--The DA's office has released a computerized sketch of the man who has been assaulting people along the Esplanade and in South Boston. They want to talk to the following people: --A lone male who was present near one of the Esplanade footbridges at about 11:15 on the night of June 16, 2007. That individual saw the victim and the assailant. --A pair of bicyclists wearing helmets and cycling gear who were walking their bikes......

-- A school van driver in Brookline was charged with the sexual assault of an elementary school girl. Israel Santiago, 41, of Roslindale, has been charged with two counts of aggravated rape, kidnapping, and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Santiago allegedly attacked the girl, who is one of his regular riders, in a parking lot on Friday. The van, owned by YCN Transportation, is used to transport adults and children with......

In the crazy Comm Ave crash of last week, the driver hit eight cars, sent two people to the hospital, and tangled up traffic. He is now being charged with driving to endanger and leaving the scene of an accident. [Allston-Brighton TAB] You can feel safer when calling 911: they've finally fixed the glitch causing officers to respond to the wrong address. [Boston Daily] It's usually a bad sign when you find your car facing......

-- Boston police arrested a woman for setting the fire that killed two young girls, Acia Johnson, 14, and her 3-year-old sister, Sophia, in South Boston last month. Nicole Chuminski, 25, will be arraigned Monday on two counts of murder and one count of arson. Chuminski was reportedly the girlfriend of the victims' mother, and the alleged arson may have been the outcome of a vicious spat. [Globe; Herald] -- The truck driver whose careering......

-- A man was shot around 8am this morning on Humphreys Street in Upham's Corner, Dorchester. Police rushed him to the hospital, and there is no word on his condition. [Globe] -- Boston Police have arrest warrants for two suspects in the January, 2007, murder of a 13-year-old in Jamaica Plain. Police say that two Roxbury teens shot Luis Gerena to death early last year. The two teens were in police custody on unrelated charges......

-- The press may have jumped the gun when it blamed our national pastime for the death of Matthew Matthew Beaudoin, 29, the Red Sox fan allegedly killed by a Yankee fan's vehicle. Police say that Ivonne Hernandez, 43, accelerated her car into Beaudoin in Nashua, NH, early Friday, killing him. Initial sources reported that Hernandez had become enraged when Beaudoin shouted "Yankees suck!" after a barroom argument about the teams. But, Donna Dione, Beaudoin's......

-- Cambridge is the sort of place where even burglars dress to impress. Police say that a 22-year-old Cambridge man broke into a house on Brattle Street aroudn last Friday, dressed in a suit and tie. The man allegedly broke a window, opened the front door, and made his way to the second floor bedroom, where he passed out. He was arrested soon afterward, and police do not report that anybody came to harm. [Cambridge......

-- A 6-month-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert yesterday was recovered unharmed by authorities. Police found the child, Lucas Whalen, with his mother, 24-year-old Danielle Boyle, when a cab driver drove the pair to Arlington police after Boyle could not pay a taxi fare. Boyle has not been charged in connection with the alleged kidnapping, but the boy's father, Michael Whalen, 42, has been charged with parental kidnapping, receiving stolen property,......

-- Yesterday's brutal stabbing in Chelsea may have been the culmination of a violent domestic conflict. Eugene Teixeira, 21, was arraigned today on charges that he stabbed his mother's boyfriend Shadeed Wiggins to death. Teixeira's 16-year-old brother also faces charges of home invasion and disorderly conduct after the pair broke into their mother's house in pursuit of Wiggins, 25. According to reports, Wiggins had attacked Janeen Teixeira, the brothers' mother, earlier in the day, part......

-- The story of Haleigh Poutre, the 14-year-old girl who, in 2005, was brought by her parents to a Westfield hospital in a vegetative state could not be more crushing. The girl has finally emerged from her coma, defying predictions that she would never reawake. (The Massachusetts Department of Social Services, for one, wanted to shut off her feeding tube.) Police interviewed her from her pediatric unit bed yesterday and have revealed a story of......

-- Cops had to call in reinforcements when they discovered a massive, all-female brawl in progress at a Dorchester party early Sunday. Four Dorchester women, whom police claim punched, kicked, and pushed one another, were arrested and charged with affray. The owner of the Westville Street residence stands accused of keeping a disorderly house. [BPDNews] -- An alleged burglar was found at the scene of the crime in Hyde Park yesterday, asleep. Parishioners of the......

A suspect in a stabbing from last May is now officially being sought. The BPD have put out a Most Wanted poster for Pedro Ortiz. [Boston Herald] As we've always suspected, MySpace profiles may demonstrate insanity. The defense lawyer for John Tassarini, accused of shooting his wife to death, plans to use Tassarini's MySpace page--filled with images of guns and bondage--as proof of his mental instability. If Tassarini is found guilty, this would be the......

-- Bike cops saw action in Roxbury, where two men were arrested after allegedly shooting guns near the Academy Homes project. The gunfire drew the attention of police from Boston's Youth Violence Strike Force, who chased the suspects into Marcella Park. The Tactical Bike Unit, responding to calls, finally caught and arrested the two men after a brawl. Universal Hub points out that one of the suspects was a recipient of a Boston anti-violence grant.......

-- An 88-year-old woman was assaulted in her Hyde Park home early this morning, Boston police say. Around 4 a.m., an intruder allegedly attacked the victim and fled. No signs of forced entry were reported and nothing was reported stolen. The victim may have been sexually assaulted, and police from the sexual assault unit are also investigating. A suspect, described by police as a 5'7" black male with a slight build, remains at large. [BPDNews;......

The recent spate of shootings in Boston has citizens nervous about safety, and none has shaken the community like the daylight killing of Luis Troncoso, a 20-year-old Dorchester father of two who was shot in the head while playing basketball in a quiet Jamaica Plain park. Yesterday, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis toured JP's Centre Street in an effort to reassure business owners and citizens that increased police foot patrols will curb the violence. "We......

-- The 13 year old boy found shot early yesterday morning was the victim of two assailants on bicycles, police say. The victim, whose name has not been released, was steps from his own doorway when two bullets struck him in the groin. Police say the victim was not a known troublemaker and cast initial doubt that he was the target of the attack. The boy is expected to live, but may suffer permanent injury.......

-- A 13 year old boy was shot in the South End early this morning. Police found the boy on Washington Street shortly after 1am, suffering from two gunshot wounds to the groin. He was hospitalized and is expected to survive. His identity was not released, and police have not reported any arrests. [Globe; WCVB] -- A 35 year old man was found stabbed to death in Worcester this morning. Police believe that drugs were......

-- The Friday afternoon stabbing in Jamaica Plain may have been caused by pornography. Police have arrested Claribel Peralta, 21 of Boston, on charges that she stabbed her 33 year old boyfriend after flying into a rage when she discovered him watching pornography. Peralta had initially told police that she had come out of the bathroom in the victim's Amory Street apartment to find him pre-stabbed. [BPDNews; Herald] -- Two men were shot in a......

-- A stabbing this afternoon in Jamaica Plain has left one person hospitalized and another in custody, authorities say. The incident may have been the result of a domestic dispute. [Globe] -- Two men were found shot this morning in the McCormick Housing Development in South Boston. The victims, 18 and 23 years old, were taken to Boston Medical Center where they are suspected to survive. Authorities have not suggested any motives in the shootings,......

-- A confrontation at a Dorchester Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru turned absurd yesterday when a woman was dragged from her car and beaten, according to police. The victim had sounded a warning honk as the suspect attempted a drive-thru maneuver, authorities say, and the act had thrown the suspect into a rage. Along with an 30 year old male accomplice, the 27-year-old Dorchester woman allegedly blocked the victim in the drive-thru line, pulled her from her......

-- While many Bostonians remain only vaguely aware of the Bruins' playoff loss last night, at least three fans mustered enough anguish to make it to jail, police say. Last night, a celebrating Canadiens' fan found himself bleeding from the head outside the TDBanknorth Garden after allegedly being assaulted by a two-man goon squad. Police arrested the pair, one of whom was wearing a Jason Allison Bruins jersey. And, inside the Garden, a detail cop......

-- Richard "Pops" Picardi, Sr., a 76 year old cab dispatcher, was arrested Friday for dealing drugs from his Chelsea workplace. The Revere man was noted by police for his advanced age and his prosthetic leg. He faces charges that he sold the painkillers OxyContin, Roxicet and Percocet to undercover police agents over a period of about a month. [Herald; Globe] -- Authorities say the South Boston fire that killed Acia Johnson, 14, and Sophia......

--A young woman from Southbridge died from a gunshot wound after an alleged robbery attempt in the Bronx, NY. The 18-year-old's fiance was also wounded in the incident. Her young child, who was nearby, was unharmed. [Boston Herald, Gothamist] --Former mob boss Cadillac Frank Salemme entered a plea margin on charges of lying and obstruction of justice. The 74-year-old, who has been locked up since 2004, has been recommended to serve five years. He......

--This is the kind of story that makes you wonder about people. A fatal car accident unfolded early this morning in Sharon. A good Samaritan pulled over to help on the scene, and one of the men involved in the accident stole the good Samaritan's car. [Fox 25] --Two people were stabbed early this morning in Chelsea, one at an apartment complex and another outside a pub. [WCVB] --More details on the stabbing that happened......

--Two firefighters were stabbed last night at the Club Caravan in Revere. They were off duty at the time. [WBZ] --In Waltham yesterday, a youth football and baseball coach was arraigned on child pornography charges. He has pled not guilty and says that he was surfing child pornography websites in an attempt to catch pedophiles. [Boston Herald, AP/Boston Globe] --A BPD officer on a detail in Dorchester yesterday morning was a hero. He heard sounds......

--According to the Herald, the Commonwealth's Supreme Judicial Court ruled that, "Dancing nude in Harvard Square to protest the commercialization of Christmas is not a constitutionally protected act of self-expression," overturning a decision by a lower court to throw out a case against a local woman. The Herald doesn't have much background information about the defendant, except what they could obtain from a vague MySpace profile. [Boston Herald] --Police are investigating the dissapearance of......

-- A New Bedford woman who was set on fire last December has finally fingered her attackers. Police have taken two suspects -- one a former boyfriend of the victim -- into custody. A third is wanted on a warrant. The victim had been assaulted in her apartment, where she was doused with rubbing alcohol and set ablaze, police say. She suffered burns over her entire body. [WBZ TV] -- A mistrial was declared in......

--"Operation Barber Shop" went into action on the day of the Red Sox's home opener, busting a Commonwealth-wide gambling ring after 15 months of investigation by local, state, and federal authorities. They raided 14 locations, arresting 36 people and collecting 33 laptops. [Boston Globe, Boston Herald] --A local man confessed to having been inside a Dorchester recording studio when four people were shot and killed there in 2005. He was sentenced 13 years for......

Update: The body of Roc Sanon, who was declared missing over the weekend, was found near Route 98 and Interstate 93. The BPD says, "The death does not appear to be suspicious." [BPD News] -- A man was shot in Roxbury last night. The man, whom police did not identify, was in his 40s, and suffered life threatening injuries. [Globe] -- Boston police are bracing for a violent summer after last week's seasonal Wednesday brought......

--Prosecutors in Malden District Court have charged a 57-year-old employee of Everett High School with child rape. He is accused of molesting a boy over a seven month period last year. He has worked for the school as a janitor and coach of the junior varsity basketball team. [Boston Globe] --A 28-year-old man has been arrested for the alleged murder of a 25-year-old woman who was found dead in her home in Peabody. Few......