Man accused of beating woman to death with bat charged with murder, sought by police

Edgar Gonzalez Zavala, 40, is charged with murder.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston police need your help to find a man accused of beating a woman to death back in July.

Investigators say 42-year-old April Boggs was raped and then beaten to death with a baseball bat. Jewelry, cash, and her car were taken from her home in the 200 block of W. 18th Street. Police responded to a welfare check call after neighbors reported a foul odor emanating from the residence and they found Boggs dead body on the kitchen floor.

Her landlord told police Boggs recently kicked out Edgar Gonzalez Zavala who had been staying with her.

Zavala was arrested in her car for suspicion of DWI in Colorado County, Texas, the same day of the murder on July 29, but officers there didn't know about it. He was released on bond.

A bloody baseball bat and jewelry were found in that car. DNA tests later linked Zavala to the murder.

Zavala, 45, is charged with murder.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of suspect Edgar Zavala is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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Two of 7 cops accused in beating case back on duty

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- They were fired from the police force after disturbing surveillance video came to light, but now two officers involved in the highly controversial arrest of a teenage burglar are back in uniform and back on the department's payroll.

One thing is clear -- their boss, the police chief and the mayor don't want them on the job. But there's nothing they can do about it.

Despite the appeals that got two officers their jobs back, the Houston chief of police says they should no longer be working at HPD.

Officer Guadencio Saucedo is back on the job now with HPD. He was one of the officers fired after the 2010 videotaped beating of 15-year-old burglary suspect Chad Holley.

Officer Lewis Childress kicked Holley as well on that day and was also terminated. But the two got their jobs back through appeals. A civil arbitrator reinstated them, much to the chagrin of the chief.

"To this day, I disagree with the arbiter," said HPD Chief Charles McClelland. "I think I made the right decision."

Despite the reinstatement, both Saucedo and Childress are now working in HPD's property room. The chief insists that is necessary to keep them from ever again having contact with the public.

"I feel like I made the right decision the first time when they were terminated from this organization," Chief McClelland said.

The Houston Police Officers' Union says roughly 60 percent of cases appealed by officers are overturned. That's a higher rate of reversal than Chicago, according to a professor there who looked at the system and found arbitrators overturned its police chief nearly 50 percent of the time.

HPOU President Ray Hunt said, "We believe it's the fairest way for officers to get a fair shake when they've been disciplined."

Hunt notes that in the Holley beating, while firings of Saucedo and Childress were overturned, the appeals of three other officers were denied. What's more, he notes, Saucedo and Childress were never charged criminally by a grand jury.

"The arbitrator didn't believe that and the grand jury didn't believe that," Hunt said. "The grand jury looked at it and chose not to indict them."

In the Holley beating, four other officers were fired. Four were charged with misdemeanor official oppression. One of the officers, Andrew Blomberg, was acquitted. The others await trial.

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Houston woman accused of beating children with broom, extension cord

Diana Torres, 31, is charged with two counts of injury to a child.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston woman is accused of beating two children with household items.

Diana Torres is charged with two counts of injury to a child. Court documents state on September 11 Torres beat one child with an extension cord and another child with a broom. Both children, who are under the age of 15, suffered bodily injuries.

Torres, 31, was taken into custody on the same day. She faces a total bond of $10,000.

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Mother accused of beating daughter at school

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston mother is facing charges after she allegedly beat her 12-year-old daughter at school.

Titania LaShay Simon, 31, has been charged with injury to a child. On April 24, the girl told police that her mother came into a classroom on her school campus on Brisbane Street and struck her with a belt. According to court documents, the girl got away and ran from the classroom to the administrative offices. The girl told police that her mother said the assistant principal "could not save her."

Court documents state that once in the assistant principal's office, Simon allegedly beat the girl's head against a wall and kicked her when she fell to the ground. A teacher and a security guard pulled Simon away from the girl.

No bail has been set in the felony case.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Openings set in trial over videotaped beating

  HOUSTON -- An ex-Houston police officer accused in the videotaped beating of a teen burglary suspect is set to face a jury.

Opening statements in the trial of fired Houston police officer Andrew Blomberg are set for Thursday. He's charged with misdemeanor official oppression and faces up to a year in jail if convicted.

A jury of six plus an alternate was chosen over five days last week as a judge allowed jurors to be individually questioned due to publicity in the case.

Security video from March 2010 appears to show several officers kicking and hitting Chad Holley near a business. Holley, then 15, was later convicted in juvenile court of burglary and put on probation.

Blomberg and three other officers were fired and indicted. He's the first to be tried.

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Jury chosen in trial over videotaped beating

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A jury has been chosen in the Houston trial of an ex-officer accused in the videotaped beating of a teen burglary suspect.

The panel of six jurors plus one alternate selected Friday will decide the fate of fired Houston police officer Andrew Blomberg.

Opening statements in the trial are set for next Thursday. Blomberg is charged with official oppression, a misdemeanor.

Jury selection took five days as a judge allowed jurors to be individually questioned due to publicity in the case.

Security video from March 2010 appears to show several officers kicking and stomping on then-15-year-old Chad Holley near a business. Holley was later convicted in juvenile court of burglary and put on probation.

Blomberg and three other officers were later fired and indicted. He's the first to be tried.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Mom defends fiance accused of beating her son

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A woman's baby is dead and her boyfriend is in jail, accused of killing him. Now, she's telling us what she says happened.

Tiffany Wells is grieving.

"I miss him so much," Wells said.

But she is also angry.

"Y'all need to get your facts together before you start posting (expletive) all over the news," she told us.

After several attempts by Eyewitness News to reach her on Monday, she came home to the west Houston apartment she shared with her 16-month-old son, Casen Wells, and her fiance, Joshua Beall. Casen is now dead, and police believe Beall is responsible.

"I will defend him to the end because I know what kind of person he is and he did not hurt that child," Wells told us.

According to court documents, investigators believe Beall struck the toddler against an unknown blunt object. He told them the boy fell backwards, striking his head on a coffee table and then the floor. He did notice swelling but never sought medical attention. Wells believes Beall's version of the story.

"It was a freak accident," she said.

But prosecutors have a medical expert who says otherwise.

"The injuries that he sustained are not consistent with that statement as found by a pediatric specialist who examined him," Harris County Assistant District Attorney Eric Devlin said.

And there's more. CPS says they terminated parental rights against Wells in 2009 for another child when they say she was found to have physically neglected him. She strongly denies that.

"My rights were never terminated to my son, never. My mother has him. I can see him whenever I want," she told us.

And she fiercely defends her fiance.

"He would not hurt him and I can't believe that everybody is making us seem like monsters. This is awful. Let us mourn the death of our son. Stop this!" she said.

Meanwhile, those hearing about it feel awful for the defenseless child.

"It angers me, really angers me. A horrible thing to happen to a precious baby," said Bonnie Longhorn.

Beall, 28, faces a charge of injury to a child. Now that the boy has died, that charge could now be upgraded. He is in custody at the Harris County Jail. Bond has been set at $150,000.

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Suspect arrested in beating death of hairdresser

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A suspect has been arrested in the beating death of a hairdresser in the Montrose area.

Reginald Eaglin, 53, is charged with murder in the 263rd State District Court. Police say at about 10:30am on January 20, Eaglin stated he and Scott Ellis Childress got into an argument at Childress' salon on Welch when Childress picked up a pipe wrench and attempted to assault him with it. Eaglin told police the two struggled over the weapon and he assaulted Childress with it in self defense.

Childress, 46, suffered head trauma and died at the scene.

Prosecutors say Childress had tried to evict Eaglin which lead to the argument.

Following further investigation, Eaglin was taken into custody and a charge of murder was filed against him.

Eaglin has two prior theft convictions, one in 1991 and one in 1998.

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Four indicted in alleged hate crime beating of black man at bus stop

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- What allegedly happened at a Houston bus stop is now being prosecuted as a hate crime. Four white men are accused of attacking a black man.

Late one night last August, Yondell Johnson was sitting at a bus stop waiting for the bus when he saw four men approach him, throw a few racial epithets around, and attacked.

"It was like I couldn't believe this was happening, and I thought I could be dying especially when they had me on the ground," said Johnson.

On Thursday, Johnson says justice is finally being served because the four suspects -- Charles Cannon, Michael McLaughlin, Brian Kerstetter and Joseph Staggs -- have been indicted on federal hate crime charges, meaning that the motive behind the attack was Johnson's race.

"I knew it still happened, but right here in my own back yard -- not really," said Johnson

The indictment by the federal government is a result of a multi-month investigation involving the FBI, the Houston Police Department and other local authorities. It is significant because it's only the third time the hate crime statute has been used since it passed Congress in 2009.

"The message is not only is this a new tool for law enforcement to use, but the community needs to know the law enforcement people here in Houston are willing to use it," said Stephen Morris with the FBI.

Investigators say three of the men have white supremacist gang tattoos.

The four suspects were arrested at the scene following a 911 call. If convicted, each could face up to 10 years in prison.

All four are already facing charges in Harris County, but for Johnson this day is significant.

"I'm just glad the justice is coming to an end, and justice is finally served," said Johnson.

All four men are charged with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It was passed in October 2009 and it expanded a previous federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The act was the first federal law to extend legal protections to transgender persons.

James Byrd Jr. was the Jasper man who was dragged to his death from a pickup truck in 1998 by three white men. His murder led Texas to pass its own hate crime law in 2001.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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La Marque ISD suspends three students in coach's beating

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We have an update to last week's attack on a Manvel High School coach after baskbetball game.

Coach Greg Devers was punched in the face in a fight after the Manvel boys team played a game at La Marque High School.

La Marque ISD suspended three of students and says the district is deciding punishments. Some non-students involved in the fight were also identified.

Those involved in the fight could face possible criminal charges.

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Suspects in beating death returned to Houston

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two men suspected of murdering a man during a botched drug deal in the days before Christmas are now back in Houston after being caught near the Mexico border.

Joseph Facundo and Tony Escobar were caught last Friday in Laredo. They are charged with killing Russell Lopez, 31, in his home on December 20.

Investigators say the two men, along with Amber Thornton, 22, went to Lopez's home to buy drugs. Police say the two men tied up Lopez, and two of his children, and beat him to death with a hammer.

Thornton was arrested last week, but Facundo and Escobar were able to get as far as the international bridge. Both men are being held without bond.

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Police searching for suspects in fatal beating

 Detectives need help identifying the two suspects pictured above. They are wanted in connection to the fatal beating of a 36-year-old man outside a bar in southwest Houston on April 3.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Detectives are searching for two men who fatally beat a man during a fight in southwest Houston on April 3.

Detectives say 36-year-old Marion Tapia was beaten to death with a baseball bat shortly before midnight in the parking lot of a bar in the 10700 block of West Bellfort. A 39-year-old also was run over by a vehicle and was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital in an unknown condition. Detectives say the victims had gotten into a fight with two men outside the bar when they were attacked. Surveillance video caught the suspects as they entered the business. They fled the scene in a possible black Chevrolet Equinox. Anyone with information regarding their identities is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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