Category: crime


5 years later, still no ‘dots’ to connect in Eric Birnbaum’s slaying

February 10th, 2014 – 6:43pm

Philly.com

By Emily Babay

Eric Birnbaum stayed late at his Bucks County office on Feb. 10, 2009. As usual, he was one of the last out the door, leaving with law partner Terry Goldberg about 8:30 p.m. The two childhood friends were used to working late into the night together.

Divorced with college-age daughters, Birnbaum walked into the dark on the mild winter night, climbed into his car and drove five miles to the Northeast Philadelphia home he shared with his long-haired dachshund, Oscar. He planned to walk and feed Oscar, then eat his own dinner, his normal evening routine.

In short, it was a typical night for Eric Birnbaum. And it was the last night of his life. Continue reading »

Read more: crime, enterprise, Philly.com, writing

Photo gallery: Most Wanted captures

October 10th, 2012 – 4:46pm

The Washington Examiner features a “Most Wanted” fugitive each work; this gallery shows the fugitives who were captured thanks to Examiner readers or turned themselves after seeing their photograph. I obtained the photographs, researched the cases, wrote the captions and compiled links to previous stories. Click the photo to see the gallery on washingtonexaminer.com.

Read more: crime, multimedia and social media, Washington Examiner

Five Fairfax gang members accused of prostituting girls

March 29th, 2012 – 8:27pm

The Washington Examiner

By Emily Babay

A 17-year-old girl who responded to a Facebook message saying she was pretty and could make money told police that she ended up being forced to give oral sex at knifepoint and coerced into having sex with 14 men in one night.

The person named “Rain Smith” who sent that Facebook message was actually 26-year-old Justin Strom, the leader of the Underground Gangster Crips — a Fairfax County-based division of the Crips gang — and had sent more than 800 similar solicitation messages to other girls, according to authorities and a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.

Continue reading »

Read more: courts, crime, Washington Examiner, writing

Wheaton kidnapping map

November 28th, 2011 – 6:03pm

I created a map with the locations of and information about a series of kidnappings targeting older men in Wheaton, Md.


View Wheaton kidnappings in a larger map

Read more: crime, multimedia and social media

Jump in D.C. rapes highest in nation

September 19th, 2011 – 5:12pm

The Washington Examiner

By Emily Babay

The number of rapes reported in D.C. spiked nearly 25 percent in 2010, the largest such increase in the country in a year when most states and the nation as a whole saw a decline.

FBI statistics released Monday show that 187 forcible rapes were reported in the District last year, up from 150 in 2009. That’s a sharp contrast to the 5.5. percent decline nationwide.

Continue reading »

Read more: crime, Washington Examiner, writing

Drug mules often blame economic woes

September 18th, 2011 – 5:23pm

The Washington Examiner

By Emily Babay

The methods they use to get drugs into the United States range from soup packets to suitcases to their own bodies. But many drug smugglers nabbed at local airports have at least one thing in common: They say they turned to the drug trade because of financial hardships.

In court papers, attorneys for drug couriers cite myriad economic woes that befell their clients, leading them to work as drug mules to recoup lost funds. A few of their stories:

Continue reading »

Read more: courts, crime, enterprise, Washington Examiner, writing

Couriers get creative in drug-smuggling attempts

September 18th, 2011 – 5:21pm

The Washington Examiner

By Emily Babay

These weren’t clams you’d want to serve on the dinner table. The juice boxes weren’t what you’d put in your child’s lunch box. The soup wasn’t what you’d use to nurse yourself back to health. And the statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph definitely weren’t fit for a church.

They’re all methods used by drug smugglers trying to get their contraband into the United States through Washington-area airports, sending couriers on flights with cocaine-stuffed clams, soup packets and statues, or with stomachs full of ingested heroin pellets.

Continue reading »

Read more: courts, crime, enterprise, Washington Examiner, writing

2 men charged in 2009 Clarendon stabbing death

June 13th, 2011 – 4:15pm

The Washington Examiner

By Emily Babay

When Carl Diener was fatally beaten and stabbed on a Clarendon street in 2009, Patti Diener didn’t understand how her tall, strong older brother — a retired government worker who was working at a gym — couldn’t fight off an assailant.

On Monday, she learned part of the reason: Police believe he had two attackers.

Continue reading »

Read more: crime, Washington Examiner, writing

Fairfax grandmother charged with murder after toddler thrown off Tyson’s walkway

November 30th, 2010 – 4:10pm

The Washington Examiner

By Emily Babay

Neighbors of a 2-year-old Falls Church girl had no answers for why the toddler’s grandmother who often baby-sat the child would throw her from a six-story parking garage, killing her.

Fairfax police offered no motive for the actions of 50-year-old Carmela Dela Rosa. But they said they were sure that the child’s death was intentionally caused by Dela Rosa, and charged her with murder.

Angelyn Ogdoc was severely injured after being thrown from a walkway connecting the Tysons Corner Center mall with a parking garage at about 7 p.m. Monday, Fairfax County police said.

Continue reading »

Read more: breaking news, crime, Washington Examiner, writing

Military shootings map

November 2nd, 2010 – 5:50pm

When several D.C.-area military buildings were fired at in a series of overnight shootings, I created a map with the locations of the buildings, descriptions of the incidents and links to my stories.


View Military Shootings in Northern Virginia in a larger map

Read more: crime, multimedia and social media

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