Unhappy New Year

Press, 4 January 1980, Page 5

Unhappy New Year

NZPA-Reuter New York

America’s police have closed the books on another year of murder, suicide, and mayhem, and have begun to record the first deaths in another year of violence. Less than four hours after ending its most murderous year, New York city began recording its bloodiest New Year’s Day in history. Twelve people were killed. The victims included a 13-year-old girl shot , with a shotgun, a 74-year-old woman strangled, and a pregnant teen-ager shot dead in a dispute over where she should sit at a party. The numerous killings contrasted with New Year’s Day, 1979, when there were no reported homicides. However, 1979 ended with seven murders, raising the unofficial death toll to a record 1733 for the year. Eight of the latest killings; were in Brooklyn, but the! first was in the Bronx at! 3.48 a.m. (local time) when: Luis Lopez, aged 20, was: shot dead. His building su-( perinfendent, Wilfred Feli-; ciano, aged 26. was charged! with homicide. I Two more killings occurred I

! in the Video Five disco in ' Brooklyn after an all-night party. One victim was Lisa Johnson, aged 18, of Brooklyn, who was eight months pregnant. She was shot in the head at 3.45 a.m. in the presence of more than 100 people. Shot there at the same time was Wilfred Cade, aged 22, of Brooklyn. Both were shot during an argument over seats. Further victims, /were Miguel Soto, aged 25, and Annie Torrez, aged 13, both found in a second-floor apartment. The police say both had been blasted several times with a shotgun. The last reported homicide victim of New Year’s Day was Ferene Pucell, aged 74, of Brooklyn. Her body, ai plastic bag over her head, was found by neighbours in her ransacked apartment shortly after 11 p.m. Apparently, she had been killed (during a robbery. Also in New York, a mal(nourished 20-month-old boy I was severely burned when he was put" into a heated; oven in an apparent rite of, exorcism. The authorities! said his mother and grand-] mother were being ques-l

:tioned in the case. Firemen entering the firstfloor apartment in a Harlem housing project reported finding the boy lying on a bed with second-degree and third-degree burns over 90 per cent of his body. His mother and brother were naked, the authorities said. I In Leesburg, Florida, a; mother has been charged! with drowning her three) young daughters in the bath-; tub of the family’s mobile! home. ’ “They’re better off in heaven,” Diane Evers, aged 23, was quoted by the authorities as saying after the New Year’s Day deaths; Neighbours said the young woman had been despondent and had been undergoing psychiatric treatment. ) Mrs Evers was being he'd! without bond <7n ' three! charges of first-degree mur-| der, the Lake County Sher-) iff’s office said. In Sandy, Utah, a mother) and her three children have) died of carbon-monoxide poi-* soning at their suburban! home in a manner gruesome-1 ly similar to the way the) woman’s husband died more, than a year ago. !

Linda. Oler, aged 38, her. sons Chris, aged 12, and Jeff, aged 8, and her. daughter, Tonya, aged 5, died after the mother left her car running in a closed garage and the fumes seeped into the house above. The bodies of Mrs Oler (and Tonya were found in) i one bedroom of the house in j I the Salt Lake City suburb. A (second child’s body was ( found in a bathroom, the third child’s body in a hall. A Christmas tree was up, and there were signs the children had opened Christmas gifts. In San Jose, California, teen-agers shot a couple! dead-because they, wanted to) collect insurance and in-i iheritance money to buy new) ! high-powered cars. the' ! authorities have claimed in a; I criminal complaint. : The complaint, filed in! I San Jose Municipal Court,! jalleges that Clarence Johnny; (Garcia, aged 19, and Todd ! Martin Gjevre, aged 15, had (plotted for nearly two weeks; (to kill Gjevre’s" parents so! (they could purchase three: ! cars and possibly a new! .home. £.