Officials say Missouri inmate dead by suicide

LICKING, Mo. -- A Missouri prison inmate apparently has killed himself while serving a 13-year sentence on various St. Louis County drug charges, the state Department of Corrections said Friday.

John Harrison, 38, died shortly before 3:30 p.m. Thursday in an ambulance at the maximum-security South Central Correctional Center, corrections officials said in a statement that labeled the case an apparent suicide but did not elaborate.

Sondra Booker, a spokeswoman for the prison, said Harrison was found in his cell about 75 minutes before he was pronounced dead. She declined additional details, saying the matter was being investigated.

An autopsy is planned.

Harrison was serving a 13-year sentence for various drug convictions.

Police arrest Chicago suspect in Texas

CHICAGO -- Chicago Heights police worked with authorities in Austin, Texas, to arrest an Illinois murder suspect who has been on the lam for a year and a half.

Chicago Heights Police Chief Robert Pinnow said two of his detectives and an assistant Cook County state's attorney tracked Juan Aceves to Austin, where he was arrested while working at a fast food restaurant Thursday. Aceves was working under the assumed name of Juan Ordonez, Pinnow said.

Aceves was wanted for the April 30, 2000, shooting deaths of 27-year-old Adolfo Espinoza and 22-year-old Sammy Mendez. All three were Chicago Heights residents when the two victims were gunned down during a street-corner argument. Witnesses identified Aceves as a suspect, Pinnow said.

Game show winner gives to animals

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- What do you get when a trivia buff and animal lover wins $92,000 on a television game show? Dawn Dulle is showing charitable causes around St. Louis the answer.

On Thursday, the St. Charles County Family Courts clerk gave the St. Charles Humane Society $3,250 from the $92,000 she won during an August episode of "The Weakest Link."

Dulle, who figured she would get $50,000 after taxes and wanted to give away 10 percent of her winnings, also has donated $250 to the St. Louis Symphony Children's Chorus and $500 to the Family Support Services of St. Charles.

Minister pleads guilty to exposing himself

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- A minister for the Illinois South Conference of the United Church of Christ has pleaded guilty to exposing himself to a neighbor.

The Rev. Ronald Eslinger, of Highland, was fined $1,500 and will have to write a letter of apology to his neighbor as part of a plea agreement on Thursday.

A judge also ordered Eslinger to send a copy of his letter to the Highland News-Leader for publication.

Eslinger pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of public indecency. He had been charged with two counts that accused him of exposing himself to a neighbor.

Judge clears doctor of failed brain diagnosis

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- An East Moline doctor has been cleared of charges that he failed to diagnose brain infections in a child that led to severe brain damage, mental retardation and other disabilitiles.

Rock Island County Circuit Court Chief Judge Jeffrey O'Connor said Thursday that testimony from medical experts convinced him that even an accurate diagnosis by pediatrician Surya Sharma could not have prevented the damage and injury to Tammy Lindberg, now 12.

According to the lawsuit, the girl was born with cerebral palsy, mild mental retardation and left hemiplegia, a brain disorder characterized by paralysis.

-- From wire reports