A 9-year-old Washington state girl taken by her mother last month was killed Friday before her abductors were taken into custody at a Lake Tahoe, Calif., campground, police said.
A standoff with the girl’s mother, Lisa Ann Platz, 31, and the woman’s boyfriend, Ames N. Csucsai, 35, ended about noon when authorities stormed their tent.
The two were taken into custody and hospitalized for what appeared to be self-inflicted knife wounds, authorities said.
Csucsai was undergoing surgery and was listed in critical condition Friday evening, hospital spokeswoman Linda Thompson said. Charges were pending.
Platz was treated for superficial wrist wounds and released. She was booked into the El Dorado County jail for investigation of murder and kidnapping, Owens said Friday evening.
Authorities did not release details of how the little girl, Rebecca Aramburo, was killed.
Rebecca’s stepmother told authorities in Washington that she was dropping the girl off at a relatives’ home in Lakewood, near Tacoma, when Platz jumped out of a truck and snatched the girl away at gunpoint on Aug. 13.
The girl’s father and her stepmother, Jose and Angelina Aramburo, shared legal custody of the girl with Platz.
Edmonds protester convicted: A protester accused of hurling a bottle that nearly blinded a police captain during protests last fall marking the anniversary of the World Trade Organization riots here has been convicted of second-degree assault. A King County Superior Court jury reached the verdict Thursday against Jeremiah Jones of Edmonds. Jones has denied throwing anything and claims police misidentified him. Mochizuki’s protective eye covering was shattered and his right eye injured when he was hit by a flying bottle the night of Nov. 30. More than 140 people were arrested that night during downtown protests on the anniversary of the 1999 WTO riots in Seattle.
Internet scam alleged: The state Attorney General’s Office has sued the operators of a Web site that offers to link job seekers with home-based telecommuting positions at nationally known businesses. The lawsuit filed this week in Kitsap County Superior Court accuses Susan J. Gabel, her Bremerton-based company SJ Gabel and co-owner Claudette Richardson of Stockton, Calif., of violating the state’s consumer-protection act and chain-distribution act. The company advertised a directory of telecommuting positions, some paying as much as $1,000 per week, the lawsuit said. Consumers paid $14.95 to sign up and received a computer disk listing companies, none of which offered any telecommuting positions, according to court papers. Instead, consumers were given instructions on how to earn a $3 commission for each new customer they signed up, the suit said.
Halibut market flounders: The East Coast terrorist attacks have sent cross-continent ripples through the Alaska seafood industry, hurting the halibut fishery in particular. Fishermen and processors say prices at the dock for the flatfish have dropped by 15 percent or more, in part because of transportation delays but also because of reduced demand for halibut in restaurants and supermarkets. Fish packers are still buying fish, but canceled flights and other transportation disruptions since the attacks prompted more freezing of halibut as sales of fresh fish dried up. Fishermen get less money for halibut that goes into freezers. The Alaska halibut season runs from mid-March to mid-November. So far, the fleet has caught 80 percent of the 62 million pounds allowed. Before the attacks, fishermen were getting up to $2.40 a pound for the biggest, most valuable halibut. On Thursday the top price was $2.
WSU enrollment hits high mark: Washington State University is reporting record enrollment of 21,794 at its Pullman campus and three branches. The fall enrollment is a 2.5 percent boost from last year’s 21,248 students. The freshmen class on the Pullman campus is the second-largest in the university’s history and the most diverse ever. Students of color totaled 409, or 15 percent of the class. The freshman class increased to 2,619 from a fall 2000 total of 2,473.
Arsonist on the loose: Investigators believe at least seven fires that burned around Coos Bay this week were started by arsonists. All the fires were started Wednesday or Thursday and were within one mile of each other. One burned one acre of city property Thursday. Most fires were quickly extinguished, but one blaze Thursday came within 15 feet of homes.
From Herald news services
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