Woman found shot to death inside running SUV in SW Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston police may have a hard time solving a woman's murder. She was gunned down behind the wheel of her SUV, and there are few clues as to what may have happened.

The woman was found dead along Birdwood near Renwick in southwest Houston late Thursday night. She was killed just a couple of blocks away from her apartment complex, and the murder has her friends and neighbors very concerned right now.

Friends are leaving stuffed animals and balloons, building a small roadside memorial in memory of a woman who was shot and left to die.

"She was great," said Kim Ortiz, a friend of the victim. "She was funny, friendly."

Ortiz says the 29-year-old victim was her best friend. Police say the woman was driving her SUV when an unknown person shot her in the head on the 5400 block of Birdwood around 11pm Thursday. Several neighbors woke up to the commotion.

Neighbor Lew Williams said, 'Heard three shots, very loud. It sounded like it was bang... and then bang, bang."

Investigators say the victim wasn't robbed. And they're speculating road rage could have played a part in this murder. The woman's friends just want some answers.

"She was trying to get back on her feet," Ortiz said. "She was bettering herself. She was going to school."

Police believe the victim backed her SUV off the street and onto a field trying to escape the gunman. A neighbor passing by found her dead behind the wheel. Several witnesses told police they saw a black Tahoe speeding from the scene after the shooting.

"I hope that if somebody knows that person or knows what happened, they could say something. Because we're all wondering," Ortiz said. "We all just want to know something. Something needs to be done. Justice needs to happen."

Officials have not yet released the victim's name. Investigators are canvassing the neighborhood and looking for surveillance video.

Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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Houstonians lace up for 'Running of the Bulls'

An ABC13 viewer sent in this photo from the 2012 Running of the Bulls at Reliant Park on Sunday. Send your photos to News@abc13.com! (iWitness Reports)

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Texans may not be in town today but Reliant Park was still busy this morning. Hundreds of people took part in the annual Running of the Bulls 5-K run.

The race began at 8am and benefits the Houston Texans Foundation.

First place finishers in the male and female division each received a pair of tickets and a parking pass to the Texans' game against the Buffalo Bills on November 4.

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HCSO: Burglary suspects arrested after running out of gas

Raymond Paige, 19, Kolby Fleeds, 20, and Kassandra Beltran, 17, were arrested after allegedly kicking in the door and burglarizing two homes on Tuesday.

  CHANNELVIEW, TX (KTRK) -- Three burglary suspects are in custody after deputies say their getaway vehicle ran out of gas.

Kassandra Beltran, 17, Raymond Paige, 19, and Kolby Fleeds, 20, were arrested after allegedly kicking in the door and burglarizing two homes on Tuesday.

According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the first break-in happened around 9am at an apartment complex in the 900 block of Ashland in Channelview. After kicking in the door, the suspects were confronted by a resident inside. Deputies say they managed to grab a television set before fleeing in a red Jeep.

About a half hour later, deputies say the trio kicked in a door at a home in the 800 block of Doncrest. They reportedly told the homeowner to get in the closet as they burglarized the home.

As deputies were taking a statement from the homeowner in the second case, another deputy found the suspects nearby. They had apparently run out of gas.

All three suspects were arrested. It was later discovered that the victim in the second burglary is Beltran's aunt.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Elderly man accused of running cross-state lottery scam

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man living in a southwest Houston retirement home is accused of running a lottery scam against a fellow senior citizen in California.

Robert W. Cornell, 81, is charged with theft from the elderly.

According to court documents, Cornell called his victim -- an elderly woman in Sacramento, California -- in September and gave her a false name. He told her she had won the lottery but she needed to pay taxes on the winnings before the prize could be awarded.

The victim followed her caller's directions and mailed two checks for $5,000 and $3,400 to Robert Cornell at his address on Jason Street in Houston, officials said. The checks were then cashed at a Wells Fargo Bank on S. Gessner.

Investigators said the victim continued getting phone calls asking for more money, but she never received the prize money. She realized she was being scammed and called Sacramento police.

A detective in Sacramento contacted the Houston Police Department for assistance. HPD confirmed that Cornell lived at the address on Jason St. and that the address was a retirement home with locked mail boxes and restricted building access.

Houston police also looked at surveillance footage from the Wells Fargo where the checks were cashed and were able to identify Cornell, records state.

Cornell has not been arrested. It was unclear Friday if the woman in California was his only alleged victim.

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Video shows deputies running errands on your dime

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A 13 Undercover surveillance team has some pictures you'll want to see. After Watergate, it was all about the president's men. Now, it's all about the constable's men and what they did for the boss.

The FBI says the constable used some of his deputies as personal errand boys when they should have been protecting you. What do you think? Does a constable really need a chauffeur?

The last time you saw Lt. Ken Wiener, he was in handcuffs. The guy next to him, he's FBI. But before Wiener found out he was facing decades in prison, he got the chance to meet us.

"Got a lot of questions for you," we told Wiener.

"Well, I don't know if I've got a lot of answers for you," he replied.

He's been constable Abercia's right-hand man for years, and he's not cheap; you pay him $72,000 a year.

"What about all the errands and stuff you had him do for you and your family?" we asked Abercia.

"No, no, y'all are wrong," Abercia said.

"I've got it on video," we replied.

"Well, you may have it on video, but it wasn't me giving him information to do stuff," Abercia said.

But we've got the video. It sure looks like you were paying Ken Wiener an awful lot of money to be an errand boy for the Abercia family.

"You also chauffeur around the constable and his family?" we asked Wiener.

"Not his family, no," he replied.

But here's Wiener picking up the Abercia clan in the constable's county car. He'll drive them to meet the constable for lunch at the Tejas Grill downtown, and he doesn't even get to eat with them.

We know the Abercia family has their own car. It's a Lincoln, because we followed Ken Wiener when he picked up the family car and drove it across town to a vehicle inspection place in Garden Oaks.

"No, never happened," Wiener said.

"You never took his wife's car in for any service?" we asked.

"Never."

"At any station?"

"No Wayne, I didn't. That's all I can say," Wiener said.

The constable announced his retirement days before the FBI put him in chains. See the walker he used to charge at cameramen? Well the constable has a broken foot and he claimed that's why we saw the lieutenant driving him around.

"When I got sick, yeah he did take me places," Abercia said.

"Just because you were sick?" we asked.

"That's right," he said.

Wiener gave us that broken foot story, too. Maybe they didn't realize we've been doing surveillance since last July. You can see the constable walking just fine when Ken picked him and the misses up. Of course, the constable gets to sit in the back.

"We need a top-to-bottom, probably, investigation of everything that's been going on in our office," Harris County Pct. 1 Chief Deputy J.C. Mosier said.

Lt. Wiener has one other problem. During the work day, we watched him leave his county job to be a paid courier for a steel company -- traveling from the south side, then to the north side, then to the bank.

"He takes his own time to do those things, and I don't have anything to do with it. I don't approve extra jobs -- J.C. Mosier does," Abercia said.

"Who approved that?" we asked Wiener.

"Everybody, it's just an extra job," he replied.

"No, who approved the extra job?" we pressed.

"I guess J.C. Mosier had something to do with it. He knows about it," he replied.

"I knew nothing about SSS Steel and what they were doing, what it was. Never knew it was an extra job," Mosier told us.

Wiener says the courier job is done on his lunch hour and after work, but time sheets and our hidden camera video don't help him.

"Well then he's got a problem," Abercia said.

Chief Butler predicted the constable would say just that, and thanks to our hidden camera, you can hear it for yourself.

"Jack would throw Wiener to the wolves?" a deputy can be heard asking Butler on hidden camera.

"Yes," Butler replies.

"And just say he didn't know nothing about it?" the deputy asks.

"He didn't know nothing about it," Butler says, confirming the deputy's statement.

"Knowing (expletive) well he knows?" the deputy asks.

"Yep," Butler says on hidden camera.

Wiener had one last chauffeur job last week. He brought the constable's wife over to FBI headquarters after Abercia was arrested. Wiener had no clue then he was about to get arrested too.

Wiener is now facing federal charges, and Precinct One tells us he's just been fired. He may not be the last casualty of this scandal still unfolding.

On Wednesday, hidden video of the guys some people at Precinct One like to call the constable's cabana boys.

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Runaway reindeer corralled after running around on Gulf Freeway

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There was a strange sight along the Gulf Freeway Wednesday -- two reindeer who look like they belonged at the North Pole, not in southeast Texas. But there was a simple explanation -- they escaped from a trailer owned by one of Santa's helpers.

His name is Joe Moorman, but his occupation is Santa Claus. From the beard to the reindeer -- five tiny ones.

The reindeer getting all the attention however are Comet and Prancer, who might well have gone to that Santa workshop in the sky.

It happened, in all places, during rush hour on the Gulf Freeway when the door to their trailer slid open in traffic. Moorman was behind the wheel.

"Someone pulled up beside us and blew the horn and waving the horn and telling us we had animals loose," Moorman said.

When we asked Moorman how his heart took it at the time, he replied, "Well, my heart didn't do too well."

As his heart sank, something remarkable happened; people stopped traffic, got out of their cars and tried to corral Comet and Prancer.

Cody Casteel saw a man and woman running after them.

"Taking off her high heels, trying to catch them and the guy was behind her and right when we pulled up they started eating and we pulled their leads," said Casteel.

The Webster Police Department was flooded with calls reporting reindeer loose on the freeway.

In one phone call, the caller said, "Sir I am traveling on I-45 north. I am just by Baybrook Mall. There are two loose reindeer on the highway."

The dispatcher replied, "And ... there's two loose reindeer on the highway?"

The caller then told the dispatcher, "Yes sir, I know that sounds funny but they are."

The police chief says they were flooded with calls, and admit they initially thought it was a joke but quickly found out, these reindeer needed help.

It ended in a park and ride lot. The reindeer remarkably were not injured and made their scheduled appearance Wednesday at a school. But it has Santa reflecting on the gift he was given.

"I mean God was with the reindeer and he takes care of fools and things that can't take care of themselves," Moorman said, laughing.

Call this a Christmas miracle? Santa/Joe Norman does. And so do Comet and Prancer.

You can read more about the runaway reindeer in the Bay Area Citizen, of our Houston Community Newspaper partners.

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Hearing for man accused of running over wife, daughter

Tamiro Gillede is charged with injury to a child and aggravated assault of a family member.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The man accused of running over his wife and 10-year-old daughter last week appeared in court Tuesday morning.

Tamiro Gillede is charged with injury to a child and aggravated assault of a family member. Gillede used a translator today during his probable cause hearing. Police say Gillede had an argument with his wife then left their southwest Houston apartment. A short time later Gillede is accused of hitting his wife and daughter with his car, then fleeing the scene on foot. Both the mom and daughter are still hospitalized in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital. Gillede is being held without bond. He is due back in court on June 26. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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