But things quickly turned sour and divorce documents paint a bitter picture of Bruce Pardo's increasing desperation as he lost first his wife, then his job and finally the dog. By fall 2008, Pardo was asking a judge to have his ex-wife pay him support and cover his attorney's fees.

Pardo's downward slide ended Christmas Eve, when the 45-year-old electrical engineer donned a Santa suit and massacred nine people at his former in-laws' house in Covina, where a family Christmas party was under way. He then used a homemade device disguised as a present to spray racing fuel that quickly sent the home up in flames.

Pardo had planned to flee to Canada following the killing spree but suffered third-degree burns in the fire — which melted part of the Santa suit to him — and decided to kill himself instead, investigators said. His body, with a bullet wound to the head, was found at his brother's home about 40 miles away.

The rented compact car he had driven to his former in-laws house was rigged to set off 500 rounds of ammunition and later exploded outside his brother's home. No one was injured.

Police found a second car rented by Pardo late Saturday, but Covina police spokesman Lt. Pat Buchanan said the bomb squad did not find any explosives in that vehicle.

Teah Wimberly entered a written plea Thursday. She will be tried as an adult. If convicted, the 15-year-old could be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison.

Authorities say Wimberly and 15-year-old Amanda Collette were longtime friends who had recently stopped speaking before Wimberly shot her at Dillard High School in November. She then ran to a nearby restaurant, called police and confessed.

Her lawyer has said Wimberly may need medication after a psychological evaluation found she had mental health issues.

Wimberly also pleaded not guilty to a count of carrying a firearm on school campus.

The gunman opened fire just before noon Sunday inside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, in northern New Jersey.

Officials say some 200 people were attending a service inside the house of worship.

The New Jersey State Police and Passaic County law enforcement agencies say they are hunting for the gunman.

A law enforcement official says said the shooting may be a result of domestic violence.

Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from Kerala, India.

Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer, 51, and a woman described as his companion, Terri Leavy, 42, have been held as material witnesses in California since their separate arrests in the kidnapping investigation. Cole Puffinburger was abducted Oct. 15 and found unharmed late on Oct. 18 on a Las Vegas street.

Tinnemeyer and Leavy were to appear before a federal magistrate on charges of interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, said Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Gregory Brower.

Las Vegas police have characterized the boy's abduction as a message from "Mexican nationals" and methamphetamine traffickers aimed at Tinnemeyer, who police alleged made off with millions of dollars in drug money. Police said two gunmen posing as police officers tied up the boy's mother and her boyfriend and ransacked their home before taking the boy.

Tinnemeyer was arrested Oct. 17 in Riverside, Calif. Leavy was arrested Oct. 19 in Fontana, Calif.

Judge Charles Hely said Carolyn Riley should be released on her own recognizance once she proves she has a place to live because she has been held without bail for 20 months.

The trial has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22, but could be postponed as the state Appeals Court considers prosecutors' appeal of a decision reducing the charge against the Rileys from first- to second-degree murder in the death of their daughter, Rebecca.

The girl was found dead on her parents' bedroom floor on Dec. 13, 2006.

A state medical examiner determined Rebecca died of a lethal combination of prescription drugs for bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for which she and two older siblings were being treated.

David W. Johnson, 59, had an expectation to privacy when he visited his wife, a stroke victim, at Divine Savior Nursing Home in Portage, the District 4 Court of Appeals ruled. Therefore, police violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches when they installed a hidden video camera in the room, the court said.

"We are satisfied that Johnson's expectation of privacy while visiting his wife in her nursing home room is one that society would recognize as reasonable," the unanimous three-judge panel wrote.

The ruling means prosecutors cannot introduce the videotapes as evidence in their case against Johnson, who is charged with felony sexual assault for having intercourse with his wife without her consent at least three times in 2005.

Johnson's attorney, Christopher Kelly, said his client would visit his now 54-year-old wife every day, reading her the Bible and moving her arms and legs so her muscles wouldn't atrophy.

The woman's sister is upset that prosecutors brought charges against him, Kelly said. "She believes her sister's husband was merely expressing his love for his wife and was trying everything he could to bring her back to consciousness," Kelly said.

The couple married in 1988 and had no children, Kelly said.

Kelly said he believed prosecutors would be forced to drop the charges without the evidence on the tapes and thought the appeals court made "a pretty obvious call."

Johnson's wife was admitted to the nursing home after suffering a stroke. Court records say she was unable to speak or sit up, and nursing home staff members fed, cleaned and turned her. Prosecutors say she was comatose.

Johnson visited her frequently and sometimes would close the door to her room so they could have privacy as allowed by the nursing home. But staff members tipped off police, fearing she was in danger because, they suspected, he was having sex with her.

Police obtained a search warrant to videotape the room and installed the camera, which ran for three weeks. Johnson, who is free on bail, was charged based on that evidence.