Killers in search of body parts to make magic charms hacked up a woman and severely injured two girls on remote farmland in central Nigeria, police have said.
Scores of people fled villages in the Oju district of Benue state, near the border with Cameroon, as word of the killing spread, prompting authorities to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
"The woman's two ears were cut off, her hands were chopped off, her stomach was ripped open, her heart removed and her vagina was taken away," said a police spokesman from the state capital Makurdi.
Two girls who were with the woman also suffered deep machete cuts but survived the attack and are recovering in a local hospital, he added.
The attack occurred on Aug. 11, but the report reached state police command only on Tuesday because of poor communications.
Killing for rituals is common in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, where many believe witchcraft involving the use of human organs can make them instant millionaires or provide protection.
Nigeria is nominally divided equally between Christians and Muslims, but many mix these imported faiths with traditional beliefs.
Sorcerers often use human genitals, eyes, tongues and skulls to make charms.
In 2004, police discovered 83 decomposing, mutilated corpses in a raid on fetish shrines in a teak forest near Okija town in southeastern Anambra state. About 30 witch-doctors were arrested.
The former Anambra state governor, Chris Ngige, said he was taken to the forest to take an oath with some political sponsors before assuming office in 2003.
A woman who police said may have been a witness to the slaying an 80-year-old woman arrived at police headquarters for questioning Wednesday afternoon.
Early Wednesday, police released several surveillance pictures from a Southside Wal-Mart that show the potential witness with John Middleton, a suspect in the death of Virginia Harritt.
Harritt's son found his mother's body in her Mandarin apartment last week after he had not heard from her in a while.
Middleton was a maintenance worker at the Woodlake Park Apartments at San Jose Boulevard and Sunbeam Road, where Harritt had recently moved. As a maintenance worker, Middleton was trusted with keys to every apartment in the complex.
While Middleton made several ATM withdraws around town, according to police, the photos from the Wal-Mart on Beach Street and Southside Boulevard are the only images that show a woman with the suspect.
Police said the possible witness and Middleton used Harritt's bank card at the Wal-Mart.
Investigators said the motive in Harritt's slaying was to get the woman's ATM information.
Police have not released the name of the woman seen with Middleton. They said she went to the police headquarters on her own accord even though a police cruiser brought her to the station.
"We believe her to be a witness to this horrific incident. As you can see in the picture, she is there with Middleton. This is right after an ATM transaction using the victim's ATM card," said JSO spokesperson Ken Jefferson.
Middleton turned himself in Saturday and is charged with home-invasion robbery and murder. No charges have been filed against the woman.
"We're considering her as a witness," Jefferson said.
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Jacksonville police say a man, suspected of killing an 80-year-old woman is in jail. Police say 25-year-old John Middleton turned himself in.
Cops had been searching for him since they found Virginia Harritt's body inside her Mandarin apartment, Wednesday night.
Sunday, her son went back inside the apartment for the first time, since her death.
Paul Harritt says it's a small victory knowing Middleton is behind bars now.
Middleton worked as a maintenance man at the appartment complex Harritt helped his mother move into earlier this month. That's also where Middleton lived. Police say the motive for the murder was robbery.
Harritt knew what he was walking into as he made his first step back into his mother's apartment.
"Hell. Because I have to relive the night that I walked into that apartment," said Harritt, Virginia's son.
"Mrs. Harritt was found with telephone cord and duct tape bound around her ankles, wrists, and duct tape covering her mouth," said Lt. Pat Ivey, with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Harritt says since the day his mother's body was found, he has grown close to some of the officers.
"They're the world to us. They've supported us throughout this whole ordeal," said Harritt.
Harritt says his mother, only moved there two weeks ago.
"She was assured it was safe. That everything around here was safe. Safe was the key word, it was safe. It's not," said Harritt.
He says she was excited because she could pick up an old love of hers.
"She could start up her painting again, she loved her painting, she was a wonderful painter. She just had so much life left in her. It's not fair, it's not natural. She'll be deeply missed," said Harritt.
Missed mostly, of course, by her family.
"She's done a lot of things for a lot of people. Me. She's done a lot for me," said Harritt.
Harritt says he would only ask Middleton one thing.
Brunswick Teen Slaying Suspect Caught In S.C. - Police Say 17-Year-Old Planned To Leave Country
A 17-year-old wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy in a Glynn County street early Saturday morning was arrested about 24 hours later on a Greyhound bus in Manning, S.C.
Aaron Brennan was found shot in the head in the 100 block of Stafford Avenue just after midnight Saturday. Within hours of the shooting, police named Kealyn Shanard Mitchell a suspect.
Police said they learned that Mitchell was planning to leave the country and asked the assistance of the U.S. Marshal's Service for help apprehending him.
Friends said Brennan, the youngest of seven children, was out with friends and his brother when he was shot and that he might not have been Mitchell's intended target.
"We were standing outside and the boy that came around shooting, he came down and started shooting four times. Everybody went running and scattering. We came back outside and I saw my brother laying on the ground, dying," George Brennan said.
Friends and family said the 15-year-old would rest in peace now that an arrest has been made in the shooting.
The defense has conditionally rested its case in the Phil Spector murder trial, announcing that the music producer will not testify.
After that decision, Devra Robitaille, a former romantic interest of Spector, testified that the music producer threatened her at gunpoint twice about 10 years apart as she tried to leave his homes.
Other women called earlier by the prosecution described similar scenarios involving Spector.
Robitaille was called as a witness in the prosecution's rebuttal case, a move opposed by the defense on grounds the prosecution held back the witness for a surprise ending element. The judge disagreed.
Spector is accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003, a few hours after she went home with him from her job as a nightclub hostess.
Her body was slumped in a chair in the foyer, her purse slung over an arm. She died from a gunshot fired inside her mouth.
Two men have pleaded guilty for their part in a double murder in Jacksonville that happened just over a year ago.
This morning Jondre Lowemincey pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree murder in Onslow County Superior Court and received two consecutive life sentences. Prosecutors say he made the plea to avoid the possibility of the death penalty.
Lowemincey admitted to killing Lance Corporal Jordan Barrow and Lance Corporal Amanda Carrithers after breaking into their house on East Drive in Jacksonville.
Prosecutors say just hours before the murders Carrithers had told Lowemincey she was pregnant and he was not the father. They say Lowemincey was the trigger man in the two murders.
Late this afternoon Tharon Johnson, also charged in the case, took a guilty plea on two counts of second degree murder. He was given a sentence of 250-318 months in prison.
Virginia police say a man wanted in a double shooting in Newport News was caught over the weekend in Greenville.
Steven Gray was arrested at Greenville's Hampton Inn Saturday morning. He was wanted in Newport News for a double shooting and murder that happened there last weekend.
The 25 year old Gray is facing one count each of murder and aggravated assault, two counts of attempt robbery, and four counts of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
