An elderly couple from Willington died Monday after their sedan slammed into the back of a garbage truck in Mansfield, according to state police.

Police said a Willimantic Waste Refuse truck was driving southbound on Storrs Road/Route 195 and slowed down to turn right onto North Frontage Road around 10:30 a.m. Monday when a Volvo following the garbage truck slammed into it from behind.

The driver and passenger of the Volvo, identified as Thomas and Arlene Ryan, ages 78 and 79, respectively, died after being airlifted to the hospital, according to state police.

Police said Arlene Ryan was wearing a seatbelt, while Thomas Ryan, who was driving, was not.

Storrs Road was closed at North Frontage Road while an accident reconstruction team investigated the crash. State police said it's not clear why the Ryans' car rear ended the garbage truck.

Anyone with information on the crash is urged to call Connecticut State Police Trooper Hickey at 860-896-3200 ext. 8008.

One person was killed when a car struck a utility pole on Route 32/River Road in Willington on Monday afternoon, according to state police.

Emergency dispatchers said the car knocked over a pole around 4:45 p.m., bringing wires down across the road. Eversource Energy reported more than 200 power outages in Willington, which have since been restored.

First responders arrived at the scene to find the car flipped over onto its roof. They extricated the victim, who was taken to the hospital with injuries that proved to be fatal, according to state police.

Route 32/River Road has been closed for hours at the intersection of Fisher Hill Road while utility crews work to make repairs.

It's not clear whether the person who died was the driver or a passenger in the car. Police have not identified the victim by name.

No additional information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Torrington Police are trying to identify a man suspected in an armed robbery at a market in January.

Police said the man in the surveillance photo they have released is suspected in a knifepoint robbery at La Cuencanita Market, at 515 Main St., around 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 8.

He is around 5-feet-8 to 5-feet-10 and has an average build.
 

Two children were home as Danbury police searched an apartment on Park Avenue and found large quantities of heroin and cocaine in an investigation that led to the arrest of two people on drug and risk of injury to a child charges on Monday.

Citizens complained to police that Terrence "Rachet" Walker, 35, of Danbury, was dealing illegal drugs throughout the city, sparking a police investigation a few weeks ago that led to his arrest after searching his car, police said. Sonya Henry, 31, who lives with Walker at 79 Park Avenue, unit 206, was home with two school age children when police searched the residence, where they found "substantial" quantities of cocaine, heroin and cash, so she was arrested, as well, according to police. The children were placed in the care of "a suitable adult" until the Department of Children and Families responded, according to police

Police surveillance of Walker, his car and home revealed drug trafficking activity and police obtained a search and seizure warrant from a judge, police said. Officers seized his car after they saw him parking at a Germantown Road business and discovered he had heroine and cocaine on him that he was selling, according to police.

Police took him into custody before searching his home and subsequently transporting Henry to the police department for booking.

Officers charged Walker and Henry with possession of narcotics, possession of crack cocaine, possession of narcotics with the intent to sell, possession of more than .5 ounces of crack cocaine with the intent to sell, possession of narcotics with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school, possession of drug paraphernalia and risk of injury to a child.

Walker's relationship to Henry and the kids is unknown, but police said she is a female associate of his.

Walker's bond was set at $250,000 and Henry was issued a written promise to appear.

Police in Vermont said Monday they've been investigating a link between the 1971 disappearance of a Middlebury College student from Simsbury, Connecticut and millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst.

Investigators have been aware for several years of a link between 18-year-old Lynne Schulze and Durst, who operated the All Good Things health food store in the town, the Middlebury Police Department said in a statement.

Schulze, a native of Simsbury, Connecticut, who entered Middlebury College as a freshman in September 1971, was last seen that December. 

The Schulze case was reopened in 1992 and has continuously generated leads, police said.

Middlebury police call it an ongoing criminal investigation and say they aren't releasing any other details. 

Meanwhile, Vermont State Police were recently looking into unsolved homicide cases and are now looking into any links to Robert Durst. But so far, officers say they are not aware “of any information from the FBI with regard to unsolved crimes and Durst.”

The 71-year-old Durst is a member of a wealthy New York real estate family that runs 1 World Trade Center. He's charged with killing a woman 15 years ago in Los Angeles. He's been ordered held on weapons charges in Louisiana, where a judge decided he's a flight risk and a danger to others after considering what FBI agents found in his hotel room — an elaborate disguise and other escape tools fit for a spy movie.

Durst was arrested at a hotel in New Orleans, where he had registered under a fake name and was lying low while HBO aired the final chapters of his life story, a documentary series called "The Jinx."

Authorities said FBI agents found Durst's passport and birth certificate, stacks of $100 bills, bags of marijuana, a gun, a map folded to show Louisiana and Cuba and a flesh-toned latex mask with salt-and-pepper hair.

"This was not a mask for Halloween," Assistant District Attorney Mark Burton said.

Durst's lawyers say his arrest was illegal. They say the timing of an agent's inventory proves the search was illegal.

"That's an improper search," defense attorney Dick DeGuerin told the judge.

Durst, who previously was acquitted of murder after a neighbor's dismembered body was found in a Texas bay in 2001, appeared in court Monday with his hands shackled to his sides in padded cuffs. He has been in a prison's mental health unit for nearly a week. Prison officials have called him a suicide risk.

Authorities have said they believe Schulze, at the time of her disappearance, may have been a little depressed and self-conscious because of an acne condition but appeared to be well-adjusted. In 2005 they called her "a typical, wholesome, all-American kid off at college" who "wasn't into the counterculture scene of that time."

On Dec. 10, 1971, Schulze was with some friends heading to a final exam when she told them she had to go back to her room to get a pencil, police said in 2005.

"She didn't show up for the exam," Officer Vegar Boe said then. "Later, her friends went back to her room. All her stuff was there, but she was gone."

The superintendent of schools in Bridgeport has dropped out of the running to become the state commissioner of education and will continue to serve Bridgeport schools, according to the mayor.

"I have two kids who currently attend Bridgeport public schools, and I couldn't be happier to have Fran Rabinowitz remain as the Superintendent of Schools in the state's largest city,” Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said in a statement. “She's committed to helping our city achieve universal pre-k for kids, ensuring our kids are learning in the right environment through new school construction, and that kids are learning important life lessons outside of the classroom through high-quality after school programs.”

On Monday night, Bridgeport Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz dropped out of contention to become Connecticut’s next commissioner of education.

In February, Bridgeport’s Board of Education voted to extend Rabinowitz's contract through June 2016.

Police have apprehended a suspect in a bank robbery in a Torrington plaza that escalated into a police pursuit and subsequent crash on Route 7 on the Brookfield/New Milford line.

Officers, including State Police, are investigating at Torrington Commons, located at 211 High Street, prompting some Torrington schools to be placed in "secure mode" Tuesday morning

Christopher Basigalup, 43, fled the bank with an unknown amount of cash before police arrived and has been apprehended and hospitalized, police said.

Police responded to a bank robbery happening at the plaza at about 8:45 a.m., police said.  TD Bank is located in the shopping center and a call placed to the bank rang off the hook.

Torrington police notified agencies in nearby towns that they were looking for a bank robber and a chase ensued when the suspect's vehicle was located, police said. Police apprehended Basigalup after he crashed on Route 7 along the Brookfield and New Milford line and the suspect was transported to Danbury Hospital with minor injuries.

Southwest School, Torringford School and Forbes School in the downtown area were placed on secure mode Tuesday morning due to the robbery, police said. Southwest School's principal's office confirmed the school went into secure mode at about 9:25 a.m. and said they were told it was due to a robbery at the Torrington TD Bank located within the plaza. The secure mode order was lifted as of 11:03 a.m.

The storefront has been cordoned off with police tape and most of the businesses are closed except for Stop & Shop, according to the manager of Warehouse Wine & Liquor, a wine shop in the plaza. The grocery store is open and wasn't affected, according to a national spokesperson for Stop & Shop.

Cars can get into the parking lot, but are not being permitted to the area right in front of the storefront.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

One hundred fifty people are feared dead after a German passenger jet crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday morning.

Germanwings flight 4U 9525 was less than an hour into its route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf when it went into a long descent and crashed between Barcelonnette and Digne, the airline's CEO said Tuesday. It's not clear what caused the descent or crash.

Here is a brief look at the crash by the numbers.

150: Number of people aboard the jet — 144 passengers and six crew members. At least 67 passengers were from Germany, and 45 were from Spain. Two Australian citizens, a mother and her adult son, were on board, Australia's foreign minister said. U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it is likely British nationals were on board the plane.

2: Number of babies included in the passenger count.

16: Number of 10th-graders from a German high school who were on the plane, along with their two teachers.

38,000: Altitude at which the plane was cruising just before it began its descent and crashed.

8: The number of minutes the plane descended steadily before crashing.

6,550: The approximate altitude of the Alpine site where the plane crashed, near the town of Digne in the French Alps.

More than 400: The number of police officers and rescue personnel dispatched to the area of the crash, according to the French Interior Ministry.

More than 6,000: The number of hours the plane's captain had logged on the plane.

24: The age of the plane that crashed.

46,700: The number of flights that plane had made before its crash.

About 58,300: the number of flight hours the aircraft accumulated since it was delivered to Lufthansa in 1991, according to Airbus.

1953: The year an Air France plane crashed near the town of Barcelonette, killing 49 people.

Connecticut has some of the highest paid babysitters in the country, according to a new survey, which is great if you watch other people’s children for a living and not so great if you’re the one doing the hiring.

Care.com, a website that links caregivers and families together, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 members to figure out how much parents should pay a babysitter and the greater Hartford area and the greater Bridgeport area are among the highest.

Greater Hartford ranked eighth overall, with a rate of $14.28 per hour, while the Bridgeport area ranked sixth, with a rate of $14.91, according to Care.com, which determined that the more the sitter was paid the more trustworthy and experienced they were.

Babysitter rates have been on the rise, and have increased 28 percent in the past five years alone, according to the website, and the average rate in 2014 was about $13.50 per hour.

The four most expensive holidays to hire a babysitter on are Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day, so if you are a babysitter in need, keep your holidays open. If you are a parent in need, keep those checkbooks handy!

A 76-year-old woman is in "grave condition" in the hospital after her son brutally beat her in a Sleepy Hollow Lane home Monday to the point that she needed head surgery, police said.

The woman told police she confronted her son, Timothy F. Anderson 42, about not taking his medication and he grew aggravated and yelled at her before grabbing her by the collar and punching her repeatedly in the face, police said.

His mother called out for her other son's help. Her face and nose were bleeding due to multiple head and face injuries. Police said Anderson's 50-year-old brother intervened to halt the attack, but couldn't stop him, so he called 911.

Stamford police received multiple calls from the 58 Sleepy Hollow Lane home at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.

That prompted a brief scuffle between the two brothers before Timothy Anderson fled the home. He ran through the woods and police apprehended him on Haig Avenue. When police arrived, they found the 76-year-old bleeding with multiple injuries.

Stamford EMS transported the woman to Stamford Hospital, where medical personnel discovered she was bleeding internally, as well. She was underwent surgery to remove part of her skull to alleviate pressure on her brain and she remains in the hospital "in grave condition," police said.

Police charged Anderson with first-degree assault of an elderly person, first-degree unlawful restraint, third-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

He appeared in court on Tuesday and his bond was set at $100,000.

A friend of one of the Boston Marathon bombers has pleaded guilty to misleading investigators.

Khairullozhon Matanov appeared Tuesday in federal court.

Judge William Young asked Matanov if he understood the agreement with prosecutors, which calls for a 30-month sentence. Matantov said he's innocent but there are enough facts to convict him and he doesn't want to face a possible 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for June.

Matanov was a close friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's and an acquaintance of his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Prosecutors say Matanov deceived authorities about his relationship with Tamerlan after the April 2013 bombings. Tamerlan died after a gunfight with police.

Matanov was charged with lying and with deleting information from his computer.

His lawyer hasn't said if he plans to testify in Dzhokhar's trial.

Police are looking for three masked men with guns who held up a clerk in New Haven and stole immigration papers, along with cash and cell phones.

Police responded to Guererro Mini-Mart, at 148 Rosette Street, just after 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday after receiving a report that the clerk had been held up and the clerk told officers that three masked men, including two with shotguns, entered the store, speaking only in Spanish, and demanded cash, police said.

The clerk said he gave the robber about $60 from the register, but the robbers also took his manager's immigration papers and two cell phones, then fled in a black SUV, possibly a Ford Expedition.

One of the robbers was tall and wore a black sweatshirt, black pants and black and white sneakers, police said. Another was around 5-feet-7 with a medium build and was wearing a blue sweatshirt and light blue jeans.

The other person was wearing a black sweatshirt and light blue jeans.
Police said detectives are hopeful that they'll learn more from the store's surveillance system.

A 14-year-old girl was convicted Tuesday of starting last year's devastating Cocos Fire by sparking a small fire in her backyard.

The judge found her guilty of four of the five counts against her, including the one linking her to the Cocos Fire, though the judge said she did not intend to harm anyone. 

The blaze destroyed 36 homes and caused more than $10 million in damage last May. Outside the courtroom, one woman whose apartment burned in the Cocos Fire said she felt as if justice was served. 

"Like the judge says, there’s no winners in this," said Mitzi McKinney. "It’s a sad situation, but I feel like justice was definitely served today. The evidence was overwhelming that she started the fire that burned all the homes down. I’m sad and happy at the same time."

McKinney said she hopes the teen gets the help she needs and hopes no one loses their home, like she did last May. 

"This whole thing to me all the way through is extremely sad on every level," said McKinney. "So like the judge said, there’s no winners in a case like this, it’s very sad all the way around."

The prosecutor said it is too early to decide on any potential punishment for the girl. Restitution for victims is possible in the future and the parents of the girl could be responsible, though only to a limited dollar amount. The exact dollar value of any restitution, if any, is unclear. 

During the trial, the teen girl admitted to starting fires with a lighter the same week the Cocos Fire swept across San Diego’s North County, destroying dozens of homes last May, according to her mother’s testimony in court during the trial.

The girl told investigators she "didn't want to kill anybody" -- only to "see what would happen" when she set the first of two fires in her backyard, according to an audio tape played in court on Monday.

During the trial, prosecutors claimed the defendant set two fires in her family’s backyard on May 13 and May 14. One of those fires, prosecutors say, left behind an ember that floated away and eventually sparked the Cocos Fire. That fact, however, was disputed by the defense.

The girl was charged with four felony charges, including two counts of arson of an inhabited structure or property in which multiple structures were burned, and two counts of arson of a structure or forest land in a reckless manner. She also faced a misdemeanor of unlawfully allowing a fire to escape from one’s control.

It is NBC 7’s policy not to identify juvenile defendants; we are not identifying family members to conceal the defendant’s identity.

Police are investigating after a 32-year-old man was stabbed with a butcher knife during an argument in New Haven on Monday night.

According to police, Kenneth McKay, 32, was taking crack cocaine at a first-floor apartment at 963 Sherman Avenue when a man knocked on the apartment door and confronted him around 8 p.m. Monday.

The apartment resident told police McKay got into an argument with the man, who was wearing a hat and wielding a butcher knife. She ran out the back door when she heard them start to fight, and by the time she returned, the man was gone and McKay had crossed the street to head home, according to police.

An ambulance brought McKay to the hospital from his apartment on Elizabeth Street. Police said he's listed in stable condition.

Authorities are investigating. No charges have been filed.

Repairs on a collapsed sewer main in Westoirt are complete after days of repairs.

While crews worked to repair a prior sewer collapse in Westport over the weekend, another smaller section also collapsed, which caused lane closures and possible delays on Monday.

The sewer main collapsed near 468 Post Road East in Westport and all four lanes of the road have reopened after repairs and paving.

Congressman Joe Courtney is warning Connecticut residents of a phone scam after receiving two fraudulent calls on his home phone this week.

"I often hear about scams targeting my constituents, with criminals seeking personal and financial information by pretending to be Medicare or Social Security representatives," Courtney said in a statement Tuesday. "So, while I was not surprised that my wife, Audrey and I received two of these calls at our house, I was taken aback by the threatening content and tone the caller used—claiming that criminal arrest was imminent if we did not comply with their outlandish claims."

Courtney said the scammers impersonate agents from the International Revenue Service and demand immediate payment over the phone.

Anyone who does not owe money and receives such a call should report it to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration online or by calling 800-366-4484.

If you believe you do owe money, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to discuss payment options, or visit IRS.gov to set up a payment plan.

You can also report scammers to the Federal Trade Commission online.

Hartford, along with five other Connecticut cities, is accepting the challenge to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety over the next year.

It's part of a national initiative known as "Safer People, Safer Streets," which aims to bolster safety laws and develop biking and walking facilities.

"Ensuring our community has access to safer streets and trails for biking and walking is a must. This encourages a healthy lifestyle and promotes a cleaner environment," Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said in a statement. "Whether someone is unable to drive due to a disability or chooses to commute to work on a bicycle, our City should provide safe places for them to get around."

A community group called Transport Hartford is teaming up with the city to help improve conditions for walkers and bikers in Hartford.

"In every Hartford neighborhood there are countless residents who do not drive, and they deserve safe and convenient transportation options throughout the year," group member Joshua LaPorte said in a statement.

The mayor is supporting the push toward walking and biking to create a healthier Hartford by helping to prevent childhood obesity and fight asthma in adults, according to a news release from the mayor's office.

A woman's body was found in a shallow grave in Philadelphia’s Frankford section and police arrested a man who neighbors say was her boyfriend.

The Super of a building on the 4700 block of Frankford Avenue discovered a shallow grave with dug up dirt behind the property around 11:30 a.m. The Super tracked down a police officer who called more law enforcement officials to the scene.

As they inspected the grave, they noticed toes sticking out of the ground. They then discovered the body of an unidentified woman.

Police then approached a man who was standing near the grave. As they questioned him, the man allegedly took off running though he didn't get far.

"He tried to run and he got tasered," said Michael Kendall. "And he just fell to the ground."

Samantha Tomczak, who works at a pizzeria next to where the woman was found, said she was taking orders when she witnessed the arrest.

"I saw everybody run to the front," she said. "The guy was lying on the ground. His face was covered in blood."

Another witness also recorded the officers arresting the man and posted video of the incident on Instagram.

The man was taken to the hospital before he was placed in police custody. No charges have been filed at this point.

Neighbors told NBC10 the man is the boyfriend of the woman who was found dead. Sources also say the woman, who is in her 30's, was likely dead and buried for several days before she was discovered.

Neighbors said the woman and her boyfriend often argued loudly, so much so that they believed something suspicious was going on when they didn't hear any arguments from them over the past few days.

Police have not yet identified the woman or the man they arrested. They also have not yet confirmed the neighbors' claims that they were in a relationship.

They continue to investigate.