Dear readers -
radiowest's continuing series of wacky radio talk-show hosts running amuck continues with the saga of Vince Marinello , whose broadcasting career came to a screeching halt earlier today - possibly forever.
Pluto
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La. radio host charged in wife's death
By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago
METAIRIE, La. - A popular radio talk-show host was charged Thursday with killing his estranged wife in an attack once thought to be a robbery gone bad, the sheriff said.
Vince Marinello, 69, surrendered to authorities and was booked into jail on second-degree murder charges, said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee.
Donald Foret, Marinello's lawyer, had no comment as he escorted the broadcaster into jail.
Reached later by telephone, Foret said only that Marinello was holding up well.
Mary Elizabeth Marinello, a 45-year-old respiratory therapist, died Sept. 1, a day after she was shot twice in the face as she stood in a parking lot. The attack was first described as a botched robbery, but Lee said Wednesday night that it is was being treated as a "hit" based on surveillance tapes.
Deputies searched Vince Marinello's storm-damaged house, the FEMA trailer where he is living, and a friend's home. Lee said Thursday that a handwritten checklist of the alleged plans for the attack ? describing the bicycle, costume and gun ? was found.
Marinello disguised himself as a scruffy man and rode a bicycle to the parking lot of a building where he knew his wife had an appointment, Lee said. After shooting his wife, Lee said he rode to an area behind an elementary school.
Initially, Marinello said he was in Jackson, Miss., at the time of the shooting, but Lee said his alibi unraveled when witnesses came forward.
The sheriff has said the Marinellos were in the middle of a contentious divorce and that Mary Marinello had been arrested last month on charges of domestic abuse battery.
The New Orleans area has struggled with crime and violence since Hurricane Katrina hit just over a year ago. The city's post-Katrina population dropped by about half to 220,000, yet New Orleans' murder toll hit 93 after a deadly Labor Day weekend. There has also been a spike in violence in the suburbs. Jefferson Parish had counted 40 murders by Tuesday, compared to 26 at the same time last year.
Marinello, a former television sportscaster, most recently has been hosting talk shows on WWL radio dealing with the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
2006 - AP