‘Shopping Cart Killer' Linked To Death Of 5 Women, Police Say

ACROSS AMERICA — Good morning! It’s Sunday, Jan. 9. Before you head back to work tomorrow, catch up on the stories we’re following today:

• Start your day with a smile with a collection of nine good news stories from across Patch.
• Two badly decomposed bodies found in Virginia were linked to the serial killer dubbed the “shopping cart killer.”
• Two communities are mourning a high school hockey player who died after a tragic collision.
• A high school basketball coach was suspended after his team won 92-4.

A Virginia police department this week identified two badly decomposed bodies found in a large plastic container near a shopping cart on Dec. 15 in Fairfax County.

The women were victims of a suspected serial killer dubbed the "shopping cart killer" because he used shopping carts to move and dump murder victims' bodies in remote areas, according to police. The suspect is in jail in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Fairfax County police identified the victims as a woman from Washington, D.C., and a woman from California, officials said at a news conference Friday night.

The suspect, Anthony Eugene Robinson, was arrested in November and charged with the death of two other women. He may also be linked to the death of a fifth woman, who was was found dead this week in a shopping cart in D.C., police said. »Fairfax County Police Identify 2 Victims Of 'Shopping Cart Killer', via Greater Alexandria, Virginia, Patch

Lab Boosts Rapid COVID Test Production

As demand for COVID-19 testing skyrockets during the omicron surge, officials at Illinois-based Abbott Labs hope to soon be making twice as many BinaxNOW rapid test kits as the company produced at peak during previous waves of the coronavirus pandemic. »Abbott Labs Boosts Production Of BinaxNOW Rapid COVID-19 Tests, via Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, Illinois, Patch

Your Good News Fix

The motorists stranded for hours on an icy stretch of Interstate 95 could smell fresh bread like a wanderer sees mirages. A University of Virginia math major plans to use the $1 million surprise he found in his Christmas stocking to pay his and his sister's tuition, and the police dog Enzo has done it again. These tales are among several in this week’s collection of good news stories sure to make you smile. »9 Good News Stories: Goodwill On Terrible, Awful, Dangerous Day, via Across America Patch

An ‘Incredible Young Man’

Two Connecticut communities are mourning a high school hockey player who died after another student-athlete collided with him on the ice Thursday at Brunswick School in Greenwich. Teddy Balkind, a sophomore for visiting St. Luke's School in New Canaan, was remembered as "an all-around incredible young man, son and brother." » High School Hockey Player Dies During Game, via Greenwich, Connecticut, Patch

More national headlines on Patch, other news websites:

• Late Senate Leader Harry Reid Was A Man 'Who Got Things Done'
• Ahmaud Arbery's Killers Get Stiff Prison Sentences
• Ted Cruz Apologizes For Describing Jan. 6 Attack As Terrorism
• Sidney Poitier Mourned, Roots In Mount Vernon Recalled
• Where Are The COVID-19 Tests That Biden Promised? AP Explains
• Supreme Court Skeptical Of Biden's Workplace Vaccine Rule
• 35-Years-Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away... Star Tours Was Born At Disneyland
• The Most Anticipated Movies Of 2022
• Senate Minority Whip Thune, Close McConnell Ally, To Run For Reelection, via The Hill
• Perplexing Jobs Report Raises Concerns About Absent Workers, via The Hill

Around ‘The Patch’

• Coach Suspended After Girls Basketball Team Wins 92-4, via Hamden, Connecticut, Patch
• Ping-Pong Balls To Pick Eligibility Order For Evanston Local Reparations Housing Program
• WWII Soldier's Letter Finally Delivered, via Woburn, Massachusetts, Patch
• Missing 6-Year-Old North Chicago Boy Found Dead; 3 In Custody, via Skokie, Illinois, Patch
• White Sox Fan, 'Twin' Jimmy Fallon Connect, via Chicago Patch
• $76 Beer Dinner For Dolly Parton's 76th, via Batavia, Illinois, Patch
• 'Very High' COVID Spread In All 21 NJ Counties, via Woodbridge, New Jersey, Patch
• List Of Philly Area Public Servants Dead From COVID Grows, via Radnor, Pennsylvania, Patch

House Hunting

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This Day In History

In 2001, Apple introduced iTunes, a digital media player application that, with the year's later debut of the iPod, revolutionized digital music.

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