KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A new analysis of satellite data indicates the missing Malaysia Airlines plane crashed into a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday.

The news is a major breakthrough in the unprecedented two-week struggle to find out what happened to Flight 370, which disappeared shortly after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew aboard on March 8.

Dressed in a black suit, Najib announced the news in a brief statement to reporters late Monday night, saying the information was based on an unprecedented analysis of satellite data from Inmarsat.

He said the data indicated the plane flew "to a remote location, far from any possible landing sites."

"It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

He said Malaysia Airlines has informed the families of passengers of the plane's fate.

Selamat Omar, the father of a 29-year-old aviation engineer who was on the flight, said some members of families of other passengers broke down in tears at the news.

"We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate," Selamat told The Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur.

Selamat said the airline hasn't told the families yet whether they will be taken to Australia, which is coordinating the search for the plane. He said they expect more details Tuesday.

A multinational force has searched a wide swath of Asia trying to find the plane. 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says a new analysis of satellite data shows that the missing Malaysia Airlines plane plunged into the southern Indian Ocean.

If confirmed, the news would be a major breakthrough in the unprecedented two-week struggle to find out what happened to Flight 370, which disappeared shortly after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew aboard. 

An earlier version of this story is below:

PERTH, Australia — Ships rushed to the location of floating objects spotted Monday by Australian and Chinese planes in the southern Indian Ocean close to where multiple satellites have detected possible remains of the lost Malaysian airliner.

One ship was carrying equipment to detect the plane's vital black box, but it remained uncertain whether the vessels were approaching a successful end to the search or another frustrating dead end.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, and informed him about objects that had been found in the search, Malaysian national news agency Bernama reported. Najib was scheduled to hold a news conference late Monday.
 

Earlier, Abbott said in Canberra that the crew on board an Australian P3 Orion had located two objects in the search zone — the first grey or green and circular, the second orange and rectangular. The crew was able to photograph the objects, but it was unclear if they were part of an aircraft.
An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, headed into the area to get a closer look but weather conditions and visibility were poor, according to John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division.

"You may find that we will be doing this for maybe three or four more days before we are confident that we've either found all the objects there, or if they are there, we simply cannot find them," Young said.

Data marker buoys dropped into the search zone by aircraft showed currents were moving in different directions, which Young said "is an indication of water that's not going anywhere in particular, which is better for searching — it means we don't have to move the search area a lot."

Separately, the crew aboard one of two Chinese IL-76 aircraft combing the search zone observed two large objects and several smaller ones spread across several square kilometers (miles), Xinhua News Agency reported. At least one of the items — a white, square object — was captured on a camera aboard the plane, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

"We are still racing against time," Hong said at a ministry briefing. "As long as there is a glimmer of hope, our search efforts will carry on."

China has redirected the icebreaker Snow Dragon toward the latest find, and that ship was due to arrive early Tuesday. Six other Chinese ships have been directed toward the search zone, about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, along with 20 fishing vessels that have been asked to help, Hong said.
Relatives of passengers aboard the missing Boeing 777-200 were closely following news reports of the latest sightings, desperate for any word on the fate of loved ones.

"We're eager to learn more about this," said Wang Zhen, who is staying at a hotel near Beijing. His father and mother, Wang Linshi and Xiong Yunming, were both aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 as part of a group of Chinese artists touring Malaysia.

Satellite images and data released by Australia, China and France in recent days have identified possible debris in the area that may be linked to the disappearance of the plane on March 8 with 239 people on board — two-thirds of them Chinese.
The ocean depth in the search area ranges between 1,150 meters (3,770 feet) and 7,000 meters (23,000 feet), and the U.S. Pacific Command said it was sending a black box locator in case a debris field is located.

The Towed Pinger Locator, which is pulled behind a vessel at slow speeds, has highly sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck site is located, it can hear the black box "pinger" down to a depth of about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), Cmdr. Chris Budde, a U.S. 7th Fleet operations officer, said in a statement.

"This movement is simply a prudent effort to pre-position equipment and trained personnel closer to the search area so that if debris is found we will be able to respond as quickly as possible since the battery life of the black box's pinger is limited," Budde said.

An Australian navy support vessel, the Ocean Shield, was also moving into the search zone and would arrive in three or four days, a defense official said. The ship is equipped with acoustic detection equipment that can also search for the missing plane's black box.
There was no sign the move was linked to any breakthrough in the mystery of the plane, but rather as a preparation.

"The time for the battery life (of the 'pinger') is potentially only a month," said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. "If debris was found, it would be terrible not have anything on site and waste time" getting a ping detector to the region. "I think they're planning ahead and getting it ready."

The search was given added momentum when a French satellite detected potential debris on Sunday, after Australia and China earlier released satellite images identifying suspect objects.

Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said the French radar data located the objects about 850 kilometers (520 miles) north of the current search area, and that "we need to check that out as well."

Australian authorities had sent planes and a ship to try to locate a wooden pallet that was spotted on Saturday from a search plane, but the spotters were unable to take photos of it.

Wooden pallets are most commonly used by ships but are also used in airplane cargo holds. Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian defense minister, confirmed Monday the flight was carrying wooden pallets. But he said there was not yet any evidence that the pallets found by the Australians were related to the missing plane.

The southern Indian Ocean is thought to be a potential area to find the jet because Malaysian authorities have said pings sent by the Boeing 777-200 for several hours after it disappeared indicated that the plane ended up in one of two huge arcs: a northern corridor stretching from Malaysia to Central Asia, or a southern corridor that stretches toward Antarctica.

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
Authorities are considering the possibilities of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board.
Malaysia's police chief, Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar, reiterated at a news conference Monday that all the passengers had been cleared of suspicion.
But he said the pilots and crew were still being investigated. He would not comment on whether investigators had recovered the files that were deleted a month earlier from the home flight simulator of the chief pilot.

Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid had just transitioned to flying Boeing 777s from other commercial planes and the missing flight was his sixth on that type of aircraft.

Fariq had passed all training requirements to fly without incident, Ahmad said.
 

PANAMA CITY
A woman who jumped off the Hathaway Bridge just before noon Sunday was suicidal, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman, who was not identified in a BCSO press release, had called her husband, despondent, moments before she threw herself over the side of the bridge about halfway between the peak and the foot of the bridge. 
A witness called 911 after watching the woman go over the side. He described the exact spot to deputies, who looked over the side and saw the woman treading water below. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission helped pull the woman out of the water and she was taken to a local hospital for treatment. 
While these events unfolded, the woman’s husband called 911 because he was worried she would attempt suicide. Deputies let him know his wife had been hospitalized.
 

PANAMA CITY BEACH
The police captain struck early Sunday morning might never return to work, Panama City Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman said Monday.
Capt. Ron Crowson is scheduled to retire after 31 years as a police officer June 4, but it’s not clear if he will have fully recovered from the broken leg he sustained in the crash on Back Beach Road early Sunday. It will be a month before Crowson can even put any weight on his leg, Whitman said.
“Probably no time soon,” Whitman said of Crowson’s return. “I’d be surprised if he comes back before he retires.”
Crowson was helping direct traffic after a crash on Back Beach Road around 1 a.m. Sunday when authorities said 29-year-old Richard Allen Johns drove a Mazda Miata into the back of a car that was being lifted onto a wrecker truck before the Miata struck Crowson and 29-year-old Royce Kershaw III.
Johns was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence with serious bodily injury. The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
 

PANAMA CITY— One man’s heart stopped and another suffered electrical burns after a piece of metal scaffolding made contact with power lines at a church construction site Tuesday morning, according to officials.

Just before 8 a.m., as construction crews at First Baptist Church, 640 Grace Ave., lowered a piece of scaffolding, it touched power lines, delivering an electric shock to William N. Nunnery, 49, and Timothy K. Swearingen, 45.

Emergency services were dispatched and both were taken to the emergency room shortly after police and fire performed an emergency tandem rescue, Battalion Chief Scott Flitcraft said. They were transferred to an Augusta, Ga. burn center from Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System. Their injuries are considered life threatening, police said.

“One was in cardiac arrest, but we got a heart rate back on him and the other received burns to his hands and feet,” Flitcraft said. “When we have one patient who we are trying to breathe for and another we are lowering down, there are dangers … but it turned out as good as it could.”

Flitcraft said the man with electrical burns was awake and responsive as they were taken to a local hospital, but the man who went into cardiac arrest was unconscious.

A First Baptist Church business administrator was inside the church when the power went out.

“We were fortunate to have a great response from EMS, a terrific response from police,” said Mark McQueen, adding that the church’s main concern is the well being of the employees.

Panama City Police officials added their investigation indicated the incident was a workplace accident. Anyone with information can call Detective S. Johnson at 850-872-7203.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY — One man’s heart stopped and another suffered electrical burns after a piece of metal scaffolding made contact with power lines at a local church Tuesday morning, according to officials.

Just before 8 a.m., emergency services were dispatched to a construction site at First Baptist Church, 640 Grace Ave. As construction crews lowered a piece of scaffolding, it made contact with power lines, shocking the two men.

Both were taken to the emergency room shortly after police and fire performed a emergency tandem rescue, Battalion Chief Scott Flitcraft said.

“One was in cardiac arrest but we got a heart rate back on him and the other received burns to his hands and feet,” Flitcraft said. “When we have one patient who we are trying to breathe for and another we are lowering down there are dangers … but it turned out as good as it could.”

Flitcraft said the man with electrical burns was awake and responsive as they were taken to a local hospital, but the man who went into cardiac arrest was unconscious.

Mark McQueen, First Baptist Church business administrator, was inside the church when the power went out.

“We were fortunate to have a great response from EMS, a terrific response from police,” McQueen said, adding that the church’s main concern is the well-being of its employees.

Panama City Police said both men were stabilized at a local hospital and have been transported to a burn center in Georgia. Officials added that their investigation indicated the incident was a workplace accident.

Bay County Sheriff's deputies were called to a Panama City Beach home at about 2 a.m. this morning. When they arrived on the porch they could hear through open windows a woman screaming “Please don’t hit me again,” and the sound of someone being struck, officials wrote in a news release.

Deputies knocked on the door and a man answered, saw three deputies on his porch, shut and locked the door, and ran to the back of the home, according to a news release. A woman inside the home began screaming for help. The deputies made entry and found David Turner at the back of the home and took him into custody without further incident, officials wrote.

The victim inside had a significant amount of blood in her hair and arms. She told deputies Turner had awakened her at about 1:15 AM screaming about money and began to hit her. 

David Turner, 29, was arrested and charged with resisting arrest without violence and felony battery. Turner also was found to have an outstanding warrant for Battery out of Missouri. 
 

PARKER -- Two people were injured, one critically, in a head on collision in Parker Monday afternoon.

Joan Peoples, of Parker, was driving a Saturn and Glenda Taylor, a Tyndall Air Force Base resident, was driving a Ford Mustang, when they had a head-on collision in the 400 block of Bob Little Road, according to the Parker Police Department.

Taylor was treated and released from a local hospital Monday night, police said. Peoples is still in a local hospital in critical condition, they added. Charges in the case are pending further investigation.

PANAMA CITY -- Jesse Alan Fortson was convicted Tuesday of burglarizing a Panama City car parts business, according to a news release from the state attorney’s office.

Fortson, 31, of 17000 Hernando Ave., Panama City Beach, was found in the Pick and Pull lot at 1311 Redwood Ave., several hours after closing time with car parts in his hands. Three bags of tools also were stacked near an unlocked door. Police believe Fortson either entered the lot through that door, or waited in the lot until the employees left before attempting to steal car parts.

Police were alerted by a burglar alarm. Fortson was convicted as charged of burglary of a structure and possession of burglary tools, both third degree felonies punishable by up to five years in prison each.

Circuit Judge James Fensom scheduled sentencing for April 24.

PANAMA CITY — Police Monday arrested a Panama City man after finding three dogs and several small animals dead from starvation in a home he rented.

Scott Allen Watkins, 30, was arrested on 12 counts of aggravated animal cruelty after police found at least three dogs, some rats, snakes and a parrot dead in apartment 10 at 3415 W. 19^th St.

The animals were discovered on March 18, when the landlord stopped by to check on the condition of his property and smelled the decaying remains, according to police records. The landlord told police Watkins had not been at the location for two months and had been staying with his ex-wife.

Police and animal control officers found two dogs dead in a bathroom and another dead in a bedroom. The rest of the animals were found dead throughout the residence.

“All of the … animals starved, and suffered a cruel and inhumane death,” Watkins’ arrest report says. “All of the animals lost a high percentage of their normal body weight as they suffered malnutrition over an extended period of time.”

Records indicate the animals died from lack of care sometime between Jan. 18 and March 18. Police got a warrant for Watkins’ arrest Friday, and he was arrested Monday.

Watkins appeared in court Tuesday, where his bond was set at $24,000 total for 12 felony counts. A phone number listed for Watkins is no longer in service, and he could not be reached for comment.

Watkins has a history of animal-related crimes. He was cited by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in 2003 for possession of venomous reptiles without a license and improper caging of venomous reptiles, misdemeanors for which he was later convicted. He was charged with keeping six deadly snakes at a friend’s house in that case.

PANAMA CITY — The owner of a dog a police officer shot last week said his dog has never attacked anyone and police overreacted.

Jacob Creighton suggested Friday his dogs were the victims in a case of mistaken identity when they were shot on the porch of their Cove home on Bonita Avenue. Before Creighton’s brother moved out, his two dogs were known to be aggressive, he said.

But Lilith and Amelia, two bulldogs that belong to Creighton and his mother, respectively, aren’t troublemakers, he said. Though Creighton was not there when Lilith and Amelia were shot, he said if the animals felt cornered, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for them to have responded aggressively.

“I don’t want people to think my dog and my mother’s dog are vicious animals, because they’re not,” Creighton said.

Creighton brought Lilith to the vet Friday after a Panama City police officer shot both dogs the morning of March 20. The officer’s report indicates Amelia lunged at him before he opened fire. The officer also reported he recognized the dogs from previous calls.

Creighton said he believed the officer mistook his dogs for his brother’s dogs.
The News Herald’s calls to the police department for comment were not returned.

“My dog might die because they shot first and asked questions later,” Creighton said last week. After a visit to the vet later the same day, Crieghton learned Lilith would most likely survive.

But neighbors said the dogs were behaving aggressively March 20. When a friend arrived at June Miller’s house and told her she had just scared off two dogs that had surrounded her 9-year-old son down the block as he rode his bike to school, Miller and her husband went to investigate. They found Lilith and Amelia wandering unsupervised, and they became very aggressive toward her husband, Miller said Friday.

Miller’s husband sent her inside to call 911 while he grabbed a baseball bat. The cops arrived quickly, she said. She crouched on her front porch and tried to see what was happening, but she only could hear it.

“I heard him holler,” Miller said of the officer. “I heard him yell to the other neighbors, ‘Get inside your house; get in your house right now.’ ”

Then she heard gunshots.

“I hate that their dog got shot, but it’s an animal; animals can be replaced,” Miller said. “My child has one life.”

Neighbor Torie Dunklin saw the shooting. She said she saw the officer standing at the door when the dogs came up to him on either side. One of the dogs was behaving very aggressively, and she heard the officer yell at the dogs.

“Then he pulled out his gun and told them to get back again, and then he shot both dogs,” Dunklin said.

Dunklin said she never has had a problem with Amelia and Lilith; in fact, she’d never seen them. She said she thought the officer might have had an opportunity to use pepper spray to defend himself, but given the circumstance,s she said she thought his response was reasonable.

Creighton said Lilith’s leg was amputated the day after she was shot. The bullet was too close to major arteries to remove it, but Creighton said the vet told him Lilith would most likely survive.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two deputies were taken to a local hospital after an Indiana teenager’s car struck one deputy and rammed two Bay County Sheriff’s Office vehicles late Wednesday night, according to official reports.

A uniformed deputy witnessed what he suspected was a drug deal in the Spinnaker Beach Club parking lot at 8795 Thomas Drive about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. Deputy Steve O’Brien approached a red 1995 Honda Civic when the car sped off, struck the deputy and caused him to roll up and off the car’s hood, according to BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley.

Deputies began pursuing the suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Braeshawn Boyd of New Albany, Ind., as the car headed east on Thomas Drive without its headlights on, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

Boyd’s vehicle continued until it ran over a concrete curb, bursting the rear tire and causing Boyd to lose control of the car, FHP reported.

The car careened to a halt on the north side of Thomas Drive, where deputies tried to block the car from escaping. However, Boyd was able to crank the car and accelerate around one BCSO vehicle, then crash into two other BCSO vehicles, Corley said.

FHP reports estimate a combined $3,500 in damage to the BCSO patrol vehicles. Deputies Ryan Robbins and Douglas Smith will have to undergo treatment for shoulder and knee injuries from the collision, Corley said.

Boyd was taken to the Bay County Jail after being treated by EMS for injuries he sustained during a struggle with deputies prior to his arrest. He was charged with three counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, two counts of felony criminal mischief, two counts of resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer without violence, three counts of aggravated assault, aggravated fleeing and eluding, and disorderly conduct, BCSO reported.

The deputies were treated and released Thursday with nonlife-threatening injuries.

SOUTHPORT — Just hours after bonding out of jail, a Bay County man was arrested again Thursday after another altercation with his wife in a series of events that stretched from Springfield to Southport.

Randall Ralph Holley, 39, 7029 Vinson Road, originally was arrested at his home March 6 on multiple charges and warrants from Bay, Escambia and Washington counties after a multi-day, multi-agency search in the West Bay area. The search came after Holley fought with his wife in Washington County and tried to run over a witness before driving away, authorities said.

He later bonded out of jail in Bay and Escambia counties, then bonded out of Washington County jail Thursday. According to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, after Holley was released, his wife picked him up and they came back to Bay County. Holley’s wife told deputies that during the drive, the two started arguing again. Holley told her to go to a home on Transmitter Road, which she did.

A BCSO release said when Holley got out of the vehicle, his wife drove away quickly, leaving him behind because she was afraid. She drove to Southport and was at the intersection of State 77 and County 232 when she looked in her rear view mirror to see Holley standing in the bed of the truck behind her. Deputies later learned Holley had gotten a ride from someone and followed her and jumped into the truck bed from another vehicle.

Holley picked up an old water pump from the bed of the truck and used it to smash the back window of the truck, cutting his wife’s head in the process. He then climbed through the back window into the truck cab, and his wife drove the truck into a parking lot and got out with Holley chasing her. Several witnesses intervened to stop him and he jumped back into the truck and drove away, BCSO said.

At about 4:30 p.m., deputies found Holley on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Panama City and took him into custody without incident.

Holley was taken back to the Bay County Jail on charges of throwing a deadly missile into a vehicle, and aggravated assault domestic violence, both felonies. He is scheduled to have a bond hearing Saturday at which his new bond could be set.

PANAMA CITY -- An attorney representing the former mayor of Springfield appeared in court Thursday for a routine pretrial hearing.

Robert Walker was not in court; he has filed a waiver of appearance. Attorney Steve Meadows appeared on his behalf before Judge Elijah Smiley.

His next court date to discuss the status of the case is scheduled for May 1.

Walker is charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly violating a stop-work order that was issued when state investigators learned an employee of his construction company was not covered by a worker’s compensation insurance policy.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Three women told deputies they were raped within a few hours of one another late Thursday and early Friday.

The allegations were made between 11:30 p.m. Thursday and 4 a.m. Friday, though investigators are beginning to doubt the validity of the last report, officials said Friday.

“I don’t have a lot of confidence in that one,” said Bay County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Tommy Ford.

Deputies had not completed an incident report on that case as of Friday afternoon.

In the first incident, deputies were called to Hammerhead Fred’s on Thomas Drive around 11:30 p.m. The victim told deputies a black man taller than 6 feet with short hair raped her in a portable toilet and they would find a large amount of blood inside.

Police and club security searched the club but didn’t find the suspect. The crime scene was processed and the victim hospitalized. The relationship between the suspect and the victim, if any, is not clear.

Just before 1 a.m., deputies found a woman wearing only a long shirt standing on the corner outside of Zoo World on Front Beach Road. She said she’d begun walking home after a fight with her boyfriend when she was approached by three black men in an orange car who offered her a ride.

She said they drove to a parking lot where two men took turns raping her before she got out of the car. She had a cell phone she said she took from one of her attackers.

Deputies detained suspects in a vehicle matching the description the victim had given. They were later released without charges, but deputies seized the vehicle and are processing it for potential evidence, Ford said.

The third report came in around 4 a.m. from the Coconut Grove Motor Inn on Front Beach Road. Few details about this case were available Friday, but Ford said witnesses were disputing the victim’s story.

No arrests in the three cases have been made, and each incident is under investigation.

Ford said rape investigations are especially challenging during Spring Break. Victims often are intoxicated, and in many cases they barely know their attackers. Because victim and suspects often are visitors they can be difficult to locate if they leave the area. Sometimes the allegations are just that, Ford added.

“Some of them turn out to be unfounded,” he said.

PANAMA CITY — A judge Thursday ordered a new trial for a man convicted of drug possession based in part on the testimony of a discredited drug analyst but left evidence tampering and resisting police charges standing.

Judge James Fensom’s order was a win for prosecutors because it doesn’t throw out the felony tampering with evidence charge, said defense attorney Walter Smith.

“It looks like it’s going to be a long, hard slog,” Smith said. “They’re not giving an inch on this.”

The order vacated the jury verdict on two of the five counts against Jeremiah Beazley, and grants him a new trial on the two counts of possession of controlled substance.

The new trial was granted because newly discovered evidence that Joseph Graves, the former supervisor of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Pensacola drug lab, might have tampered with the pills investigators submitted to the lab for testing.

During Beazley’s trial in July, there was a discrepancy in the number of pills the Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigator submitted to the lab and the number of pills the lab returned. The difference was 90 pills.

The investigator testified he’d either miscounted the pills or made an error in his written report, and Graves testified he didn’t count the pills that were submitted to the lab.

Smith represented Beazley in the trial and has for now at least re-enlisted in Beazley’s defense. He had sought to have the evidence ruled inadmissible in a new trial, but Fensom disagreed.

Smith can argue that Graves tampered with the evidence and so it should be suppressed, and at that point prosecutors will have to establish that there was no tampering.

Prosecutors conceded in a written argument filed earlier this month that Beazley was entitled to a new trial on the drug charges, but they argued they could have convicted him of evidence tampering and resisting an officer without violence without any testimony from Graves.

Fensom found that was true, because the law says prosecutors need only prove that Beazley knew an investigation was underway or was about to begin when he threw the pills in a watery ditch while fleeing law enforcement just before his arrest. There’s no requirement that the evidence be a controlled substance, he noted.

Prosecutors called Fensom’s decision a “commonsense order” in a statement released Friday.

“We acknowledged in our response to the motion that Jeremiah Beazley deserved a new trial based on tainted evidence. We disagreed, however, that Beazley should be exonerated. He should be held accountable for the drugs that we can show were in his possession at the time of his arrest. Judge Fensom issued a commonsense order and we will be ready to take Beazley to trial on his drug-possession charges upon his return to Bay County.”

But Smith said he was irked that he won’t be able to present “the whole story” to jurors in the event of a new trial. He won’t be able to argue his client is not guilty of the tampering felony for which Beazley was sentenced to the maximum five years. He is now in state prison.

He thought all the charges should be retried because jurors might be inclined to pardon Beazley of tampering in light of evidence that the state itself tampered with the evidence.

“If you’re so confident try it again,” he said. “Let them hear the whole story and see if they convict Jeremiah Beazley of tampering.”

Smith said prosecutors are more interested in preserving a conviction than ensuring a just outcome.

“We’re more concerned about justice than convictions, and in this case we’re absolutely concerned about preserving the conviction because the jury determined that justice was best served through the conviction of this defendant, which is why they found him guilty of some of the charges we brought, but not all,” said Greg Wilson, felony chief for the State Attorney’s Office.

About seven months after Beazley was convicted, Graves was arrested on suspicion of stealing pills from the lab. Graves now faces the same trafficking in controlled substances and evidence tampering charges originally leveled against Beazley.

PORT ST. JOE -- An Eastpoint woman was killed and two people from Port St. Joe were in critical condition in a head-on crash on U.S. 98 east of Good Morning Road Friday afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Jeanetta Hawkins, 42, was driving west when a 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe carrying Richard McDonald and Mary McDonald crossed the center line and collided with the 2011 Ford Transit carrying Hawkins.

Hawkins was killed, and Richard McDonald, 72, and Mary McDonald, 67, were listed as critically injured.

No charges have been filed and the FHP is investigating the crash. Only Mary McDonald was wearing a safety belt.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Police have arrested a man for hitting a hotel guest in the head with a gun, causing it to discharge Friday night.

Panama City Beach Police arrested Darius Dion Simmons, 23, on charges of carrying a concealed firearm, aggravated battery and use of a firearm while committing a felony at the Edgewater Beach Resort Tower 1, 11212 Front Beach Road, about 9:45 p.m., according to police reports.

Simmons, a Georgia resident, was arrested after he went to room 110 at the Edgewater looking for family members. Guests of the room explained to Simmons he had the wrong room, but the conversation escalated into a verbal altercation. Simmons was asked to leave by the room’s occupants and did, police reported.

Less than five minutes passed before Simmons returned and a physical altercation ensued. During which, Simmons pulled a semi-automatic handgun from the waistband of his pants and struck the victim in the head, causing it to discharge at least one round, police reported.

The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment to a deep laceration to the head but was not shot in the incident. Simmons was taken to Bay County Jail to await first appearance. 

SPRINGFIELD - Springfield police are investigating a stabbing incident where the victim was stabbed multiple times with a screw driver before fleeing the area.

Police responded to a domestic dispute at 139 Springfield Ave. about 9 a.m. Monday. Reneasha Hayes, 26, had stabbed Michael Poulson, 31, two times with a screw driver, police said.

Poulson refused EMS transportation to the hospital.

Neither filed charges, however Springfield police are investigating the incident.

 An earlier version of this story is posted below:

SPRINGFIELD - Springfield police are investigating a stabbing incident where the victim was stabbed multiple times with a screw driver and then fled the area.

The incident happened in the 100 block of Springfield Avenue.

At 9 a.m. Chief Philip Thorne said officers along with tracking dogs from the Bay County Jail were searching for the man.

"Our victim did take a couple of stab wounds with a screw driver and has left the area," Thorne said. "We are trying to locate him. Of course we're initiating the investigation into what led to the stabbing."

Thorne added that ultimately officers want6ed to know "how bad is he hurt and what kind of medical aid can we get to him."

As Thorne was speaking the man returned to the home where he was stabbed.  

The incident is under investigation.

PANAMA CITY — A woman arrested in Sunbury, Pa., on suspicion of killing a man she met on Craigslist claimed in an interview with a newspaper reporter to have killed 22 people, and left parts of them in Mexico Beach.

Miranda Barbour, 19, garnered national attention when she told the Daily Item during a jailhouse interview she was involved in a satanic cult and killed 22 people. In a second interview, published Saturday on the Daily Item’s website, she claimed to have worked as a 15-year-old go-go dancer in Panama City and buried human remains in Mexico Beach.

The Daily Item reports Barbour mentioned Mexico Beach as one of three cities where she said investigators would find parts of bodies.
“There is some there as well,” Barbour reportedly said.

The report leaves investigators with almost nothing to go on, but law enforcement agencies haven’t dismissed them. As Maj. Mark Aviles with the Panama City Police Department said, “This is a crazy person who’s giving out the information, so you’ve got to take it, but you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt.”
Aviles said Panama City Police have no record of any contact with Barbour, and he was not aware of any cases that might tie to Barbour.

Mexico Beach Police Chief Glenn Norris said Monday he had not heard from authorities in Pennsylvania, so he planned to reach out to them and find out what was going on.

“This is the first I’ve heard about a murder here in Mexico Beach,” Norris said.

He said there are no unsolved homicide or suspicious missing person cases that would fit with Barbour’s claims, which he pointed out, were vague.

“Unless I have more to go on…” Norris said.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is also working the case.

“We have assigned an investigator to look into her claims,” Spokeswoman Ruth Corley said Monday. Corley added the investigation had not substantiated any of the claims in the Daily Item as of Monday.

Panama City Beach Police are working with authorities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement in Sunbury, said Chief Drew Whitman of the Panama City Beach Police.

“We do have a missing person from that time frame, so we’re taking it seriously,” Whitman said.

PCBPD investigators are trying to get video footage of the interview to figure out exactly what Barbour said.

“That would help a lot,” Whitman said.

Barbour and her husband, 22-year-old Elytte Barbour, are charged with luring 42-year-old Troy LaFerrara to meet them in a shopping center parking lot in November. When LaFerrara got in their car, Elytte Barbour allegedly strangled him while Miranda Barbour allegedly stabbed him repeatedly.

She told the Daily Item she joined a satanic cult at age 13 in Alaska and began killing people shortly thereafter. She said she lost track of the number of murders she’d participated in at 22.
 

PANAMA CITY — The State Attorney’s Office will prosecute a Calhoun County Jail guard for the misdemeanor battery of an inmate, officials announced Monday.

Deputy Christopher Doyal is charged with one count of battery against Ventura Brown, an inmate at the Calhoun County Jail. Investigators said evidence shows Doyal used excessive force without lawful justification during an altercation in Brown’s cell on Feb. 24.

The State Attorney’s Office also has video and audio evidence of the incident but would not release those files Monday. In the report, Investigator Jimmy Nolan said “the video clearly shows Doyal swinging at Inmate Brown,” but witnesses did not report seeing Doyal actually hit Brown.

In Brown’s account of the incident, “Doyal began punching him the face with keys he had in his right hand, chipping his front tooth,” before he was taken to a local hospital.

Inmates in neighboring cells recounted hearing Brown pounding on his cell door and yelling before Doyal appeared to investigate the disturbance.
Brown told investigators that a day earlier he slipped on a wet floor and hit his head. He was yelling for his prescribed medication because his head was hurting. And he was using profanity toward Doyal, investigators reported.

During the aletercation Brown was on the phone with his wife. He put the phone down, stepped back from the door and put his hands behind his back when Doyal arrived, he said.

Brown’s wife could not make out what happened from there, she told investigators, but Brown said the door flew open and Doyal took a swing at him, which he side-stepped. At that time, Doyal pushed Brown against the wall then onto his bunk and began choking him before Doyal eventually punched him in the face with the keys, he said.

A trustee inmate, Christopher Phillips, said he and other inmates were eating when Doyal came around asking who was beating on the door. When Doyal went into the cell, they heard hollering and ran into the hall to see. He watched Doyal detain Brown to his bunk but did not see either man throw a punch, he said.

Phillips said, before separating the two, he heard Doyal say: “What have I done to you, what have I done to you,” a couple times, Nolan reported.

Brown was taken to a local hospital for treatment to his injuries and is currently detained in the Jackson County Jail.

PANAMA CITY BEACH - Panama City Beach police are searching for a man allegedly connected to several burglaries, according to a news release.

On Tuesday officers conducted a traffic stop of a Nissan Altima and nabbed driver Brandon Drake Farrow, 24, of Ringgold, Ga. Farrow’s passenger Justin Shane Dean, 20, fled into a nearby wooded area.

During a search of the vehicle officers found items from several recent burglaries, officials wrote in a news release.
Farrow is charged with burglary, possession of a controlled substance, resisting an officer without violence and driving on a suspended license. Farrow was also wanted in Georgia, officials wrote.

Dean is still at large, officials said.