Eighteen inmates were indicted in the February takeover of James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna that resulted in the death of Lt. Steven Floyd. Daniel Sato/The News Journal
Officer killed in violent prison siege
The standoff at Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna started the morning of Feb. 1 when inmates took control of Building C and held officers, a counselor and possibly other prisoners hostage.
It lasted into the early hours of the next day when authorities crashed through a wall of Building C. There, they found the body of Lt. Steven Floyd, who had been one of the captives. The others had been released.
All of the roughly 120 inmates who were in the building when the standoff started were considered to be suspects, investigators said at the time. Charges have since been filed against many of them.
In the weeks after the incident, three dozen inmates, their families, prison advocates and former and current correctional officers told The News Journal that anyone at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center could see the deadly standoff coming.
The body of Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard, an 8-year veteran of the Delaware State Police, is transferred from the medical examiner's office in Wilmington to Congo Funeral Home. John J. Jankowski Jr./Special to The News Journal
State trooper gunned down
Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard, 32 and an 8½-year veteran of the Delaware State Police, was gunned down in the parking lot of a Bear area Wawa in late April.
WATCH: The death of Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard
READ: Wife says Ballard gave his life to the state
His killer, identified as Burgon Sealy, later led police on a chase and barricaded himself in his parents Middletown home over night before being killed in a gun battle with officers.
A 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled Delaware, centered east of Dover and Leipsic. The USGS said the epicenter was in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. There have been no reports of damage. William Bretzger/The News Journal/WOCHIT
Earthquake hits Kent County
A 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck Kent County on the last day of November.
The Delaware Emergency Management Agency said the epicenter was in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
News Journal reporter Jerry Smith reports on the aftermath of Delaware's 4.1 magnitude earthquake. Jason Minto/The News Journal
The U.S. Goelogical Survey said it received more than 6,500 responses within an hour of the quake from people who felt the temblor throughout the Mid-Atlantic – as far south as suburban Washington, D.C., and as far north as the Poughkeepsie, New York, area.
Woman kills husband with antifreeze
A Smyrna woman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for poisoning her husband to death with antifreeze.
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide by poisoning after bottles of steroids found at the scene were tested at a laboratory and found to also contain ethylene glycol, police said. police and prosecutors say the woman injected her husband's steroids with the deadly chemical.
Radee L. Prince, 37, of Belvedere is taken into custody in Glasgow on Wednesday. (10/18/17) JOHN J. JANKOWSKI JR./SPECIAL TO THE NEWS JOURNAL
Two-state shooting spree
Police say Radee L. Prince shot five people – three of them fatally – in Harford County, Maryland, then drove to Wilmington and shot another man.
He was captured later that October day near Glasgow. Charges are still pending.
READ: Sisters tell of suspect's violent past