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<p> A Polk County woman accused of killing her 1-year-old son has been found at a Central Florida airport, authorities said.</p><p> Neha Patel was found Friday afternoon in a parking garage at Tampa International Airport, according to deputies. A charge on Patel's credit card at the airport's economy parking garage led authorities to her just before 1:30 p.m. on Friday.</p><p> Earlier Friday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said her son, Isham Patel, died from "blunt force trauma."</p><p> Officials said Neha Patel suffers from postpartum depression and she wasn't taking her medication.</p><p> On Thursday, Patel's husband reported that his wife and son were missing. Authorities said she returned home Friday morning with the baby wrapped in a blanket and told her husband that she had killed him. Deputies said the child appeared to have significant signs of trauma.</p><p> Patel said she was also going to kill herself and left the home. According to a release, she then put the baby down for a nap. Neha told detectives that when the baby woke up from his nap, she put him in the bathtub, filled it half full of water, and left him in there alone.</p><p> When she returned to take him out of the tub, she said he was unconscious. She said she knows CPR, but chose not to do it or to call 911.</p><p> She told detectives she then put clothes on the baby and drove to Ocala, and then to Tampa. She told detectives that she knew the baby was dead during this drive because he was “blue” and “cold” according to a release.</p><p> She told detectives she was going to jump off the roof of the parking garage at the airport but she decided to go back home because there were too many people around.</p><p> She told her husband she drowned the baby and when her husband began calling relatives she became very angry and left because she didn’t want to go to jail, and that instead she was going to kill herself.</p><p> She drove back to Tampa International Airport where she was found by authorities.</p><p> Neha told detectives she has hated her baby since the day he was born, and she blamed him for her “state of mind.”</p><p> Patel is being booked into the Hillsborough County Jail.</p><p> Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.</p>
Published: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:14:27 GMT
<p> Two Brevard County moms are headed for the State Supreme Court in the first custody battle of its kind in Florida.</p><p> Two women in a relationship for 11 years split up—but they had a child together in 2004 after they had been dating for eight years. They had planned to raise their little girl together, which they used one partner’s egg in the other’s womb.</p><p> The woman whose DNA was used sued for custody but based on state law, a Brevard County circuit judge found the woman who delivered the child is the birth mom, and therefore, has parental rights, while the biological mother does not.</p><p> Attorney Robert Segal represents the biological mother, Tina, the woman whose egg was used to conceive the child.</p><p> "They decided to harvest an egg from my client, have it fertilized in vitro-inplanted into the birth mother, who then gave birth to the child," Segal said.</p><p> Tina said she was devastated and appealed.</p><p> "They were very deliberate in bringing this child into the world and she was a very committed parent and she still is, but she is being denied access," Segal said.</p><p> The Court of Appeals agreed with Tina, saying state law has not kept up with the times. It directed the lower court to work out an agreement, but it also asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on the constitutionality of the law, which could take several more months.</p><p> "We are asking for time sharing as much time as she can get with this child,” Segal said.</p><p> Tina said she has kept cards and artwork from her daughter. She said she and her partner tried for years to have the child and when it finally happened it was "a miracle."</p><p> She said they lived as a family until the women broke up in 2006. Afterward, Segal said they continued to share custody and his client even paid child support.</p><p> "December 2007 rolled around and birth mom decided she wasn't interest in having my client be a part of the child's life anymore and she disappeared," Segal said.</p><p> It took several months before the birth mother and child were tracked down in Australia. Local 6 reached out to the other woman's attorney, but they were not available to comment.</p>
Published: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:07:52 GMT
UPDATED DAILY: Here's a look at some of the individuals who have been arrested recently in Central Florida.
Published: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:11:24 GMT
Sometimes Hollywood just doesn't know when to leave well enough alone. With the sequel to "Ghost Rider" roaring into theaters this weekend, here's a look at 25 other sequels nobody asked for.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:48:12 GMT
<p> Thousands of comic book, sci-fi and video game enthusiasts are expected to come to Orange County Convention Center this weekend for MegaCon.</p><p> The exact number is 45,000, which is up 7 percent from last year, according to MegaCon owner Beth Widera.</p><p> People were already lined up for tickets Friday.</p><p> "I've always wanted to go to one of these," said Miguel Mendoza, a first-timer at MegaCon. He said his brother, Juan has been going for years.</p><p> "It's just home basically," Juan said. "It really is."</p><p> Convention-goers say MegaCon is as much about the costumes as it is the vendors. People spend thousands of dollars on costumes.</p><p> Juan said his costume cost around $100 but the costume price can go up to thousands.</p><p> "I am dressed as the female pyramid from Silent Hill video game," Amanda Baker said. She said she spent months putting together her costume with foam board, glue and spray paint.</p><p> Vendors are setting up booths inside to sell comics, T-shirts and sculptures.</p><p> Widera says the convention is getting more and more popular.</p><p> "This is a weekend they can put on a costume and be whoever they want to be," Widera said. "You get to be something that you always worshiped."</p><p> This year, Joseph Morgan from the Vampire Diaries will be at the convention, along with Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.</p><p> The convention also features speed dating.</p>
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:19:20 GMT
<p> 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne kicked off the stock car portion of Daytona Speedweeks on Friday by hitting the beach to drive a little piece of Daytona's famous beach course.</p><p> "This is pretty incredible here, probably one of the coolest things I've got to do," Bayne, 20, said. "This is where it all started, ya know, NASCAR wouldn't be a sport and Daytona wouldn't have a track without being on the beaches."</p><p> The hard-packed surface of Daytona Beach hosted races for more than 50 years, ending when the Speedway was built in 1959.</p><p> Bayne became the youngest Daytona 500 winner and said ever since, he's been on an incredible ride.</p><p> "I wish they'd put together an old school race for us on the beach, but I'll be OK if that will never happen, I'm soaking in this today as much as I can," Bayne said.</p><p> The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 for future racing stars starts Saturday, followed by the Budweiser Shootout. On Sunday, the Daytona 500 qualifier is the main event.</p><p> It all leads up to the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 26.</p>
Published: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:16:46 GMT
<p> Brevard County deputies said two men were arrested after concocting a story about a robbery and kidnapping to get money from their mother.</p><p> Deputies said on Feb. 14, around 4 p.m., they were called out to a store at 3800 Fay Blvd. after the victim said he was forced at gun point to drive to a bank and withdraw cash from an ATM.</p><p> The victim told deputies he was forced to drive to a remote area of Port St. John, where the suspect fled on foot, authorities said.</p><p> Deputies said the robbery never happened and the victim, 20-year-old Steven Pruit made up the story to get money from his mother's bank account.</p><p> Pruit was arrested and charged with giving false information to a law enforcement officer and misuse of the 911 system. Deputies said they also arrested 19-year-old Trevor Stillwell who help Pruit come up with the story. Both Pruit and Stillwell are being held at the Brevard County jail.</p>
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:40:40 GMT
<p> Volusia County deputies say an ex-employee at the Deltona Hills Golf and Country Club torched the clubhouse early Friday morning to get back at them for a recent argument.</p><p> Deputies said they found Rodney Grimes, 31, at his home on East Union Circle about a quarter-mile from the country club. He was sitting in his garage with a gash to his forearm and with a gas can nearby, according to the report.</p><p> Deputies were initially dispatched to the country club at 1:35 a.m. in response to a burglar alarm, then the fire alarm was set off.</p><p> One side of the clubhouse was in flames and a window had been smashed out, according to the report.</p><p> Firefighters at the scene determined that the blaze had been intentionally set.</p><p> Grimes, who was fired from his job at the country club several years ago, was ordered off the golf course earlier this week, according to the report. Grimes said he tried to explain that he was looking for a friend’s lost wallet, but said the owner treated him disrespectfully and told him he had been a poor employee.</p><p> When deputies first asked Grimes how he injured his arm, he said he was cut with a knife by a man during an argument over a debt.</p><p> Grimes later admitted to dousing the clubhouse with gasoline and setting it on fire, deputie said.</p><p> Grimes was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach and booked in shortly before 8 a.m. with $7,500 bond. Grimes faces charges of arson and criminal mischief.</p>
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:29:31 GMT
<p> Attorneys for Zenaida Gonzalez, the woman suing Casey Anthony for defamation, filed a motion asking for Anthony's secret home address for a trial witness subpoena.</p><p> Gonzalez is suing Anthony, 25, for defamation, claiming her life was ruined after Anthony linked her to Caylee Anthony's disappearance in 2008.</p><p> Attorney Matt Morgan said they are also offering Anthony's lawyers the option to agree to accept a trial witness subpoena on her behalf.</p><p> The Orlando Sentinel reports a hearing on Gonzalez's motion for her address is set for March 23.</p><p> Gonzalez's attorneys said Thursday in a meeting called by Judge Lisa Munyon they didn't want to jeopardize Anthony's security by including her address on a subpoena.</p><p> But unless Anthony's attorneys agree to accept it on her behalf, they said they will need to serve her with it at her secret home. Since Anthony is not required to attend civil trial, Gonzalez's team wants to subpoena her to be there and take the stand.</p><p> Munyon set a tentative trial period date of April 9 for the civil lawsuit.</p>
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:29:47 GMT
Whitney Houston's hit songs and albums topped several sales charts in the days following her death on February 11. See what other artists' music shot to the top of the charts after their untimely death.
Published: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:00:51 GMT
As Whitney Houston's family prepares to lay her to rest, take a look back at some of the most memorable celebrity funerals.
Published: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:16:02 GMT
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