This Day In History

Jun 29 1967
Actress Jayne Mansfield is decapitated in a car crash, when her convertible collides with a parked tractor-trailer. To downplay the gruesome death, sources spread the falsehood that only her wig flew off in the accident.

Jun 29 1978
The body of Bob Crane is discovered in bed with an electric cord wrapped around his neck and his head smashed in. When Scottsdale police search the apartment belonging to the former star of television's Hogan's Heroes, they discover a video camera and a large library of amateur porn starring Crane and a parade of random women.

Marcos Colono Arrested In Rape Of 11yo Boy, Barely Decapitates Father

This Mother Effer Is SICK..
Cambridge — 32-year-old Cambridge resident Marcos Colono was held on a $1 million bail after allegedly raping a 11-year-old boy and stabbing his father with a knife in a Pearl Street apartment on Aug. 26.

Colono was reportedly arrested Thursday morning while walking in the Cambridgeport neighborhood where he is from and where the crime took place. He was arraigned in the Cambridge District Court Thursday afternoon but did not appear in the courtroom. He is accused of two counts of rape on a child, armed assault to murder and home invasion.

Police have been searching for the suspect in the brutal crime from last month at 220 Pearl St. where a masked man reportedly broke into a first floor apartment around 1 a.m. with a large butcher knife and attacked a man and his child.

Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Katharine Folger said Colono stacked the father and son on top of each other while he rummaged through the house for money. Colono then allegedly raped the boy at knifepoint while his father was forced to listen.

Police reportedly found the victims lying in a pool of blood in the apartment. There was blood on the door knob of the apartment door as well.

"The apartment was a bloody mess," said Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone at a press conference Thursday 1 p.m. at the Cambridge Police Department.

"Today this man has a name, he has an identity and he's behind bars," said Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley at a press conference with Leone and Cambridge Police Commission Robert Haas, among other officials.

The 53-year-old dad, a researcher at Harvard’s Kennedy School, was reportedly stabbed eight to 10 times in the upper chest and neck and three times in his back, underwent surgery and was last reported to be in critical condition. According to Folger, doctors said the attacker tried to decapitate the victim.

The 11-year-old son also suffered injuries and was later released from the hospital.

The knife used in the assault was left behind -- as well as a bloody fingerprint investigators say connect Colono to an unsolved home invasion in Brighton where two college-aged women were raped in September 2008. They also have other forensic evidence linking Colono to the Cambridge and Brighton crimes.

He has not yet been formally charged with the Brighton incident, in which two women, then 18 and 23, were raped inside their Commonwealth Avenue apartment at about 8:45 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2008. A warrant charging him with that offense is expected to be sought in the near future.

"We believe at this time, there is no personal connection between the defendant and the 53-year-old man or his 11-year-old son. It looks to be a home invasion with no personal connection between those involved," Leone added. "At this time, it's unclear what the exact motivation was. Robbery may be a motivating factor."

Colono's 18-year-old brother Michael Colono, was killed by Harvard student Alexander Pring-Wilson in a drunken stabbing in Cambridgeport in 2003. Pring-Wilson pleaded guilty in 2008 and received a two-year sentence in prison.

Leone did not have an explanation and said it is a coincidence.

Colono's mother and sister were present in court but did not speak Thursday.

Colono's lawyer, Ben Selman, tried to argue for a lower bail calling the $1 million cash amount "excessive" based on his client's personal history. He said Colono has no past convictions and only two minor offences on his record -- shoplifting and assault and battery from more than a decade ago. He argued that one partial fingerprint is the only thing that links his client to the crime scenes with no other positive identification.

Judge Roanne Sragow said the bail amount is appropriate given the facts and the nature of crime in this case.

Colono will have to meet several requirements, including wearing a GPS bracelet and having no contact with children until his pre-trial hearing scheduled for Nov. 9, Sragow said.

Colono was born in and lived in Cambridge his whole life and has a 15-year-old son, Selman said. He attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin, dropped out in tenth grade but later earned his GED in 1994. He has been working in construction as a labourer. He has family and friends in the area has no ties to any other community, Selman added.

Woman Decapitated In Lewisville, Husband Suspected

Find this sick man!!
LEWISVILLE ―Lewisville police are looking for a man suspected of decapitating his wife Monday morning.

Police released a picture of 49-year-old Jose Corona, seen at right. They are calling him a "suspect and a person of interest" in the death of his wife.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner says the victim was 44-year-old Maria Santos Corona. According to friends, the couple has six children.

A mail carrier discovered Maria Corona's body in the middle of the street in the 1000 block of Shadow Wood Lane in Lewisville and contacted police shortly after 11 a.m.

When police arrived they found the body and searched the area for a suspect, but didn't find anyone.

Police will say only that the victim's body was "mutilated." But Chopper 11 video of the scene, which we have chosen not to publish, clearly shows the decapitated body and the head.

Neighbor Chris Cortopassi told CBS 11 News, "I was driving down the street, coming home, and I saw somebody laying on the ground with blood all over. And I saw a girl outside screaming and somebody trying to hold her back."

Police say they don't know if the murder took place at the home or somewhere else.

Police say Jose Corona may be driving a 2005 Toyota Sequoia SUV with Texas license plate 247-DVH. Police say he has relatives in Oklahoma and in Mexico.

If you have seen Jose Corona or know his whereabouts, you're asked to call 911 or Lewisville Police at (972) 219-3640.

Details Emerge in VT Student Decapitation Case

..MORE Virginia Tech tragedy?

Christiansburg, VA - Details are emerging involving the decapitation murder of a Virginia Tech student in January. Haiyang Zhu was in Montgomery County General District Court Friday morning for a preliminary hearing.

Zhu is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 22-year-old Xin Yang. The 22-year-old woman was beheaded in her dormitory cafe where she met Zhu for coffee Jan. 21.

The following is how testimony played out in court Friday morning:

Corey Cox had just returned from a break as a cashier at Au Bon Pain, a cafe in Virginia Tech's Graduate Life Center, when he heard what he describes as an "aggressive growl". "It's the best way I can describe it," said the Blacksburg resident.

When Cox looked up, he saw a man attack a woman as she sat at a table just 10 feet away. Before pointing to Haiyang Zhu, identifying him as the attacker, Cox described a scene he calls "atrocious".

As patrons ran for the doors, Cox' boss became "hysterical", yelling for him to call 911. In a second, Cox had found comfort behind a counter where he made the call. As dispatch kept Cox on the phone, the young man kept peering over the counter catching segments of the attack.

"At first there was quite a struggle, but then she just lay there."

The victim is graduate student Xin Yang of Beijing, China. She had been in the United States just 13 days, studying at the Pamplin College of Business, before she was killed. She suffered multiple deadly injuries during the attack including severe wounds to the upper body, hands and forearm.

Cox described how the man stared at his victim "just cutting away" with a "blank and determined" look.

Within minutes, Virginia Tech Police Officer, Nicole Irvine, arrived on the scene and immediately saw Hiyang Zhu walking toward her, carrying the victim's head by the hair at his side.

"Put your hands in the air," yelled Irvine as she reached for her weapon. Zhu dropped the head and immediately complied before Irvine placed him under arrest.

After the hearing, Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch would not comment on his court presentation, which ended with Finch clearly indicating pre-meditation was a factor in this crime because the knife they say Zhu used did not come from the cafe.
He also pointed to the fact that Zhu had additional weapons in a backpack. Pre-meditation is a factor that must be met in order to seek the death penalty.

The defense did not put on any evidence, but did lead a line of cross examination that focused on statements made by Zhu following his arrest. The statements included a reference of Zhu asking for his Miranda Rights.

Police have said that Zhu and Yang did know each other. Both were new to the Virginia Tech campus. Zhu listened to Friday’s testimony through an interpreter.

Zhu has been in jail since the January 21 attack, but was just recently declared competent to stand trial. The judge certified his case to the grand jury and is set to meet July 14.