Pilar Melendez

For over two weeks, New Hampshire authorities have been scrambling to find Harmony Montgomery, the 7-year-old who has not been seen for two years. And while authorities have yet to arrest anyone in connection with her disappearance, her father is facing charges for allegedly abusing her and her stepmother is accused of using her for food stamp benefits even though she was not living with the child. Now, according to two local outlets, Adam Montgomery is reportedly suspect in an unsolved murder in Massachusetts. Citing a law enforcement source, Boston25 first reported Wednesday that Montgomery has been identified as a suspect […]

Anita Knutson was born to be a teacher. When she enrolled as a freshman at Minot State University—about an hour from her tiny North Dakota hometown of Butte, where her father was once the mayor—in 2007, Anita was pursuing that calling, her younger sister Anna recalled in an interview with The Daily Beast. Between working two jobs to help support herself and maintaining a healthy social life, the “beautiful, charismatic, and joyful” 18-year-old had done well in her first year as an elementary education major, and was looking forward to summer vacation. “She was enjoying school,” the 30-year-old marketing director said, […]

Over a year after hordes of MAGA rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral win, federal prosecutors hit a handful of people they portrayed as key perpetrators of the riot with a new charge: seditious conspiracy. Stewart Rhodes, the 56-year-old founder of the Oath Keepers, and ten other affiliates of the far-right military group, were charged Thursday with seditious conspiracy in a superseding indictment after prosecutors said they sought to “oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power” from former President Donald Trump to Biden. […]

The father of Harmony Montgomery, a 7-year-old who was reported missing two years after she was last seen in New Hampshire, has been arrested in the latest twist in the investigation. Adam Montgomery, 31, was arrested Tuesday evening on a slew of charges, including felony second-degree assault in connection with 2019 conduct against his daughter, Harmony. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office has also charged Montgomery with one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody, and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child pertaining to Harmony. Despite the apparent break in an other-wise tight-lipped investigation, the AG’s office revealed […]

The Federal Bureau of Investigations is now assisting in the search for Harmony Montgomery, a 7-year-old who was reported missing two years after she was last seen in New Hampshire. “In keeping with standard protocol, we are assisting the Manchester Police Department with their investigation into the suspicious disappearance of Harmony Montgomery,” an FBI spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Tuesday, noting that local officials are still leading the probe. “We urge anyone with information about Harmony’s current whereabouts to contact law enforcement.” “We need help, and we don’t have many answers to many questions that we have.” — Manchester Police […]

As recently as a year ago, Alex Murdaugh’s life was the stuff of Southern fantasy. A father of two and partner at a successful law firm founded by his great-grandfather over a century ago, the 53-year-old seemed virtually untouchable. The former president of the state trial lawyers association, he was sitting atop a legal dynasty that produced three successive elected solicitors—or local prosecutors—in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The family image wasn’t exactly free of blemishes, even then. Murdaugh’s youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, had been charged with boating under the influence in connection with an accident that killed a teenage girl. But […]

Almost two months after an incident on the set of Rust led to the death of its cinematographer and injured its director, authorities have obtained a search warrant to Alec Baldwin’s phone as part of their investigation. In a Santa Fe police search warrant obtained by The Daily Beast, investigators asked for the “seizure and search of Alec Baldwin’s cell phone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins,” the film’s cinematographer. Hutchins, 42, was airlifted from the set of Rust—which began filming at Bonanza Creek Ranch south of Santa Fe in October—to the University of […]

As states scramble to contain a fresh surge of COVID-19 cases that may only worsen with the holiday season and the emergence of the Omicron variant, schools are once again shutting their doors to curtail the spread of the deadly disease. In Maryland, at least three schools announced they were closing their doors early after reporting a COVID-19 outbreak, while several schools in the District of Columbia area have also moved to online learning to contain an ongoing outbreak. A few states away, in New York City, the Department of Education has shuttered over 800 classrooms amid a mass surge of […]

When Jessica Piper heard about Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s demand for schools in the state to pull back from pandemic safety despite surging case numbers and hospitalizations, the mother-of-five and former high school teacher went to the place where outrage is perhaps best expressed in 2021: TikTok. “I think my legislators shouldn’t actively be trying to kill me. But I live in Missouri,” Piper said in a Dec. 8 video to her 111,000 followers. The video went on to critique Schmitt’s scathing letter telling all Missouri school districts and health departments to stop implementing mask orders and other COVD-19 protocols […]

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer already convicted of murdering George Floyd, has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he violated the 46-year-old’s civil rights when he kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes during the notorious May 2020 incident. Chauvin, 45, and three other former officers involved in Floyd’s death were indicted on federal charges—in addition to the state conviction that already has Chauvin serving over 20 years in prison—in May for deprivation of rights while acting as law enforcement officers. The indictment alleged the group violated Floyd’s rights to be “free from unreasonable seizure” and excessive […]

Alex Murdaugh, the embattled South Carolina lawyer accused of a bewildering array of criminal charges, spoke out for the first time on Monday about his infamous, botched assisted-suicide plot in September. “I understand there may be concern I may be a danger to myself,” Murdaugh said during a Monday bond hearing on dozens of new charges over financial crimes. “I made a terrible decision that I regret and frankly I’m embarrassed about. I’m not in that place now.” In an impassioned eight-minute speech to South Carolina Circuit Judge Allison Renee Lee, the scion explained his mindset leading up to the Labor […]

To most people, living in a treehouse with no running water or electricity on a Tennessee farm might seem eccentric. But for David Riemens, a Michigan native who grew up with five siblings, living off-grid in the Volunteer State became his paradise. “David wanted to leave a very small footprint on the earth,” Julie McManus, who was married to Riemens for 10 years, told The Daily Beast. “We never thought of ourselves as ‘hippies’ but everyone called us that. We were just focused on helping—not hurting—the planet.” A “kind and compassionate person” who had an affinity for hitchhiking, Riemens moved to […]

In Pemiscot County, a rural municipality in the southeastern corner of Missouri’s Bootheel, only about 26 percent of the population is fully vaccinated—if not boosted—against COVID-19 despite growing hospital numbers and a rapid increase in cases. The shocking statistic is similar to other counties along the southern border of the state, including New Madrid, which is boasting a rate of just under 35 percent for its 17,560 residents. But even with a surge in cases in the Show-Me state that is virtually certain to increase during the winter and holiday season—not to mention the looming threat of the Omicron variant—Pemiscot and […]

Alex Murdaugh, the suspended South Carolina lawyer already facing a bewildering array of criminal charges, has been indicted on over 20 new criminal financial charges for allegedly defrauding victims out of over $1 million. A South Carolina grand jury slapped Murdaugh, 53, with seven separate indictments, consisting of 21 charges including computer crimes, money laundering, and forgery. The latest charges come just one month after a Colleton County grand jury indicted Murdaugh on 27 similar charges—meaning that Murdaugh now faces almost 50 criminal charges alleging he defrauded and laundered money. Between two rounds of grand jury indictments, prosecutors allege Murdaugh has […]

For Amity Dimock-Heisler, Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd was personal. The viral video of the crime sent shockwaves through social media, and erupted long-simmering anger about racial injustice and police brutality in the United States. For weeks, people took to the streets to protest, Floyd’s final pleas to breathe became a rallying cry, and the world zeroed-in on past police killings, including in the Minneapolis area. That included the August 2019 death of Dimock-Heisler’s 21-year-old son, Kobe. “I had been fighting for months for people to pay attention to Kobe’s case and it was initially frustrating that George Floyd’s […]

For the last month, medical workers across Michigan have slogged toward another holiday season defined by surging COVID-19 cases, an almost surreal descent reminiscent of the pre-vaccine era in which the state emerged as an early pandemic hot spot. Cases have spiked dramatically and hospitals across the state have been pushed to the brink. Looming mass gatherings, lax mask-mandate practices, and stagnating vaccination rates already had doctors and nurses fearing further chaos. Then came the threat of the super-mutated Omicron variant, which—early though it may be—experts fear could be even more contagious and possibly even vaccine-resistant than the Delta strain that […]

Not long after a child became the sixth person to die in connection with the catastrophic attack on a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, prosecutors painted a picture of the sole suspect as driven by a twisted thirst for blood. According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, 39-year-old Darrell Brooks, who was arrested in the hours after the parade turned into a bloodbath, ignored demands to stop his car that night. He also seemed to weave around vehicles in an attempt to inflict the most damage possible, prosecutors said. “As I continued to watch the SUV, it continued to […]

A person of interest in the SUV attack that killed at least five and injured dozens more at a quaint holiday parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday has been identified as a 39-year-old who recently posted bail on reckless-endangerment charges. Darrell Brooks was taken into custody as a person of interest and was being questioned in connection with the Sunday evening incident involving a red Ford Escape that plowed through barricades and into the crowd, sparking panic and unleashing mass bloodshed, NBC News first reported. The sprawling disaster left members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies among the dead, and at least […]

Alex Murdaugh, the embattled South Carolina lawyer facing a wild array of criminal charges, has been indicted on new financial crimes. A South Carolina grand jury indicted Murdaugh, 53, on more than 20 charges, including money laundering and forgery, The State first reported Friday. According to Eric Bland, who is representing the family of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper and nanny, Gloria Satterfield, some of the “​additional indictments brought today” are “in connection” to his alleged crimes against the family. Murdaugh already faces charges for allegedly orchestrating his own shooting in September, and diverting millions of dollars from a wrongful death settlement meant […]

Travis McMichael, the Georgia man accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, admitted on the stand Thursday that the 25-year-old unarmed Black man never yelled or threatened him before he began pursuing Arbery in a pickup truck—with his shotgun. “He did not threaten me verbally, no,” McMichael said during his second day on the stand at his own trial. He also admitted Arbery did not shout or brandish any kind of weapon as he began chasing him down on Feb. 23, 2020. “He was just running,” he added. McMichael, his father, Gregory, and William “Roddie” Bryan face several charges for allegedly chasing and […]

Travis McMichael, the Georgia man accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery last February, testified on his own behalf on Wednesday. “I want to give my side of the story, explain what happened in the way I see it,” McMichael said on the stand. McMichael, his father, Gregory, and William “Roddie” Bryan face several charges after allegedly chasing and ultimately killing Arbery, who was known to jog in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2020. Travis McMichael was caught on a video filmed by Bryan firing the fatal shots. The younger McMichael is the first defense […]

A misdemeanor gun charge against Kyle Rittenhouse was dismissed just hours before jurors were expected to begin deliberating the fate of the teenager accused of murdering two people and trying to kill a third during a police-violence protest last August. Rittenhouse, 18, has faced a slew of charges, including first-degree reckless homicide, in relation to the Aug. 25, 2020 shooting amid unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. During two incidents caught on camera, Rittenhouse fired an AR-15 and killed 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber. He also severely wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27. But just […]

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen accused of murdering two and trying to kill a third during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, took the stand in his homicide trial on Wednesday. Rittenhouse quickly claimed that he did not go to Kenosha during police violence protests last August to look for trouble, and simply wanted to help local businesses. He took to recounting his version of events that during the day, including that he wanted to help remove graffiti and offer his condolences to those impacted by unrest. “I said, ‘If there’s anything I can do, please reach out.’” Rittenhouse said on Wednesday, […]

A South Carolina judge on Wednesday denied Alex Murdaugh, the embattled South Carolina lawyer facing a wild array of criminal charges, denied him bond a second time after reviewing his court-mandated psychiatric evaluation. Murdaugh, 53, was denied bail last month on charges stemming from an alleged scheme to steal millions from the family of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield. At the time, South Carolina Judge Clifton Newman said he was worried Murdaugh’s admitted opioid addition and several other legal woes made him a danger to the community. Newman, however, concluded at the Oct. 19 hearing he would reconsider the possibility the […]

Kyle Rittenhouse’s highly anticipated and politically polarizing murder trial began on Monday. And perhaps the biggest question looming over the proceedings—which will inevitably feature caricatures of unhinged racial-justice activists and harrowing stories of loved ones lost to a rogue gunman—is what the teenager himself might say to jurors deciding his fate. Rittenhouse, 18, is accused of murdering two people and injuring a third on Aug. 25, 2020, amid unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Prosecutors allege that the then-17-year-old traveled from Illinois to the Wisconsin city—armed with an AR-15—to co-mingle with other armed vigilantes styling themselves […]

Last May, as the United States grappled with a cascading and increasingly deadly pandemic, a stomach-churning video of three men chasing and shooting down a Black man on a Georgia street went viral. The incident, which had occurred 70 days prior and was caught on camera by one of Ahmaud Arbery’s alleged murderers, prompted protests for racial justice. Anger only grew louder with the knowledge that nobody had been arrested in the 25-year-old’s slaying despite damning video evidence and 911 calls pointing to the trio of alleged perpetrators. But the delay in justice in Arbery’s death somehow kept getting more brazen. […]

Just days before the presidential election, supporters of then-President Donald Trump ambushed a Biden campaign bus on a Texas highway, leaving staffers fearful for their safety and repeatedly calling local law officials for help. But the City of San Marcos “refused to help,” instead privately mocking the Democratic staffers stuck on the bus and calling them “tards,” according to text messages and 911 audio recordings detailed in an amended federal lawsuit. The Oct. 30 “Trump Train” incident sent shockwaves across the country after videos showed cars with MAGA flags seemingly trying to force the bus off the road as it headed […]

A Washington State sheriff, who is facing criminal charges for lying about a confrontation he had with a Black newspaper carrier, has now been blackballed by local prosecutors. But Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer is still, unbelievably, refusing to go. On Friday evening, the Pierce County Prosecutor’s office determined Troyer should be added to a list of witnesses with credibility problems. The decision was made by a 10-person committee that routinely reviews officer honesty affairs—and means that Troyer is officially on the “Brady List” that is often used to identify officers with problematic behavior that would compromise their ability to testify […]

Two days before Alex Murdaugh tried to orchestrate his own murder, he allegedly borrowed $75,000 from his older brother. Now, Randolph Murdaugh IV is coming to collect—joining the chorus of attorneys gunning for the former legal power player’s cash. In a complaint filed Thursday in Hampton County Court, the Randolph Murdaugh alleged that on Sept. 2, his brother asked to borrow cash “to cover an overdrawn bank account,” but failed to disclose he was in “poor financial condition” more generally. Days later, the complaint states, Randolph transported his brother to rehab for his decades-long opioid addiction—and paid the $15,000 tab. Alex […]

Florida’s top medical official is once again under fire for his stance on COVID-19 safety measures—this time for claiming a face mask limits his ability to communicate. Amid controversy over his refusal to wear a mask in a meeting last week with state Sen. Tina Polsky, Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo insisted in a Tuesday statement his decision to flout pandemic safety measures—despite the politician indicating she was sick—stemmed from his inability to “communicate clearly and effectively” with his face covered. “Having a conversation with someone while wearing a mask is not something I find productive, especially when other options exist,” […]

A 25-year veteran of the Capitol Police Department faces charges for allegedly encouraging a Jan. 6 rioter to cover his tracks on social media after the insurrection. Michael Angelo Riley, who joined the force dedicated to protecting the United States Capitol in 1996, has been indicted and arrested on two counts of obstruction of justice after telling one of his Facebook friends to delete incriminating photos that showed the pal inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors alleged. The indictment unsealed Friday states that Riley, who works in the USCP’s K-9 unit, was on duty during the Jan. 6 insurrection […]

A federal judge on Wednesday slammed D.C. jail officials over the possible mistreatment of accused Capitol rioters in custody, calling for the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation and holding two officials in contempt of court for delaying medical treatment. “It’s more than just inept and bureaucratic shuffling of papers,” U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth fumed during a contentious hearing Wednesday about medical delays for accused rioter Christopher Worrell. “Does no one care? Does no one follow up?” During the hearing, Lamberth said that jail officials failed to turn over critical information that was needed to approve surgery […]

The ongoing feud between state and local officials in Florida over vaccine mandates escalated on Tuesday when one county was hit with a whopping $3.57 million fine for requiring COVID jabs for all employees. The Florida Department of Health issued the fine against Leon County—home to the state’s capital, Tallahassee—over its “blatant violation” of Florida’s controversial “vaccine passport” law that prohibits governments and businesses from requiring residents to show proof they were vaccinated against the coronavirus. The notice states that the county broke the law 714 times in making all municipal employees show proof they’d been vaccinated. Fourteen workers were fired […]

“Hey TikTok, I need you guys to do your thing, please. My sister is missing.” That’s the heartbreaking plea Katana Curven made to her 31,900 TikTok followers three days ago about her 32-year-old sister Courtney Bryan. An employee at Patagonia, Bryan was last heard from on Sept. 23 at the Shasta National Forest in the Sacramento Valley with her dog, Booch, police said. “No calls and texts have been sent from her phone since,” Curven said in the video that has now been viewed over half a million times. She also showed Bryan’s last Instagram post from the day she went […]

A South Carolina lawyer described in court papers as Alex Murdaugh’s best friend and college roommate has been suspended from practicing law amid allegations he helped the scion steal millions of dollars from a wrongful death lawsuit settlement for his former housekeeper. In a Friday ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court, Cory Fleming was placed on interim suspension, pending an investigation, under a statute that states “upon receipt of sufficient evidence demonstrating that a lawyer poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or to the administration of justice” the court may suspend an attorney. The suspension is […]

A Colorado dad convicted of murdering his son after the 13-year-old discovered photos of him in women’s underwear eating feces from a diaper has been sentenced to 48 years in prison. Mark Redwine, 59, was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse in July after he killed his son, Dylan, inside his Durango, Colorado, home on Nov. 18, 2012. The teen was on a court-ordered visit for Thanksgiving when Redwine snapped after him and his older brother for confronted him about the lewd photos of their dad in a red bra and eating feces from a diaper. The lengthy sentence […]

Alex Murdaugh, the once prominent South Carolina lawyer accused of orchestrating his own murder in a twisted insurance plot, allegedly funneled money from his clients and former law firm into a fake bank account for years, according to a new lawsuit. Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, and Detrick (PMPED), the law firm founded a century ago by Murdaugh’s great-grandfather, made the shocking allegation in a suit filed Wednesday in Colleton County court. It alleges that Murdaugh, who was ousted from the firm last month over allegations of theft, “was able to covertly steal these funds by disguising disbursements from settlements as payments” […]

Police were hunting for an 18-year-old student on Wednesday after he allegedly got into a fight at a north Texas high school, then drew a gun and opened fire. The Arlington Police Department said that three students and one adult were injured in an incident that forced hundreds of students and staff at Mansfield Timberview High School into lockdown for at least an hour. “This is not a random act of violence… this is a student that got into a fight and drew a weapon,” Assistant Chief of Arlington Police Kevin Kolbye said during a Wednesday press conference. Timothy George Simpkins, […]

South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh allegedly diverted millions of dollars from a wrongful death settlement meant for the sons of his family’s former housekeeper and nanny, according to new court papers. Court documents, first reported by The State, allege that after Gloria Satterfield died on Murdaugh property in 2018, her sons were supposed to receive upward of $4.3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit from the scion’s insurance company. Instead, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriot have yet to receive a dime of the court-approved 2019 settlement now believed to have been diverted to a bank account set up by Murdaugh himself. […]

A Pennsylvania woman has been arrested for fatally stabbing her elderly father and his girlfriend inside their upscale bayfront home at the Jersey Shore last Wednesday, authorities said. Sherry Lee Heffernan, 55, was charged Tuesday with two counts of murder for the “targeted attack” of her 87-year-old father, John Enders, and his 75-year-old girlfriend, Francoise Pitoy, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors, who have yet to reveal a motive, said Pitoy often stayed with Enders at his six-bedroom, waterfront home on the north end of Long Beach Island in New Jersey. Heffernan, who was also charged with two counts […]

As coronavirus outbreaks plague America’s schools, parents opposed to common-sense safety measures like mask mandates have resorted to bizarre and even violent tactics, perhaps most notoriously threatening to zip-tie an elementary school principal. Now, some parents enraged at a mandate in Ankeny School Community District near Des Moines, Iowa, are dangling a new, legal tactic, albeit one that risks sabotaging their own school system: threatening to pull their kids out of school, and deprive the district of funds. The Iowa Department of Education takes a certified enrollment count on Oct. 1 to determine how much funding each district is allotted for […]

After decades of escaping accountability, R. Kelly is a convicted felon. And those who say they endured physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the hands of the disgraced R&B star are rejoicing. “We got justice today,” Kitti Jones, a former Dallas radio DJ who gave up her career to be with Kelly, told The Daily Beast on Monday after he was found guilty of all nine charges he faced in a federal sex crimes case in Brooklyn. “I wouldn’t say I now have closure, because in the end none of us will get our time back. But this is a small […]

R. Kelly manipulated scores of girls, women and men for decades, also including his employees who dutifully followed the singer’s strict rulebook and were “at his disposal,” prosecutors said in closing arguments in the sex-crimes case against the singer on Wednesday. “For many years, what happened in [R. Kelly’s] world stayed in the defendant’s world,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes told jurors. “But no longer.” Over the last five weeks, the prosecution sought to prove Kelly was the “leader” of a criminal enterprise made up of his bodyguards, assistants, and employees who believed they were helping the singer in his legitimate […]

R. Kelly manipulated scores of girls, women and men for decades, also including his employees who dutifully followed the singer’s strict rulebook and were “at his disposal,” prosecutors said in closing arguments in the sex-crimes case against the singer on Wednesday. “For many years, what happened in [R. Kelly’s] world stayed in the defendant’s world,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes told jurors. “But no longer.” Over the last five weeks, the prosecution sought to prove Kelly was the “leader” of a criminal enterprise made up of his bodyguards, assistants, and employees who believed they were helping the singer in his legitimate […]

Out of jail and back in rehab after botching his own murder in a depraved insurance-fraud scheme, Alex Murdaugh is under new fire for his role in the aftermath of another crime: the fatal 2019 boat crash involving his late son Paul. The disgraced attorney late Monday was named in a new lawsuit, this time for allegedly attempting to “shift the blame” of the 2019 fiasco from Paul, who was charged in the incident prior to his own murder this spring, to another teenager onboard at the time. According to the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Connor Cook—one of the six […]

The alleged drug dealer and accused shooter of Alex Murdaugh, who authorities say conspired with the South Carolina lawyer in a jaw-dropping assisted suicide plot to collect millions in insurance money, is speaking out. In a porch-side interview with the New York Post, Curtis Edward Smith, 61, insists on his innocence and claims he was set up by the prominent legal family that has held sway in the Lowcountry area for decades. Authorities say Murdaugh, 54, admitted to orchestrating the Sept. 4 attack—which involved providing Smith with a gun to shoot him in the head and slashing his own tires—in the […]

A South Carolina judge on Thursday set a $20,000 bond for Alex Murdaugh after the once high-powered attorney admitted to his role in a doomed plot to get himself killed so his son could collect $10 million in insurance money. That allows the attorney, whose wife and son were shot and killed at a family estate this spring and who has seen his sway over the South Carolina Lowcountry collapse spectacularly, to go back to rehab for drug addiction. During a brief Thursday hearing, Hampton County Magistrate Judge Tonja Alexander said the bond was personal recognizance, meaning Murdaugh will be released […]

Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina lawyer who has been embroiled in scandal for months, will turn himself into Hampton County officials on Thursday, his lawyer confirmed to The Daily Beast. “We have been informed that there is a warrant for his arrest for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud,” Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, said on Wednesday. “He plans to voluntarily surrender tomorrow and the arraignment and bond hearing will be held at 4 p.m. at the Hampton County magistrate court.” The arrest comes just two days after Murdaugh’s co-defendant and alleged drug dealer, Curtis Edward Smith, was charged with a slew […]

The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced Wednesday that the agency has opened an investigation into the 2018 death of Gloria Satterfield, a former housekeeper for the Murdaugh family. It marks just the latest criminal probe associated with the embattled legal dynasty whose patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, conspired with a former drug dealer in a botched assisted-suicide attempt last week, according to police and his own attorneys. Murdaugh, a once high-powered lawyer who along with his relatives also worked as a prosecutor in the South Carolina Lowcountry for decades, has not been charged with any crimes. Still, from the horrific […]

Alex Murdaugh is officially at the center of a state investigation. The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced Monday that it has opened a probe into Murdaugh, 53, just days after the legal scion was ousted from his firm over allegations of theft and placed in rehab for drug dependency. In a statement to The Daily Beast, the top law enforcement agency in the state confirmed the criminal investigation into Murdaugh is based on allegations that the father-of-two misappropriated funds from his family’s law firm, Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED). “I continue to urge the public to […]

A woman who says she was sexually assaulted by R. Kelly when she was a teenager told jurors in Brooklyn federal court on Monday that she also personally witnessed the singer sexually assault underage R&B star Aaliyah in the back of his tour bus in 1992 or 1993. At the time, Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001, would have been 13 or 14 years old. “[I] slightly opened the door and saw Robert and Aaliyah in a sexual situation,” the woman, who identified herself on the stand as “Angela” and said she worked as a backup singer, told […]

Deputies from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office who responded to the shooting of a renowned South Carolina lawyer over the weekend—months after his son and wife were murdered at their family estate—wrote in their incident report that he had suffered no “visible injury,” a claim that was almost immediately walked back by authorities on Thursday. In a copy of the incident report obtained by The Daily Beast, deputies who responded to the Saturday incident indicated that 53-year-old Alex Murdaugh did not have a “visible injury” and was not under the influence of drugs and alcohol. While the report includes little information […]

A prominent South Carolina attorney whose wife and son were brutally murdered—and who has since been shot in the head, ousted from his firm for alleged theft, and placed in rehab for drug dependency—has been suspended from practicing law, the state’s highest court ruled. In a ruling issued by the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, Alex Murdaugh, 53, has been placed on interim suspension pending an investigation under Rule 17 (b) of the state’s Appellate Court. The statute states that “upon receipt of sufficient evidence demonstrating that a lawyer poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or […]

The “QAnon Shaman” has finally stopped fighting the feds over his role in the Capitol insurrection. Even if his ostensible rebrand is the least believable thing ever. Jacob Chansley, the 33-year-old who notoriously stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 carrying a spear and a bullhorn while wearing a horned headpiece made of coyote skin, pleaded guilty on Friday to obstruction of an official proceeding—the most serious charge against him. While six initial charges against him could have landed the Phoenix, Arizona, native in prison for upwards of 28 years, the plea deal he struck with feds now for the singular charge […]

​​The “QAnon Shaman”—who notoriously stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 carrying a spear and a bullhorn and wearing a horned headpiece made of coyote skin—has cut a plea deal with the feds Jacob Chansley, 33, was arrested three days after the riots and charged with civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and demonstrating in a Capitol building. Since his arrest, he has made headlines for his multiple attempts to get out of jail before his trial, his demand for organic food in jail because of his supposed Shaman faith bars, and going on national […]

A QAnon supporter prosecutors say was caught on camera chasing a police officer inside the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 insurrection has been sent back to jail after violating the conditions of pretrial release to watch MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s recent “cyber symposium.” Douglas Jensen, a 44-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested just days after the riot when authorities said he was seen on video leading the MAGA mob that chased after Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman for two flights of stairs. While Jensen, who was wearing a QAnon shirt during the riot, was charged with several crimes, including […]

R. Kelly and Aaliyah wore “matching jogging suits,” both with one leg rolled up to the knee, during their secret marriage in 1994 inside a hotel suite, according to a minister who said he officiated their wedding and testified in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. “I didn’t think it was anyone special and I didn’t understand it at all,” Nathan Edmond, 73, told jurors about the wedding on Aug. 31, 1994. He admitted that he did not know about either of the successful R&B artists—and simply did the wedding as a favor for a mutual friend. The controversial marriage—which occurred when […]

After R.Kelly’s girlfriends displeased him at an all-female birthday party at his studio, the singer made the women fight each other, a former assistant testified on Tuesday. “He didn’t like that they were twerking for cake,” Suzette Mayweather, who worked as one of Kelly’s assistants for 16 months, told jurors during the singer’s sex-crimes trial in Brooklyn federal court. As punishment for how they were acting at the Jan. 4, 2016 party, Mayweather said that Kelly “had them get on each other”—or fight. Kelly later told Mayweather that while the party only included females, he was angry that one of his […]

After meeting R. Kelly at a McDonald’s drive-thru in 2006 when he was 17 years old, a man testified on Monday that the disgraced singer sexually assaulted him after promising to help with his music career. “He asked what I was willing to do for the music,” the now 32-year-old identified in court as “Louis” told jurors at Kelly’s sex-crimes trial in Brooklyn federal court. “He crawled down on his knees to me and proceeded to give me oral sex.” The testimony marks the first time a male has publicly accused Kelly of sexual misconduct—and the fifth accuser to testify against […]

Two days after R. Kelly secretly married Aaliyah in 1994, the singer sexually assaulted a 17-year-old in his dressing room after a concert in Miami, the now 43-year-old testified in Brooklyn federal court on Monday. “I was in complete shock. I was just very introverted and shy and I didn’t know what to say at all,” the woman, identified at the sex-crime trial against the singer by her first name Addie, told jurors on Monday, noting she only met Kelly once during his Sept. 1994 concert in Miami. “I just went blank.” The woman told jurors that the assault occurred in […]

U.S. Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee loved her job. She said so herself in an Aug. 9 Instagram post alongside a photo of her holding a small child in Kabul amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, just days before the U.S. military was set to end its two-decade presence. “Escorting evacuees onto the bird,” the 23-year-old from Sacramento, California wrote in another Instagram post at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where dozens of people can be seen boarding a plane. But on Thursday, Gee’s job cost her her life, alongside a dozen other U.S. service members, when a suicide bomber detonated himself […]

Over the last week, a dozen jurors have been told over and over again that R. Kelly was at the helm of a vast and twisted criminal enterprise devoted to helping him prey on young people and blackmail them into total submission. But by far the most disturbing witness, legal experts say, has been “Jane,” an anonymous woman who said she began a five-year relationship with Kelly when she was just 17. The now-23-year-old broke down on the stand early this week as she described one of the worst things Kelly allegedly made her do: smear feces on her mouth, and […]

R. Kelly’s former tour manager testified on Monday that the 1994 marriage between the Grammy-winning singer and “Princess of R&B” Aaliyah was “wrong.” “It shouldn’t have happened. It was wrong,” Demetrius Smith, 65, told jurors in Brooklyn federal court at Kelly’s racketeering and sex crimes trial. “I shouldn’t be talking about Aaliyah, she’s not here.” Smith, who was forced to testify and granted immunity, told jurors on Friday that he helped Kelly obtain a fake welfare card for the teenage singer so she could marry him in 1994. The fake identification, which did not have a birth date on it, was […]

A former assistant on Friday described his time working for R. Kelly, testifying in the singer’s trial that it was weirder than working for known eccentric Kanye West. “It was a weird time for me,” Anthony Navarro, who was one of Kelly’s low-level assistants for two years starting in 2007, told jurors in Brooklyn federal court. “The things you had to do were just a bit uncomfortable.” “It was almost like the Twilight Zone. You went into the gate and it was just a different world. Just a strange place.” Navarro, who went on to work with other high-profile musicians such […]

When disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly recorded himself having sex with a teenager in a home studio outside Chicago called “The Cabin,” he insisted she dress up as a young girl, the woman testified on Thursday. “He wanted me to put my hair up in pigtails and dress like a girl scout,” Jerhonda Pace, 28, told jurors Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, her second day of testimony. “He recorded us having sexual intercourse.” The account was just one of many offered by the first accuser to testify in Kelly’s racketeering and sex crimes trial. The pregnant mother of four is also […]

For over a quarter of a century, R. Kelly allegedly used his position of power to lure young women and girls under the guise of jump-starting their musical careers. To successfully cultivate an organized system of sexual abuse, prosecutors will argue during Kelly’s trial in Brooklyn federal court opening Wednesday, the disgraced R&B singer relied on those closest to him. In particular: an inner circle of bodyguards, managers, personal assistants, and drivers. “R. Kelly, together with employees and members of his entourage, engaged in a racketeering enterprise that preyed upon women and girls who attended his concerts so that the victims […]

Less than two months after Bill Cosby walked out of a Pennsylvania prison after his sexual-assault conviction was shockingly overturned, the disgraced comedian’s lawyers were back in court. This time, they were fighting a civil lawsuit by a woman who accuses him of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager—with the attorneys claiming, however dubiously, that Cosby might face another criminal case. On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan tentatively set an April 2022 trial date for a civil suit against Cosby brought by Judy Huth, who alleges that Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in […]

Across the country, teachers who haven’t yet returned to work are bracing for the inevitable clusterfuck of classrooms full of young children who may not yet be eligible for one of the three COVID-19 vaccines as the Delta variant kills and hospitalizes in record numbers. But the kids, especially those in areas where mask mandates have been banned by far-right Republicans, aren’t the only ones at risk—nor are they alone in potentially endangering others. After all, teachers themselves are not uniformly vaccinated, and in addition to facing their own exposure, could infect students. Now, after noteworthy skepticism in some corners, the […]

Suzanne Morphew, a Colorado mother-of-two who vanished without a trace while out on a bike ride on Mother’s Day last year, had a prolonged affair before her disappearance, investigators revealed in court on Monday. The shocking revelation came during the start of a two-day preliminary hearing for the trial of her husband, Barry, who is accused of killing the 49-year-old on May 10, 2020. Morphew, 53, is facing several charges, including first-degree murder after deliberation and tampering with physical evidence, in connection with his wife’s disappearance. Morphew has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. According to Dru Nielsen, Morphew’s […]

Leanne Thomas can still remember how frazzled her daughter, Laura Van Wyhe, was the morning of her 21st birthday party. While Van Wyhe had already hit the milestone a few days prior, the Oct. 25, 1996, event hosted by her daughter’s ex-boyfriend’s family about an hour from their Iowa City home had the new mom “running around the house and [she] spent a lot of time getting ready,” Thomas recalled. “I told her not to worry about the mess,” Thomas told The Daily Beast, noting that she was living with her daughter and her 15-month-old grandson, Samson, at the time. Source […]

For the last two months, South Carolina authorities have been scrambling to figure out who fatally shot Paul Murdaugh and his 52-year-old mother “execution-style” outside their 1,700-acre Islandton home. Now, newly-released audio and video footage of the deadly, drunken boat crash that had landed the 22-year-old in legal hot water before that incident—along with a damning petition alleging local law enforcement tried to cover for the prominent family—have thrust the saga back into the limelight. Prosecutors allege that on Feb. 24, 2019, Paul drunkenly crashed his dad’s 17-foot boat holding five other passengers into a bridge after an oyster roast, launching […]

A Virginia couple who stormed the Capitol with signs protesting safe and effective coronavirus vaccines, and proceeded to document the deranged act online, has been sentenced to home confinement. Jessica Bustle and her realtor husband, Joshua, pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building after participating in the Jan. 6 riot alongside thousands of MAGA supporters. Prosecutors alleged that, during the riot, Jessica was holding a sign that read, in part, “VACCINE INJURY is the REAL PANDEMIC” while her husband followed behind and filmed. The pair was eventually forced out of the […]

When New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office had substantiated a slew of allegations of sexual harassment against scandal-plagued Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, perhaps the most shocking revelation involved a female state trooper assigned to his protective detail. In addition to targeting the woman for assignment to him and subsequently sexually harassing her on several occasions, the AG’s probe led by two outside lawyers found, Cuomo tried to play off his interest in the cop as a push for more diversity on his staff. In other words, the probe suggested, an erstwhile liberal titan who had as […]

It should have been Rita Curran’s time to shine. It was July 1971, and the 24-year-old had just moved into a ground-floor apartment on Brooks Avenue in Burlington, Vermont, with two roommates, marking the first time she lived outside her parents’ home. On her summer break, the second-grade teacher at Milton Elementary School took graduate courses at the University of Vermont and worked part-time as a chambermaid at the nearby Colonial Motor Inn. Curran was described in one newspaper account as “quiet, almost painfully shy.” But she had recently put herself out there and joined a local barbershop quartet. According to […]

A New York City celebrity sommelier has been arrested after allegedly setting several outdoor dining structures ablaze on at least three occasions this year. Caleb Ganzer, 35, has been charged with a slew of crimes, including third-degree arson, third-degree criminal mischief, and second-degree reckless endangerment for setting fires all within a ten-block radius of lower Manhattan in January, June, and July, the New York City Fire Department told The Daily Beast. All the fires—which did not result in any injuries—were also all set within a few blocks of Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, a SoHo Parisian hotspot where Ganzer is currently the […]

A suspect has been arrested in the death of Nyiah Courtney, a six-year-old who was riding her scooter alongside her mother in Washington, D.C., last month when the pair were attacked by a drive-by shooter. Marktwan Hargraves, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the June 16 slaying in southeast Washington D.C., two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast. The arrest, which was first reported by the Washington Post, marks the latest development in the tragic case that sparked immediate anger in the nation’s capital and renewed scrutiny of the […]

A Florida sheriff’s deputy is facing charges after allegedly stalking a woman he previously dated and threatening to murder her if she reported the harassment. David Motz, 31, was arrested and charged Wednesday with aggravated stalking after allegedly actively following, threatening, and harassing his ex-girlfriend almost daily “for approximately one year,” according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast. Among Charlotte County Sheriff Deputy Motz’s alleged abusive acts, according to the woman who was not identified in court records for her protection, was a threat that if he were to lose his job by virtue of her reporting […]

A fringe, pro-Trump medical group perhaps best known for featuring a notorious coronavirus truther fixated on the alleged medical dangers of demon sperm filed a motion demanding the pause of COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States on Monday. Among other wild assertions in the predictably absurd document, the motion seeking an injunction filed by “America’s Frontline Doctors” falsely claims the three vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. do not actually curb the spread of the deadly virus. Also: that the coronavirus is not a public health emergency. This being the same pandemic that has killed over 600,000 Americans while […]

A Florida man who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and took a selfie inside the Senate chamber while donning a Trump campaign flag and protective eye goggles is the first insurrectionist to get prison time for his crime. Paul Hodgkins, a 38-year-old Tampa resident, was sentenced to 8 months in prison on Monday after previously pleading guilty to a single felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding. D.C. District Judge Randolph Moss also sentenced Hodgkins to 24 months of supervision after detention, on top of the already agreed-upon $2,000 in restitution and a promise to cooperate with federal prosecutors […]

Half a year after the wildly successful development of life-saving vaccines, the United States is closer than ever to getting one of its COVID-19 shots fully approved, as opposed to merely authorized for emergency use during a raging pandemic. The only problem is that the agency has been outrun by conspiracy theorists and, most recently, an extremely dangerous new variant. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted Pfizer and BioNTech priority review designation for their COVID-19 vaccination for individuals ages 16 and older. The vaccine was the first of the three currently available in the U.S. to be authorized […]

An Arizona man is facing charges after storming the U.S. Capitol in a Roman gladiator costume—and documenting the siege in a series of narrated videos for his mom, prosecutors allege. Nathan Wayne Entrekin, from Cottonwood, has been charged with two misdemeanors, including violent entry on Capitol grounds, for his role in the Jan. 6 siege. Prosecutors allege that after driving 2,200 miles from Arizona to Washington D.C. to answer Trump’s call to fight against the results of the 2020 election, he stormed the Capitol in a gladiator costume he brought online—complete with a wooden dowl—and documented the siege in several videos. […]

About ten days after Billy went with his partner and a friend to Provincetown, Massachusetts, a Cape Cod tourist hub popular with the LGBTQ+ community affectionately known as “PTown,” to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend, he started to feel sick. Despite getting his second jab of the Moderna vaccine in April, the 26-year-old grocery store worker from Boston—who asked his last name be withheld for professional reasons—said his symptoms mirrored all the indicators of the novel coronavirus that has plagued the United States for over a year. He had a headache, fatigue, nausea, congestion, diarrhea, and a slight cough. To […]

A former Houston police officer accused of telling his colleague to shoot an unarmed suspect fleeing a traffic stop and repeatedly beating the man with a pair of handcuffs is facing criminal charges. Lucas Vieira, who was fired from the force on April 16, was indicted by a Harris County grand jury on Friday for aggravated assault in connection with the July 7, 2019, traffic stop of 34-year-old Aundre Howard, who is Black. The indictment comes three months after Howard filed an excessive force lawsuit against the three officers involved in his “humiliation” after, he says, he was pulled over with […]

As hundreds of his fellow MAGA rioters stormed all corners of the Capitol on Jan. 6, Paul Hodgkins headed straight for the Senate chamber. After walking among the desks once inhabited by lawmakers certifying the presidential election—before being forced into hiding—the 38-year-old Florida man took off his protective eye goggles and snapped a selfie before joining his fellow insurrectionists. That photograph led to Hodgkins’ February arrest after an acquaintance tipped off the FBI—and his eventual decision to strike a plea deal with prosecutors. Now, his defense lawyers are arguing their “kind” client does not deserve prison time for his one felony […]

The former Virginia cop accused of secretly buying over 30 firearms after storming the Capitol is insisting his secret arsenal did not violate his pre-trial conditions—because he did not actually have the antique guns he ordered online in his possession. Thomas Robertson, a former Rocky Mount Police sergeant, is facing several charges after prosecutors allege he stormed the Capitol with a fellow officer and made an “obscene statement in front of a statue of John Stark,” before later boasting he was “fucking proud” of his actions on Facebook. After his Jan. 13 arrest, Robertson was released pending trial on several conditions, […]

As nationwide anger erupted on Wednesday after Bill Cosby walked out of a Pennsylvania prison with his sexual-assault conviction overturned, legal experts were alternately aghast and numb to a signature villain of the MeToo Era slipping away. The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court vacated Cosby’s 2018 conviction on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault after finding that a previous understanding with prosecutors should have prevented the charges from ever being filed against him. Back in 2005, echoing decades of often dubious claims by law enforcement, then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor expressed doubt that Cosby could be prosecuted criminally for drugging […]

For the last two years, Melissa Geoghagan heard horror stories from her friend, Andrea Walker Wright, about her ex-husband. Geoghagan, a 42-year-old middle school teacher, said that soon after her friend’s 11-year marriage to Aaron Wright dissolved in 2019, he began to launch a campaign of harassment against her. She said that several times, Andrea told her, Aaron drove past her house. Andrea even said she feared he put a tracker on her car and a camera in her house, according to Geoghagan. “He started harassing her soon after she left, but even when they were married, he had financial control […]

About two hours after learning her 13-year-old son, Dylan Redwine, had vanished while visiting his father over Thanksgiving in 2012, Elaine Hall sent her ex a pointed message: “He wouldn’t just leave. He would have called me. I am so suspicious of you right now. How could he just disappear?” Later, Hall would be informed her suspicions of Mark Redwine were correct after prosecutors allege the 59-year-old killed his son inside his Durango, Colorado, home on Nov. 18, 2012, after the teen discovered photos of him in women’s underwear eating feces from a diaper. During Redwine’s second-degree murder and child abuse […]

For years, prosecutors say former Smallville actress Allison Mack served as NXIVM founder Keith Raniere’s second in command, dutifully recruiting women into a separate sect within the shadowy organization in upstate New York for the self-help guru’s own sexual gratification. The 39-year-old was arrested in 2018 with Raniere and other top members of the group that preached personal growth through sacrifice. But even as she pleaded guilty to several charges a year later, she claimed her actions were the result of “misguided adherence” to Raniere’s teachings. Notably, Mack did not testify at Raniere’s trial. But prosecutors revealed for the first time […]

For over a month, Babis Anagnostopoulos has insisted a group of thieves tortured and murdered his wife in front of their 11-month-old daughter. The 32-year-old Greek pilot said the grisly May 11 slaying of 20-year-old Caroline Crouch occurred after three intruders broke into their home near Athens and tied him up. Before they left with £10,000 in cash, the thieves held a gun to his daughter’s head before strangling Crouch, Anagnostopoulos claimed, according to local media reports. “Together forever. Have a nice trip, my love,” Anagnostopoulos wrote in Greek on Instagram on May 16, alongside a photo of the couple on […]

Just months before he was murdered alongside his mother, Paul Murdaugh, the 22-year-old son of a prominent South Carolina prosecutor, received death threats for his role in a drunken boating accident that left a teen girl dead, family members revealed Thursday. “I didn’t think it was a credible threat—if it was, I would have tried to do something or notify someone,” John Marvin Murdaugh, one of Paul’s uncles, told Good Morning America in the first family interview since the murders. “But I guess, maybe I made a mistake.” The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said Paul and his 52-year-old mother, Margaret “Maggie” […]

Alexander Jackson, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, called police Tuesday morning in a panic, claiming a masked intruder had shot him and his father inside their home. When Cedar Rapid officers arrived at the scene, they found Jackson’s parents and his 19-year-old sister—a high-achieving student who introduced then-presidential candidate Andrew Yang during his 2019 visit to Iowa—fatally shot in different rooms of the expansive house. Jackson had suffered a gunshot wound to the foot after what he insisted was a struggle over the rifle with the mysterious man. Police, however, now believe it was actually Jackson who murdered his father, […]

An 11-year-old Florida boy testified against his own father on Wednesday, emotionally describing how he witnessed Ronnie Oneal III kill his mom and disabled sister in 2018 before stabbing him and setting their house on fire. “My dad killed my mom,” Ronnie Jr., who was just 8 when he survived the grisly attack, told jurors via video conference at his father’s murder trial in Tampa on Wednesday. With an emotional therapy dog at his side, the boy was cross-examined by his father, who is representing himself in his trial. Oneal repeatedly asked his son questions about his previous statements, and noted […]

A California man accused of coordinating a group of “armed fighters” to stop the electoral certification of President Joe Biden on Jan. 6 is just a “vanilla kind of guy” who was simply angry at having to wear a mask, his lawyers claimed Tuesday. Russell Taylor, a 40-year-old from Ladera Ranch, is among six men federally indicted last week on a slew of charges, including conspiracy, for their role in the Capitol riot. Prosecutors allege the group, which contained at least four Three Percenters militia group members, arrived in D.C. armed with weapons, bear spray, and two-way radios in preparation for […]

A pair of GOP lawmakers who were fined for refusing to use metal detectors installed at the Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection filed a lawsuit on Monday, claiming the penalty was unconstitutional and “a means of harassing” House Republicans. In the lawsuit filed in D.C. District Court, Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Andrew Clyde (R-GA) allege the additional security screenings to enter the House chamber—and the subsequent fines for those who refuse to comply—have targeted “democratically-elected representatives who are members of the opposition party in the House of Representatives.” “Upon information and belief, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi [D-CA] […]

A Virginia woman who stormed the Capitol alongside her realtor husband while holding a sign protesting COVID vaccines wanted to set the record straight as she pleaded guilty on Monday, telling the judge that her angry Facebook messages about the insurrection also included “kind” words like “pray for America.” Jessica Bustle and her husband, Joshua, pleaded guilty on Monday to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building after participating in the Jan. 6 riot alongside thousands of MAGA supporters. Prosecutors allege that Jessica was holding a sign which read in part, “VACCINE INJURY is the REAL […]

Before she was arrested in connection with missing Houston boy Samuel Olson, Theresa Balboa planned to travel to Louisiana with the 5-year-old’s body, new court documents reveal. A motion for bail obtained by The Daily Beast alleges that after having her roommate help her hide the boy’s body, she schemed to flee the state of Texas with the remains. But her plan was foiled Tuesday night, when authorities found her and the body inside a Jasper, Texas, hotel room, authorities said. While Balboa has only been charged with tampering with evidence, law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case have indicated […]

After helping with the search for Samuel Olson on Monday—and sharing her anxiety about finding the missing 6-year-old with reporters—Theresa Balboa quietly slipped away with a friend. Court documents first obtained by ABC13 state that Balboa went to a storage unit in Webster, Texas, with a friend and lugged a large plastic container into her car. The next day, the friend drove her and the container to a local Best Western about two hours away. Unbeknownst to Balboa, the friend had called the Jasper Police Department to report her—and it wasn’t long before cops showed up at the motel, according to […]

A Pennsylvania man accused of assaulting several Capitol Police officers during the Jan. 6 insurrection—and leaving one with a concussion—has an “extensive history of violent and assaultive behavior” against women, prosecutors said Wednesday. Ryan Samsel, 38, was charged in February with several crimes, including assaulting a federal officer, obstructing law enforcement, and obstructing a legal proceeding, after he was captured in videos and photos knocking over several officers as he attempted to storm the Capitol. Among the officers he assaulted was a female cop, who fell and hit her head on “the stairs behind her, resulting in a loss of consciousness,” […]

The girlfriend of the father of missing 6-year-old Samuel Olson has been arrested after she was located inside a motel room where the Houston boy’s body is believed to have been found inside a tote bag. Houston Assistant Chief Heather Morris on Wednesday confirmed that Theresa Balboa will be charged with tampering with evidence in connection with Olson’s case. The little boy’s disappearance was reported on May 27, but investigators now believe he’d been missing for weeks after finding inconsistencies in statements from Balboa and the boy’s father, Dalton Olson. Morris said Balboa’s arrest came after authorities received an anonymous tip […]