Target 8: A year of investigations
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — This year, Target 8 investigators dug deep into cases in West Michigan, including the murder of a young woman whose body was left on a Grand Rapids highway and a pair of...
View Article'Neglect,''exploitation' by Kent County guardian prompt criminal enterprise...
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A joint investigation by detectives in Grand Rapids, Walker and Kent County uncovered a public guardian’s “wide-ranging scheme” to exploit vulnerable adults, according to...
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A face among 50 billion leads to arrests of alleged thieves
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A band of accused scammers from Pennsylvania likely would have fled West Michigan undetected with tens of thousands of dollars, detectives say, if not for relatively new...
View Article'Broken system': AG's office still pushing for guardianship reform
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The prosecutor who heads up Michigan’s Elder Abuse Task Force says he won’t stop fighting to reform the state’s system for appointing guardians and conservators. “You can...
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Bicyclist killed in downtown GR was stagehand, driver had prior arrest
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A bicyclist who was hit and killed in downtown Grand Rapids Saturday evening was a longtime stagehand who worked big events at venues like Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place....
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'Ghost bike' would honor stagehand killed in crash
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Work is underway to build and dedicate a 'ghost bike' to pay tribute to a bicyclist who was killed in a crash in Grand Rapids Saturday evening. Steve Dowhan, 53, of...
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Not all homeless heeding warning about bitter cold
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The lone makeshift homeless shelter, about the size of a small tent, was built of branches and twigs. It stood along a snow-covered path that leads to a former homeless...
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46 years after woman vanished, renewed hope for answers
PAW PAW, Mich. (WOOD) — Investigators believe they’re one step closer to solving the disappearance of 28-year-old Joyce Fisher from Van Buren County nearly 50 years ago. That’s because the lone...
View Article'Crushed': Hudsonville woman says Grand Rapids tax preparer lost $30,000 refund
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what happened to a Hudsonville woman’s tax refund, which she said totaled approximately $30,000. "These are from the...
View ArticleUnlicensed contractor serving 5-month sentence
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A building contractor is now in the Ottawa County jail, serving a five-month sentence for working without a license. It's Ricky Lee Hartwick's third conviction for being...
View ArticleMom charged after toddler suffocates in parked pickup
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A mother is facing a felony charge after her young daughter, left alone in a pickup with three other children, died from asphyxia when her head became wedged between the...
View ArticleBoard chair: Festival of the Arts died of old age
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The way the board chair describes it, after 55 years, Grand Rapids' Festival of the Arts died of old age. Some longtime volunteers were leaving and new volunteers were...
View ArticleBarry County deputy justified in deadly October shooting, prosecutor decides
HOPE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The Barry County prosecutor has decided that a deputy was justified when he shot and killed a man near Delton last year, saying Jeremiah Johnson had threatened his wife...
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Two stories, no bodycams after Barry County deputy kills man
HOPE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The shooting death of a U.S. Army veteran by a Barry County sheriff's deputy in October has led to two entirely different versions of the events leading up to it. Barry...
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'Mad honey' poisoning blamed in family's 2022 disappearance
FREMONT, Mich. (WOOD) — When a Fremont family that went missing in 2022 was found safe at a Wisconsin hotel 600 miles from home, it was case closed. Until now. Nearly two and a half years after the...
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Veterinarian charged with stealing dog of homeless Grand Rapids man
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A veterinarian who says she rescued a neglected dog is instead charged with stealing it. Kent County’s prosecutor charged Amanda Hergenreder, a veterinarian with a...
View Article8 years in prison for Rockford-area contractor, investment scammer
LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — A federal judge on Tuesday sent a Rockford-area builder to prison for eight years, the harshest term possible under sentencing guidelines. Matthew Mencarelli, 39, is accused of...
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Veterinarian charged with stealing dog from homeless man rejects deal
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A veterinarian charged with stealing a dog that she says she rescued has refused a plea deal offered by the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office. Amanda Hergenreder, a vet with...
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Barry County Sheriff's Office pushes for bodycams after deputies shoot, kill man
HASTINGS, Mich. (WOOD) — The deadly shooting last year of an armed U.S. Army veteran at his home by a Barry County sheriff's deputy is prompting the department's push for body cameras, the...
View ArticleFentanyl overdose deaths declining in Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — For years, fentanyl has maintained its position as the nation’s single deadliest drug, stalking the streets of America. But there are signs of progress in the fight...
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