AZ: Student killed in love triangle involving teacher

AMANDA LEE MYERS

The Associated Press

Posted on Tue, Apr. 14, 2009

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/43002902.html

CHANDLER, Ariz. - An 18-year-old high school student caught with his 48-year-old math teacher in her bedroom was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, who was himself a former student of hers, police said Tuesday.

Chandler police said 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena told them he never meant to kill Samuel Valdivia. He allegedly told police "the blade went in like going into butter" and that he just wanted to show Valdivia how much he hurt him by sleeping with Tamara Hofmann.

Balbuena, a Navy sailor on leave from California, was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder after police found him covered in blood and told them about the killing. He remained jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond on Tuesday and did not yet have a lawyer.

Balbuena found his girlfriend naked and Valdivia in his boxer shorts in the woman's bedroom around 2:40 a.m. Friday, according to police reports and court documents.

Balbuena told police that Valdivia apologized to him before Balbuena began kicking, punching and throwing things at him, according to a police probable cause statement.

Police said Balbuena told them he "wanted to teach the victim a lesson," and stabbed him in the lower side with a kitchen knife, according to the court document. Valdivia later died at a hospital.

He also threw Hofmann to the floor jumped on top of her and demanded to know how long she had been cheating on him, according to the document.

Police said Hofmann taught Valdivia math at El Dorado High School in Chandler and was also Balbuena's teacher when he attended Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe.

A call to both schools was not immediately returned Tuesday. Hofmann's phone number is unlisted.

Balbuena is the one who called 911. He told officers he felt remorse for stabbing Valdivia after seeing him lying on the floor struggling to breathe, police said.

Police spokesman Sgt. Joe Favazzo said Hofmann is being investigated for potential misconduct relative to her involvement with Valdivia.

A 2006 Chandler police report obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday shows that police suspected Hofmann of having a sexual relationship with a then-17-year-old Balbuena.

Both Hofmann and Balbuena denied being in a sexual relationship, and police closed the case.

NV: Matthew T. Cox, ex-Hopkins Public Schools teacher, found murdered in Nevada

by Dave Person | Kalamazoo Gazette

Tuesday December 30, 2008, 11:00 AM

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2008/12/exhopkins_teacher_killed_in_ne.html

HOPKINS -- The funeral for a former Hopkins Public Schools choir director who police say was killed in his Nevada home will be held Saturday in Michigan.

Matthew T. Cox, 32, of Henderson, Nev., was found dead in his home Dec. 22, authorities said. Two brothers, ages 17 and 18, one of whom reportedly was a student of Cox's, were arrested on charges of murder, burglary and robbery, the Las Vegas Sun newspaper reported.

Cox, a Western Michigan University graduate, was choir director for about five years in Hopkins Public Schools before leaving in 2006 to teach in Nevada.

"He was a very good teacher," Hopkins Assistant Superintendent Robert Hennip said. "He made kids toe the line. He expected a lot from them and they responded very well to that."

Hennip described Cox, who initiated specialized choirs and musical productions in Hopkins, as "a friendly guy who wanted to see people excel."

"He worked very hard; he wanted to be successful, he wanted the kids to be successful and his program the same way," the assistant superintendent said.

Cox had last been seen the night of Dec. 21, when he had dinner with a friend, the Sun reported. His body was discovered the following afternoon by another friend who went to his house to take care of his pets and later told police that Cox was supposed to be in Michigan for Christmas, according to the Las Vegas newspaper.

One of the two brothers charged in connection with Cox's death was a choir student at Basic High School, where Cox taught, according to the Sun.

Cox was born Dec. 30, 1975, in Toledo, Ohio, and was a 1994 graduate of Bedford High School in Temperance. He was active in choir, plays and musicals in high school and won the Michigan Solo Performer award two years in a row. He then came to Kalamazoo, where he received his bachelor's degree from WMU.

Surviving are his parents, Debra and Timothy Armstrong, and sister, Kristin Cox, all of Lambertville; and grandparents, Robert and Margaret Graham and Alice and Walter Armstrong, all of Toledo. 

Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday and funeral services at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Michael W. Pawlak Funeral Home, 1640 Smith Rd., Temperance, in Monroe County in the southeastern corner of Michigan.

The Las Vegas Sun contributed to this report.

Contact Dave Person at dperson@kalamazoogazette.com or 388-8555.

FL: More allegations of abuse, beatings at state school for boys

Last Edited: Wednesday, 10 Dec 2008, 7:14 PM EST
Created: Wednesday, 10 Dec 2008, 7:10 PM EST

MARIANNA -- More and more men are coming out, talking about the abuse they endured a state-run reform school.

They are all former students of the Florida School for Boys in Marianna.

"That kind of fear, it lives in you forever, I guess," said Buddy Suggs.

Suggs, from Hudson, was just 12 when he went to Marianna. He's now 63, but the memories still haunt him.

He says he watched as boys, as young as 9 years old, were led to what they called "The White House." It was a two-room building where they were beaten. Suggs saw them walk into the building, not knowing who the boys were.

"Yeah, you didn't know them but you knew them. You knew the pain, the fear they had every day of their life," he recalls.

Suggs said he saw the proof of the beatings. Working in the laundry room, he had to clean the sheets from the cots, where the beatings took place.

"We got the bloody sheets in there. And we know someone had a beating."

He remembers not wanting to touch the sheets. But he had to clean them.

"It was full of blood, pillow cases. It was more red than white, I'll tell you. It gives you a feeling you never had," he says.

Suggs was never beaten at the school, and considers himself lucky.

But he wonders about the boys who were.

The state is now investigating the allegations of abuse.

And they are investigating a cemetery on the school site with 32 unmarked graves -- graves former students believe are those of young boys beaten to death.

Roger Kiser is a former student. He's leading the charge against the school, starting a group called "The White House Boys."

He said he's been trying to get attention to this for 20 years, but no one believed him.

Now that people are listening, he doesn't plan to give up the fight.

"I'm going to keep throwing gas on the fire. I'm sure they want us to go away," Kiser said.

PA: A Pennsylvania teen has been charged as an adult for allege

(CNN) -- A Pennsylvania teen has been charged as an adult for allegedly planning to kill classmates he did not like before turning the gun on himself in a high school shooting spree, a Pennsylvania prosecutor said Tuesday.

Richard Yanis allegedly stole three handguns from his father and told police he planned to "shoot students in the school and then himself" at Pottstown High School, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said in a press release.

Yanis, 15, was charged with attempted murder in adult court because juvenile law in Montgomery County excludes crimes committed with a deadly weapon, Ferman said.

The investigation began when the teen's father reported that three handguns were stolen from a secured gun locker in his basement, Ferman said. His son allegedly took a Smith & Wesson .357 caliber revolver, a Smith & Wesson .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and a Colt .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, Ferman said.

Richard Yanis gave the guns and ammunition to an unnamed friend from school and asked him to "hold onto it," the statement said. The friend allegedly showed his stepmother the guns, and the two drove to a nearby creek where they tossed in the weapons.

The friend told a teacher at Pottstown High School what happened, and police were called.

Yanis told police he planned to attack the school after the New Year, officials said.

"He was going to go into the school shooting, shoot everyone he did not like, and then himself," Ferman said.

"He was to have the guns loaded and have the additional ammunition inside his backpack," she said. "On the day of the planned shooting, Yanis said he was going to tell his friends to go home from school."

John Armato, director of community relations at Pottstown Senior High School, described Yanis "as quiet, relatively introverted. "

"He did not have a great number of friends or a history of discipline problems," Armato said. "He had no history of aggressive behaviors in school.

"Yanis' parents had no comment, but family friend Brian Hanlon spoke on their behalf.

"I can say that it was definitely out of character, but that his parents are dealing with it as best as possible," Hanlon said. "They want everyone to respect their privacy at this time while dealing with these events