Tag: Arrests

California woman charged in killings of sister, baby niece

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FRESNO, Calif. — A California woman and her boyfriend were charged Monday with the murder of her 18-year-old sister and 3-week-old niece who were shot to death in their Fresno home in September out of jealousy and sibling rivalry, authorities said.

Yarelly Solorio-Rivera, 22, and Martin Arroyo-Morales, 26, were each charged with two counts of murder and a special circumstance of multiple murders in the killings of Yanelly Solorio-Rivera and her baby, Celine, Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Yarelly Solorio-Rivera was also charged with two enhancements of “personal and intentional discharge of a firearm causing death.”

She and her boyfriend allegedly agreed to kill her sister and on Sept. 24 she fired a 9mm handgun multiple times as her sister and niece slept, killing them both, prosecutors said.

It wasn’t immediately known if Solorio-Rivera and Arroyo-Morales have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf. They are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

Fresno police arrested the couple last week and they are being held at the Fresno County Jail on a $2 million bond.

Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama said after the arrests that when officers arrived they found Yanelly Solorio-Rivera shot to death in her bed with her baby Celine in her arms.

“The murder scene was traumatic for all officers, detectives, EMS personnel, and crime scene technicians who responded to the scene,” he said.

He said detectives recovered surveillance video of a man leaving the home in a rural part of Fresno who later was identified as Arroyo-Morales, who Balderram described as a “verified gang member.”

Balderrama said that the motive was jealousy and sibling rivalry.

If convicted of all charges, they face life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.

“The District Attorney’s Office is currently conducting the necessary analysis on whether to seek the death penalty and will make an announcement on that decision at a later date,” officials said.

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November 14, 2022
Turkey arrests 1, suspects Kurdish militants behind bombing

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ISTANBUL — Police have arrested a suspect who is believed to have planted the bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, Turkey’s interior minister said Monday, adding that initial findings indicate that Kurdish militants were responsible for the deadly attack.

Six people were killed and several dozen others were wounded in Sunday’s explosion on Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to the iconic Taksim Square.

“A little while ago, the person who left the bomb was detained by our Istanbul Police Department teams,” the Anadolu Agency quoted Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu as saying. He did not identify the suspect but said 21 other people were also detained for questioning.

Sunday’s explosion was a shocking reminder of the anxiety and safety concerns that stalked the Turkish population during years when such attacks were common. The country was hit by a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017, some by the Islamic State group, others by Kurdish militants who seek increased autonomy or independence.

The minister said evidence obtained pointed to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and to its Syrian extension, the Democratic Union Party, or PYD. He said the attack would be avenged.

“We know what message those who carried out this action want to give us. We got this message,” Soylu said. “Don’t worry, we will pay them back heavily in return.”

Soylu also blamed the United States, saying a condolence message from the White House was akin to a “killer being first to show up at a crime scene.” Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support to Syrian Kurdish groups.

He said security forces believe that instructions for the attack came from Kobani, the majority Kurdish city in northern Syria that borders Turkey.

In its condolence message, the White House said it strongly condemned the “act of violence” in Istanbul, adding: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with out NATO ally (Turkey) in countering terrorism.”

Soylu said of the 81 people who were hospitalized, 50 were discharged. Five of the wounded were receiving emergency care and two of them were in life-threatening condition, he said.

The PKK has fought an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.

Ankara and Washington consider the PKK a terrorist group but they diverge on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have fought against the Islamic State group in Syria.

In recent years, Turkish President Erdogan has led a broad crackdown on the militants as well as on Kurdish lawmakers and activists. Amid skyrocketing inflation and other economic troubles, Erdogan’s anti-terrorism campaign is a key rallying point for him ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

Following the attacks between 2015 and 2017 that left more than 500 civilians and security personnel dead, Turkey launched cross-border military operations into Syria and northern Iraq against Kurdish militants, while also cracking down on Kurdish politicians, journalists and activists at home.

“In nearly six years, we have not experienced a serious terrorist incident like the one we experienced yesterday evening in Istanbul. We are ashamed in front of our nation in this regard,” Soylu said.

On Sunday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told pro-government broadcaster A Haber that investigators were focusing on a woman who sat on a bench by the scene of the blast for about 40 minutes. The explosion took place just minutes after she left.

——

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

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November 13, 2022
Colorado police arrest suspect in shooting of 12-year-old

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Police in Aurora, Colorado, say they have arrested a suspect as part of their investigation into a Friday shooting that left a 12-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old boy wounded

AURORA, Colo. — Police in Colorado said Saturday that they have arrested an 18-year-old suspect as part of their investigation into a Friday shooting that left a 12-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old boy wounded. The suspect has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, officials said.

The two victims, who were related, were shot while walking down the street in Aurora on Friday just before 3 p.m., KCNC-TV CBS Colorado reported, citing police. They were both transported to a hospital, where the 12-year-old was pronounced dead shortly after. The 14-year-old remains hospitalized with serious injuries, according to police.

Police said that “initial details obtained by responding officers” led them to believe that the suspect fired at the victims from a car. Officials said they have located the vehicle.

“Aurora Police Officers were able to quickly identify and detain a person of interest, who is known to the victims,” APD said in a news release.

Officers are not actively searching for additional suspects at this time, according to KCNC-TV CBS Colorado. The news outlet reports that the motive for the shooting is not yet known.

At the scene of the shooting on Friday night, APD’s Matt Longshore told reporters, “This is a very tragic situation.”

“A young boy has lost his life, another is hospitalized, that’s why we’re asking the community about this incident,” KCNC-TV CBS Colorado reported Longshore as saying. “Youth violence continues to be an issue metro-wide.”

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November 12, 2022
Cops: Woman makes harrowing escape from vicious Seattle pimp

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SEATTLE — A young woman made two harrowing attempts to escape her vicious pimp — including jumping out a third-story window — before being rescued by a ride-share driver who engaged in a gunfight with the man, prosecutors in Seattle said.

Winston Burt, 30, who uses the street name “Dice Capone,” was arrested shortly afterward as he was leaving a rental home accompanied by other women he had trafficked, authorities said.

The 20-year-old woman who escaped had been taken from California to Seattle to perform sex acts for money, prosecutors said in charging documents in King County Superior Court. She first tried to escape Burt by jumping nearly naked from the high window, they said. She finally succeeded after running from his car and sitting topless on a highway until the ride-share driver helped her.

The woman, identified only by her initials, H.A., was taken to a hospital with injuries including black eyes, broken ribs, a broken leg and spinal injuries.

Burt was being held on $750,000 bail and is set to be arraigned Thursday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who might speak on his behalf. Details of the case were first reported by The Seattle Times.

His street name was tattooed on the faces of at least two of the women he trafficked as a sort of brand, authorities said.

“The defendant leads a sex trafficking enterprise that has operated in at least three U.S. states involving multiple victims, who have been exploited, harmed and maimed by the defendant’s violent and coercive actions,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Benjamin Gauen wrote in charging papers.

According to investigators, Burt, H.A. and two other young women arrived in Seattle about a month ago. They stayed in a $1.4 million, six-bedroom home near Seward Park in South Seattle that was rented through Airbnb.

Burt would drive the women to a stretch of Aurora Avenue in North Seattle where prostitution is common and ensure they had rooms at a motel for their “dates,” the charging papers said. Each woman was expected to make at least $2,000 per day; they turned over all the money, and he provided food, clothes and housing and controlled them completely, the charging documents said.

H.A. told police she had been “working” for Burt for about four months in California and Arizona, as well as Seattle, according to documents. It was only in the past few weeks, after she and another woman said they wanted to quit prostitution and return home, that he started beating her, she said.

He attacked the other woman, identified as S.T., in the rental home, kicking and pistol-whipping her until her eyes swelled shut, prosecutors said, and he forced the other women to participate in the attack, as well.

On Nov. 2, he similarly beat and pistol-whipped H.A. after she said she wanted to leave, prosecutors said. Her lip split open so badly that it appeared to be hanging off her face, she told police.

For three days after that, she remained stuck at the rental home, prosecutors said, with no phone, money or anywhere to go. Her face was swollen and she suffered extreme rib pain.

Saturday evening, Burt began punching her again and ordered her to take off the clothes he had given her, Gauen wrote.

Wearing only underwear, she tried to escape out the front door, but Burt picked her up and slammed her to the ground, he wrote. Fearing she would be killed, she ran upstairs with Burt chasing her and then jumped from the third-story window.

She landed on the ground, hobbled into the street and flagged down a car with two women inside. As she spoke to them, the other young women came outside, saying that H.A. was “off her medication, that she was having an episode, and that she would be okay,” Seattle Police Detective Tammie Case wrote in an incident report.

The others forced H.A. into Burt’s white Mercedes, telling the women who had stopped to help that they were taking her to a hospital. Instead, Burt drove them to the Emerald Motel on Aurora Avenue, where they had been previously trafficked, the charging papers said. Burt sent the others into the motel while H.A., still wearing only her underwear, remained in the vehicle with him.

He told her he that would let her leave, but that he would knock her teeth out first, the prosecutor wrote. She escaped from the car and ran across a six-lane highway, trying to get help. Several motorists called 911, but no one stopped. To avoid being forced back into Burt’s car, she sat on the highway.

“H.A. felt safer in the middle of a busy highway, practically naked, at night than being within arm’s reach of the defendant,” Gauen wrote. “Surveillance video from a nearby business has corroborated H.A.’s account of what happened.”

The ride-share driver stopped and told H.A. to get in his van. Burt pursued them, shooting at the van, Gauen wrote. The ride-share driver was also armed and fired back over several blocks until he was able to get onto Interstate 5 and meet police at a gas station. No one appears to have been struck by the bullets, but the van’s windshield was riddled with holes.

Police arrested Burt as he was leaving the rental home with the other women, the documents said. He faces charges that include human trafficking, promoting prostitution, assault and drive-by shooting, but given the “expansive reach of the defendant’s egregious behavior,” additional charges are likely, Gauen wrote.

Prosecutors are also concerned about case tampering; one woman who continues to work for Burt has already been reaching out to H.A. in an attempt to learn her location and persuade her to return, Gauen wrote.

———

This story has been corrected to show the motel is called the Emerald Motel not the Emerald Hotel.

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November 11, 2022
Texas man accused of slipping abortion drug in wife’s drinks

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AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas grand jury has indicted a husband accused of slipping a medicine used for abortions into his wife’s drinks in hopes that it would end her pregnancy.

Mason Herring, a 38-year-old Houston attorney, was indicted on two felony counts, including assault of a pregnant person, under charges handed up last week by a Harris County grand jury. Court records show he was originally arrested in May and released on a $30,000 bond.

Nicholas Norris, an attorney for Herring, declined to immediately comment Thursday.

Prosecutors told Houston television station KTRK that the baby was born prematurely but was healthy and well.

According to court documents, Herring’s wife told authorities her husband in March began lecturing her on hydration and offering water. She said she became severely ill and after drinking from the first cup that appeared cloudy, which her husband allegedly explained was perhaps the result of the cup or water pipes being dirty.

Herring’s wife became suspicious, according to court records, and began refusing multiple other drinks her husband offered. She said she later found in the trash packaging for a drug that contains misoprostol, a medicine used to induce abortion.

The couple had separated earlier this year and were attending marriage counseling when she told him about the pregnancy, according to court documents. She said Mason Herring expressed to her in text messages multiple times that he was unhappy about the pregnancy.

A spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Herring was also indicted on an assault charge of attempting to an induce an abortion.

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November 10, 2022
Megachurch volunteer charged with murder of her own daughter

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SAN DIEGO — The mother and grandfather of an 11-year-old California girl who was allegedly tortured and starved for years have been arrested and charged with murder, while her grandmother faces abuse charges.

Leticia McCormack, 49, and her parents pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday in Superior Court of California in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon.

Prosecutors say McCormack and her parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, abused and tortured the girl and her two younger siblings, ages 6 and 7, for about five and a half years, leading up to the death of the 11-year-old identified as Arabella, according to the complaint.

In addition to charges of abuse and torture, McCormack and her father face an additional charge of murder. If convicted they face up to 25 years-to-life, plus two additional life terms in prison. Adella Tom faces two life terms in prison.

San Diego Sheriff’s Department said deputies responded to a call of a child in distress at McCormack’s home before 2 a.m. on Aug. 30. The girl, who had bruises and was severely malnourished, was taken to a hospital, where she died, according to authorities.

After deputies arrived at the home, they contacted the girl’s father, Brian McCormack, a Border Patrol agent. He drove over and shot and killed himself in front of them, the sheriff’s department said.

The couple became foster parents to the girls in 2017, before adopting them two years later, according to the San Diego Union Tribune, whose reporter spoke to the girls’ biological mother outside the courthouse Wednesday. She said the girls were being homeschooled.

Leticia McCormack and her parents were arrested Monday and remain held without bail. The victim’s siblings have been placed in foster care, according to the sheriff’s department.

Leticia McCormack taught courses called “Kingdom Life Encounter” about how to model one’s life after Jesus at the Rock Church in San Diego, founded by former NFL player Miles McPherson, who is the pastor.

The church said it has severed ties with McCormack, who had been an active volunteer at the church for more than a decade, doing administrative tasks, coordinating events and other ministry activities.

The church said McCormack’s ordination at the church had been suspended and was in the process of being revoked.

“We continue to grieve for Arabella and her sisters. We are so sorry that their family and friends are experiencing this unimaginable loss and pain,” the church said in a statement that added: “The legal process will run its course, and we hope justice for Arabella and her sisters will be served. We are praying that God’s love and grace will bring comfort and healing.”

McCormack had been ordained as an elder at another church under the Assemblies of God denomination. The ordination was transferred to the Rock in January 2022, according to the Rock Church. The church said she was not part of the paid staff and was not in a leadership role in regards to the church’s governance or operations.

Torriana Florey, the biological mother of the girls, told The San Diego Union Tribune that she lost custody of her three daughters to Child Protective Services because of a “domestic violence dispute” with their father. Florey said she suffers from bipolar disorder.

She told the newspaper her daughter’s name is spelled Aarabella not Arabella as authorities have written it.

“I couldn’t be the mom the courts wanted me to be, because I was learning,” Florey said. “Aarabella was my first daughter.”

Florey described her daughter as a beautiful, bubbly and loving child.

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November 10, 2022
Sister of executed Iranian wrestler arrested and identified by state news as ‘agent’ | CNN

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CNN
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Iranian officials said they have identified the “Iran International agent” arrested Thursday as Elham Afkari, the sister of famous Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, who was executed two years ago, according to state news agency IRNA.

London-based news channel Iran International has become one of the go-to sources for many Iranians looking for news on the country’s ongoing protests in the country.

The opposition television broadcaster, which was called a “terrorist” organization by the Iranian intelligence minister on Tuesday, has denied any association with Elham.

In a statement sent to CNN, the London-based broadcaster said Elham “is not an employee of Iran International, nor is she an associate or agent of the company.”

Her brother, Navid Afkari, was convicted of killing Hassan Torkman, a water company security employee, during a protest in Shiraz in 2018.

Initially, Afkari confessed to the crime, but in court he retracted those words, arguing that he had been tortured into making a false confession.

“It should be noted that she [Elham Afkari] is the sister of Navid Afkari, the killer of martyr Torkman, an employee of the regional water company of Fars province,” IRNA reported.

“Intelligence operatives have been monitoring the activities of Elham Afkari for the past few years,” IRNA said, adding that “she was one of the main leaders in organizing recent riots.”

State media shared pictures allegedly showing Elham’s arrest. The pictures show a woman seated in the backseat of a vehicle with barred windows, with a black blindfold over her face.

Saeed Afkari, Elham and Navid’s brother, confirmed his sister’s arrest on Twitter on Thursday, saying that Elham’s three-year-old daughter was also missing.

He later said Elham had been taken to a department of Iran’s intelligence ministry, and that his sister’s spouse and daughter had been released.

“Elham was taken to No.100 intelligence ministry department,” he tweeted.

Since Navid Afkari was executed, his family has faced many court cases over involvement in the demonstrations in 2018.

Vahid Afkari, one of his brothers, remains in solitary confinement, according to the rights group Iran Human Rights.

Founded in 2017, Iran International has been at the forefront of covering recent demonstrations following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini – a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

However, the 24-hour news channel’s coverage of the demonstrations has brought it under the scrutiny of the Iranian government.

This week, Iran International said two of its British-Iranian journalists working in the United Kingdom have been warned by police of a “credible” plot by Iran to kill them.

In a statement Monday, the Farsi-language broadcaster said it was “shocked and deeply concerned” by the alleged lethal threats, while accusing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being part of a “significant and dangerous escalation” of Tehran’s “campaign to intimidate Iranian journalists working abroad.”

“Two of our British-Iranian journalists have, in recent days, been notified of an increase in the threats to them,” Iran International said in the statement.

“The Metropolitan Police have now formally notified both journalists that these threats represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families.”

Iran International did not name the journalists for security reasons.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that as of Monday at least 61 journalists have been arrested in Iran for reasons including covering the protests, reporting on the death of protesters, and taking photos of demonstrations, according to a report from the organization.

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November 10, 2022
Driver held after wild police chase in Southern California

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LOS ANGELES — A driver who stole several cars, rammed police cruisers and hit other cars during an hourlong chase across Southern California was arrested after a chase that ended in smoke, flame and gunshots.

The wild chase across two counties began about 5 p.m. Wednesday with reports of a sedan speeding erratically in Anaheim in Orange County.

After a while, the driver fled that car and stole a parked van, which was captured on video smashing several times into a Fullerton police cruiser that blocked it until it managed to speed off.

The chase continued with the van sideswiping and rear-ending several cars as it sped and slid through street traffic before heading onto a freeway.

The driver later abandoned the van and ran inside a home in Whittier in Los Angeles County, stole keys to a pickup truck parked in the driveway, and took off as people in the home who had confronted him were almost struck, KNBC-TV reported.

Andres Benitez told the station that he had just returned from work.

“I was just talking to my mom and we were having a normal conversation when I saw the back door open and it’s not supposed to open,” he said. The suspect came into the kitchen.

Benitez said he grabbed a kitchen knife in order to defend his mother.

“I started redirecting him to the front door” but the man grabbed the car keys from the kitchen table. Benitez said he cornered the suspect, who had a pair of scissors, and threatened to stab him as his mother tried to hold him back.

The family and the man wound up outside, where he stole the truck and sped away.

The pickup eventually lost a front tire, but the driver continued to weave erratically through traffic in the Hacienda Heights area at high speed, hitting several cars, crossing center dividers and running red lights.

The truck ended up at a gas station after a Los Angeles County sheriff’s patrol car rammed the truck from behind.

By this point, more than a dozen patrol cars ringed the gas station but the truck still backed up and smashed into a patrol car, prompting authorities to fire several shots through the driver’s window.

Deputies with guns drawn surrounded the stopped truck as smoke erupted from it, and then flames that were quickly doused with a fire extinguisher.

At last, deputies using a special shield came up to the car, smashed the driver’s window, opened the door and pulled out the driver, who was walked to a patrol car. It was unclear whether he was injured.

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November 10, 2022
Iran protests rage on streets as officials renew threats

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Protests in Iran raged on streets into Thursday with demonstrators remembering a bloody crackdown in the country’s southeast, even as the nation’s intelligence minister and army chief renewed threats against local dissent and the broader world.

Meanwhile, a top official in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed it had “managed to achieve” having so-called hypersonic missiles, without providing any evidence.

The protests in Iran, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country’s morality police, have grown into one of the largest sustained challenges to the nation’s theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At least 328 people have been killed and 14,825 others arrested in the unrest, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests over their 54 days. Iran’s government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures while state media counterfactually claims security forces have killed no one.

As demonstrators now return to the streets to mark 40th-day remembrances for those slain earlier — commemorations common in Iran and the wider Middle East — the protests may turn into cyclical confrontations between an increasingly disillusioned public and security forces that turn to greater violence to suppress them.

Online videos emerging from Iran, despite government efforts to suppress the internet, appeared to show demonstrations in Tehran, the capital, as well as cities elsewhere in the country. Near Isfahan, video showed clouds of tear gas. Shouts of “Death to the Dictator” could be heard — a common chant in the protests targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It wasn’t immediately clear if there were injuries or arrests in this round of protests, though Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the demonstrations near Isfahan. They commemorated the Sept. 30 crackdown in Zahedan, a city in Iran’s restive Sistan and Baluchestan province, in which activists say security forces killed nearly 100 people in the deadliest violence to strike amid the demonstrations.

Meanwhile Thursday, Guard Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a speech that his forces acquired hypersonic missiles. However, he offered no photograph, video or other evidence to support the claim and the Guard’s vast ballistic missile program is not known to have any of the weapons in its arsenal.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.

China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is America. Russia claims to already be fielding the weapons and have said it used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.

“This system is very, very fast, and is capable of maneuvering both inside and beyond the atmosphere,” Hajizadeh claimed. “This means the Islamic Republic of Iran’s new missile can pass through both terrestrial air defense systems and the super-expensive extraterrestrial systems that could target missiles beyond the earth atmosphere.”

Iranian officials have kept up their threats against the demonstrators and the wider world. In an interview with Khamenei’s personal website, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib renewed threats against Saudi Arabia, a nation along with Britain, Israel and the U.S. that officials have blamed for fomenting unrest that appears focused on local grievances.

Khatib warned that Iran’s “strategic patience” could run out.

“Throwing stones at powerful Iran by countries sitting in glass houses has no meaning other than crossing the borders of rationality into the darkness of stupidity,” Khatib said. “Undoubtedly, if the will of the Islamic Republic of Iran is given to reciprocate and punish these countries, the glass palaces will collapse and these countries will not see stability.”

Iran blames Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national, for stirring up protesters. The broadcaster in recent days said the Metropolitan Police warned that two of its British-Iranian journalists faced threats from Iran that “represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families.”

Last week, U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia shared intelligence with America that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom. Iran later called the claim “baseless,” though the threats from Tehran continue.

The commander of the ground forces of Iran’s regular army, Brig. Gen. Kiumars Heydari, separately issued his own threat against the protesters, whom he called “flies.”

“If these flies are not dealt with today as the revolutionary society expects, it is the will of the supreme leader of the revolution,” he reportedly said. “But the day he issues an order to deal with them, they will definitely have no place in the country.”

———

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP

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November 10, 2022
ICC prosecutor seeks new arrest warrants for crimes in Libya

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UNITED NATIONS — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Wednesday that he has submitted new applications for arrest warrants stemming from his investigations of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya.

Karim Khan told the U.N. Security Council in the first briefing by an ICC prosecutor from Libyan soil that the applications were submitted confidentially to the court’s independent judges, who will determine whether to issue arrest warrants. Therefore, he said, he couldn’t provide further details.

But, Khan added, “there will be further applications that we will make because the victims want to see action, and the evidence is available, and it’s our challenge to make sure we have the resources (to) prioritize the Libya situation to make sure we can vindicate the promise of the Security Council in Resolution 1970.”

In that resolution, adopted in February 2011, the Security Council unanimously referred Libya to The Hague, Netherlands-based ICC to launch an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The council’s referral followed Moammar Gadhafi’s brutal crackdown on protesters that was then taking place. The uprising, later backed by NATO, led to Gadhafi’s capture and death in October 2011.

Oil-rich Libya was then split by rival administrations, one in the east, backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter, and a U.N.-supported administration in the west, in capital of Tripoli. Each side is supported by different militias and foreign powers.

Libya’s current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections in December 2021 and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who led a transitional government in Tripoli, to step down. In response, the country’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister, Fathy Bashagha, who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.

Khan said in his virtual briefing from Tripoli that his visit to Libya, including meetings with victims of violence and abuse from all parts of the country, had reinforced his belief that more needs to be done to ensure their voices are heard, that justice is done, and there is accountability for crimes committed against them and their loved ones.

“We can’t allow a sentiment to become pervasive that impunity is inevitable,” he said. “Victims want the truth to emerge.”

The prosecutor said he visited the western town of Tarhuna, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Tripoli, where mass graves were discovered in June 2020 following the withdrawal of Hifter’s forces after they failed to take the capital. During a round table meeting, he said, one man told him he had lost 24 family members and another said he had lost 15 relatives.

Khan said 250 bodies have so far been recovered in Tarhuna but far fewer have been identified. He said he emphasized to Libya’s attorney general, justice minister and forensic science service that his office is willing to provide technical assistance because “the task is so great.”

The prosecutor told the council that for the first time since 2011, the ICC now has a regular presence in the region.

He said his staff has made 20 missions to six countries to collect a variety of evidence, including from satellites, witnesses and audio recordings. The ICC has also built partnerships with Libyan authorities, he said.

“The overwhelming crimes are against Libyans,” Khan said. “And this partnership that we’re trying to refocus and build and foster is absolutely pivotal if we’re trying to move forward.”

The prosecutor said he went to Benghazi and met Tuesday with the military prosecutor and with Hifter.

“I made it clear that we had received evidence and information regarding allegations of crimes committed by the LNA,” he said, using the initials of the self-styled Libya National Army that Hifter commands.

“I said that those would be and are being investigated,” Khan said.

Khan said the ICC wants to ensure that “whether one is from the east or the west, whether one is in the north or from the south of Libya, whether one is a military commander or a civilian superior, there is an absolute prohibition on committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the court.”

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November 9, 2022
14-year-old boy held in fatal Seattle school shooting

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SEATTLE — A judge on Wednesday ordered a 14-year-old boy arrested in a fatal shooting at a Seattle high school to remain in custody pending a charging decision by prosecutors.

A 15-year-old boy who police say was with him when he was arrested and had a handgun in his backpack — possibly the weapon used in the shooting — was also ordered detained.

Both boys had initial court appearances Wednesday, one day after the shooting at Ingraham High School left a student dead.

Police arrested the pair on a public bus about an hour after the shooting.

Judge Averil Rothrock, of the Juvenile Division of King County Superior Court, found probable cause to detain the 14-year-old for investigation of first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a gun and possession of a dangerous weapon at school.

Rothrock found probable cause to detain the 15-year-old for unlawful possession of a firearm as well as rendering criminal assistance.

The Associated Press is not naming the boys because of their age and because they have not yet been charged.

The King County prosecutor’s office said it cannot file charges before it receives additional documentation from the Seattle Police Department. The deadline for filing charges is Monday.

No previous cases for the 14-year-old nor the 15-year-old have been referred to the King County prosecutor, spokesman Casey McNerthney said Wednesday.

Authorities have not released the name of the student killed Tuesday. Superintendent Brent Jones said the shooting seemed to be a “targeted attack.” Multiple students witnessed the shooting, police said.

Classes at Ingraham were canceled Wednesday. Other nearby schools had modified lockdowns all day, with a heavy police presence and afterschool events canceled.

According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, an independent, nonpartisan research project, there have been 272 gun-related incidents at U.S. schools this year, including cases where a gun is brandished, shot or a bullet hits school property. Those include the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that killed the 19 children and two adults.

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November 9, 2022
Iowa teen who killed rapist being held in jail after escape

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DES MOINES, Iowa — An 18-year-old sex trafficking victim who killed her rapist was being held in an Iowa jail Wednesday and could face a prison term after she walked away from a Des Moines women’s shelter where she was serving probation for a manslaughter conviction.

Pieper Lewis was booked into the Polk County Jail on Tuesday, said Polk County Sheriff Lt. Ryan Evans.

Iowa Department of Corrections officers located her in Des Moines and took her into custody.

“We would like to thank law enforcement and members of Iowa’s 5th Judicial District for their efforts to safely bring Ms. Lewis back into custody,” corrections spokesman Nick Crawford said.

An arrest warrant was issued after Lewis was seen walking out of the Fresh Start Women’s Center in Des Moines shortly after 6:15 a.m. Friday, according to a report filed with the court by a probation officer and the shelter’s residential supervisor. The report said Lewis cut off the GPS monitor she was ordered to wear as part of her sentence and then left the facility.

She will be taken before Judge David Porter for a probation revocation hearing. A judge on Wednesday set the hearing for Nov. 18. If her probation is revoked, she could be sent to prison.

Porter sentenced Lewis in September to probation for five years to be served at the women’s shelter. He also gave her a deferred judgement, which meant her conviction would be expunged from her record if she completed the requirements of her probation. Porter warned Lewis at her sentencing hearing that by affording her an opportunity to avoid prison he was giving her a second chance. “You don’t get a third,” he said.

Lewis had faced a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury in the June 2020 killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, a married father of two. Lewis was 15 when she stabbed Brooks more than 30 times in a Des Moines apartment. She had originally been charged with first-degree murder but prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that dropped that charge in exchange for her plea.

Lewis has said that she was trafficked against her will to Brooks for sex multiple times and stabbed him in a fit of rage after he forced her to have sex with him again. Police and prosecutors did not dispute that Lewis was sexually assaulted and trafficked. The man she accused of forcing her to have sex with men, including Brooks, has never been charged.

Court documents indicate Lewis was allowed to leave the women’s shelter to work at a local pizza restaurant and show she had several incidents of violating the shelter rules in the past month.

The 48-bed shelter is in a neighborhood northwest of downtown Des Moines. It is operated by the Department of Corrections for women on parole, work release or on pretrial release.

Porter also had ordered Lewis to pay $150,000 restitution to Brooks’ estate, a move many people found to be outrageous. Porter said Iowa law required the restitution. Court records show Lewis’ lawyer has asked the judge to reconsider and Porter ordered lawyers to file briefs on the issue by Thursday. He indicated he would release a decision within 30 days.

A GoFundMe campaign started by a high school teacher who taught Lewis has raised over $560,000. No new donations were being accepted, according to the site. The money remains with the GoFundMe organization and he and Lewis do not yet have access to it. Court records indicate the restitution has not yet been paid.

The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sexual assault, but Lewis agreed to have her name used previously in stories about her case.

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November 9, 2022
Officers charged in train crash into patrol car with suspect

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DENVER — Two police officers involved in the arrest of a woman who was seriously injured when the parked patrol car she was in was hit by a freight train were charged Monday.

Prosecutors also announced that the woman, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, who was arrested after a report of an alleged road rage incident involving a gun before the crash, was also charged with felony menacing.

The Weld County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges in a statement. It provided basic court documents listing the charges but said it would not provide further details because of “pending litigation.” The documents did not include a narrative about what the officers allegedly did leading up to the Sept. 16 crash, which was captured on police body camera footage.

Rios-Gonzalez’s lawyer, Paul Wilkinson, who has said he planned to file suit over the crash, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Of the two police officers, Fort Lupton Officer Jordan Steinke, faces the most serious charges — attempted manslaughter and second-degree assault — both felonies. No lawyers were listed as representing her in online court records yet and no contact information for her was listed on the department’s website.

Pablo Vazquez, a sergeant from the neighboring city of Platteville identified on body camera footage as the arresting officer, was charged with five counts of reckless endangerment for allegedly putting Rios-Gonzalez, Steinke and three other people at risk, as well as for traffic-related violations including parking where prohibited.

A telephone message and email sent to Vazquez at work were not immediately returned. Online court records did not list an attorney representing him yet either.

Following the crash, Vazquez told other officers on body camera footage that he thought he had cleared the tracks when he parked his patrol vehicle behind Rios-Gonzalez’s truck to arrest her. He said he was focused on her because he was concerned about weapons. He also said he did not know that the other officer he was working with from another department, who was not identified, had put Rios-Gonzalez in his patrol vehicle until after it was hit by the train. He said the “saving grace” was that the other officer put Rios-Gonzalez on the side of the vehicle not usually used for people who are arrested.

Other video from Vazquez’s body camera show him and another officer searching Rios-Gonzalez’s truck as the train approaches and its horn is blaring. Vazquez asks the other officer several times over the sound of the train’s rumbling whether Rios-Gonzalez was in the patrol vehicle and she responds, one hand to her face, “Oh my God, yes, she was!”

Other police video shows officers scrambling as the train approaches and slams into the vehicle.

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November 7, 2022
U. of Kentucky student accused of assault, racial slurs

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — A white University of Kentucky student is accused of physically assaulting a Black student worker while repeatedly using racial slurs, officials said.

The student was arrested Sunday at a residence hall and charged with assault, alcohol intoxication in a public place and disorderly conduct, according to the Fayette County jail. She pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday afternoon.

The university said in a statement Sunday that a “disturbing incident” was captured on video in a residence hall. In the video, the female student worker says the other woman hit her multiple times and kicked her in the stomach.

An arrest citation filled out by campus police said the suspect repeated a racial slur to a group of Black females and kept repeating the slur after she was detained, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

The student employee was working an overnight shift at the front desk of Boyd Hall, the university said. At one point in the video she says, “I don’t get paid enough for this.”

University President Eli Capiluto said he has reached out to offer support to the victims while officials conduct an immediate review.

“From my view of a video of the incident, the student worker acted with professionalism, restraint and discretion,” his statement said.

He said the video images reflect violence “and a denial of the humanity of members of our community.”

“To be clear: we condemn this behavior and will not tolerate it under any circumstance. The safety and well-being of our community has been — and will continue to be — our top priority,” Capiluto said.

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November 7, 2022
Phoenix police arrest two in dismemberment death of veteran

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PHOENIX — Police investigating the killing of an 80-year-old Air Force veteran arrested two suspects after they allegedly pawned the chain saw used to dismember the victim’s body.

Phoenix police said Thomas Wallace was being held Sunday on $1 million cash bond on suspicion of second-degree murder, concealing a dead body, theft of a pickup truck and trafficking in stolen property, while Romana Gonzalez is jailed on suspicion of fraud and theft.

Authorities said Wallace, 58, had been a roommate of the victim and Gonzalez also stayed off and on at the home where the body was found. It was unclear Sunday if either has a lawyer to speak on their behalf. Police didn’t release the victim’s identity or the age of Gonzalez.

Officers entered the home Nov. 1 for a welfare check and reported finding two black trash bags inside a bedroom, along with severed body parts in a pile of blankets, according to court documents. Homicide investigators then discovered blood on the ceiling, walls and furniture, and the victim’s head in layers of linen.

The victim’s missing pickup truck was found at a motel down the street where Wallace and Gonzalez also were located and arrested Thursday, police said.

Wallace and Gonzalez are accused of pawning some of the victim’s items last month for $50, including a 10-inch saw that still had pieces of flesh in the chain, and a camera bag with the victim’s business card inside.

Ruby Lowry told Phoenix TV station KPNX that he was a good neighbor who would help anyone, and “he didn’t deserve that.”

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November 6, 2022
Hate crime charges filed for assault on Asian American

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CINCINNATI — An Ohio man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with an alleged assault on an Asian American student at the University of Cincinnati last year.

Darrin Johnson, 26, of Cincinnati was arrested Thursday following his indictment by a federal grand jury, the U.S. attorney’s office in the southern district of Ohio said in a news release.

The victim was preparing to go for a run on a campus street in August 2021 when Johnson began yelling racial comments and threats at him, federal prosecutors said. Referring to COVID-19, he yelled, “Go back to your country. … You brought the kung flu here. … You’re going to die for bringing it,” prosecutors said.

The indictment alleges that Johnson then punched the victim on the side of the head, causing him to fall and hit his head on the bumper of a parked car. The victim had a minor concussion and cuts to his face, prosecutors said.

Arrested in a parking lot near a recreation center, Johnson pleaded guilty in municipal court in October 2021 to misdemeanor assault and criminal intimidation, and was sentenced to nearly a year in a county jail, federal prosecutors said.

An email seeking comment was sent Sunday to the federal public defender representing Johnson on the hate crime charge.

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November 6, 2022
Family fears for life of rapper they say was violently arrested after encouraging Iranians to protest | CNN

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CNN
—

“Someone’s crime was that her hair was flowing in the wind. Someone’s crime was that he or she was brave and were outspoken.”

These lyrics could cost Iranian rap artist Toomaj Salehi his life. In any other country he could have easily rapped about the day-to-day problems facing his countrymen without consequence.

But because he lives in Iran, Salehi’s fate is quite different.

The 32-year-old underground dissident rapper was violently arrested last Saturday along with two of his friends, his uncle said, and now faces accusations of crimes that are punishable by death, according to Iranian state media.

As many as 14,000 people in Iran have been arrested including journalists, activists, lawyers and educators during protests that have rocked the country since September, according to a top United Nations official.

The unrest was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died on September 16 after being detained by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.

“I woke up at two o’clock in the morning with a phone call from Toomaj’s friend saying ‘our whereabouts have been leaked,’” Salehi’s uncle Eghbal Eghbali told CNN in an interview. “Since then we have been worried about what has happened to Toomaj.”

Eghbali says he found out through Salehi’s friends later that morning that about 50 people raided his nephew’s residence in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, in southwestern Iran.

The rapper is accused of “propagandistic activity against the government, cooperation with hostile governments and forming illegal groups with the intention of creating insecurity in the country,” state-run IRNA said, quoting the Esfahan province judiciary.

Salehi’s uncle said his nephew is currently detained in a prison in the city of Isfahan, and that he has information he was tortured. Salehi is a resident of Shahin Shahr, about 20km north of Isfahan.

“We still do not know anything about Toomaj’s health condition. The family has tried very hard to even just hear his voice, but no one has given us any information about Toomaj,” he said. “We don’t even know if Toomaj and his friends are alive or not.”

Salehi’s friends who were arrested with him over the weekend, boxing champion Mohammad Reza Nikraftar and kickboxer Najaf Abu Ali, also haven’t been heard from since, Eghbali said.

“The accused played a key role in creating, inviting and encouraging riots in Isfahan province and in the city of Shahin Shahr,” a spokesperson for Isfahan Province Judiciary, Seyyed Mohammad Mousavian said according to IRNA.

After his arrest, a short video clip of what appears to be Salehi blindfolded emerged on state-backed news agency, the Young Journalists Club (YJC). Salehi appears to be under duress voicing remorse for remarks he made on social media.

Salehi’s uncle was adamant that the man in the video was not his nephew, adding that the government had political objectives in releasing the short clip. Eghbali also rejects the government’s claim that his nephew was running away at the time of his arrest.

“Absolutely not,” Eghbali said. “Because where Toomaj was living or where we are in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, basically we have no way to the border. This is a very crackbrained claim. Anyone who knows the geography of Iran will not believe such claim.”

Since the beginning of the nationwide protests which started in mid-September, Salehi, who IRNA said was also detained in September 2021, has been calling for Iranians to protest against the government.

“None of us have different color blood,” Salehi posted on Instagram. “Don’t forget our amazing union and do not allow them to create division between us, in this bloody and sad heaven.”

Salehi, who himself is of Bakhtiari ethnic background, has long rapped about Iran’s multi-ethnic makeup, encouraging unity among Iranians of different ethnic backgrounds.

“Stand with us, we stood by you for years,” Salehi raps in his song “Meydoone jang” which translates as “The Battlefield.”

“It’s not enough to be rebellious, we have revolutionary roots. Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen, Mazandari, Sistani, Baluch, Talysh, Tatar, Azeri, Kurd, Gilaki, Lor, Farsi and Qashqai, we are the unity of rivers: we are the sea.”

Days before his arrest, Salehi posted videos of himself alongside protesters on the street on Instagram. Since then, his fans, Iranians in the diaspora, as well as musicians and activists, have called for his release.

“A lot of rappers have come out and supported him,” Iranian rapper, songwriter and activist Erfan Paydar told CNN. “Toomaj’s bravery of protesting in the streets encouraged others to get out there and speak up and made people think ‘if he’s willing to go out there and he’s not scared, then maybe we shouldn’t be.’”

Paydar said that Salehi recently shared a message with his trusted friends which was to be released in the event he was arrested. “You will go forward according to my operation. You are my most trusted person,” the message reads.

“The priority is with the students and workers, you will cover all calls for protests, you will not support any party or group, do not write much about the prisoners unless their condition worsens and they have no voice. Concentrate on attack not defense.”

Security forces have arrested several musicians and artists including two other rappers who were involved in protests – Emad Ghavidel from Rasht and Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin from Kermanshah.

Ghavidel was released on bond and described in an Instagram post how he was tortured and had his teeth smashed. Yasin was subjected to severe mental and physical torture during his time in custody, according to Hengaw, and sentenced to death in a sham trial.

“Toomaj’s mother was a political prisoner,” Salehi’s uncle who lives in Germany told CNN. “She has passed away a long time ago…if my sister was still alive, she would become Toomaj’s voice. The same as I am Toomaj’s voice. The same as many who are on the streets [in Iran] are the voice of Toomaj.”

Since the death of Mahsa Amini in custody, protesters across Iran have coalesced around a range of grievances with the regime. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities have been stepping up efforts to end the uprising. Around 1,000 people have been charged in the Tehran province for their alleged involvement in the protests, state news agency IRNA reported last week.

The trials of those accused will be heard in public over the coming days, IRNA said, citing Ali Al-Qasi Mehr, chief justice of Tehran province.

Iranian media said last weekend that the trials for several demonstrators had started the previous week.

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November 6, 2022
Sri Lanka cricket star Danushka Gunathilaka charged with alleged rape in Australia | CNN

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Sydney
CNN
—

Sri Lanka international cricket player Danushka Gunathilaka has been charged with rape after he was arrested at his team’s hotel late on Saturday night, according to Australian police.

At a news conference in Sydney on Sunday, New South Wales Police Commander Jayne Doherty said Gunathilaka, 31, has been charged with four counts of “sexual intercourse without consent” against a 29-year-old woman in the city whom he met online.

Police allege Gunathilaka “assaulted [the woman] a number of times while performing sex acts upon her,” Doherty said.

The cricketer has been refused bail and will appear in a Sydney court on Monday, she added.

The arrest came just hours after Sri Lanka lost a T20 World Cup match against England.

Gunathilaka, who was earlier ruled out of the tournament due to injury, made his international debut in 2015. Since then, the left-handed batsman has played in eight test matches, 47 one-day internationals (ODI) and 46 T20I games for his country.

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November 5, 2022
Man arrested in connection with 42-year-old homicide cold case using new DNA technology | CNN

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CNN
—

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a man in connection with the killing of 25-year-old Sandra DiFelice, nearly 42 years after her death.

Paul Nuttall, 64, was arrested on charges of “open murder” with the use of a deadly weapon, sexual assault with the use of a deadly weapon and burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, police said in a statement Monday.

In Nevada, a person accused of murder will generally be charged with “open murder,” meaning a general allegation of murder which includes, “Murder in the First Degree and all necessarily included offenses. These would include Murder in the Second Degree and possibly Voluntary Manslaughter and Involuntary Manslaughter based upon the specific facts of the case,” according to Clark County’s website.

CNN has reached out to Nuttall’s public defender but has not yet heard back.

DiFelice was allegedly brutally raped and murdered inside her home on December 26, 1980, according to police.

In February 2021, DiFelice’s daughter – who at the time of the incident was three years old and at her grandparents’ house – called cold case detectives at the police department to ask for an update on the investigation.

Detectives reviewed the investigation, and “upon a review of that investigation, in conjunction with our DNA forensics lab, they were able to determine that there was additional evidence that could be submitted for processing using new DNA technology. During that processing of the evidence, DNA recovered from under the fingernails of Sandra DiFelice identified the suspect of Sandra DiFelice’s murder as Paul Nuttall,” Lt. Jason Johansson said during a news conference.

Nuttall was originally named as a person of interest during the initial stages of the investigation, police said during the news conference. Authorities said his fingerprint was found in DiFelice’s home, but it was determined that Nuttall knew DiFelice’s roommate and that explained why his fingerprint was there, police said during the news conference.

Nuttall is currently in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, according to online records.

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November 1, 2022
Indiana drugstore worker held in 2017 killings of teen girls

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DELPHI, Ind. — Authorities on Monday announced an arrest in the unsolved murders of two teenage girls — a drugstore worker who has been living in the same small northern Indiana community where their bodies were found after they went on a hike nearly six years ago.

Richard Matthew Allen, 50, was arrested Friday on two murder counts in the killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, in a case that has haunted the Indiana city of about 3,000 people.

The investigation is “far from complete,” State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said at a news conference on Monday. He encouraged the community to come forward with more information, and said if any other people “had any involvement in these murders in any way, that person or persons will be held accountable.”

Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland described Allen’s arrest as “a step in the right direction.”

“It’s concerning that he’s a local guy,” McLeland said.

The evidence against Allen, a licensed pharmacy technician who worked at a local CVS store, has been temporarily sealed to avoid jeopardizing the “integrity” of their investigation, authorities said. “While I know you were all expecting final details today concerning this arrest, today is not that day,” Carter said.

The deaths of Libby and Abby were ruled a double homicide, but police have never disclosed how they died or described what evidence they gathered. A relative had dropped them off at a hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge just outside their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their bodies were found the next day, Feb. 14, 2017, in a rugged, heavily wooded area near the trail.

Libby’s grandmother, Becky Patty, told reporters that Allen once processed photos for the family at the CVS store in Delphi where Allen worked. He didn’t charge them for the photos, she added.

The families always knew that the suspect could have been “living right amongst us, hiding in plain sight,” said Libby’s grandfather, Mike Patty. “That’s why we never stopped searching anywhere, because we didn’t know where he was.”

The Pattys wore gray shirts that read “Today is the Day … Justice will be served for Abby and Libby,” to Monday’s news conference.

A judge found probable cause to arrest Allen, who entered a not-guilty plea at his initial hearing on Friday, authorities said. “All persons arrested are presumed innocent,” Carter said.

Sheriff Bill Brooks in adjacent White County, where Allen is being held without bond, said he did not know whether Allen has an attorney. No murder case was listed Monday afternoon under his name in Indiana’s online court system.

“We haven’t closed the door on the investigation,” McLeland said when asked if authorities were investigating others. “We’re not presuming anything at this point.”

No one answered the door Monday at Allen’s house, on a street of single-family homes where some put “Keep Out” signs in their yards.

Outside the CVS store, just down Main Street from the historic courthouse square where wanted posters still seek information in the murder case, Ralph Barnaby, a Delphi resident who knows the girls’ families, told The Associated Press that he’d “be more comfortable if he’s indicted.”

Within days of the killings, investigators released two grainy photos of a suspect walking on the abandoned railroad bridge the girls had visited, and an audio recording of a man believed to be the suspect saying “down the hill.”

Authorities released an initial sketch of the suspected killer in July 2017, and then another in April 2019 based on video released in April 2019 showing a suspect walking on the abandoned railroad bridge the girls had visited. The images and audio of the suspect came from Libby’s cellphone. Authorities hailed her as a hero for recording potentially crucial evidence before she was killed.

In December 2021, state police announced they were seeking information from people who had contact with someone who used a fictitious online profile to communicate with young girls. State Police said investigators determined the profile “anthony—shots” was used from 2016 to 2017 on Snapchat, Instagram and other social media platforms.

A statement from CVS said the company is “shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.”

“We remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families,” the statement said.

The case has been followed closely over the years by true-crime enthusiasts who have offered plenty of theories, but Carter urged people not to “subjectively interpret” the case while officers continue to gather information. “If you choose to be critical of our silence be critical of me, not the front line,” he said.

Sheryl McCollum, who has appeared on television as a cold case consultant, traveled to the news conference from Atlanta after meeting the Germans at a true-crime convention. She praised the authorities for holding the facts close to their vests.

“I think the integrity of this case, and not telling every single thing they know, I think that’s powerful,” Sheryl said. “If you start showing your hand, you know, you can mess things up and you can tell too much … The investigation does not stop at arrest. It really just begins. So now is when they’re really going to go to work.”

———

Callahan reported from Indianapolis.

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Arleigh Rodgers is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Arleigh Rodgers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/arleighrodgers

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October 31, 2022