Who Killed Carina? Investigators Use Facebook To Crack Cold Case Involving Oklahoma Teen

These are the crime stories making headlines today, November 7, 2016 …

• Investigators have turned to Facebook to track down content that they believe will provide new leads in a five-year-old cold case involving the brutal killing of an Oklahoma woman. The dismembered body of Carina Saunders, 19, was discovered October 13, 2011, inside two duffel bags behind a grocery store in Bethany, Oklahoma. Nine months later, reports started to surface that Saunders’s killing was tied to a human-trafficking ring, and that the killing had been captured on video. Investigators say that Saunders was last seen getting inside a red pick-up truck at the Newcastle Casino on October 8 with a man with tattoo sleeves on both arms. The Facebook accounts of three people believed to have posted incriminating content related to Saunders, drugs, and prostitution have been requested via search warrants. On October 13, 2016, agents for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) announced a $10,000 reward for any information leading to Saunders’s killers. [Buzzfeed News]

• A Brooklyn man peed in a Lyft driver’s car, punched him in the face, and then stole his vehicle, police say. The livery driver had picked up the passenger, who was around 25 years old, along with a group of friends early in the morning on October 25 in Manhattan and drove them to Bushwick, police said. While the driver was en route to the final destination at 65 Roebling Street in Williamsburg, police say the passenger started urinating in the back seat, police said. The driver pulled over and got out of his brand new Toyota Highlander — but the driver exited and punched the him in the face. The passenger managed to get behind the wheel of the SUV and took off. [DNA Info]
• Prosecutors have filed a criminal charge against a former Playboy playmate accused of secretly photographing a 70-year-old naked woman in a gym changing room and posting the image on social media. Dani Mathers, 29, faces one count of invasion of privacy, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office announced in a news release Friday. The incident took place in July at an LA Fitness health club after an image surfaced on Snapchat of Mathers making comments about the woman’s appearance. Mathers, who has issued an apology, faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted, prosecutors said. [ABC 7]

Rex Crooks [Livingston County Sheriff’s Office]

• A 52-year-old New York man was arrested Sunday after allegedly driving drunk to pick up a family member at jail. Police say Rex Crooks showed up at jail to pick up the family member at 6 P.M. Sunday — whoops, the family member wasn’t being released until 6 A.M. Monday — and appeared to be drunk. Crooks allegedly blew a 0.31 on a breathalyzer — nearly four times the legal limit — and was charged with aggravated DWI. Crooks was also cited for parking in a handicapped spot, according to the Livingston County News. It was actually Crooks’s second aggravated DWI charge of October. [Fox News]
• A Michigan man who suspected neighborhood children of destroying his Donald Trump lawn signs was arrested on seven felony weapons counts Saturday night after he held a group of kids at gunpoint, police say. Michael Kubek, 56, told police that a group of kids, aged 12 to 14, had destroyed his Trump campaign signs and were running away from his residence in a Detroit suburb. During police questioning, the children said Kubek “pulled out a pistol and was pointing it at them,” before ordering them to sit on the ground. Kubek admitted to pointing a 9mm pistol at the children, but said he only used his unloaded weapon to scare them. Police seized his gun. [The Smoking Gun/ClickOnDetroit]

• Gary Ridgway [Wikimedia Commons]

  Rapists, convicted felons, and even serial killers including Gary Ridgway will be known as “students” and not “offenders” under new state guidelines, according to Washington State Department of Corrections officials.  “The term ‘offender’ does have a negative connotation and significantly impacts a broad group of people and communities,” Acting WA DOC Secretary Dick Morgan wrote in an internal department memo, obtained by KIRO-TV. “Times change, and so does our language.” Other experts say they do not believe that changing terminology will have a positive impact. [Palm Beach Post]

Heyward Hilton [Melbourne Police Department]

• A Florida man was booked into jail over the weekend after Melbourne police found 30 bags of heroin in a stolen car he was driving. Heyward Hilton, 18, was charged with possession of heroin with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia, fleeing to elude, possession of a felony controlled substance while in control of a motor vehicle, and having no driver’s license. Melbourne police arrested Heyward after spotting him in a stolen Buick that matched the description issued in an earlier alert at around 11 P.M. on Friday. [Florida Today]
• A St. Louis mother is demanding answers after a horrifying photo surfaced that appears to depict an officer giving a “thumbs up” sign and smiling over her son’s dead body. On August 8, 2016, Kim Staton’s son, 28-year-old Omar Rahman, was found dead in a home in Pine Lawn, and the Medical Examiner later ruled the death an accidental drug overdose. But a few weeks after Rahman’s death, a photo dated August 8 emerged. The KMOV reporter who has been investigating the case chose to blur the body in the photo as well as the face of the North County Cooperative officer, since no wrongdoing has been determined. Staton’s attorney calls the photo “horrifying” and says that the family wants a complete investigation into the incident. [WREG]
  Main photo: Carina Saunders KFOR-TV/Facebook (screenshot)