Decapitated

A man decapitated his mother with a circular saw and then tried to cut off his own head with the power tool early Monday, La Habra police said. He died of severe neck injuries. It's unclear why Arthur Ruiz, 32, attacked his mother, Guadalupe Ruiz, 60, and then turned the blade on himself, Lt. Jerry Price said. She was found on one bed and he on another in the same room, Price said. Police discovered the grisly scene when they responded to a 911 call at 5:30 a.m.

Today's protest music ain't pretty. Talk about "If I Had a Hammer." Hammers and bells abound, bro, but not too many songs to sing. From the first blast, even if the words weren't clear, the danger and warning were right in your face as two bands from San Diego's thriving extreme music/metal scene -- the Locust and Cattle Decapitation -- machined Hollywood's Knitting Factory on Wednesday night along with Rhode Island's Daughters.

Mexican authorities discovered the decapitated bodies of three police officers and a fourth man Wednesday near an empty lot in the seaside town of Rosarito Beach, about 15 miles south of the border. The officers had gone missing Tuesday after responding to a report of a kidnapping. Witnesses said that the officers were intercepted by about 100 heavily armed, masked men dressed as Mexican federal agents, said a spokesman for the Baja California state attorney general's office.

A drunk driver who veered off the road and decapitated a friend who had leaned his head out a window was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday. John Kemper Hutcherson, 21, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death last August of Frankie Brohm, 23, whose head was severed when the truck grazed a telephone pole guy wire.

Saudi forces found the head of U.S. hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr. in a refrigerator at an Islamic militant hide-out, where they killed two wanted men and seized weapons that included a surface-to-air missile, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. In a statement, the ministry said the head of Johnson, 49, who was killed June 18 by a group calling itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was found Tuesday night when security forces stormed a villa in Riyadh, the capital. The U.S.

Iraqi insurgents Friday released three captives they had threatened to behead -- two Turks and a Pakistani -- but continued to harass foreign workers, firing rockets into two Baghdad hotels housing security contractors. The release of the Turkish air-conditioning repairmen had been expected, as their employer, Kayteks, capitulated to militants' demands that the company cease all support and cooperation with the multinational forces in Iraq.

Three young children were found decapitated Thursday in an apartment in northwest Baltimore, police said. The mother of the two 9-year-old girls and 10-year-old boy found their bodies when she arrived home late Thursday afternoon, said Deputy Police Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell. Blackwell said a weapon was found outside the apartment but he did not elaborate. The mother, who neighbors said was Latino and speaks little English, notified a neighbor, who called 911.

The decapitated body of a 36-year-old woman was found early Monday in her northeast Pasadena home, and police said she may have been slain by a man who committed suicide later by stepping in front of a big rig on Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass. Officers said the deaths apparently stemmed from a domestic dispute, but detectives provided no further details about possible motives. Officials did not release the identity of either the man or the woman.

Two half-brothers accused of strangling their mother, then cutting off her head and hands before dumping her body in a ravine in the Santa Ana Mountains pleaded not guilty Friday to single counts of murder. Jason Bautista, 20, and Matthew Montejo, 15, appeared before Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Cheryl L. Leininger to answer to charges that they murdered Jane Marie Bautista, 41, and sought to hide her body parts in their Riverside apartment.

A La Habra man who allegedly killed and mutilated his German shepherd to impress his girlfriend could face life in prison for animal cruelty under the state's three-strikes law, according to prosecutors. After a brief court appearance Tuesday by James A. Abernathy--the 40-year-old man authorities say used a collection of swords, shears and knives to decapitate his dog--Orange County prosecutors said they intended to pursue the matter as a three-strikes case.