Fort Pierce soldier among 3 killed in Iraq

By Times Wires
Published December 7, 2007

FORT PIERCE

A Fort Pierce man was among three soldiers who died after their vehicle hit an explosive device in Iraq, Army officials said Thursday.

Sgt. Eric Hernandez of Waldwick, N.J., and Pvt. Dewayne White of Country Club Hills, Ill., died Tuesday, and Capt. Adam Snyder of Fort Pierce died Wednesday, the Defense Department said.

All three were assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.

ORMOND BEACH

Bags of body parts discovered in canal

Police say they've found several bags of body parts in a canal north of Daytona Beach.

A fisherman spotted the first bag about 9 a.m. Thursday near the entrance to Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach.

Police later found other bags. Ormond Beach police say they're unsure whether the remains belong to more than one person.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are helping in the investigation.

WEST PALM BEACH

81-year-old guilty in synagogue shooting

A jury convicted an 81-year-old man of murdering his ex-girlfriend's boss in a shooting at a synagogue two years ago after a Rosh Hashana service.

The jury deliberated more than four hours Wednesday before convicting Marc Benayer of first-degree murder in Jonathan Samuels' death. Benayer was listening with a hearing device and shook his head slightly as the word "guilty" was read.

Investigators said Benayer wanted Samuels, 44, and his business partner, Mark Levy, dead because they helped Benayer's ex-girlfriend get a restraining order against him. Samuels was shot as he left Chad Weltman Synagogue near Boca Raton in October 2005. He died in July 2006.

While in jail, Benayer also was charged with trying to hire an undercover Sheriff's Office detective to kill Levy and Benayer's former defense attorney.

LAKELAND

Teenager charged in schoolmate's death

A 14-year-old Lakeland student has been arrested in the stabbing death of a 13-year-old Southwest Middle School student. Tarrod Russell has been charged with murder, police said. The victim has been identified by police as Kristian Marrero-Cassola. The stabbing occurred close to the school about 4 p.m., police said.

Kristian had moved from Cuba with his mother and younger brother about one year ago, said Hector Fyrpi, the manager of the apartment complex where the teen lived. After he was attacked, Kristian made his way back to the apartment building and collapsed. A visitor found Kristian and alerted Fyrpi, who contacted authorities.

Fyrpi said he saw only one stab wound about 11/2 inches wide beneath the boy's rib cage, and it did not appear to be bleeding. Following the directions of a dispatcher, Fyrpi pressed down on the wound with a neighbor's dish towel until authorities arrived. Kristian died en route to a hospital.

A witness said the fight may have been racially charged, police said. The suspect is black, and the victim was Hispanic.

A neighbor said the suspect was also a student at Southwest.

[Last modified December 7, 2007, 00:40:15]