“Heartbreak-related depression,” Jackson/Tequila/Tyson news, a spanking study, & crazy crimes
Here’s a rundown of my first full week back on the cases:
Celebrity news:
The daughter of Billy Joel, an aspiring musician herself, is speaking out about her December overdose of homeopathic pills. She says it was brought on by a breakup and “heartbreak-related depression.” Now, I don’t know that we need to add “heartbreak-related depression” to the DSM (diagnostic manual of mental disorders), but I can confirm from clinical and first-hand experience that the grief associated with breakups can be profound, so I applaud Ms. Joel for her plan to speak about it to young people in 2010.
It looks like criminal charges are imminent against the physician who prescribed a surgical-strength sedative to Michael Jackson. Expect involuntary manslaughter and probably some lesser charges.
Tila Tequila’s back in the news — her “fiance,” an heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune was found dead at her (Ms. Johnson’s) California home, an apparent drug overdose, and there’s since been a series of bizarre “tweets” from the ever-classy Ms. Tequila disavowing any knowledge that Ms. Johnson was in danger.
Mike Tyson’s back in the news as well, another run-in with a photographer in an airport, no charges filed against either party yet. At this point, it’s sad what a train wreck this guy’s life is.
- Cover of Tyson
Study this:
A new study of spanking found that spanking does not necessarily turn kids neurotic or psychopathic and that many kids who were spanked have grown up to be highly-functional adults. Now, the group studied wasn’t that large, and the methodology doesn’t sound like it was that great, and I’m not advocating spanking as a disciplinary tactic of first resort, and I certainly never condone violent spanking (spanking that causes more than mild discomfort), BUT, it does on some level seem consistent with what’s occurred to me (and I think to many people who got the occasional spanking and have lived fairly successful lives) whenever previous studies have linked spanking to every horrible outcome from suicide to serial homicide!
Major case developments:
A body found wrapped in plastic in a remote area of Utah is not the body of the missing mother of two who supposedly “disappeared” while her husband took their small kids “camping” in the middle of the night. This body belongs to an as-yet-unidentified Hispanic male.
Before 2010 was even a full week old, we had a mass shooting — disgruntled former employee shooting eight former co-workers at a St. Louis factory, killing three, before turning the gun on himself. Apparently, he was upset about his retirement benefits (second time we’ve heard that in a week — the Las Vegas courthouse shooter apparently had the same motive).
An Arizona baby is missing, his mother is under arrest, and another couple have been named “persons of interest” in the baby’s disappearance. Confused? Apparently the mother didn’t want the baby’s father to have any custodial time with the baby. So, she arranged to give the baby up for adoption to the couple, but then she sent a text message to the baby’s father telling him that she’d killed the baby. Cops caught up with the mother in Florida and took her into custody, but the baby wasn’t with her. She’s since said that she gave the baby away in Texas. The couple, who are from Arizona, have spoken openly to the media and volunteered to take polygraph tests to prove that they never received the child and don’t know where he is (they sound innocent to me, but my data’s limited to soundbytes, so I certainly could be wrong). Nevertheless, cops have indicated that the couple may know more than they’ve told about what the mother’s plans were. On the bright side though, cops also say there are unspecified “indications” that the child’s probably still alive. Still confused? Sorry, stay tuned, and I’ll try to sort it out and get back to you.
The deceased body of a Playboy video model was found on fire in a Miami dumpster. Her boyfriend has been questioned by cops and apparently has been cooperative at this point, but the couple did reportedly argue on the night she was reported missing. Could be innocent, could be another Ryan Jenkins, stay tuned.
And finally tonight, this is “McNuts”:
A woman right here in the Kansas City area apparently was pretty unhappy with her McDonald’s burger — so unhappy that she threw a violent tantrum in which she did over thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the restaurant before fleeing the scene. No word on whether she got fries with that, but there’s reportedly video surveillance footage that hopefully will lead to her arrest before she tears up another restaurant — one that I might actually be in at the time!
Have a great weekend, see you back here and on the tube next week!
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