Woman found dead hours before she was to be sentenced for killing her husband
(NEW YORK) — A Connecticut woman was found dead at her home on Wednesday, hours before she was scheduled to be sentenced for killing her husband.
Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, 76, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in March in the 2017 death of her husband, 84-year-old Pierluigi Bigazzi, according to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice. Police found the University of Connecticut Health doctor and professor dead in the basement of the couple’s Burlington home while responding to a welfare check call from his employer, who had not heard from him for several months, prosecutors said.
Kosuda-Bigazzi also pleaded guilty to first-degree larceny for continuing to receive her husband’s pay following his death, according to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice. Investigators found that checks from her husband’s employer were deposited into the couple’s joint checking account from his death in July 2017 until the discovery of his body in February 2018, prosecutors said.
Kosuda-Bigazzi’s hearing was scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Her death was “not anticipated,” according to her attorney.
“We were honored to be her legal counsel and did our very best to defend her in a complex case for the past six years,” her attorney, Patrick Tomasiewicz, said in a statement. “She was a very independent woman who was always in control of her own destiny.”
Connecticut State Police said they have opened an “untimely death” investigation in the incident.
Troopers responded to her home Wednesday morning after an individual reported at approximately 10:37 a.m. ET that they were at her residence but were unable to make contact with her, state police said.
With help from the local fire department, troopers entered the residence and found Kosuda-Bigazzi unresponsive inside, state police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
No additional details were released by state police.
ABC News has reached out to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice for comment.
Kosuda-Bigazzi had been out on $1.5 million bail while awaiting sentencing.
Police found handwritten documents at the home in which Kosuda-Bigazzi claimed she had killed her husband in self-defense, according to court records.
Bigazzi’s death was ruled a homicide by blunt injuries to the head, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Bigazzi was a UConn Health faculty member in the School of Medicine for over 40 years. Kosuda-Bigazzi also worked at UConn Health from 1986 to 1998 as a science instructor and she then volunteered, helping her husband through the summer of 2017, school officials said.
(LAURINBURG, N.C.) — A Waffle House employee was fatally shot in North Carolina by a customer who became “agitated and verbally abusive” toward employees after placing his order, according to the Laurinburg Police Department.
Officers responded to a report of shots fired shortly after midnight Friday at a Waffle House in Laurinburg, where they found 18-year-old Burlie Dawson Locklear suffering from a gunshot wound, police said.
Locklear was transported to Scotland Memorial Hospital where he later died.
An investigation revealed the suspect came to the Waffle House and ordered food, but while it was being prepared he became “more agitated and verbally abusive toward the employees,” according to police.
He walked away from the restaurant after being given his food, but turned while walking to his car and fired two shots toward the Waffle House, striking Locklear, police said.
The suspect then fled the scene, police said.
Police described the suspect is a 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 Black male with light skin, long dreads, facial hair including a beard and mustache. He was last seen wearing a dark blue hoodie, blue jeans and white shoes.
The suspect was operating a dark gray vehicle, possibly a 2014 Chevrolet, according to police.
The investigation into this incident is active and police are asking anyone with information to contact them.
(NEW YORK) — Police in Iowa are warning residents to stay away from a “dangerous,” injured water buffalo that has been on the loose since Saturday.
The Pleasant Hill Police Department said officers had responded to a call Saturday about an “animal in the road” in the city, located about six miles east of Des Moines. The animal turned out to be an “aggressive” water buffalo, according to its owner, police said.
The police department said an officer shot the animal, injuring it, after the water buffalo showed “aggressiveness” toward responding officers. The animal was then able to escape, police said.
Officers were working with the Des Moines Animal Control to contain the animal and return it to its owner’s property, though did not have “tranquilizers or equipment to handle such a unique situation,” the police department said in a statement Monday on Facebook.
Pleasant Hill police said that they are employing ATVs to search bicycle trails and along Little Fourmile Creek, where it was last seen as of Monday afternoon. They are also partnering with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to use their drone technology and with “local individuals who have expertise in containing this type of animal,” they said.
“The safety of the Pleasant Hill community is our top priority,” police said. “With a dangerous animal loose in our community, we are using all resources available to keep our community safe and attempt to return the animal to its owner, if possible.”
The Iowa Farm Sanctuary said in a statement on Facebook Monday that if the injured water buffalo is found alive, they “will be doing everything we can to ensure we can get him to the vet immediately.”
According to the Iowa Farm Sanctuary, which indicated it is in touch with the owner of the property the water buffalo escaped from, the animal initially got loose while being loaded for meat processing.
The group, which nicknamed the animal “Hank” in its Facebook post, said they ultimately hope to bring the animal to a sanctuary, though added that there “is the possibility the owner will go through with the original plan.”
“We remain cautiously optimistic!” they said. “At this point, I think most of our state is rooting for a happy ending for Hank!”
Amid the search, the water buffalo was seen on Ring footage on Monday near the front door of a home in Pleasant Hill. A Pleasant Hill resident also filmed the animal in his backyard on Monday.
Police urged anyone who sees the animal to not approach it and call the Pleasant Hill Police Department at 515-265-1444.
(NEW YORK) — As students across the United States head back to school, classrooms may begin to feel the effects of laws concerning LGBTQ issues, race and religion that have recently been passed and signed by their local legislators.
What laws are schools facing in your state?
Alabama
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a “divisive concepts” bill set to go into effect in October, which prohibits public colleges and universities from promoting, sponsoring or maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and programs.
It also bans these institutions from including certain “divisive concepts” on race, gender, sex or religion in the classroom curriculum.
California
In July, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a ban on “forced outings” of trans and non-binary students in schools.
The law was implemented to challenge local school districts that required teachers to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender or changes the name or pronouns other than what aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Florida
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that authorizes unlicensed religious volunteer school chaplains to provide counseling services.
Another law bans “identity politics” or any instruction “that systemic racism, sexism, oppression and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political and economic inequities” from being included in college and university teacher-preparation programs.
Minnesota
In June, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — now a vice presidential nominee for the Democratic ticket — signed a law prohibiting book bans in schools and libraries amid a record-breaking rise in attempts to censor library and school books, materials and resources.
Idaho
Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a law banning any material — books, movies and more — describing or depicting nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sado-masochistic abuse from a school or public library if such material is given or is available to a minor.
He also signed a law banning required statements about DEI in hiring and admissions decisions — or any statement on a candidate’s race, sex, color, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Little also signed a law that bans public school employees from using a trans student’s preferred pronouns or name without parental permission. Teachers also will be allowed to refuse to use a trans student’s preferred name or pronoun.
Indiana
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 202, which requires school diversity committees to consider and review “intellectual diversity” — which is defined in the legislation as having “multiple, divergent and varied scholarly perspectives on an extensive range of public policy issues.”
The law would punish faculty — including the potential to revoke tenure or promotion — if they are “unlikely to foster a culture” of intellectual diversity or do not expose students to works “from a variety of political or ideological frameworks that may exist within and are applicable to the faculty member’s academic discipline.”
Iowa
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion bill that bans DEI offices, positions related to DEI or any statements in favor of DEI.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion” programs are identified as programs or policies implemented or designed with reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
It also includes restrictions on programs that provide “special benefits” or “differential treatment” of people of different races.
Additionally, the law bans efforts to promote ideas concerning unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, antiracism, racial privilege, sexual privilege, gender theory and others.
Additionally, Reynolds signed a sweeping education law that bans books with any depictions of sex and sexual contact in grades K-12 and bans references to sexual orientation or gender identity in classroom instruction or material from kindergarten to the sixth grade.
Kansas
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly allowed a bill banning colleges and universities from requiring prospective students and faculty to make statements about their views on DEI programs to become law without her signature.
Kelly signed a bill barring health care providers from administering any drug or test or conducting behavioral health treatment without parental consent.
Louisiana
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a slate of culture wars legislation set to impact students this year. One law bans K-12 teachers from discussing gender or sexual orientation.
He also signed a law that bans teachers from using a trans student’s pronouns or preferred name without parental permission. Teachers are allowed to refuse to use a trans student’s preferred name or pronouns.
Another law bans trans students from using bathrooms that don’t match their sex assigned at birth in schools.
Mississippi
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a law that bans trans students from using bathrooms that don’t match their sex assigned at birth.
New Hampshire
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed a law barring transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams in grades 5 to 12.
South Carolina
A law signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in May requires public school employees and faculty to notify a student’s parent or legal guardian if they ask to be referred to by a name or pronoun that does not align with their sex assigned at birth or if their gender is not consistent with their sex assigned at birth.
Tennessee
Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law barring health care providers from administering any medication, conducting psychological services or counseling services without parental consent — with certain exceptions.
It also bars public school employees from withholding information about the physical, emotional or mental health of a student from their parents.
Another law requires that school employees notify administrators and a student’s parents if a student requests pronouns or a name that does not align with the student’s sex assigned at birth.
Another policy change allows families to abstain from material concerning sexual orientation and gender identity.
Utah
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed several bills into law that touch on key culture war issues.
One new law requires all schools to remove a book if school officials from at least three school districts or at least two school districts and five charter schools have determined that a book constitutes “objective sensitive material.”
“Objective sensitive material” is defined under the law as an instructional material that constitutes pornographic or indecent material, which is further defined in Utah law as depicting or describing sex or nudity while also lacking “serious value” for minors.
This has led to the banning of books by Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur, Margaret Atwood, Sarah J. Maas and others, in what free speech advocates say is the first statewide book ban.
Another law prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion programs or demographic-based scholarships and initiatives, as well as any program or policy that discusses privilege based on gender or race, social-political power structures, and other topics on race, sex and gender.
Cox additionally signed a law barring transgender students from using restrooms and changing facilities that align with their gender identity.