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“We’re looking for proof of life.” Secretary of State John Kerry, referring to the missing American Robert Levinson, amid lacking details about his disappearance while on a secret intelligence mission to Iran Article, 1ANeighbor arrested in Ohio girl’s death

A neighbor was arrested Sunday in the killing of a 9-yearold Ohio girl whose body was found in a trash bin near her home after authorities and residents conducted a frantic search for the missing child.

Jerrod Metsker, 24, was arrested at his home on a murder charge about 12 hours after deputies found the body of Reann Murphy near her home at a mobile-home park in Smithville, about 30 miles southwest of Akron, Wayne County Sheriff Travis Hutchinson said at a news conference.

It was not immediately clear whether Metsker had an attorney. His first court appearance is scheduled for this morning.

Metsker was arrested at his home after he ignored knocks on his front door and deputies obtained a key from a family member, Hutchinson said.

Reann was last seen Saturday night playing outdoors at the park. Officers, firefighters and neighbors joined the search for Reann, going door-to-door and combing area properties.

Hutchinson wouldn’t say how Reann was killed nor offer a motive. He described Metsker as a family friend and neighbor.

Lawyer disputes report in stairwell death

SAN FRANCISCO - An attorney for the woman found dead in a San Francisco General Hospital stairwell disputed on Saturday a coroner’s report saying her death probably was due to a chemical imbalance related to chronic alcohol abuse.

Haig Harris asserted that Lynne Spalding’s death wasn’t related to alcoholism and insisted that she died of starvation or dehydration.

“To suggest alcoholism was involved is an outrageous, gratuitous comment,” Harris told the San Francisco Chronicle a day after the medical examiner’s report was released.

Spalding, 57, was found in a locked stairwell Oct. 8, 17 days after she disappeared from her hospital room. The coroner’s report said she died accidentally and that the cause was “probable electrolyte imbalance with delirium” because of “complications of chronic ethanolism.”

She had been admitted to the hospital Sept. 19 with a urinary infection, and she also had an altered mental state for one to two months and weight loss for two weeks, the report said.

Harris said the mention of alcoholism “demeans the memory of this woman, without telling us when she died, how long she was out there suffering.”Busload of prisoners crashes in Illinois

BELLEVILLE, Ill. - Authorities said Sunday that 13 people were hospitalized after a southern Illinois freeway crash involving a busload of federal prisoners.

Illinois State Police Trooper Calvin Dye Jr. said the bus, headed west from Kentucky to Jefferson City, Mo., hit a bridge support on Interstate 64’s center median about 5 a.m. Sunday and turned onto its side.

The nine federal inmates and four prison guards on the bus were taken to area hospitals with injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening. Four of the inmates were treated, then were transferred to the St. Clair County jail in Belleville to await transportation to their destinations.

The hospitalized inmates were under police guard.

Dye said eastbound lanes of the highway were closed for about four hours.

Governor requests prayers for shot teen

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - Colorado’s governor asked the nation Sunday for prayers for the 17-year-old girl who was critically wounded by a classmate at her suburban Denver high school.

Gov. John Hickenlooper also credited security procedures adopted after the 1999 mass shooting at nearby Columbine High School for helping put a quick end to the Arapahoe High School attack by Karl Pierson, an 18-yearold student who shot Claire Davis at point-blank range before killing himself.

“We all have to keep Claire in our thoughts and prayers,” he said on CBS’ Face the Nation. Davis is hospitalized at Littleton Adventist Hospital.

Hickenlooper said Davis’ parents “are remarkable people. I feel so directly their suffering. … They raised this beautiful young woman who had her whole life ahead of her.”

About 500 classmates held a candlelight vigil Saturday for Davis, who was sitting with a friend near the school library when she was shot in the head. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said investigators think she was shot at random by Pierson, who had gone into the school looking for a teacher with whom he had a dispute.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/16/2013

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