction.

The grandmother told police she did not know the suspect and did not know why he had taken the child.

Of the neighbors who helped protect her grandson, Craig said, "Words can't describe how much I appreciate what everyone did for me today."