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Tag: family

  • Family mourns father killed in Elk Grove hit-and-run

    THIS IS KCRA THREE NEWS LIVE AT 11 P.M. A GOOD HEART. AND HE ALWAYS MEANT WELL FOR PEOPLE. AND HE DEFINITELY DID NOT DESERVE TO BE KILLED. TONIGHT, AN EMOTIONAL MESSAGE FROM THE FAMILY OF A MAN KILLED IN A HIT AND RUN IN ELK GROVE. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TONIGHT. I’M CECIL HANNIBAL. POLICE SAY THE 61 YEAR OLD VICTIM WAS FIXING A FLAT TIRE WHEN HE WAS HIT. NOW HIS FAMILY WANTS TO KNOW WHY THAT DRIVER WAS RELEASED FROM JAIL. KCRA 3’S ANAHITA JAFARY EXPLAINS WHY THE FAMILY SAYS JUSTICE HAS NOT BEEN SERVED. HE’S NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO WATCH ME GRADUATE OR GROW UP. SO IT’S JUST SAD TO DEAL WITH IT. 61 YEAR OLD DANIEL SANCHEZ WAS SIMPLY CHANGING A TIRE WHEN HIS LIFE WAS CUT SHORT. KNOWING THAT IT WAS A HIT AND RUN MADE IT THAT MUCH HARDER. DANIEL’S WIFE WAS WITH HIM AT THE TIME AND CALLED THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILDREN TO TELL HER WHAT HAPPENED. SHE CALLED ME AND I ANSWERED, AND SHE WAS HYSTERICALLY CRYING, AND I JUST KNEW TELLING HER KIDS, SHE SAYS, WAS THE HARDEST PART. AS A MOM, WE TRY OUR HARDEST TO PROTECT OUR KIDS FROM ANYTHING THAT WOULD HURT THEM AND IT STILL HAPPENED. THEY STILL GOT HURT IN THAT MOMENT. IT WAS SURREAL IN A SENSE. THERE WAS. I ALMOST DIDN’T BELIEVE IT, BUT NOW, A FEW DAYS LATER, EVERYTHING IS STARTING TO SLOWLY SET IN. DANIEL’S SON, ANDRE SANCHEZ, IS A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL. HE’S NOT GOING TO SEE THE MAN THAT I’M BECOMING IN THE FUTURE, AND THAT RESONATES WITH ME ON AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT LEVEL. HE SAYS HIS UPCOMING GRADUATION IS ONE MILESTONE HE WISHES HIS FATHER COULD BE HERE FOR. I’LL BE ABLE TO SEE ALL MY PEERS, AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, WHETHER PEOPLE LIKE TO ADMIT IT OR NOT, THAT’S GOING TO BE SOMETHING THAT I ENVY BECAUSE EVERYBODY ELSE IS GOING TO GET TO HAVE THEIR MOMENT WITH THEIR FAMILY. AND I’M NOT. OFFICIALS SAY SCHMIDT SINGH WAS ARRESTED AFTER DETECTIVES SEARCHED HIS HOME AND FOUND THE DODGE TRUCK IN HIS GARAGE, WITH EVIDENCE OF IT BEING INVOLVED IN THE CRASH WHILE HE TOOK ANOTHER MAN’S LIFE. AND HE’S WITH HIS FAMILY HAPPY. AND ALL OF OUR FAMILY IS GRIEVING. SINGH HAS SINCE BEEN RELEASED ON BAIL, LEAVING THE FAMILY QUESTIONING THE SYSTEM. I CAN’T IMAGINE THE TYPE OF LOSS YOU GUYS ARE GOING THROUGH AND WHAT THIS HAS DONE TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. WHAT WOULD HELP THIS SITUATION FOR YOU ALL? I HOPE THAT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE D.A., AT THE VERY LEAST, PUTS HIM BACK IN JAIL, AND I HOPE THAT THEY FOLLOW THROUGH WITH PRESSING CHARGES. AND THEY GIVE MY BOY SOME TYPE OF CLOSURE AND SOME TYPE OF JUSTICE FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR DAD. NOW THEY SHARE PHOTOS. WE’RE SO HAPPY TO BE A DAD. THE REASON I PLAYED FOOTBALL. REASON I PLAYED BASEBALL FOR AS LONG AS I DID IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY. HE DEFINITELY DI

    Family mourns father killed in Elk Grove hit-and-run

    A family is grieving the loss of Daniel Sanchez, who was killed in a hit-and-run while changing a tire, as the suspect has been released on bail.

    Updated: 11:19 PM PST Feb 7, 2026

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    A family in Sacramento County is grieving and frustrated after Daniel Sanchez, 61, was killed in a hit-and-run while changing a tire, and the suspect has been released on bail.Daniel’s son, 11-year-old Anthony Sanchez, expressed his sorrow, saying, “He’s not gonna be able to watch me like graduate or grow up, so it’s just sad to deal with it.” Angela Holguin, the mother of Daniel’s children, shared the difficulty of the situation, stating, “Knowing that it was a hit and run made it that much harder.” She recounted the moment she learned of the tragedy, saying, “She called me and I answered, and she was hysterically crying, and I just knew. So we cried on the phone together for about 20 minutes, maybe a half hour, but I had to pull it together, my kids are going to be waking up for school.”Holguin described the challenge of telling her children about their father’s death, saying, “As moms, we try our hardest to protect our kids from anything that would hurt them and it still happened; they still got hurt.”Daniel’s son, Andres Sanchez, a senior in high school, reflected on the loss, saying, “It was surreal in a sense. I almost didn’t believe it, but now, a few days later, everything is starting to slowly set in.”Andres expressed his sadness about his father missing important milestones, saying, “He’s not going to see the man that I’m becoming in the future, and that resonates with me on an entirely different level.” He added, “I’ll be able to see all my peers and at the end of the day, whether people like to admit it or not, that’s going to be something that I envy, because everybody else is going to get to have their moment with their family and I’m not.”Authorities arrested Kushmit Singh after detectives found the Dodge truck involved in the crash in his garage. Anthony Sanchez shared, “My grandma said to me to pray for him to get caught. I did. Three hours later, he actually got caught.” Despite the arrest, Singh has been released on bail, prompting Anthony to say, “He took another man’s life and he’s with his family happy and all of our family is grieving.”Angela Holguin expressed her hopes for justice, saying, “I hope that the police department and the DA, at the very least, put him back in jail and I hope that they follow through with pressing charges, and they give my boys some type of closure and some type of justice for what happened to their dad.” She shared memories of Daniel, saying, “He was so excited to be a dad,” while Andres added, “He’s the reason I played football, the reason I played baseball for as long as I did.”Holguin emphasized, “He definitely did not deserve to be killed,” and described Daniel as someone with “a good heart” who “always meant well for people.” Singh had his first court appearance yesterday and will be seen again on February 26 for further arraignment.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    ELK GROVE, Calif. —

    A family in Sacramento County is grieving and frustrated after Daniel Sanchez, 61, was killed in a hit-and-run while changing a tire, and the suspect has been released on bail.

    Daniel’s son, 11-year-old Anthony Sanchez, expressed his sorrow, saying, “He’s not gonna be able to watch me like graduate or grow up, so it’s just sad to deal with it.” Angela Holguin, the mother of Daniel’s children, shared the difficulty of the situation, stating, “Knowing that it was a hit and run made it that much harder.”

    She recounted the moment she learned of the tragedy, saying, “She [Daniel’s wife] called me and I answered, and she was hysterically crying, and I just knew. So we cried on the phone together for about 20 minutes, maybe a half hour, but I had to pull it together, my kids are going to be waking up for school.”

    Holguin described the challenge of telling her children about their father’s death, saying, “As moms, we try our hardest to protect our kids from anything that would hurt them and it still happened; they still got hurt.”

    Daniel’s son, Andres Sanchez, a senior in high school, reflected on the loss, saying, “It was surreal in a sense. I almost didn’t believe it, but now, a few days later, everything is starting to slowly set in.”

    Andres expressed his sadness about his father missing important milestones, saying, “He’s not going to see the man that I’m becoming in the future, and that resonates with me on an entirely different level.”

    He added, “I’ll be able to see all my peers [at graduation] and at the end of the day, whether people like to admit it or not, that’s going to be something that I envy, because everybody else is going to get to have their moment with their family and I’m not.”

    Authorities arrested Kushmit Singh after detectives found the Dodge truck involved in the crash in his garage. Anthony Sanchez shared, “My grandma said to me to pray for him to get caught. I did. Three hours later, he actually got caught.” Despite the arrest, Singh has been released on bail, prompting Anthony to say, “He took another man’s life and he’s with his family happy and all of our family is grieving.”

    Angela Holguin expressed her hopes for justice, saying, “I hope that the police department and the DA, at the very least, put him back in jail and I hope that they follow through with pressing charges, and they give my boys some type of closure and some type of justice for what happened to their dad.”

    She shared memories of Daniel, saying, “He was so excited to be a dad,” while Andres added, “He’s the reason I played football, the reason I played baseball for as long as I did.”

    Holguin emphasized, “He definitely did not deserve to be killed,” and described Daniel as someone with “a good heart” who “always meant well for people.” Singh had his first court appearance yesterday and will be seen again on February 26 for further arraignment.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • ‘Very strong’ clues in Nancy Guthrie abduction, Trump says, as authorities race against time to find her

    Investigators again scoured the desert brush outside the Tucson home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, as officials were reviewing a new message that could be tied to her abduction.

    At the same time, President Trump said on Air Force One on Friday night that investigators have “very strong” clues, believing “we could have some answers coming up fairly soon.”

    “We have some things, I think that will maybe come out reasonably soon, from DOJ or FBI, or whoever, that could be, could be definitive. A lot has taken place in the last couple of hours. A lot of things have happened with regard to that horrible situation in the last couple of hours,” he said.

    Little is known about the new message and whether it has been tied to kidnappers.

    FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s officials confirmed they were aware of the message, and said they are “actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.”

    Guthrie was last seen by her family just after 9:45 p.m. Saturday, which officials said matched with when her garage door opened and closed that night.

    About four hours later, at 1:47 a.m., officials said her doorbell camera disconnected. An empty frame for the camera had been previously noted at her home.

    Then at 2:12 a.m., the security camera software at Guthrie’s home detected a person — or an animal — on one of the home’s cameras, but Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said they have not been able to recover that footage and don’t know which camera recorded the movement.

    About 15 minutes later, at 2:28 a.m., Nancy’s pacemaker app shows that it was a disconnect from the phone, Nanos said. That appears to be exactly when she left her home, as her phone was left behind.

    Her family went to check on her at home, finding her missing, just before noon Sunday, after she hadn’t shown up for church. They almost immediately called 911, Nanos said.

    An earlier ransom note appears to be at the center of the effort to find her.

    Although the entire note has not been released, some details that were included have been shared publicly. The letter contained a first deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday and a second demand with a Monday deadline, said Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division. He declined to say what, if anything, was requested at each deadline, or if there was a threat if the deadlines weren’t met.

    Nancy’s son, Camron Guthrie, released a video statement pleading with the kidnapper Thursday afternoon, around the time of the ransom letter’s first deadline.

    “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.”

    Harvey Levin, founder of celebrity news website TMZ, has reviewed one of the three identical letters that were sent to media outlets and told CNN on Thursday that “the Monday deadline is far more consequential.”

    TMZ reported receiving the alleged note earlier this week via email, and said the letter demanded millions in cryptocurrency for Guthrie’s release. Levin said Thursday night that TMZ had confirmed the bitcoin address was real.

    The family and authorities are particularly worried because Nancy Guthrie has many physical ailments and requires a daily medication that she appears to be without. Officials said they haven’t yet received any proof that Guthrie is alive, but they are operating on that assumption — despite real concerns she could be dead.

    Richard Winton, Grace Toohey

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  • The Nancy Guthrie ransom note was ‘carefully crafted,’ listed two deadlines, contained key details

    A ransom note demanding money in exchange for the return of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother was “carefully crafted” and included details not previously released to the public, according to people who have read it.

    The note has taken center stage as authorities are still frantically trying to find Nancy Guthrie, 84, after her apparent abduction from her Tucson-area home. Her family has now made two heartfelt videos pleading with her suspected kidnappers to communicate with them.

    Officials say they are taking the ransom note seriously, but still have not identified any suspects in the case. On Friday, the fifth day since Guthrie disappeared, Arizona news outlet KOLD reported it received a new note from the alleged abductor. The station did not report details from the new letter, but said that “the new note contains information the senders seem to think will prove to investigators they’re the same people who sent the first note.”

    FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s officials confirmed they were aware of the message and said they are “actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.” Members of a federal forensic task force were visible at the news station Friday afternoon.

    It’s been years since such a high-profile abduction case, particularly one with alleged ransom demands, has captured the nation’s attention quite like this. Experts who work on such cases say Guthrie’s abduction appears to have been intricately planned, given the lack of DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene and how officials — even the nation’s top internet-based exploitation investigators — do not appear to have traced the ransom letter’s origin.

    “Whoever did this came very prepared,” Tracy Schandler Walder, a former FBI agent who has been following the case, said on Instagram.

    Two deadlines

    Although the entire note has not been released, some details that were included have been shared publicly. The letter contained a first deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday and a second demand with a Monday deadline, said Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division. He declined to say what, if anything, was requested at each deadline, or if there was a threat if the deadlines weren’t met.

    Nancy’s son, Camron Guthrie, issued a video pleading with the kidnapper Thursday afternoon, around the time of the ransom letter’s first deadline.

    “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.”

    Harvey Levin, founder of celebrity news website TMZ, has reviewed one of the three identical letters that were sent to media outlets and told CNN on Thursday that “the Monday deadline is far more consequential.”

    TMZ reported receiving the alleged note earlier this week via email, and said the letter demanded millions in cryptocurrency for Guthrie’s release. Levin said Thursday night that TMZ had confirmed the bitcoin address was real.

    The family and authorities are particularly worried because Nancy Guthrie has many physical ailments and requires a daily medication that she appears to be without. Officials said they haven’t yet received any proof that Guthrie is alive, but they are operating on that assumption — despite real concerns she could be dead.

    “I’m fearful of that. I think we all are,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said. “This is Day 4 or 5 and still we don’t know that she’s getting her medication, and that could in itself be fatal.”

    ‘Carefully crafted letter’

    Levin and a Tucson-area journalist, both who said they’ve seen the ransom note, offered a few additional details.

    “This is a letter that really spells out precisely what they want done, what the consequences are if they don’t get what they want,” Levin said in another interview with CNN.

    “They began the letter by saying that Nancy is OK, but scared,” Levin said, adding that it includes a line saying there will be no way to reply or contact the sender.

    “They went to great lengths in sending this email to us in making sure that it stays anonymous,” he said. “It is a carefully crafted letter, and this is not something that somebody threw together in five minutes.”

    Unique details

    Law enforcement sources, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said the ransom note is being considered legitimate because it contained at least two details about Guthrie’s home that hadn’t been made public.

    Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division, said that there were details about an Apple Watch and a floodlight, but declined to elaborate.

    According to Levin, the note mentioned a specific detail about the Apple Watch, which he found to be key.

    “That placement of the Apple Watch, if this is true, is something where they would immediately take this seriously,” Levin told CNN.

    Mary Coleman, an anchor at KOLD-TV, added: “A lot of it is information that only someone who is holding her for ransom would know — some very sensitive information and things that people who were there when she was taken captive would know.”

    Race against time

    Authorities describe the investigation as a race against time.

    “Right now we believe Nancy is still out there. We want her home,” Nanos said at Thursday’s news conference. A massive team of local and federal partners continue to work “round the clock” on the case, he said, including specialized agents with the FBI.

    “There has been no proof of life,” Janke said. “…Time is of the essence.”

    Although Guthrie is of sound mind, family have said she has physical ailments and uses a pacemaker.

    “She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine,” Savannah Guthrie said in the first video she posted to social media about her mother’s abduction, where she also appears to address the captors directly. “She needs it to survive and she needs it not to suffer.”

    She begged for whoever took her mother to contact the family.

    “We live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know, without a doubt, that she is alive and that you have her,” she said in the video shared on Instagram. “We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us.”

    FBI officials have said they are working with the family, but ultimately any decision about how to respond to the ransom demand is up to the Guthries.

    Horace Frank, a former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department who oversaw kidnapping investigations, said the family’s videos try to appeal to the captor’s humanity.

    “You are trying to make it difficult for the those behind this,” Frank said. He said he’s glad the entirety of the note hasn’t been released, because the case becomes more difficult as more details are made public.

    “If you give too much information, the problem is you could be compromising some of these deadlines,” Walder, the former FBI agent, said on Instagram.

    While experts have called this case unique, both for its circumstances and the media involvement, it is not the first kidnapping and ransom scenario to fascinate the public.

    In 1974, Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old granddaughter of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst was kidnapped. She was abducted from UC Berkeley by a small cadre of Bay Area militant radicals, who demanded her family pay to feed the poor en masse. Her parents complied with the ransom, but Patty Hearst remained with her captors. It’s now unclear, however, how much of that decision was hers, or the group’s, because she would go on to pledge her allegiance to her captors and their cause and even robbed a bank with them.

    In 1963, Frank Sinatra’s son was kidnapped from a Lake Tahoe lodge. His family worked with the FBI to comply with a ransom demand for $240,000, and their 19-year-old son was released. The entire ordeal lasted just four days.

    Several decades earlier, however, a ransom payment didn’t end well for the family of Charles Lindbergh, famed American aviator, whose 1-year-old son was kidnapped from his New Jersey home in 1932. The Lindbergh family ended up paying $50,000 through a mediator, but the baby was not returned as promised, and later found dead.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Grace Toohey, Richard Winton

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  • In tearful video, Savannah Guthrie addresses possible kidnapper: ‘Ready to talk’

    Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings posted a tearful video Wednesday in which they pleaded for the return of their mother, Nancy Guthrie, and asked her possible kidnapper to communicate with them.

    “We live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know, without a doubt, that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us,” Guthrie says in the video posted to Instagram.

    She says she is aware of reports of a ransom demand and that the family is ready to talk.

    Guthrie, the “Today” co-anchor, expresses concern for her mother’s health. “She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive and she needs it not to suffer.”

    Guthrie describes her mother as “kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving.”

    “She loves fun and adventure. She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her, and you’ll see.”

    “Mama, if you’re listening,” Annie Guthrie says, “we need you to come home, we miss you.”

    Authorities have been looking for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie for four days.

    There was evidence that someone had forced their way inside her Tucson home, and there was blood on the premises, according to law enforcement sources not authorized to speak about the case publicly. Images reviewed by The Times showed a trail of blood droplets near the front door of the home.

    On Wednesday morning, amid rumors swirling online about who could be involved, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators still had not identified a suspect or person of interest.

    “While we appreciate the public’s concern, the sharing of unverified accusations or false information is irresponsible and does not assist the investigation,” the sheriff said in a social media post.

    The statement comes as details of the case have trickled out and after several news outlets reported receiving possible ransom notes requesting money in exchange for Nancy Guthrie’s release. The Sheriff’s Department said it was aware of those notes but did not verify their authenticity.

    “We have nothing else to go on but the belief that she is here, she’s present, she’s alive, and we want to save her,” Nanos told NBC during an interview Wednesday.

    On Tuesday, the sheriff said investigators still “don’t know where she is” and called for anyone who had had contact with her to come forward.

    Nancy Guthrie was last seen by family members around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, according to officials, when she was dropped off at her home in the Catalina Foothills, a community just north of Tucson.

    The following morning, family members were notified around 11 a.m. that their mother hadn’t shown up for church, prompting them to go to her house to check on her. She was nowhere to be found.

    Soon after, family members reported her missing.

    Local authorities said they immediately found “concerning circumstances” at the house, and later said Nancy Guthrie might have been forcibly taken in the middle of the night.

    “We do believe Nancy was taken from her home against her will,” Nanos said at a news conference Tuesday.

    In Wednesday’s Instagram video, Savannah Guthrie says, “Our mom is our heart and our home. She is 84 years old. Her health, her heart, is fragile. … We will not rest, your children will not rest, until we are together again.”

    Richard Winton, Clara Harter, Grace Toohey

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  • Attorneys for man killed by off-duty ICE agent call on California A.G. to investigate

    Attorneys for a Los Angeles man shot and killed by an off-duty federal agent on New Year’s Eve are asking the California Attorney General to take over the case, alleging recent comments by LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell show a bias toward the Trump administration.

    In a Tuesday afternoon news conference, attorneys Ben Crump and Jamal Tooson called on Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to investigate the fatal shooting of Keith Porter at his San Fernando Valley apartment building.

    The request, they said, was based in large part on their lack of confidence in the LAPD and the U.S. Justice Department.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security initially said an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who lived at same apartment complex was responding to a suspected “active shooter” when he opened fire. Porter’s relatives have said they believe he had been firing a gun into the air to ring in the new year.

    Tooson said witnesses have come forward saying that Porter, 43, appeared to be walking back to his apartment when he was shot, and was not a threat to anyone. Tooson also pointed out that witnesses didn’t hear the federal officer identifying himself before firing three shots.

    “So, forgive us, if we have skepticism of any claims of self defense,”according to Tooson, who is representing Porter’s mother, Franceola Armstrong.

    Crump — who previously represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, among other high-profile civil rights cases — said he is supporting Porter’s family but not acting as their legal counsel.

    “The family has not been confident that LAPD, with their close relationships with the ICE officials, that there’s going to be a fair and transparent investigation,.” Crump said. “Because them trying to whitewash the investigation into the death of Keith Porter is a nonstarter. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”

    A Los Angeles police spokesperson responded to an inquiry about the remarks with a statement Tuesday afternoon that said: “The LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division-Homicide Special Section, continues its investigation into the death of Keith Porter. At this time, there are no additional details available for public release.”

    The fatal incident occurred at the Village Pointe Apartments on Roscoe Boulevard around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2025. Local police have refrained from using the Department of Homeland Security’s characterization of Porter as an “active shooter.” Nobody else was reported injured at the scene.

    Tooson and Porter’s relatives have repeatedly said that even if he was shooting a gun into the air — an activity that can bring felony charges and is discouraged as dangerous by city leaders — he was not threatening anyone and contended the agent who opened fire should have waited for LAPD to respond.

    Stacie Halpern, an attorney for the ICE agent, has said there is evidence that Porter shot first. A law enforcement source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, echoed those claims to The Times last month.

    Halpern didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment left after Tuesday’s press conference.

    In a statement, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said it was confident that the LAPD was “conducting a thorough and independent investigation.”

    “Once the case is presented to our office, we will carefully examine the evidence, review the facts, and apply the law to determine whether criminal charges are appropriate,” the statement read. “This is the same rigorous, impartial process we use in every use-of-force case submitted to the District Attorney’s Office.”

    Porter’s death has become a rallying point locally for activists, who regularly invoke his name at Police Commission meetings and protests. Hours before the press conference, numerous speakers showed up to the Commission’s meeting to demand that the federal agent responsible be arrested.

    Last month, The Times identified the officer as Brian Palacios. Palacios lived in an apartment a short distance away from where Porter was killed, and has previously been accused during a custody dispute of child abuse and making racist remarks about Black and Latino men, according to court records reviewed by The Times. Records provided by Halpern show the child abuse allegations were deemed unfounded by police and the L.A. County Department of Child & Family Servies. Halpern also denied her client ever used racist language.

    In a statement issued in late January, a manager for the apartment complex said “the ICE agent is no longer a tenant and has permanently vacated the property.”

    In his call for an outside investigation, Tooson argued McDonnell is too cozy with ICE and other federal agencies to oversee an impartial investigation of Palacios’ conduct.

    Despite months of federal immigration raids causing chaos in and around Los Angeles, the chief has largely avoided criticizing the Trump administration, at times boasting about the strength of LAPD’s ties to federal law enforcement. He said last week he would not enforce a new California law — which is already being challenged in court — that bars ICE agents from wearing masks while on-duty.

    McDonell has stood by LAPD’s policy of not getting involved in civil immigration enforcement. When he served as L.A. County sheriff during President Trump’s first term, McDonnell took criticism for allowing ICE to access the jails when seeking inmates for deportation. His position on immigration was viewed a factor in the 2018 sheriff’s race, which saw McDonnell lose in an upset to Alex Villanueva.

    Addressing reporters on Tuesday, Armstrong, Porter’s mother, said she remained heartbroken by the thought of waking up everyday without her son, who was a Compton native and father of two.

    “I can’t bring my son back, but I want justice for him. I want justice for my child,” she said.

    Times Staff Writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

    James Queally, Libor Jany

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  • Witnesses describe scene near fire, explosion in Nashua, New Hampshire

    People near a fire Monday afternoon at a commercial building in Nashua, New Hampshire, said the explosion was very loud and led the ground to shake.Fire officials said about 40 people were in the Greater Nashua Mental Health building when the gas leak was first reported at about 2:15 p.m. Fire Chief Steve Buxton said four people were unaccounted for as of Monday evening, but he believed officials would be able to make contact with them.Three firefighters were injured, one seriously. William Closs was working in the area when he felt the rumbling.”Real loud. It shook a lot,” Closs said. An emergency alert was issued in New Hampshire about a potential gas leak after the fire and explosion.The emergency alert urged anyone in the area of the building to extinguish burners or other flames and prepare to evacuate. People were told to stay away from the area.When he saw the emergency alert on his phone, Closs said he was already in the process of trying to evacuate the building he was in. “We were trying to figure out how to get people out, as it was the building right next to us,” Closs said.First responders assisted in the evacuation.”They were quick, efficient, thorough,” Closs said.Closs said he left the scene to walk down the road to meet friends and family, leaving his car at the scene. “Again, I didn’t know that if a roof had collapsed, or what was going on, but as soon as we saw the building next door was on fire, we were like, ‘What do we do now? Here we go,’” Closs said.>> Meanwhile, witness Peter Hernandez joined sister station WMUR live to describe what he saw:

    People near a fire Monday afternoon at a commercial building in Nashua, New Hampshire, said the explosion was very loud and led the ground to shake.

    Fire officials said about 40 people were in the Greater Nashua Mental Health building when the gas leak was first reported at about 2:15 p.m. Fire Chief Steve Buxton said four people were unaccounted for as of Monday evening, but he believed officials would be able to make contact with them.

    Three firefighters were injured, one seriously.

    William Closs was working in the area when he felt the rumbling.

    “Real loud. It shook a lot,” Closs said.

    An emergency alert was issued in New Hampshire about a potential gas leak after the fire and explosion.

    The emergency alert urged anyone in the area of the building to extinguish burners or other flames and prepare to evacuate. People were told to stay away from the area.

    When he saw the emergency alert on his phone, Closs said he was already in the process of trying to evacuate the building he was in.

    “We were trying to figure out how to get people out, as it was the building right next to us,” Closs said.

    First responders assisted in the evacuation.

    “They were quick, efficient, thorough,” Closs said.

    Closs said he left the scene to walk down the road to meet friends and family, leaving his car at the scene.

    “Again, I didn’t know that if a roof had collapsed, or what was going on, but as soon as we saw the building next door was on fire, we were like, ‘What do we do now? Here we go,’” Closs said.

    >> Meanwhile, witness Peter Hernandez joined sister station WMUR live to describe what he saw:

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  • Asking Eric: Friend wants to ‘divorce’ friend’s boorish husband

    Dear Eric: I’ve been good friends with a woman for about five years now; we live abroad. However, I am not and never have been a huge fan of her new husband.

    He talks over people or one-ups any statement and simply doesn’t listen. He can’t do turn-taking in conversation. I’ve asked a mutual friend if he is like this in his second language, and she confirmed he is.

    He and my husband had a disagreement on a very sensitive topic for my husband, largely caused by this refusal to listen. Now my husband won’t tolerate small groups with him. We don’t have a large friend circle, so small groups are all we have!

    Now I rarely see my friend and I always have to come up with an excuse why we can’t accept invitations because I don’t love hanging out with both of them, and my husband hates being relegated to the “boys’ corner” and having to talk to him during any group outing. I’m at a loss.

    I really like her; it is hard to find down-to-earth people who are genuine like my friend, but her husband is always around and just so difficult to have fun with. How can I salvage the friendship but ditch her husband?

    — Trying to Keep Old Friends

    Dear Trying: Alas, you cannot divorce someone else’s husband. So, you may have to recalibrate your expectations regarding your friendship in order to salvage it.

    Let’s take the husband’s corner first: it’s not your responsibility to manage your husband’s good time. So, if he’s refusing to go to group outings, let him stay home. These can still be opportunities for you to get in some quality time with your friend at a time when her husband is otherwise engaged.

    Also, consider setting up one-on-one friend dates with her. You may not get to see her as often as you want, which can happen in friendships even when the friend’s spouse is a delight. But by being intentional and keeping the focus on creating opportunities for yeses, rather than focusing on what’s not working in this friendship, you may find a happy medium, with fewer interruptions.

    Dear Eric: I was in a relationship for 21 years until my ex had a baby on me and I left him. During my relationship with my ex, I would see this guy from time to time, when me and my ex would break up. So, then he and I started dating and eventually we became a couple.

    A couple months into the relationship things changed and I noticed that I was a handful to deal with. I didn’t realize how hurt I was about my past until I got into a new relationship and I can admit I saw myself hurting him. He left me and I don’t blame him.

    I really worked on myself, my ways and everything that I knew was a problem. After two years we got back together, he noticed the change in me and we got along great.

    One day he got sick and had to get admitted into the hospital. I worked the night shift so I would stay at the hospital all day and leave for work at night.

    On the third day of this, I called him to tell him I’m on my way and he told me his ex was there. He said, “Look, you’re not here for me like I need you to be.” He said I should have quit my job when he needed me and stayed with him. Since I didn’t, he got back with his ex.

    Now am I wrong for first of all wanting to strangle him for coming back into my life just to leave me again the same way, and in your opinion how do I move on from this hurt? I don’t want to hurt my next partner if I decide to get into a relationship, but I also don’t want to keep getting hurt either.

    R. Eric Thomas

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  • Commentary: A California lawyer takes the civil rights fight home to Minneapolis

    How do you find the missing?

    If you do find them, how can you help?

    Oakland civil rights attorney James Cook has been on the ground in Minnesota for months figuring out answers to these question as he goes.

    A fast-talking Minneapolis native who still lives in the Twin Cities part time, Cook is one of a handful of attorneys who have dropped everything to aid (for free) those caught up in the federal crackdown — protesters, immigrants and detained citizens — too many of whom have found themselves facing deportation, arrest or even been disappeared, at least for a time.

    Civil rights attorney James Cook in the rear view mirror as he makes phone calls in his car in Minneapolis.

    (Caroline Yang/For The Times)

    “They are leaders that are on the ground really helping people through this process,” Minnesota school board member Chauntyll Allen told me.

    She’s one of the protesters arrested inside a local church, charged with conspiracy to deprive others of their constitutional rights by Pam Bondi’s politicized Department of Justice, which also Friday arrested journalist Don Lemon for the same incident. Cook is one of the lawyers now representing Allen.

    “It shows us that the judicial arm, or some of the judicial arm of our democracy, is willing to step up and ensure that our democracy stands strong,” Allen said of Cook and others like him.

    While it’s the images of clashes in the streets that captivate media and audiences, it’s lawyers like Cook who are fighting an existential battle in the background to preserve the rule of law in a place where it is increasing opaque, to put it gently.

    The legal work behind detentions has largely been an overlooked battlefield that will likely rage on years after ICE departs the streets, leaving in its wake hundreds if not thousands of long-and-winding court cases.

    Beyond the personal fates they will determine, the outcome of the civil litigation Cook and others are spearheading will likely force whatever transparency and accountability can be pulled from these chaotic and troubling times.

    It’s time-consuming and complicated work vital not just to people, but history.

    Or, as Cook puts it, “I’ll be 10 years older when all this s— resolves.”

    Federal agents stand guard against a growing wall of protesters on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis.

    Federal agents stand guard against a growing wall of protesters on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis, just hours after Alex Pretti was shot by federal agents.

    (Caroline Yang/For The Times)

    Cook told me this while on his way to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building where some detainees are being held, maybe. It’s hard to find out. A few years ago, when immigration enforcement in Minnesota ramped up under the first Trump term, activists tried to get the name of the building changed, arguing Whipple, the first Protestant Episcopal bishop in the state, had been an advocate of the marginalized and wouldn’t want his name associated with what the feds were up to.

    It didn’t work, but the movement’s slogan, “What would Whipple do?” still has resonance in this town, where two American citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, have been fatally shot while protesting — incidents ugly enough that Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about them.

    Cook is well aware that the guns carried by the federal agents are not for show, even without the Boss’ new ballad. Just a few days ago, one of the first times he drove his beat-up truck up to the gate, the federal guards at Whipple pointed their guns at him.

    “I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m going to take my keys out of the ignition, drop them on the ground. So please don’t shoot,’” he said.

    They lowered the guns, but Cook was scared, a feeling that doesn’t come easy.

    Long before his law degree, when he was a punk-rock loving teen in the 1980s, fresh out of Southwest High, the public school not too far from Whipple, a former coach convinced him to give up college dreams and instead pursue a shot at making the first Muay Thai kickboxing team at the Olympics.

    The martial art ended up not making it as an official Olympic sport, but the experience launched Cook into a professional boxing and kickboxing career that took him to competitions around the world, and taught him fear is not a reason to back down.

    But, “Father Time is undefeated,” Cook said. “I got older and I started losing fights, and I was like, all right, time to get back to life.”

    That eventually led him to obtaining a law degree in San Francisco, where after an intern stint as a public defender, he decided he wanted to be a trial attorney, fighting in court.

    Civil rights attorney James Cook steps into his car to warm up and make phone calls in Minneapolis.

    Civil rights attorney James Cook has been doing pro bono immigration work since the crackdown began in Minneapolis.

    (Caroline Yang/For The Times)

    He started cold-calling John Burris, another Bay Area lawyer who is an icon of civil rights and police misconduct cases. Burris, who has been called the “Godfather of Police Litigation,” was involved in the “Oakland Riders” case in 2000, when officers were discovered to have planted evidence. He also represented Rodney King, the family of Oscar Grant, and the family of Joseph Mann among many others.

    But Burris, a boxing fan, didn’t respond to Cook’s calls until the young lawyer offered him free tickets to one of his fights, which he was still doing on the side.

    “And then immediately I got a call back,” Cook said.

    Burris said Cook’s history as a fighter intrigued him, but “I did say to James, you can’t be a fighter and lawyer. You can’t get punched in your head all the time.”

    Cook did not take this advice.

    Still, Burris said, “It was his persistence that I admired, because the type of work we’re involved in, you need people who are dedicated, who have some real commitment to the work, and he showed that kind of consistency and dedication.”

    Cook’s been working with Burris more than 20 years now, but until recently, the labyrinth of the immigration system wasn’t his area of expertise. It’s been a crash course for him, he said, on the often arcane laws that govern who gets to stay in America and who doesn’t.

    It’s also been a crash course on what a civil rights emergency looks like. Along with his work looking for locked-up immigrants, Cook spends a lot of time on the streets at protests, helping people understand their rights — and limitations — and seeing first hand what is happening.

    “If you ever wondered what you would have done in Germany, now is the time,” he said. “Now is the time to do something. People are being interned.”

    In the hours after Pretti was shot, Cook was at the location of the shooting, in the middle of the tear gas, offering legal help to anyone who needed it and bearing witness to conduct that will almost certainly face scrutiny one day, even if government leaders condone it now.

    Law enforcement officers launch tear gas canisters in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.

    Law enforcement officers launch tear gas canisters as they work to push the crowd back and expand their perimeter in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.

    (Caroline Yang/For The Times)

    “The way the officers chase people down, protesters who were really just protesting lawfully and were beaten and pepper sprayed and gassed — all those are civil rights violations,” Burris said. “And so the law is the guardrails. So there has to be lawyers who are prepared to protect those guardrails and to stand as centurions, as I refer to us.”

    Cook has tried to calm protesters, he told me, and prevent clashes. But people are mad, and resolute. His greatest fear is summer — when warm weather could bring even larger crowds if enforcement is still ongoing. He’s worried that the actions of the federal agents will spill over into anger at local cops enforcing local laws, leading to even more chaos.

    “I’ve always supported cops as long as they do their job correctly,” Cook said.

    For now, he’s taking it one day at a time, one case at a time, one name at a time.

    Protesters raise an inverted American flag as law enforcement officers launch tear gas canisters in Minneapolis.

    Protesters raise an inverted American flag as law enforcement officers launch tear gas canisters in Minneapolis after Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents.

    (Caroline Yang/For The Times)

    Tuesday, Cook passed through the armed checkpoint at Whipple carrying a list of about seven people, folks who have been picked up by federal agents for one reason or another, or reasons unknown, and now cannot be located. They are not in the public online system that is meant to track detainees, and family and friends have not heard from them.

    If he’s lucky, Cook will get information on one or two, that they are indeed inside, or maybe at a detention center in Texas, where many have been sent. But there will be more whose location remains unknown. He’ll make calls, fill out forms and come back tomorrow. And the tomorrow after that.

    “This is what we do,” he said. “I’m always in it for the long run. I mean, you know, shoot, yeah, that’s kind of the way it works.”

    Anita Chabria

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  • Asking Eric: Boyfriend says ‘I love you’ but won’t commit

    Dear Eric: I’m in my early 30s and seeing a really great guy. He checks a lot of boxes for me and I’m happy with him. My boyfriend and I said “I love you” to each other a few weeks ago. He said it first, and I said it back. We’ve been dating for about six weeks, so this feels normal. This isn’t my first relationship, but it’s moving more slowly than my other relationships have in the past. I’m OK with that for the most part.

    But he won’t ask me to be his girlfriend. We’ve talked about it and he’ll say things like, “that’s definitely where we’re heading.” But that’s it. I’m getting frustrated about it. What can I do?

    — Not the Girlfriend

    Dear Girlfriend: You can ask him to be your boyfriend. Or, if you don’t want to be that direct, you can tell him that you are interested in taking the relationship to the next level and you want to know what he’s interested in.

    If he feels you’re heading toward a committed relationship, it’s fair to ask questions like, how long is this road to a relationship? Are there any obstacles that you see? How fast are we traveling? Is it possible to step on the gas pedal?

    Your relationship belongs to both of you, so don’t be afraid to ask for what you want or need. And don’t be afraid to tell him when something isn’t working for you. Love is communication. It’s not just saying “I love you,” it’s also saying “let’s talk about this” and “can you help me understand” and “wow, this one thing is not working for me but this thing between us definitely does work for me and so I’m excited to figure out how to work it all out together with you.”

    Dear Eric: I have a loving and attentive husband, two adult children who stay in touch, lots of relatives (many of whom live near me and with whom I have monthly contact.) I am in my late 70s and know well enough that travel, hobbies, classes, causes, work and helping others are ways to get connected. I do these things, but they do not satisfy me.

    Most of my closer friends have died or moved away, and I don’t see that attrition changing. I long to have a few close friends that I can call or visit to share daily chitchat and deeper communication. Instead, I have to do all the reaching out, and do not feel that my efforts are returned.

    I am aware of “all the lonely people” around me. But I am most aware of my own loneliness. It is profound and raw and unabated.

    What is wrong with me? What can I do about this? I think I am caring and considerate, and show interest in others. Why do I not have any close friends at this stage of my life, after being committed to my family and community for so many decades?

    — In Search of Connection

    Dear Connection: Sometimes when I get into a tough place emotionally, I ask myself “what is real and what do I feel?” Often, the Venn diagram of the two is one solid circle. At other times, there’s some distance. The distance doesn’t make either less valid. Feelings aren’t facts, but it is a fact that I feel and it’s important to honor that. However, feelings and facts often have different remedies.

    In your letter, the facts are that you’ve experienced profound loss of some of your foundational connections. This is a part of life, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. It also doesn’t mean that you won’t grieve these friendships and all the things they brought into your life. It’s possible that your grief process is making it even harder to feel connected to the loving husband you mentioned, or your hobbies or your other family members.

    R. Eric Thomas

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  • Families of two men believed to have been killed in military strike on boat sue US government over ‘unlawful’ attacks

    As the U.S. military began launching strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean last year, a young Trinidadian man who was in Venezuela for work was searching for a way home, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.Chad Joseph, 26, had been in Venezuela for months fishing and doing farm work when he began looking for a boat to hitch a ride back to Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago, where his wife and three children lived. But as the U.S. began targeting vessels officials said were carrying drugs destined for American streets, Joseph “became increasingly fearful” of making the journey, court documents say. The concerns became so real that in early September, his wife recalled, he called to assure her that he had not been aboard a vessel just hit by the U.S., pledging to be home soon.The last call home was on Oct. 12, when Joseph told his wife he’d found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad, and he would be seeing her in a matter of days, according to court documents. Two days later, however, on Oct. 14, the U.S. struck another target — a boat Joseph’s family believes he was in.“Mr. Joseph’s wife repeatedly called Mr. Joseph’s cellphone, but the line was dead,” a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government says. “The line remains dead to this day.”Joseph’s family, and the family of another Trinidadian man, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, who had been working with Joseph in Venezuela and who is also believed to have been on the boat, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing of the two men. The complaint calls the strikes “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful,” and says they have carried out “premeditated and intentional killings” with no legal justification.CNN asked the Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response before publication. The Defense Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation.The complaint says that, despite claims by President Donald Trump and other administration officials that all the men killed on board were “narcoterrorists,” neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation to drug cartels.The lawsuit marks the first opportunity for a judge to rule on the legality of the strikes which are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — that has killed at least 117 people. The most recent strike was carried out last week in the eastern Pacific, killing two and leaving one survivor who was being searched for by the Coast Guard.The lawsuit points specifically to the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue over wrongful deaths on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets foreign nationals sue in federal courts over violations of international law.The families are suing for compensatory and punitive damages and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jonathan Hafetz with the Seton Hall Law School.The administration has publicly presented little evidence that those killed in the ongoing campaign are affiliates of drug cartels, or that each of the vessels had drugs on them. When pressed by lawmakers during congressional briefings, military officials have acknowledged they do not know the identities of everyone on board the boats they have destroyed.The legality of the strikes has come under intense scrutiny in Congress since the operations began in September, including particular interest in the very first strike, when the military carried out a second strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack. Multiple current and former military lawyers previously told CNN the strikes do not appear lawful.But the administration has maintained that the operation is a necessary step against drugs heading for US shores that will ultimately harm Americans.Trump announced the Oct. 14 strike in a social media post, saying “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed” and that intelligence had confirmed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”‘They must be held accountable’Similar to Joseph, Samaroo had communicated with his family just days before the Oct. 14 strike. Having served 15 years in prison for “participation in a homicide” in Trinidad, and released early on parole, Samaroo moved to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, and in August 2025 he went to Venezuela to work on a farm, the lawsuit says.He frequently shared photos and videos with his family of his time on the farm, “where he cared for cows and goats and made cheese.” During one video call, he introduced Joseph, a friend from home who he said he was working with in Venezuela.On Oct. 12, Samaroo sent his sister, Sallycar Korasingh, a photo in a lifejacket, telling her he had found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad and he would see her in a few days.“That call was the last time Ms. Korasingh, or anyone else in his family, heard from Mr. Samaroo,” the complaint says.In a statement issued by the ACLU, Korasingh said her brother was a “hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him,” she said. “Not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”Members of the administration have repeatedly insisted that those killed in the strikes are “narcoterrorists” — in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that “every trafficker killed is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”The lawsuit, however, says neither Joseph nor Samaroo were “members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels.”“The Trinidadian government has publicly stated that ‘the government has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities,’ and that it had ‘no information of the victims of US strikes being in possession of illegal drugs, guns, or small arms,’” the complaint says.The complaint calls into question one of the primary claims made by Trump administration officials throughout the course of the campaign, that the boats — and the drugs allegedly aboard them — were headed for the U.S. and required urgent military action. The lawsuit says, however, that Joseph and Samaroo were headed home to Trinidad on the vessel targeted by the US.In the wake of the first strike in September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said that boat was headed toward Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.Last year, the Trump administration justified the operation with a classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The opinion argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.The opinion appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, legal experts have said, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.The lawsuit, however, offers the first opportunity for those who believe the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings to present their case before a judge.“Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the court filing says.

    As the U.S. military began launching strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean last year, a young Trinidadian man who was in Venezuela for work was searching for a way home, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

    Chad Joseph, 26, had been in Venezuela for months fishing and doing farm work when he began looking for a boat to hitch a ride back to Las Cuevas in Trinidad and Tobago, where his wife and three children lived. But as the U.S. began targeting vessels officials said were carrying drugs destined for American streets, Joseph “became increasingly fearful” of making the journey, court documents say. The concerns became so real that in early September, his wife recalled, he called to assure her that he had not been aboard a vessel just hit by the U.S., pledging to be home soon.

    The last call home was on Oct. 12, when Joseph told his wife he’d found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad, and he would be seeing her in a matter of days, according to court documents. Two days later, however, on Oct. 14, the U.S. struck another target — a boat Joseph’s family believes he was in.

    “Mr. Joseph’s wife repeatedly called Mr. Joseph’s cellphone, but the line was dead,” a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. government says. “The line remains dead to this day.”

    Andrea de Silva/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource

    Messiah Burnley, nephew of Chad Joseph, who was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean, carries a girl in front of an altar for Joseph in the family home in Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago, October 22, 2025.

    Joseph’s family, and the family of another Trinidadian man, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, who had been working with Joseph in Venezuela and who is also believed to have been on the boat, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing of the two men. The complaint calls the strikes “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful,” and says they have carried out “premeditated and intentional killings” with no legal justification.

    CNN asked the Justice Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response before publication. The Defense Department declined to comment on ongoing litigation.

    The complaint says that, despite claims by President Donald Trump and other administration officials that all the men killed on board were “narcoterrorists,” neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation to drug cartels.

    The lawsuit marks the first opportunity for a judge to rule on the legality of the strikes which are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — that has killed at least 117 people. The most recent strike was carried out last week in the eastern Pacific, killing two and leaving one survivor who was being searched for by the Coast Guard.

    The lawsuit points specifically to the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows family members to sue over wrongful deaths on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets foreign nationals sue in federal courts over violations of international law.

    The families are suing for compensatory and punitive damages and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Jonathan Hafetz with the Seton Hall Law School.

    The administration has publicly presented little evidence that those killed in the ongoing campaign are affiliates of drug cartels, or that each of the vessels had drugs on them. When pressed by lawmakers during congressional briefings, military officials have acknowledged they do not know the identities of everyone on board the boats they have destroyed.

    The legality of the strikes has come under intense scrutiny in Congress since the operations began in September, including particular interest in the very first strike, when the military carried out a second strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack. Multiple current and former military lawyers previously told CNN the strikes do not appear lawful.

    But the administration has maintained that the operation is a necessary step against drugs heading for US shores that will ultimately harm Americans.

    Trump announced the Oct. 14 strike in a social media post, saying “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed” and that intelligence had confirmed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”

    ‘They must be held accountable’

    Similar to Joseph, Samaroo had communicated with his family just days before the Oct. 14 strike. Having served 15 years in prison for “participation in a homicide” in Trinidad, and released early on parole, Samaroo moved to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, and in August 2025 he went to Venezuela to work on a farm, the lawsuit says.

    He frequently shared photos and videos with his family of his time on the farm, “where he cared for cows and goats and made cheese.” During one video call, he introduced Joseph, a friend from home who he said he was working with in Venezuela.

    On Oct. 12, Samaroo sent his sister, Sallycar Korasingh, a photo in a lifejacket, telling her he had found a boat to bring him back to Trinidad and he would see her in a few days.

    “That call was the last time Ms. Korasingh, or anyone else in his family, heard from Mr. Samaroo,” the complaint says.

    In a statement issued by the ACLU, Korasingh said her brother was a “hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”

    “If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him,” she said. “Not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”

    Members of the administration have repeatedly insisted that those killed in the strikes are “narcoterrorists” — in November, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media that “every trafficker killed is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”

    The lawsuit, however, says neither Joseph nor Samaroo were “members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels.”

    “The Trinidadian government has publicly stated that ‘the government has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities,’ and that it had ‘no information of the victims of US strikes being in possession of illegal drugs, guns, or small arms,’” the complaint says.

    The complaint calls into question one of the primary claims made by Trump administration officials throughout the course of the campaign, that the boats — and the drugs allegedly aboard them — were headed for the U.S. and required urgent military action. The lawsuit says, however, that Joseph and Samaroo were headed home to Trinidad on the vessel targeted by the US.

    In the wake of the first strike in September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially said that boat was headed toward Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.

    Last year, the Trump administration justified the operation with a classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The opinion argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.

    The opinion appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, legal experts have said, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.

    The lawsuit, however, offers the first opportunity for those who believe the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings to present their case before a judge.

    “Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the court filing says.

    Source link

  • Family builds colorful igloo to take advantage of cold weather: See the photos

    Family builds colorful igloo to take advantage of cold weather: See the photos

    Updated: 8:27 AM PST Jan 26, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A family in Pennsylvania took advantage of this week’s cold weather to make some memories. Ashley Barron showed off the colorful igloo her family finished after days of preparing frozen blocks.Ashley, Brandon, Colton, Coy and Kaia Barron started the whole process on Monday and finished the build on Saturday.Click the video above to see both inside and outside of the igloo.

    SOMERSET, Pa. —

    A family in Pennsylvania took advantage of this week’s cold weather to make some memories.

    Ashley Barron showed off the colorful igloo her family finished after days of preparing frozen blocks.

    Ashley, Brandon, Colton, Coy and Kaia Barron started the whole process on Monday and finished the build on Saturday.

    Click the video above to see both inside and outside of the igloo.

    Igloo in somerset

    Igloo in Somerset

    Igloo in somerset

    Igloo in somerset

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  • Justice Department drops demand for records naming transgender kids treated at Children’s Hospital L.A.

    The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to stop demanding medical records that identify young patients who received gender-affirming care from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, ending a legal standoff with families who sued to block a subpoena that some feared would be used to criminally prosecute the parents of transgender kids.

    The agreement, filed in federal court Thursday, allows the hospital to withhold certain records and redact personal information from others who underwent gender-affirming treatments, which Trump administration officials have compared to child mutilation despite support for such care by the nation’s major medical associations.

    Several parents of CHLA patients expressed profound relief Friday, while also acknowledging that other threats to their families remain.

    Jesse Thorn, the father of two transgender children who had been patients at Children’s Hospital, said hospital officials have ignored his requests for information as to whether they had already shared his kids’ data with the Trump administration, which had been scary. Hearing they had not, and now won’t, provided “two-fold” relief, he said.

    “The escalations have been so relentless in the threats to our family, and one of the things that compounded that was the uncertainty about what the federal government knew about our kids’ medical care and what they were going to do about that,” he said.

    Less clear is whether the agreement provides any new protections for doctors and other hospital personnel who provided care at the clinic and have also been targeted by the Trump administration.

    The agreement follows similar victories for families seeking to block such disclosures by gender-affirming care clinics elsewhere in the country, including a ruling Thursday for the families of transgender kids who received treatment at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.

    “What’s unique here is this was a class action,” said Alejandra Caraballo, a civil rights attorney and legal instructor at Harvard, who was not involved in the Los Angeles case. “I can’t undersell what a major win that is to protect the records of all these patients.”

    Some litigation remains ongoing, with families fearful appeals to higher courts could end with different results. There is also Republican-backed legislation moving through Congress to restrict gender-affirming care for youths.

    Another father of a transgender patient at Children’s Hospital, who requested anonymity because he fears for his child’s safety, said he was grateful for the agreement, but doesn’t see it as the end of the road. He fears the Trump administration could renew its subpoena if it wins on appeal in cases elsewhere.

    “There’s some comfort, but it doesn’t close the book on it,” he said.

    In a statement to The Times, the Justice Department said it “has not withdrawn its subpoena. Rather, it withdrew three requests for patient records based on the subpoenaed entity’s representation that it did not have custody of any such records.”

    “This settlement avoids needless litigation based on that fact and further instructs Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to redact patient information in documents responsive to other subpoena requests,” the DOJ statement said. “As Attorney General Bondi has made clear, we will continue to use every legal and law enforcement tool available to protect innocent children from being mutilated under the guise of ‘care.’”

    Children’s Hospital did not respond to a request for comment.

    “This is a massive victory for every family that refused to be intimidated into backing down,” Khadijah Silver, director of Gender Justice & Health Equity at Lawyers for Good Government, which helped bring the lawsuit, said in a statement Friday. “The government’s attempt to rifle through children’s medical records was unconstitutional from the start. Today’s settlement affirms what we’ve said all along: these families have done nothing wrong, and their children’s privacy deserves protection.”

    Until last summer, the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was among the largest and oldest pediatric gender clinics in the United States — and one of few providing puberty blockers, hormones and surgical procedures for trans youth on public insurance.

    It was also among the first programs to shutter under coordinated, multi-agency pressure exerted from the White House. Ending treatment for transgender children has been a central policy goal for the Trump administration since the president resumed office last year.

    “These threats are no longer theoretical,” Children’s Hospital executives wrote to staff in an internal email announcing the closure of the clinic in June. “[They are] threatening our ability to serve the hundreds of thousands of patients who depend on CHLA for lifesaving care.”

    In July, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi announced the Justice Department was subpoenaing patient records from gender-affirming care providers, specifically stating that medical professionals were a target of a probe into “organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology.”

    California law explicitly protects gender-affirming care, and the state and others led by Democrats have fought back in court, but most providers nationwide have shuttered under the White House push, stirring fear of a de facto ban.

    Parents feared the subpoenas could lead to child abuse charges, which the government could then use to strip them of custody of their children. Doctors feared they could be arrested and imprisoned for providing medical care that is broadly backed by the medical establishment and is legal in the states where they performed it.

    The Justice Department’s subpoena to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles had initially requested a vast array of personally identifying documents, specially calling for records “sufficient to identify each patient [by name, date of birth, social security number, address, and parent/guardian information] who was prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.”

    It also called for records “relating to the clinical indications, diagnoses, or assessments that formed the basis for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy,” and for records “relating to informed consent, patient intake, and parent or guardian authorization for minor patients” to receive gender-affirming care.

    According to the new agreement, the Justice Department withdrew its requests for those specific records — which had yet to be produced by the hospital — on Dec. 8, and told Children’s Hospital to redact the personally identifying information of patients in other records it was still demanding.

    Thursday’s agreement formalizes that position, and requires the Justice Department to return or destroy any records that provide personally identifying information moving forward.

    “The Government will not use this patient identifying information to support any investigation or prosecution,” the agreement states.

    According to the attorneys for the families who sued, the settlement protects the records of their clients but also all of the clinic’s other gender-affirming care patients. “To date, they assured us, no identifiable patient information has been received, and now it cannot be,” said Amy Powell, with Lawyers for Good Government.

    Cori Racela, executive director for Western Center on Law & Poverty, called it a “crucial affirmation that healthcare decisions belong in exam rooms, not government subpoenas.”

    “Youth, families, and medical providers have constitutional rights to privacy and dignity,” she said in a statement. “No one’s private health records should be turned into political ammunition — especially children.”

    The agreement was also welcomed by families of transgender kids beyond Southern California.

    “This has been hanging over those families specifically in L.A., of course, but for all families,” said Arne Johnson, a Bay Area father of a transgender child who helps run a group of similar families called Rainbow Families Action. “Every time one of these subpoenas goes out, it’s terrifying.”

    Johnson said each victory pushing back against the government’s demands for family medical records feels “like somebody is pointing a gun at your kid and a hero comes along and knocks it out of their hand — it’s literally that visceral of a feeling.”

    Johnson said he hopes recent court wins will push hospitals to resist canceling care for transgender children.

    “Parents are the ones that are fighting back and they’re the ones that are winning, and the hospitals should take their lead,” he said. “Hospitals should be fighting in the same way the parents are, so that their doctors and other providers can be protected.”

    Kevin Rector, Sonja Sharp

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  • Gov. Jared Polis stops releasing prisoners who’ve spent decades behind bars for youthful crime

    Gov. Jared Polis unilaterally stalled a specialized prison program aimed at rehabilitating and releasing people who have served decades behind bars for crimes they committed as juveniles and young adults, The Denver Post found.

    Polis has not approved any of the program’s graduates for early release since 2023 — an about-face from the prior three years, during which the governor approved releases for all 17 such prisoners, according to records kept by the Colorado Department of Corrections.

    The governor’s inaction has created a backlog of 11 prisoners who have completed the three-year program and have gone before the Colorado State Parole Board but are nevertheless still incarcerated, waiting for Polis to sign off on their freedom.

    “The uncertainty of the situation is one of the scariest things I have ever gone through, because it pertains to the emotion of hope,” said prisoner Rory Atkins, 55, who was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for a murder he committed in 1988, when he was 18. “Many of us with long sentences in prison kind of accept that hope is painful. You learn to be fearful of having high hopes.”

    Colorado lawmakers created the Juveniles and Young Adults Convicted as Adults Program, or JYACAP, in 2016 after the U.S. Supreme Court found that children are constitutionally different from adults and should not be automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lawmakers that year also changed Colorado law to prohibit such punishment.

    Initially limited to juveniles, the program was expanded in 2021 to include prisoners who committed a crime when they were 20 or younger and who have served at least 20 years of their sentence. The prisoners must also meet a variety of other conditions to enter the three-year program, which focuses on building life skills and preparing for life outside of prison.

    After prisoners finish the program, the governor — after receiving a recommendation from the parole board — must give the final approval for them to be released on early parole.

    “For whatever reason, there was this dollop of mercy that was required (in the law),” said Ann Roan, a retired attorney who represented a program participant. “And for years it has worked well. … So to have the brakes put on it so suddenly, with no explanation whatsoever, has really upended everyone’s justified expectations.”

    Shelby Wieman, a spokeswoman for Polis, said in a statement that the prisoners’ applications are still under review, that the governor “takes these decisions very seriously” and that the serious nature of prisoners’ crimes requires “careful deliberation.”

    “The governor’s office has also previously expressed discomfort with the governor’s role in the process, and proposed legislative changes to this program in the past, which the legislature declined to address,” Wieman said, apparently referring to a failed 2024 bill that would have cut the governor out of the process and shifted full authority for early releases to the parole board.

    “We look forward to continuing to explore potential improvements with legislators and stakeholders,” Wieman said.

    She did not answer questions about what changed from the program’s first few years, when Polis routinely approved graduates’ releases.

    ‘Like we are being just dropped’

    The governor’s inaction comes as he considers whether to commute the sentence for Tina Peters, the Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence for crimes related to unauthorized access to state voting machines, and as he did not issue end-of-year pardons and sentence commutations for the first time in his tenure.

    The state’s prisons are also nearly at capacity and are projected to run out of beds in the coming months.

    “We feel like we are being just dropped,” said Rose Martinez, who is waiting for the release of her cousin, Daniel Reyes, 56. He is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for a 1987 homicide he committed during a robbery when he was 18.

    Martinez has, over the last decade, watched her cousin yearn for release as his 2027 parole eligibility date has drawn closer.

    “I’ll never forget the day he told me, ‘I can’t wait until I can be outside of these walls and I can actually lean up against a tree,’” she said. “That was probably five years ago.”

    Reyes has been waiting for the governor’s sign-off since April, he said. Atkins’ wait began in July, when the parole board recommended his release, he said. Others in the program, like Raymond Gone, who killed a Denver police officer in 1995 when he was 16, have been waiting on the governor for more than a year, he said.

    “What would I say to the critics who say the crime I was convicted of was so serious that I should finish my entire sentence? Honestly, I would agree with them, if all I knew was that I was convicted of such a horrible crime,” said Gone, now 47. “…I know I am responsible, I am the cause, for an unfathomable amount of trauma in so many people’s lives. There isn’t any amount of time I could spend in this place to make up for what I did.

    “But the opportunity I have been given through JYACAP was only made available to me because of a Supreme Court ruling… someone way above me decided that my life was worth saving and should be given a second chance.”

    Since 2017, 112 prisoners have applied to participate in the JYACAP program; 44 were accepted, according to the Department of Corrections. Prisoners were denied for poor behavior in prison, the nature of the crimes they committed, and for not meeting the program’s basic eligibility requirements.

    Last year, 40-year-old Raul Gomez-Garcia, who killed a Denver police officer in 2005 when he was 19, was denied entry to the program after his application stirred outrage within the slain officer’s family and the police department.

    None of the 17 people released after completing the program have had their parole revoked, said Alondra Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. One participant had “subsequent involvement with the criminal justice system,” she said, but it did not prompt parole revocation. She did not answer follow-up questions about that participant.

    “Nobody reoffends, because they’ve grown up,” said Roan, who previously represented Gone. “…Every one of us at some point has been 16, and a lot of us who have children have watched what it is to be 16 from that perspective, and I don’t think anyone would say that is who you are for the rest of your life.”

    ‘A program that he signed into law’

    Phillip “Mike” Montoya went into the JYACAP program after he’d spent 26 years behind bars. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison after he participated in a 1993 gang shooting as a 16-year-old, although he did not actually fire the fatal shot.

    He found the program to be too basic at times, with tedious instruction on very basic tasks like how to brush your teeth or how to use a spatula. The curriculum wasn’t tailored to each individual, he noted.

    “If you go inside the prison at 16 years old and maybe you never done anything in your life prior, like cook for yourself, do your own laundry, go to a grocery store and buy your own food, then maybe you are going to need a lot more assistance,” he said. “But for someone like me, I pretty much had to raise myself. I had to raise my brother and sisters. So going into prison, even though I went in at such a young age, I had a lot of knowledge of the world.”

    Still, he is quick to praise the program’s pathway to release and the second chance it gives people who have been imprisoned since they were teenagers. Montoya has been working as a barber since he got out in August 2023, about three years before his parole eligibility date. He ultimately served 30 years and two days.

    He’s tried to advocate for the program’s other participants, he said, seeking out meetings with officials and stakeholders.

    “The response has always been the same, that (Polis) doesn’t want to deal with it for political reasons,” he said. “…We’re talking about a program that he signed into law that he doesn’t believe in now.”

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  • Honduran father died in ICE custody in California. His family wants an investigation

    A Honduran man who lived and worked in the U.S. for 26 years died after being held at a California immigration detention facility for more than a month, and his family is calling for an investigation, saying he complained of deteriorating health conditions before his death.

    Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz, 68, died on Jan. 6 at 1:18 a.m. at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio after suffering from heart-related health issues, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. He was being held at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico before he was transferred to the hospital.

    Federal officials said Yanez-Cruz was “encountered” during a Nov. 16 enforcement operation in Newark, N.J., but he was not the target of the operation, his daughter said. He was put into removal proceedings, which were pending at the time of his death.

    A photo of Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz, 68, is displayed during his memorial. Yanez-Cruz died this month in ICE custody.

    His daughter, Josselyn Yanez, blames ICE for not taking his health concerns seriously and not providing medical attention as his health deteriorated. In a statement, ICE said Yanez-Cruz was put in the detention facility’s medical unit for chest pains before being sent to El Centro Regional Medical Center. He was then transported by helicopter to Indio.

    “There needs to be an investigation because this is not normal,” Yanez said. “He started having symptoms weeks ago; they could have done something.”

    In response to the family’s claims, a Homeland Security official said in a statement, “ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens. All detainees are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, and toiletries, and have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”

    The Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico

    Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz was being held at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico before being hospitalized in Indio.

    (Google Maps)

    Last September another detainee at the facility died after experiencing a seizure at the facility, ICE officials said.

    As for Yanez-Cruz, officials said he illegally entered the U.S. and was arrested near Eagle Pass, Texas, in June 1993 and removed from the U.S. Between 1999 and 2012, the agency said, he submitted applications for temporary protected status but was denied.

    Yanez said claims that her father was deported and never granted TPS are false. She said her father had been granted TPS when he entered the U.S. in 1999, and it allowed him to visit Honduras on at least two occasions. His status lapsed because he was unable to renew it, she said.

    On Nov. 16 her father, who worked in construction, had gotten breakfast around 10 a.m. at a McDonald’s in Newark when he stopped to chat with friends in an area known for day laborers to gather and pick up work, she told The Times. Suddenly, ICE agents pulled up and began arresting people, including her father.

    Yanez, who lives in Houston, said she learned of it about an hour later. Her father was in detention in New Jersey before being moved to Calexico. He spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s in detention.

    Members of Todec Legal Center attend a memorial service

    Members of Todec Legal Center attend a memorial for Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz, who was from New Jersey and died far from home without any family by his side. “Although we did not know el señor Luis, his death being in our backyard, it’s so close to us,” a member of the immigrant rights group said. “It’s one pain after another. We did not know him, but his family’s pain is our pain.”

    Yanez-Cruz spent 26 years in the U.S., working construction and paint jobs to help his family get ahead, Yanez said.

    “He was an extraordinary father,” she said. “He was always looking out for us, even as we got older and became adults. He looked out for his grandchildren … He always worried about them and called to ask how they were doing.”

    He called regularly, even while he was detained, Yanez said. But his health appeared to worsen the longer he was in detention, she said, even though he had been healthy before his arrest.

    Inside the facility he was suffering from stomach and chest pains and sometimes felt like vomiting when he ate, she said. He suffered from shortness of breath walking around the facility and when he reported it to the staff, they only gave him pills to ease the pain, she said.

    Yanez said the last time she spoke to her father was Jan. 3, a usual check-in when he asked about her children as she walked home from work. At the end of the call he said “Cuidate, te amo mucho.” Take care, I love you a lot.

    Her brother spoke to him the next day and he seemed fine, she said. But as she waited for his call the following day she received one from a former detainee who told her he heard her father had been transferred to the medical unit after he had difficulty breathing. Yanez said she tried to call the facility but couldn’t get information until the next day when they called to tell her he died during the early morning hours.

    Parish staff and members of Todec Legal Center lead a procession after the memorial service.

    Parish staff and members of Todec Legal Center lead a procession after the memorial service.

    Yanez-Cruz’s passing hit family members hard because they were not there in his final moments, his daughter said. They have been sharing stories of his life and the sacrifices he made for them.

    Her father, she said, departed Honduras in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch devastated the country and left him, like millions of others, struggling in the aftermath. He traveled north to the U.S. to help his family, Yanez said, and continued to work hard. He made friends easily, she said, and when he died she received calls from people who met him and shared kind words.

    Luz Gallegos, executive director of Todec Legal Center, an immigrant rights group based in the Coachella Valley, said her group learned about Yanez-Cruz’s story after he died at the hospital in nearby Indio. On Friday the legal center helped organize a memorial mass in honor of Yanez-Cruz at the Our Lady of Soledad Catholic Church, to honor Yanez-Cruz and others who died in custody, Gallegos said.

    “Although we did not know el señor Luis, his death being in our backyard, it’s so close to us,” she said. “It’s one pain after another. We did not know him, but his family’s pain is our pain.”

    Melissa Gomez

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  • After 7 lives were lost in the Biffle plane crash, a chance to heal in Charlotte

    Even now, 29 days later, it is an almost unimaginable tragedy.

    On Dec. 18, 2025, seven lives were lost in a plane crash in Statesville, 40 miles north of Charlotte. We still don’t know why.

    We do know who, though, and hundreds of people came together Friday morning at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte for a memorial service to remember the seven people killed in Statesville. Everyone was there to celebrate the lives of former NASCAR racer Greg Biffle, his wife, Cristina; his children Emma and Ryder, his best friend Craig Wadsworth, and Jack and Dennis Dutton, who were father and son.

    Michael Clinton of Cherryville walks beside one of former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle’s race cars parked outside Bojangles Coliseum on Friday in Charlotte. Three of Biffle’s old race cars were displayed outside prior to a service to remember the seven people killed in a plane crash on Dec. 18, 2025, in Statesville. Biffle, his wife and his two children all lost their lives in the crash.
    Michael Clinton of Cherryville walks beside one of former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle’s race cars parked outside Bojangles Coliseum on Friday in Charlotte. Three of Biffle’s old race cars were displayed outside prior to a service to remember the seven people killed in a plane crash on Dec. 18, 2025, in Statesville. Biffle, his wife and his two children all lost their lives in the crash. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

    The 85-minute service came in front of a crowd of about 600 people. It was open to the public, and so it drew a wide range of mourners. There were men and women in black suits. There were whole families wearing boots, jeans and hoodies. Many of the mourners kept their coats on — it’s hockey season at Bojangles Coliseum, home of the Charlotte Checkers, and the temperature inside wasn’t a whole lot different than the frigid January air they walked through outside.

    But people forgot the temperature as they listened to NASCAR luminaries including Jeff Burton and Phil Parsons eulogize the seven. Other speakers included Greg Biffle’s niece Jordyn Biffle, and his close friend Garrett Mitchell (also known as the YouTube star Cleetus McFarland).

    “He lived life fast and fully, and he loved to make people smile,” Jordyn Biffle said at the service. She was talking about her uncle Greg at that point, but the comment could have been made about any of the seven who died, really. They all were fans of things that went fast — planes, four-wheelers and automobiles.

    Jordyn Biffle, niece of former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, speaks during a memorial service Friday morning at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte.
    Jordyn Biffle, niece of former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, speaks during a memorial service Friday morning at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

    And the smiling part?

    They were all good at that, too. Photos and videos shown on the scoreboard at the service depicted one family after another — both biological ones and racing ones — grinning widely at the camera, and at each other.

    It was Greg Biffle who was the most well-known of the seven, of course, due to his NASCAR championships and, later, his rescue efforts after Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. It turned out Biffle was quite a prankster, too, as a number of stories revealed from the podium illustrated Friday.

    I had known a little of this already, having asked racer Dale Earnhardt Jr. about Biffle earlier in the week. Dale Jr., it turns out, had once gotten a boxer puppy from Biffle (Dale named the dog Killer). Later, they would tie their boats up together on Lake Norman and shoot the breeze. After they stopped competing on different race teams, they found out they actually had a lot in common.

    “He was a super dude,” Earnhardt told me, “once you got to know him. And man, did he ever like to mess with people.”

    That Biffle did, from a very early age. “The Biff” pranked people and didn’t mind getting pranked himself.

    Former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton speaks during a memorial service Friday morning at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. The ceremony was held to honor the lives lost in the Dec. 18, 2025 plane crash in Statesville that included former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle.
    Former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton speaks during a memorial service Friday morning at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. The ceremony was held to honor the lives lost in the Dec. 18, 2025 plane crash in Statesville that included former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

    The speakers at the service Friday told stories about a high school-aged Biffle doing burnouts in front of his school and getting suspended; of climbing on a closed waterslide and sliding down in the middle of the night as an adult and getting caught; of racing with a broken arm that he and his team tried to hide from his car owner; of losing a bet and having to go sleeveless on a ski trip. And, of course, there was all the humanitarian work Biffle did — under all those high jinks, there was an enormous heart.

    Photos of the seven people who died in a plane crash in Statesville, North Carolina, on Dec. 18, 2025, are displayed during a memorial service at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte on Friday.
    Photos of the seven people who died in a plane crash in Statesville, North Carolina, on Dec. 18, 2025, are displayed during a memorial service at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte on Friday. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

    As NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell told me earlier this week: “If you asked me who a NASCAR driver is that everyone would want to aspire to be, it’s Greg Biffle. And I don’t mean that just from on track, but just a good guy who was involved in so many things, cared about family and made friends immediately. … That’s why it’s such a huge loss. That’s why you’re seeing this outpouring. Greg reflects the kind of guy a lot of people want to be. If we could have more Greg Biffles in the world and in our garage area, it’d be a great thing for the sport.”

    Garrett Mitchell wipes tears from his eyes as he speaks about his close friend, the late Greg Biffle, on Friday in Charlotte.
    Garrett Mitchell wipes tears from his eyes as he speaks about his close friend, the late Greg Biffle, on Friday in Charlotte. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

    While this memorial service represented closure in some ways, in other ways this wound remains fresh. In one of those acts that makes you lose some faith in the human race, Biffle’s house was reported to have been burglarized Jan. 8, just three weeks after the plane crash. The incident report said $30,000 in cash and a backpack were stolen, along with guns and memorabilia.

    But more than anything else, the mystery of the crash looms.

    We still don’t know what caused it. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, has yet to say who was piloting the plane at the time of the crash (three people on board had pilot licenses).

    Any day now, though, the NTSB will release its preliminary findings. That report will give everyone a sense as to why that plane left Statesville on a Thursday morning, then immediately turned around and tried to return to the same airport before striking trees and light stanchions, crashing and bursting into flame only 10 minutes after takeoff.

    Jordyn Biffle, niece of former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, exits the stage after speaking Friday at a remembrance ceremony at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte.
    Jordyn Biffle, niece of former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, exits the stage after speaking Friday at a remembrance ceremony at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

    “It’s just such a tragedy,” NASCAR hall of famer Mark Martin told me earlier this week. Martin was a teammate of Biffle on the racetrack and a pilot who has flown Cessnas himself. “And it’s more than Greg. It’s an entire family, and a father and son, and Greg’s friend — such a huge loss. And as a pilot, it’s additionally tough. … Pilots have a pretty good idea of what sort of issues there can be. … And then, of course, my dad and his wife and his daughter died in a plane crash. So it’s a real sore spot for me.”

    Yes, Mark Martin lost three family members in a separate plane crash back in 1998. That is one of a series of plane crashes that have taken the lives of people who were central to NASCAR, or family members of someone who was.

    That is another story for another time, though.

    Friday was about trying to heal and to remember the seven people who died on Dec. 18, 2025. They didn’t deserve what happened. But they were remembered well and fully, on a cold January day in Charlotte.

    This story was originally published January 16, 2026 at 3:33 PM.

    Scott Fowler

    The Charlotte Observer

    Columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994. He has earned 24 national APSE sportswriting awards and hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated once named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler hosts the online series and podcast “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” which features 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons. He also writes occasionally about non-sports subjects, such as the 5-part series “9/11/74,” which chronicled the plane crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 in Charlotte in 1974.
    Support my work with a digital subscription

    Scott Fowler

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  • Asking Eric: Dance student wants to advance without insulting instructor

    Dear Eric: I have been taking dance classes from the same instructor for years. There are a number of us students who would like to see more technique, as opposed (or in addition) to more steps, taught as some dance styles rely heavily on technique (West Coast Swing is an example).

    We really enjoy the classes and the instructor’s commitment to providing lessons to anyone, regardless of their ability/level. Since I’ve never taught dance classes before, I don’t know if things work better keeping everything “simpler”, so to speak, or if they might be misjudging the capabilities of their students?

    It’s tricky to bring this up as we don’t want to criticize their teaching style, but we also want to feel that we, and the other students, are getting some of the important techniques that are sometimes lacking.

    — Movin’ and Groovin’

    Dear Movin’: The question “how can I learn more about this?” is such a wonderful invitation and could, in your case, open the door to a more advanced class or additional technique lessons. I imagine that your dance instructor has a passion for the form. Many teachers do. So, try to have a conversation rooted in your shared enthusiasm. This will likely sound less like a critique and more like what it is: a desire to know more and to participate more fully.

    Dear Eric: I have a neighbor who seems really interested in being friends with me. She always speaks when I pass by, sends holiday cards, et cetera. We’ve talked about getting together for a meal or something but didn’t get much past the talk.

    I don’t have anything against her. She seems nice enough. But when I moved in another neighbor told me to avoid her since she’s a liar.

    I don’t go in much for drama and gossip, so I haven’t asked for any more information. But I trust this other neighbor. (We were actually friendly before I moved into the neighborhood.)

    Mostly, I just want to be left alone.

    Do you think I should try to avoid the liar neighbor or what?

    — Good Fences

    Dear Fences: I’m no judge but there seems to be a lot of hearsay happening here. The neighbor who gave you the warning was vague in a way that perhaps suggests discretion, but in reality, only muddies the waters. Either say something helpful (and objectively true) or say nothing at all. But a blanket warning hews too close to gossip for my taste.

    If you want to be friends with this other neighbor, trust your judgment and proceed with caution, just as you would with anyone else.

    However, if you’re fine with an occasional hello and a holiday card, it doesn’t need to go beyond that. Sometimes the best neighborly relationships are the ones where everyone stays in their respective yards. There’s nothing wrong with that.

    Dear Eric: “Contact with No Contact” wrote about a brother-in-law who had suddenly gone no contact and wondered how to navigate an upcoming wedding where the in-law would be. The letter writer wrote, “ I have developed close relationships with others in the extended family but dread dealing with these relatives again.”

    This struck a chord with me.

    When my sister-in-law told me she never wanted to speak to me again, I was relieved. Having made a diligent effort to mend the broken fence “of the moment” and being unequivocally rejected, I no longer had to chase a friendship that would never materialize.

    But we are still relatives and therefore see each other at family gatherings. Internally, I pretend that I am meeting them for the first time. Every. Single. Time. Whether they snub me or not, either way, it doesn’t matter. I go to these events, and I enjoy them for what they are, and live in those moments without imprinting the scars of this failed relationship over those events.

    — Bitter But Better

    R. Eric Thomas

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  • California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta opts against running for governor. Again.

    California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he would not run for California governor, a decision grounded in his belief that his legal efforts combating the Trump administration as the state’s top prosecutor are paramount at this moment in history.

    “Watching this dystopian horror come to life has reaffirmed something I feel in every fiber of my being: in this moment, my place is here — shielding Californians from the most brazen attacks on our rights and our families,” Bonta said in a statement. “My vision for the California Department of Justice is that we remain the nation’s largest and most powerful check on power.”

    Bonta said that President Trump’s blocking of welfare funds to California and the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother of three last week by a federal immigration agent cemented his decision to seek reelection to his current post, according to Politico, which first reported that Bonta would not run for governor.

    Bonta, 53, a former state lawmaker and a close political ally to Gov. Gavin Newsom, has served as the state’s top law enforcement official since Newsom appointed him to the position in 2021. In the last year, his office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times — a track record that would probably have served him well had he decided to run in a state where Trump has lost three times and has sky-high disapproval ratings.

    Bonta in 2024 said that he was considering running. Then in February he announced he had ruled it out and was focused instead on doing the job of attorney general, which he considers especially important under the Trump administration. Then, both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced they would not run for governor, and Bonta began reconsidering, he said.

    “I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta told The Times in November. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”

    The race for California governor remains wide open. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and is barred from running again because of term limits. Newsom has said he is considering a run for president in 2028.

    Former Rep. Katie Porter — an early leader in polls — late last year faltered after videos emerged of her screaming at an aide and berating a reporter. The videos contributed to her dropping behind Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, in a November poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

    Porter rebounded a bit toward the end of the year, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed, however none of the candidates has secured a majority of support and many voters remain undecided.

    California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in the state, and many are seething with anger over Trump and looking for Democratic candidates willing to fight back against the current administration.

    Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending about $468,000 in campaign funds on legal advice last year as he spoke to federal investigators about alleged corruption involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was charged in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three have pleaded not guilty.

    According to his political consultant Dan Newman, Bonta — who had received campaign donations from the Duong family — was approached by investigators because he was initially viewed as a “possible victim” in the alleged scheme, though that was later ruled out. Bonta has since returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family, according to news reports.

    Bonta is the son of civil rights activists Warren Bonta, a white native Californian, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the U.S. on a scholarship in 1965. Bonta, a U.S. citizen, was born in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972, when his parents were working there as missionaries, and immigrated with his family to California as an infant.

    In 2012, Bonta was elected to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro as the first Filipino American to serve in California’s Legislature. In Sacramento, he pursued a string of criminal justice reforms and developed a record as one of the body’s most liberal members.

    Bonta is married to Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), who succeeded him in the state Assembly, and the couple have three children.

    Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

    Kevin Rector, Seema Mehta

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  • Arrest made in fatal shootings of Ohio dentist and wife

    An arrest has been made in connection with the fatal shootings of a Columbus dentist and his wife.According to court records obtained by Columbus NBC affiliate WCMH, Michael McKee, 39, has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Spencer Tepe, 37, and Monique Tepe, 39.Prior reporting in video aboveMcKee is described as Monique Tepe’s ex-husband. The two reportedly married in August 2015 and divorced in 2017. The arrest of McKee, a Chicago resident, comes after both Spencer and Monique Tepe were found by police to have been fatally shot in their home on North Fourth Street in Columbus’s Weinland Park neighborhood on the morning of Dec. 30.Both victims were found by police to have been fatally shot in their home on North Fourth Street in Columbus’s Weinland Park neighborhood on the morning of Dec. 30.However, their two young children, aged 1 and 4, were discovered to be unharmed in the house, as was the couple’s dog.The bodies of both Spencer and Monique were discovered after Columbus police had attempted to conduct a wellness check at the couple’s home that morning. This came after officers received a report from a 911 caller who said that he worked with Spencer Tepe, but could not get a hold of him or his wife after he failed to show up for work that morning. However, police initially went to the wrong address, and left the home just after 9:20 a.m. after no one answered the door.Soon afterward, another person called the police to say that he was at the Tepes’ Columbus home and could hear children inside. He called back moments later to say that he could see a body, with blood visible in the home. First responders later arrived on scene and discovered the couple’s remains just after 10 a.m.This kicked off a police investigation that lasted 11 days without an arrest, with officers at one point asking for the public’s help in identifying a person of interest through surveillance footage that was captured from a nearby home.On Saturday morning, McKee was arrested in Rockford, Illinois. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois states he was booked into custody at 11:57 a.m. He has a scheduled court appearance in the state on Monday, where the extradition process to Ohio will likely begin.According to an affidavit, Columbus police were ultimately able to identify McKee as the primary suspect in the case through the neighborhood surveillance video that they had gathered. His movements were said to have been tracked in the video to a vehicle near the home that was found to have arrived just before the time of the murders and left immediately afterward.McKee was said by police to have been found to be in possession of the same vehicle shortly before his arrest in Rockford.Before moving to Columbus, Spencer Tepe was originally from Mason and graduated from Mason High School in 2007. He would later go on to graduate from Ohio State University, and was described by his family after his death as “a huge Bengals and Buckeyes fan, and lived life with energy, laughter, and generosity.”Meanwhile, Monique Tepe was described as a “joyful mother whose warmth defined her,” as well as “an excellent baker, a thoughtful planner, and someone who found joy in bringing people together.”After the arrest was announced, the Tepe family released a statement that applauded the news.”Today’s arrest represents an important step toward justice for Monique and Spencer,” the statement read. “Nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken far too soon, but we are grateful to the City of Columbus Police Department, its investigators, and assisting law enforcement community whose tireless efforts helped to capture the person involved.””We thank the community for the continued support, prayers, and compassion shown throughout this tragedy,” the statement continued. “As the case proceeds, we trust the justice system to hold the person responsible fully accountable. Monique and Spencer remain at the center of our hearts, and we carry forward their love as we surround and protect the two children they leave behind. We will continue to honor their lives and the light they brought into this world.”Spencer’s cousin Nikk Forte’ in the Cincinnati area told Hearst sister station WLWT:”Since Spencer was young he was a deeply empathic and caring person. He loved his family immensely. He got ordained so he could be the officiant at Madeline and Rob’s wedding. Spencer always wanted a family and always loved being around kids. He was always playing with his younger cousins at family gatherings. My daughter would get so excited when she was a preschooler and Spencer was at a family gathering because he was so much fun. I had PPD with my son. A core memory of that time is on Xmas that year (my son was just a few weeks old) and he was so excited to hold him. He was either at the end of college or starting med school, it was 15 years ago. But he was just so cute being so excited to hold him and he even knew to wash his hands etc first. Mo was an amazing addition to our family. Her warmth and humor made her fit right in with everyone. And she was an amazing mom. I am so relieved right now and so much anger right now. They should still be here.”A celebration of life for the Tepes is scheduled for Sunday.

    An arrest has been made in connection with the fatal shootings of a Columbus dentist and his wife.

    According to court records obtained by Columbus NBC affiliate WCMH, Michael McKee, 39, has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Spencer Tepe, 37, and Monique Tepe, 39.

    Prior reporting in video above

    McKee is described as Monique Tepe’s ex-husband. The two reportedly married in August 2015 and divorced in 2017.

    Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office

    Michael McKee, 39

    The arrest of McKee, a Chicago resident, comes after both Spencer and Monique Tepe were found by police to have been fatally shot in their home on North Fourth Street in Columbus’s Weinland Park neighborhood on the morning of Dec. 30.

    Both victims were found by police to have been fatally shot in their home on North Fourth Street in Columbus’s Weinland Park neighborhood on the morning of Dec. 30.

    However, their two young children, aged 1 and 4, were discovered to be unharmed in the house, as was the couple’s dog.

    The bodies of both Spencer and Monique were discovered after Columbus police had attempted to conduct a wellness check at the couple’s home that morning. This came after officers received a report from a 911 caller who said that he worked with Spencer Tepe, but could not get a hold of him or his wife after he failed to show up for work that morning. However, police initially went to the wrong address, and left the home just after 9:20 a.m. after no one answered the door.

    Soon afterward, another person called the police to say that he was at the Tepes’ Columbus home and could hear children inside. He called back moments later to say that he could see a body, with blood visible in the home. First responders later arrived on scene and discovered the couple’s remains just after 10 a.m.

    This kicked off a police investigation that lasted 11 days without an arrest, with officers at one point asking for the public’s help in identifying a person of interest through surveillance footage that was captured from a nearby home.

    On Saturday morning, McKee was arrested in Rockford, Illinois. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois states he was booked into custody at 11:57 a.m. He has a scheduled court appearance in the state on Monday, where the extradition process to Ohio will likely begin.

    According to an affidavit, Columbus police were ultimately able to identify McKee as the primary suspect in the case through the neighborhood surveillance video that they had gathered. His movements were said to have been tracked in the video to a vehicle near the home that was found to have arrived just before the time of the murders and left immediately afterward.

    McKee was said by police to have been found to be in possession of the same vehicle shortly before his arrest in Rockford.

    Before moving to Columbus, Spencer Tepe was originally from Mason and graduated from Mason High School in 2007. He would later go on to graduate from Ohio State University, and was described by his family after his death as “a huge Bengals and Buckeyes fan, and lived life with energy, laughter, and generosity.”

    Meanwhile, Monique Tepe was described as a “joyful mother whose warmth defined her,” as well as “an excellent baker, a thoughtful planner, and someone who found joy in bringing people together.”

    After the arrest was announced, the Tepe family released a statement that applauded the news.

    “Today’s arrest represents an important step toward justice for Monique and Spencer,” the statement read. “Nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken far too soon, but we are grateful to the City of Columbus Police Department, its investigators, and assisting law enforcement community whose tireless efforts helped to capture the person involved.”

    “We thank the community for the continued support, prayers, and compassion shown throughout this tragedy,” the statement continued. “As the case proceeds, we trust the justice system to hold the person responsible fully accountable. Monique and Spencer remain at the center of our hearts, and we carry forward their love as we surround and protect the two children they leave behind. We will continue to honor their lives and the light they brought into this world.”

    Spencer’s cousin Nikk Forte’ in the Cincinnati area told Hearst sister station WLWT:

    “Since Spencer was young he was a deeply empathic and caring person. He loved his family immensely. He got ordained so he could be the officiant at Madeline and Rob’s wedding. Spencer always wanted a family and always loved being around kids. He was always playing with his younger cousins at family gatherings. My daughter would get so excited when she was a preschooler and Spencer was at a family gathering because he was so much fun. I had PPD with my son. A core memory of that time is on Xmas that year (my son was just a few weeks old) and he was so excited to hold him. He was either at the end of college or starting med school, it was 15 years ago. But he was just so cute being so excited to hold him and he even knew to wash his hands etc first. Mo was an amazing addition to our family. Her warmth and humor made her fit right in with everyone. And she was an amazing mom. I am so relieved right now and so much anger right now. They should still be here.”

    A celebration of life for the Tepes is scheduled for Sunday.

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  • Arrest made in fatal shootings of Ohio dentist and wife

    Detectives are investigating the deaths of 30 seven-year-old Spencer Tepe and his wife, 3-nine-year-old Monique, after their bodies were found this week in their Columbus, Ohio home. Local media reported officers found no obvious signs of forced entry and no firearm was found at the scene. Police say they’re looking into the deaths as *** double homicide, not *** murder-suicide. There’s no gun. There would be no way to do the murder-suicide, so that’s why they excluded that. Quickly. The other clue is, of course, the children are left safe. The owner of the dental practice Spencer Tepe worked at called 911 Tuesday morning when he uncharacteristically missed work. An officer responded at 9:22 a.m. but did not get an answer. WSYX reported, citing police records. *** friend called police just before 10:00 a.m. I can hear kids inside and I swear I think I heard one yell, but we can’t get in. Around 10:03 a.m., another person called 911. He appears dead. He’s laying next to his bed of his bed and there’s blood. Police have not released any details about *** possible suspect or motive and are asking the public for any information on the case. CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem says regardless of motive, this type of crime. Rare given the fact that this doesn’t happen often and there was no signs of forced entry, burglary, you’re going to look to people who they may have known or people who knew where they lived, unfortunately and begin there. I’m Lee Waldman reporting.

    An arrest has been made in connection with the fatal shootings of a Columbus dentist and his wife.According to court records obtained by Columbus NBC affiliate WCMH, Michael McKee, 39, has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Spencer Tepe, 37, and Monique Tepe, 39.Prior reporting in video aboveMcKee is described as Monique Tepe’s ex-husband.Both were found by police to have been fatally shot in their home on North Fourth Street in Columbus’s Weinland Park neighborhood on the morning of Dec. 30.However, their two young children, aged 1 and 4, were discovered to be unharmed in the house, as was the couple’s dog.Spencer Tepe is originally from Mason and graduated from Mason High School in 2007. He would later go on to graduate from Ohio State University and practice dentistry in Columbus until his death.McKee was arrested in Illinois on Saturday morning. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office states he was booked into custody at 11:57 a.m. He has a scheduled court appearance in Illinois on Monday.”Our family is devastated by the tragic and senseless loss of Spencer and Monique,” family members of the couple had said in an earlier statement released shortly after their deaths. “They were extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy, and deep connection to others.””Together, Spencer and Monique shared a beautiful, strong, and deeply happy relationship,” the statement continued. “They loved to travel, to laugh, and to build a life rooted in love. They were proud parents of two beautiful children and their beloved Goldendoodle, and they created a home filled with warmth, happiness, and connection.””We are heartbroken beyond words,” the statement concluded. “While no outcome can ever undo this loss, our family is committed to seeing this tragedy fully and fairly brought to justice, and to honoring Spencer and Monique by protecting the future of the children they loved so deeply.”This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

    An arrest has been made in connection with the fatal shootings of a Columbus dentist and his wife.

    According to court records obtained by Columbus NBC affiliate WCMH, Michael McKee, 39, has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Spencer Tepe, 37, and Monique Tepe, 39.

    Prior reporting in video above

    McKee is described as Monique Tepe’s ex-husband.

    Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office

    Michael McKee, 39

    Both were found by police to have been fatally shot in their home on North Fourth Street in Columbus’s Weinland Park neighborhood on the morning of Dec. 30.

    However, their two young children, aged 1 and 4, were discovered to be unharmed in the house, as was the couple’s dog.

    Spencer Tepe is originally from Mason and graduated from Mason High School in 2007. He would later go on to graduate from Ohio State University and practice dentistry in Columbus until his death.

    McKee was arrested in Illinois on Saturday morning. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office states he was booked into custody at 11:57 a.m. He has a scheduled court appearance in Illinois on Monday.

    “Our family is devastated by the tragic and senseless loss of Spencer and Monique,” family members of the couple had said in an earlier statement released shortly after their deaths. “They were extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy, and deep connection to others.”

    “Together, Spencer and Monique shared a beautiful, strong, and deeply happy relationship,” the statement continued. “They loved to travel, to laugh, and to build a life rooted in love. They were proud parents of two beautiful children and their beloved Goldendoodle, and they created a home filled with warmth, happiness, and connection.”

    “We are heartbroken beyond words,” the statement concluded. “While no outcome can ever undo this loss, our family is committed to seeing this tragedy fully and fairly brought to justice, and to honoring Spencer and Monique by protecting the future of the children they loved so deeply.”

    This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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