Homicide

The death of a male inmate at the state prison in Lancaster on Sunday is being investigated as a homicide, and his cellmate is the main suspect, authorities said. The dead man had been serving a sentence for a second-degree robbery committed in Los Angeles County. Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the suspect passed a note to guards at breakfast time saying his cellmate appeared to be dead. Guards found the dead man "in his bunk, under the blanket," and emergency efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, Thornton said.

WASHINGTON - A friend of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev who was shot and killed by an FBI special agent in Orlando, Fla., early Wednesday was being questioned primarily about a 2-year-old triple homicide in Waltham, Mass., and about whether Tsarnaev played a role in those killings, officials said. Federal law enforcement sources identified the slain man as Ibragim Todashev, 27. They said he suddenly lunged with a knife and injured the agent in a “violent confrontation” during an interview.  Todashev is a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter like Tsarnaev and was being questioned by the FBI agent, two Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement officials.

Whoever thought "Homicide" was not appropriate for Lifetime Television must not have seen the show (In the Know, Dec. 28). Melissa Leo as Det. Howard for years epitomized feminism. She alternated between being one of the boys, giving as good as she got, and mothering someone who was having a bad time. Under black Lt. Giardello, officers of every race, color and creed have carried out police work, holding viewers' attention with human drama rather than mindless violence. Despite the loss of important cast members, "Homicide" is still providing gritty entertainment on its original NBC network.

Seven reputed Montebello-area gang members have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in at least half a dozen killings stemming from ongoing rivalries over drugs and turf, authorities said Wednesday. The arrests made by Montebello police and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, coupled with several dozen federal and state indictments, are part of a bid to clear a backlog of unsolved gang homicides. The operation targeted Southside Montebello, a gang rooted in the community for half a century.

Are the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences voters blind or just plain stupid? ("What the Doctors Ordered," Calendar, July 21). Why not nominate "Homicide: Life on the Street" for best drama? It is by far one of the smartest dramas on television, and if you need any proof of this, the season finale that guest-starred Bruno Kirby was television at its absolute best. Granted it looks different (grainy, bleak settings) and the camera angles can make you dizzy, but these are not reasons to be snubbed.

PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION, S.D. - The top federal prosecutor in South Dakota, stepping into the middle of a bitter dispute between the Oglala Lakota Nation and the FBI, has reopened a series of unsolved murder cases that tribal leaders say the FBI has for too long ignored. The homicides - shootings, stabbings and beatings, some stemming from a violent political uprising in the 1970s - have deeply frustrated residents because no arrests were ever made. Many no longer trust the FBI and believe that the bureau, with jurisdiction on federal lands, lost interest in Pine Ridge after two FBI agents died during the unrest here.

The death of a 25-year-old inmate at Santa Clara County Jail has been ruled a homicide, authorities said Monday. Joseph Boos of San Jose died from multiple trauma to the chest, said sheriff's spokesman Serg Palanov. An unresponsive Boos was found under his bed Saturday afternoon. He died at a hospital.

Washington has now recorded the three highest murder rates in the history of American big cities. A new bogus study on the District of Columbia's gun law, praised by The Times ("Facts Don't Kill People," editorial, Dec. 9), stopped with 1987. Since that time, the Washington homicide rate has risen 110% while rising 25% for big cities generally, and the authors assert the unscientific "article of faith" belief that the rate would have risen still faster without the handgun ban. How? And how did the study's authors demonstrate that the law helped until 1987?

The death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair this weekend was a homicide, Nashville police said Sunday, adding it could be days before they will be able to classify the death of the woman found in the same condominium with a pistol underneath her body. McNair was shot four times -- twice in the chest and twice in the head, according to police. Sahel Kazemi, 20, had a single gunshot wound to the side of her head. Police said they have been told that McNair, who was married, was dating Kazemi.

Denver police are investigating what they believe is the killing of five people whose bodies were found inside a bar that may have been torched to hide the killings, authorities said Wednesday morning. The fire was reported at about 1:50 a.m. Wednesday, just before closing time at Fero's Bar and Grill. When firefighters arrived they found the bodies -- four women, one man - inside. “The business has obviously been set on fire, an arson, I'm guessing, to mask the homicide that occurred inside,” police Commander Ronald Saunier said at a televised briefing at the scene.

The friendship between a Boston Marathon bombing suspect and a man who was slain in 2011 has raised new questions about the unsolved crime. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a shootout with police Thursday, referred to Brendan Mess as his best friend, according to the Boston Globe. Mess was one of three men killed in Waltham, Mass., in 2011 in a brutal attack that authorities said at the time might be drug-related. The three men's throats were slit in Mess' apartment. Police renewed the investigation at the request of victims' relatives who believe Tamerlan, 26, and perhaps his brother, Dzhokhar, played a role in the homicides, the Globe reported.

Police are investigating a shallow grave discovered off a freeway embankment in Downey as a homicide, authorities said Monday. The grave was found about 4:45 p.m. Sunday off the 105 Freeway near Bellflower Boulevard, authorities said. A California Highway Patrol deputy found the grave and notified local police. Downey Police Department homicide detectives have taken over the investigation, authorities said. The identity and description of the remains were not immediately available.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating the circumstances surrounding a body found in Angeles National Forest. Deputies went to San Francisquito Canyon Road, about five miles south of Spunky Canyon Road, about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday after the body was found. Homicide detectives are handling the case, and sheriff's deputies had no immediate update Thursday morning. The area is about 17 miles north of Castaic. The department did not say how the body was discovered.

The night began like many at Boorda Hall, a five-story barracks at Naval Station Great Lakes, the Navy's premier training base on the shore of Lake Michigan in Illinois. Somebody announced a party, and the hard drinking and beer pong began. A 21-year-old Marine lance corporal, so drunk on rum and Mountain Dew she was slurring her words, went to look for Kyle Antonacci, a Navy seaman she'd been dating off and on. Antonacci soon texted his friend Mike Pineda to help him deal with her. Both men had sex with her that night.

CENTENNIAL, Colo.  - About a month before the Aurora movie theater rampage left 12 dead and at least 70 injured in July, James E. Holmes told a psychiatrist he was having homicidal thoughts and she concluded he could pose a danger to the public, according to documents released Thursday. University of Colorado-Denver psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Fenton told a campus police officer about her concerns June 12, the day after she met with Holmes for their only session. Her fears were revealed Thursday when the new judge presiding over the case unsealed a host of search warrants and arrest documents.

Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating the shooting death of a woman in Temple City. The body of a 65-year-old woman was discovered in her home in the 10300 block of Key West Street on Sunday morning, KTLA reported. Authorities would not say Monday whether the woman was a victim of a homicide or a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said there was no sign of forced entry. Neighbors told KTLA the woman's husband died recently and she appeared despondent in recent days.

A man who died in custody last month was asphyxiated while being restrained, the Shasta County coroner ruled. Khamhane Philapandeth, 23, was killed during a struggle with a sheriff's deputy and security guards at the Win-River Casino, pathologist Susan Comfort said in concluding the death was a homicide.

A retired LAPD homicide detective pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the fatal beating of his wife in Hawaii seven years ago, authorities said Monday. Dan DeJarnette, 59, who was arrested at his Big Island home in May, pleaded guilty March 15 to manslaughter while under extreme emotional distress. He faces up to 20 years in prison in connection with the slaying of his wife, 56-year-old Yu DeJarnette, whose body was found in November 2006 on a lava embankment about 20 feet from the couple's home in Ka'u on the southern end of the island.

A retired LAPD homicide detective pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the fatal beating of his wife in Hawaii seven years ago, authorities said Monday. Dan DeJarnette, 59, who was arrested at his Big Island home last May, pleaded guilty March 15 to manslaughter while under extreme emotional distress. He faces up to 20 years in prison in connection with the slaying of his wife, 56-year-old Yu DeJarnette, whose body was found in November 2006 on a lava embankment about 20 feet from the couple's home in Ka'u on the southern end of the island.