California

Suspect charged in series of attacks

A serial rape suspect linked to a string of sexual assaults in California and Washington after giving police a DNA sample was charged with 64 felonies.

The charges against Mark Wayne Rathbun, 32, included 28 rape counts in connection with attacks on 14 Southern California women.

The charges arise from assaults dating from January 1997 through last week, and were based on DNA evidence, the circumstances and incriminating admissions Rathbun allegedly made after his arrest, police said.

Three of the rape charges against Rathbun involve a 77-year-old woman who was attacked in her Long Beach home twice within 17 days in 1999, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Rich Goul. The last victim was a 30-year-old woman who fended off an attempted assault Nov. 7.

Louisiana

Two soldiers killed in combat exercise

Two soldiers involved in an urban assault drill were killed Thursday when they were run over by a 63-ton tank.

The soldiers were with the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., which was recently stationed in Afghanistan, said Fort Polk spokesman Ron Elliott.

Elliott said he didn’t know if the soldiers had seen overseas service.

The accident occurred about 5:20 a.m. and both soldiers were flown by helicopter to the Fort Polk hospital where they were pronounced dead, Elliott said.

About 400 soldiers were participating in the pre-dawn drill at the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center. The victims were run over by an M-1 Abrams tank, Elliott said. They were not part of the tank’s crew.

Their identities were withheld until relatives could be notified.

Detroit

Fugitive terror suspect arrested in N. Carolina

An alleged leader of a terrorist sleeper cell in Michigan who is believed to be an expert in airport security is in federal custody.

The man, identified in court papers in North Carolina as Abel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 36, of Minneapolis, Minn., was accused in an August indictment of acting with “a covert underground support unit” and an “operational combat cell” for a radical movement allied with al-Qaida. At the time of the indictment, the man was known only as Abdella.

Federal officials allege Elmardoudi provided direction to three other men charged in the indictment.

Elmardoudi was arrested Nov. 5 in North Carolina and appeared in court there the same day. He was ordered transferred to Detroit for a detention hearing. Federal officials in Detroit said they didn’t know when Elmardoudi would arrive.

Louisiana

Grand jury indicts sniper suspects

A state grand jury Thursday indicted Washington-area sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo on first-degree murder charges for a killing in Baton Rouge.

The victim, 45-year-old Hong Im Ballenger, was shot Sept. 23 during a robbery at the beauty products shop she managed. Prosecutors said they would ask for the death penalty for both men.

John Sinquefield, assistant district attorney, said he was unsure when Muhammad and Malvo would be able to stand trial in Baton Rouge.

Louisiana is one of several states waiting to prosecute the men suspected in a months-long shooting spree that left 14 people dead and five others wounded.

Ballistics tests positively linked the .223-caliber bullet used to kill Ballenger with the weapon used in several of the Washington-area sniper killings, police said.