Bland (left), who was found hanged in a Texas jail cell earlier this month, has been at the center of controversy since family and supporters have accused authorities of engineering her death. It emerged Wednesday that she told police about her history of suicidal thoughts, as authorities came under fire over their treatment of a video of her arrest (above).

Faigy Mayer, 30, sent a painful letter to a friend a few days before her apparent suicide on Monday night. She said her Hasidic Jewish childhood had been friendless, and that she found life outside the community difficult, She had previously posted a picture (left) of her with Hasidic Jews tagged 'my people'. The tech worker (right) was mourned at a Hasidic funeral yesterday (inset) despite the rift with her family.

Superstar rapper Nicki Minaj once worked at a Red Lobster restaurant in the Bronx. She was fired for 'discourtesy to customers'. This followed a familiar behavioural pattern. By her own admission, Minaj was fired from 'at least fifteen jobs' for similar reasons. I experienced at first hand what a stroppy little madam she could be when she appeared as a guest act on America's Got Talent when I was still a judge on the show.

A fundraiser for the six Baltimore officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray was set to feature a former cop performing in blackface. Bobby Berger, who was actually fired from the police force for his performances, was prepared to revive his act to raise money and help the families of the officers. The event had sold 600 tickets until it was cancelled after drawing heavy criticism.

Darren Mattocks and Giles Barnes scored first-half goals to propel Jamaica to an upset 2-1 victory over the United States in the Gold Cup semi-finals in Atlanta. The victory ensured Jamaica became the first Caribbean team to reach the Gold Cup Final since its inception in 1991. They will face the winner of the other semi-final between Mexico and Panama.

Susan Smith is pleading for sympathy 20 years after she stunned America by confessing she drowned her two boys in a lake before telling the world they'd been kidnapped by an imaginary black man. Smith, now aged 43 and whiling her days away in a South Carolina prison, recently told a local reporter she wasn't in her right mind when she left her sons strapped in their car seats as she rolled her car into a Union County lake. 'Mr. Cahill, I am not the monster society thinks I am. I am far from it,' she wrote in a letter to The State 's Harrison Cahill.

Todd Fassler, pictured top right, from San Diego, was almost killed when he tried to take a selfie with a rattlesnake that he picked up from some brush. Unsurprisingly the snake bit him, the injuries to his arm are pictured left. His treatment drained the anti-venom stock at two separate hospitals as doctors tended to the horrific wound on his arm and he has since ended up facing a huge bill. Ironically he had kept a pet rattlesnake, pictured bottom right, which he has now set free.

Prince George (pictured top right) turns two years old today and he is celebrating with a party at Anmer Hall in Norfolk. Guests started to arrive at 4pm for the bash, with Prince Philip among the first to show up (left) . Earlier, a postman was seen delivering presents (bottom right) to the country retreat on the Sandringham estate.

Trapped in the jaws of an enormous alligator, Hope the dog seemed likely to die. But then her devoted owner came to her rescue - by wrestling the reptile with her bare hands. Without a second thought, Lori Beiswenger plunged into a pond and grabbed the 7ft gator's tail. She then started yanking on the tail, while neck-deep in water, in a bid to save her stricken pet.,Three tugs later, the gator finally let go of nine-year-old Hope. Pictured: Beiswenger and Hope today (left), Hope with stitches after the attack (top right) and Beiswenger holding the tail of the gator, which was later tied up (bottom right).

Amy Cox is seen (left) with her engagement ring and wedding band for the first time since the Oneonta, Alabama, teenager married her 12th grade math teacher, who is accused of a sex crime. Cox, 18, (seen in a high school picture, bottom right) and Matt Wester, 37, (top right, in official school photo) married after he divorced his first wife. Cox was due to be the key witness in his trial. A grand jury indicted him on one count of kissing and spending the night with a student while he was a teacher.

In a highly emotional moment on Monday night, a six-year-old girl with down syndrome, named Lucy, met her new parents, having spent almost her whole life in a Chinese orphanage. Dozens of special needs children from China were met by their foster families at George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, in the hope of finding permanent homes. Brent and Audrey Shook had already made the decision to begin adoption proceedings as they greeted Lucy that night as her new parents.

Let these stories serve as a cautionary tale that cheating nearly never leads to a happy ending. After the hacking of adulterous dating site Ashley Madison has left thousands of cheaters at risk of being exposed to their jilted significant others, people who've been caught straying in the past are coming out of the woodwork to share their own stories of being unfaithful, using the Whisper app.

In front of a massive crowd of men and very young boys, three masked ISIS fighters hold the suspected robber down while their fellow militant strikes the sharpened blade resting on their wrists. In April, MailOnline uncovered a document which detailed the punishments ISIS has set out for those who disobey its strict interpretation of Shariah Law. It clearly states that thieves will have their hands cut off. Adulterers who engage in a sexual relationship are stoned to death, while couples who have an affair without sexual contact can expect the more lenient punishment of 100 lashes and 'banishment' from the community.

Grand Junction Regional Airport responders and city fire crews evacuated the flight after it touched down at the Colorado airport. Airport spokeswoman Amy Jordan said 159 passengers and crew were on board the flight from Denver that was bound for Los Angeles on Wednesday. One person was taken to hospital for evaluation, although 15 people had reported feeling ill onboard. Firefighters say the in-flight emergency is still under investigation.

Residents in New Jersey made a terrifying discovery when they found a man had snuck into their home and hid under a bed in their spare bedroom for three days, police said Wednesday. Investigators say the suspect, Jason Hubbard (main), sneaked into the house on Ellenel Boulevard in Spotswood (inset) - a tight-knit community of 10,000 people - on May 7 while the owner took out the garbage, before making his way into the guest bedroom and hiding under the bed. On May 10, the owner heard a noise in the room and was shocked to find Hubbard in there. Hubbard remained jailed Wednesday on $50,000 bail.

A cold case over four decades old has been solved after a missing man's remains were pulled from a lake in Caldwell County, North Carolina, on Wednesday. The 1968 Pontiac Catalina (main) belonging to retired Air Force veteran Amos Shook (top left) was found 30 feet underwater and is believed to have been there for 43 years. While the remains inside have not been identified, the car belonged to Shook when he was reported missing on February 19, 1972, and a wallet with his identification was found inside. For over four decades Shook's family have not known what happened to him. 'It put some closure on something they've been looking forward to for a long time,' Caldwell County Sheriff Alan Jones said.

A US backpacker who went to extra lengths to take a photo with an emu while lying on the ground in outback Australia was left speechless when the giant bird attempted to have sex with him. His friend who stood on the side, laughed uncontrollably while he captured the whole scene on camera.

John Burk, an Army vet, says he refused to accept overweight people as they are. The 31-year-old Georgia resident adds that fat people are just lazy, and they are passing their bad habits on to their children. While some people have accused John of fat-shaming and being a bully, others have taken to social media to support him, saying that people need to hear the truth. He told Daily Mail Online that he stands by everything he said and is proud that his video has helped people make a change.

'Human Barbie' Tatyana Tuzova, 28, from Moscow, Russia, loved the doll's petite proportions and and started to model herself entirely on the blonde bombshell's look (left). She now makes appearances as a real-life Barbie (right) and although she also has a saucy side (inset) she says any man in her life would have to be more manly than Barbie's plastic partner Ken.

The front of the vehicle is fitted with a fake cannon so it looks like a standard main battle tank, with 12 Spike anti-tank missiles hidden at its rear. New pictures show the weapon, called the Pereh, is real, leading to it finally being declassified by military bosses.

This is the horrible moment a golfer killed a seagull after teeing off and hitting the bird head on with a wayward shot. After hitting his tee shot, the man recoils in horror as the unfortunate bird explodes into a ball of feathers upon impact (middle). The video was uploaded to YouTube by Jordan Wright of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

'Crocodile Mick' is a the second-generation crocodile hunter who has killed at least 20,000 of the animals in a 37-year career in the Northern Territory (above, inset). But there is no catch he is prouder of than the 4.9 metre beast he spent four weeks stalking in a remote waterhole the dead of the night, after farmers complained it was killing too many of their cattle. Mick was forced to ambush the croc in it's nest, which was filled with the remains of dead animals.

A new book called 100 Years of Tattoos features tattooed men and women across the decades. It includes flapper girls, US serviceman and tattooed world record breaker Janet 'Rusty' Skuse. (Pictured clockwise from left: British tattoo addict Janet 'Rusty' Skuse, an unknown woman in the late 1920s, Cindy Ray - who was one of the first famous Australian tattooed pin up girls, and a man at a gallery opening in the 1970s).

Photographer David Perkins has created a moving portrait series that attempts to explore the other side of a dancers life. Titled Home Stage , the series is absent of lights, studios, hair and make up; showing each ballerina 'just being themselves',

At least two people were taken to hospital after a red car reversed through the entrance of Yum Kitchen and Bakery in the western Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, on Wednesday afternoon. The victims were said to have suffered 'minor injuries' in the incident. Their names and conditions remain unknown. The impact of the crash also caused major damage to the local hot spot. It is unclear how the driver managed to plow backward into the restaurant and bakery, smashing through the venue's glass doors and sending customers running, before striking the back wall. An investigation is ongoing. Pictured: Officials at the scene of the crash (left), and the smashed-in entrance of the restaurant (inset).

Brock Leach, 14, (pictured right) of Tintagel, Cornwall, tumbled over a cliff edge at Trebarwith Strand (left) on Sunday. He bounced off outcrops and rocks before landing on a ledge. As he tried to get up he was bitten on the arm by an adder. His arm had swollen to three times its normal size, so he was flown to hospital where he was given antivenom, and treated for a fractured pelvis and severe bruising.

Researchers recently dug up a collection of more than 1,000, well-preserved chicken bones in the region, which appeared to have knife marks from butchering. The discovery of female chicken bones suggests they were raised for meat rather than for cock-fighting. The dry climate may have caused the chickens to evolve to become meatier, and more attractive as a food source, researchers speculate.

English bulldog Chubbs is the star of a series of popular YouTube clips which feature him getting wildly excited about the prospect of playing pinball. The original clip, which was uploaded by his US-based owner, has been viewed 60,000 times, with viewers commenting about how much they love watching the excited pooch enjoying his favorite arcade game.