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Truck driver charged in death of fiancee's son, 4

ST. AUGUSTINE - A Missouri truck driver was charged with the murder of his fiancee's 4-year-old son, whose body was found in the man's semitrailer truck.

Levi Duke McElroy, 24, of Springfield, Mo., was charged Sunday with the murder and aggravated child abuse of Andrew Lackey, said St. Johns County sheriff's Sgt. Chuck Mulligan.

"There were enough physical injuries for us to determine that it was, in fact, child abuse," Mulligan said.

He said an autopsy would be performed.

Deputies responded to a call of an unresponsive child at a hunting campground in St. Johns County early Sunday and found Andrew's body, Mulligan said. McElroy was with the child when deputies arrived.

McElroy is in the St. Johns County jail. He was denied bail Monday.

DECATUR, Ga. - A longtime suspect in the disappearance of a 19-year-old Emory University student from Miami 10 years ago has been indicted on a charge of murder in the case, DeKalb County authorities said.

District Attorney Jeffrey Brickman said Monday a grand jury indicted Colvin "Butch" Hinton, 43, in the 1994 death of Shannon Melendi.

Melendi disappeared from her job at a softball park March 26, 1994. Authorities said Hinton was working as an umpire at the park that day.

Melendi's car was found the next day.

An FBI agent testified in 1996 that Hinton had a history of abducting women and had lied about his whereabouts at the time Melendi disappeared.

ORLANDO - Five current or former Orlando International Airport workers and another person have been charged with trying to bring what they thought were drugs or guns past security checkpoints and onto planes.

During the sting operation, two of the suspects told confidential informers they had previously smuggled guns or drugs to Puerto Rico, according to arrest affidavits from agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In each case, undercover agents gave the suspects bags of simulated cocaine or marijuana or a box filled with batteries that was supposedly handguns, the Aug. 21 affidavits said. The men took the items to fly them to Puerto Rico in exchange for promises of bribes of as much as $7,000, the affidavits said.

The men were able to get around airport checkpoints because they had access to restricted areas and didn't have to be searched when they passed through, federal officials said.

All six defendants remained held without bail Monday in the Seminole County Jail.