No OnStar Signal for Missing Woman’s Vehicle

From The Charlotte Observer

By Meghan Cooke

Police are still searching for a Charlotte woman who has been missing since Sunday.

Janet Elizabeth Simpson, 56, was last seen leaving the Liberty East Restaurant on East Independence Boulevard at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

Janet Elizabeth Simpson was last seen leaving the Liberty East restaurant on East Independence Boulevard around 10:30 a.m. Dec. 5.

Police say they’ve been searching for Simpson’s gold 2004 GMC Envoy, which is equipped with OnStar, a navigation and communication system that can provide a vehicle’s exact location.

But police say they can’t find the SUV’s signal, which could mean its OnStar system is malfunctioning or the vehicle might be parked in a parking garage or some other area that is blocking its signal.

Myra Pendry, a Liberty East waitress, told the Observer that she saw Simpson, her former classmate, on Sunday morning when she came for breakfast at the restaurant, where she is a regular.

Relatives said Simpson, a mortgage broker, did not come home Sunday night and didn’t arrive at work Monday at a Bank of Granite branch in Charlotte.

Friends and family have called Simpson’s home and her cell phone and left messages, said Mike Stephens, Simpson’s ex-husband who has remained close friends with Simpson.

Now her cell phone’s inbox is full, and they still haven’t heard from her, he said Wednesday.

Stephens said his ex-wife had been seeing a man in Durham who said he spoke to her Sunday as she was leaving the restaurant. She told the man in Durham she had a few errands to run and she’d call him later, Stephens said. She never called.

“We’re just hoping for this best at this point,” Stephens said.

Stephens said Simpson has been going through a stressful period following the death two weeks ago of her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

“I’d love nothing more than to find her stressed out in a hotel,” he said.

But Stephens said she’s never left for days without telling anyone.

“That’s the thing that really scares you,” he said.

Police say Simpson is 5-feet-3 and 130 pounds and has shoulder-length sandy blond hair. She drives a GMC Envoy with an N.C. tag, SXM-1510.

Police ask anyone with information to call 704-336-2311.

Lancaster, SC Police Chief to Retire

From The Rock Hill Herald

By Kimberly Dick

Lancaster City Police Chief Hugh White is retiring.

He’s served as the chief for Lancaster city’s department for 11 years, said city administrator Helen Sowell.

“We wish him well,” she said. “We’re sad he’s moving on.”

Sowell said White has considered retiring before, but city officials were able to talk him into continuing in his role as chief. He has worked for the city for 28 years.

White’s retirement is effective Jan. 7, Sowell said.

Rock Hill, SC Police: Man Made False Report After Car Deal Went Sour

From The Rock Hill Herald

By Kimberly Dick

A Rock Hill man falsely reported being robbed at knifepoint of $1,600 at an apartment complex, police say. Instead, he gave the money to someone he thought was negotiating a car deal for him.

The 22-year-old man called police Tuesday around 6 p.m. to report being robbed by an armed man, according to a Rock Hill police report.

After police warned him the penalties for making a false report, he admitted he wasn’t robbed; rather he met another man on Riverview Road about buying a car.

The other man, Elax Farella, 22, was charged with breach of trust as a result of this investigation.

The victim met Farella about buying a car from someone else. That person was supposedly asking $2,000, but the victim only had $1,600, the report states.

They drove together to Paces River Avenue, and the man gave Farella the money to negotiate the deal because the seller “didn’t want strangers in his house,” the report states. The victim told police he trusted Farella.

About 10 minutes later, Farella left the apartment quickly, jumped on his moped and drove off with the $1,600.

Police found Farella at his house, where he admitted to having the victim’s money stuffed in his couch. Police arrested him, and the money was returned to the victim.

Man Charged With Shooting Rock Hill, SC Teen In Head

From The Rock Hill, SC Herald

By Kimberly Dick

Police have charged a Rock Hill man in connection with a robbery and shooting where a teen was shot in the head last month, police say.

Germale Montana Roseborough, 24, of Oconee Avenue was charged with attempted murder, two counts of armed robbery, kidnapping and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

Germale Montana Roseborough, Courtesy of the Rock Hill Police Department.

The victim, 16, told police he and another teen, 15, were held around midnight Nov. 26 on the 1000 block of Oconee Avenue, according to a Rock Hill police report.

Both teens were walking down the street when they were approached by a unknown man who demanded the teens’ possessions, the report states.

They told the man they didn’t have anything and started to walk away. That’s when the robber pulled out a gun and shot the 16-year-old once in head, the report states. Nothing was stolen, arrest warrants say.

The teens ran home, and the victim’s mother took him to the hospital.

Police were called to Piedmont Medical Center early during morning on Nov. 27 after the teen showed up for treatment.

He was shot above his left ear, and police say the injury was non-life threatening.

Roseborough is being held at the Moss Justice Center Wednesday on $100,000 bond.

Video Thought to Show American Soldier Held in Afghanistan

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan – A new video released by the Taliban shows a man believed to be the only known American serviceman held captive in Afghanistan, a group that tracks militant websites said Wednesday.

Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, has been held by the Taliban since June 30, 2009, when he disappeared in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan. It was not immediately clear when the video was made.

AP – This image provided by IntelCenter Wednesday Dec. 8, 2010 shows a framegrab from a new video released

The U.S.-based IntelCenter said that along with Berghdal, another man in the video appeared to be the Taliban commander who had once threatened to kill the U.S. soldier. The video, taken in a wooded area, shows Berghdal looking thin in a loose gray top, with bags under his eyes and what appeared to be an abrasion along his left cheekbone.

In July 2009, Taliban commander Mawlavi Sangin’s spokesman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Berghdal would be killed unless the U.S. stops strikes in Ghazni province’s Giro district and Paktika province’s Khoshamand district.

The video, which also shows militant attacks in Afghanistan, was released by Manba al-Jihad, a video production group affiliated with the Taliban. The man believed to be Bergdahl appears only briefly in the video and is not the main focus.

The 24-year-old Bergdahl has appeared in three videos the Taliban released prior to this: on July 18, 2009; Dec. 25, 2009; and April 7.

Separately, two NATO service members died Wednesday following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. The coalition did not disclose their nationalities or details about their deaths. So far this month, 12 members of the NATO coalition have been killed in Afghanistan. At least 671 have died so far this year.

The Afghan Defense Ministry on Wednesday condemned a coalition airstrike that it said mistakenly killed two Afghan soldiers on Tuesday afternoon. The ministry said in a statement that three other Afghan soldiers were wounded in the airstrike in Charkh district of Logar province in eastern Afghanistan.

NATO said it was investigating the incident.

On Tuesday, Afghan soldiers killed a suicide attacker who threatened to blow himself up at an Afghan army base in the Gereshk district of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Defense Ministry said. The ministry did not disclose any other details of the incident.

Also in the south, one child was killed and two men were injured in a homemade bomb explosion in the Shahjoy district of Zabul province, said Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Gastonia, NC Shooting Ruled Self-Defense

From The Charlotte Observer

By Meghan Cooke

A Gastonia man who shot and killed his roommate Friday will not face charges because he was acting in self-defense, police said.

Gastonia police responded to a report of a shooting at 1208 West Mauney Avenue just before 11 p.m. Friday. When officers arrived, they found Eric Patrick Mintz, 43, with a gunshot wound in his upper torso, police said.

Police said the shooting followed an altercation between Mintz and his roommate, Jimmy Elvis Holland, 54, who police identified as the shooter.

Mintz was transported to Gaston Memorial Hospital for treatment but later died.

Police said the case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office, which ruled the shooting as self-defense.