True Crime News Roundup: Texas Man Accused of Kidnapping and Torturing Woman He Met On Dating App
Plus: Utah family of 8 found fatally shot in murder-suicide; Probable cause affidavit released for University of Idaho murder case.
Harris County Police Department
On Dec. 30, Zachary Kent Mills, 21, of Spring, Texas, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated kidnapping after holding a woman he met on a dating app captive at his apartment. Mills reportedly met the woman on Bumble and the two had begun a romantic relationship before he picked her up on Christmas Eve and brought her back to his apartment. He allegedly became angry when she denied his sexual advances and bit her on the neck and face and beat her repeatedly with a screwdriver. For five days, Mills allegedly wouldn’t let her leave his apartment and denied her food and water. She was able to escape when Mills left the apartment to visit his father. Mills was released on a $50,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty. His next hearing date is scheduled for March 3.
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Utah family of 8 found shot dead inside their home
On Jan. 4, officers responding to a welfare check found the bodies of a family of eight, including five children, fatally shot inside their Enoch City home. According to a news release from the city manager, Rob Dotson, the family died from a murder-suicide. Dotson identified the suspect as Michael Haight, 42. The two adult victims were his wife, Tausha Haight, 40, and Tausha’s mother, Gail Earl, 78, according to the release. The other victims were the couple’s five children – 17, 12, and 7-year-old girls, and 7 and 4-year-old boys. The investigation is ongoing.
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New details revealed from affidavit in University of Idaho murder case
On Jan. 4, the probable cause affidavit for the case of four University of Idaho students found murdered in November was released. According to the affidavit, a sheath of the knife used in the stabbings was left at the scene in the bed where Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found deceased. DNA from the sheath is what linked Bryan Kohberger, 28, to the crime. The affidavit also revealed that one of the surviving roommates said they saw the killer, described in the affidavit as "a figure clad in black clothing and a mask," who walked past her as he left the crime scene, and she heard crying on the night of the killings. Kohberger has been charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, along with one count of felony burglary.
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