Midnight Burning: Three murders, three detectives and the remnants of a savage summer
Doyle Hemling was in his bedroom when a car door slammed in the darkness. Hemling lived on Annabelle Avenue, a one-way country road dipping through…
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A Sacramento crime reporter compares notes with Scotland’s top crime novelist
Ian Rankin’s research and hardened realism has universal appeal I first learned of Scotland’s literary shadow weaver while strolling down Edinburgh’s Young Street in 2015. I’d…
What the bones say: Arrest in grisly murder made with luck, determination and a tale beyond the crime tape
The hikers stopped when they saw the skeleton splayed out along the manzanita and scrub brush. It was weather-beaten. A cervical vertebra was missing from…
Corporate cartel logic
Sacramento and Amador among 31 California counties claiming that Big Pharma companies perpetrated an organized criminal conspiracy For Chris, it started with a trip to…
Nowhere to go: Crammed shelters, a seller’s market and financial challenges brew recipe for a domestic violence disaster
On March 10, Sacramento police Detective Michael Severi sat in a courtroom describing a crime scene from last summer, after officers rushed into a house to…
Gunning for the source: ATF’s gun-tracing investigations are solving crimes across California
A Roseville police officer shot in the face by a .45-caliber Glock in October 2013; a 13-year-old gunned down on the streets of Stockton with…
A Sleepless case: How detectives, prosecutors won groundbreaking Ambien double-murder trial
Placer County attorneys spent weeks battling over whether two teenagers were killed by a recklessly dangerous pill-popper or an accidental victim of Ambien-induced parasomnia. The…
The bling ring: Illegal gambling operation tied to ‘rich-as-f***’ gang in Sacramento
For the second time in four years, law enforcement has broken up an illegal gambling operation in California run by Israeli nationals. The latest investigation…
Ghost of a chance: Battle brews over new anti-ghost gun bill at the state Capitol
A former police officer looks to tackle untraceable assault weapons Mike Gipson smiled as he walked through a lamp-studded hallway inside the state Capitol. Not…
The music ends: Rapper Lizk sentenced to 30-years-to-life for simple gun possession
Performer’s situation draws sympathy from the judge handing out the sentence At 25 years old, Deandre Rogers is officially out of strikes. The South Sacramento…
A reluctant victim
Case involves a Ukrainian woman who requested a restraining order against prosecutor and only testified under the threat of arrest By Scott Thomas Anderson and…
Gripping ghost guns: The death trail of weapons that are untraceable, unrestrictable and so far unstoppable
The house is torn down now. Some papers stapled to a hacked-up stump are the only evidence it ever existed. Before getting ripped to pieces,…
Loaded lyrics: Trial of rapper Lizk centers on soundtrack to area gang war
South city performer faces gun charges—again By Scott Thomas Anderson Deandre Rogers doesn’t deny he’s a gang member. But the idea that he was cruising through Sacramento…
Missed warnings: How Sacramento’s domestic violence victims are failed by the system, some losing their lives
As murder-suicides flared, officials searched for more effective way to gauge lethality On May 18, Jarrod Hill was supposed to walk into a Sacramento County…
Terminal father believed county attorneys delayed trial so he would die before he could testify against deputies
Two mentally ill young men, two officer shootings, two different outcomes By Scott Thomas Anderson and Raheem F. Hosseini The night before the civil trial…
Blood on the Tracks: how detectives solved the dark riddle of a train-hopper murder
Josh Alpert once wrote a letter about the death of his twin brother. “I can’t glance in the mirror without seeing him,” Josh confessed. “And…
Shadow of the gun: A vigil, a debate and a new approach drive response to community violence
Ernie Cadena’s little daughter stood in the afternoon heat, wearing a long shirt adorned with a photograph of him smiling at her side. The child…