Man Kills Girlfriend, Then Himself In Queens
Yesterday afternoon, NY1 reports, "Authorities received a 911 call about a stabbing and found the bodies of Paul Johnson, 47, and Regina Alston, 46," in a Jamaica, Queens home. "Alston had multiple stab wounds, while sources say Johnson hung himself and had cuts on his body." The Daily News says the couple's teen daughters were present at the time and one jumped out of a second story window to escape. The landlord said they were good tenants but recently Johnson moved out after a fight.
Fire In Illegal Basement Apartment Kills Three, Injures Four
A fire claimed the lives of three men and critically injured four others when it ripped through an illegal basement apartment this morning in Woodside, Queens. The blaze broke out in the two-story home's improperly partitioned basement at around 2:45 am, according to the Daily News. When firefighters arrived at the "chaotic scene," they discovered "badly-burned victims" on the "front sidewalk, just inside the front door and beneath a basement window." The surviving victims were taken to the New York Hospital-Cornell Burn Center. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Ates Found Guilty In "Too Fat To Kill" Case
An obese man's attempt to re-write the "Twinkie Defense" failed yesterday when a NJ jury found him guilty of murdering his son-in-law — despite claims that he was too fat to commit the crime. Williams Ates, 65, was convicted of slaying Paul Duncsak in 2006, then driving 21 hours to his mother's house in Louisiana for an alibi. Prosecutors argued that before killing Duncsak, who was involved in a bitter custody dispute with Ates' daughter, Ates "bought books detailing how to build a gun silencer [and] did Internet searches on how to pick locks and how to commit the perfect murder." The defense said the 285-pound Florida native couldn't have sprinted upstairs and accurately shot the victim — or driven all the way to his mother's home without frequent breaks. He will be sentenced next month.
New Producer: Spider-Man Musical Will Open In 2010
After speculation the expensive Julie Taymor-directed Spider-Man musical might be on the ropes, it turns out there's a new lead producer. The NY Times reports that Michael Cohl, a rock promoter, "was taking command of the financially troubled project at the behest of U2’s Bono and the Edge, who together wrote the music and lyrics for the show" and said the show would go on next year. While he's never been a lead producer, he did co-produce Spamalot and "is widely regarded in the entertainment community as a man with deep pockets, a Rolodex packed with investors and a knack for presenting entertainment spectacles."