Saanvi Venna's Body Found

The 10-month-old had been missing since Monday. A family friend has been charged in the murders of the child and her grandmother, who reportedly attacked the would-be kidnapper as he tried to take her granddaughter.

The body of Saanvi Venna, the 10-month-old girl who disappeared from the Marquis Apartments in King of Prussia on Monday following the murder of her grandmother, was found at about 4:30 a.m. Friday in a sauna room inside the apartment complex, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said. Raghunandan Yandamuri, 26, described by Ferman as a friend of the Venna family, has been charged in the murders of Saanvi and Satyavathi Venna. Ferman said Yandamuri told authorities that he intended to kidnap the child and hold her for $50,000 ransom. See this article's photo section to see a copy of the ransom note. "He believed the family was of sufficient means to pay that ransom," Ferman said. As he was leaving the scene of the elder Venna's …

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John

11:01 am on Thursday, November 1, 2012

"Wonder why he wanted 50 K so badly" The guy was an gambling addict. Filed bankcruptcy in 09. Lost $50K in gambling within a year of time. Was married recently to his long time girlfriend who is by the way pregnant now. Had a decent job. i guess he wanted to get the big bucks within a small amount of time to clear his debt. What an Ahole.   more ›

Life in the Slow Lane

Jeanne Clery’s Legacy

'Murder victim' was the least of what she was.

Years after Jeanne Clery’s murder at Lehigh University in April 1986, a neighbor gave her mother a card that Jeanne had written to the woman’s son in first grade. It was a love letter. “Dear Brad, I love you, Jeanne,” the card said in a first-grader’s awkward scribble. “He had to wear leg braces and Jeanne was the only one in the class who never made fun of him,” said Connie Clery. “And he kept that card all those years.” The neighbor and now friend, Barbara Leve, says that kindness and independence was typical of Jeanne. “It helped [Brad] through a very hard time at a very young age,” she told me. The fact that Jeanne’s father Howard wore a leg brace all his adult life after contracting polio as a teen surely contributed to her ability to…

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Neighbors: Vet Charged in Killing Was Quiet, Friendly

Murder accusation shocks quiet Montgomery County street where David Rapoport and wife live.

Neighbors say accused killer David Rapoport is a quiet man from a quiet street--a sharp contrast to the apparent fury that led him to shoot his pregnant girlfriend once in the back and twice in the mouth, according to police. Rapoport's home is in the Gwynedale development in Upper Gwynedd Township, Montgomery County, where the veterinarian lived with his wife, Elizabeth, who is a teacher. Residents were shocked to hear of their friendly neighbor’s charges of homicide in the shooting death of Lower Macungie Township vet tech Jennifer Snyder and her unborn child. Snyder went missing last week, just before she was scheduled to have her first ultrasound. Police found her body wrapped in a blanket, garbage bags and duct tape in the woods near …

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Veterinarian Charged in Slaying of Pregnant Lower Macungie Vet Tech

David A. Rapoport had worked with victim Jennifer Snyder, according to a friend of Snyder's.

A veterinarian has been charged in the homicide of pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder, of Lower Macungie Township, who was found shot to death in woods near Trexler Nature Preserve in North Whitehall Township last Friday. Pennsylvania State Police at Bethlehem said they would be holding a press conference at 2pm today to release further information about their investigation. David A. Rapoport, 30, of Lansdale, has been charged with the death of both Snyder and her unborn child. He is jailed in Lehigh County Prison. Rapoport and Snyder worked together at Maple Hills Veterinary Hospital, but Rapoport left that practice about a year ago, said Hilary Schiavone, Snyder's friend, co-worker and roommate. Rapoport is married, according to his …

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Alburtis Killings an Isolated Case, Law Officials Say

Statement released to allay residents' fears.

Alburtis Police Chief Robert Palmer and Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said this evening that based on the evidence collected so far, the deaths of Althea Walbert and her daughter, Jeannette, should be considered an isolated incident. "At this point in the case, the police officers and Pennsylvania State Police at Fogelsville who are leading the investigation have found nothing  to indicate that residents at large in the borough are in danger," they said in a joint release. The Walberts were found by a family friend around 9am Friday in their 122 Cobblestone Court home. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim ruled the deaths homicides later that day. Manners of death have not been released, though autopsies were scheduled for 8am …

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Murder of Revered Community Member Leaves Alburtis Reeling

Althea Walbert "was feisty but likable," according to those who knew her.

Althea. No last name was necessary when anyone spoke of the woman who lived at 122 Cobblestone Court in Alburtis. Althea Walbert was a lifelong resident of the borough of 2,300 people where nobody can remember the last time there was a homicide. Or even if there ever was one. Althea and her daughter, Jeanette, were pronounced dead in their home Friday morning. As yet nobody knows exactly when they died, or how, or who would harm an 82-year-old woman and her 59-year-old disabled daughter. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim scheduled an autopsy for Saturday to determine the women's causes of death. He said Friday the manner of their deaths was homicide. State Police at Fogelsville are leading the investigation of the unspeakable atrocity that …

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Mother, Daughter Victims of Homicide in Alburtis

Althea Walbert was well known in town; state police are investigating.

An elderly woman and her daughter were found dead in their Alburtis home Friday morning and state police are investigating. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim says the deaths are homicides. Grim was called to the home of Althea Walbert at 122 Cobblestone Court in Alburtis and declared the women dead at about 10:15 a.m. Walbert, 82, was well known in the small town, Shawn Meyers, a neighbor, told Patch in an interview. Meyers recalled that Walbert and her daughter, Jeanette, were usually seen together. Jeanette was 59 and had a disability, according to several reports. Autopsies are scheduled for tomorrow morning and officials don’t expect to release further information until then. A man who identified himself as a family friend looked …

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