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Detectives seek tips 45 years after shooting death of Yellow Pages heiress near the Hoover Dam
Arizona detectives are seeking tips from the public more than four decades after a 25-year-old heiress was found shot to death near the Hoover Dam on the border between Nevada and Arizona.
It’s been 45 years since the body of Marion Berry Ouma was found on an embankment near the highway, but no arrests have been made. Ouma inherited $40 million after her grandfather, Yellow Page founder Loren Berry, died, said the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigation Unit, the agency investigating the cold case. The sheriff’s office said Berry was worth $500 million and one of his grandsons pegged the company’s value at almost $1 billion when it was sold.
Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigation Unit
Authorities found Ouma’s body on Jan. 3, 1979. They believed she had been dead for less than 12 hours, said the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. An autopsy revealed that the victim had been shot in the head and abdomen with a .38 caliber weapon, but investigators didn’t know her identity at the time.
More than two years later detectives were notified by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department that a private investigator from Ohio had possibly identified the victim, the sheriff’s office said. The investigator showed a photo to detectives and the similarities were striking.
Detectives contacted Ouma’s mother and stepfather, Elizabeth and Robert Gray, who identified the body. The identity was confirmed later with dental records and fingerprints. CBS News has contacted the Dayton Police Department and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for more information.
Her parents told detectives that Ouma had gotten married in Africa, where she lived for a few years working as a physical education teacher. Authorities didn’t provide clarification on whether the husband was a suspect or if he returned to the United States with Ouma. (Gray is Berry’s daughter and sits on the family foundation’s board.)
Detectives traveled to Las Vegas to conduct interviews and spoke with a bank employee who said Ouma had come into the bank on Nov. 28 and Dec. 13 to withdraw money from her savings account in Ohio. They then went to her home at Sierra Vista Apartments in Las Vegas, where the landlord told detectives she rented an apartment in November 1978 after arriving in a taxi with her belongings. A month later she was asked to vacate the apartment due to nonpayment of rent, the sheriff’s office said.
Detectives described Ouma wearing green sweatpants and a dark blue short-sleeve blouse at the time of her death. She was around 5’5″ and weighed 106 pounds and often wore her hair in a ponytail. Detectives said they are also looking for leads on a 1976-1977 powder blue Chevrolet Blazer or Ford Bronco seen in the area on the evening of the murder.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.