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She had been living in Shafter, California where she and her husband ran the The Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases Inc. She had been living with Multiple Sclerosis for more than 25 years.Last October, the fund had launched a year-long “Penny Campaign” fund-raising program to highlight how every penny donated to her charity counts.Also in October, Canadian TV (CTV) aired a 30-minute special about her life with Multiple Sclerosis. You can watch that special online: www.ctvnews.ca/w5.

A West Virginia sheriff with a reputation cracking down on drug dealers was shot in the head at point blank range and killed outside a county courthouse today, officials and witnesses said.

Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum was shot and killed while sitting in his vehicle during his lunch break in the town of Williamson, state Delegate Harry Keith White told ABC News.

A witness told ABC News that he watched the suspect approach Crum's car, where he was known to eat lunch, and fire twice into the vehicle. The suspect then calmly walked to his truck, described as a tan Ford ranger, and drove away.

Another witness, Larry Dove, told the West Virginia Gazette he saw a man shoot Crum "right in the head."

The shooting suspect was wounded, captured and taken to a hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Crum was elected sheriff in January.

His death follows a string of high-profile assassinations of law enforcement officers and prosecutors in recent weeks, including two Texas prosecutors and the chief of Colorado's prison system.

Investigators from around the country are working to determine if there is any connection among the killings.

Since April 2, 2012, 28 police officers have been killed nationwide, according to preliminary data by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Of those deaths, 13 were caused by guns.

Police have released a person of interest in the case of a woman found dead in south St. Louis Sunday morning.

Police found 47-year-old Aretha Robinson in the alley behind the 2200 block of South Jefferson. The coroner determined Robinson was strangled. Officers picked up a person of interest, but have released the person without filing charges.

 

Crews working on the New Mississippi River Bridge honored a fallen co-worker with a moment of silence today.

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Andy Gammon was working on the bridge one year ago today when a crane tipped over and pulled him into the river. KSDK reports that at 9:55 Thursday morning, the workers took a moment of silence to remember Gammon.

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Some lawmakers have proposed naming a stretch of I-70 in his honor.

HIGHLAND, Ill. (AP) - Services are scheduled in southwestern Illinois for one of seven Marines killed in an explosion during a training exercise in Nevada.

A funeral Mass for 26-year-old Cpl. Aaron Ripperda will be held April 3 at 10 a.m. at St. Paul Catholic Church in his hometown of Highland, east of St. Louis.

Ripperda was a 2005 graduate of Highland High School and enlisted in the Marines three years later. His father says his son expected to return home for good in May and attend Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say an investigation is under way into the deaths of a skydiving instructor and a student, both from Iceland, who died during weekend jumps with a group in Florida.

Pascoe County sheriff's spokeswoman Melanie Snow said the two men took part with 20 other people Saturday in jumps in Zephyrhills, about 30 miles northeast of Tampa. Authorities say a search began when only 20 of the 22 skydivers returned.

Snow said the bodies were founded near each other Saturday evening in woods south of the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport. She would not comment whether their parachutes of the skydivers had opened, saying that was part of the investigation.

The spokeswoman later said the dead were identified as 41-year-old instructor Orvar Arnarson and 25-year-old student Andrimar Pordarson. No hometowns were given.

UNION, Mo. (AP) — A woman and her two children have died in a mobile home fire in the eastern Missouri town of Union.

Union police said the home was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters responded Friday night.

After extinguishing the blaze, firefighters found the bodies of the 24-year-old woman and her two children, ages 1 and 6. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that their names weren't immediately released.

The woman's 26-year-old husband wasn't home at the time of the fire. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

The ad man who gave us Spuds Mackenzie, "Weekends were made for Michelob," and "This Bud's for you," has died. Michael Roarty died Saturday after a heart attack. He was 84.

Roarty helped build Anheuser-Busch brands into international powerhouses. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1994.

Visitation for Roarty will be Wednesday with funeral services Thursday at Bopp Chapel in Kirkwood.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A Springfield woman is suing her former landlord over a fire that killed her three children.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Violet Watson is asking in excess of $25,000 in damages in the suit filed this month in Green County.

The March 2010 fire killed 7-year-old Alexis Watson, 5-year-old Kelsey Watson and 4-year-old Devin Watson. The children's grandfather was seriously injured.

Initially, Violet Watson's then-fiance was charged with setting the fire. But the charge was dropped after laboratory tests found no trace of an accelerant. The cause of the fire is listed as undetermined.

The lawsuit says the landlords failed to maintain a safe property for the home's residents. The suit says there were smoke alarm issues and that the house had "faulty wiring."

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A St. Louis man faces criminal charges in a crash that killed a 53-year-old man and seriously injured two others.

Forty-one-year-old Robert A. White was charged Friday with first-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.

Police said White was driving a sport utility vehicle that T-boned another vehicle Thursday. Marcus Dorsey was killed and two passengers were hospitalized.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that White was treated for minor injuries and arrested.

Officials said White had fled the scene of an earlier accident with a St. Louis City License Collector's vehicle. Police said the driver of the city vehicle called 911 and followed the SUV.

The second crash was one or two miles away from the first.