murder

Alleged gamer killer's sorrowful flight home

Thursday and Friday saw the last two days of evidence given by David Heiss, the German man accused of murdering fellow Advance Wars gamer Matthew Pyke in Nottingham, England.

In those last two days of evidence, Heiss was confronted with accusations that Pyke had cowered as his assailant stabbed him 86 times.

Heiss denied suggestions by the prosecution that he had chased Pyke down a corridor.

However, when asked by the prosecutor why he had run after Pyke, Heiss replied: "We had crossed the line that nobody should cross and I was so afraid he would call the police … Read more

Gamer's alleged killer: I was frustrated

David Heiss, the alleged killer of online war gamer Matthew Pyke, told a court Wednesday that he was frustrated at being blocked from Warcentral.com, the Advance Wars online forum run by victim Matthew Pyke and his girlfriend Joanna Witton.

Heiss is accused of flying from his home in Germany to Nottingham in the U.K. and murdering Pyke, who died from 86 stab wounds.

The court heard Tuesday that Pyke had tried to write the killer's name on his computer with his own blood.

Heiss was allegedly obsessed with Witton. In a conversation with another member of Warcentral.… Read more

Dying gamer tried to write killer's name in own blood

Matthew Pyke and his girlfriend, Joanna Witton, of Nottingham, U.K., met David Heiss, from Limburg, Germany, on their Advance Wars online gaming forum.

Heiss now stands accused of murdering Pyke, a computer science student at Nottingham Trent University, after making several surprise trips from Germany to visit Pyke and his girlfriend and allegedly becoming obsessed with Witton.

Jurors were presented on Tuesday with images of Pyke's computer, on the side of which he was said to have written the first three letters of Heiss' name in his own blood as he lay dying from 86 stab wounds to … Read more

Yahoo engineer ID'd in murder-suicide

The man who police say killed five members of his family before turning the gun on himself in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday was identified Tuesday as an engineer at Yahoo, according to an Associated Press report.

Devan Kalathat, who had worked at the Internet giant since 2004 as an analytics engineer, shot his 11-year-old son, Akhil Dev; his 4-year-old daughter, Negha Dev; his brother-in-law, 35-year-old Ashok Appu Poothemkandi; his sister-in-law, 25-year-old Suchitra Sivaraman; and the couple's daughter, 11-month-old Ahana Ashok, according to the report.

Kalathat's wife is the only survivor and remains in critical condition with multiple … Read more

Hell hath no fury like an avatar scorned

A Japanese woman murdered her husband after he suddenly divorced her. Nothing (sadly) strange or funny about that. What is strange is that this was not her real-life husband, but her husband in the MMORPG Maple Story, according to an Associated Press report. What's funny is that she only killed his online avatar, not the actual person.

The 43-year-old woman has been jailed under suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data. She allegedly hacked into her "husband's" account after he divorced her in the game. Apparently she accessed his username and password, logged on, … Read more

Where we're not even gonna talk about Miley Cyrus until she's 18

EPISODE 88

Randall Bennett is out today playing his copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. It's for "work purposes." He promises. Meanwhile, Phil Ryan joins Jeff Bakalar and Wilson G. Tang to talk about the New York Times' interesting GTA IV review. Also, Hans Reiser gets convicted of murder, Free Tibet flags made in China, overweight discrimination, iTunes is 5 years old, and The Dark Knight leaked trailer online. All that and more on this jailbait free edition of the 404.

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Where we're taking candy from strangers, psych!

EPISODE 70

Rachel Thebault from the impeccable Tribeca Treats joins us to help dissect NBC's idiotic fall lineup. Yes, SNL is coming to Thursdays, no joke. Plus, Dwight is spinning out of The Office, and this just in from the future, The Office has been renewed, Psych! Listen up, it's a little cupcake of awesome.

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Iraqi journalist killed at home

Alive in Baghdad is one of the only destinations providing weekly video of life in Baghdad from an Iraqi perspective. The reporting examines current issues facing the country, and also features evergreen material documenting what life in a war-torn country looks like. The program has been profiled in numerous media reports, has garnered numerous awards, and has grown a loyal following.

On Friday, Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi, a special correspondent for Alive in Baghdad was found dead in his home. He was born December 16, 1984 and was discovered by his cousin following a raid on his street by the Iraqi … Read more

The real world of fake wrestling

While I'm sure you have all heard about the tragic murder-suicide in which professional wrestler Chris Benoit slaughtered his wife and son before killing himself, an assortment of strange details surrounding the matter have begun to percolate up through the internet and major news media outlets. The most recent development involves a Wikipedia contributer who posted about the death of Benoit's wife several hours before the crime was discovered. While it appears that this was nothing more than wiki vandalism married to an unfortunate coincidence, it is just one of several which leave me wondering where the real world and fake wrestling come together.

During a June 11th WWE telecast Vince McMahon, the company's CEO, was "murdered" in a fiery limo explosion. A press release was issued announcing his death, and the television franchise geared up for a series of tributes to remember the fallen star. Of course, McMahon was very much alive and several wrestling fans were upset by the manufactured memorials. At the time, Wade Keller at the PWTorch suggested that in order, "to get the Mr. McMahon Death storyline over, script-breaking, character-breaking shows dedicated to Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero after they died are being reenacted, emulated, exploited. That is what is wrong. It's beyond insensitive. It's shameful."