Odd News
Police search for rapist thought to be dead
South African police announced on Monday that they were looking for a fugitive serial killer and rapist, whom they thought had been dead since May 2022 and the discovery of a charred corpse in his prison cell in Bloemfontein, where he was serving his sentence.
DNA analysis determined that the victim was not Thabo Bester, South African police revealed over the weekend.
“At this time, our priority is to find this fugitive and establish how exactly he made up his own death,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe told AFP on Monday.
Nicknamed “the Facebook rapist” for luring his victims through the social network – at least one of them had been killed – Thabo Bester was sentenced in 2012 to life in prison.
On Sunday, the police revealed that according to the autopsy, the victim found in his cell had succumbed to a violent blow to the head, before his body was set on fire. A new murder investigation has been opened.
The case has caused a stir in South Africa where women’s rights associations regularly criticize the government for its inability to curb violence against women.
“The scenario of this story is like a movie and sends shivers down your spine. I can imagine how it was received by its victims”, lamented Bafana Khumalo, co-director of the NGO Sonke Gender Justice.
Between October and December 2022, the police recorded no less than 12,000 rapes in the country.
It was local media, GroundUp, which first raised doubts in November 2022 about Bester’s death. Since then, photographs have emerged showing the convict shopping in a shopping centre in an upscale neighborhood of Johannesburg.
And several women have publicly claimed that the serial rapist contacted them via social media.
Prior to his escape, Bester had reportedly managed to run a media scam from his cell under a false identity. A video, which has gone viral, shows him speaking to a company by videoconference where he claims to be in New York. –Africanews
Odd News
Texas woman’s tongue is the world’s widest at 3.11 inches
A Texas woman was awarded a Guinness World Records title for the surprising contents of her mouth – a 3.11-inch-wide tongue.
Brittany Lacayo told the record-keeping organization she decided to apply for the title after learning about the former record-holder, Emily Schlenker, whose tongue measured 2.89 inches wide.
Lacayo’s tongue is exactly as wide as the average length of an adult woman’s tongue: 3.11 inches.
Her tongue actually is wider than it is long when measured from the epiglottis, the flap of cartilage located behind the tongue.
“It is neat and kind of funny,” Lacayo told Guinness World Records.
The male version of the record belongs to American Brian Thompson, whose tongue measures 3.49 inches wide.
Jokes
One day a mom noticed that when her son was logging onto a favorite website, he typed a very long password. She asked him what it was, and he replied, “MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto.”
She asked him why he would use such a password. “Because,” he explained, “it says your password has to have at least four characters.
Odd News
Ohio man’s dog license number earns him $50,000 lottery prize
An Ohio man used the numbers from his beloved dog’s license tag to play a Pick 5 lottery, drawing and scored a $50,000 prize.
Roger Sours of Tiffin told Ohio Lottery officials he bought a ticket for Wednesday’s Pick 5 drawing at the Pit Stop on N Washington Street in Tiffin and selected a special set of numbers: 1-0-8-2-2.
“I play two sets of numbers for Pick 5 and this number, the number that hit was actually my license number for my German Shepherd that I played. She’s no longer with us anymore,” he said.
Sours said he was shocked when he watched the lottery results on TV.
“I just sat here. I watched the lottery when I can, when it’s on TV and I just sat here. It was like, I froze. I just couldn’t believe that it hit,” he recalled.
Sours said his winnings will go toward taking care of some bills and giving a boost to his savings account.
