Texas

Sister, brother charged in little brother’s death

Juvenile murder charges were filed Wednesday against a 15-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy in the stabbing death of their little brother, attorneys said.

The body of Jackson Carr, 6, was found last month in a creek bed behind the family’s house in Lewisville, about 20 miles northwest of Dallas. Police say the girl confessed to stabbing Jackson in the neck and the boy told authorities he helped hold his brother down.

Jackson was reported missing in mid-April. After police and neighbors searched for hours, the girl led police to the body, buried under 2 feet of mud in a creek bank.

Pennsylvania

Students face charges in drinking-party death

Eleven college students face misdemeanor charges stemming from the alcohol-related death of a fellow University of Scranton student.

Sophomore Robert Skaf was found dead at the bottom of an apartment building stairwell on April 28, his 20th birthday. He had fallen and suffered a skull fracture, officials said.

He and the defendants had been at an all-day drinking party called “The Second Annual Beer Pong Tournament,” for the name of a drinking game, according to court documents. The hosts of the party charged $5 per person, the documents show.

PHILADELPHIA

Historic manuscripts deemed forgeries

Manuscripts purported to be by the first American-born composer now thought to be the handiwork of an artful forger have been withdrawn from auction.

The cache, touted as the work of Declaration of Independence signer Francis Hopkinson when it turned up in storage this spring, was believed to have included previously unknown songs and verses, along with the score of “The Temple of Minerva,” considered the first American opera.

Instead, the documents appear to be the work of an infamous Philadelphia forger, Charles Bates Weisberg, who died in prison on mail fraud charges in 1945.

Hopkinson was an artist, poet, lawyer and congressman born in 1737 who signed the Declaration of Independence and is credited with designing the first American flag.

Idaho

Stranded bicyclist waits hours for rescue

A bicyclist who fell off a pedestrian bridge clung to its girder and yelled for five hours before he was rescued ignored by two boys who walked away laughing, police said.

Christopher Blair apparently tipped over a guardrail on an unlit bridge about 9:30 p.m. Saturday over Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint.

The cyclist managed to scramble to safety on the bridge’s concrete piling, then climbed onto support beams 12 feet above water, where he began to scream for help.

“He said that he had been yelling for help all night and had even been located by two juvenile boys, but they would not help him,” Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Sterling said.

A nearby resident finally heard Blair’s screams at 2:20 a.m. Sunday. A search by flashlight found Blair perched on the beams.