PANAMA CITY — Investigators were not sure what a man was stabbed with in the groin before arresting his significant other for battery, according to Panama City Police Department records.

Aletra Lewanna-Elizabeth King, 21, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

According to PCPD reports, King stabbed a man, with whom she was in a domestic relationship, in the left groin area with an unidentified item. The incident took place April 23, police said. Afterward, a warrant for King was issued and authorities arrested her Wednesday. The man required 10 stitches to close the wound, PCPD reported.

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS – Family members of John “Greg” Hughes and Hiedi Rhodes bore witness Thursday as the star witness for the prosecution in the murder trial of Barry Davis described in graphic detail what she’d witnessed and learned of the deaths and dismemberment of their loved ones.

The bodies of Hughes and Rhodes have never been recovered.

Tiffani Steward, who was Davis’ girlfriend on May 7, 2012, was in tears when she testified that on that day she’d witnessed Davis beat and strangle Rhodes while shouting “shut up or you’re next” at her after she started screaming.

Steward testified that both she and Rhodes were taken by surprise when they arrived at Hughes’ house after running out to pick up margarita mix and Davis attacked Rhodes as she came through the door. She said she started screaming.

“He told me to get out of the room so he could think. He was really mad. He was hitting her,” she said. Steward also testified to seeing Davis attempting to strangle a struggling Rhodes.

From the kitchen where she’d retreated that night three years ago, Steward said, she saw Hughes lying prone in a bedroom.

“He was just lying there and there was blood all around him,” she testified.

Steward told the jury that after she’d left to retrieve a backpack on Davis’ orders, she witnessed him tie his victims’ feet and submerge their heads in a bathtub he’d filled. She said she’d heard a noise and told him she thought Hughes or Rhodes might still be alive. He’d told her no.

She’d convinced him to let her leave the house, but testified that Davis followed close behind. She said in the days that followed he’d warned her that he would harm her or her family if she spoke of what she’d seen.

Steward’s testimony painted Davis as a manipulator and a dangerous man, who used threats of what he’d do to her to keep her quiet. Her testimony in that regard matched that of previous witnesses. Even after he was facing murder charges he’d tried to convince her to marry him as a way of keeping her from testifying against him, Steward testified.

Steward also testified that Davis had told her he’d burned the bodies of Rhodes and Hughes. She said she’d heard him running a saw all night at one point not long after he’d killed them and seen him drag a heavy container that smelled horribly toward a burn barrel he kept in his yard. She never saw Hughes or Rhodes again, though, Steward told the jury.

She had intimate details she said Davis shared about his using Hughes' debit card to rob one bank account and forged checks to take money from a second. She testified that she’d sold Hughes’ belongings on Craig’s List to help pay his bond following an arrest.

Late in the afternoon tempers flared as the Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore and Defense Attorney Spiro Kypreos had a heated disagreement while speaking to Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells at the bench. After Wells sent the jury out, Kypreos called for a mistrial and he and Elmore accused one another of lacking professionalism. Wells threatened to discipline both men.

The day in court ended with apologies all around. Kypreos will continue his cross examination of Steward, whose story he is attempting to bring into question, Friday morning.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Police have arrested a man who allegedly struck a 7-year-old while fighting with his mother, according to Panama City Beach Police Department reports.

Wyatt Donal Kingry, 57, was arrested after family members witnessed the domestic disturbance Monday at about 12:50 p.m., according to court records.

PCBPD reported Kingry allegedly was beating the 7-year-old’s mother when the child stepped in to assist. Police said Kingry had a hand around the mother’s throat, striking her in the face with the other while her mother, grandmother and family friend were present. The child tried to help when Kingry used an open hand to slap the 7-year-old in the head, police reported.

About 25 minutes later, police noted, the ear of the child remained red and irritated.

Kingry was charged with child abuse following the incident and was taken to Bay County Jail.

HOLMES COUNTY — A man and a teen girl died in a crash in Holmes County on Thursday, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Mark Chambers, 36, of Memphis, Tenn., the driver of one of the vehicles involved and Rebecca Bowers, 16, of Geneva, Ala., died in the wreck at 1:30 p.m. near State 81 and State 2A, the FHP reported. The second driver, Liberty Dawn Landerman, 36, of Geneva, Ala., and a passenger in Chamber’s vehicle, Candice M. Chambers, 33, of Cordova, Tenn., also were injured, FHP reported.

Landerman, driving a 1996 Ford Explorer, was westbound on State 2A and Mark Chambers, in a 2014 Toyota Camry, was southbound on State 81 as both vehicles approached the intersection, FHP said. As they entered the intersection, Landerman failed to yield the right-of-way to mark Chambers and the right front of the Explorer collided with the right side of the Camry, according to the FHP.

As a result of the collision, the Explorer traveled in a southwesterly direction and overturned and Bowers was ejected from the vehicle, FHP reported. The Explorer rested on the southwest shoulder of the intersection facing north, while the Camry traveled onto the southwest shoulder and came to a rest in the tree line facing southwest, FHP reported.

Mark Chambers was pronounced dead on the scene, FHP said. Landerman and Candice Chambers were transported to Flowers Hospital and Bowers was taken to Wiregrass Medical Center, where she later died, FHP reported. Landerman and Candice Chambers were listed in serious condition, according to the FHP.

Mark and Candice Chambers were wearing seatbelts and alcohol was not a factor in their part in the crash, FHP reported. Landerman and Bowers were not wearing seatbelts, according to the report, and alcohol results are pending, FHP said.

Charges also are pending, FHP reported.

BOSTON (AP) — A jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death Friday for the Boston Marathon bombing, sweeping aside pleas that he was just a “kid” who fell under the influence of his fanatical older brother.

Tsarnaev, 21, stood with his hands folded upon learning his fate, decided after 14 hours of deliberations over three days in the nation's most closely watched terrorism trial since the Oklahoma City bombing case two decades ago.

The decision sets the stage for what could be the nation's first execution of a terrorist in the post-9/11 era, though the case is likely to go through years of appeals. The execution would be carried out by lethal injection.

The 12-member jury had to be unanimous for Tsarnaev to get the death penalty. Otherwise, he would have automatically received a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Three people were killed and more than 260 wounded when two pressure-cooker bombs packed with shrapnel exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013.

Tsarnaev was convicted last month of all 30 federal charges against him, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of an MIT police officer during the Tsarnaev brothers’ getaway attempt. Seventeen of those charges carried the possibility of the death penalty.

Tsarnaev's chief lawyer, death penalty specialist Judy Clarke, admitted at the very start of the trial that he participated in the bombings, bluntly telling the jury: “It was him.”

But the defense argued that Dzhokhar was an impressionable 19-year-old who was led astray by his volatile and domineering 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, who wanted to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.

Prosecutors portrayed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an equal partner in the attack, saying he was so heartless he planted a bomb on the pavement behind a group of children, killing an 8-year-old boy.

To drive home their point, prosecutors cited the message he scrawled in the dry-docked boat where he was captured: “Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop.” And they opened their case in the penalty phase with a startling photo of him giving the finger to a security camera in his jail cell months after his arrest.

“This is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev —unconcerned, unrepentant and unchanged,” prosecutor Nadine Pellegrin said.

The jurors also heard grisly and heartbreaking testimony from numerous bombing survivors who described seeing their legs blown off or watching someone next to them die.

Killed in the bombing were Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford; and 8-year-old Martin Richard, who had gone to watch the marathon with his family. Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier was shot to death in his cruiser days later. Seventeen people lost legs in the bombings.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died days after the bombing when he was shot by police and run over by Dzhokhar during a chaotic getaway attempt.

Tsarnaev did not take the stand, and he slouched in his seat through most of his trial, a seemingly bored look on his face. In his only flash of emotion during the months-long case, he cried when his Russian aunt took the stand.

The only evidence of any remorse on his part in the two years since the attack came from the defense's final witness, Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and staunch death penalty opponent made famous by the movie “Dead Man Walking.”

She quoted Tsarnaev as saying of the bombing victims: “No one deserves to suffer like they did.”

Tsarnaev's lawyers also called teachers, friends and Russian relatives who described him as a sweet and kind boy who cried during “The Lion King.” The defense called him a “good kid.”

The defense argued that sparing his life and instead sending him to the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, would be a harsh punishment and would best allow the bombing victims to move on with their lives without having to read about years of death penalty appeals.

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. will formally impose the sentence at a later date during a hearing in which bombing victims will be allowed to speak. Tsarnaev will also be given the opportunity to address the court.

In deciding on the penalty, the jury had to weigh so-called aggravating factors — including the cruelty of the crime, the killing of a child, and the amount of carnage inflicted, any lack of remorse — against mitigating factors, which could include his age, the possible influence of his brother and his turbulent, dysfunctional family.

The Tsarnaevs —ethnic Chechens — lived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and the volatile Dagestan region of Russia, near Chechnya, before moving to the U.S. about a decade before the bombings. They settled in Cambridge, just outside Boston.

PANAMA CITY — Law enforcement agencies nationwide are joining to participate in the “Click It or Ticket: Enforcing the Law to Save Lives” campaign, Panama City Police Department announced Friday.

Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Florida Department of Transportation, “Click it or Ticket” will take place May 18 through May 31.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2013, 9,580 unbelted vehicle occupants were killed in motor vehicle crashes on the nation’s roads. Many of the deaths could have been prevented if seat belts had been used.

CALLAWAY — Officers have taken a man into custody after a string of burglaries and thefts came to a head following a foot chase.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office took Jason Alan Jarrard into custody after he led Callaway deputies on a foot chase Friday afternoon.

At about 12:15 p.m., a BCSO deputy on patrol in Callaway spotted a vehicle matching the description of one believed to have been used in thefts and burglaries throughout the county. The deputy executed a traffic stop in the 200 block of Berthe Avenue and made contact with the driver of the vehicle. When asked for identification, the driver initially pulled out a driver’s license, then attempted to hide it. The deputy saw the license and noted the picture on it was not of the driver. When the deputy asked again for the ID, the driver took off in his vehicle.

The driver crashed the vehicle at Star Avenue and Pittsburgh and fled on foot. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office Air Unit and K9 Unit assisted in the search. The suspect was found on LaCosta Avenue in the Shadow Bay subdivision, coming out of a wooded area.

BCSO identified the suspect as identified Jarrard, of Westville. He has been brought in for questioning. Investigators believe Jarrard may be connected to numerous thefts and burglaries.

The investigation is ongoing.

PANAMA CITY — Police have arrested a local woman for pointing a gun, which they thought was real, in their direction, according to Panama City Police Department reports.

Linda Lou Angelo, of Panama City, was arrested Thursday for allegedly pointing a small, black pistol at a police officer, PCPD reported.

Police responded to the Pelican Bay Apartments at 924 Florida Ave. at about 9:45 p.m. to reports of an armed female outside her apartment. When officers arrived, Angelo was seated in a lawn chair with a camera and what appeared to be a handgun in her lap, police said.

Officers instructed her to raise her hands and not reach for the gun. But as officers approached, Angelo quickly reached for the gun, allegedly waving it in the direction of the officers, before it was knocked from her grasp, police reported.

“It had no orange markings, solid black, chromed ejection port and had the word ‘Colt’ on the side and appeared very real,” officer Ryan Hildebrand reported. “It was dark out and I was in fear for my life. I believed it was real at the time. … It wasn’t until it hit the ground, exposing the (carbon dioxide) cartridge did I realize it wasn’t a real handgun.”

Angelo was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon following the incident. She is being held on a $5,000 bond.

SPRINGFIELD — The parents of a 19-year-old shooting suspect have been accused of attempting to bribe law enforcement in an attempt to drop charges against their son, according to court records.

Tracey and Michael Vernon Porter II, of Panama City, have been identified in Springfield Police Department arrest records as attempting to bribe an officer with $1,000 to drop several gun-related charges against their son, 19-year-old Michael Porter III, police reported. However, instead of accepting the money, the officer reported the incident. Michael Porter II now faces a charge of tampering with a witness, according to court documents.

Tracey Porter was identified as a co-defendant in the case, but as of Friday had not been charged, court records indicated.

The couple’s son was arrested in October of last year in connection with a trio of young men allegedly firing upon a group of people. Michael Vernon Porter III, 19, Damarius Mimms, 19, and Jakorey Shivers, 19, were each charged with aggravated assault and discharging a firearm in public.

According to their arrest affidavits, Mimms, Porter and Shivers were armed in the 10th Street and Kurze Avenue area on Sept. 21 when they began shooting at citizens in the roadway. A bullet grazed a 16-year-old girl’s hand and an adult man’s leg. Once the three men began shooting, the crowd fled in terror, police reported.

Michael Porter III was again arrested in February for armed robbery. Police said Porter and other people approached a man in the 200 block of Claire Avenue on Dec. 17 at about 8:30 p.m. Porter and company allegedly came up from behind the victim, brandishing a firearm. Leveling the gun on the victim, the crew stole an EBT card, Florida identification, a digital camera, $7 and a cellphone, police reported.

Following those incidents, police reported Tracey and Michael Vernon Porter II approached an officer April 14 in the parking lot of the State Attorney’s Office and allegedly offered money for one or more of the charges to be dropped. A warrant for Michael Porter’s arrest was issued after the officer reported the incident, authorities reported.

Michael Vernon Porter II was arrested Thursday and charged with witness tampering. He is being held on a $15,000 bond.

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — First thing Friday, before the jury hearing his case was brought in, Barry Davis, on trial for the 2012 killings of John Gregory Hughes and Hiedi Rhodes, requested and received permission to speak to Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Wells.

Then, he unloaded on his attorney, Spiro Kypreos.

“Yesterday, when it was time for my lawyer to go up and cross-examine” key witness and Davis’ ex-girlfriend Tiffani Steward, “my lawyer was not prepared,” Davis said. “He stumbled around looking for papers. … It was not fair to me. … My lawyer was ineffective yesterday.”

Speaking calmly but firmly, Wells let Davis know he wasn’t about to take a drastic action three weeks into a capital case in which the death penalty could come into play.

“I understand what your complaint is, but you didn’t go to law school. Mr. Kypreos has been handling this type of case for years,” Wells said. “At this point, for the record, I can’t find Mr. Kypreos has been ineffective.”

Friday’s testimonies went more smoothly than Thursday’s. The previous day’s proceedings were marred by sniping, objections and frequent bench conferences that had bogged down the flow of the trial.

Late Friday morning, Prosecuting Attorney Bobby Elmore released Steward, who had spent about 10 hours on the witness stand. After calling two more witnesses, the prosecution rested its case at just before 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Elmore’s final witness was FBI special agent Justin Fleck, who testified to using technology that allowed him to track, with some degree of certainty, calls, texts, tweets and just about any other cellphone communication using the towers that allow those communications to occur. Elmore elicited from the testimony a timeline that tracked Davis’ movements on the day Rhodes and Hughes were killed and for the days afterward.

The defense called its first and only witness late in the day. Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson discussed his role as the first law enforcement officer on the scene when Hughes’ missing Cadillac Escalade was discovered.

The defense rested its case after Adkinson left the stand. Closing arguments will begin Monday at 8:30 a.m.

Information is provided by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office on people arrested on charges May 8-11. Those arrested can contact The News Herald if charges are dropped or if they are acquitted. Addresses are those given by the defendant during arrest.

The address listed in the May 3 arrest for Frank Brian Yunger was incorrect. His address is 12123 Oleander St., Youngstown.

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Trafton George Kerridge, 35, 518 Everitt  Ave., Panama City, aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability

Silas Kyle Gates, 22, 1815 Mound Ave., Panama City, aggravated battery, felony or domestic battery by strangulation

Angel Elaine Retherford, 29, 3918 Wand St., Panama City Beach, possession of controlled substance without prescription

Bethany Ann (Keith) Payne, 44, 900 Harrison Ave., Panama City, possession of synthetic narcotics with intent to distribute, manufacture, sell or deliver

Bradley Jackson Mills, 27, 5107 E. Ninth St., Panama City, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, manufacture, sell or deliver, possession of synthetic narcotics with intent to distribute, manufacture, sell or deliver

Tara Nicole Mccormick, 25, 1708 Alabama Ave., Panama City, possession of controlled substance without prescription

Joseph Donald Baxter, 31, 623 C Fernwood St., Panama City, grand theft

Deauntrie Marquiece White, 20, 4289 Wynn St., Greenwood, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, manufacture, sell or deliver

Chance Marvin Glascock, 40, 257 Nelle St., Callaway, grand theft, aggravated battery with use of a deadly weapon

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Amber Lynn Silva, 22, 3003 Ten Acre Road, Springfield, possession of controlled substance without prescription

Henry Lee Clarke, 45, 1402 W. 12th St., Panama City, felony or domestic battery by strangulation

Davida Chea Brannon, 25, burglary

Robert Rayjhon Scott, 26, burglary, possession of weapon or ammunition by felon

Ray Primas Vickers, 35, 261 Everitt Ave., Panama City, aggravated battery with use of a deadly weapon

Drew Blake Coatney, 49, 2313 Mccormick Road, Southport, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill

Joshua David Day, 32, 11732 County Line Road, Fountain, felony or domestic battery by strangulation

Dawn Lynnette Parsons, 44, 4126 Cato Road, Panama City, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, manufacture, sell or deliver

David Benjamin Deloach, 24, 617 Gardinia St., Panama City, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, manufacture, sell or deliver

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Earl Forrester, 31, 2605 W. 16th St., Panama City, aggravated stalking of minor under 16

Douglas James Conklin, 61, 4515 E. Lakeland Dr., Panama City, aggravated stalking, stalking victim after no contact order

David Eugene Long Jr., 38, transient, Panama City, drug possession of controlled substance without prescription

NEWBURG, Pa. (AP) — State police say a New York man became angry when he couldn't get macaroni and cheese at a Pennsylvania Turnpike rest stop, then furious when the same restaurant was out of potatoes.

Forty-seven-year-old Kevin Nelson, of Amsterdam, was cited for disorderly conduct Wednesday.

--- MORE NEWS OF THE WEIRD»»

Police say Nelson stopped at a Roy Rogers at a rest stop in Hopewell Township, Cumberland County on Monday night then became “angry and agitated and began to curse” after learning the restaurant was out of macaroni and cheese.

Police say Nelson then got coffee from another vendor, and returned to order potatoes at the Roy Rogers. Told they were out of potatoes, too, Nelson allegedly became enraged and began throwing condiments over the counter.

A phone number for Nelson could not immediately be located.

CLEARWATER (AP) — Four lawyers. Two shock jocks. One flirtatious paralegal.

A Florida judge will soon decide if three well-known Tampa attorneys tricked a rival lawyer into getting a DUI in an attempt to derail opposing counsel on a defamation case.

The ethics trial began this week and it has riveted Tampa's legal community with its salacious details of scheming and flirtation, of prior drunk driving arrests and extramarital affairs.

On one side is the Florida Bar, which supports the version of events told by lawyer Phil Campbell. He was charged with DUI two years ago. The Bar alleges that attorneys Stephen Diaco, Robert Adams and Adam Filthaut set Campbell up and used a paralegal and a Tampa police officer to help. They could be sanctioned or disbarred if found guilty.

This story begins in January 2013, when Diaco, Adams and Filthaut represented a radio host named Bubba The Love Sponge Clem in a defamation lawsuit brought by another rival radio host, Todd Schnitt, who claimed Clem had made derogatory remarks about him and his wife on the air and got his fans to harass and threaten them. Campbell represented Schnitt, who now has a national talk radio show. Clem once gained national attention and criticism for castrating a boar live on the air.

After the second day of the trial, Campbell went for drinks and dinner at Malio's, a well-known steakhouse in a round Tampa skyscraper known locally as “The Beer Can Building.”

When he was about to leave, two women sat next to him. One, Melissa Personius, was a Diaco, Adams and Filthaut paralegal. She chatted up Campbell, lied about where she worked and flirted with him, according to witness testimony. He responded by bragging about his legal career, even showing her newspaper stories about the Clem-Schnitt trial.

Personius’ friend testified she watched as Personius, then 32, bought Campbell, then 65, drinks and a shot of Southern Comfort. When he got up to leave, she followed. Personius told Campbell that she didn't want to leave her car in valet parking. Campbell, who planned to walk to his downtown apartment, said he would drive her car to the parking lot near his home. Moments after he got behind the wheel, Campbell was stopped by Tampa Police Sgt. Ray Fernandez and charged with driving under the influence.

The Florida Bar has accused Personius of taking orders from her bosses to “set up” Campbell.

Investigators later discovered that Fernandez was a family friend of attorney Filthaut's, and records later revealed that Adams, Diaco, Filthaut and Personius had been exchanging texts and phone calls that night. Fernandez and Filthaut also called each other that evening.

Campbell's DUI charge was dropped and Fernandez was fired after an internal investigation. Schnitt lost his lawsuit against Clem, and as part of a mediation agreement, Clem can't talk publicly about Schnitt's wife.

The ongoing ethics trial has been marked by tense cross-examination at times and, at other times, witty repartee and laughter. Most of the attorneys have known each other for years and have argued cases against each other.

By the fourth day of the trial, Melissa Personius’ ex-husband took the witness stand. Kris Personius detailed how even though they were divorced, they were still living together when she came home the night of the DUI arrest. She told him that at the behest of her attorney bosses at the firm, she tricked Campbell into driving her car after he had a few drinks, he said.

“She was instructed to basically set this guy up,” Kris Personius said, adding that he always thought the lawyers who she worked for were “scumbags.”

During cross-examination, the attorney for the Diaco and Adams law firm questioned Kris Personius’ credibility, detailing his domestic violence injunctions, his past DUI and the fact that he videotaped his ex-wife talking about the alleged setup of Campbell without her consent.

Kris Personius said his ex-wife started to tell him the story, but he initially stopped her.

“I went out and smoked, I came back inside and I taped it,” he said.

He later played the video to Campbell — but only after he and his ex-wife had custody issues over their two children.

The trial is expected to last several more days. Judge W. Douglas Baird will issue a decision later.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. (AP) — Police in Massachusetts have some sage advice: Don't go chasing after bears while drunk and armed with nothing more than a dull hatchet.

North Adams police wrote on their Facebook page that someone did just that on Monday. The department noted that the drunken man was taken into protective custody.

No name was released.

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Police say anyone who sees a bear should leave it alone and call authorities. They say they don't want to see anyone “going all Davy Crockett.”

Bears are not unusual in the largely rural western part of the state.

A dispatcher said Tuesday said no one was available to handle media calls.

A Southport man was uninjured after his vehicle overturned and was fully submerged in water, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Jeffery Scott Rice, 25, traveled in a 1995 GMC Jimmy south on County Road 2301 at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, when he took a left curve too fast, FHP reported. The vehicle ran off the road, he overcorrected across the northbound lane and overturned in a water channel along the east shoulder, according to the FHP.

The vehicle was completely submerged in 30 feet of water, FHP said. Rice was able to escape without injury and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office dive team assisted in extracting the vehicle from the water, FHP reported.

Rice was cited for failure to use due care, according to the FHP report. Rice was wearing a seatbelt and alcohol was not a factor in the crash, FHP reported.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public’s help in finding a woman suspected of stealing money.

On May 8 at about 9:30 p.m. a man made a purchase at a Panama City Beach T-shirt shop, when he placed $1,500 in cash on the counter and forgot to pick it up after departing, BCSO reported. A woman, who was seen on security cameras, approached the counter, aledgedly picked up the cash and used a portion to pay for her purchase, BCSO said. She was joined at the counter by a young boy and girl and then another woman and they are seen on video speaking to each other before leaving with the cash, according to police.

--- VIDEO: FOOTAGE OF THE SUSPECT AT THE STORE»»

The suspect is described as a white, heavy-set female in her 40’s or 50’s, with short light brown hair. She was wearing a pink shirt at the time of the theft, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the BCSO at (850) 747-4700 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 785-TIPS

SPRINGFIELD — A Panama City man was charged with attempted murder after an incident Sunday, the Springfield Police Department reported.

Charles Mitchell Bruner, 62, was arrested and charged with armed burglary with battery and attempted murder after police said he allegedly entered a residence at 3200 E. Third St. and threatened to kill an occupant of the home, Springfield Police reported. Police said Bruner parked his car near the intersection of Second Plaza and Springfield Avenue and walked to the residence.

Once there, Bruner forcibly entered the home, awakened the resident, mounted the victim and pressed the blade of a knife on the man’s face near his eye, according to police. Bruner allegedly told the victim he was going to kill them, which prompted a response and escape from Bruner’s grasp. The victim was cut on the face in the scuffle and Bruner fled before being detained by the victim’s roommates, police said.

Bruner was taken to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System for treatment of minor injuries he sustained while being detained, police reported. Upon release, Bruner was taken to the Bay County Jail and awaited first appearance.

Springfield Police said the investigation is ongoing.

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Jurors have found a Walton County man guilty of killing a couple  to further a marijuana growing operation.

He now faces the death sentence when a penalty phase commences.

After three weeks of testimony and a full day of closing arguments, jurors found Barry Davis Jr., 34, guilty Monday in a “no body” murder trial after a little more than two hours of deliberation. Davis also was found guilty of numerous other charges related to the deaths of John “Gregory” Hughes, of Santa Rosa Beach, and Hiedi Rhodes, of Panama City Beach, neither of whom have been seen or heard from since May 7, 2012.

Tiffani Steward, former girlfriend and the mother of Davis’ child, said she felt “relief” as the verdict was being read. Steward testified she was present the night of the slayings.

“I just hope the family will finally get closure, and I will get closure myself,” she said.

Prosecutor Bobby Elmore faced what seemed like an uphill battle since the bodies of neither Hughes nor Rhodes were ever recovered.

Elmore used bank account records, cellphone records and the lack of contact with friends and family to argue Davis killed the couple. Many family members were present Monday for closing arguments in the trial of Davis when Elmore made a final push to convince jurors that Davis killed the couple and robbed Hughes’ home “down to the very last salt shaker” in order to have enough money to assemble a marijuana growing business.

“If everyone lived happily ever after, then why have they never been heard from again?” Elmore asked. “Why did (Davis) go back and take everything (Hughes) owned and why did he take Hiedi Rhodes’ dog she never parted with? … Because no one lived happily ever after.”

Elmore argued Rhodes was collateral damage in a robbery attempt that turned deadly, after which Davis dismembered and chopped up both of the couple’s bodies and burned the pieces.

Davis did not testify on his own behalf during the trial.

Defense attorney Spiro Kypreos highlighted the inconsistencies in the stories told by witnesses, to whom Davis allegedly admitted the killing. He compared the lies told by the state’s witnesses told against Davis to lies told in the Salem witch trials. Kypreos mostly attempted to puncture the testimony of the key witness, Steward, who claimed to be in Hughes’ home at the time.

Kypreos said the inconsistencies in her story could be explained by her fear — not of Davis — but of serving prison time for possibly being considered an accomplice.

“She’s always eager to make her testimony fit the state theory … and she always does,” Kypreos said. “Give her an idea and, if she thinks long enough and hard enough, she’ll come up with a story.”

Steward told jurors that the night of May 7, 2012, she and Davis went to Hughes’ home unannounced so Davis could collect on a drug debt. Hughes invited them into his home for dinner and margaritas, she said.

Steward told jurors she and Rhodes left to get margarita mix, only to find Hughes motionless and bleeding on the floor when they returned. Steward said Davis then grabbed Rhodes by the throat until she slipped into unconsciousness. He then bound both Hughes and Rhodes and submerged their head in a bathtub, she testified.

Davis would later return to collect their bodies, chop them up and burn them at his own home, the state argued.

However, Davis’ attorney said Davis and Hughes discussed business that night before amicably parting. Hughes even allowed him to leave with his Cadillac Escalade, Kypreos said.

Kypreos also said that when two independent human remain detection dogs, also called cadaver dogs, alerted on the Escalade, they were actually smelling blood from some previous incident.

“The name ‘cadaver dog’ is misleading,” Kypreos said. “They are trained to detect remains — bones or blood, as in this case.”

A cadre of people who helped Davis in some way after May 7 told investigators they feared Davis and misled law enforcement under his direction, including a group who assisted in removing Hughes’ possessions from his home. In total, authorities said they recovered more than $18,000 in Hughes’ property from Davis’ home.

Authorities also claimed Davis forged about $16,000 worth of Hughes’ checks for moving Hughes out of his house and “property maintenance.” Those funds went toward planting the seeds of a business, the prosecution said.

“He was broke,” Elmore said. “He couldn’t even turn his lights on, but here comes the future. He took Hughes’ money to build the marijuana grow room.”

Prosecutors also claimed a trail of cellphone calls and texts highlighted the truths of witness testimony and traced Davis’ actions in the days and weeks after the killings of Hughes and Rhodes as investigators attempted to close in on Davis.

Davis previously was acquitted of stealing a 2008 Corvette from Hughes following his disappearance. Jurors on Monday found Davis guilty of 15 counts of robbery, theft and fraud to attain Hughes’ possessions, including first-degree premeditated murder of Hughes and Rhodes.

Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Wells was expected to give the jury a day off and resume the penalty phase Wednesday to determine if Davis will be sentenced to death.

Steward said she did not think a person who takes another’s life should have to give their own life as a penalty.

“He should have to think about what he’s done every day for the rest of his life,” she said. “My son will never know his father because of his decision. I just hope he can find peace within himself and find God.”

YOUNGSTOWN — An escaped Alabama convict was arrested on a DUI charge while heading toward Panama City Beach, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced.

BCSO responded to a call at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in reference to a reckless driver on U.S. 231 in a white Toyota Tundra. A deputy conducted a traffic stop at the U.S. post office in Youngstown.

The driver of the Tundra, 46-year-old John Edward Sharpe, began to drive erratically in the post office parking lot. The deputy approached the Tundra and was able to take the suspect into custody despite the fact he was verbally combative and appeared intoxicated, BCSO reported.

Further investigation revealed Sharpe had escaped Monday from the Red Eagle Work Center in Jefferson County, AlabamaSharpe had been incarcerated on a conviction of robbery in nearby Shelby County, Alabama., and the Tundra he was driving had been reported stolen in Alabama, officials said.

Officers found a cooler in the vehicle with open bottles of alcohol and prescription pills in a medicine bottle with the label altered. Also found in the vehicle was a large amount of cash that was in the vehicle at the time of its theft, officers said.

Sharpe initially was arrested on a charge of DUI with additional charges pending. Other charges from other jurisdictions are expected.