Police are asking for help finding a 17-year-old Woodland boy who has been missing for more than a month.

Elijah Moore’s mother, Alicia Moore, reported her son as a missing person on Nov. 6, two days after she last saw and heard from him.

Alicia Moore said her son told her on Nov. 4 that he was going to cash a check at California Check Cashing at 115 Main Street after he got out of school at Cesar Chavez Community School, police said.

That was the last time Alicia Moore heard from her son, and it was the last time Elijah was seen.

The same day Alicia Moore reported her son missing, a text message was sent from Elijah’s cell phone to one of his friends, saying that he was on his way to the Bay Area, officers said.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Elijah’s phone has not been used since, and his Facebook has not shown any activity since Nov. 4, according to investigators.

The initial report was treated as a runaway because of the lack of information or evidence to suggest foul play and the fact that Elijah’s phone sent a text that same day, police said.

However, on Nov. 9, the case was reassigned, and detectives began looking into Elijah’s whereabouts, as well as interviewing numerous students, friends, teachers and employees at California Check Cashing.

Several search warrants have shown that Elijah’s cell phone and social media accounts have not been used since his mother reported him missing.

Alicia Moore told investigators that Elijah has never gone more than a day without contacting her.

The Woodland Police Department continues to investigate.

Anyone with information about Elijah’s whereabouts should call the department at 530-661-7850.

A teen charged in the death of a Mercer County teen has been found competent to stand trial.

Trent Easterling is charged with the murder of 17-year-old Tristan Cole.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

Cole was found shot to death in a barn in April. Investigators believe the shooting was the result of an attempted robbery.

A pre-trial date is set for January 10.

Two others charged in connection to the robbery will also appear in court.

The westbound lanes of I-64 were shut down Tuesday morning after a pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit and run collision.

The crash occurred around 12:30 a.m. in the Westbound lanes of I-64 near the 58 milemarker. Police say a man was walking alongside the road and was struck by several vehicles. One of those cars kept going.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

The Transportation Cabinet diverted drivers off the 58 exit onto the US 60/Versailles Road East-West connector. The road reopened at around 8:30 a.m.

Police are still searching for the run driver. The police believe the run vehicle is a Honda Ridgeline or Honda truck based on debris found at the scene.

The vehicle will most likely have heavy front end damage.

The victim has been identified as 42-year-old Sean Michael McCauley, of Louisville.

The westbound lanes of I-64 were shut down Tuesday morning after a pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit and run collision.

The crash occurred around 12:30 a.m. in the Westbound lanes of I-64 near the 58 milemarker. Police say a man was walking along side the road and was struck by several vehicles. One of those cars kept going.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

The Transportation Cabinet diverted drivers off the 58 exit onto the US 60/Versailles Road East-West connector. The road reopened at around 8:30 a.m.

Police are still searching for the run driver. The police believe the run vehicle is a Honda Ridgeline or Honda truck based on debris found at the scene.

The vehicle will most likely have heavy front end damage.

The two men accused in the shooting death of a Lexington toddler have had their cases waived to a grand jury.

It was an emotional morning in court as the family of 2-year-old Nova Gallman listened to a detective sum up the moments that led to the shooting death of the young girl.

Gallman had asked to sleep beside her family’s Christmas tree. Detective Steve McCowan recounted the moments leading up to the shooting.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

McCowan states that Marquis Thurman and Adrian Dunn came to the home off Kenton Street, with guns to buy narcotics. The boyfriend of Nova’s mother, answered the door.  That’s when a physical altercation broke out. Shots were fired and a bullet struck Nova as she slept.

During the testimony, McCowan stated that another gun was taken from the home, a semi-automatic. Only one gun is currently in evidence but the other two are missing.

It’s currently unclear who fired the gun that hit the toddler.

Both men are now only facing one assault charge as the other was upgraded to murder. They’re also facing a robbery charge.

There’s an identity theft scam with a new twist is hitting St. Louis:  packages you never ordered, sent to your home, and stolen from your porch.

You don’t even know it, until you get the bill.

Fox 2’s Andy Banker leaving his house for work a few days ago and there was a big screen TV at the front door shipped to his address, in his name, and billed to a credit account he never opened.

It’s a different “M-O” from what police typically see which involves people following delivery drivers or simply scouring neighborhoods for packages on front porches and stealing them, not knowing what’s inside.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

In this case, the thieves knew what they were getting and when they were getting it.

“The packages were ordered in your name delivered to your home,” said St. Louis Police Detective Carl Dulay.  “Just so someone could take it off that front porch.”

It was Sony 48” flat screen smartTV shipped by online retailer, Montgomery Ward.  A couple of days after the TV arrived, a bill came:  close to $1,150 dollars for the TV plus close to $158 dollars for shipping, for a total of more than $1,300 billed to Andy Banker via an account he never opened.

Police have had similar reports recently in St. Louis and St.  Louis County.

Whoever set up the phony accounts also arranged for someone to take the delivered items before the victims ever knew they were there.

“Without a doubt.  It’s a form of identity theft,” Dular said.  “Identity theft is problem not only here in the St. Louis area, but in other areas. There’s something to gain by this.  If they are successful in picking up 1 out of 4 TV’s during the course of a week, that’s obvious gain for that person.”

It was a $9billion dollar criminal enterprise yearly in the U.S., he said.

Luckily in his case, Andy saw the TV before the thieves did.  He immediately alerted Montgomery Ward.  The company closed the account and had the TV shipped back at no cost to Andy.

Still, it was hardly the end of the matter for Andy or any other victims, police said.  Catching the thieves was not easy, police added.

“It is a very sophisticated process, when someone is sitting behind a laptop or computer at unknown location and they’re enlisting a credit card application in your name … what you need to begin with is looking at your credit reports, ensuring that each entry on your credit reports belongs to you,” Dulay said.

This is a crime, so report to it to police, he stressed.

Victims should also notify the big 3 credit reporting agencies.  If you give them a police report number, they’ll put a “fraud alert” on your report for up to 7 years, letting creditors know you’re a victim of identity theft and that they need to make sure “it’s you” before issuing any more credit cards.

Everyone with credit should monitor their cards and credit reports frequently to help guard against Identity theft, he said.

Unfortunately, during the holiday season, it’s not uncommon to hear about packages disappearing from porches. In Clark County, one family didn’t even have to be home to catch a thief in the act.

While many homeowners may never know who comes to their door during the day, Tony Fogle is just a phone notification away with his Ring Video Doorbell.

Fogle got one of those notifications two weeks ago, when a woman came by his home in Winchester’s Holiday Hills neighborhood.

“Right about here I was talking to someone at work,” He said while showing us the video of the theft.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Through the Ring app, Fogle watched as the woman ran off with his packages. He even yelled through the doorbells microphone as she made a second trip.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Fogle said. “It was almost frightening knowing someone would do that right in the middle of the day.”

While the thief never came back around the corner with the packages, the homeowner did save the video. He posted it to Facebook and passed it along to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

“Within about 20 minutes, we knew who the thief was,” Fogle said.

No one is charged yet, but the gifts were returned.

“We would’ve never known what happened to our packages if we hadn’t had that doorbell,” Fogle said.

Police in Bourbon County are asking for help locating a missing woman.

They say that Tina Johnson was last seen in Paris on December 2.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Family and friends say her car was found Sunday, but no sign of her.

The Paris Police Department shared her photo on their Facebook page and asked anyone who may know Johnson’s whereabouts to call law enforcement.