Curses, foiled again

Authorities identified Audrey Shirley, 34, as the woman who stole money and credit cards from homes in Forsyth County and Milton, Ga., by asking to use the bathroom. A victim mentioned the thief first asked to use the phone because her car had broken down. Investigators dialed the number Shirley had called and learned it was her own. (Alpharetta’s Appen Newspapers) After taking $125 from the cash register at a Subway shop in St. Petersburg, Fla., a robber stopped to grab the money in the tip jar. The two employees objected. “They complained,” city police official Mike Puetz said. “He apologized.” Suspect Robert Allen Walker, 47, returned the tip money and fled with register cash but didn’t get far before police nabbed him. (St. Petersburg Times)

Slightest provocation

Indianapolis police arrested Edward Lay, 37, after he shot two women to death and critically injured another man during a rampage provoked by an argument over the volume of a stereo. “They were constantly arguing over there,” neighbor Richard Reeves said, “but I didn’t expect anything like this.” (Indianapolis’s WRTV-TV) Authorities charged Althea Ricketts, 62, with aggravated child abuse after she beat her son with a computer cable because he had a Facebook page but wasn’t supposed to. The arresting officer said Ricketts “stated to me that hitting a child with a cable is a common way of disciplining kids where she comes from.” (Orlando Sentinel)

Avian adventures

Authorities in Volusia County, Fla., said Mark Bausch forced his way into a blind woman’s home, shoved her to the ground and stole a pet bird he had traded to her. Bausch told sheriff’s deputies he missed the bird, a sun conure worth $300, which he swapped for $50 and a computer. Bausch complained the computer ran too slowly. (Orlando’s WKMG-TV) After firefighters in Coral Springs, Fla., freed a parakeet from a car’s grill, the Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital said at least 60 people called asking to take the recovering bird. Thirteen insisted it belongs to them. Center volunteer Anita Youngblood said those claiming ownership will compete to attract the bird’s attention to prove their claim; otherwise, the bird will be put up for adoption. (South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel)

Aviation adventures

After renting a small, twin-engine airplane, Konrad Schmidt, 47, phoned his estranged mother from the cockpit to ask if she’d be home because “I am just going to drop by.” Swiss authorities said Schmidt then crashed into her home at high speed, causing a huge explosion and fireball that killed him but not Rosemary Schmidt, 68, who was in the basement when her son attacked. “They had a lot of heavy issues over a lot of things,” a neighbor said. “They did not have a good relationship.” (Britain’s Daily Mail)

Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.