Murder Charges Filed in Alleged Botched Robbery

Police have arrested 18-year-old Rontrey Wilkins, of Norristown, for the Monday night shooting death of 25-year-old Andrew Polen, of West Norriton.

Vereb Responds to Rafael Robb's Release from Prison

State Representative Mike Vereb sent a letter to the PA Board of Probation and Parole objecting to the release of Robb, who admitted killing his wife, Ellen Robb, in 2007.

  State Representative Mike Vereb (R-150) sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole in response to its decision to parole Rafael Robb, who pleaded guilty to the 2007 murder of his wife, Ellen Robb, at the end of January. “There is no reason this professional manipulator and convicted wife and mother killer should serve one day less than the maximum sentence handed down,” Vereb wrote in the letter.  “There is a reason Pennsylvania offers legislation with minimum and maximum sentencing.  If this wife and mother killer is not the epitome of a max sentence, then who is?” Robb plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal negotiated between his attorney and county prosecutors. Robb was sentenced to the …

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Brittany Tressler

3:06 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013

I added the name of Robb's wife to clarify. Thanks for bringing that up.   more ›

[VIDEO] See Videotaped Confession of Saanvi Venna's Accused Killer

Montgomery County District Court released the 23 minute video containing the confession of alleged murderer Raghunandan Yandamuri.

Montgomery County District Court has released the footage of Raghunandan Yandamuri alleged confession to the murders of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna in October.  According to NBC10, Yandamuri claimed both murders were accidental. In the video, he claims that he slit the grandmother's throat accidentally and stuffed a handkerchief in Saanvi's mouth and Wrapped a towel around her head to stop her from crying. Authorities have said the murders were part of a botched ransom scheme in which Yandamuri planned to demand $50,000 from Saanvi's parents for her safe return. Several copies of a ransom note were found at the murder scene. The Montgomery County District Attorney's office is reportedly …

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Accused Venna Killer Lost $15K Gambling

Losses preceded alleged ransom scheme

The man accused of killing a 10-month-old girl and her grandmother in an Upper Merion apartment tower in October had reportedly lost $15,000 gambling at casinos in the week before the crime. The Associated Press reports that 26-year-old Raghunandan Yandamuri told authorities about his gambling losses in a videotaped statement he made following his arrest. The statement was played at his preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning. Authorities have said the murders of Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, were part of a botched ransom scheme in which Yandamuri planned to demand $50,000 from Saanvi's parents for her safe return. Several copies of a ransom note were found at the murder scene. The Montgomery County …

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DA May Seek Death For Accused Venna Killer

Raghunandan Yandamuri remains held without bail at the Montgomery County jail.

The man accused of killing an infant girl and her grandmother in an Upper Merion apartment last month may face the death penalty. Phillyburbs.com reports that the Montgomery County district attorney's office is considering seeking a death sentence for Raghunandan Yandamuri, who allegedly killed 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, on Oct. 22 in a botched ransom plot. Yandamuri remains held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Lower Providence. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 28. Yandamuri has reportedly been assigned as a "mitigation counsel," whose job it would be to defend him against the death penalty. Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kevin …

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Police Renew Search For Killer in 1968 Murder

The body of the victim, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine, was only positively identified earlier this year.

Late on the morning of November 18, 1968, 44 years ago this Sunday, a Pennsylvania State Police trooper patrolling the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Downingtown interchange came upon a man in a seated position along the side of the roadway. The trooper stopped to check on the man's well being. The man, who carried no identification, was dead. He had been stabbed once through the heart. A tattoo on his arm of a helmeted bulldog with the letters "USMC" below it strongly suggested that he'd once been in the Marine Corps, but authorities had no other clues to his identity. He was interred as a John Doe, and four decades passed. On the Doe Network, Pennsylvania Missing Persons [editor's note: links include coroner's photographs that may …

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Saanvi Venna's Body Found

The 10-month-old had been missing since Monday. A family friend has been charged in the murders of the child and her grandmother, who reportedly attacked the would-be kidnapper as he tried to take her granddaughter.

The body of Saanvi Venna, the 10-month-old girl who disappeared from the Marquis Apartments in King of Prussia on Monday following the murder of her grandmother, was found at about 4:30 a.m. Friday in a sauna room inside the apartment complex, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said. Raghunandan Yandamuri, 26, described by Ferman as a friend of the Venna family, has been charged in the murders of Saanvi and Satyavathi Venna. Ferman said Yandamuri told authorities that he intended to kidnap the child and hold her for $50,000 ransom. See this article's photo section to see a copy of the ransom note. "He believed the family was of sufficient means to pay that ransom," Ferman said. As he was leaving the scene of the elder Venna's …

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John

11:01 am on Thursday, November 1, 2012

"Wonder why he wanted 50 K so badly" The guy was an gambling addict. Filed bankcruptcy in 09. Lost $50K in gambling within a year of time. Was married recently to his long time girlfriend who is by the way pregnant now. Had a decent job. i guess he wanted to get the big bucks within a small amount of time to clear his debt. What an Ahole.   more ›

Prosecutor: Teen Brothers Strangled Autumn Pasquale

The brothers, ages 15 and 17, are charged with first-degree murder. They may be tried as adults.

Two teenage brothers lured 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale into their house, strangled her and then dumped her body in a recycling bin, authorities said Tuesday afternoon.  The Clayton, Gloucester County, girl had been missing since about 12:30 p.m. Saturday, when she left home on her white BMX Odyssey bicycle. After a relentless two-day search, her body was found in the bin outside a Clayton home late Monday night.  Authorities on Tuesday arrested the brothers—ages 15 and 17—who live about five blocks from Pasquale's home. During a news conference in Clayton on Tuesday afternoon, Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton declined to release their identities because of their ages.  They each are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to …

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