This Week in Weird: Dec. 5

Missing woman found living in grain bin

CANTON, Ill. — A woman who walked out of a nursing home in September has been found living in a grain bin south of town.

Jamie Howard, 44, survived the cold by sleeping in a makeshift bed of carpet and plastic, Canton Police Chief Dan Taylor said. She was eating from a pile of crabapples inside the bin.

Howard got very cold Monday morning and approached a house near the grain bin, Taylor said. The homeowners let her in and called the police, who have been combing the area for Howard since she disappeared.

“She was alert and conscious,” Taylor said, though she has lost weight. Howard is being treated dehydration.

Howard left Sunset Rehabilitation and Health Care Center on Sept. 16 and hadn’t been seen since. Police have checked abandoned buildings, wooded areas and strip mined lakes for her, even using an airplane to search.

Wolf wins race for downed 8-point buck

UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. -- There were at least three hungry predators hunting in an isolated section of western Chippewa County on Nov. 16 — Orville Nutkins, his 13-year-old grandson Ryan Dalsky and a wolf — when the moment of truth arrived in the form of an 8-point buck.

Dalsky, armed with a .222 Remington, settled the crosshairs behind the buck’s front shoulder and connected shortly before 5 p.m. on that Sunday evening hunt.

“It jumped straight up and moved like a bucking bronco,” said Nutkins of the after-effects of the shot.

A search of the immediate area revealed very little blood. Thinking the animal might have been hit a little far back, the decision was made to suspend the search for the night and resume under full daylight on Nov. 17.

The plan worked to perfection, sort of.

The buck was recovered approximately 200 yards from the location where the shot was made, but there was no meat for Nutkins and Dalsky to enjoy.

The wolf had beaten the hunters to the deer.

“He ate well,” said Nutkins, attributing the vast majority of meat consumption to a lone wolf that was hanging around the area.

Man accused of backing over girlfriend with his car

CANTON, Ohio -- A Canton man was arrested after he dropped off his girlfriend at her home and then backed the car over her late Thursday night, Canton Police said.

The 54-year-old woman was taken to Mercy Medical Center with a broken leg, said Lt. Greg Boudreaux.

Ronald J. Roberson, 51, was arrested at the victim’s home at 11:39 p.m. on charges of felony aggravated vehicular assault, driving while intoxicated, driving under suspension and obstructing official business, Stark County Jail records said.

The incident occurred as Roberson was bringing his girlfriend home after they had watched football at his cousin’s house, Boudreaux said.

Teen charged with locking girlfriend in room

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- A Boston teen, distraught about his Framingham girlfriend breaking up with him, held her captive in her bedroom Tuesday, pleading for a second chance, police said.

Vincente Matos, 18, was arrested at 10:44 a.m. after his 27-year-old ex-girlfriend convinced him to let her call her mother, police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany said.

The woman, whom police did not identify, told her mother to call police.

The woman told police Matos came to her home about 9 a.m. and kept asking her why she didn't want to be with him, Shastany said.

She told Matos to leave, and then got in the shower. When the woman got out, he was in her bedroom.

"She again asked him to leave, but he refused," said Shastany. "She tried to leave the bedroom, but he ... blocked the exit.

"He threw her on the bed and held her down, asking why she wouldn't stay with him," the lieutenant said.

Matos snatched her cell phone when she tried to call 911.

"She asked him to give her the cell phone and she said she would only call her mother, not the police," said Shastany. "He watched as she dialed the number, and she told her mother to call the police."

Matos was charged with kidnapping by confinement, domestic assault and battery and intimidation of a witness.

GateHouse News Service