A Berea man who was accused of killing an elderly Ohio woman admits he did it, but prosecutors are not accepting his guilty plea.

Daniel French faces charges of aggravated murder, burglary and robbery. He has pled guilty to charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and aggravated murder.

He is accused of choking and slashing 87-year-old Barbara Howe to death and leaving her body in the trunk of her car. The murder happened in 2012.

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On Wednesday prosecutors in Butler County, Ohio said they will not accept the murder plea.This means French will have to face trial.

In Ohio Law, because French pleaded guilty to a serious charge like robbery, the murder count will now carry the death penalty.

French was on the run for two year before being captured in Rockcastle County.

He told authorities, “I seen Ms. Howe’s ghost and I apologized.”

The opening statements for French’s trial are scheduled for Monday and he faces the death penalty if convicted. Sentencing for the four charges will take place after the trial for aggravated murder.

One person has been arrested for murder after a body was discovered near railroad tracks in South Lexington Wednesday morning.

Police got the call around 2:20 Wednesday morning about an assault with a weapon at Man o’ War and Nichols Park Drive near Walmart. The body was found in a wooded area behind Lowe’s. When officers arrived, they noticed that  the victim’s body appeared to have been tampered with in an effort to conceal his identity.

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This death is being investigated as a homicide. Suspect John Cawood was found near the scene and was taken into custody.

Cawood has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence.

Cawood was taken to the Fayette County Detention Center.

The victim has been identified as James “Doug” Holiness, age 58. The coroner’s office has announced that they are seeking the public’s help in locating his family. If you have any information on the victim please call (859) 455-5700.

Berea Police Officers arrested a 26-year-old man today after an investigation revealed he had sexual contact with a juvenile while the child was left in his care.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

Officials say that John Lunsford of Berea sexually abused the child over a period of several months.

He was charged with four counts of first-degree sodomy and six counts of first-degree sexual abuse, both with the victim under the age of 12.

The Wayne County Sheriff’s office is reporting that a pipe bomb was located on Morris Hill in Monticello, according to a local radio station.

The pipe bomb was discovered by residents in the Morris Hill area on Tuesday.

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After verifying the validity of the threat, Sheriff’s officials contacted the Kentucky State Police Bomb Squad.

The Kentucky State Police Bomb Squad detonated the pipe bomb without incident. Evidence was collected and the investigation is continuing.

Open enrollment for Medicare participants gets underway October 15 and the Better Business Bureau is warning seniors to be cautious if they receive unsolicited calls or door-to-door sales pitches offering supplemental plans and services.

One point of confusion can be the names used by some companies offering plans. An eastern Kentucky woman recently told BBB she received a phone call from a company with the word “Medicare” in its name. She initially thought the call was from the agency. When the caller asked for her Medicare number, she got wary and hung up.

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“Each year BBB hears from Medicare recipients or their family members about phone solicitors or visitors implying they are ‘with Medicare’ offering to go over their current plan benefits,” said BBB President & CEO Jack Frank. “Unsuspecting seniors may be misled into signing up for something they do not understand, or possibly even giving their personal information to an identity thief.”

Guard your Medicare number. Medicare will never contact you for your Medicare number or other personal information. Don’t share that information with anyone who contacts you by phone, email or in person, unless you’ve given them permission in advance.

Beware of high pressure. Be suspicious of anyone who urges you to “act now” for the best deal. There are no “early bird discounts” or “limited time offers”. Any offer that sounds too good to be true probably is.

Be skeptical of free gifts or medical services. A common ploy of identity thieves calling you is to say they can send you your free gift right away—they just need your Medicare number to confirm. Say no and hang up. Medicare does not call or visit offering products or services.

Check out providers with BBB and Medicare.  There are legitimate Medicare insurance providers out there…but Medicare reminds you that plans are NOT allowed to call you or come to your home without an invitation from you.  Contact BBB at (859) 259-1008 or 1-800-866-6668 or at www.bbb.org/lexington.  Contact Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227) or at www.medicare.gov.

Louisville Homicide Detectives are investigating after a body was discovered inside of a box in a wooded area, WAVE 3 News reports.

The box was found in the 3000 block of South Park Road around 5 p.m. Tuesday. The gender of the body, age and manner of death have not been released.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

The death is being investigated but so far, detectives have not confirmed foul play. Anyone with information is asked to call the anonymous police tip line at (502) 574-LMPD.

A reward is now being offered for information in the case of a missing Russell County woman.

A $5000 reward is being offered for information leading to the whereabouts of Whitney Copley.

Copley was last seen September 30. She is described as a white female, 5’7, 110 pounds. She has hazel eyes and brown hair, a scar on the left side of her abdomen and tattoos of 3 stars and an infinity sign on her wrists, bows tattooed on her legs and a dragon fly tattooed on her lower back.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Teresa Meyer, Copley’s half-sister, said the last time anyone heard from Whitney was when she messaged Meyer’s brother-in-law saying, ‘hey.’

Meyer said that Whitney never responded after that.

Family members say that they have talked to neighbors and local law enforcement, but no leads have come forward yet.  They are hoping a reward will be a catalyst for information.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Kentucky State Police at 1-800-222-5555.

Police in Skamina County Washington are looking for help finding a missing man from Kentucky.

The vehicle associated with this man was located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, according to the police.

Austin Oldfield,39, is originally from Louisville. The last contact anyone has had with him was a text message he sent his girlfriend on September 17.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Oldfield was planning to spend two weeks camping in southwest Washington.

Deputies have searched the area but no sign of Oldfield.

Search teams are planning on doing a more widespread search Wednesday morning.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Oldfield should contact the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office at (509) 427-9490.

The search for a person of interest in the murder of Danny J. Poore ended Tuesday when Jesse W. Brown, 25 of Monticello, voluntarily met with detectives of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials say that Jesse W. Brown was then charged with the murder of Danny J. Poore. Poore was found shot to death in a rental cabin at Pulaski County Park on October 11.

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The remaining persons of interest are Carah Whitney Bell of Somerset and Rexal K. Brown of Monticello.

Bell and Rexal Brown have not yet been located.

Jesse W. Brown is being lodged in the Pulaski County Detention Center. Bond has not yet been set.

The investigation continues.

Police have a better idea of who was involved in trying to run down an off-duty Lexington police officer last month at the North Broadway Speedway.

The gas station has resorted to paying off-duty officers to help protect their merchandise.

“That Speedway experiences a ton of thefts.  People come from all over this neighborhood and go up there and steal anything that’s not nailed down it seems like,” said Detective Mark Thomas with the Lexington Police Department.

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Even with the police presence, shoplifting is still a problem.

One man on September 11 stole a couple cartons of cigarettes.

“This guy goes inside, asks for a couple cartons of cigarettes, they put them on the counter and just before he’s about to pay for them, he grabs them and takes off running out the door,” said Thomas.

The officer was chasing the suspect but when he ran down 7^th and turned on to Dakota a car started coming toward him.

“He’s looking for the suspect to see if they can see him between houses, if he’s running on Dakota St and as he does that all the sudden he hears a guy yell ‘go go go go!’” Thomas tells LEX 18’s Kristen Pflum.

It was an older model Nissan Sentra, red.

The officer gets to the side of the car and it clips him.

“I saw a policeman with dirt on his pants and limping he was right over there by the stop sign and walking, looked kind of dazed,” said Clarice Wiggins, a witness to the crime.

The officer ended up only having a broken foot but surgery is in his future and his career may be over.

Police are now searching for the suspect and driver of the Nissan.

If you have any information about this case, Crime Stoppers is offering a thousand dollar cash reward. Just leave your tip at (859) 253-2020.