Domestic Violence

Two years ago, Calgary real estate executive Ryan Alexander Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months' probation and ordered to complete domestic violence counseling after hitting his then-girlfriend. But Jenkins came to Los Angeles and was selected as a contestant on the VH1 reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire," on which wealthy men compete for the love of a young woman. Now Jenkins is wanted in the slaying of his ex-wife, model Jasmine Fiore, and "Megan Wants a Millionaire" has been abruptly pulled off the air by VH1. The case raises questions about how a man with a record of domestic violence got onto a show on which the object is to marry a woman.

Brazilian authorities detained the wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti and formally accused her Sunday of killing him at a posh seaside tourist resort. Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation and presented a formal accusation against her. Prosecutors will later decide whether she will be charged.

The missing Mercedes-Benz driven by slain swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore was found Wednesday in the parking lot of a West Hollywood Trader Joe's, law enforcement sources said. Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department was notified by an individual who noticed a Mercedes appearing to match the description of Fiore's car about 12:42 p.m. in the parking lot of the grocery store in the 8600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard. "They noticed the car was dusty, dirty, had no license plates and looked out of place," said Whitmore, adding that he could not confirm whether it was Fiore's car. But the sources, who asked not to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, said the vehicle's identification number matched that of Fiore's white 2007 Mercedes CL S550.

A Baldwin Village man who stabbed his former girlfriend and her daughter was shot to death Tuesday morning by a neighbor who was arrested in the slaying after an eight-hour standoff with Los Angeles police. The incident began when Rhett Wilkins, 44, stabbed the two women shortly before 6:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Stevely Avenue, said Officer Karen Smithe.

Los Angeles County prosecutors acknowledged Tuesday that they failed to inform a West Covina woman about a plea deal in December that allowed her estranged husband out of jail after he pleaded guilty to threatening her with a stun gun. The lapse is one of several decisions the district attorney's office is investigating after Curtis Bernard Harris, 34, kidnapped Monica Thomas-Harris, 37, and killed her before taking his own life over the weekend at a Whittier motel.

Sun Ok Ma looked at a photo of the charred exterior of the sport utility vehicle in which her ex-husband allegedly burned her two children to death, hid her face behind her hair, and wept. The breakdown came as Ma took the witness stand in Los Angeles Superior Court to testify against Dae Kwon Yun, 56. After a two-day preliminary hearing, Yun was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on two counts of murder for the April 2006 deaths of Ashley, 11, and Alexander, 10.

A day after reporting his four young children missing, a shrimp fisherman broke down and confessed that he threw them off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, authorities said Wednesday. Lam Luong, 37, was charged with four counts of capital murder, and divers searched the murky waters for the bodies of the youngsters, who ranged in age from 4 months to 3 years.

It was a lunch hour in October when Monica Thomas-Harris called a friend at work with a chilling request. She was sitting in a car in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. Her estranged husband, Curtis Bernard Harris, was meeting her. "Tami," she told her supervisor, Tamara Cerven, "if you don't hear from me, you need to find me." For Cerven, who said she had witnessed her friend's attempts to keep Harris' anger in check for years, this marked a new low.

It's not hard to find the room in Los Angeles County Superior Court where restraining orders are handed out. It's the courtroom on the second floor with the giant red "DOMESTIC VIOLENCE" placard posted on the wall outside. Inside, the rows were crammed Monday with women waiting for a turn in one of the four glass-walled cubicles, where court workers help victims of abuse publicly detail their suffering.

The standoff began shortly after a man in Winnetka called 911 saying he had gunned down three relatives. It ended early Thursday -- more than eight hours later -- with a single round from a police sniper who killed the suspect as he emerged from his burning house firing a barrage of bullets. In between, two highly decorated Los Angeles Police Department officers were shot, one fatally. The LAPD was deeply shaken by the nightlong siege in an otherwise quiet San Fernando Valley neighborhood.