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Caylee's grandfather threatens suicide...

George Anthony is currently being stabilized at Halifax Medical Center's emergency department after he sent suicidal text messages to his family. My Fox Orlando news story here

A hospital spokeswoman said once George is stabilized, he will be admitted for medical evaluation. She said he has been fully cooperative with hospital officials, and it will be up to physicians to determine how long he will stay at the hospital.

George Anthony is the father of 22-year-old Casey Anthony, who has been charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. See background on this story at vol6_iss78.

Earlier this week, new evidence in the case of slain Florida toddler Caylee Anthony shows that her body was placed in a laundry-hamper bag and then secured in a plastic garbage bag before it was left behind in the woods. CBS News story here

Documents the state attorney's office in Orlando released Wednesday also show the girl's mouth was covered with silver duct tape that had been adorned with a heart-shaped sticker. Duct tape also was attached to her head.

A utility worker found the 3-year-old's body last December in woods near where she lived with her mother and grandparents. Her mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, has been charged with killing her.

The toddler was reported missing to authorities in July, almost a month after she was last seen. Her third birthday passed while she was missing.

Separately Wednesday, authorities released a recording of Casey Anthony talking to her parents during a jail visit last August.

Casey Anthony, 22, told her parents she was just as much a victim as anyone else in the case during the recorded visit at the Orange County Jail in Orlando.

At the time, Casey was in jail on charges related to the disappearance of her daughter Caylee. She was charged with first-degree murder in October.

In the video, Casey Anthony cried and got angry when pressed by her parents for information about Caylee's whereabouts. She even threatened to end the conversation.

"This is seriously the first time I've been angry, that I've been frustrated to the point where I can't even think straight at this moment," Casey Anthony said. "The worst part is nobody can see my side and I have to keep my mouth shut."

Caylee's remains were found in December by a meter reader in woods near where Caylee lived with her mother and grandparents. Four months earlier, meter reader Roy Kronk had made three phone calls to the Orange County Sheriff's Office about his suspicions that remains were in a bag he had spotted in those woods.

A sheriff's deputy responded to the woods but didn't see a need to investigate further. That deputy was removed from patrol duty this week pending an investigation into his response.

In all, another 311 pages of discovery documents related to the Casey Anthony case were released to the public on Wednesday morning. My Fox Orlando news story here

The documents contain reports from Orange County Crime Scene Investigators, FBI crime lab reports, a police report related to findings on December 16 and transcripts of 911 calls placed by the meter reader who found Caylee's remains. They are all available online at My Fox Orlando documents here.

Video story here: WFTV video here

Virginia Tech student stabbed to death on campus was decapitated...

Alone and in a new country, graduate student Xin Yang reached out to other Chinese students at Virginia Tech when she arrived two weeks ago, trying to establish her life on campus. Fox News story here

She went to social events with international students, got in touch with the campus center that works to help them adjust and appeared to be making friends as she settled into her accounting program, those who had met her said.

But one of the friendships may have led to her death: Police say she was decapitated with a kitchen knife while having coffee with a Chinese doctoral student in a campus cafe Wednesday night.

The killing stunned a campus that still has vivid memories of the mass slayings in April 2007, when a student gunman shot 32 people and then took his own life. The stabbing was the first slaying on campus since then. See that story at vol5_iss27.

"An act of violence like this brings back memories of April 16," university President Charles Steger said. "I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught."

It appeared Yang had met her accused attacker, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu of Ningbo, China, only recently, said Kim Beisecker, the director of Cranwell International Center, which works with international students. Zhu, a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics, had been assisting her in adjusting to life at Tech, something the 500 Chinese students often do for new members in their community, she said. They both attended functions for international students, she said.

Though they apparently didn't know each other well, school records listed Zhu as one of her emergency contacts. Beisecker said that may have been because Yang knew few people on campus.

In other news...

Eighteen children from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries remain in foster care after a judge in Texarkana ruled the juveniles were in danger because the ministry condones underage marriages, has a history of beating children for misbehavior and doesn't provide adequate schooling or medical care. Fox News story here Judge Joe Griffin says that while the 18 juveniles were not allegedly married by the ministry, the consistent testimony is that ministry members believe the Bible says girls are old enough to marry when they reach puberty. The judge previously upheld the removal of five other children taken into protective custody by the state and placed in foster care. In all, the state has taken 36 children from the ministry and is looking for more than 100 others. The children were seized after a September 20th raid on the ministry compound at Fouke in western Arkansas. The 74-year-old Alamo remains in federal custody, awaiting a trial May 18th on a federal charge that he took five girls across state lines for sex. See more on this story at vol7_iss3.

43 Alaska Natives claim in a lawsuit that the Jesuit order used remote Alaskan villages as a "dumping ground" for priests who sexually abused children, and accuse the president of Seattle University, who led the Jesuit order in the region from 1990 to 1996, of covering up some of the alleged abuse. ABC News story here Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the latest claims are part of a larger pattern of alleged abuse over nearly 60 years by Jesuit priests in Alaska, involving at least 315 known victims, nearly all of them Native Alaskans, and nearly 30 abusers. Another 60 men and women who say they were abused by Jesuits in remote parts of northern Alaska between the 1940s and 2001 are preparing another lawsuit. Attorneys say that in some villages, some of which have as few as 500 residents, they know of dozens of abuse victims. The Jesuit Oregon Province, which covers Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana, has already paid out at least $50 million to settle allegations of abuse by more than 100 Alaska Natives. The Province is reportedly considering bankruptcy to cope with the claims, though in a statement, the Reverend Patrick Lee, the head of the Province, would say only that the Province is "reviewing all options."

Meanwhile, a Muncie, Indiana pastor accused of sexually abusing teenage boys in his congregation surrendered Wednesday night at the Delaware County Jail. Indianapolis Star story here Matthew A. Kidd, 52, pastor at Freedom Point Apostolic Church, is charged with two felony counts of child molesting, sexual misconduct with a minor and vicarious sexual gratification. According to court documents, Kidd developed a personal relationship with three teenage brothers–at the time ages 12 to 15–who attended his church and persuaded them to perform sexual acts or fondled them. The court documents allege that Kidd instructed a 15-year-old male to fondle himself in front of the pastor, and that he watched teenage boys change their clothing while on a youth group canoe trip. The pastor also is accused of giving the teens massages with oil. The teens told police Kidd claimed to be inspecting their tail bones or "checking for a hernia" when he fondled them. For more information about clergy abuse see eGuide/vol1_iss36.

A man went on a rampage at a Belgium day care center Friday, stabbing two young children and a female worker to death and sending 10 other children to the hospital, officials said. ABC News story here Sobbing parents rushed to the scene and to hospitals, as officials reported some of the wounded children were in serious condition. Christian Du Four, a local prosecutor, said in the mayhem that ensued the attacker simply walked out and got on his bicycle before being arrested in a nearby supermarket shortly after the 10 a.m. attack. "We have three people dead and 10 in various hospitals," Du Four told a news conference. The attack caused widespread panic in the day care center, which serves 18 children on a residential street in this town 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Brussels. "People are totally in shock," said Leene Du Bois, a spokeswoman for the regional government of Flanders. "Nobody would have imagined anyone could do so much harm. There is much grief." She said the perpetrator had no connection to the day care center. Media reports said he had a history of mental illness.

Sheriff's deputies rescued a 10-year-old Oregon girl after she was abducted in the Eugene area, according to a Lane County Sheriff's Office news release. KPTV news story here A man forced the girl, who was riding her bicycle, into a small four-door sedan near River Loop #1 in Santa Clara just before 5 p.m., deputies said. As sheriff's deputies were beginning to search the area, Lane County deputy Scot Denham spotted the car near Clear Lake Road and Territorial Highway and a chase ensued. Deputies said the driver led deputies along county roads in the Elmira area at moderate speeds for more than 20 minutes while officers from other agencies rushed to the area. Deputies were able to deflate at least one of the car's tires and a Eugene police officer used his patrol car to intervene and cause the driver to lose control, the sheriff's office said. Authorities said they quickly arrested the driver, whom they later identified as 25-year-old Malcom Gerlach, and safely removed the girl from the car. The girl was taken to a hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

In New Mexico, a former Robertson High School football player pleaded guilty to raping younger players during a hazing incident at a pre-season training camp. KRQE news story here As part of a plea agreement Jarek Padilla will not be sentenced as an adult. He also could be called to testify against five former teammates who still face charges from the August incident. Padilla pleaded guilty as a minor to charges of rape and conspiracy. The hazing, alleged to include older players sodomizing younger ones with a broom handle, happened at an out-of-town camp. New Mexico State Police were waiting when the team returned to Las Vegas by bus. Padilla's surprise plea came at the start of a preliminary hearing for the accused teens. The hearing is being held in Santa Fe after prosecutors in Las Vegas handed the case to another jurisdiction because of conflicts of interest. When the hearing began, the boys on the team who say they were assaulted by the six gave emotional testimony as they described what they said happened to them.

A former child welfare agency spokesman accused of taking nude photos of at least two teenage boys has pleaded guilty to producing child pornography. AP News story here Al Zimmerman entered the plea Wednesday, less than a week before his trial. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has been set for April 23. Zimmerman was arrested in February and accused of taking the photos for distribution overseas. He was fired by the Department of Children and Families. One of the boys has been identified as a foster child of the agency. See more at vol6_iss10.

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