• Alleged kidnapper: I 'didn't mean' to kill baby, grandma

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    By Deanna Durante and David Chang, NBCPhiladelphia.com

    PHILADELPHIA -- The man charged in the murder of a baby and her grandmother during a botched kidnapping and ransom scheme claimed that he killed both victims by accident, according to video released during his court appearance Wednesday.

    Raghunandan Yandamuri, 26, is accused of murdering 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, 61, last month. It happened on Oct. 22, at an apartment complex in Upper Merion where both the Venna family and Yandamuri, a family friend, lived.

    Police believe Yandamuri went to the apartment with the intention of kidnapping Saanvi and holding her for ransom. But police say Satyavathi, who was babysitting the child, fought for her granddaughter and was fatally stabbed by Yandamuri.

    On Oct. 26, the baby's body was found in the basement of the apartment building and Yandamuri was arrested. Police say they also found a ransom note from Yandamuri demanding $50,000.

    'Didn't mean to kill anyone'
    On Wednesday, Yandamuri appeared in court for a preliminary hearing. During the hearing, a 23-minute video confession was played for the court, according to NBC10's Deanna Durante.

    In the video, Yandamuri told police he "accidentally" slit Satyavathi Venna's throat and that he "didn't mean to kill anyone." The video also showed him confessing to stuffing a handkerchief in the baby's mouth and wrapping a towel around her head when she wouldn't stop crying.

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    Yandamuri said in the video that he put the baby in a suitcase, escaped via a fire escape and sneaked into the basement of another apartment building.

    Yandamuri also told police that when he took Saanvi out of the suitcase the towel was still wrapped around her face and she was unconscious. He said he removed the towel and handkerchief, splashed water on her and left her in the basement while he returned home, took a shower and went to work.

    He also told police he went back to the basement around 3:30 p.m. with a bottle of milk for the girl but that she was already dead.


    Yandamuri's defense attorney argued in court that since his client did not mean to kill anyone, first-degree murder should be taken off the table. Prosecutors disagreed, citing Yandamuri's ransom note as evidence against the attorney's claim.

    According to prosecutors, 10 copies of the ransom note were left in the apartment of the Venna family with several references that if they didn't bring $50,000 by 8 p.m. that night that the baby would be killed. Prosecutors say that showed there was intention and premeditation for murder. The judge agreed with the prosecutors and ordered that Yandamuri stand trial on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, theft and abuse of corpse.   

  • Father of escaped kidnapped teen: My son is a 'hero'

    AP

    Kevin Lunsman, a kidnapped American teenager, talks to Filipino soldiers inside the Philippine military compound in the southern Philippines following his escape from suspected al-Qaida-linked militants over the weekend.

    By msnbc.com and news services

    The father of an American teenager who escaped his kidnappers in the southern Philippine jungle over the weekend called his son a "hero" on Sunday.

    "I'm so proud of my son, he's a hero, he wandered two days through the jungle," Heiko Lunsmann told ABC affiliate WSET in Lynchburg, Va., on Sunday.

    Kevin Lunsmann, 14, escaped from suspected al-Qaida-linked militants and wandered without shoes for two days in the jungle before villagers found him, ending his five-month captivity, officials said Sunday.

    "That was a tough time, it was tough five months," Heiko Lunsmann said in the first interview since his 14-year-old Kevin was taken. "I only know he is a hero and I'm so happy he escaped."

    Initial reports indicated that Kevin Lunsmann had been released, but the teen told Philippine officials and his family that he evaded his four armed captors by telling them that he would take a bath in a stream and then dashing for freedom on Friday.

    He followed a river down a mountain until villagers found him late the next day, local officials said according to The Associated Press.  Exhausted, hungry and still stunned, the boy initially fled from the villagers, local officials told The Associated Press.

    "He was in fear so there was a bit of a chase before the villagers convinced him that they were friends," Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo said told The Associated Press. He said the boy was fine, but was exhausted and had bruises on his arms and feet.

    City Mayor Celso Lobregat said he has been flown to Manila and turned over to U.S. officials there. U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas said the boy would be reunited with his family soon.

    Lobregat said the boy has talked by phone with his Filipino-American mother, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, who was in the United States. He, his mother and a Filipino cousin were vacationing with relatives on an island near Zamboanga City when they were snatched July 12 and taken by boat to nearby Basilan.

    The captors then called the family in Campbell County, Virginia, to demand a ransom, officials said.

    The mother was freed two months ago after she was dropped off by boat at a wharf on Basilan. The boy's Filipino cousin escaped from their captors last month when Filipino army forces managed to get near an Abu Sayyaf camp in the mountains of Basilan, about 550 miles south of Manila.

    Army Col. Ricardo Visaya said the kidnappers were believed led by Abu Sayyaf militant Puruji Indama, who is notorious for ransom kidnappings and beheadings. Troops were hunting down the militants and clashed with one group in Akbar town, near Lamitan, which may have distracted the kidnappers and gave Lunsmann a chance to flee, he said.

    When Visaya asked the boy if he was freed, which would indicate that ransom was paid, or escaped, Lunsmann replied that he fled from his captors.

    "No, I really did it myself," he quoted Lunsmann as telling him. Visaya said he later handed the boy to American troops based in Basilan.

    Msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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