Friday, January 18, 2013
Joseph Canazaro co-owned Finn McCool's in Ambler. Suspects believed to have fled in victims' pickup truck; described as armed and dangerous
Update, 5:03 p.m. The last murder that occurred in Hilltown Township was in 1990 at 12 Key Drive, when Eric Motis stabbed his neighbor Louise C. Hoopes, 42, a secretary at Grand View Hospital, and her sons Douglas, 16, and Daniel, 14, in their beds. Motis, 26, committed suicide in prison in 1998. Motis was facing three life sentences after pleading guilty at trial in 1991. Update, 4:23 p.m. The Reporter reports the black pickup truck has been located in Upper Bucks County. The truck has been located behind Quakertown Plaza Shopping Center on the 1400 block of West Broad Street in Quakertown. Update, 4:14 p.m. Chief Chris Engelhart has identified the victim as Joseph Canazaro, 48. Canazaro lived at the Swartley Road home with his girlfriend…
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Losses preceded alleged ransom scheme
- POLICE & FIRE
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The man accused of killing a 10-month-old girl and her grandmother in an Upper Merion apartment tower in October had reportedly lost $15,000 gambling at casinos in the week before the crime. The Associated Press reports that 26-year-old Raghunandan Yandamuri told authorities about his gambling losses in a videotaped statement he made following his arrest. The statement was played at his preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning. Authorities have said the murders of Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, were part of a botched ransom scheme in which Yandamuri planned to demand $50,000 from Saanvi's parents for her safe return. Several copies of a ransom note were found at the murder scene. The Montgomery County …
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Raghunandan Yandamuri remains held without bail at the Montgomery County jail.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Thursday, November 22, 2012
The man accused of killing an infant girl and her grandmother in an Upper Merion apartment last month may face the death penalty. Phillyburbs.com reports that the Montgomery County district attorney's office is considering seeking a death sentence for Raghunandan Yandamuri, who allegedly killed 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, on Oct. 22 in a botched ransom plot. Yandamuri remains held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Lower Providence. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 28. Yandamuri has reportedly been assigned as a "mitigation counsel," whose job it would be to defend him against the death penalty. Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kevin …
Friday, October 26, 2012
The 10-month-old had been missing since Monday. A family friend has been charged in the murders of the child and her grandmother, who reportedly attacked the would-be kidnapper as he tried to take her granddaughter.
The body of Saanvi Venna, the 10-month-old girl who disappeared from the Marquis Apartments in King of Prussia on Monday following the murder of her grandmother, was found at about 4:30 a.m. Friday in a sauna room inside the apartment complex, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said. Raghunandan Yandamuri, 26, described by Ferman as a friend of the Venna family, has been charged in the murders of Saanvi and Satyavathi Venna. Ferman said Yandamuri told authorities that he intended to kidnap the child and hold her for $50,000 ransom. See this article's photo section to see a copy of the ransom note. "He believed the family was of sufficient means to pay that ransom," Ferman said. As he was leaving the scene of the elder Venna's …
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
10-month-old Saanvi Venna's family had just moved to King of Prussia in June of this year. Authorities seek to identity anyone with a motive to harm the family.
Local authorities on Tuesday were working with the FBI to identify any suspects of motives in Monday's suspected abduction of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna from her home in a King of Prussia apartment tower on Monday. Authorities said Saanvi's 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, was found murdered in the home when Upper Merion Township Police arrived at the scene early Monday afternoon. Satyavathi Venna, who was visiting from India, had been staying with her son, Venkata Konda Siva Venna (Saanvi's father) and her daughter-in-law, Chenchu Latha Punuru, Saanvi's mother. The elder Venna was scheduled to return to India in January. Her body was being autopsied on Tuesday, authorities said. The family had been living in the apartment since …
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Commissioner Bruce Castor wil be featured in an episode of 'Cold Blood' detailing the 1996 murder of the General Wayne Inn.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, May 3, 2012
When Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. was the Montgomery County district attorney, he prosecuted many cases, but few generated more attention than his successful prosecution of Guy Sileo. Sileo, the co-owner of the General Wayne Inn in Lower Merion, was convicted of killing his business partner, Jim Webb, at the restaurant on Dec. 27, 1996. At 9 p.m. tonight, Castor will be featured in an episode of Cold Blood detailing the murder, the investigation and the prosecution of Sileo. The show runs on the Discovery ID channel (channel 111 on Comcast and channel 123 on Verizon. Find the TV Guide listing here.) This is the second of Castor’s cases to be featured on the series this year alone. The General Wayne Inn murder has been the subject of …
Monday, November 7, 2011
The law would carry a mandatory minimum of 13 years in prison for anyone who murders a child.
- OPINION
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Monday, November 7, 2011
By Christine McLaughlin Dear Editor: I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for State Rep. Todd Stephens (R-151) of Horsham, for taking interest in Zachary’s Law (House Bill 601, Murphy). Zachary’s Law was seconded by Stephens and it was passed unanimously in the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee on Oct. 25. Zachary’s Law is named in honor of my son Zachary, who was murdered at the hand of a child abuser when he was 14 months old. The year that followed my son’s death was eye-opening. I assumed if you murder a child you get a lengthy sentence. However, third degree murder in Pennsylvania carries a minimum sentence of as little as six years in jail. A child is innocent. They depend on adults to love and care for them. A murder of …
John W.
5:23 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
I entertain my clients at Finn's McCool regularly and thought the owner was doing fine. If it is true that Joe owed so much to SOMEBODY, we all know the answer now. Organized crime should be viewed differently. General public should worry about random petty crime rate in the community. more ›