Baby Photographed With Confederate Flags and Guns Kidnapped

Robert Baumann watched as his ex-girlfriend changed before his eyes, going from a free-spirited girl from Broward to an angry young woman with radical, hard-right politics. But it wasn’t Megan Everett’s transformation alone that bothered Robert. He was troubled by the impact his ex’s new life had on their 2-year-old…

Broward Crime Lab Scandal Could Taint Many Cases

Kadesha Roberts was camped out at a friend’s condo in a cookie-cutter, tile-roofed development off McNab Road when the knock came. The short Jamaican woman with spiked hair opened the door to find a UPS man clutching a large package. After identifying herself, she grabbed it. Then all hell broke…

Mr. 786: Pitbull Impersonator Meets the Chongas

It’s the dinner hour at Dolphin Mall, and the food court is a busy hive. Teenagers guzzle from Smoothie King cups while tables full of abuelitas fire Gatling-gun Spanish over steaming plates of Lotus Express. At the Segafredo Zanetti Espresso kiosk, a young girl in black shirt and pants offers…

Dada 5000’s Last Fight Got Shut Down by the State

Dada 5000 — the Mohawked, muscled monolith born Dhafir Harris but better known as the P.T. Barnum of Miami’s backyard fisticuffs — spotted them through the window. It was July 5, and the promoter was chilling at home, the same “Famous Green House” where thousands of knuckle-busters and bloody noses…

The Onion Lawsuit: Not So Funny

Although it flopped like a dead grouper when it hit in 2008, the straight-to-DVD The Onion Movie was a rare misplayed hand by the world leader in smart-ass news. Since launching in 1988, the Onion has burrowed a niche deep into the American news cycle by uncorking snark and scathing…

Crossbow Double Murder-Suicide: The Real Story

The pain bit Jose Maldonado below the right ear, hot and searing. When the lanky, dark-haired Florida State University student snapped his eyes open, he was in the same Tallahassee motel room where he’d drifted to sleep earlier. But then, in the lead-colored hour before dawn this past December 3,…

The Sunshine Stampede: Gay Cowboys, Drag Queens, and Bull Riders

The goat doesn’t want to wear the undies. Can’t blame him. Plus-sized, bleached-white tighty whities are not very chic. A tall man, blue shirt tucked neatly into his jeans, holds up the animal’s brown-and-white-mottled back end, while his teammate, a squat woman, tries to work the underpants on. The goat’s…

Pinball Wizard Atticus Palmer Aims for National Gold

Suburbs don’t get much tidier than Coral Springs. The boxy patch of West Broward is made up of neighborhoods of modest ranch homes planted evenly on shady, manicured lawns. It’s Mayberry 2.0, a David Lynch movie before shit goes bad. Behind the front door of one such modest suburban house…

Florida’s Hit-and-Run Drivers Kill and Get Away With It

It ended with a boom: a 40-year relationship and two lives — one dead and gone, the other alive and alone. Jorge Arrojas and his partner, Miguel Larrieu, were heading home, fresh from a dinner party in Bal Harbour around midnight last August 10 on I-75 when a red 2009…

Anwar Zayden: Miami Wildman and Internet Hero

The man knows how to make an entrance. In April 2012, fireworks split open the night sky over Star Island. Below, topless women wiggled by a pool lit the color of blue Kool-Aid. Veiled belly dancers tossed around fire sticks. Camels munched grass around the two-acre property. All through the…

Teens Tied Down and Shot Up With Drugs at Pembroke Pines Facility

Cold fluorescent light bounces off the slick white floors of the hallway. Doors slam; girls scream in the distance. A half dozen police officers march across the tile. Staffers wrapped in blue hospital scrubs trot behind. Outside, 20 cop cruisers and two ambulances paint the parking lot with their reds…

Craigslist Missed Connections: Love for Valentine’s Day

Smell that? No. It’s not David Beckham’s metallic musk. It’s love. Valentine’s Day is here. Buckle up. We’re all going to get laid. Well… some of us. Truth is, Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean as much in a world of Snapchat dong shots and Grindr nookie. That lovey-dovey Hallmark crap? It’s…

The Underground World of Used Luxury Car Rentals

The two men took turns waling on Jeffrey Worstell. A gold chain danced against the skinny one’s white tank top as he beat the 29-year-old mechanic senseless with a nickel-plated .357 Smith & Wesson. When the skinny guy needed a breather, his partner — a hefty six-foot man in a…

One Man’s Quest to Find a $1 Beer in South Florida

It was me this time, but it just as easily could’ve been you. The week had been an emotional bruiser. Deadlines, bosses, landlords, bank tellers, traffic, lady friend — each had their go, catching me with one unexpected kaboom after another until my nerves were breached and my patience was…