As Houston police investigate the house of horrors where three children and a skeleton of a fourth were abandoned found in “deplorable” conditions, one thing is becoming clear: Warning signs were missed. The siblings, who range in age from 7 to 15, had not been enrolled in school since May 2020. A neighbor found the older boy sleeping in a playground. Another neighbor complained about the persistent foul odor coming from the apartment. In the end, it was the teen who had been caring for the three younger kids— in the absence of any adults—who summoned police to the home over […]
Tracy Connor
80 posts
The chief electrician on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie Rust said he blames the producers and a young armorer for the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who bled in his arms. In a blistering Facebook post, gaffer Serge Svetnoy accused movie bosses of putting savings above safety on the western being shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He said he was “standing shoulder-to-shoulder” with Hutchins when Baldwin fired what he believed was a “cold gun”—one that does not contain live ammunition—at the 42-year-old director of photography. “I was holding her in my arms while she was dying. Her […]
Texas gubernatorial candidate Allen West was released from the hospital after three days of treatment for COVID—and promptly told his followers not to be afraid of the virus that has killed more than 700,000 Americans. “Do not fear COVID,” the former GOP congressman said in a video posted to Twitter. West, 60, did not get vaccinated against the coronavirus, and when he got infected with COVID, he developed pneumonia and an oxygen-saturation rate low enough that he had to be admitted to the hospital. His wife, Angela, who was vaccinated, did not have to be hospitalized. The couple both got monoclonal […]
Right-winger Allen West has suspended in-person events for his Texas gubernatorial campaign because he developed COVID symptoms after his wife tested positive. In a Saturday morning Twitter thread, the Trump-loving ex-congressman said he has not gotten the COVID vaccine but is “already taking Hydrochloroquine and Ivermectin protocols”—two unproven drugs popular with the anti-vaxxer crowd. “After taking COVID and flu shots, Angela West tested positive for COVID yesterday, Friday,” the tweet said. “Col. West is experiencing a low grade fever and light body aches. Out of concern for public health, Col. West is suspending in-person events until receiving an all-clear indication.” The […]
As the hunt for van-life YouTuber Gabby Petito intensifies—parallel to a search for the boyfriend who returned home from a road trip without her—the FBI has zeroed in on a campground in Grand Teton National Park and is pleading with the public for information. “The #FBI seeks assistance from anyone who utilized the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area between the dates of August 27-30, 2021 who may have had contact with Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito or her boyfriend, or who may have seen their vehicle,” the bureau tweeted this weekend. The appeal came as agents and police shut down the Wyoming campground […]
Florida police said Saturday that they are searching a wilderness preserve for Brian Laundrie, the person of interest in the disappearance of his girlfriend, “van-life” YouTuber Gabby Petito. In a tweet, the North Port cops said Laundrie’s family told investigators they believe he entered the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve earlier this week. Police finally spoke with Laundrie’s family on Friday night and learned that he had gone missing while under increasing scrutiny over Petito’s disappearance. The 22-year-old did not return from a cross-country van trip the couple had documented on YouTube and other social media. Her family reported her missing on Sept. […]
Comedian Kate Quigley, who barely survived a house-party overdose that killed three friends a week ago, says she is “changed forever” by the tragedy. “All I can say is: Tell your people that you love them every day. Stay safe. And please don’t take life for granted. I did, and I never will again,” she wrote in an Instagram post. Quigley was with Fuquan Johnson, 42; Enrico Colangeli, 48; and Natalie Williamson, 33, in Venice Beach on Sept. 4 when they reportedly used cocaine that may have been laced with the painkiller fentanyl. Only Quigley could be saved. She was taken […]
A great blue heron in Central Park has become New York’s latest celebrity after being caught on video devouring a rat in a single gulp. Manhattan Bird Alert, which tracks all things fowl in the park, posted the footage on Twitter—and it already has 56,000 views. It shows the majestic creature (that would be the heron) fishing the urban scourge (that would be the rat) out of the water, its paws and long tail flailing, and swallowing it in seconds. Can we get some of these herons into the subway system? Source link
Just four days before he was set to stand trial for a fatal hit-and-run accident, South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg got a speeding ticket—for going 57 mph in a 35 mph zone. It was Ravnsborg’s seventh speeding infraction in seven years, according to local media—but hardly his most serious traffic violation. That came in September 2020 when Ravnsborg rammed his car into Joseph Boever on a highway shoulder while driving home from a Republican Party function. Ravnsborg, the top law-enforcement officer in the state, left the scene and later told investigators that he thought he had hit an animal. Boever’s […]
Kylen Schulte and Crystal Beck knew the mountains of Moab well, moving from campsite to campsite in the Utah wilderness with ease. But a week ago, reportedly after telling friends they were spooked by a man they encountered, the married couple disappeared. “Kylen and Crystal told close friends that there was a weirdo camping near them that was freaking them out !!! And that they should move campsites,” Schulte’s father, Sean-Paul, wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Now they have been missing for over 4 days and nights!” As family put out the word that Schulte, 24, and Beck, 38, […]
The daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft is asking for donations to cover the cost of defending her against a manslaughter charge, saying that her bank accounts have been hacked. Jasmine Hartin was the social director at the posh Belize resort built by her common-law husband Andrew until she was arrested last month for fatally shooting police superintendent Henry Jemmott. Hartin has since had a spectacular falling-out with her partner over custody of their two children that briefly landed her back in prison, and a GoFundMe post by her family says she needs money just to live. “We just need […]
More than a decade before 5-year-old Summer Wells seemingly vanished without a trace, her aunt also went missing—and was never found. And now Summer’s dad says the disappearance of Rose Bly haunts him when he thinks about his daughter. “When you see cases like that, that’s why I lose hope in Summer,” Donald Wells told WJHL. “I want to keep hope, but sometimes I just lose hope and I think, ‘Well, maybe we’ll never see her again.” It’s been more than two weeks since Summer went missing from her Rogersville, Tennessee, home while her mother briefly left her alone, the family […]
For the first time in 2o years, billionaire real estate developer Douglas Durst was in the same room with his nightmare of a brother, Robert Durst, on Monday. And he made it clear there is no love lost between them. “He’d like to murder me,” Douglas Durst told jurors in Robert Durst’s Los Angeles trial, adding that he so feared his brother that he hired a security team to protect himself. The two heirs fell out in the 1990s over the family estate. Douglas went on to run the Durst Organization, a premier, century-old commercial real estate firm that built skyscrapers […]
Jasmine Hartin—the billionaire’s daughter-in-law charged with killing a cop in Belize—is being tossed back in a notorious prison after her bail was withdrawn by an employee of her estranged husband. The decision followed a dramatic series of events that saw Hartin publicly confront her partner over custody of their children, get slapped with new charges, and be subjected to what her lawyer called “Gestapo” tactics. “I am really shocked by what is happening,” her new attorney, Dickie Bradley, said after Friday’s hearing. “This is persecution not prosecution.” Hartin, whose common-law husband is the youngest son of a powerful British power broker […]
Tennessee police said Thursday that they are “frustrated” by the lack of clarity in the disappearance of 5-year-old Summer Wells—who was last seen planting flowers in her garden before she vanished. “While every case is different, this one is definitely outside of the norm,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Leslie Earhart said at a briefing on the progress, or lack of it, in the case. “Typically in an investigation like this one, we have some idea of where the case is headed and what might have happened within a few days. In this situation, despite doing everything within our power and […]
The Las Vegas Raiders’ Carl Nassib made history on Monday, becoming the first active NFL player to come out as gay—saying he had agonized about doing so since he was a teenager. Nassib, 28, made the announcement in an Instagram video that garnered more than 10,000 likes in an hour and was commented on by the team with three black heart emojis. “What’s up, people?” he said in the video. “I’m at my house in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. “I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys […]
The wild saga of the South African woman who claims she gave birth to a record-setting 10 babies—who have yet to be seen publicly—has taken several more dramatic turns. Health authorities took Gosiame Sithole into custody this week, reportedly for a psychiatric examination, prompting her attorney to threaten legal action to get her released. Meanwhile, a South African media outlet is reporting an exam showed no signs that Sithole had been pregnant—as a top government minister is promising that the mystery will be solved by next week. Finally, the newspaper that broke the maybe-true-maybe-not story claims a private investigation it launched […]
For more than a decade, the death of 13-year-old Hailey Dunn—who vanished from her Texas home and was found three years later—went unsolved. But police reportedly have finally made an arrest: the man who was originally identified as the only person of interest in the case, her mother’s boyfriend at the time of Hailey’s disappearance, Shawn Adkins. Authorities have not said what led them to arrest Adkins after all these years. He was being held on a murder count in lieu of a $2 million bond, jail records show. KCBD reports that Texas Rangers confirmed he was picked up for Hailey’s […]
It’s the case that has rocked Spain, sparking protests, triggering an international manhunt, and drawing the attention of the royal family. A father allegedly drugged and killed his two little girls, put their bodies in duffel bags, and dumped their bodies at sea—all to spite their mother for getting a new boyfriend. Now, days after the remains of the older child were found off the Canary Islands, her devastated mom is speaking out, saying she hopes the deaths will not be in vain and will lead to more protections for children. “They are now two angels… teaching a great lesson at […]
Jasmine Hartin, the daughter-in-law of British billionaire and political power broker Lord Michael Ashcroft, will be released from jail while she is prosecuted for shooting a top police officer in Belize. The Canadian national has been in police custody since her May 28 arrest, with prosecutors calling her a flight risk. But after a Wednesday hearing, a judge decided to grant her bail in the amount of $30,000 and allow her to return home to her 4-year-old twins, local outlets reported. The ruling is sure to be controversial in Belize, where suspicions that Hartin’s wealth and family connection are getting her […]
The mother of the 14-year-old boy charged with stabbing Florida cheerleader Tristyn Bailey 114 times has been arrested on charges of evidence tampering. The state attorney alleges that Crystal Lane Smith, 35, tried to wash blood off the blue jeans of her son, Aiden Fucci, after last month’s shocking murder, News4Jax reported on Saturday. “Tampering with evidence is tampering with justice and cannot be excused or tolerated,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said in a statement after Smith was booked into St. Johns County Jail. Aiden, who attended the same school as Tristyn, has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder. […]
An Oregon developer and patron of the arts has been declared the sole parent of a boy conceived with his sperm and his ex-girlfriend’s donated eggs—stripping her of any rights to the child. A ruling by the state appeals court overturned a lower court decision that both Jordan Schnitzer, 70, and Cory Sause, 42, had parental rights to the 5-year-old. The 2-1 appellate opinion declared that Sause gave up any claim to male embryos when she agreed to donate her eggs to help Schnitzer, who already had two daughters, sire a son. While Schnitzer’s lawyer hailed the ruling as a victory […]
Belize prosecutors said Wednesday they want to keep a British billionaire’s daughter-in-law locked up on manslaughter charges because they fear she is a “flight risk.” An appeals court judge has not yet decided whether Jasmine Hartin can be released on bail, but he ordered her held at least until Monday, and possibly until June 11, while both sides submit their arguments. Hartin—whose husband is the son of Britain’s Lord Michael Ashcroft—is charged with killing a senior police official, Superintendent Henry Jemmott, with his own service pistol. Authorities say the two were socializing after curfew on a deserted pier last week when […]
The daughter-in-law of a politically influential British billionaire was marched out of a Belize jail—and past a shrine to the senior police officer she is accused of killing—for transfer to a prison known for its harsh conditions. Her face shadowed by a red hoodie, Jasmine Hartin concealed her shackled hands with a plastic bag as she was walked to a golf cart that would take her to a boat for the ride from San Pedro to Belize City—where she will appeal the decision to hold her without bail. Hartin, the wife of Lord Michael Ashcroft’s youngest son, was charged Monday with […]
The daughter-in-law of British political and business titan Lord Michael Ashcroft was charged Monday with manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of a top police officer in Belize. The arraignment of Jasmine Hartin, 38, comes three days after she was initially detained—after being found spattered with blood on a dock where she and Superintendent Henry Jemmott had been socializing alone after curfew. police said. Jemmott, 42, was found dead in the water with a gunshot wound behind his ear. Police said the weapon used was his service pistol. According to local reports, Hartin suggested to responding officers that Jemmott might […]
The daughter-in-law of a politically connected British billionaire was being questioned in Belize on Friday in connection with the death of the high-ranking police official the night before, local outlets reported. Jasmine Hartin, who is married to the son of Lord Michael Ashcroft, was reportedly socializing with Superintendent Henry Jemmott before he was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the head. Authorities have not said whether they believe he was murdered, killed accidentally, or died by suicide. “We have to look at every possibility,” Police Chief Chester Williams said at a news conference, according to Belize’s Channel 5 news. […]
A mystery media organization trawling the dark web has helped the FBI thwart another crime—a murder-for-hire plot by a jilted Beverly Hills stalker, federal authorities said Friday. Scott Quinn Berkett, 24, was arrested on charges that he tried to get a hitman to rub out a woman he met on a Facebook anime fan page. “I’d like it to look like an accident, but robbery gone wrong may work better,” Berkett messaged a would-be assassin last month, according to a criminal complaint. “So long as she is dead. I’d also like for her phone to be retrieved and destroyed irreparably in […]
Two federal jail guards who failed to monitor Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself and then lied about what they were doing have struck a no-jail plea deal with prosecutors. The agreement with Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, who literally fell asleep on the job at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, was disclosed in a letter to the judge overseeing their case. “After a thorough investigation, and based on the facts of this case and the personal circumstances of the defendants, the Government has determined that the interests of justice will best be served by deferring prosecution,” prosecutors wrote. The pair […]
A manhunt is on for the Nebraska father of two children found dead at his home—on the police’s third visit to the home in less than a day. The youngsters’ mother, Mary Nielsen, asked officers in Bellevue to go to the house because their dad was supposed to check in using FaceTime while they were visiting him, and she had not heard from them since Thursday night. Officers went to Adam Price’s home shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday and again around 9 a.m. on Sunday morning “but did not observe exigent circumstances that would allow them to force entry into […]
After a daylong search, a 13-year-old cheerleader was found murdered in Florida—and police have arrested a 14-year-old boy who attended the same school. Tristyn Bailey’s family reported her missing at 10 a.m. on Sunday, and residents of St. Johns County came out in droves to look for her. The hunt ended tragically that evening when her body was spotted in a wooded area. The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office did not provide a cause of death; they said the seventh grader was clothed but did not confirm reports that she had on her cheerleading uniform. Sheriff Rob Hardwick said the teen […]
The announcement that Bill and Melinda Gates are getting divorced came as a surprise last week, but she has reportedly been talking to lawyers for at least two years—since around the time her husband’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein made headlines. The report by The Wall Street Journal builds on an exclusive story by The Daily Beast last week that revealed Melinda Gates had deep misgivings about Epstein and warned the Microsoft founder about the pedophile after a meeting in 2013. Bill Gates and Epstein, a fabulously wealthy money manager, had a relationship that stretched back to 2011—after Epstein was investigated for […]
A Kansas politician working as a substitute teacher at a public school shocked students with religious rants about suicide, masturbation, and same-sex relationships—and then assaulted one of them, according to reports. “Did it hurt?” State Rep. Mark Samsel asked the student after allegedly kneeing him in the crotch. The 36-year-old Republican is now charged with misdemeanor battery and barred from teaching again in the Wellsville school district, The Kansas City Star reported. But Samsel doesn’t seem to have any regrets. The newspaper says that after he posted $1,000 bail, he took to Snapchat to say “it was all planned.” “Every little […]
Three-year-old Elijah LaFrance stood in the doorway of the rental house while his parents cleaned up the front yard after a birthday party that featured kids joyfully frolicking in the pool. It was just past 8 p.m. when gunmen armed with semiautomatic rifles rolled by and opened fire—unleashing more than 60 shots at the suburban Miami property. “This was not just a drive-by,” Miami-Dade Homicide Maj. Jorge Aguiar told TV station Local 10. “It was an intended attack on people or someone that was at this residence.” As the bullets tore through the air, Elijah was hit; his aunt found him, […]
A 3-year-old boy was killed when gunfire erupted at a children’s birthday party in a Miami suburb—unleashing shock and outrage from community members, politicians and celebrities. Investigators are still searching for the person who shot Elijah LaFrance when an altercation at a short-term rental in Golden Glades turned violent on Saturday night. “As a father and as a member of this community, I am completely devastated. I’m disgusted,” Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez told reporters at the scene. “We talk about accountability. When are we going to hold ourselves accountable for what’s going on in our streets each and every day? […]
A Washington state doctor is behind bars, charged with a diabolical plan to hire hitmen off the dark web to maim a former employee and abduct and extort his estranged wife—a vengeful plot foiled by news reporters. The allegations against Dr. Ronald Ilg, a Spokane neonatologist, contained in federal court papers include a polyamorous relationship, bitcoin payments, chilling text messages, and a suicide attempt. “I fucked it up. Irreparable fuck up,” Ilg allegedly confessed in the note authorities discovered when they found him unconscious from an apparent Xanax overdose, which he survived. The wild tale begins with journalists from an unnamed […]
“Enough is enough.” That’s the message from the grandson of one of the eight FedEx workers slaughtered by a man who was so unstable he had his gun taken away the year before. His grandmother, Amarjeet Kaur Johal, had just picked up her paycheck at the Indianapolis facility when former employee 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole started shooting. “I have several family members who work at the particular facility and are traumatized,” the grandson said in a statement to the Indianapolis Star. “My nani, my family and our families should not feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or anywhere. […]
The palace intrigue rocking Jordan took a mysterious turn on Monday when the former crown prince, who claimed he was under house arrest after being accused of plotting a coup against his half-brother the king, vowed to “escalate” the situation—only to have the royal family later release a statement suggesting he had acquiesced. In the voice recording released Monday, a defiant Prince Hamzah bin Hussein said that he “won’t obey” government orders to remain silent and isolated—the most confrontational display of dissent Jordan has seen from a royal in recent years. But by evening time in Jordan, the situation had become […]
Texas police checking a home early Monday made a horrifying discovery: six members of a family, spread across three generations, shot to death. What they learned next was just as shocking: It was a murder-suicide carried out by two brothers, one of whom posted the plan on social media. “Hey everyone. I killed myself and my family,” Farhan Towhid, 19, reportedly wrote in the note, which bragged about how easy it was for him and his 21-year-old brother Tarvin to buy guns. “If I’m going to die, I might as well get some attention.” If you or a loved one are […]
The Arkansas farmer charged with murdering and raping a nurse said during a mental-health exam that after he killed the victim he tried “messing with” her corpse—then went home, ate dinner, and “just tried to forget about it.” The chilling confession by Quake Lewellyn, 28, is contained in an evaluation by a state psychologist who found that he is mentally fit to stand trial for the death of Sydney Sutherland, 25, who vanished while jogging in August. “It was all just a blur,” Lewellyn told the psychologist, according to a report obtained by KARK. The married stepfather of three claims that […]
Indianapolis police are investigating a mass shooting that left five people and a pregnant woman’s unborn baby dead and a community reeling from what the mayor called “an act of evil.” Authorities provided little information about the victims or the motive but said the FBI and federal prosecutors had been alerted. “I want those responsible to know that the full might of local, state, and federal law enforcement are coming for them as I speak,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said. “Coming for them today, coming for them tonight, coming for them tomorrow, and the day after that.” Police said the mass murder […]
A Florida man wanted after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot tried to return to the scene of the crime for the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Like many of the MAGA fanatics who have been arrested in the two weeks since the insurrection, Samuel Camargo implicated himself by bragging about his participation on social media, authorities said. “Got some memorabilia, did it myself,” Camargo allegedly wrote under a photo of a hand showing a piece of metal from the Capitol. In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said Camargo posted video clips that show him at the rallies that preceded the riot and […]
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem hosted a dinner for legislative pages on Wednesday night. And if the pictures she posted are any indication, it was a largely mask-free affair. The Republican tweeted two photos: one showing a dozen of the pages crowded together on a staircase, and the second of them seated at a long dinner table. Only one page was wearing a mask, and none of the adults were. A spokesman for Noem did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast about why masks were not worn and whether any COVID precautions were taken. Noem has […]
In one of his last acts as president, Donald Trump pardoned cronies and celebrities—including strategist Steve Bannon, fundraiser Elliott Broidy, and rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black—hours before he was set to leave the White House. Just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, the long-await list was released with pardons for 73 people and commutations for another 70. Many of the names would be unfamiliar to the average American, but the list also included figures from high-profile cases and people with ties to Trumpland. Those who received clemency from Trump on the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration include: —Death Row records co-founder Michael […]
The United States passed the 2o million mark for COVID-19 cases on Friday, but some people apparently think the pandemic is over. In Florida, which is in the midst of a second surge, huge crowds milled in the streets and packed into bars and restaurants to ring in the New Year. “We are not surprised that everything is open but there is no social distancing at all and people are packing together. No one cares,” Philip Farenholtz, visiting Miami Beach, told WGN. The Florida party scene was red hot even though the state reported 17,000 new cases on Thursday and confirmed […]
Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, a Republican from Louisiana, has died of COVID-19 at the age of 41. The married father of two young children lost his battle with the illness just two days after his wife, Julia, issued a statement on social media saying he was in stable condition in the ICU. “The doctors have told us the road to recovery and the length of time is hard to predict and different for everyone,” she wrote then. “We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the outpouring of support we have received and feel truly blessed to be touched […]
A 37-year-old member of the military from Florida has been charged with the random shooting at an Illinois bowling alley that left three men dead and three people injured. Prosecutors said Duke Webb, who was arrested at the scene, has been charged with three counts of murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder. “We believe this is a completely random act,” Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea said at a Sunday news conference. “There is no prior meeting or any kind of relationship between the suspects and any of the victims.” Police arrived at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford while shots […]
Three decades after 9-year-old Michaela Garecht was kidnapped off a California street in broad daylight, police say they have matched a palm print left on her scooter to her killer—a man who has been in prison nearly as long for three other murders. The breakthrough, which investigators say was made possible by new technology for print comparison, was announced Monday at a press conference where Hayward Police Chief Toney Chaplin read a gut-wrenching statement from Michaela’s grateful but grieving mother. “In the last year, I had come to a place of accepting that Michaela was probably no longer alive,” Sharon Murch, […]
The owner of a charter-jet company has been charged with sex trafficking after being caught in a sting operation offering sex with a 12-year-old girl and 14-year-old girl for $300, authorities say. On LinkedIn, Paul Alexander was the high-flying CEO of Central Jet Charter—but before he launched the company, he was a two-time felon with convictions for sex assault and child pornography. In March, an underage girl went to the police and told them Alexander, 57, had been abusing her and pimping her out to johns. That sparked an investigation, dubbed Operation Mile High, by the NYPD and the New York […]
A federal appeals court has shot down the Trump campaign’s attempt to overturn the election result in Pennsylvania—with a judge appointed by the president writing the scathing decision. “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Justice Stephanos Bibas wrote in a 21-page opinion issued Friday. The three-judge panel noted that the campaign’s grievances amounted to “nothing more” than allegations that Pennsylvania restricted poll watchers and let voters […]
The University of Iowa has suspended one its fraternities amid allegations of inhumane hazing practices. An investigative report about the goings-on at the Acacia frat house boggles the mind and is filled with references to dildos, Jungle Juice, vomit, and a “pet” cinder block named Rodney. The report was obtained by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, which reports that alarms were raised by former members about the 5-year-old chapter’s activities in the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020. Pledges were forced to drink insane amounts of alcohol, exercise in the freezing cold, blindfolded and subjected to deafening noise, locked in an […]
The CEO of a Midwest hospital system is out of a job days after he sent a bizarre letter to employees in which he said he would not be wearing a mask because he believed he was immune after contracting COVID-19. Kelby Krabbenhoft, who is not a doctor, had headed Sanford Health since 1996. Just a a few weeks ago, after the announcement of a merger with Intermountain Health, he said he planned on staying another 18 months. But that all changed after his email—which was shocking enough that Sanford officials quickly put out a statement disavowing it. In the note, […]
An Omaha man who was arrested last week at a Sonic Drive-In for charging $57 worth of corn dogs to someone else’s app has been accused of shooting up the fast-food joint on Saturday night, killing two and wounding two people. Roberto Silva Jr., 23, was also charged with arson for setting a vehicle on fire—but he didn’t seem too upset about it. A booking photo from the Sarpy County Jail shows him grinning. Police were called the Bellevue fast-food joint just after 9:30 p.m. to investigate a possible bomb in a truck and found a U-Haul in flames, authorities said. […]
An active-duty Marine assigned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina has been charged in an illegal firearms conspiracy—which prosecutors allege was run by a cabal of neo-Nazi ex-military men who wanted to create a “modern day SS.” The evidence includes a sickening video of live-fire weapons training that ended with the masked participants giving “Heil Hitler” salutes before a slide with the message: “Come home white man.” It also includes chat logs in which the men discussed shooting anti-racism protesters. Justin Wade Hermanson, 21, was named in a federal indictment along with Liam Collins, 21, and Jordan Duncan, 26, both ex-Marines […]
The health officer for Spokane, Washington, was officially fired on Thursday night despite an extraordinary outpouring of public support from medical professionals, school officials, and activists who were shocked he would be canned in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. A hundred new COVID-19 cases were recorded Thursday in the health district, where the positivity rate is now flirting with 3 percent and hospitalizations are also on the rise. But the board was consumed with a personnel drama that seemed to boil down to a contest of wills between the health officer, Dr. Bob Lutz, who has been described as Spokane’s […]
A tweet from the Washington State Department of Agriculture said it all: “Got ’em.” After an operation that looked like a cross between a lunar landing and a low-budget sci-fi flick, entomologists on Saturday eradicated the first “murder hornet” nest found in the United States. Garbed in bulky protective white suits from head to toe—meant to keep the insects’ long stingers away from their skin and their venom out of their eyes—they descended before dawn on a tree in Blaine. A few days earlier, entomologists had managed to trap several of the Asian giant hornets and affix tiny radio tracking devices […]
Kansas police are hunting for a man they say abducted his two young daughters from a home where two boys were found dead. Donny Jackson, 40, is believed to be driving a black Honda accord, according to an Amber Alert that was issued Saturday. It’s not known what direction he was traveling. Authorities said that shortly after 1 p.m., they received a call from a home in Leavenworth, and deputies found the dead boys and 7-year-old Nora and 3-year-old Aven missing. The relationship between the boys and the girls is not known, but Jackson’s Facebook page contains photos of two brothers […]
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia’s wife has tested positive for COVID-19—becoming at least the 13th person who attended a largely mask-free White House Rose Garden event to contract the coronavirus. Trish Scalia was seated next to Kellyanne Conway and right behind Melania Trump at the Sept. 26 ceremony to announce President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Conway and the first lady also got infected with COVID-19, along with the president, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and two of her underlings, and Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), along […]
The Trump-loving political gadfly who led ugly protests against new COVID-19 restrictions in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood was arrested by the NYPD on Sunday night. Harold “Heshy” Tischler was will be charged with inciting a riot and unlawful imprisonment in connection with a mob’s attack on a journalist covering the demonstrations last week, police said. Tischler, an inflammatory figure who uses social media to spread his anti-lockdown message, had boasted that he would walk into the 66th Precinct stationhouse and surrender on Monday. But on Sunday night, the NYPD Warrant Squad showed up at his home to haul him in. “You […]
The U.S. Senate race in North Carolina has been thrown into turmoil: The incumbent, Thom Tillis, has COVID-19 and his opponent, Cal Cunningham, has been caught sending extramarital texts. The Democrat’s romantic messages to public relations strategist Arlene Guzman Todd were initially exposed by the National File, a right-wing website. But in a statement to the Raleigh News & Observer, Cunningham confirmed their accuracy. “I have hurt my family, disappointed my friends, and am deeply sorry. The first step in repairing those relationships is taking complete responsibility, which I do. I ask that my family’s privacy be respected in this personal […]
Contact tracing for the Trumpworld COVID-19 outbreak is still in the early stages, but seven of those who have tested positive were at a packed event in the White House Rose Garden last weekend. Most in the crowd—invited to see President Trump nominate Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court—were not wearing masks even though chairs were placed close together. Photos showed guests milling around and chatting with no regard for the federal government’s own social distancing guidelines. Sen. Mike Lee, who later tested positive, was caught on video hugging and kissing guests. While the ceremony was outside—which can help limit […]
A Kansas man returned home from work on Friday evening with his 10-year-old to find that his wife and four other kids had not yet returned from a trip to buy groceries as expected. Soon after, he got a call from a friend about a terrible car crash near the house and rushed to the scene, where he learned his family’s car had collided with a truck that blew a stop sign. His wife, Jessica Noel, 32, had been instantly killed, along with three of the children, 10-year-old Anaiah, 4-year-old Jeffrey, and 4-month-old Hank, according to a GoFundMe for the family. […]
This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing. A New Hampshire man who found out his wife was having an affair murdered the lover and then forced her to decapitate the body, authorities alleged on Friday. The macabre account was contained in the arrest warrant for Armando Barron, 30, and Britany Barron, 31, who are charged in the death of 25-year-old Jonathan Amerault. The wife confessed after wildlife conservation officers came upon her at the campsite where her husband had allegedly ordered her to dispose of Amerault’s remains and where they found his headless body. “I’m in big trouble,” Britany […]
Military helicopters rescued dozens of people—some of them burned—who were trapped by a northern California wildfire that devoured 36,000 acres in one day. More than 150 people were stranded Saturday around the Mammoth Pool Reservoir in the Sierra National Forest, where the Creek Fire continued to rage out of control. “We’re in the truck. The air is so black, we can’t open our eyes without it burning,” Allyson Chance, 14, and her sister, Lily, 16, texted their stepmother as they waited to be rescued, local TV station KMPH reported. Campers were told to shelter in place and wait for help—and to […]
Anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson told the Republican National Convention an exceedingly graphic story of helping to terminate a pregnancy as a Planned Parenthood employee—an account that has been challenged numerous times. The speech contained the kind of shock imagery embraced by some in the anti-abortion movement, with details that painted her former co-workers as heartless money-grubbers. She made reference to a “pieces of children” room and asked, “Did you know abortion even had a smell?” But serious questions about Johnson’s narrative—which became the basis for the movie Unplanned—have long been raised by records and a former friend. As she told it […]
An Arkansas nurse who vanished while jogging was abducted, raped, and buried, police said during a court hearing Monday for the farmer charged with her murder. Quake Lewellyn, 28, a third-generation farmer, was silent as he walked up the steps to the courthouse in Jackson County. But authorities say he confessed when they questioned him in the disappearance of Sydney Sutherland. According to pool reporters in the courtroom, Arkansas State Police agent Mike McNeal took the stand and told the judge that Llewellyn said he spotted Sutherland on the highway as he was driving, doubled back, and abducted her. Police and […]
Video surfaced Sunday night of police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooting a Black man in the back at close range as he got into a car following what they called a “domestic dispute.” Witnesses told the Kenosha News that the man, later identified as Jacob Blake, had just tried to break up a fight between two women. Video posted online shows him walking to a car, trailed by police, and opening the driver’s side door. One cop grabbed him by the back of the T-shirt and at least one opened fire. At least seven shots were heard as bystanders screamed in horror. […]
When Michelle Obama’s stylist called Chari Cuthbert a few weeks ago to order a custom necklace with charms spelling out the word VOTE, the designer was overjoyed. “But we had no idea where she was going to wear it,” Cuthbert told The Daily Beast. “We just knew that she wanted it.” It wasn’t until Monday afternoon that Cuthbert learned that the former first lady was wearing the $430 ByChari gold chain—a literal statement necklace—for her Democratic National Convention speech. “There was a snippet from her DNC speech on CNN and my mom sent it to me,” Cuthbert said. “I couldn’t believe […]
It’s safe to say that Samuel Trelawney Hughes did not handle rejection well. The 31-year-old British-born California resident was indicted Tuesday on charges that he used fake identities to terrorize women he met at networking events or at work who were not interested in meeting with him again. The threatening messages the IT worker allegedly sent the victims by email, text, and the postal service were full of monstrously violent imagery: vows of rape, murder, dismemberment, and immolation with an overlay of misogyny and racism. “Why the fuck haven’t you replied to my last email, you know I am going to […]
A motorist who shot and killed a rifle-toting protester, and another protester who then fired on the motorist, were both released from custody Sunday as police in Austin, Texas, worked to piece together the deadly chaos. Garrett Foster, 28, was mortally wounded as gunfire rang out during the Black Lives Matter march on Saturday night. Police nearby tried to resuscitate him but he died at the hospital. “I saw his face. I don’t know how far away I was from Garrett. It felt like I was right there. He was just trying to hold on to his life,” organizer and witness […]
A gunman—reportedly dressed as a FedEx delivery person—showed up on the doorstep of a federal judge in New Jersey on Sunday night and shot her husband and their son. NBC New York reports that U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was in the basement of the North Brunswick home during the ambush and was unharmed. Her husband, criminal defense lawyer Mark Anderl, 63, and son David, 20, were said to be in extremely critical condition. The FBI confirmed it is investigating. NJ Advance Media, quoting law enforcement sources, said the shooter may have been disguised as a delivery person when he approached […]
Mary Kay Letourneau—who gained tabloid infamy for raping her 12-year-old former student, having children with him, and later marrying him—has died of cancer, her attorneys said. The 58-year-old split from husband Vili Fualaau, now 36, more than a year ago. It was not publicly known that she was ill. “Expected but sad anyway,” her attorney David Gehrke, told TV station KOMO. “She was a good person.” Letourneau was a married mom of four working as a sixth-grade teacher in Washington state in 1997 when she was arrested for sexual contact with Fualaau. The case made headlines around the globe and turned […]
Police used cellphone pings to find the remains of doomsday mom Lori Vallow’s missing children in her husband’s Idaho backyard—her teenage daughter dismembered and burned, and her 6-year-old autistic son wrapped in plastic and duct tape. The grisly details were contained in a probable cause affidavit unsealed a week after Vallow’s husband Chad Daybell was arrested on charges of concealing evidence. Vallow herself was already in jail for refusing to produce daughter Tylee and son J.J. months after they disappeared. The court papers do not say how the children were killed but suggest they died two weeks apart and that Vallow’s […]
For almost 30 years, Florida police have been vexed by the unsolved murder of a teenage hitchhiker known only as Valentine Jane Doe—because she was raped and murdered on Feb. 14. But now investigators say DNA has helped them answer the two central questions in the mystery: Who was the young woman found dead in the Florida Keys in 1991, and who strangled her with her pink bikini top? The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that the victim has been identified as Wanda Deann Kirkum, 18, of Hornell, New York. And the man who murdered her is Robert Lynn Bradley […]
Law enforcement officers are executing a search warrant Tuesday on the home of Chad Daybell, the doomsday author whose first wife died under mysterious circumstances and whose second wife has refused to cooperate with the investigation into her two missing children. The Rexburg, Idaho, Police Department said the FBI is assisting in the search. Details about what police are looking for have not been released because the warrant is sealed. J.J. Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, have not been seen since September and police have said their lives are in danger. Their mother, Lori Vallow, is being held in an […]
A Canadian man was fished out of the Detroit River on Friday—unconscious and tied to two bundles that contained more than 250 pounds of marijuana. It didn’t take officials long to figure out who he was: He had been arrested a month earlier, admitted he used a submarine to smuggle drugs between Canada and the U.S., and agreed to work for the feds. That’s according to a Department of Homeland Security affidavit filed with a complaint charging Glen Richard Mousseau with drug dealing, cash smuggling, and entering the U.S. illegally. The story begins on May 10 when a Michigan sheriff stopped […]
A video of Buffalo police officers shoving an elderly police activist to the ground, then walking by him as a pool of blood collected around his head, shocked the nation. Their colleagues? Not so much. All members of the Emergency Response Team resigned from the unit on Friday in support of the officers who were suspended without pay for their aggression toward Martin Gugino, 75. “Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,” Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans told local station WGRZ. The 57 officers will remain on the […]
A young black protester was shot dead outside a bar in Omaha as unrest across the nation engulfed the Nebraska city—and the white bar owner was reportedly in custody. The victim was identified as 22-year-old James Scurlock, whose father called for justice as the city braced for another night of chaos. “Last night I lost a son, my wife lost a son, my kids lost a brother,” the grieving dad, who has the same name, told reporters at the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Visitors Center, “His daughter lost a father. All because he decided to protest against racism. There’s a lot […]
The attorney for the family of a University of Connecticut student wanted in a deadly three-rampage said he has “struggled with mental health issues” and urged him to turn himself in. “It’s time to let the healing process begin,” lawyer Michael Dolan said at a Monday evening press conference. “It’s time to surrender.” The FBI and police in three states are hunting for Peter Manfredonia, 23, who was last seen on foot in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, carrying a large duffel bag that may contain weapons stolen from one of the victims. He’s accused of hacking to death a Connecticut woodworker and […]
Apparently a global pandemic isn’t enough danger for some people. Rescue crews had to save three people on Mount Hood this weekend, endangering their own health in the process. Portland Mountain Rescue said the first mission began late Friday night after a climber summited but got lost in whiteout conditions on the way back, with no water and a dying cellphone. By the time a team reached him early in the morning, he was hypothermic, and it took two teams 12 hours to bring him down from an elevation of 6,200 feet. The volunteer search-and-rescue organization said it was finishing up […]
A manhunt is underway for a University of Connecticut student suspected of killing two people and stealing guns and cars in a three-day rampage. “We know that he is armed and dangerous,” Connecticut State Trooper Christine Jeltema said at a Sunday press conference. “Do not approach him.” In the early afternoon, police said suspect Peter Manfredonia, 23, was driving a stolen black Volkswagen Jetta with a sticker paying tribute to victims of the Sandy Hook massacre in his hometown of Newtown. Hours later they said that car had been found near the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Valley Independent […]