SALT LAKE CITY -- The man charged with Tuesday's fatal shooting of a Utah sheriff's deputy had just sold drugs to a brother of the slain officer on a remote desert road, according to court papers and a family member.
Roberto Miramontes Roman was charged about 10 hours after the shooting with capital murder and tampering with evidence. A manhunt led authorities to a west Salt Lake City neighborhood, where police believe they saw him run from a house and disappear.
Roman, 37, is accused of leaving Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox dead from a gunshot wound after a traffic stop near Delta, about 130 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. If caught and convicted on the murder charge, Roman could face the death penalty.
Roman had just sold drugs to Ryan Greathouse, according to court papers. Ryan Greathouse is the deputy's brother, their mother told The Associated Press late Tuesday.
Scientists, pilot die in Calif. crash
FRESNO, Calif. -- Three California Department of Fish and Game biologists and a pilot were killed Tuesday afternoon when their helicopter crashed in a craggy stretch of the Sierra National Forest where they were surveying wildlife.
The crash happened in a narrow canyon near Redinger Lake after the Bell 206 helicopter struck a power line and sparked a blaze that scattered debris throughout a quarter-mile of brush, Madera County officials said.
Killed in the accident were two longtime state scientists, 48-year-old Clu Cotter and 40-year-old Kevin O'Connor, as well as a scientists' aide, 31-year-old Tom Stolberg, all of Fresno. Pilot Dennis Donovan also died, but his hometown and age were not released.
The men were conducting a routine aerial mission to study deer herds feeding in the steep, wooded region near the border of Fresno and Madera counties.
Third crasher an event planner
WASHINGTON -- The third gate-crasher at November's White House state dinner turns out to be a local event planner who got in with members of the Indian delegation.
The latest uninvited guest, Carlos Allen, who runs an event business called Hush Galleria in the nation's capital, has met with the Secret Service several times about the incident, Allen's lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The Secret Service did not learn of a third uninvited person who got into the dinner until mid-December, two weeks after a Dec. 3 House hearing about the breach, according to a government official.
"He doesn't feel he did anything wrong," Bolden said.
'Octomom' defends doctor
LOS ANGELES -- Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman is defending the fertility doctor who helped her conceive 14 children, saying in a video posted to RadarOnline.com on Tuesday that he did "absolutely nothing wrong."
The California Medical Board on Monday accused Suleman's Beverly Hills fertility doctor, Michael Kamrava, of gross negligence in three instances: transferring too many embryos, repeatedly transferring fresh embryos when frozen ones were available, and failing to refer her for a mental health evaluation.
The board could revoke or suspend his license.
Suleman, who already had six other children, gave birth to the world's longest-living set of octuplets on Jan. 26. She has said she underwent the in vitro treatment that bore octuplets because she didn't want her frozen embryos to go to waste.
2 thought dead in plane crash
WHEELING, Ill. -- A small cargo jet crashed into a river in a forest preserve Tuesday shortly after being cleared to land at a suburban Chicago airport, and officials said it appeared the two people aboard were killed.
A preliminary investigation indicated a pilot and co-pilot were aboard the jet that crashed into the Des Plaines River in unincorporated Glenview as it was making its final approach about 1:30 p.m. to Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, said Glenview Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Fancher.
The Federal Aviation Administration, at the scene of the crumpled wreckage, said it was unclear what caused the crash.
18 killed in China mine fire
BEIJING -- A fire in a coal mine in central China killed at least 18 workers, and search efforts continued for nine others trapped underground, state media reported today.
The Xinhua News Agency said underground cables caught fire Tuesday afternoon at the Lisheng coal mine in Xiangtan city in Hunan province.
Nine more bodies were recovered today about 1,800 feet underground, bringing the death toll to 18, it said.
Seventy workers were underground when the fire started and 43 managed to escape, it said.
-- From wire reports
