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Legal Herald - THE LAW AND YOU

The people of Sydney were recently devastated with the news that well-known restaurant owner and gelato maker, Mario Acquaro, was murdered in broad day-light outside his popular Crows Nest business by a former employee.

31-year-old Gordon Szeto was today charged with one count of murder and will undergo a mental assessment before attending his next hearing on February 6.

As no bail application was made, Szeto will remain in police custody until that date.

Mr Acquaro, known to his customers as simply "MarIo" ran Bravo's Trattoria for over 12 years.

Shocked family, friends and restaurant-goers have left candles, flowers and loving messages for the man who made dinner outings fun again. One message said that Mario can now make "pizza and gelato for everyone in heaven".

For those who have attended the restaurant (and I believe there are very few people in Sydney who haven't), you will know what I'm talking about when I say that it was a pleasure to meet such a charming and charismatic man. His taste in wacky t-shirts was certainly unique and even more so, his love for life.

He will really be missed and my deepest sympathies go out to his family, his fiancee and his beautiful daughter.

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Posted By: Legally Brunette - Category: Murder

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Another Prostitute Body Found

December 13th 2006 08:40

Detectives in Ipswich, England are currently facing a race against time as an anonymous serial killer strikes again.

The naked body of a female prostitute was found today in scrubland just a few hundred yards away from Old Felixstowe Road. Her body is the fifth one found in the space of two weeks.

Police are yet to confirm the identities of the last two victims but believe them to be 24-year-old Paula Clennell and 29-year-old Annette Nicholls.

Only a few days ago, Ms Clennell made an appearance on national television speaking out about the earlier murders. She admitted that the horrific news would not deter her from continuing to work the streets because she needed the money but it made her wary about getting into strangers' cars.

She was last seen on Saturday 9 December at 1am in Rendlesham Court.

The police raised awareness of a serial killer targeting the area's prostitutes after the body of 25-year-old Gemma Adams was found on December 2 and just several days later, the body of her 19-year-old friend, Tania Nichol.

Now the murderer has taken the lives of 5 women. Detectives are investigating the matter with urgency so as to put the perpetrator behind bars before he or she strikes again.

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Posted By: Legally Brunette - Category: Murder

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Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?

August 19th 2006 01:42

In late 1996, six-year old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her parent’s Colorado home. For years, the circumstances surrounding this little girl’s death have remained a mystery. Some believe her parents were involved. Others believe it was the work of a professional killer. Ten years later, a new suspect has been charged but still no one is able to answer the question - Who killed JonBenet Ramsey?

On 26 December 1996, Patsy Ramsey, mother of the tiny beauty queen, was hit with a horrible reality. She had found a ransom note demanding US $118,000 in exchange for her daughter. She reported this to the police and under 8 hours later, her daughter was found dead.

The autopsy report showed that JonBenet had been strangled to death. There was also indication of a fractured skull and possible sexual assault.

The evidence pointed in lots of different directions. Firstly the ransom note was analysed by experts. There were no fingerprints but the writing resembled the handwriting of Patsy Ramsey. Secondly, the note demanded $118,000 which authorities believed was extremely low for a ransom note. Strangely, when police searched the crime scene they found that a bible owned by JonBenet’s father, John Ramsey, had been turned to Psalm 118. Thirdly, footprints were found in the wine cellar near the basement where JonBenet was found. These footprints did not match any of the suspects’ footprints. And finally, there was blood on JonBenet’s underwear that also did not match that of any of the known suspects.

Eventually, forensic investigators were able to establish a DNA profile from the blood samples they obtained. They said the DNA belonged to an unidentified male and when this info was entered into the FBI database, still there was no match.

Throughout the years, JonBenet’s family has maintained that this was the sick work of an outsider. Right up until the end, when Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on 14 June 2006, she fought to find the person responsible. The Ramseys pleaded with the community on national television to help find their daughter’s killer and hired their own investigators to take on the case.

For some time following the murder, the media was in a frenzy over whether or not the Ramsey’s could do this to their own daughter. But the grand jury never convicted them of any crime and the family won a number of defamation law suits as a result.

Then on 16 August 2006, the media found themselves in a frenzy again. This time it was over a new suspect – John Mark Karr. He was arrested in Bangkok after a string of emails regarding JonBenet’s murder were traced back to him.

On arrest, he allegedly confessed to being with JonBenet when she died but said that it was an accident. However, since his arrest, doubt has been cast over his role in the murder. Karr’s ex-wife has said that she was with him in Alabama at the time, making it impossible for him to be the one responsible.

So who exactly is this man whose face is plastered all over our newspapers and TV screens? He’s a 41-year-old former school teacher who grew up in Alabama. At age 19, he married a 13 year old girl then divorced her 1 year later. At age 24 he married a 16 year old girl. They also divorced 12 years later, when Karr was charged with possession of child pornography.

After being deported from Thailand to US, Karr is now facing charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of a child.

Did John Karr kill JonBenet Ramsey? We’ll soon find out.

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Posted By: Legally Brunette - Category: Murder

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The Xbox Murders

July 26th 2006 10:08

6 people and 2 dogs were found dead in a Deltona apartment in early August 2004. They had been stabbed and beaten to death with baseball bats. Their bodies were mutilated.

What caused this gruesome murder? What sparked this unbelievable waste of innocent human life?
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Posted By: Legally Brunette - Category: Murder

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The Woman Who Served Her Husband For Dinner

June 28th 2006 08:17

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is possibly the sickest, most repulsive, stomach-churning court case I have ever encountered.

Katherine Knight, a 37 year old abattoir worker from NSW, has been convicted of the murder of her de facto husband, John Price, and sentenced to life in prison.
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Posted By: Legally Brunette - Category: Murder

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The OC has a Cannibal

June 23rd 2006 08:14

Fan of the OC? The lavish lifestyles, excessive wealth and plastically enhanced Julie Cooper types? Well, here’s a story about the real OC very different from the one you see on TV...

A former school teacher, currently locked up in an Orange County mental ward, has applied to the Supreme Court for an early release. How did he get there in the first place? It’s a sick and twisted story, (even sicker than Julie Cooper getting it on with her daughter’s ex boyfriend) not for the faint hearted.
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Posted By: Legally Brunette - Category: Murder

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Mother Convicted of Killing Her Newborn

June 21st 2006 04:39

Remember that rumour about the teenage skank who didn't know she was pregnant, had her baby in a Kmart change room, then dumped the child in the bin? Well, if you take out the teenage skank part and the Kmart part and the bin part, it's no rumour at all. It's the real life story of Amy Shorter who was recently convicted of murdering her own newborn baby. How did this mother of three end up committing such a heinous crime? It seems beyond comprehension.