A Wisconsin man charged with domestic abuse told police that a “ghost” had attacked his wife and was responsible for her injuries.

The weird story by Michael West, 41, did not provide much of a defense as police arrested him for strangulation, battery, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.

After responding to a report of a domestic dispute on Jan. 15, at the West residence in Fond du Lac, Wis., police found West’s wife crying and bleeding from the nose. Drops of blood stained areas of the kitchen and her Packers’ jersey.

The woman told police her husband repeatedly punched her in the face and attempted to strangle her “to the point that [her] vision went black and [she] felt like she was going to pass out,” the report said. In a criminal complaint, the victim says that when she tried to dial 911, her husband punched her in the face.

Police said West appeared intoxicated and was yelling and swearing at the two officers questioning him. The man claimed his wife had fallen several times, causing her to sustain injuries to her face and neck.

When pressed by a cop–who pointed to marks on the woman’s neck–the intoxicated West replied with slurred speech and shifted his story. “A ghost did it,” he said.

After a struggle, he was handcuffed and transported to the county lockup, where he remains in custody in lieu of $1000 bail.

His wife told police the fight was started over the impending foreclosure on their home.

Sources: MSNBC and The Smoking Gun

Seven teenagers were charged yesterday morning for an attack and robbery of another teenager on Chicago’s south side. The attack was caught on video and went viral on YouTube. 

The attack took place around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday in an alley behind an elementary school. Six boys and a 15-year-old girl are accused of participating in the beating and robbery of a 17-year-old male.

Only one of the attacker’s names is being released because he is the only one in the group who can be charged as an adult. He is 17 year-old Raymond Palomino, a student at Kelly High School. He is being charged with robbery and aggravated battery.

The other six attackers – two 16-year-old boys, three 15-year-old boys and the 15-year-old girl — were charged as juveniles, also with one count of robbery and one count of aggravated battery. Their names were not released due to their ages.

The video posted online shows five males kicking and punching the victim while taunting him with racial slurs. The victim was eventually able to run away. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released.

Items stolen from the victim were a pair of gym shoes, a wallet and cash.

Although the victim is of Asian descent according to The Associated Press, police say the crime does not appear to have been racially motivated.

The Chicago Tribune provided more details about Raymond Palomino and the possible motivation for the attack. Raymond Palomino’s father is a Cook County sheriff’s deputy. His father’s name is Michael Palomino. He said his 17-year-old son Raymond is being “made out as the fall guy.” Michael said he called police and agreed to turn his son in after seeing the video on the news.

After the hearing, his father said the attack was “retaliation” for an incident last month when the victim and his friends jumped Raymond and another boy after school. After that incident, there was a lot of trash talking on Facebook and things spiraled out of control, the father said.

Outside court, the teen’s father said that Raymond is generally a good student who has done well in school, but got mixed up with some friends who are troublemakers.

His son appeared in court wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. He hung his head low throughout the 10-minute hearing and appeared to have tears in his eyes as he was led from the courtroom.

Palomino’s defense attorney, Ilia Usharovich, said Palomino is a “young man with no criminal record who was ashamed to find himself where he was.”

Prosecutors said Palomino and the other boys persuaded the girl to lure the victim into an alley in the 2700 block of South Shields, where the others were waiting to beat him.

When Palomino saw the victim walking through the alley, he yelled “get him!” to the others, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Erin Antonietti.

Sources: MSNBC and The Chicago Tribune

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A northern Illinois man is accused of gouging his uncle’s eyes out during a fight over a remote control. The attacker, Exulam I. Holman, 32, is said to be a career criminal, according to police.

Will County Sheriff’s police were called shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to a residence in the 1100 block of McKay Street in Joliet Township where a 62-year-old man reported he’d been attacked. A deputy found the 62-year-old victim with blood streaming from his eyes.

The victim, whose name was not released, had “blood streaming from both eyeballs, covering his face below his eyes. Both of his eyeballs were swollen, dislocated and were protruding approximately a quarter-inch from the eye sockets,” police said.

The victim told deputies his nephew tried to pry his eyes out with his thumbs. The man told police he and his nephew had been arguing over the TV’s remote control. Holman broke the remote on the ground, pushed his uncle to the kitchen floor and straddled him. Holman is 5′ 7″ tall and weighs 280 pounds. His uncle is five inches shorter and weighs 140 pounds less.

The victim said that Holman, “inserted his thumbs into his eyes … and attempted to pry the eyeballs out of the sockets.”

Holman then allegedly pushed his uncle down the basement stairs. Despite being in “excruciating” pain and losing consciousness, he was able to call 911.

Sources reported he is now blind in his left eye and will require additional surgery for the limited vision in his right eye.

Police report Holman has been arrested 25 times since 1999 for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, domestic battery, violating orders of protection, resisting arrest, and numerous driving violations after previous convictions on weapons and narcotics charges.

In 1999, then-Joliet Officer Bernard Mooney allegedly beat Holman while breaking up a dice game in the Forest Park neighborhood. Holman received a $100,000 settlement after threatening to file a lawsuit over his broken nose, and Mooney was fired from the department.

The following summer, another officer allegedly found Holman passed out behind the wheel of a car running in the 1300 block of Woodruff Road. When Holman woke up and was told he’d be arrested for driving under the influence, he put the car in gear and struck the police officer, causing minor injuries.

Let’s hope this dangerous man will not be allowed back on the streets.

The victim’s nephew was arrested on a charge of aggravated domestic battery. A judge ordered him held on $1 million bond Tuesday.

Sources: MSNBC and The Herald News

A missing 9-year-old Indiana girl, Aliahna Lemmon, was found dead on Monday night. She had been reported missing on Friday evening. The details of her death are incredibly gruesome.

The neighbor who had been watching Aliahna, 39-year-old Mike Plumadore, was interviewed by police and taken into custody at 9 p.m. and charged with murder on Monday night. Plumadore had been watching Aliahna and her sisters before she was reported missing. Plumadore told investigators on Monday where the girl’s body could be found.

Police say Plumadore bludgeoned Aliahna with a brick, then dismembered her with a hacksaw.

After beating Aliahna Lemmon to death last Thursday, Michael Plumadore told police he stuffed her body into trash bags and hid her in his freezer, according to an affidavit filed by the Allen County sheriff’s department. Plumadore said he later chopped up her body, stuffed her remains into freezer bags and hid some at his trailer and some at a nearby business.

No active search was done Sunday for Aliahna, though more than 100 emergency workers searched for her Saturday around the mobile home park where she and Plumadore lived. Allen County sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said the same size search could not be sustained because of the Christmas holiday.

Although it was later learned that Aliahna was already dead by Sunday, it is still surprising that a massive search for a child did not continue despite the holiday.

Aliahna and her sisters were staying with Plumadore because their mother had been sick with the flu and Aliahna’s stepfather works at night and sleeps during the day. Plumadore told authorities that he left the three girls in his mobile home about 6 a.m. Friday and went to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the store’s surveillance video shows him there about that time. “I had dead-bolted the door,” he said. “When I got back, all the girls was here.”

He said he smoked his cigar and went back to sleep, then woke up about 10 a.m. when Aliahna’s mother called. After that call, he realized the door to the home was unlocked and that Aliahna was gone. He said Aliahna’s 6-year-old sisters told him Aliahna had left with her mother. Plumadore said it wasn’t until he talked with Aliahna’s mother about 8:30 p.m. that they realized she was missing and police were notified.

Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries said Plumadore was arrested after being interviewed by detectives for several hours Monday — and was also questioned Friday and Saturday.

On Monday, FBI agents descended on the rundown mobile home park where Aliahna lived and was last seen.

The mobile home park in Fort Wayne is a known haven for registered sex offenders. According to a state website, 15 registered sex offenders live at the mobile home park. That’s an alarming number given that the park only has about two dozen homes on its land. Plumadore is not on Indiana’s registered sex offenders list; however, he has a criminal record in Florida and North Carolina that includes convictions for trespassing and assault.

Given the nature of this gruesome crime, it makes you wonder what other crimes he has committed, but was never caught. It seems like a giant leap from trespassing and assault to murder.

Sources: MSNBC and The Chicago Tribune