Police

A 25-year-old southwestern Michigan mother has been charged with murder, child abuse and torture in the slaying of her daughter on the girl’s fourth birthday. WOOD-TV reports that Daveeta Lee Walker is expected to be arraigned Thursday. Officers responding March 26 to a 911 call at a Kalamazoo apartment found Kharisma Richardson unresponsive and not breathing. An autopsy showed she …

A man accused of plowing his pickup truck into a group of Michigan bicyclists, killing five, was under the influence of drugs, a prosecutor said Wednesday as he added new charges. Charles Pickett Jr. was already facing second-degree murder charges in the June 7 crash. The additional charges, driving while intoxicated causing death, are significant because they give a glimpse …

A White Pigeon couple was injured after the boat on which they were riding over the weekend in Berrien County exploded. According to MLive Media Group, 63-year-old Kenneth Warren and Barbara Warren, 61, were aboard a 26-foot boat at Eagle Pointe Harbor Marina near the mouth of the St. Joseph River when the engine exploded around 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Kenneth …

A 28-year-old White Pigeon man was charged with a number of offenses after fleeing in his vehicle from police and engaging in a high-speed chase. State police said an attempt to stop the vehicle for speeding and a moving violation was made near the intersection of Blue School and Dickinson roads around 2:50 a.m. Saturday. The driver refused to stop …

Two Niles residents were hospitalized after the motorcycle on which they were riding was struck by a vehicle over the weekend in Flowerfield Township. Sheriff’s department deputies were called around 4:30 p.m. Sunday to M-216 near Creglow Road, where the motorcycle being ridden by Thomas and Vickie Spain, both 52, was struck by a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Jeep was …

The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a breaking-and-entering incident that took place last week in Flowerfield Township. According to a department media release, the incident occurred between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday at a residence in the 50000 block of Carlton Road. The victim told police a number of drawers were searched and an undisclosed quantity of …

Michigan State Police investigators have been asked to look into the theft of material from the St. Joseph County Road Commission. The incident stems from a situation May 22 at the Colon Township garage on M-66, where asphalt used for road patching was loaded onto a flatbed trailer by a Sherman Township man. The man, an Omena Lake resident, was …

Members of the St. Joseph County Animal Control Advisory Board expressed their disappointment Wednesday over this week’s sentencing of two suspects in an animal-cruelty case. Two Mottville residents arrested in January 2015 pled guilty to torture of an animal based on negligence at their Barker Road residence. On Monday, Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman sentenced Jessica Achberger, 40, and Troy Michael-James …

A Three Rivers pastor faces charges of criminal sexual conduct following his arrest Wednesday. Three Rivers police said James Bailey Jr., 66, was charged with three counts each of criminal sexual conduct third degree and CSC fourth degree. The charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred at Three Rivers Bible Church on two separate dates in April and May, according …

A bicyclist who survived being hit by a pickup truck that killed five of her fellow riders in southwestern Michigan says she has no recollection of the crash scene. Sheila Jeske tells WOOD-TV she visited the crash site in Kalamazoo County’s Cooper Township after being discharged from the hospital. She says: “All I can say it was a beautiful place …