"2 get life sentences in insurance killings" by Linda Deutsch, Associated Press | July 16, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Two senior citizens - one with ties to Massachusetts - were sentenced to life in prison without parole yesterday for murdering two indigent men to collect insurance policies taken out on their lives.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley sentenced Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, to two consecutive life terms each.
In April, the women were convicted of a scheme in which they befriended homeless men, took out insurance policies on them, and then killed them in murders staged to look like hit-and-run auto accidents. Prosecutors say the women collected $2.8 million before the scheme was uncovered.
The judge denounced the women, saying the men they killed needed only food, water, and shelter and thought the women were going to help them:
"Instead, these unfortunate men were sacrificed on your altar of greed."
The jury that convicted the women in April saw a secretly recorded videotape of the defendants in a lockup after their arrests. Rutterschmidt berated Golay, saying her actions in taking out 23 insurance policies raised a red flag when the men died.
Rutterschmidt told Golay:
"It's your fault. You can't have that many insurances. . . . You were greedy. That's the problem."
Yeah, the problem wasn't the MURDERS, it was the GREED!!!!!!
Hey, everybody needs some excitement, right?
"Taunton nursing home is evacuated; Carbon monoxide level triggers alert; 46 go to hospitals" by David Abel, Globe Staff | July 16, 2008
TAUNTON - No one suffered serious injuries, but many of the residents evacuated from the nursing home were frightened or confused as they hurried out of the building with their walkers and in their wheelchairs, authorities said.
Oh, that must have been thrilling for them!
Chuck Crush, the nursing home administrator, said he thinks the elevated level of gas was the result of exhaust from the generator, which automatically kicks in during power failures. He said the carbon monoxide released from the generator may have been sucked into the building by the multiple air conditioners running above.
Better turn off those air conditioners then!
Probably contributed to the grid going out to begin with, in addition to leaving a huge carbon footprint!
Crush said: "The residents didn't want to leave. It interrupted their breakfast."
Oh, great! No wonder they were cranky!!
Who the heck would want their routine interrupted -- especially at breakfast!
I never like it!
And in running down these posts, I realize what garbage is filling my paper!
