Marine Veteran Shot in Craigslist Robbery Plugged Wounds Himself

David De Lossy/Thinkstock(MIAMI) -- A U.S. Marine veteran is recovering from a Craigslist transaction gone bad in which he was shot by customers who turned out to be theives. Doctors say his military background taught him a trick which saved his life: he plugged the wounds with this fingers.

"Thank God that I'm here," Lt. Col. Karl Trenker told ABC News' Miami affiliate WPLG-TV from his hospital bed in Florida. "I could very easily not have survived this."

Trenker, 48, had arranged to meet with a Craigslist buyer in Miramar under the name "Galven" who he believed was interested in buying a men's chain necklace his fiancee posted on the online marketplace.

Trenker thought he was meeting the man in a well-populated plaza, but it turned out to be an apartment complex. He met two men outside on Dec. 21 and showed them the necklace.

"He just picked it up, looked at it and then just started running. I said, 'Listen, we can just drop this now. You set that thing on the ground, walk away, we're done. Police are going to be on their way in a minute,'" Trenker said.

Instead of dropping the necklace, the two men took off running and Trenker pursued them for several blocks before one of the suspects, Jeff Steele, "turned and fired several shots at him," according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office police report.

"I got shot. I didn't know I was shot as many times as I was shot," Trenker said. "I felt the one go into my chest and then one through my abdomen."

Trenker was hit three or four times and shot at four or five times, Broward County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Dani Moschella said.

"I put my finger in the bullet holes, the big ones, and then I ran back to the car and I made sure the kids were OK and I told them, 'Listen, Dad's been shot. There's an ambulance already on the way,'" Trenker said.

Police said four of Trenker's seven children were in the car and witnessed the alleged robbery and the chase, but not the alleged shooting.

"He called me and said, 'Honey, I've been shot,'" Trenker's fiancee, Tanya Saiz, told WPLG. "I nearly fainted. He saved my life. That would have been me."

Saiz had originally been the one who was planning to meet the purported customer.

Trenker is amazed that after recently returning from a tour of duty in Iraq unscathed, he would be injured in his own hometown. "I can't believe this. I go to Iraq, I go to Afghanistan and here I am at home, shot," Trenker said. "It's inconceivable. I don't know how that they can put so little value on life."

Fiancee Saiz told WPLG, "He's been shelled with artillery and survived that, so for this scrawny, skinny little kid to come in and take his necklace, he didn't know the guy was armed.

"If there ever was a time to believe in miracles, this was it, because this was our miracle."

Moschella emphasized that authorities discourage people involved in robberies to pursue thieves. She said that is best left up to law enforcement.

"He could have been killed and that gold chain, of course, isn't worth your life," Moschella said. "This isn't your average victim. His good physical condition and military training may have helped save his life."

Within hours, police arrested three suspects. Steele, 20, and James Flounory, 20, were each charged with one count of attempted murder and two counts of robbery with a firearm. The third suspect, Andre Gayle, 20, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana.

Flounory and Steele are in jail without bond and Gayle is out of custody.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Ex-Husband Accused of Strangling Wealth Manager Wife to Death

Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Nearly two years after UBS wealth manager and mother Shele Danishefsky Covlin was found dead in a mysterious drowning at her New York City apartment, her estranged husband was named in a wrongful death lawsuit.

In an unexpected twist, former stock trader Rod Covlin, who has never faced criminal charges, now stands accused of strangling Danishefsky Covlin to death.

The Manhattan Public Administrator, a government office that handles estate disputes, filed a wrongful death civil suit this week, alleging that Rod Covlin, who was in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle with Danishefsky Covlin at the time of  her death, “intentionally, deliberately, willfully, wantonly, maliciously, brutally and without provocation or just cause did strangle, choke, strike, injure, assault, abuse, beat, and murder” his wife.

The civil suit, filed just before the statute of limitations was to expire, was intended to prevent Rod Covlin from inheriting a share of Danishefsky Covlin’s estate, which was estimated to be worth at least $1.5 million. Danishefsky Covlin had apparently intended to change her 2004 will, which left most of her estate to her husband, and instead leave it all to her two children, according to the New York Daily News. The public administrator was appointed executor of the estate, replacing Rod Colvin.

Rod Covlin had taken control of Danishefsky Covlin’s $1.6 million insurance policy payout that she’d intended for their children, according to the New York Post. He filed papers in Westchester County last April to become guardian of Danishefsky Covlin’s cashed-in policy, giving him the power to invest the money and apply to the court to withdraw cash on behalf of the couple’s children, Anna and Myles, who are set to inherit the money when they turn 18.

Shele Danishefsky Covlin, 47, was found dead inside her luxury Manhattan apartment on New Year’s Eve 2009. Her then-9-year-old daughter found her body face-down in the bathtub.

Police initially ruled it a case of accidental slip-and-fall, and Danishefsky Covlin’s body was buried the day after her death, in accordance with Orthodox Jewish custom. But it later came out that Danishefsky Covlin had reportedly told friends that her estranged husband had threatened to kill her, and that she feared for her life. Embroiled in a bitter custody battle, she obtained an order of protection against him.

Months later, her family had her body exhumed for an autopsy, and in July 2010, the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide by strangulation. Police opened an investigation, and while suspicion immediately fell on Rod Covlin, he was never formally charged.

Rod Covlin, who lived down the hall from Danishefsky Covlin at the time of her death, is currently living in Westchester County, N.Y., with their children. Danishefsky Covlin’s family is seeking custody.

Rod Colvin declined to comment to ABC News for this story. Danishefsky Covlin’s death remains under police investigation.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Conn. Christmas Fire: Granddaughter Writes Poem for Deceased Family

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A Connecticut girl whose grandparents died in the Christmas Day fire that also claimed the lives of her three cousins wrote a poem about her grandmother, whom she called Nana.

Morgan Johnson's poem is titled "The Nana Who Lived in the Car" because Johnson's late grandmother, Pauline Johnson, told the girl that she felt like the old woman who lived in a car -- instead of the storybook woman who lived in a shoe -- because she spent so much time driving between family houses.

"Three of them now play in Heaven/And the Nana drives them around in her car there/With a stuffed animal bunny and a G," Morgan, 12, wrote.

Morgan called her grandfather, Lomer Johnson, "G." Before his death, Lomer Johnson had fulfilled a life-long dream of playing Santa Claus at New York City's Saks Fifth Avenue, at the encouragement of his granddaughters.

"She had four granddaughters/Who loved them so/The Nana the bunny and the G," she wrote. "She ate and cooked foods of all different kinds/And had a very kind and pretty mind."

Johnson's three other granddaughters, Lily, 10, and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah were killed in the fire. The only survivors were the girls' mother, Madonna Badger, and her friend, Michael Borcina, a contractor who had been working on the home.

"That poor woman lost her whole family in one fell swoop," Stamford Interim Fire Chief Antonio Conte said at a news conference Tuesday. "I can't imagine how that feels."

The fire began sometime after 3 a.m. Dec. 25 while the occupants of the house were asleep. Officials said the fire was started by fireplace embers that had been cleared out of the fireplace and put in either a mud room attached to the house or a trash enclosure next to it.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

US Population Will Grow to Nearly 312.8 Million on New Year’s Day

Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- As the clock strikes midnight this Saturday night, the total number of Americans living in the U.S. will jump to 312,780,968, the Census Bureau projected Thursday.

The rise in population would mark a 0.7 percent increase from New Year’s Day 2011.

Come January, the agency expects the U.S. birth rate to exceed the death rate by four seconds, with one baby being born every eight seconds and someone dying every 12.

When factoring in net international migration in 2012 -- one person added every 46 seconds -- along with deaths and births, the Census Bureau predicts the country's population will grow by one person every 17 seconds.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Report: Prosecutors Readying Criminal Charges Against BP Workers

U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Federal prosectors are reportedly working on criminal charges against BP employees over the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in April 2010 that killed 11 people and sent millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports prosecutors are looking at several Houston-based engineers and at least one of their supervisors who they believe may have given regulators false information about the drilling risks associated with the well.

Should the charges be brought against them, the employees may face up to five years in prison and a fine, the Journal says.  The newspaper's sources say the charges may be disclosed early next year.

The Department of Justice has not issued any comments on the matter.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Police Release Audio of 911 Call in Christmas Day Massacre

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(GRAPEVINE, Texas) -- Police released audio Wednesday evening from a 911 call they believe was placed by the gunman who allegedly killed seven people, including himself, in Grapevine, Texas, when he entered a house dressed as Santa Claus Christmas morning.

Authorities believe Aziz Yazdanpanah, 56, made the call from his estranged wife's apartment after killing her and two of his children, along with three other relatives.  He later took his own life.

In the recording, the caller can be heard whispering to the 911 operator "Help. Help," and later saying "I'm shooting people."

Police said special equipment had to be used to decipher what the caller was saying.

"The newly discovered audio was not heard on the original audio software over many playbacks, and was not heard/understood by the dispatcher who took the call on Sunday," Grapevine police spokesman Lt. Todd Dearing said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a candlelight vigil was held in Grapevine Wednesday night to remember the victims of the shooting.

Listen to the 911 call below, posted by ABC News affiliate WFAA-TV:

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

DHS Creates Accounts Solely to Monitor Social Networks

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- An online privacy group is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security accusing it of not releasing records from the agency's covert surveillance of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

The DHS creates accounts solely to monitor social media sites and establish a system of records of the information gathered. The agency does not post information, seek to connect with other users, accept invitations to connect or interact with others according to a statement on their website.

The agency scans social media sites for a list of words that include "dirty bomb," "hostage," "exercise," "task force," "explosion," "lockdown," "riot," "nuclear threat," "brown out," "meth lab," "cain and abel" and "brute forcing."

Several countries and cities, including North Korea and Mexico, are also flagged as key words.

In a statement, the DHS said that the National Operations Center (NOC) "will gather, store, analyze, and disseminate relevant and appropriate de-identified information to federal, state, local, and foreign governments, and private sector partners authorized to receive situational awareness and a common operating picture," said the statement.

In April 2011, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) requested records from the DHS of the agency's social network monitoring program. The agency has an obligation to locate the records and notify the requestor if the records are available for release.

Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director, told ABC News that the requests have gone unanswered.

On Dec. 20, EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DHS.

"We want to know how they're collecting information online, what they're collecting online and if there's legal basis to do this," Rotenberg told ABC News.

"We are trying to understand what the circumstances are when the DHS is engaged in tracking to social media sites," Rotenberg added.

The DHS declined to comment on the issue.

Former FBI agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said this initiative is nothing new.

"One of the biggest overlooked areas of the federal government when it comes to crime and terrorism is diligently searching public source information," said Garrett.

Garrett said the DHS can see online information that's not available to the public as long as they have legal authority, in the form of a search warrant, to do so. But often people leave private information open to the public.

"People today are very open about their thoughts and feelings on a number of different topics. It amazes me the amount of information people will write about themselves online. There's a false security about the anonymity of sitting in front of a computer screen and saying things you wouldn't say in public or in front of your parents or your spouse," said Garrett.

Garrett said the DHS should be monitoring social media sites.

"It's one of those things that the government should be doing as long as they're obeying the law. I can't tell you how many bad guys have been caught because they do something bad and then post about it online," Garrett said.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Santa Fe Introduces GPS Tracking Instead of Jail Time For Burglars

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(SANTA FE, N.M.) -- Santa Fe has introduced a new system that tracks convicted burglars through GPS devices rather than putting them in jail. Police began monitoring the first offender last week.

The program will start with just five GPS devices to gauge its effectiveness and collect data.

Santa Fe Police Capt. Aric Wheeler told ABC News the idea for the program originated as an alternative to repetitive incarceration, which is expensive. It also did little to deter burglaries. Wheeler said that police would see an immediate spike in burglaries as soon as criminals got out of jail.

“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem. You have to come up with new and creative ways to deal with them,”  Wheeler said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Couleur told ABC News the program targets individuals facing long sentences, those with a large number of burglary charges, or people who have a juvenile history. Prosecutors and police will work in conjunction with the offenders’ attorneys to evaluate their cases and agree if the individual should be included in the program.

Couleur says within the negotiations, there are multiple issues that must be agreed to by the defendant in order to uphold the constitutionality of the program.

“A person who goes into the program has to specifically consent to it because they waive any issues to unrestricted access to their data by police department,” Couleur said. A clause in the program mandates employment.

“They can contribute to society and they have to go out and get a job. We can reintegrate them into the community,”  Wheeler said. “If they truly want to be rehabilitated and they know ‘Big Brother’ is watching them, I’m hoping they will be more reluctant to commit burglaries again.”

The anklets have two types of monitors, active and passive. Santa Fe police will track them passively, meaning the devices won’t give live GPS data to police computers. However, if there is reason for suspicion, such as multiple burglaries reported in one area, or if a crime fits the monitored burglar’s previous modes of operation, then police can send a request to the 3M, the GPS device company, to get the live locations so they can intervene.

The plan could also be beneficial for many cities and states struggling fiscally, as it could be a way to alleviate the financial toll of incarceration. It could also help the problem of jail overcrowding. These issues were major catalysts in initiating the plan.

Couleur agreed, telling ABC News, “You can’t put everyone in jails. There is no money for new jails and there are no beds in the jails. There have to be alternatives for jails and this is a pretty good one.”

Not everyone thinks this is such a good alternative. Assistant Public Defender Joseph Campbell thinks defendants might not “really understand the full ramifications to what they are agreeing to.”

“If this person picks up new charges through the monitoring program, as a defense attorney I am going to look at whether that initial plea was voluntarily and if they knew it could come back and hurt them,” Campbell said.

However, Wheeler told ABC news he believes this is the “technology of the future,” and thinks even though it is still in its preliminary stages, the program has a lot of potential.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

New York Times Spams 8.6 Million to Say Subscriptions Were Canceled

Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The New York Times sent an email out to 8.6 million people Wednesday erroneously informing them they had canceled home delivery of the newspaper.

Some who received the email had registed on NYTimes.com in the past, but had never subscribed to the at-home newspaper delivery.

The email, titled “Important information regarding your subscription,” read: “Our records indicate that you recently requested to cancel your home delivery subscription. ... We do hope you’ll reconsider. As a valued Times reader we invite you to continue your current subscription at an exclusive rate of 50% off for 16 weeks.”

The Times apologized for the mistake, and tweeted: “If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.”

The Times sent out a second email three hours after the first that read: “This e-mail was sent by us in error. Please disregard the message. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”

Originally, Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the email was spam. But spokeswoman Eileen Murphy clarified later that the email was sent not by the third party Epsilon Interactive, the service the Times uses to communicate with subscribers, but accidentally by a Times employee, according to the paper.

“We regret that the error was made, but no one’s security has been compromised,” Murphy said, according to the Times.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio 

3 Trapped Miners Rescued in Tennessee

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW MARKET, Tenn.) -- Fire officials in eastern Tennessee say they've reached three zinc miners stuck 800 feet below the earth's surface after a drill rig fire Wednesday afternoon injured two miners and stranded the three men below ground.

“They're on the way up from underneath the ground at this time,” said New Market Volunteer Fire and Rescue Cpt. Sammy Solomon.

“Anything like this is great news and you want to thank God up above for getting them out.”

The two others were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Earlier, rescuers were able to provide the trapped miners with fresh air as they attempted to pull them to safety.

Fifty-four men were said to be inside the mine at the time of the accident.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio