Police say man threw daughter off bridge

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -

The man accused of throwing his 5-year-old daughter off a bridge early yesterday had been acting strange hours before, calling his attorney "God" and asking her to translate a Bible in Swedish, according to sheriff's documents.

Attorney Genevieve Torres said she met with John Jonchuck on Wednesday to discuss the custody case for his 5-year-old daughter, Phoebe, who was found dead in Tampa Bay after police said he tossed her into the water.

Torres was so worried about Jonchuck and Phoebe that she reported the odd statements to police. They interviewed Jonchuck and his daughter as he was picking her up from a church day care and both appeared to be in good health. Jonchuck said he didn't want to harm himself or anyone else, the documents said.

A little more than 12 hours later, police said Jonchuck threw his daughter over a bridge.

Jonchuck is in jail facing a first-degree murder charge. At his first hearing, Pinellas County Judge Michael Andrews asked him if he wanted an attorney.

"I want to leave it in the hands of God," Jonchuck said.

The judge responded: "I'm pretty sure God's not going to be representing you in this case. You're going to be standing trial."

MULLAN, Idaho -

An Idaho man who went missing during a weekend snowmobile outing says he gave up hope of surviving and wrote goodbye letters to his family before his friends found him, hypothermic and dehydrated, in a ravine in Montana.

"When you're an extreme snowmobiler and you get lost, you're usually dead," Barry Sadler, 54, said. "You're going places where people won't go - where people shouldn't go."

He said part of his extreme mindset was to ride without survival gear or water.

Sadler, 54, of Mullan, said he was "side-hilling" - snowmobiling along a steep ridge with one ski in the snow and one in the air - on Sunday when the snow cut loose beneath him, sending him 3,000 feet down a chute into a ravine in northwestern Montana. He landed in a creek with his snowmobile on top of him.

Sadler was able to push away the sled, and he intermittently ran its engine for heat over the next 30-plus hours. He said he wrote goodbye notes to his wife and kids - ages 20, 18 and 16 - on his cellphone.

But about two hours later, five friends who had followed his snowmobile track hiked into the ravine and rescued him.

WASHINGTON -

California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, 74, a tenacious liberal whose election to the Senate in 1992 heralded a new era for women at the upper reaches of political power, announced yesterday she will not seek re-election to a new term next year.

Boxer's retirement sets off a free-for-all among a new generation of California Democrats, who have had few offices to aspire to while Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein had a lock on the state's U.S. Senate seats.

LOS ANGELES -

A lawsuit brought by a 20-year-old man who was molested by a Boy Scout leader in 2007 could force the organization to reveal 16 years' worth of "perversion" files documenting sex-abuse allegations.

Files that were kept by the Boy Scouts of America between 1960 and 1991 already have been made public through other civil cases.

The release of the more recent files - from 1991 to 2007 - could reveal how much the Boy Scouts have improved their efforts to protect children and report abuse after several high-profile cases.

ATLANTIC CITY -

A Florida developer buying Atlantic City's former Revel casino out of bankruptcy plans to open a water park there.

Glenn Straub told reporters during a break in a court hearing yesterday he plans high-speed ferry service between the site and New York City. No timetable has been given for it to reopen.

A judge entered a final order yesterday awarding Revel to Straub for $95.4 million, but he has threatened court action to halt that sale if a lower price cannot be approved.

Straub's attorney said yesterday Straub is considering multiple uses for the property and there is a "strong likelihood" at least part of the Revel property would be used as a casino, but it would be on a much smaller scale than before.

Straub has not decided whether to seek a court order to reduce the sale price. He has 30 days in which to close the sale.

J.C. Penney Co. said 334 people will be out of work when it closes five of its Pennsylvania stores this year.

The chain is shuttering about 40 stores nationwide as it tries to improve its profitability.

A Penney spokeswoman said stores in State College, York, Media, Chambersburg and Hummels Warf will close. Most of the stores will close by April 4.

- Daily News wire services