He’s a 6-foot, 200-pound hot dog. His name is Harry. He loves condiments.
Have you seen him?
The mystery of the missing meat byproduct began Thursday morning, when Earlysville storeowner Josh Blanthorn discovered his sandwich bar mascot and children’s celebrity had vanished.

City police make murder arrest

A 20-year-old University of Virginia student was kidnapped and robbed near the intersection of Rugby Road and University Avenue late Saturday night, according to Charlottesville police.

Charlottesville police detained three people late Saturday after responding to Maplewood Cemetery, a sight of repeated vandalism recently.

ORANGE — A 12-member jury is expected to start deliberations today to decide if Charles Stag Washington should be found guilty of killing a woman who was trying to break up a fight July 4.

Details are sketchy, but Charlottesville police are investigating an early morning stabbing on 1st Street.

Gunfire inside a speeding minivan Tuesday afternoon left two men shot, one of whom was fighting for his life Tuesday night.
At 2:45 p.m., the white Dodge minivan zoomed around a curve on Fairway Avenue and crashed through a metal fence.
Details of what happened within the minivan remain sketchy. But Charlottesville police said that two of its occupants were shot with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver.

Police are investigating a shooting with injuries at Meade and Fairway.

An Albemarle grand jury handed down dozens of indictments Monday, charging two county men with separate sex-related crimes.
James Gardner Dennis, 34, was charged in 28 indictments, 20 of which charge him with distributing child pornography in January. Dennis’s indictments also included charges of abduction, forcible sodomy, rape and enticement of a minor through the use of communications systems.

PALMYRA — More charges are pending against two Fluvanna men reportedly connected to about 50 burglaries in at least eight counties, officials said Monday.
In the meantime, Mark Wayne Shifflett and Ronald Lee Morris will remain in the Central Virginia Regional Jail on felony charges of possession of cocaine and unlawfully possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony. Both men were denied bond Monday morning in Fluvanna County General District Court.
“Many, many charges will be forthcoming,” said Stephanie Commander, Shifflett’s appointed attorney.

Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. has determined an Albemarle prosecutor can use an expert witness’s testimony during a pastor’s child pornography trial with one exception.
Dr. Nancy McLaren, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia and the medical director of the university’s Teen Health Center, testified last month about the physical development of teenage girls in pictures authorities allege Gregory Briehl owned. Briehl, 53, is a former associate pastor at Peace Lutheran Church who faces 20 charges of possession of child pornography

Local and state police officers are investigating at least five additional shooting incidents in western Albemarle County to determine if they are related to last week’s shootings that struck five vehicles on Interstate 64.

The typical afternoon hustle and bustle on University Avenue was interrupted Tuesday by a bank robbery.
Shortly before 1 p.m., a man entered the Bank of America at University Avenue and Chancellor Street, police said. He reportedly wore a baseball cap, sunglasses and latex gloves.

University of Virginia redshirt football player J’Courtney Rydell Williams, 19, has been charged with credit card theft and credit card fraud.
UVa police also charged Lester Guy Spellman III. The 18-year-old UVa student faces two counts of credit card theft and one count of petty larceny.
Williams’ run-in with the law comes on the heels of former UVa football player Mike Brown’s arrest in February. He stands accused of stealing music equipment and trying to sell it on eBay.

Police caught an alleged armed robber shortly after the suspect fled from the Bank of America on University Avenue this afternoon, according to police reports.

A man shot last week by police seeking suspects in the Interstate 64 shootings is still recovering from wounds to his arms and chest, his lawyer said Monday.
The man, whom both the lawyer and police would not identify, remains in stable condition at the University of Virginia Medical Center, officials said.
“He’s improving and he’s not on any life support,” said John Zwerling, an Alexandria-based lawyer. “He was shot in both arms and has a bullet in his chest.”

Two teens charged in last week’s Interstate 64 shootings made their first court appearances Monday.
Slade A. Woodson, 19, of Afton, requested a court-appointed attorney Monday morning in Waynesboro General District Court. His hearing in Albemarle General District Court was rescheduled for today.

Shell casings from Slade Allen Woodson’s 1974 AMC Gremlin match those recovered from Thursday morning shootings on and near Interstate 64, according to the Virginia State Police.

The Virginia State Police this evening announced a host of charges against a 19-year-old Afton man and an unnamed juvenile in connection with the Interstate 64 shootings.

Police probing the Interstate 64 shootings have found small-caliber cartridge casings inside an abandoned 1974 AMC Gremlin and believe the shooter used a .22-caliber firearm, according to court documents.

The arrest of Slade Woodson, 19, of Afton, in connection with two Waynesboro shootings early Thursday morning came as no surprise to Jill Tice, 43 ,whose home was struck by two bullets in one of the incidents.

The suspect in the Interstate 64 sniper shootings has a history of stealing pickups, joyriding and arson, according to records and investigators.

A 19-year-old Afton man arrested near Crozet has been charged with two Thursday morning shootings in Waynesboro and is suspected in a spate of gunfire on Interstate 64 that wounded two people and struck five vehicles.

Slade Woodson, 19, of Afton, was arrested shortly after 5 a.m. by Albemarle County and Virginia State Police in connection with a string of shootings on Interstate 64 and two shooting incidents in Waynesboro, authorities announced this morning.

At least one person has been arrested in connection with the Interstate 64 shootings that injured two motorists yesterday morning, according to a police source.

Nelson County fire damages Taylor’s Creek Road home as units from Wintergreen and Albemarle County and other neighboring fire stations help battle the blaze. The fire is in the same general Albemarle County-Nelson County-Augusta County area as Thursday’s Interstate 64 shootings and this morning’s wounding incident on Yonder Hills Farm Road.

Pegasus Medical Transport takes at least one to the hospital as county, state and federal authorities investigate a wounding at a western Albemarle County home. The home is located in the same general area of the county as Thursday’s highway shooting events. No word on whether the shootings and this morning’s incident are related.

“To increase security in the area, we plan on increasing our presence through the county police and help from the Virginia State Police,” said Lee Catlin, county spokesman. “How that takes place, we’re not willing to say right now.”

At least two people were injured early this morning when their vehicles were shot on I-64 near an overpass on the east side of Afton Mountain, state police told The News Virginian. A 20-mile stretch of the interstate was closed from milepost 96 in Augusta County, near Waynesboro, to milepost 118 in Albemarle County.
• List of closings - Post your closing or delay
• I-64 Travelers are cautious, shocked
•  Slideshow: Today’s events

Gary Christopher Johnson, 18, walked into a federal courtroom Tuesday morning, unrestrained and wearing a gray sweat suit. He sat in a chair next to his attorney, about 10 feet from Katherine Danielle Howard’s family.