Saturday, August 6, 2011

Oregon man in court on charges of killing family (Reuters)

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) ? An Oregon man charged with killing his wife and four young children by stabbing them and then setting the family house on fire asked for a court-appointed lawyer during a hearing on Friday.

Jordan Criado, 51, was charged with murder, manslaughter and arson on Thursday and taken to jail following his release from a local hospital where he had been treated for smoke inhalation since the July 18 incident.

Criado, who made his court appearance on closed circuit television from the nearby jail, asked to be appointed an attorney and to speak with his pastor, Jackson County prosecutor Beth Heckert said.

"He was very soft spoken. It was difficult to understand him," Heckert said.

Criado's 30-year-old wife, Tabasha Paige-Criado, was pulled from the family's burning home in Medford, Oregon along with the couple's three sons, ages 5, 6, and 7, and their 2-year-old daughter. All five were pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Criado, who according to authorities had served prison time in California for child molestation, was found injured and unconscious in the house.

Preliminary autopsy results indicated Tabasha Paige-Criado died of multiple stab wounds to the neck and abdomen.

Carbon monoxide poisoning contributed to the deaths of all four children, coroner's officials say, but two of the boys were also stabbed in the neck.

Investigators combing through the charred home found the fire had been deliberately set in multiple locations.

Police said Criado had reported his wife missing four hours before the fire, but officers found her safe nearby and brought her home. Officials said she had not seemed fearful or agitated at the time.

The killings unnerved many residents in Medford, a western Oregon city of 75,000 people about 275 miles south of Portland.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110805/us_nm/us_oregon_murders

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