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Clarence Darriel Coe, is accused of abducting Shaniya Davis.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

A man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl in Fayetteville, North Carolina, authorities said today. The suspect, Clarence Darriel Coe, is accused of abducting Shaniya Davis, who was last seen inside her family’s mobile home on Tuesday.

Coe, 30, who was arrested early this morning, has a criminal record, said Lt. David Sportsman of the Fayetteville Police Department. He will be arraigned on one count of kidnapping this afternoon at the Cumberland County Detention Center.

Shaniya Davis, 5, was last seen by her mother on Tuesday morning.

“During the course of the investigation, detectives were able to link Coe with taking her,” Sportsman told CNN. “Whether others were involved in it is possible. We are looking at everything and following up on multiple leads.” Sportsman added that the Amber Alert remains in effect and that authorities remain hopeful that Shaniya is alive.

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Shaniya Davis, 5, was last seen by her mother at approximately 5:30 a.m. this morning.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 5-year-old girl who vanished from her mother’s home early this morning, authorities in Fayetteville, N.C. announced today.

Shaniya Davis was last seen by her mother at approximately 5:30am, said Lt. David Sportsman of the Fayetteville Police Department. “I don’t have any information at this point that would indicate any foul play,” Sportsman told CNN. “But we’re not ruling that out and the investigation continues.”

Shaniya lives with her mother in a trailer park that is adjacent to a wooded area and off a main road.

An extensive grid search was conducted throughout the day. “Right now we’re in the process of replacing some of our staffing so we are putting fresh eyes, fresh people out there to go over and make sure we covered every possible area,” Sportsman said.

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Tammy Lewis Engel, the owner of the day care center.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

The owner of an Indiana day care center has been arrested for allegedly using methamphetamine inside the facility, authorities in Evansville said Monday.

The owner, Tammy Lewis Engel, 43, was charged with methamphetamine possession, marijuana possession, and drug paraphernalia possession.

A second suspect, Gene Michael Hoover, 32, was charged with dealing methamphetamine out of the day care center. He was also accused of methamphetamine possession and child neglect.

Gene Michael Hoover was charged with dealing methamphetamine out of the day care center.

According to the Evansville Police Department, patrol officers responded Sunday evening to reports of drug use at Your Day Care, a licensed child care center operating within Engel's home.

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Program Note: Tune in tonight for a special AC360° report on the DC sniper case. 10 p.m. ET

John Allen Muhammad was convicted in an October 2002 sniper-style shooting.

Jeanne Meserve
CNN Homeland Security Correspondent

The hour I spent with John Allen Muhammad was, without a doubt, bizarre.

I had written to Muhammad in prison after his conviction. To my surprise he agreed to a meeting – but without cameras.

His attorney, alerted to the situation by the jail, appeared and tried to stop Muhammad from talking to me. Muhammad not only wouldn't take his advice, he asked the guards to remove the attorney, leaving Muhammad and me alone to talk face-to-face.

Muhammad was in shackles and handcuffs. I was nervous at the outset of our session, but never scared – though perhaps I should have been. At one point Muhammad rose from his chair and started to circle around behind me. The guards outside the room immediately entered and barked at him to sit back down.

Muhammad told me he was not going to die for crimes he did not commit, but beyond that would say nothing about the beltway sniper spree or his relationship with his accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo.

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David Tramell McFarland, 20, is charged with capital murder.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

The Houston Police Department is searching for a man accused of killing three people. The suspect in the triple homicide, David Tramell McFarland, 20, is considered a fugitive, said Homicide Detective Sgt. Eli Sisneros. Authorities believe McFarland has not fled the city.

According to investigators, McFarland, and another suspect, identified as Jonathan Ross Nickerson, 18, shot the victims to death last month during the course of a robbery. Sisneros said the bodies of a 30-year-old man, 26-year-old man, and 16-year-old teenage boy, were discovered by patrol officers on October 24 after getting reports of a suspicious vehicle.

When the officers arrived to investigate, they found a white Dodge truck with its engine running. Sisneros said one victim was lying on the ground next to the truck. The other two victims were inside the vehicle.

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Homer and Jo Ann Staton were reported missing last week.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

A man has been arrested for killing an elderly South Carolina couple who disappeared after leaving a restaurant on Friday, authorities said today. The suspect, Matthew Brandon Fullbright, 29, of Belton, was charged with two counts of murder and armed robbery.

Homer L. Staton and his wife, Jo Ann Staton, were both beaten to death, officials said in a news release. Mr. Staton’s body was found Sunday near a rural road in Greenville County. The body of Mrs. Staton was discovered today in a grassy area in Iva. Both victims died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Investigators believe robbery was the motive behind the slayings. According to the police, Mr. Staton, who bought and sold jewelry and gold, agreed to meet Fullbright for a business transaction in Anderson County Friday night. When Fullbright met the couple that evening, he allegedly robbed and killed them.

Matthew Brandon Fullbright, 29, has been charged with two counts of murder and armed robbery.

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Homer and Jo Ann Staton were reported missing last week.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

The South Carolina man who was found beaten to death days after he and his wife disappeared may have been the victim of a robbery, his friend told CNN.

“I think that more than likely that was the case,” said Phil Gillespie, who knew Homer L. Staton for 30 years. “He would carry a good bit of money on him at times.” Gillespie said Staton, whose bludgeoned body was found near a rural road on Sunday, bought and sold gold and jewelry.

Authorities confirmed Staton’s occupation. “He sold jewelry and gold and silver,” said Lt. Garland Major of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office. “That was his job. He dealt in cash. We are looking at robbery as a possible motive, but there are other motives out there.”

Mr. Staton, 72, and his wife, Jo Ann, 69, were last seen Friday afternoon. In a media release, investigators said the couple, who resided in Taylors, vanished after leaving a local restaurant. Their black 2007 Toyota Corolla was found a day later in Belton. Police said there were blood stains on the interior of the car. They also said Mrs. Staton’s purse was inside the vehicle.

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Homer and JoAnn Staton were reported missing last week.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

The body of an elderly South Carolina man, who was reported missing along with his wife last week, was found in a wooded area near Belton, S.C., authorities said.

Homer L. Staton, 72, of Taylors, South Carolina, died of blunt force trauma to the head, the Anderson County Medical Examiner announced today. Police have classified the case as a homicide investigation. They also continue to search for the victim’s 69-year-old wife, Jo Ann M. Staton. The couple was last seen Friday afternoon in Greenville County.

On Saturday, their 2007 Black Toyota Camry was located in Anderson County. Investigators said there were bloodstains on the interior of the car. Mrs. Staton’s purse was also inside the vehicle.

Mr. Staton’s body was found Sunday, a few miles away from the car in the tree line off a country road, said Lt. Garland Major, Unit Commander for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office. “We don’t know really where the homicide took place,” Lt. Major told CNN. He also said searches of the area, including the use of cadaver dogs, did not yield any new information or evidence.

Investigators are not ruling out any motive at this point. “I don’t want to tie myself down,” Lt. Major said. “We are looking at all possibilities, car jacking, robbery, maybe somebody didn’t like him.”

A missing persons investigation remains in effect for Mrs. Staton, but Lt. Major fears she may have also been the victim of a violent crime.

“We are hoping that she is not, but with the fact of the blood in the car and that we found him dead, that is a distinct possibility that she is deceased, but we are hoping that she is not.”

Anyone with information is being urged to contact the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office at 864-260-4440.

For more crime coverage go to cnn.com/crime.

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Father Robert M. Timchak was charged on Monday with 17 counts of sexual child abuse for allegedly having files of naked, underage boys on his computer.

Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer

A Roman Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has been charged with more than a dozen counts connected to child pornography, authorities said. “I would believe that our community would be distressed upon hearing these allegations,” Pike County District Attorney Raymond J. Tonkin told CNN.

Tonkin said Father Robert M. Timchak surrendered on Monday and is now free on bail. Timchak, who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Scranton in 1992, was charged with 17 counts of sexual abuse of children, one count of criminal use of a communications facility, and one count of tampering with or fabricating evidence.

“There are no allegations at this time related to the actual touching of any children,” Tonkin said. “The allegations at this time are related to the possession of child pornography on his computer.”

The case against Timchak began, authorities said, with an anonymous letter sent to the Diocese of Scranton last December.

The affidavit of probable cause alleges “the letter contained explicit photographs and comments of young males, possibly children, that reportedly had been recovered during a search of the email address 'booker1441.'”

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Gabriel Falcon and Randi Kaye
AC360°

At least one member of the jury that sentenced Cameron Todd Willingham to death in the arson homicides of his three children says she is struggling with the idea that she might have convicted an innocent man.

It has been 17 years since Willingham was convicted in Texas of setting a house fire that killed his children, a crime Willingham vehemently denied right up until his execution in 2004.

Since that time, three investigations have concluded arson was not the likely cause of the 1991 fire, including one that arrived in Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office 88 minutes before the scheduled execution.

Perry replaced four of nine members of the Texas Forensics Sciences Commission in recent weeks, just before the commission was to receive a report from the latest of the three investigations.

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