Crime

Charles Merritt has been sentenced to death. In June, the 62-year-old was found guilty in the killing of his former business partner, Joseph McStay, McStay’s wife, Summer, and the couple’s 3 and 4-year-old sons. Later in June, a jury recommended a death sentence. According to KABC, the sentencing was originally slated for Friday after Merritt

An Indio couple was charged with murder today for the death of their 3-month-old child. Leonardo Daniel Alvarado Fernandez, 33, and Zue Itzayanna Flores Urias, 26, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder after police responded to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital on a report that two parents had brought their dead child into the

With prosecutors planning to re-try the defendants on a second-degree murder charge, sentencing remained on hold today for two men convicted of vehicular manslaughter for a street race that killed an 81-year-old woman seven years ago in Rancho Mirage. Scott Daniel Bahls, 34, of Palm Springs, and Wade Klinton Wheeler, 37, of Rancho Mirage, were

A Los Angeles man accused of attacking and holding his girlfriend against her will in Palm Springs in 2019 was sued by the woman. The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought Thursday against William Lakoff. The allegations include sexual battery, gender violence, false imprisonment, civil rights

El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents halted a human smuggling attempt near Calexico on Wednesday. At 5:29 p.m. Wednesday, Border Patrol agents operating the “Remote Video Surveillance System” monitoring a section of the All American Canal seven miles east of the Calexico West Port of Entry noticed a group of individuals running northbound from the

A 48-year-old La Quinta man is behind bars on suspicion of committing a home burglary last month in Pinyon Pines, the sheriff’s department reported Thursday. David Scott Taylor, who was arrested Thursday in Indio, is the second suspect arrested this week stemming from an investigation into a Dec. 12 daytime break-in at a residence in

Two parents were arrested Thursday in Indio on suspicion of murdering an infant. Leonardo Daniel Fernandez, 33, and Zue Itzayana Flores Urias, 26, were both arrested by the Indio Police Department on Jackson Street at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, according to county jail records. Both are being held on no bail. On Thursday at 4:28 a.m.,

The Palm Springs Police Department has released surveillance photos of three suspects wanted in connection with the weekend armed robbery of the Little Caesars Pizza in Palm Springs. News Channel 3 first reported on this incident Tuesday. At 9:45 p.m. on January 12, PSPD officers responded to the Little Caesars Pizza located at 1717 East

A former Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Sheriff who served in the Coachella Valley was arrested in a prostitution sting operation in Temecula last week. Ron Dye, 72, of Murrieta, was taken into custody on January 9 at 3:38 p.m. near the intersection Jefferson Street and Overland Drive in Temecula. According to county jail

Members of the Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force (CVVCGTF) arrested a pair of teenagers in possession of methamphetamine and stolen handguns in Coachella on Wednesday, according to a news release issued by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. At 2:30 p.m., CVVCGTF members conducted a traffic stop near the intersection of Fourth Street and

An Indio jury has found two men guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 20-year-old man nearly five years ago during a botched drug deal in La Quinta. Jesse Keith Cottom, 21, and Kenneth Michael Wilson, 25, were both charged with murder and attempted robbery, along with a sentence-enhancing allegation of discharging

Two men were arrested early Wednesday morning in connection with an Indio homicide investigation. News Channel 3 first reported on the incident Tuesday afternoon, when the victim’s body was found in the Shadow Hills area of Indio. The incident was ruled a homicide Wednesday, according to a release issued by Indio Police Department Administrative Officer