MIDDLETOWN, Md. – An accountant for a railroad operator killed his wife and their three children before fatally shooting himself in a northwest Maryland home, leaving a gruesome scene that was discovered Saturday by the youngsters’ grandfather, authorities said.
Authorities didn’t specify a motive but said there was evidence the man faced psychiatric and financial problems.
When investigators arrived at the two-story home, the couple’s two sons, ages 5 and 4, lay dead in their beds, while the bodies of a 2-year-old daughter and the mother, Francis Billotti Wood, were in the master bedroom, Frederick County sheriff’s office spokeswoman Jennifer Bailey said. On the master bedroom floor by the foot of the bed was the father, 34-year-old Christopher Alan Wood, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Bailey said.
The 33-year-old mother and three children suffered “traumatic cuts” and each also had at least one gunshot wound from a .25-caliber handgun, Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins said. Their precise cause of death wasn’t immediately known, and Jenkins declined to say what was used to slash them.
The woman’s father found them dead around 9 a.m. He had grown concerned after not hearing from them for several days, Bailey said.
Christopher Wood apologized to family members in one of five notes he wrote and left at the scene, and he indicated in a note that he had psychiatric problems, Jenkins said. The sheriff wouldn’t elaborate on what else was written in the notes.
The sheriff also said there was evidence that Wood, a sales accountant at CSX Corp., faced financial problems and may have been in debt.
CSX did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Saturday.
The family had moved months ago to the home in the town of Middletown, a community of less than 3,000 people about 10 miles west of Frederick, friends said.
“We’re all in shock and trying to come to terms,” said Kevin Farmer, the pastor of Holy Family Catholic Community Church, where the mother taught catechism.
The director of Middletown United Methodist Church Preschool, Jane Durant, said she last saw Francis Wood on Thursday morning, when she picked up her 4-year-old son at the school.
The boy didn’t come to school the next day. Durant, the school’s director, thought it was unusual. Now, she wonders if something horrible happened Thursday night.
Durant said Francis Wood – whom she called “Francie” – returned to her native Middletown from Texas last year to be closer to her family. She described Francis Wood as a vibrant, bubbly and loving person.
“I just talked to her every day and she’s just one of those people you fell in love with right away,” Durant said.
Neighbor Peggy Lawrence described Francis Wood as a good homemaker.
“It wouldn’t lead you to believe anything was wrong,” Lawrence said. “I’m still sick to my stomach. Just to see it end so quickly is so devastating and makes you realize you never know what’s going on in people’s lives.”
HOUSTON – Five Houston children died Saturday after their sedan slid into a rain-swollen ditch when the driver lost control while trying to answer a cell phone, authorities said.
John Cannon, a Houston police spokesman, told several Houston television stations that the driver of the car was the father of four of the dead children, all 7 or younger. Cannon said the driver was taken for blood-alcohol testing.
The father was among two adults and a 10-year-old girl who escaped the fast-moving current that swept the car 100 feet from where it left the road and made the vehicle inaccessible to emergency workers for hours, Cannon said.
Houston television station KTRK reported that police said the dead children included 1- and 3-year-old girls and three boys, ages 4, 6 and 7.
Cannon said a passenger told police the driver’s cell phone rang, and the driver lost control when he tried to answer it.
Houston Fire Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said in the online edition of the Houston Chronicle that rescue workers found the car in 9 feet of water about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 1/2 hours after the driver lost control.
The children’s deaths brought the weekend death toll to six from massive storms that swept across southeast Texas.
A 76-year-old Fayette County man died Friday after his car got stuck in a flooded underpass in Schulenburg, midway between Houston and San Antonio. Frank Floyd, 76, of Hallettsville, drowned after he and his wife became trapped after driving into a flooded railroad underpass on U.S. 77, said Schulenburg Police Chief Randy Mican.
“It filled up with water pretty quick and the water kept rising,” said Mican, who estimated the water depth reached 8 to 9 feet. “It’s not common to flood that much.”
Floyd’s wife, Mary, 72, managed to escape and was taken to a hospital. Her injuries were not believed life-threatening, the chief said.
By 5 p.m. Saturday, nearly 5 inches of rain had fallen at Houston’s Hobby Airport, a record for April 18.
The initial leg of an annual 150-mile charity bike ride involving more than 13,000 cyclists raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society was washed out Saturday by the second consecutive day of heavy rain.
The 25th annual MS 150 had been scheduled for Houston to La Grange. It was scrapped after Friday’s torrential downpours flooded the Fayette County Fairgrounds, where tents were set up for overnight accommodations for participants. Saturday’s continuing rains made riding treacherous.
“The safety of our participants and volunteers is the first priority,” the Lone Star Chapter of the National MS Society said in a statement.
Organizers of one of the nation’s largest such events hoped clearing weather forecast for Sunday would allow for the second half of the ride from La Grange to Austin.
It was the wettest April 17 on record in College Station, where 2.94 inches of rain Friday broke a mark set 30 years ago when 1.68 inches fell. Houston also set a record for the most rain for the day, with the 1.9 inches topping the old mark of 1.85 in 1992.
At least 10 inches of rain fell Friday in Colorado County, about 70 miles west of Houston, closing some roads. Hail measuring 1.75 inches in diameter was reported Friday night in Laredo, along with some street flooding in Zapata County in the Rio Grande Valley.
More heavy rain fell Saturday, and nearly all of East Texas and portions of South Texas were under some kind of threatening weather advisory with tornado warnings and watches and flash flood warnings and watches in place.
U.S. 87 south of Cuero, about 80 miles southeast of San Antonio, was closed by a flash flood Saturday. A tornado was spotted in a rural area near Marquez, about 60 miles southeast of Waco. Firefighters reported a barn was toppled by high winds near Rosebud in Milam County, about 35 miles southeast of Waco.
In Robertson County, between College Station and Waco, authorities said a possible tornado during a thunderstorm Saturday morning downed trees and power lines and left some windows broken in Franklin, the county seat.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Yao Ming scored 24 points, all in the first half, and the Houston Rockets spoiled Portland’s back-in-the playoffs euphoria with a 108-81 victory over the Trail Blazers in the opener of their first-round series Saturday night.
The Rockets led by as many as 31 points in the second half and there was simply no way the young Blazers could catch up.
Yao, who also had nine rebounds, hit all nine of his attempts from the field and all six of his free throws. Portland centers Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden had no answer for the seven-time All-Star from China.
Yao did not attempt a shot in the second half and sat for all of the fourth quarter.
Aaron Brooks added 27 points for the Rockets, who haven’t advanced out of the first round of the playoffs since 1997.
Brandon Roy had 21 points for the Blazers in their first playoff appearance since the 2002-03 season. Portland embraced the young team this season, and some 10,000 fans showed up at a downtown rally earlier in the week in support of the team.
On Saturday night, many fans were already headed out the door by the end of the third quarter.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Blazers, as well as a six-game winning streak at home. Portland was 34-7 at the Rose Garden during the regular season.
The Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 104-76 in the final game of the regular season to earn the fourth seed in the postseason.
The Rockets fell 95-84 in the season’s final game, dropping them to the fifth seed.
Oden, who sat out of practice Friday because of a sinus infection and was considered a game-time decision, played off the bench and had 15 points and five rebounds.
Oden spent several minutes in coach Nate McMillan’s office prior to the game. Afterward, McMillan said, “Looks good. No issues.”
Nine of Houston’s first 11 points came from Yao, who confounded Przybilla from the start. The 7-foot-6 center went on to score 14 points by the midway point of the first quarter, giving the Rockets an 18-12 lead.
Yao finished the quarter 7-for-7 from the floor for 16 points. The Rockets collectively shot 75 percent in the first quarter, missing only five of 20 shots.
The Rockets extended their lead to 40-26 on Von Wafer’s jumper in the second quarter, before going up 58-41 on Ron Artest’s layup.
There was a scary moment on the other end when Roy got caught in a tangle of players scrambling for the ball on the floor. Roy sat on the court for several moments, and when his teammates came to his aid, he appeared to mouth “my back.” But he returned shortly thereafter.
The Rockets led 62-44 at the half. Artest and Brooks each had 13 points in addition to Yao’s 24.
Luis Scola’s layup put Houston up 80-55 late in the third quarter. Brooks opened the fourth with a 3-pointer that made it 88-58.
Scola finished with 19 points and Attest had 17.
The Rockets have been without seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady since February, when he underwent season-ending microfracture surgery on his left knee.
Notes:@ NBA commissioner David Stern attended the game. … Beforehand, the Blazers were provided a little inspiration with a headline from the local newspaper, The Oregonian, reading “Blazers an easy out? Not so fast.” … Houston coach Rick Adelman, who coached the Blazers from 1988-94, still has a home in the greater Portland area. Two of his children are coaches at local high schools. … Aaron Brooks was the only Rocket greeted with a round of applause. He went to the University of Oregon in Eugene. … Portland’s losing margin was their worst at the Rose Garden this season.
NEW YORK – Madonna took a tumble while horseback riding in the Hamptons on Saturday when her mount was startled by photographers, and she suffered “minor injuries” and bruises, a spokeswoman said.
Paparazzi had “jumped out of the bushes” to photograph her, spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said.
It’s at least the second fall from a horse in four years for Madonna, who recently turned 50.
The singer was treated at a Southampton hospital and was released, said Rosenberg, who wouldn’t disclose more details on her condition.
Madonna, singer of such pop classics as “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl,” had been visiting friends in the Hamptons, a playground for the rich and famous on the eastern end of Long Island.
She was thrown from a horse in England in the summer of 2005. She cracked three ribs and broke her collarbone and a hand in that accident.
She got back on a horse a couple of months later, when she was a guest the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS. She and the talk show’s host rode their horses outside his Manhattan studio. She said it was the first time since her fall that she had been back in the saddle.
“I have a bit of excitement tainted with fear,” she said then before climbing on.
She also said she hadn’t been back on a horse since that fall “because my record company is not very keen on the idea of me injuring myself.”
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran convicted an American journalist of spying for the United States and sentenced her to eight years in prison, her lawyer said Saturday, complicating the Obama administration’s efforts to break a 30-year-old diplomatic deadlock with Tehran.
The White House said President Barack Obama was “deeply disappointed” by the conviction, while the journalist’s father told a radio station his daughter was tricked into making incriminating statements by officials who told her they would free her if she did.
It was the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of espionage – a crime that can carry the death penalty.
Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation, charging her with spying for the United States.
The Fargo, North Dakota native had been living in Iran for six years and had worked as a freelance reporter for several news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.
The journalist’s Iranian-born father, Reza Saberi, told NPR that his daughter was convicted Wednesday, two days after she appeared before an Iranian court in an unusually swift one-day closed-door trial. The court waited until Saturday to announce its decision to the lawyers, he said.
Saberi’s father is in Iran but was not allowed into the courtroom to see his daughter, who he described as “quite depressed.” He said she denied the incriminating statements she made when she realized she had been tricked but “apparently in the case they didn’t consider her denial.”
Saberi’s lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, told The Associated Press he would “definitely appeal the verdict.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States was working with Swiss diplomats in Iran to get details about the court’s decision and to ensure Saberi’s well-being. She said in a statement the United States will “vigorously raise our concerns” with the Iranian government.
The United States has called the charges against Saberi baseless, and the State Department said Thursday that Iran would gain U.S. good will if it “responded in a positive way” to the case.
Obama has said he wants to engage Iran in talks on its nuclear program and other issues – a departure from the tough talk of the Bush administration.
Iran has been mostly lukewarm to the overtures, but Iran’s hard-line president gave the clearest signal yet on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic was also willing to start a new relationship with Washington.
In a speech, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was preparing new proposals aimed at breaking an impasse with the West over its nuclear program.
But Iran’s judiciary is dominated by hard-liners, who some analysts say are trying to derail efforts to improve U.S.-Iran relations.
The United States severed diplomatic relations with Iran after its 1979 Islamic revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Relations deteriorated further under the former President George W. Bush, who labeled Iran as part of the so-called “Axis of Evil” along with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and North Korea.
Saberi’s conviction comes about two months ahead of key presidential elections in June that are pitting hard-liners against reformists who support better relations with the United States. Ahmadinejad is seeking re-election, but the hard-liner’s popularity has waned as Iran’s economy struggles with high-inflation and unemployment.
Some conservative Iranian lawmakers played down Saberi’s conviction, saying the verdict would not affect any ongoing efforts to build trust between the United States and Iran.
“Although there is a wall of mistrust between Iran and the United States, the judicial verdict won’t affect possible future talks between the two countries. The verdict is based on evidence,” said lawmaker Hosseini Sobhaninia.
Saberi’s father disagreed, telling NPR, “I don’t think they have any evidence and I haven’t heard any evidence that they have made public.”
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech. The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic government through what it calls a “soft revolution.” But they were never put on trial and were eventually released from prison.
“The Saberi case is the latest example of how Iranian authorities arbitrarily use spying charges to arrest journalists and tighten the gag on free expression,” said Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.
Meanwhile, NPR said it was “deeply distressed by this harsh and unwarranted sentence.”
Iran has released few details about the charges against Saberi. Iranian officials initially said she had been arrested for working in the Islamic Republic without press credentials, and she had told her father in a phone conversation that she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine.
An Iranian investigative judge involved in the case later told state TV that Saberi was passing classified information to U.S. intelligence services.
Her parents, who traveled to Iran from their home in Fargo in a bid to help win their daughter’s release, could not be reached by the AP for comment on Saturday.
Saberi’s father has said his daughter, who was Miss North Dakota in 1997, had been working on a book about the culture and people of Iran, and hoped to finish it and return to the United States this year.
ISLAMABAD – Suspected U.S. missiles struck a Taliban compound in a northwest Pakistani militant stronghold bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing three people, officials said.
The blasts came a day after a suicide car bomber killed 27 people – most of them security forces – elsewhere in the northwest. A senior Taliban leader claimed responsibility for that attack, and promised more if the U.S. kept up its missile strikes in the region.
Shahab Ali Shah, the top administrative official from South Waziristan tribal region, said five people also were wounded in Sunday’s strike in the Zari Noor village area. The identities of the dead and wounded were not immediately clear.
An intelligence official confirmed the assessment that missiles were involved. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media on the record.
South Waziristan is the main stronghold of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who is believed allied with al-Qaida.
Since August, the U.S. has escalated its use of drone-fired missile strikes along Pakistan’s lawless northwest regions, where al-Qaida and the Taliban are believed to have hideouts from which to plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.
South Waziristan is a favorite target of the missiles.
The pro-Western Pakistani government has demanded an end to the strikes, saying that although they have killed several militant leaders, they also fan anti-American sentiment and violate the country’s sovereignty.
Haji Gul Zaman, who lives just outside Zar Noor village, said he heard two blasts Sunday and saw plumes of smoke rising from the area. Trucks carrying Taliban fighters raced toward the scene, said Zaman. Shah said the strike also damaged several vehicles.
The suicide attack Saturday damaged about a dozen army trucks and jeeps as well as a police station at the checkpoint near the town of Hangu, said Farid Khan, a senior police official.
At least 25 members of the security forces and two civilians died, Khan told The Associated Press by phone from a hospital near the scene. Another 62 security personnel and three civilians were wounded, including the local police chief, other officials said.
The attack was claimed by Hakeemullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander who vowed earlier this month to carry out two suicide attacks a week to press for the withdrawal of Pakistan troops from the border region and for an end to the missile strikes.
“We are meeting our pledge. … We will intensify our attacks if the drone strikes in the tribal areas do not stop,” Mehsud told AP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Pakistan is under intense international pressure to crack down on an increasingly integrated array of Islamist extremist groups operating on its soil.
Donors including the U.S, Japan and Saudi Arabia on Friday pledged more than $5 billion to shore up Pakistan’s shaky economy and pay for schemes to alleviate poverty and bolster its security forces – twin tracks in a longer-term drive to dry up support for extremism.
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea on Sunday accepted North Korea’s proposal for talks on a troubled joint industrial complex, setting up the first official dialogue between the two countries in a year amid tensions over the North’s recent rocket launch.
Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said officials of the two Koreas would meet in the border town of Kaesong on Tuesday to discuss the factory complex.
The industrial park on the northern side of the border is the last major joint project between the rival Koreas and a key source of foreign currency for the impoverished North’s communist regime.
Ties between the Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul last year with a tougher line on the North. North Korea responded by cutting off ties.
In recent months the North has restricted access to the industrial complex by tightening border controls, raising concerns among participating South Korean companies about the project’s viability.
The meeting comes amid rising tensions over the North’s rocket launch and its weekslong detention of a South Korean man in Kaesong accused of denouncing the North’s political system.
North Korea has expelled international monitors, vowed to quit six-nation disarmament talks and restart its nuclear program to protest the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of the April 5 launch.
North Korea insists it sent a satellite into space, but regional powers say nothing reached orbit and the launch was actually a test of long-range missile technology.
“We will thoroughly ensure that the inter-Korean contact will be made in a way that secures the safety of people and contributes to the development of the Kaesong complex,” Lee said, in an apparent reference to the detained South Korean.
North Korea is also holding two female American journalists who allegedly crossed the border from China on March 17 while reporting on North Korean refugees. It has said it will try the journalists – Laura Ling and Euna Lee of former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV media venture – on charges of entering the country illegally and engaging in “hostile acts.”
Sunday’s announcement came a day after North Korea’s military warned South Korea to stay out of a U.S.-led security initiative aimed at halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
An unidentified North Korean military spokesman said South Korea’s full participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative would be seen “as a declaration of undisguised confrontation and a declaration of a war” against North Korea.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry expressed regret Sunday over the North’s threats and said joining the program would not be a “declaration of confrontation or war.”
South Korea, which has been an observer, had planned to officially announce its full participation Sunday, but decided on a delay following the North’s proposal of a meeting, a Foreign Ministry official said Saturday on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
The program, which began in 2003, has been joined by more than 90 countries to help deter trade in weapons of mass destruction and missiles by states including North Korea and Iran.
Countries participating in the initiative exchange intelligence and hold maritime drills to stop and search ships suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, materials to make them or missiles to deliver them.
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Mark Martin puts in long hours in the gym and thinks the last time he ate fast food was a Burger King run some 15 years ago. He lives his life like a man half of his age. And drives like it, too.
The 50-year-old Martin became the third-oldest winner in NASCAR history Saturday night, snapping a 97-race winless streak with a dominating run at Phoenix International Raceway.
“I told the guys I don’t have any problem keeping up with a 25-year-old – at least not for the next 15 minutes,” Martin said. “I feel really good.”
Martin, who has waffled on retirement several times in the last four years, started from the pole and led 157 of 312 laps. But a late caution erased his 4-second lead over Tony Stewart with 11 laps to go, sending the leaders into the pits and putting his victory on the line.
Ryan Newman stayed on track to assume the lead, and Martin won a frantic race off pit road to emerge in second. But he had Tony Stewart – Newman’s car owner and teammate – right behind him, and only six laps to race to the front.
Martin only needed about 6 seconds.
Martin shot past Newman on the restart, then drove away to his first win since Kansas in 2005.
The last 50-year-old to win a Cup race was Morgan Shepherd in 1993 at Atlanta. Harry Gant holds the record as the oldest driver to win a Cup race. He was 52 when he won at Michigan in 1992.
Before Martin, only three drivers 50 or older won Cup races: Gant, Shepherd and Bobby Allison.
“Age is irrelevant with Mark,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “I don’t even think about it. It doesn’t even come into the equation. Mark’s enthusiasm, his energy, his drive … he’s incredible. He’s as good as any of them.”
Martin was visited by NASCAR president Mike Helton and several competitors in Victory Lane, including former boss Jack Roush and former teammates Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.
It was Martin’s 36th career victory, but first without Roush. He spent 18 years driving for Roush, but left after the 2006 season because he had planned to retire at the end of that season, but Roush had filled his seat before he changed his mind.
“He seemed genuinely happy,” Martin said of Roush’s Victory Lane visit.
So did everyone else.
“There’s no shame in losing to a guy like Mark Martin,” said Stewart, who finished second. “I am really happy for Mark. Nobody works harder than Mark to be fit, to stay in shape and be ready to go.”
Busch was third, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Biffle.
“There’s no shame in losing to a guy like Mark Martin,” Stewart said. “I am really happy for Mark. Nobody works harder than Mark to be fit, to stay in shape and be ready to go.”
The praise poured in from every corner of the garage for Martin, who is widely considered to be the greatest NASCAR driver to never win a championship.
“The guy has been at the top of his game in the sport for 30 years,” said Busch, who raced with Martin at Roush. “He’s a tremendous athlete, a tremendous individual and he’s definitely going to put together.”
That elusive Cup title is what lured him to drive for Rick Hendrick this year for his first full season in three years. He spent the last two years in a part-time ride for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which re-energized him for another grueling 10-month season. After finishing second in the championship race a maddening four times, Hendrick offered him the No. 5 Chevrolet and likely his best – and final – shot at a title.
But his optimism was dashed after horrendous early season luck sabotaged strong cars and dropped Martin to 34th in the standings. His victory pushed five spots from 18th to 13th, and he’s now just nine points out of the final qualifying spot for the Chase for the championship.
He didn’t want to discuss his championship hopes afterward.
“I am not going to ruin a good time by worrying about,” he said. “Let me enjoy this.”
Martin received a congratulatory phone call in Victory Lane from Hendrick, who wasn’t on hand to see an HMS driver win for the third straight race. Johnson won at Martinsville and Jeff Gordon won at Texas.
“He just congratulated me, man,” Martin said of the phone call. “He makes dreams come true.”
Martin celebrated his win with a backward victory lap as a tribute to his late friend Alan Kulwicki.
“You guys knew I wasn’t going to do a burnout,” he joked.
Paget Brewster (born March 10, 1969 in Concord, Massachusetts) is an American actress. She appeared in the short-lived comedy series Andy Richter Controls The Universe and is also known for playing Special Agent Emily Prentiss on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds.
Brewster first came to prominent attention in her recurring role as Kathy, Joey’s girlfriend (and later Chandler’s) in the fourth season of Friends. Brewster had a short-lived Bay Area talk show and was a bartender at the late Andy Boy’s Drunk Tank in San Francisco. She also appeared in Andy Richter Controls The Universe and as Beth Huffstodt in the Showtime series Huff, which aired from 2004-2006.
In film, Brewster’s most notable role[citation needed] is Ms. Indestructible, the female lead in James Gunn’s low-budget superhero comedy The Specials (2000), opposite Thomas Haden Church and Rob Lowe. She also played Amy Pierson, a calculus teacher afraid of the water, in the independent film The Big Bad Swim that premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2005, Brewster began voice work as a recurring character on the animated series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law as Judy Sebben/Birdgirl.
On the March 30, 2006 episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Brewster revealed that she had recently received a handwritten note indicating Hugh Hefner would like her to pose for Playboy. She seriously considered the offer but eventually turned it down for career reasons, even though her parents gave her their blessing and she said that she admired Playboy more than magazines such as Maxim and FHM. [1]. She has, however, photographed spreads of other models for the website Suicide Girls. Brewster was also known as a retro pin-up model in the Los Angeles area, as well as a retro photographer. Both her modelling and photography work was frequently seen in Barracuda Magazine.
Brewster has volunteered as an actress with the Young Storytellers Program.
She is a descendant of William Brewster, a passenger on the Mayflower.
Filmography
* Criminal Minds as Emily Prentiss (48 episodes, 2006-2009)
* American Dad! as Thundercat /(7 episodes, 2005-2008)
* Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law as Birdgirl /(8 episodes, 2005-2007)
* Sublime (2007) (V) as Andrea
* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Sheila Tierney (1 episode, 2007)
* A Perfect Day (2006) (TV) as Allyson Harlan
* Stacked as Charlotte (3 episodes, 2005-2006)
* Unaccompanied Minors (2006) as Valerie Davenport
* Kidney Thieves (2006) as Melinda
* Huff as Beth Huffstodt (24 episodes, 2004-2006)
* The Big Bad Swim (2006) as Amy Pierson
* Cyxork 7 (2006) as Bethany Feral
* Drawn Together (1 episode, 2006)
* Lost Behind Bars (2006) (TV) as Lauren Wilde
* Duck Dodgers as Rona Vipra (2 episodes, 2005)
* Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution (2005) (TV) as Carol Carter
* My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005) …. Julianne
* Man of the House (2005/I) as Binky
* Two and a Half Men as Jamie Eckleberry (1 episode, 2005)
* Andy Richter Controls the Universe as Jessica Green (19 episodes, 2002-2004)
* Eulogy (2004) as Aunt Lily
* Rock Me, Baby as Debbie (1 episode, 2004)
* Time Belt as Colonel Jocelyn Anchor (1 episode, 2003)
* Brainwarp (2003) (V) as Lipstikk
* The Snobs (2003) (TV)
* Now You Know (2002) as Lea
* George Lopez as Ginger (1 episode, 2002)
* Raising Dad as Tracy (1 episode, 2001)
* Skippy (2001) as Julie Fontaine
* DAG as Patti Donovan (1 episode, 2001)
* Last Dance (2001) (TV)
* Agent 15 (2001) as Agent 15
* Hollywood Palms (2001) as Phoebe
* The Trouble with Normal as Claire Garletti (11 episodes, 2000)
* One True Love (2000) (TV) as Tina
* The Specials (2000) as Ms. Indestructible
* The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) as Jenny Spy
* Star Patrol (2000) (TV) as Rachel Striker
* Love & Money as Allison Conklin (1 episode, 1999)
* The Expert (1999) TV series as Lead (unknown episodes)
* Desperate But Not Serious (1999) as Frances
* Max Q (1998) (TV) as Rena Winter
* Godzilla: The Series (1998) TV series as Audrey Timmonds (unknown episodes)
* Let’s Talk About Sex (1998/I) as Michelle
* Friends as Kathy (6 episodes, 1997-1998)
LONDON, England (CNN) — Thousands of mourners and well-wishers gathered Saturday at a church east of London for the funeral of controversial reality TV star Jade Goody.
Jade Goody’s coffin is carried into church for the funeral service in Essex Saturday.
The 27-year-old lost a public battle with cervical cancer last month, prompting sympathy and headlines around the world.
As Goody’s white coffin was carried into the church at Buckhurst Hill, Essex, east of London, a gospel choir began singing “Amazing Grace.” Pallbearers included her husband Jack Tweed, whom she married in February.
Send your tributes to Jade Goody.
Inside the church the congregation heard Tweed read a poem as well as watching a multimedia tribute to Goody’s life. Photo View image gallery of Jade Goody’s funeral »
Outside thousands of well-wishers gathered in the spring sunshine to watch the funeral service on large TV screens, breaking into spontaneous applause throughout the service. TV pictures showed one young girl with “R.I.P. Jade” drawn on her cheek. Read blog from her funeral
Addressing the congregation Max Clifford, Goody’s publicist, said: “She achieved in seven months what doctors, politicians and medical experts can only dream of achieving. Her legacy is a wonderful one. Because of Jade Goody, lots of women have had their lives saved.” Video Watch family and fans pay their last respects »
After the service congregation member Peter Holmes, 28, from St. Albans, north of London, told CNN: “The service was lovely. The funeral was just what Jade was all about. She was a fun-loving person who always lit up a room with a funny comment.”
Flowers thrown by well-wishers covered the front of the vintage hearse carrying Goody’s coffin as it arrived at the church.
Crowds earlier applauded as the cortege slowly made its way through Bermondsey, south London, where Goody grew up amid deprivation and drug abuse. At one point the procession stopped to release a white dove.
Wreaths included one in the shape of a pink heart, another that resembled a blue handbag and another shaped like a camera — reflecting Goody’s love of the limelight. After the funeral friends and family left for a private burial.
Goody had burst into the spotlight in the British version of “Big Brother” in 2002 but attracted global notoriety five years later when she made racist comments — for which she later apologized — to Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
Well-wisher Vicky Scott, a security consultant from Bedfordshire, central England, waiting outside the church before the service, told CNN: “She had very much to live for and she had achieved so much. She had a tough life and she gave us so much.
“I think she was an inspiration to many women, the way she brought cervical cancer to many women’s minds.”
Clifford said in comments reported by the Press Association that Goody’s mother Jackiey Budden was “distraught” and Tweed was “heartbroken.”
Goody’s two sons, Bobby, 5, and Freddie, 4, did not attend the service and are believed to have gone to Australia with their father, TV host Jeff Brazier, according to media reports.
Medical officials have reported a big rise in the number of screenings for cervical cancer after Goody’s diagnosis was announced live on India’s version of “Big Brother” last August, a phenomenon some have dubbed the “Jade Goody effect.”
Images of her shrinking frame and bald head dominated the pages of British media after she announced she had just weeks to live.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown had previously praised Goody’s work in raising awareness of cervical cancer. “In many years to come, there will be an awful lot of women who’ve got an awful lot to thank Jade Goody for,” he said.
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Despite her weakening state Goody continued to open her door to the media, saying she needed to keep selling her story to help secure the future of her sons.
With Clifford’s help, she organized her wedding to boyfriend Tweed, who had only just been released from prison after serving a sentence for assault, selling the exclusive rights to OK! magazine for a reported $970,000. It was also filmed for her reality TV show.
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