A former college wide receiver has been arrested and charged with fatally shooting a St. Louis woman.

The victim, 41-year-old Kelli Farrell, died of a gunshot wound in her gut on April 20, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. A week later, police arrested Kraig Appleton, who played for the Wisconsin Badgers a little more than a decade ago.

When Appleton joined the Wisconsin Badgers in 2009, he had all the makings of a star. He was the No. 4 player in the state and the No. 17 receiver in the country, according to NBC Sports.

But in February 2010, less than a year into his college career, Appleton was one of three players suspended from his team for an alleged rule violation, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a Wisconsin paper, reported.

Details on the violation were never released.

Appleton dropped out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shortly after being suspended. Later that year, the university’s football coach at the time, Bret Bielema, talked to the former player about rejoining the team, Wisconsin news source Madison.com reported.

He said Appleton would have to join a junior college and earn an associate’s degree.

“I told him I’d work with him,” Bielema told the paper at the time. “If I can help him do that, I’ll do that. I’ve just got to make sure he’s ready to do things the right way for that to happen.”

But Appleton never played for the Badgers again.

In July 2011, Appleton had his first bad turn with guns when he was rushed to a St. Louis hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, Madison.com reported.

Appleton was booked the afternoon of April 27 on charges of first-degree murder. He is being held at a $1 million bond, according to an online inmate search.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 8.

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LAS VEGAS (KSNV/CNN) – Former NFL football player Cierre Wood was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas and is facing a murder charge.

La’Rayah Davis, 5, had bruising all over her body when she was found unresponsive on Tuesday. (Source: KSNV/CNN)
He’s accused of killing his girlfriend’s daughter, 5-year-old La’Rayah Davis. The mother, Amy Taylor, is also facing a child abuse charge.

In court, the girl’s father, Danaun Davis, said he was devastated. He sat 20 feet from Wood, who he believes killed his daughter.

“You purposely hurt my kid. I never thought I’d bury my child at five years old,” Davis said. “I can’t call her. I just talked to her that Monday before. ‘Dad, I’ll see you in two weeks.’ The next day, I get a call that she’s gone.”

Davis said there were warning signs.

“Every time I picked her up the last few months, she was afraid to go home,” he said. “She kept telling me something was wrong.”

On Tuesday night, police said La’Rayah was found unresponsive. An arrest report reveals she was taken to a hospital and found to have bruising to her torso, legs and abdomen.

Prosecutors said an autopsy revealed more injuries, including a “large liver laceration.”

In the end, Judge Ann Zimmerman decided to keep the former football player in jail.

Davis wants justice for his daughter, a little girl he called his pride and joy.

He said he wished he could “tell her I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to her.”

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help raise money for the girl’s funeral.

Wood played seven NFL games in three seasons between 2013-15. He played college football at Notre Dame.

Copyright 2019 KSNV via CNN. All rights reserved.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — The jury has reached a verdict in the Central cheerleader murder trial Tuesday.

Jurors made rulings concerning the charges filed against William Riley Gaul in connection to the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend Emma Walker. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said that on Nov. 21, 2016, Gaul fired a 9mm handgun into Walker’s bedroom while she was asleep.

Gaul was found guilty of first degree murder. He was found not guilty of especially aggravated stalking, but guilty of stalking; guilty of theft; guilty of tampering with evidence; guilty of reckless endangerment; not guilty of employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, but guilty of possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony; and guilty of felony murder.

He was originally charged with seven counts: first degree murder, especially aggravated stalking, theft, tampering with evidence, reckless endangerment, employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, and felony murder.

Judge Bob McGee imposed the mandatory life sentence for his murder charges Tuesday and ordered Gaul into custody.

According to the District Attorney’s office, life in prison means Gaul will serve 51 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. Gaul’s sentencing hearing was set for July 20 to determine his sentence on the remainder of his guilty counts.

In Court: Murder Trial Highlights

The high profile trial kicked off on Tuesday, May 1, and came to a close on Tuesday, May 8.

A jury of 11 people with two alternates was selected Monday, April 30. Jurors took their seats May 1 as prosecutors and the defense presented their cases and cross-examined witnesses.

During the trial, prosecutors gave jurors five reasons they believe Gaul was guilty: murder and attempt to kill, motive, placement and proximity, repetition, and shot trajectory. In opposition, the defense admitted that Gaul pulled the trigger of his grandfather’s stolen gun, but argued that Gaul did not intend to harm Walker.

Family, friends describe relationship between Walker and Gaul

Gaul and Walker dated on-and-off for about two years, starting while they were Central High School students. Walker was a 16-year-old Central High School cheerleader and honors student. Gaul went on to play football at Maryville College.

Prosecutors opened arguments on May 1, saying that Gaul was dressed in black, from head to toe, when he shot Emma Walker at 3 a.m. at her home. Prosecutors described the relationship between Gaul and Walker as “toxic,” saying that her parents had tried to stop her from seeing him.

During the trial, testimonies from family members and friends brought personal details of Walker’s and Gaul’s relationship to light.

On May 2, a 17-year-old Central High School student testified about Walker’s “unsteady” relationship with Gaul. The teen said about two or three weeks after a breakup, Walker was “shaken up and scared” after Gaul allegedly came to her home and began yelling with her. The student testifying claimed that the next day Walker contacted her, saying someone was trying to get into her house. The witness said Walker sent a group text message to multiple friends during the incident.

A second friend said Walker texted friends, “I thought I was going to die,” following the incident when someone allegedly tried entering her home. The same friend described Gaul as overbearing and controlling towards Walker. “It was never like the ideal relationship where you treat each other with respect,” Walker’s friend testified. “I felt she deserved better the whole course of the relationship.”

According to a witness, a group of girls was at a sleepover on November 18 when Walker told them about “threatening texts” before going outside to see Gaul. When the group headed back inside, the witness said Walker told the girls she was scared. The witness said she assumed the text messages Walker spoke about were coming from Gaul.

“He was the only person who would do something like that,” the witness said. “She wanted to get away from him for good this time.”

The District Attorney’s office described a pattern of stalking between Gaul and Walker in the nights leading up to her death. Prosecutors said he had been walking through Walker’s neighborhood dressed in black. On May 2, a friend of Walker said she saw Gaul in Walker’s neighborhood on the morning of November 19, wearing all black. She testified that Walker had texted her and said someone in all black had tried to break into her house.

Gaul in “dark place”

Several of Gaul’s own friends testified on May 3 that Gaul was “in a dark place,” and that the relationship between Gaul and Walker was “toxic.”

Mac Seagle, a football player and student at Maryville College with Gaul, said Gaul had attempted suicide on MC campus about two weeks before Emma’s death. Seagle and his friends took Gaul to the hospital, and Gaul returned to campus two or three days later, when he was said to be in counseling.

Technology’s role in trial

Seagle told the jury that Gaul would borrow his phone to call either his mom or Emma. On the night Emma was shot, records showed 52 calls from Seagle’s phone to Emma’s within a 26-minute span.

Gaul’s roommate, Andrew Walker Stanley, said on May 4 that Gaul did not return to their room at Maryville College until 4:45 a.m. the Monday following Walker’s death. “He said he’d been out,” Stanley recalled. “That was it. And then he asked if I could help him get up for his 8 a.m. [class] .”

Later, Stanley told the jury he received a Snapchat from Gaul saying not to talk to police.

Seagle said, however, that he did not believe Gaul was angry or violent, and had only threatened to hurt himself.

However, Gaul’s best friend since second grade, Isaac Ewers, took the stand on May 3, recounting, along with friends Alex McCarty and Noah Walton, a bizarre incident on that Friday night, November 18, in which they received a call from Gaul, who stated he had been hit over the head and kidnapped and did not know where he had been taken. Not 10 minutes later, though, Gaul allegedly showed up where his friends had been and said he had been hit over the head and could not remember any events of the night.

That’s when Ewers said he knew “where [Gaul’s behavior] was heading.” Ewers told the jury he believed Gaul had a potential to act violently towards himself and others after his alleged kidnapping.

A Knox County Sheriff’s investigator said cell phone tower usage data indicated that Gaul had traveled from Maryville to Knoxville and back that night, and that Gaul was in Knoxville from 12:29 a.m. until 3:45 a.m. on November 21. Investigators said Gaul made calls to both his mother and a friend leading up to Walker’s death.

The stolen gun

Gaul’s grandfather said he kept his gun either in a dresser or under the seat of his car, always holstered. He testified that he had swapped cars with his grandson to get tires on Gaul’s car. When he got back into his car, he told the jury he felt under the seat and found the holster was empty. He said when he asked Gaul about the missing gun, he denied knowing anything about it. He then reported the gun stolen, having never fired the gun before it went missing.

However, Gaul had told his friend Alex McCarty about being in possession of the gun, McCarty told the jury Thursday. McCarty then relayed that information to Isaac Ewers.

Ewers said Gaul had asked him to visit him in the days after Emma’s death, but Ewers declined. When asked why, Ewers told the jury, “Because I knew that he had a hand in what had happened.”

Ewers said he reached out to Gaul to confront him about a favor he had asked of his friends.

“What was Riley trying to get you to do?” the prosecution asked Thursday.

“To get rid of everything that he had, the weapon,” Ewers answered.

Ewers said he urged Gaul to turn himself in to law enforcement, saying that if he was innocent, then the justice system would lead to that conclusion.

Defense arguments claimed that Gaul did not intend to harm his former girlfriend, although his behavior was “bizarre, reckless conduct” in the days leading up to her death. To defense questions, witnesses like Mac Seagle stated they only believed Gaul to be a harm to himself and not others.

Forensic evidence

On Friday, forensic technicians from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation took the stand, identifying photographs of Gaul’s vehicle and items within it. The prosecution called Kendall Stoner with TBI. Stoner examined blood from Emma Walker and a handgun, taken from what investigators referred to as “the crime scene.” Stoner also analyzed shoes, gloves, black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt taken from the Hyundai Tucson that Gaul was in when he was arrested by authorities.

Of those items, Stoner said DNA found on the gun was deemed inconclusive, while DNA taken from a shoe and a sweatshirt matched Gaul’s DNA.

The jury was also shown pictures and video of Emma Walker’s bedroom, the scene where she was shot and killed. Some pictures and portions of video were kept from the jury, and the judge analyzed 3D imaging from the crime scene while the jury was out of the courtroom.

On May 7, Dr. Christopher Lochmuller, Chief Deputy Medical Examiner of Knox County, took the stand in the prosecution’s case. Lochmuller, who performed Walker’s autopsy in 2016, said Walker could have died within minutes, or within hours, of being shot in her bed. He said while she was not conscious after being shot, the bullet did not enter her brain stem, meaning her death was not instant, and the bullet could have taken seconds, minutes or hours to kill her. Lochmuller confirmed that homicide was the cause of her death, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Knox County Major Crimes Investigator Allen Merritt also took the stand on May 7, saying that Gaul first became a suspect in the case after Merritt spoke with Walker’s family. Merritt said the gun was shot from outside the house, and the entry hole was in a direct line with where her head would be on her pillow. Investigators found one spent shell casing in the yard, and Merritt said the shooter would have been four or five feet from the house when the gun was fired. A live round and a second spent casing were also found in the yard behind a shot that was found in the end wall of Walker’s house.

Video of Gaul’s interview with detectives

The court was shown a video of Gaul and detectives on May 7. In the video, Gaul said he was logged into his Maryville College account on his grandparents’ laptop, so he could not log into his laptop at his dorm. For this reason, Gaul said he went to Knoxville to use his grandmother’s laptop. However, last week, Maryville College’s security chief testified that students could log onto multiple devices at once.

The video also included Gaul telling detectives he did not want to talk about an alleged kidnapping that had happened only days before Walker’s death. Also in the video, Gaul discussed the missing gun, admitting that he had asked his friend Noah Walton about how to get fingerprints off a gun. He said he was asking that question “for his roommate.”

In the video, Gaul denied having or showing his grandfather’s gun to his friend Alex McCarty, who, according to testimony from him and Ewers last week, had been asked “To get rid of everything that he had, the weapon,” Ewers said on the stand.

On May 7, the defense rested its case after instructing the jury to read through text messages in which Gaul has asked Walker if she needs any help with her homework.

Closing arguments

Just after 9 a.m. on May 8, the state started closing arguments describing Gaul’s “obsession” with Walker.

“Emma’s parents are crushed with a spirit that was like the sunshine to them. They are blessed they got to spend 16 years with her,” the state argued.

Assistant District Attorney Kevin Allen spoke to jurors and pointed out alleged holes in Gaul’s alibi the evening he is accused of killing Walker. “He was possessive, he was manipulative, he was controlling, he was toxic to her,” Allen said.

WVLT News Reporter Donovan Long observed Gaul sitting with his head bowed as Allen said, “Everything started to a whirlwind as soon he [Gaul] got that gun in his hands […] His plan was to get away with this.”

The prosecution identified Gaul’s cell phone data as one of the main sources of evidence in their argument.

“What foils him [Gaul] is his cell phone. His cell phone data was being collected [from cell towers] . This gives investigators an indication as to where Gaul was the night he allegedly murdered Emma. It negates his alibi that night,” prosecutors said.

The defense also took their swing at closing arguments, fighting that Gaul did not intend to kill Walker.

The defense argued, “This case is about state of mind.” According to Stone, Gaul’s grandfather Jim Walker knew Gaul was having a “tremendous emotional crisis.”

The defense debated about the differences between first degree and second degree murder and premeditated murder versus voluntary manslaughter.

A letter from Gaul to Walker was introduced by the defense.

“I promised you I’d never leave, but I’m worried after tonight you won’t view me the same. I can’t stop crying. I really wonder what’s wrong with me. I can’t live without you. I love you,” the letter reads.

Police found the letter in Gaul’s car during a search, according to the defense.

Jurors were asked by the defense to only find Gaul guilty of reckless endangerment in count five, reckless homicide, theft of property in count three and tampering with evidence in count four.

The defense rested their closing arguments just after noon Tuesday after showing a picture of Gaul and Walker together.

“This photograph on the wall represents a time when he [Gaul] was her [Emma] hero,” the defense said.

The prosecution started presenting a rebuttal at around 12:05 p.m.

In their rebuttal, prosecutors say Gaul knew exactly where Walker slept and where her head would be the night he allegedly murdered her.
“Gaul knew how to use a gun and plead guilty to shooting a gun,” Assistant DA Allen said. “This [shooting] was calculated. This was targeted.”

Prosecutors wrapped up their rebuttal at around 12:30 p.m., then the judge presented instructions and sent the jury to deliberate.

A judge in Puerto Rico has said there is not enough evidence to charge a former US Olympic volleyball player in the 2016 death of her young daughter.

Authorities said on Friday that 2008 silver medalist Kim Willoughby, 37, had been accused of murder and child abuse

However, Judge María del Pilar Vázque declared on Friday that there was no cause for trial despite the charges. 

A former US Olympic volleyball player has been charged by police in Puerto Rico in the 2016 death of her young daughter.

At the moment, it is unclear if prosecutor Esteban Miranda will appeal the decision.  

In March 2016, Willoughby was allegedly searching for a towel around 9:45am when her three-year-old daughter, Kailia, slipped and hit her head, according to a police report.

CPR was performed, but the toddler was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the Medical Center of Mayagüez.  

During the investigation, it was found that the blows she suffered were incompatible with the alleged fall.

‘The Forensic Science report showed that the cause of death was not compatible with a fall. On the contrary, the cause of death was a severe corporal blow,’ said Commander Janice Rodríguez, of the Criminal Investigation Body of Mayagüez. 

Willoughby was a member of the US Olympic team that took home the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after losing to Brazil in the finals.

Afterwards, she moved to Italy to continue her professional career. She tested positive for nandrolone – a steroid – after a match for her Italian team, Perugia, in April 2009.

In September 2009, it was announced that Willoughby was given a two-year suspension from the Italian Olympic Committee, to end in July 2011, reported the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Following that, Willoughby moved to Puerto Rico to play for various teams in the Puerto Rican league. She is currently a member of the Indias de Mayagüez.

This is not Willoughby’s first run-in with the law.

In June 2001, Honolulu police charged her with abuse of a family or household member and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors. One month later, Willoughby entered deferred guilty pleas to both charges.

Five days after police charged Willoughby in the case, the victim filed for a temporary restraining order against her, leading a judge to issue a three-year protective order.

In September 2008, she was arrested for assaulting a woman outside a Honolulu night club in December 2006.

Willoughby allegedly got into an altercation with Sara Daniel at the Pipeline Cafe in Kakaako, causing severe bone fractures to Daniel’s face. 

Willoughby claimed self-defense, but prosecutor Sherri Chun disagreed, saying: ‘This incident was not self-defense. [Willoughby] followed [Daniel] out of the club, and that’s when this all happened.’

The volleyball star pleaded no contest in a plea agreement with the state and was sentenced to five years’ probation. In January 2012, she was granted an early end to her probation. 

A man charged with murdering his wife on a family boating holiday allegedly subjected her to “controlling, degrading and manipulating” treatment, the High Court heard on Friday.

Prosecutors claimed Stephen McKinney had verbally abused 35-year-old Lu Na McKinney about their sex life before her death at Devenish Island on Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh last April.

A judge was also told the 41-year-old accused provided varying recollections of how his wife fell into the water while checking their mooring and after taking sleeping pills.

According to a pharmacology expert she couldn’t have functioned as described due to the “hypnotic-sedative effect” of the drugs in her system.

It was further alleged that she had once spoke about a case where another woman went missing from a cruise ship and stated that if anything should happen to her “it would be Stephen”.

McKinney, originally from Strabane but with an address at The Flax Fields in Lifford, Co Donegal, denies murder, insisting he tried in vain to rescue her.

Adjourning his application for bail, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan indicated he was minded to release the defendant if a suitable address can be found.

Mrs McKinney, a Chinese national, was initially believed to have died in a boating accident.

But based on statements from staff at the marina where the family hired the cruiser, expert witnesses, work colleagues of the deceased and telecommunications evidence, police launched a murder inquiry.

The court heard that after marrying in 2003 the couple moved between the Republic of Ireland and China, returning to Donegal in 2016.

In a statement to police McKinney said he had taught English to students online and hoped to find further work in the same field.

He described his wife as “a beautiful woman who couldn’t cook”, said they were happy together and added that she looked after the family’s finances as he had no concept of money.

According to his account they hired the boat to go on a two-night Easter break with their two children, aged 14 and 11.

He confirmed there were only two life jackets on the cruiser, used by his son and daughter, and claimed they had set off without two more being provided because of the excitement of the trip.

On the night his wife died McKinney claimed she took possibly two sleeping tablets the couple had previously purchased on the internet.

Crown lawyer Kate McKay set out how the accused told police he was later woken by Mrs McKinney standing beside him fully dressed, saying she thought the boat was moving and was going out to check the ropes.

McKinney claimed he followed his wife out onto the deck, saw her fall overboard and possibly shout for help.

He said that he immediately jumped into the Lough and managed to get hold of her.

But she couldn’t swim and was struggling, pulling him down and grabbing his necklace, the court heard.

McKinney claimed that after he lost grip of his wife she was “gone”.

He recalled pulling himself back onto the boat and using the torch function on his mobile phone to search for her before calling 999 for help.

The two children remained asleep throughout the incident, according to his statement.

However, Mrs McKay disclosed a pharmacology expert’s opinion that it would not have been possible for Mrs McKinney to function as described by her husband due to the level of drugs in her system.

“Optimum effects would leave Lu Na experiencing a hypnotic-sedative effect,” the prosecutor said.

Setting out further details of the circumstantial case against the accused, she contended:

:: Staff at the marina told McKinney to go to the office to obtain two more life jackets.

:: He allegedly refused to accept being told by his wife that she didn’t want to go on the boat trip.

:: He gave different reasons for the family trip, ranging from an Easter holiday, early wedding anniversary, surprise for the children, and celebration of a new job.

:: McKinney allegedly provided varying accounts of how his wife came to be in the water – seeing her fall in, and hearing a splash before discovering her in the Lough.

:: He had allegedly been advised to moor at a different jetty on Devenish Island.

The court also heard that mobile phones and computers seized from McKinney led to the recovery skype chats, sex videos and sexual images involving the defendant, his wife and other unknown individuals.

One chat log from 2014 included more than 1,000 entries and took place while McKinney was wither separated from or loving away from his family, Mrs McKay said.

She claimed they depicted him as being verbally abusive towards his wife about their sex life, blaming her for their separation and then encouraging her to take part in activities.

“This is eventually agreed by Lu Na, saying she will change and do whatever McKinney wishes if he will come back to the family,” the barrister continued.

“From reading the entirety of this chat it can be said that McKinney is displaying controlling, degrading treatment toward Lu Na, and manipulating Lu Na to the extent that regardless how she answers or agrees to McKinney’s request the goalposts are continually moved.”

Defence counsel Martin McCann countered that witness evidence against his client involved “second or third-hand hearsay”.

He insisted: “The situation, as described by Mr McKinney to the emergency services and ultimately to the police is that this was an accident.

“He attempted to save his wife’s life and he failed.”

Disputing that a prima facie circumstantial case had been established against his client, Mr McCann added: “The circumstances appear to consist of rumour and innuendo.”

But with detectives still to speak to the accused’s children, Sir Declan confirmed McKinney will not be allowed out of custody to live close to them.

Adjourning the case, he said: “I’m minded in principle to releasing this man on bail when a suitable bail address has been found.”

Belfast Telegraph Digital

MURDER CHARGE

A TEEN has appeared in court accused of murdering a man during a Christmas dinner party.

Jakub Kmieciak, 19, is alleged to have killed Rafal Rymackiewicz, 34, by stabbing him on the body with a knife on Saturday, December 23.

Stuart Cowper

The teenager made a brief appearance from custody at Perth Sheriff Court and made no plea or declaration in relation to the murder charge.

The case against him was continued for further investigation and Kmieciak was remanded in custody after making no motion for bail.

Kmieciak, from Perth, is alleged to have struck Mr Rymackiewicz on the body with a knife and murdered him at Wallace Court in Perth at the weekend.

The street was cordoned off by police after the incident on Saturday night and a series of door-to-door inquiries were carried out by officers from Police Scotland.

Detective Inspector Brian Geddes, who is leading the investigation, said: “I would like to reassure the local community that this was a contained and isolated incident and at no point was there any threat posed to any other member of the public.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the man. I would like to thank people who live nearby for their patience.”

It is understood that a number of people had been within the Wallace Court property for a Christmas celebration on Saturday.

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