• Three killed in Winchester hit and run - Authorities are looking for the driver of a pick-up truck suspected in a hit-and-run collision Sunday that killed Andres Sanagustin, 48, his wife, Maribeth, 36, and their 4-year-old son, Angelo. The family was heading north on Warren Rd when their 1999 Chevrolet Malibu was struck head-on by a pick-up truck shortly after 8 p.m.. The driver of the 2007 GMC 2500 truck had crossed over the double yellow lines and struck the car. Sanagustin and his wife were pronounced dead at the scene and their son was taken to Rancho Springs Medical Center and died a short time later. Witnesses said the suspect abandoned his car and fled in another vehicle with another driver.
• Toddler killed by drunk driver - A young girl, less than two years old, was killed and her mother, father and year-old brother seriously injured when suspected drunk driver, Jesse Rolando Astorga, 27, struck the family Sunday afternoon in Rialto. Astorga, has been charged with murder. Astorga was fleeing the scene of a nearby hit-and-run crash when he lost control of his SUV, which jumped the sidewalk and hit the victims. The girl was pronounced dead at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton less than an hour after the accident. Her parents, William Dean Dinoso, 28, and Glenda Brooks, 26, and her brother were hospitalized with broken bones and internal injuries.

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• Dad gets 45 years for molesting kid - Gilbert Simental, 50, of Murrieta, has been sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for molesting a 9-year-old girl and her  10-year-old sister at his daughter’s slumber parties in 2005 and 2006. The judge said there was “little doubt” the 50-year-old would molest again if he is released. At trial, he acknowledged twice molesting the younger girl but denied abusing her sister.
• One dead, 3 injured in drive-by shooting - Police are searching for a maroon-colored van in Long Beach believed to be responsible for the death of one person and injuries of three others others in two separate shootings in Long Beach several miles and about 30 minutes apart. One victim was struck in a leg and the other in the abdomen near 14th St and Linden Ave at about 2 a.m. and later pronounced dead at the hospital. A half hour later, two more people were wounded at 57th St and Live Ave - one in a leg and the other in the gut.

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• 4 people stabbed to death and then house set on fire - Four people including a NASA engineer were beaten and stabbed to death in the engineer’s Mojave Desert home, which was then set afire. The badly burned remains of engineer Joseph Ciganek, a woman and two children were discovered Monday in the ashes of his home in an unincorporated area near Lancaster. The fire had been labeled suspicious, and on Thursday confirmed the four had been killed before the fire was set. The names of the other three victims have not been releases but are said they were relatives of Ciganek’s wife. The woman and the older child, a girl of about 13, were stabbed to death, Ciganek and the other child, a boy of about 10, were beaten and slashed.
• USC student gets time from dropping off baby in dumpster - 23-year-old former USC student, Holly Ashcraft, whose newborn son was found dead in a trash bin was sentenced Thursday to 30 days in jail for child endangerment. Ashcraft was sentenced to five years probation, 695 days already served on electronic monitoring, as well as monthly pregnancy tests and take a child abuse prevention program for a year, and if she gets pregnant, to have prenatal care. The body of the newborn was found on Oct. 10, 2005, by a homeless man. Prosecutors have contended that the baby was born alive. Mark Geragos, her attorney asserted there was no evidence Ashcraft knew she was pregnant or that the baby had been born alive.

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• Metrolink jurors give guilt verdict - Thursday a jury convicted 29-year-old Juan Alvarez of 11 counts of first-degree murder for causing a 2005 commuter train derailment as well as, one count of arson but acquitted him of a count called train wrecking. As many of you recall Alvarez said he was only trying to kill himself when he parked his car on the train tracks and that he was sorry that he was not dead but 11 others were and 180 people injured. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty.
• 8-year-old killed after being hit by car - An unidentified, 8-year-old girl died this morning after she was struck by a car Wednesday while crossing a street in Pomona while visiting relatives. He was listed in critical condition after she was struck and taken to a local hospital. She had taken a younger cousin to a nearby store and was returning when she ran onto Garey Avenue south of Grand Ave at about 6:15pm and was struck by a 1999 Toyota 4Runner. The unidentified driver was a nurse on his way home from work and attempted to stop before he hit the girl. He got out of his car and administered CPR on the girl. The driver has not been cited and speeding is not being considered a facotr, although the investigation is ongoing. The girl was not crossing in a crosswalk, at a corner or at a traffic signal, he said.

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• Three bodies found in Riverside home - Police are investigating the death of two men and one both who were found dead today in a Riverside home. At 7pm Tuesday, police were called when a woman ran out of house screaming. The deputies saw three people, including a boy between 10 and 13 years old. He couldn’t say how the victims died. Investigators were questioning the woman while trying to determine whether a warrant was needed.
• Women plead not guilty in torture of young boy - The three women accused of torturing a 5-year-old boy, have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. A Compton court commissioner accepted the pleas Wednesday in an abuse and torture case against the boy’s mother, 24-year-old Starkeisha Brown, her live-in girlfriend, Krystle Matthews, and a baby sitter. The mother could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted. It is claimed that the women, starved him, burned his genitals with cigarettes and forced him to place his hands on a hot stove.

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• Postal worker killed in Silver Lake collision - A U.S. Postal Service worker, who has not been identified, was killed today when she was thrown from her mail truck and then crushed when it landed on top of her. She was driving in the 2000 block of N. Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake about 11:30 a.m. when her postal truck collided with another vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of a second vehicle was taken to a hospital and treated for unspecified injuries.
• Father and son killed in shooting - A father, Juan Alberto Garcia, 44, and his 12-year-old son Albert Anthony Garcia, are dead after someone opened fire on a crowd at a backyard high school graduation party in LA. Both died the hospital shortly after arrival. A man and a woman  in their 20’s were also struck by the gunfire but are recovering. Police continue to investigate and have not announced any arrests or a motive for the attack.
• Man tried to kidnap 5-year-old from mall - Security cameras revealed that a man, who remains at large, tried to kidnap a 5-year-old girl from a store in the Long Beach Towne Center mall. The man attempted to carry the girl out of a clothing store in the mall at about 7 p.m. on Sunday. The mother saw what was happening and started to scream and the man fled without the girl. No descriptions or names have been released.

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• 12-year-old shot in head - A 12-year-old girl, whose name has not been released, was shot in the head today by a 17-year-old gunman who is now in custody. The young girt underwent surgery at a trauma center today. She remains hospitalized at Riverside County Regional Medical Center, but a condition report was not available. She was shot shortly before 10 Sunday night in the 1500 block of East Jacinto View. The boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, was booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm and is awaiting further investigation.
• Two missing after plane crash in Oceanside - The four-seat Cessna 172 took off Sunday from Montgomery Field in San Diego, flew to Long Beach and was returning when the plane went down about a mile-and-a-half off Oceanside. One man was rescued, but two others are still missing. The crash was reported at 5pm after a boater found a survivor floating in the water. The unidentified man was taken to a hospital with a broken leg. Rescuers were hampered by poor visibility because of thick fog and no obvious wreckage on the ocean’s surface.

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• 16-year-old boy killed in drive-by - Police say Dominique Neal, a 16-year-old boy, was fatally wounded in drive-by shooting at 10:15pm on Thursday at a bus stop in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles. The shooting appeared to be gang-related. Neal died about a half hour later. Police were seeking two men who fled in a vehicle. No description of the suspects or the vehicle was released.
• Man gets 30 years for raping 17 year old girl - Huy Ngoc Nguyen, 38, a longtime activist in Orange County’s Vietnamese-American community, was convicted today of raping a 17-year-old girl in his office and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a camp. He was sentenced Friday to 30 years to life in prison. Friends and others in the community are shocked at the outcome.  Prosecutors showed during the trial that Nguyen had a history of forcing himself on various women. One girl said she would unwillingly leave with Nguyen and he would take her to his uncle’s home and rape her. She said that on one occasion, Nguyen sexually assaulted her friend at church, then took her to a motel and raped her.

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• One killed and 5 injured in house fire - A house fire in Bellflower around 5am this morning killed a 28-year-old woman and sent five other people to the hospital. The fire was knocked down about a half hour later. A 55-year-old woman and 14-year-old girl were taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital with minor burns on their arms and legs. A 17-year-old girl was treated for smoke inhalation and two girls, ages 7 and 9, were taken to be checked for injuries. The relationship of the victims is unknown, but several related families lived in the residence. The cause of the fire appears accidental but is under investigation.
• Woman dies, husband burnt from LA heat - The couple from Oracle, Ariz., was driving Monday in eastern San Bernardino County, when temperatures reached 116 degrees. 90-year-old Virgil Sanders stopped their car, got out and walked away. Authorities don’t know why he did, but 77-year-old Joyce Sanders took off in search of her husband. A passerby Monday evening found them 50 yards from their car at the bottom of a hillside.Joyce Sanders was pronounced dead at the scene and her husband was hospitalized in extremely critical condition with second- and third-degree burns from the sun and lying on the ground.

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• Three men shot, two men critically injured in Pomona shooting - Two men, one age 20 and the other 35, were taken to the hospital in critical condition yesterday after a shooting at 742 William St. at 11 p.m. Tuesday and a third was treated an released. The men were in front of the home when a gunman walked up and opened fire. One victim is a gang member, but it was unclear if the crime was gang-related.
• Toddler drowns in pool - A toddler drowned at 6:40pm on Tuesday after falling into his family’s backyard pool in Glen Avon. Police are stating that the death of 22-month-old Rafael Cortez Jr. appeared to be accidental. When they arrived, they found a neighbor performing CPR on the child. It was not immediately known how long the toddler had been in the pool. Paramedics arrived moments later , but efforts to revive him failed. He was pronounced dead at 7:46 p.m.
• Man sentenced with killing step-mom with cord - Riverside Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings Tuesday sentenced John Richard Michiels, 58, to 25 years to life in prison for strangling his mother, Bernice Cooley- Michiels, 70 at the time, to death with a vacuum cord 13 years ago. The woman disappeared in 1995, but the case wasn’t prosecuted until a decade later when Michiels’ son Jim told deputies he helped his father get rid of his grandmother’s body. Jim Michiels testified his father told him to shoot the dead woman in the face with a shotgun blast to prevent identification before burying her in the desert. The body was never found. Jim Michiels was given immunity from prosecution.

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• Man found dead on hiking trail of apparent drug overdose - A body was found this morning on Las Flores Canyon Road in Malibu. The man appeared to have died from a drug overdose as police fround narcotics on his body. Sheriff’s deputies reported to the scene after receiving a call from a resident about 8:30 a.m. No fould play is suspected. The man, who was between 20 and 35 years old, has not been identified. Howard Marshall, a producer who works from his home in Las Flores Canyon, said he saw the body on a jogging trail along the road, the man had a tattoo on one arm, and he didn’t recognize him to be one of his neighbors.
• One dead and two injured after car plummets 500 feet - One teenage girl is dead and two others when their car plunged down an embankment in the Angeles National Forest. CHP said that on Monday evening, on Glendora Mountain road, a 1996 Toyota Tercel driven by 18-year-old Stephanie Berger lost control on a curve and went over a steep embankment, rolling several times and striking trees on the way down. Police say 18-year-old Mary E. Lange likely was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car. She initially survived the crash and yelled up to a passer-by, who alerted authorities. Lange later died from her injuries. 17-year-old Esther Cota, and Berger were taken to a hospital with major injuries.
• Two boys abducted from LA were found in Mexico - On Sunday, Jose Luis Ortega, shot his wife a dozen times and then abducted his two children. Today, the relatives, whose identities, brought the children across the California-Mexico border and handed them to police. The relatives said Ortega dropped the boys off with them, “said goodbye to (the children) and took off.” The children, Diego Fabian Ortega, 5, and Luis Gonzalo Ortega, 3, were en route to Sunland in the San Fernando Valley to be reunited with their mother, Rocio Ortega. The 22-year-old woman was hospitalized in critical but stable condition and is able to communicate with police by writing. relatives of a man returned the children to police.

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• LAPD search for fugitive who shot wife and ran of with their 2 sons - Police spoke with Jose Luis Ortega, 27, who allegedly shot his wife and kidnapped their 3- and 5-year-old sons, but were unable to find him and the man still remains at large man. Ortegaallegedly shot his wife a dozen times around 10:45 a.m. Sunday when they got into an argument. He fled with the boys in a 1998 black Ford Ranger pickup truck that was found about 11:10 p.m. His wife, who is in her 20s, was able to say who the shooter was, and remains hospitalized in critical condition. Late Sunday night, investigators called Ortega’s cell phone number and he answered, told police his wons were unharmed and hung up.
• Police kill man who beat baby to death - A Turlock man was fatally shot by police as he kicked, punched and stomped a young toddler to death in front of horrified motorists. Investigators are still unclear what the relationship between the 27-year-old suspect and the dead child.  “It’s been a long night of wondering why, not only for the officers and the passers-by who stopped and tried to help out, but for anyone.” The suspect had a child’s car seat in the back of his four-door pickup truck. As witnesses approached they saw the man brutally beating the toddler. Two or three other cars stopped and tried to help. A sheriff’s helicopter responding to emergency calls from the area shot the man after an order to stop beating the child. Paramedics tried to resuscitate the toddler, who was not breathing when they arrived. The boy was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

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