Police

An auto-theft ring originating in LaGrange County was broken up by authorities and three St. Joseph County residents have been arrested. An investigation by LaGrange County, Shipshewana Police Department and Michigan State Police led to the arrest of Kyle Miller, 33, of White Pigeon; Joshua Webb, 31, of Constantine and 26-year-old Katie Ann Shephard of Three Rivers. They were arrested …

A young woman who was declared dead at her suburban Detroit home opened her eyes at a funeral home as she was about to embalmed, a lawyer said Monday. “They would have begun draining her blood to be very, very frank about it,” Geoffrey Fieger told WXYZ-TV. The Southfield fire department acknowledged it was involved in a bizarre set of …

A Bronson man was airlifted from the scene of a two-vehicle accident over the weekend in Sherman Township, and died Monday at Bronson Methodist Hospital. Sheriff’s deputies were called around 11:30 Saturday morning to an area on North Centreville Road near Featherstone Road. Upon arrival, they found a 2005 GMC Canyon driven southbound by a 53-year-old Sturgis man had rear-ended …

St. Joseph County’s incumbent sheriff Mark Lillywhite looks as if he’ll be returning to the post for four more years. The Republican candidate, who took office Feb. 1 to finish the 11 months left on Brad Balk’s term, was challenged by Florence Township resident Gordon Evilsizor. Lillywhite, a Three Rivers resident, had more than 80 percent of the vote Tuesday. …

Police in southwestern Michigan said two brothers who were electrocuted when the mast of the sailboat they were moving hit a power line, were in stable condition Sunday at an Indiana hospital.  Emergency personnel were called to the scene after Austin Francis, age 31, of Kalamazoo and Cassopolis, and his brother Lane Francis, age 19, of Cassopolis, were accidentally electrocuted. …

A man who robbed a bank in southwestern Michigan and tried to rob another was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. David Floyd’s sentence last week was enhanced by his previous criminal record. Floyd, who has ties to Michigan City, Indiana, admitted to robbing $11,344 from the former New Buffalo Savings Bank in Three Oaks last September and attempting …

A man was fatally struck by a boat while swimming in a western Michigan lake over the weekend, police said. The man was hit Sunday afternoon on Gull Lake near Kalamazoo. The man was brought to shore for lifesaving measures but was pronounced dead from his injuries at the scene, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office. The boat operator …

A toll road maintenance worker has died after being struck by an SUV in northern Indiana. Ronald Smith, age 61, was in front of his truck about 1:50 p.m. Thursday sweeping debris from the right shoulder of the toll road in St. Joseph County when the SUV sideswiped the truck and hit him, according to state police. The SUV then …

The Three Rivers Police Department has released the name of the pedestrian who was struck and killed in a hit-and-run incident last week in the Three Rivers Meijer parking lot. Investigators said Laura Jacobs, 62, a Meijer employee, died after she was struck by a vehicle around 1 p.m. Thursday in the northeast quadrant of the parking lot. Witnesses told …

A Battle Creek man has been charged in the March death of a woman who police believe was fatally shot in her home before her body was burned along a remote road. Jose Juarez, 26, was arrested Thursday and charged with open murder, mutilation of a dead body and three other counts in the death of Alison Sargent, a 25-year-old …