Police

A citizen’s tip helped state police troopers and their investigation into a hit-and-run incident occurring earlier this week in Branch County’s Sherwood Township. Troopers said the tip led them Tuesday to a residence on Hackman Road in Burr Oak Township, where they discovered the vehicle believed to have been involved in the incident. The 2005 Chevy Equinox was impounded for …

A Kalamazoo man was arrested last week after he led authorities on a pursuit that ended in the city of Three Rivers. Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies became involved in the pursuit shortly after 6 a.m. Friday. The vehicle, a Ford passenger car, was observed speeding as it was traveling north on Lutz Road, near Fairchild Road. Deputies attempted to …

The force of a house explosion in Three Rivers over the weekend was felt throughout the area, according to fire officials. Three Rivers fire chief Jeff Bloomfield said the incident occurred around 8 p.m. Saturday at 521 N. Douglas Ave.  Following the explosion, the residence was on fire, and the fire spread to a neighboring residence. Fire personnel managed to …

A Mendon woman died Thursday after the vehicle she was driving left the roadway and plunged into the Fawn River. Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies were called shortly after 7 a.m. to Constantine Road at the Fawn River bridge, located on the border of Constantine and Florence townships. Lillywhite said the vehicle, a 2007 Jeep Liberty, was found upside down …

A 27-year-old man has been charged with murder in the slayings of his parents whose bodies were found in a wooded area in western Michigan. Nicholas Johnson was expected to be arraigned Thursday in Kalamazoo County District Court. Gary and Laura Johnson went missing earlier this month. Their bodies were unearthed Friday at Gourdneck State Game Area in Portage, about …

Police say a deadly overnight truck crash along the Indiana Toll Road closed the tollway for several hours as crews cleaned up a chemical that spilled from a tanker it was hauling. State police say the truck’s driver, 35-year-old Omar Pleasont of Portage, Indiana was pronounced dead at the scene of Thursday night’s crash in LaGrange County, just south of …

A Michigan man is accused of backing a van into a northern Indiana city’s fire department building after he first tried unsuccessfully to crash it into a nearby police building. James Campbell of Edwardsburg, faces felony charges of resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, auto theft and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, The Elkhart Truth reported Campbell, 34, was …

Police said they solved the murder of a Battle Creek woman more than 30 years later, after a newly discovered blood sample connected a man to the fatal stabbing. But no charges will be filed because Roger Plato was killed in 1988, three days before Gayle Barrus’ body was found by hunters in Calhoun County, prosecutor David Gilbert said. Nonetheless, …

A woman has been killed and her husband and five children hurt after the horse pulling their buggy veered in front of a pickup truck in Branch County. Barbara Jo Schwartz, 39, died at an Indiana hospital following the 8:50 a.m. Friday crash in Algansee Township, according to Branch County sheriff’s deputies. The family was thrown from the buggy which struck the fender of …

A 64-year-old man drowned in a Lake Michigan bay when his off-road vehicle hit open water, authorities said. Edward Lester of Garden was at Big Bay De Noc, off Delta County, for ice fishing Thursday. Ice in the area was 4 to 5 inches thick but “recent high winds caused the crack to open,” said Lt. Eugene “Skip” Hagy of …