Crime News

Death Penalty Will Be Sought in SouthSide Killing

Prosecutors file notice that they will seek capital punishment for Rene Figueroa, who is accused of killing Yolanda Morales outside Puerto Rican Beneficial Society in December.

  Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty for an Allentown man charged with killing a Bethlehem woman outside of the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society in December. A “notice of aggravating circumstances” was filed in Northampton County Court on Thursday, putting Rene Figueroa’s attorney on notice that the death penalty will be sought if he is convicted of first-degree homicide, said District Attorney John Morganelli. According to Bethlehem police, Figueroa, 32, shot 23-year-old Yolanda Morales to death during a bloody gun battle on E. Third Street that erupted as the club emptied after 2 a.m. on Dec. 2. One of the “aggravating circumstances” detailed in the notice filed Thursday by Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck is the allegation …

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Crime News

Police Seek Witnesses to W. Broad Street Killing

Authorities have released photos of four people who were in the area of Scoobie's Gentleman's Club when Tyree Wimberly was gunned down.

  Law enforcement officials have released surveillance photos of four people who may have witnessed the Saturday morning shooting that killed Tyree Wimberly. Bethlehem police and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office are asking anyone who knows any of the four individuals in the photographs to come forward and name them. Wimberly, 21, of 2341 S. Alice St., Allentown, was shot at 1:30 a.m. Saturday on the 2200 block of W. Broad Street, in front of Scoobie’s, a strip club on the Allentown side of the municipal boundary between the two cities. He died at St. Luke’s University Hospital at 3:40 a.m. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim has determined that the death was a homicide. Detectives with the Bethlehem Police Department and the …

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UPDATE: Upper Merion Baby Still Missing, Grandmother Identified as Murder Victim

Authorities say the child was abducted and her 61-year-old grandmother was murdered.

Multiple news outlets are confirming that Upper Merion and Pennsylvania State Police are still searching for 10-month-old Saavni Venna after she was abducted from the Marquis Apartments in the 200 block of W. Dekalb Pike in King of Prussia sometime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Oct. 22. According to NBC10, police have confirmed that the murder victim found at the scene was Saavni's 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, who was baby-sitting at the time. Police issued an Amber Alert after the father returned home later in the day and realized the child was missing. Police are still searching for the child and are not releasing any additional information about the crime. According to Fox 29, Saavni's father made an emotional plea for help in…

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Ward Pleads 'Guilty But Mentally Ill' in 2011 West Bethlehem Slaying

William J. Ward stabbed and dismembered Trisha Sadler at their Cloverdale Road home in June 2011. He will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole.

Crime News

Ward Pleads 'Guilty But Mentally Ill' in 2011 West Bethlehem Slaying

William J. Ward stabbed and dismembered Trisha Sadler at their Cloverdale Road home in June 2011. He will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole.

  A 46-year-old Bethlehem man has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to first-degree murder in the June 2011 slaying of his girlfriend, whose dismembered body was found by police after a friend reported that the victim had not shown up for work. William J. Ward, who lived with the victim at 1860 Cloverdale Road, Bethlehem, entered the plea today before Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony, according to a news release issued by the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office. Ward was charged in the death of Trisha Sadler, 29, whose body was found on June 17, 2012, in her home. Ward was taken into custody after a five-hour standoff with Bethlehem police. Ward will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, the DA’s office said. Lehigh County …

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Crime News

Homicide Charge Filed Against Michael Lindgren

Lindgren is accused of beating his 77-year-old mother, causing severe head injuries that killed her. Services for Shirley Lindgren planned Saturday morning.

  Criminal homicide charges were filed Monday against Michael Lindgren in the beating death of his 77-year-old mother, Shirley Lindgren, at her home in Bethlehem’s Central Historic District. Lindgren was arraigned on the new charge before District Judge Roy Manwaring by videoconference from Northampton County Prison. Under Pennsylvania law, there is no bail for criminal homicide cases. One of two charges of attempted homicide was dropped. Lindgren is also accused of severely beating his father, John Ralph Lindgren, who like his wife suffered severe head injuries during an attack that took place at their 209 E. Wall St. home. Lindgren, 51, of 516 Hayes St., is also charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault and …

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Crime News

Police Search Homicide Suspect Lindgren's Home

Bethlehem officers seize paperwork, bills, prescription medicines and other items from home of man accused of beating his parents Tuesday.

  “Severe head injuries” are what killed a 77-year-old Bethlehem woman who police say was severely beaten by her son at her Central Historic District home, according to Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim. Grim, who has ruled Shirley Lindgren’s death a homicide, released the results of the autopsy on Thursday. Meanwhile, Bethlehem police searched the home of Michael Lindgren, 51, who has been charged with two counts of attempted homicide and other crimes in the severe beating of both his parents early Tuesday morning. The suspect’s father, John Ralph Lindgren, a retired Lehigh University professor, has been undergoing treatment at St. Luke’s University Hospital for his injuries, which also include head trauma. The Morning Call reported …

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Bethlehem Woman, Allegedly Beaten by Son, Dies

Shirley Lindgren, 77, had been a school board member and volunteered for numerous community groups. Her son, Michael Lindgren, will be charged with homicide, police say.

Crime News

Bethlehem Woman, Allegedly Beaten by Son, Dies

Shirley Lindgren, 77, had been a school board member and volunteered for numerous community groups. Her son, Michael Lindgren, will be charged with homicide, police say.

  A 77-year-old Bethlehem woman who police say was the victim of a vicious beating by her son died earlier today at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill, the Lehigh County Coroner said. Shirley Lindgren, a former Bethlehem Area School Board member and a volunteer who helped start the Bethlehem Special Olympics, was pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m., said Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim, who ruled the death a homicide. An autopsy will be performed on Thursday, Grim said. Lindgren’s son, Michael Lindgren, 51, was charged in the beating that took place shortly after midnight Tuesday at 209 E. Wall St. in the city’s Central Historic District. One of two charges of attempted homicide will be upgraded to homicide, Det. Lt. Mark DiLuzio …

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