Crime

The Indiana man who cut off his penis before allegedly setting it ablaze doesn't remember the impromptu amputation ... TMZ has learned.

A family member of Christopher Peden tells TMZ ... he's suffered from mental health issues over the years and has been "in and out" of mental health facilities, and is back in one after making bail following his felony arson charge. The treatment was not part of his release.

The family member says he is currently "coming to terms with what happened, which has been the hard part because he doesn't remember doing it," adding that he was in a "psychotic-like episode" when he decided to cut off his penis and torch it.

Marcellus Wiley denies poking his estranged wife's cheek during their alleged altercation ... and now he's claiming he has a witness who will back him up.

The former NFL star filed a motion to modify his bond conditions earlier this week ... in which he says, "The only other witness to the alleged 'cheek poke' did not in fact witness any physical altercation nor touch."

He also mentions in the documents that the current bond conditions prohibiting contact with his minor children will prevent him from providing adequate childcare. He says his estranged wife, Annemarie Wiley, works outside the home four or five days a week and obviously cannot look after the kids during those times.

Andrew Gillum may just catch a break in his crystal meth case ... we're told Alabama prosecutors are considering sending the ex-Florida politician to a pre-trial intervention program.

John Oxford, Assistant District Attorney for Baldwin County, tells us he will be reviewing 30 narcotics cases Friday for possible transfer to drug court, and among them is Gillum's case.

Last week, Gillum was arrested after cops said they saw him driving erratically in Daphne, AL, and pulled him over near a Walmart, only to find him with 3 grams of methamphetamine, 8 pre-rolled marijuana joints, 4 cut straws, 3 pipes, and a bong.

You may want to keep your Johnson tucked away ... because Christopher Peden -- the Indiana man cops say sliced off his man part and lit it on fire in a garage -- is out on bail.

According to court documents, obtained by TMZ, Peden was charged with felony arson but then released on $10,000 bond with certain strict conditions ... including not leaving the state of Indiana without permission.

Court docs also say the evidence collected on the scene included the remains of a red plastic gasoline container and four BIC lighters. Investigators say they also recovered a knife.  The penis, however, was not mentioned in the officer's affidavit as part of the collected evidence.

Here's one way of firing up the kitchen ... a Florida man decided to get the burners going by incinerating a Tampa restaurant with a propane tank ... and it's all on video.

Law enforcement says 53-year-old Rubiel Maceo Castillo is the man seen wielding a burning propane tank in surveillance video from inside the restaurant.

Hillsborough County deputies responded to a call Tuesday about a man charging at people inside the eatery ... and they say body camera footage shows Castillo standing in the middle of the flames, armed with two knives.

Deputies came in with their guns drawn, ordering the man to drop his weapons immediately ... then they make the arrest and take a fire extinguisher to the flames.

Mackenzie Shirilla was under review by Ohio prison authorities after a glammed-up picture of the convicted killer in prison recently appeared on Instagram, but she won't face any punishment, TMZ has learned.

Shirilla, who shot to infamy with her Netflix documentary "The Crash," apparently sent the dolled-up photo of herself from Ohio Reformatory for Women to a family member through a tablet called ViaPeth, which is used by inmates to stay connected to loved ones, according to JoEllen Smith, chief spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. 

Smith said the Office of Victim Services and the Office of the Chief Inspector reviewed the matter and determined that Shirilla did not post the pic herself because "Incarcerated individuals do not have access to social media platforms on the ViaPath tablets."

Dwyane Wade's eldest child, Zaire Wade, has been charged with a felony related to domestic violence after his recent arrest.

Zaire faces one felony charge, according to NBC4 in Los Angeles ... though he was booked on 3 different charges when he was arrested last month in Burbank.

As we told you ... Zaire was taken into custody last month after cops were called to a Burbank home around 5:30 AM on June 21 after receiving a call about a woman screaming. Cops say they found Zaire and a woman with lacerations all over her face.

7/10/26 7:31 AM PT -- You may want to keep your Johnson tucked away ... because Christopher Peden is out on bail.

This story ain't for the squeamish ... a man in Indiana chopped off his penis and set it ablaze using lighters and gasoline, according to his attorney.

Christopher Peden allegedly told police that he walked inside a garage in Fort Wayne, IN, and sliced off his junk with a kitchen knife, his lawyer, David Felts, tells TMZ.

Felts said Peden then allegedly placed his severed penis on the floor, doused it with gasoline from a container and set it on fire using 4 lighters.

Police and firefighters responded to the May 6 incident after receiving a call for a stabbing at the detached garage belonging to the property owners, cops said.

2:44 PM PT -- Prosecutors showed fragments of the alleged bullet jacket that killed Charlie Kirk.

10:29 AM PT -- Tyler Robinson said he regretted killing Charlie Kirk, even crying in the aftermath of the controversial commentator's shocking death ... according to Robinson's romantic partner, Lance Twiggs.

After 4 days of arguing in court, a Utah judge has ruled that confessional videos of Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin -- 23-year-old Tyler Robinson -- as well as alleged text messages, will be shown publicly today ... and TMZ is streaming live from the courtroom where the exhibits will be shown.

While some video will be redacted ... the public will now be privy to what Tyler admitted to police upon arrest ... as well as what his roommate -- Lance Twiggs -- said in an interview.

The ruling comes after Charlie's widow, Erika Kirk, urged the court to make the evidence public.

The so-called "Tinder Swindler" has settled with an Israeli billionaire's family after being sued for allegedly impersonating a member of their family as part of an elaborate ruse to score millions of dollars from women he met on a dating app ... TMZ has learned.

Leviev family attorney Guy Ophir tells TMZ ... both sides reached a settlement and presented it to the Israeli court for approval. 

We're told the settlement contains two significant provisions.

First, the man dubbed the "Tinder Swinder" in the Netflix doc, Shimon Hayut, denies allegations that he impersonated the family, but promises never to represent that he's connected to the Leviev family or their various companies going forward.

Secondly, Hayut cannot seek reimbursement of legal costs or attorney fees.

Savannah Guthrie's latest absence from "Today" has viewers wondering if it's connected to the kidnapping case involving her mom ... but TMZ has learned that's not what's going on.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Savannah is off for a few days to spend time with her family, and her absence has nothing to do with the investigation into the Nancy Guthrie abduction.

Savannah was absent from the NBC morning show for a second straight day Thursday, with Laura Jarrett filling in alongside Craig Melvin after Sheinelle Jones stepped in Wednesday.

Ex-Olympian David Hearn is officially telling the judge he's not the one to blame for more than $1,000 in damage to the now-infamous liner of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Hearn entered a not guilty plea Thursday morning during his arraignment ... a move that's in line with the fact he told us "every American should be alarmed" after he was indicted.

As you know, this case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, and she is adamant Hearn defiled the monument.

Erika Kirk wants full transparency during the preliminary hearing of the man charged with killing her husband ... asking the judge to publicly reveal all the evidence in hopes of ending the string of conspiracy theories around Charlie Kirk's death.

Erika filed documents earlier this week stating she and Charlie's parents traveled to Utah to watch the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson's murder case, and to "to bear witness to the evidence concerning the death of their husband and son."

However, Erika says she and her in-laws had to sit through the preliminary hearing while certain exhibits were entered into evidence, but not made available to the public ... a practice Kirk says damaged their ability to "meaningfully observe" the hearing.

A New Jersey officer in charge of the K-9 unit has been charged with animal cruelty ... after he allegedly left two department dogs to die in a hot car.

Cody L. Henderson of the Salem County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Tuesday and charged with recklessly causing the death of Boomer, a 6-year-old springer spaniel, and Rip, a 4-year-old Belgian malinois, according to NJ.com.

Both dogs were left in the same cruiser May 29 ... allegedly for seven hours in the beating sun ... with the engine off, no windows cracked, while Henderson worked the courthouse. He is accused of ignoring the dogs until the end of the day, when he discovered them dead of heat stroke.

A distressed woman scaled the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge in NYC ... but she didn't plunge into the East River ... her life was saved thanks to the NYPD.

The death-defying incident went down Wednesday night on the Brooklyn-bound side of the bridge, where the woman in her 30s was sitting on a support suspension beam near eyewitnesses.

The NYPD's Emergency Service Unit officers quickly responded to multiple 911 calls and climbed up the bridge to talk with the troubled woman.

Courtney Clenney says she wasn't staying silent after allegedly catching beatings from boyfriend Christian Obumseli ... she was texting him about them ... and now she wants to use the messages in her criminal trial, in which she's accused of murdering him.

New court documents, obtained by TMZ, reveal the OnlyFans model wants to introduce a string of text messages backing up her claims she endured repeated abuse before fatally stabbing Obumseli in their Miami high-rise apartment in 2022.

According to the filing, one exchange came after Clenney claimed Obumseli punched her in the face in April 2021. Her attorneys say she immediately fired off a text accusing him of hitting her "in my face as hard as you could" ... while Obumseli allegedly brushed it off, responding he was only trying to move her hand and "really didn't mean to."

Clenney argues the messages show a pattern of him minimizing what allegedly happened.