Toddler was still breathing when grandmother put her in oven: coroner’s report

Royalty Marie Floyd was still alive when her grandmother put the 20-month-old toddler inside an oven at her Mississippi home, a coroner's report said earlier this week. (GoFundMe)

A 20-month-old girl found stabbed and burned inside an oven at a home in Mississippi last week was still alive when her grandmother allegedly stuck her inside, an autopsy report revealed.

Royalty Marie Floyd died “from sharp stab wounds and inhaling the heated air in the oven,” according to the coroner’s report, obtained by the Bolivar Commercial.

The grandmother, identified as 48-year-old Carolyn Jones, was charged Oct. 16 with first-degree murder and held on $500,000 bond, the paper reported. At the time it was unclear to investigators what led to the toddler’s death.

Carolyn Jones, 48, was charged in the murder of her granddaughter.  (Bolivar County Sheriff's Office)

Bolivar County Sheriff Kelvin Williams said Jones's brother found the body the night of Oct. 15 and called police in Shaw, a town of about 2,000 people approximately 100 miles northwest of Jackson.

This is one of the most horrible things I've seen in doing law enforcement,” Williams, with 26 years on the job, said of the killing. “The hardest part ... is to see a child victim."

The child was found inside a beige frame house in the north end of Shaw. Police tape still surrounded part of the house the morning of Oct. 16, while a stroller, high chair and trash barrel of toys, including a scooter, sat near the curb outside the house. Williams said the toys had belonged to the child.

Officials said Floyd lived at the home with Jones, while the toddler’s mother, Veronica Shant’e Jones, lived elsewhere.

"My heart has been ripped from my chest."

— Veronica Jones, toddler's mother

“Royalty Marie Floyd was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Veronica Jones wrote on Facebook, according to the New York Post. “She’s my one and only daughter. My first love. The hardest thing that I ever had to go through in my life. My heart has been ripped from my chest.”

A GoFundMe page for the toddler’s funeral costs has raised nearly $4,500 as of early Friday.

Fox News.

Ford to test self-driving cars in Washington DC

Self-driving cars are headed to their biggest stage yet: Washington DC.

On Monday, Ford announced a partnership with the city's government to begin testing self-driving cars in early 2019. Ford's self-driving car startup, Argo.AI, has already begun mapping the city. So far, self-driving cars have been tested mainly in suburbs and smaller cities.

Ford officials told CNN Business they were drawn to Washington DC because of its progressive mayor and a young population, which is likely to embrace new technologies such as autonomous vehicles. DC has been one of the earliest cities to embrace other transportation inventions such as dockless e-bikesand scooters.

Ford plans to launch a self-driving ride service in 2021, and Washington DC will be its second launch city after Miami, where Ford is already testing.

The DC government embraced Ford because it promised to operate throughout the entire city, rather than catering to wealthy neighborhoods. Ford also agreed to partner with a workforce training center in an impoverished part of the city to help hire new test drivers to monitor the cars. Ford also said it will train residents for auto technician careers with a local non-profit.

Deputy Mayor Brian Kenner told CNN Business the city isn't concerned about job displacement.

"With new technology, there's always new opportunities for job diversification and job growth. If we're able through this pilot to create a new pipeline for District residents to fill these new jobs, we're happy about that," Kenner said.

But DC will prove a serious challenge for Ford's vehicles. Driving in cities is significantly harder than suburbs or highways. The environment is more complex because of pedestrians, cyclists and scooter riders.

In 2017, Ford's rival GM announced similar plans to test self-driving vehicles in Manhattan, but the program has yet to launch. New York city Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo feuded over the project shortly after it was announced. A spokesman from Cruise, GM's self-driving arm, declined to comment.

The District of Columbia is effectively a city, county and state all in one, which means it faces fewer layers of regulations and potential hurdles ahead of launch.

Kenner said the city was convinced the vehicles would operate safely. Ford's protocol calls for self-driving vehicles to have a test driver behind the wheel, and a colleague in the passenger seat.

Test drivers for self-driving cars came into the spotlight this March when a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. Uber only required a single human in its vehicles, and the driver wasn't watching the road.

The crash raised new concerns about the safety of autonomous vehicles. However, the District of Columbia will not require Ford to report when its vehicles are in crashes.

For residents and tourists eager to ride in a self-driving vehicles, they'll have to be patient. Ford isn't planning to offer any rides before the ride hailing service launches in 2021.

"We're not assuming autonomous vehicles are going to take over or anything," Sherif Marakby, Ford's president of autonomous vehicles said. "We need to understand, where do [autonomous vehicles] fit? Hopefully they'll fit someplace. We believe they will."

CNN.

Teen charged after bullet fired at road sign fatally struck retired Marine sitting on porch, officials say

A teen turned himself in Saturday after allegedly shooting a bullet through a road sign, which went into a wooded area, before fatally striking a retired U.S. Marine who was sitting on his porch in North Carolina earlier this month, authorities said.

Eason Reid Gravley, 17, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Joe Darius Black Jr., 48, a retired veteran of 20 years, Greenwood County deputies told Fox Carolina.

Black suffered a gunshot wound to his upper torso and died at the scene, the report said.

The veteran's wife and children were inside the home at the time of the incident, according to deputies. Black's family had admitted CPR before the arrival of EMS personnel, who continued to treat the victim, deputies said.

Gravley is charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a handgun in connection with Black's fatal shooting, South Carolina's WYFF-TV reported.

The suspect has been released on $25,000 bond from the Greenwood County Detention Center, Fox Carolina reported.

Gravley was placed under a curfew, and a judge ordered all firearms to be removed from his home, according to WYFF-TV.

It was not immediately clear why the teen was shooting at the road sign.

Fox News.

Omawumi Reveals What She Has Learnt From ‘marriage And Motherhood’

Nigeria singer and vocalist Omawumi tied the knot secretly earlier this year, January 2018. She got married traditionally to her long time lover, Tosin Yusuf who is the father of her first daughter Kamilah Yusuf.

Recently she was in a chat with Showtime and she revealed was she has learnt so far from marriage and motherhood.

In a chat with Showtime, Omawumi revealed that marriage and motherhood has taught her things she never knew before, “Marriage and motherhood has taught me to be extremely patient; it has taught me to always understand that everybody has their side to a story. It has also taught me to be very understanding towards everybody. To an extent, it still boils down to patience; you don’t put too much load on people or have too much expectation of people. Always be ready to receive people with love and forgiveness. I think the best way to explain it is that being a parent has made me understand my relationship with God”.

After she as shared what marriage and motherhood has taught her, Omawumi was asked if both has impacted her music career and she said “Yes of course. It has really helped and influenced or rather shaped my music and the way I put music out right now. Of course, one has to be extra careful; because you don’t want to pass the wrong message. Motherhood has been a blessing to my music; it has been a blessing to me. It has been a blessing to everything surrounding me”.

Nairaland.com

New Jersey man dies after contracting brain-eating parasite

A New Jersey man died after suffering from complications of a brain-eating parasite he may have contracted after visiting a Texas resort, his family said last week.

Fabrizio Stabile, 29, of Ventnor, had been in the pool at BSR Cable Park in Waco, Texas, according to NJ.com.

The Waco Tribune-Herald reports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is testing BSR Cable Park's Surf Resort for Naegleria fowleri, a rare but highly deadly ameba colloquially known as a "brain-eating amoeba."

Stabile returned to New Jersey and began suffering from a headache on Sept. 16, according to the family’s GoFundMe page. Stabile tried to sleep it off, but the ailment wouldn’t go away. He attempted to sleep again, but woke up later speaking incoherently and couldn’t get out of bed, his family said.

He died five days later and tested positive for Naegleria fowleri the day before his death, his family said. Multiple test results for other bacteria and viruses had been negative or inconclusive.

“By the time Fabrizio was diagnosed, it was too late to administer the drug that had previously been provided to three of the only five known survivors in North America,” the GoFundMe page said. “Even so, this drug is not easily accessible.”

Naegleria fowleri is known as the “brain-eating amoeba” and is usually found in warm fresh water. The disease causes “primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which destroys brain tissue and causes swelling and death," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Stabile was remembered as an avid outdoors lover who loved to surf and snowboard.

BSR Cable Park owner Stuart E. Parsons Jr. said it will continue to comply with requests related to the investigation of Fabrizio Stabile's death.

Fox News.

Mexican telenovela star arrested for allegedly shoplifting at Texas store

Danielle Stefani Arellano, the star of a Mexican telenovela, was arrested Friday for allegedly stealing from a Texas designer store.

Arellano, who also goes by the name Daniela Castro, stole between $100 and $750 worth of items from a Saks OFF 5th store in San Antonio, police said. She was charged with theft, according to KSAT-TV.

The 52-year-old star of “Me Declaro Culpable” (which translates to "I Plead Guilty") was caught taking clothes off the hanger and shoving it into her purse, according to KSAT-TV. The loss prevention officer who caught Arellano said he saw the actress paying for some items at a register, but she made no attempt to pay for the things she allegedly stole.

Arellano was confronted in the parking lot and escorted back to the loss prevention office where police later placed her under arrest, the station reported.

Three pairs of pants, wovens, a sweater, a skirt and sportswear were recovered from Arellano, KSAT-TV reported, citing a police report.

Fox News.