Help sought in death of Dorchester man

Police asked for the public's help yesterday in searching for a van belonging to a 33-year-old Dorchester man who died after being found lying on a sidewalk on Westfield Street last month. Police found Huynh Vu Thanh bruised and bleeding from his face, about 9:30 p.m. Sept. 18. The medical examiner's office later determined that Thanh died of blunt trauma, but the manner of death remains undetermined, police said. Detectives have exhausted every lead and have not found Thanh's 1997 red Dodge Grand Caravan with license plate number 81BT84, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call 617-343-4470.

A funeral will be held in Ireland on Saturday for Ciara Durkin, a National Guard member from Quincy who died under suspicious circumstances in Afghanistan. A statement from the family said some of Durkin's ashes will be buried with her father at a cemetery in County Galway. Per Durkin's wishes, the family said, some of her ashes will be interrred in Arlington National Cemetery. Durkin, 30, was found with a single gunshot wound to the head in a secure area of Bagram airfield last month. The military said she died in a "non-combat-related incident." A second autopsy was performed Sunday in Massachusetts. The soldier's brother, Pierce, said the family is trying to be patient and hopes the investigation will provide answers and closure. (AP)

A Massachusetts woman was arrested yesterday on charges she sold fake works of art on the Internet. Angela Hamblin, 58, of Revere was charged with one count of mail fraud. She was arrested in Boston on a criminal complaint brought in US District Court in Manhattan. Authorities accused her of asserting that works she was selling on the Internet were created by accomplished artists such as Joseph Mallord William Turner, a British watercolorist and printmaker, or Milton Avery, an American abstract expressionist painter. They said the paintings were not authentic works of art, despite her statements that she acquired the pieces from long-dead relatives or through other family connections. If convicted, Hamblin could face up to 20 years in prison on the mail fraud count brought against her. It was not immediately clear who would represent Hamblin in court. There was no telephone listing for Angela Hamblin. (AP)

Three men who went fishing without life jackets were rescued Tuesday after their canoe capsized off Marblehead, authorities said. The canoe tipped over about 100 yards from Marblehead Lighthouse at about 10 p.m., according to Captain Mike Porter of the Marblehead Fire Department. The three men - Roberto Tejada, 35; Mario Fuentes, 31; and Rogue Viera, 42 - were in the water for 30 minutes before a Fire Department rescue team arrived. The men were treated for hypothermia and taken to Salem Hospital, Porter said.

A Medway, Mass., man charged in the boating deaths of two people in August was booked and posted bail yesterday. Robert LaPointe Jr. faces charges of manslaughter and operating under the influence in the deaths of Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Naples, and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick on Aug. 11. LaPointe was booked at Cumberland County Jail and posted a $100,000 cash bail and was freed yesterday afternoon, the Sun Journal of Lewiston said. Authorities say LaPointe, 38, was intoxicated when he drove his 34-foot, high-powered boat into the smaller craft, slicing it in half. Friends said Trott and Groetzinger were on Trott's 14-foot motorboat and watching a meteor shower when they were hit by LaPointe's boat. (AP)

Grant Bosse, an assistant to US Senator John E. Sununu, a Republican, is making the rounds in his native New Hampshire this week, exploring a run for Congress against freshman Paul Hodes, a Democrat. Bosse, 35, grew up in Hillsborough and graduated from Dartmouth College. He worked for years in the State House and is now a legislative assistant to Sununu. Bosse said he is far from entering the race, but this week is exploring the possibility while the Senate is in recess. Bosse is the first person to express interest in running for the Second District seat.