Imani Smith, who once played a young Nala in Disney’s “The Lion King” on Broadway, died on Sunday after she was found with stab wounds at a home, according to the Middlesex County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office.Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2025She “had her whole life ahead of her,” a GoFundMe account set up by Smith’s aunt, Kira Helper, said. “She was a vivacious, loving and fiercely talented person.”On December 21, just after 9:15 a.m., authorities in Edison, New Jersey, received a 911 call about a stabbing, according to a release.”Upon their arrival to a residence on Grove Avenue, they discovered Imani Smith, 26, of Edison with stab wounds,” the release said. Smith was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she was declared dead.Officials have arrested Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, of Edison, in connection with Smith’s death. Authorities said the two knew each other before the incident and described it as “not a random act of violence.”Smith’s father, Rawni Helper, said in a phone call with CNN Saturday that Jackson-Small is the father of Smith’s 3-year-old son.Jackson-Small is facing several charges, authorities said, including first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is currently being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center according to jail records.CNN has reached out to his attorney at the Middlesex County public defenders office for commentSmith worked from 2011 to 2012 for Disney’s “The Lion King,” Broadway’s third-longest running show, according to Playbill.The former child actress is survived by her son, “her parents, her two younger siblings, and an extended family, friends, and community who loved her so very much,” the GoFundMe said.”A true triple-threat performer, she most notably played the role of Young Nala on Broadway in Disney’s Lion King — an experience that reflected the joy, creativity, and light she put into the world,” the post, which has raised more than $70,000, said.CNN’s Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.
CNN —
Imani Smith, who once played a young Nala in Disney’s “The Lion King” on Broadway, died on Sunday after she was found with stab wounds at a home, according to the Middlesex County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office.
Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2025
She “had her whole life ahead of her,” a GoFundMe account set up by Smith’s aunt, Kira Helper, said. “She was a vivacious, loving and fiercely talented person.”
On December 21, just after 9:15 a.m., authorities in Edison, New Jersey, received a 911 call about a stabbing, according to a release.
“Upon their arrival to a residence on Grove Avenue, they discovered Imani Smith, 26, of Edison with stab wounds,” the release said. Smith was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she was declared dead.
Officials have arrested Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, of Edison, in connection with Smith’s death. Authorities said the two knew each other before the incident and described it as “not a random act of violence.”
Smith’s father, Rawni Helper, said in a phone call with CNN Saturday that Jackson-Small is the father of Smith’s 3-year-old son.
Jackson-Small is facing several charges, authorities said, including first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is currently being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center according to jail records.
CNN has reached out to his attorney at the Middlesex County public defenders office for comment
The former child actress is survived by her son, “her parents, her two younger siblings, and an extended family, friends, and community who loved her so very much,” the GoFundMe said.
“A true triple-threat performer, she most notably played the role of Young Nala on Broadway in Disney’s Lion King — an experience that reflected the joy, creativity, and light she put into the world,” the post, which has raised more than $70,000, said.
Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, while the couple’s other two children made their first public statement on their crushing loss.Nick Reiner, 32, did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind glass in a custody area in the large Los Angeles courtroom where newly charged defendants are arraigned. He was in shackles and wearing a blue, padded suicide prevention smock used in jail.His arraignment was postponed until Jan. 7 at his attorney’s request. He spoke only to say “yes, your honor” to agree to the date. He is being held without bail.Jake and Romy Reiner talk about their ‘unimaginable pain’His older brother Jake Reiner and younger sister Romy Reiner released their statement through a family spokesperson.“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” they said. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.”The brother and sister said they are “grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”Medical Examiner says ‘sharp force injuries’ killed coupleAlso Wednesday, the LA County Medical Examiner listed the primary cause of death for both Rob and Michele Reiner as “multiple sharp force injuries” as the office released its investigators’ initial findings.The office said more investigation is needed before further details will be revealed, but the bodies can now be released to the family.The cause of death was consistent with police describing the couple as having stab wounds.Nick Reiner’s attorney urges cautionAfter the court hearing, Nick Reiner’s attorney, Alan Jackson, called the case “a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family.” He said the proceedings will be very complex and asked that the circumstances be met “not with a rush to judgment, not with jumping to conclusions.”Jackson declined to answer shouted questions from dozens of reporters surrounding him and has not addressed the guilt or innocence of his client.Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with killing Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70.They were killed sometime in the early morning hours of Sunday, the District Attorney’s Office said. They were found dead late in the afternoon in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, authorities said.Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.The two counts of first-degree murder come with special circumstances of multiple murders and an allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a Tuesday news conference that his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.Meg Ryan and others remember the ReinersRob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” and “When Harry Met Sally …,” whose star Meg Ryan paid tribute to the Reiners on Wednesday.“Thank you, Rob and Michelle, for the way you believe in true love, in fairy tales, and in laughter. Thank you for your faith in the best in people, and for your profound love of our country,” Ryan said in an Instagram post. “I have to believe that their story will not end with this impossible tragedy.”Rob Reiner met Michele Singer Reiner during the shooting of the classic rom-com, and he said the meeting inspired him to change the film to have a happy ending.Ryan’s co-star Billy Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner for decades, was part of a group that also included Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David that released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple Tuesday night.“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”Rob Reiner has another daughter, Tracy Reiner, from his first marriage, to actor-director Penny Marshall.The lawyers on the Reiner caseNick Reiner’s attorney Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.Authorities have not said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
LOS ANGELES —
Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, while the couple’s other two children made their first public statement on their crushing loss.
Nick Reiner, 32, did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind glass in a custody area in the large Los Angeles courtroom where newly charged defendants are arraigned. He was in shackles and wearing a blue, padded suicide prevention smock used in jail.
His arraignment was postponed until Jan. 7 at his attorney’s request. He spoke only to say “yes, your honor” to agree to the date. He is being held without bail.
Jake and Romy Reiner talk about their ‘unimaginable pain’
His older brother Jake Reiner and younger sister Romy Reiner released their statement through a family spokesperson.
“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” they said. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.”
The brother and sister said they are “grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
Medical Examiner says ‘sharp force injuries’ killed couple
Also Wednesday, the LA County Medical Examiner listed the primary cause of death for both Rob and Michele Reiner as “multiple sharp force injuries” as the office released its investigators’ initial findings.
The office said more investigation is needed before further details will be revealed, but the bodies can now be released to the family.
The cause of death was consistent with police describing the couple as having stab wounds.
Nick Reiner’s attorney urges caution
After the court hearing, Nick Reiner’s attorney, Alan Jackson, called the case “a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family.” He said the proceedings will be very complex and asked that the circumstances be met “not with a rush to judgment, not with jumping to conclusions.”
Jackson declined to answer shouted questions from dozens of reporters surrounding him and has not addressed the guilt or innocence of his client.
Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with killing Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70.
They were killed sometime in the early morning hours of Sunday, the District Attorney’s Office said. They were found dead late in the afternoon in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, authorities said.
Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.
The two counts of first-degree murder come with special circumstances of multiple murders and an allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a Tuesday news conference that his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
Meg Ryan and others remember the Reiners
Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” and “When Harry Met Sally …,” whose star Meg Ryan paid tribute to the Reiners on Wednesday.
“Thank you, Rob and Michelle, for the way you believe in true love, in fairy tales, and in laughter. Thank you for your faith in the best in people, and for your profound love of our country,” Ryan said in an Instagram post. “I have to believe that their story will not end with this impossible tragedy.”
Rob Reiner met Michele Singer Reiner during the shooting of the classic rom-com, and he said the meeting inspired him to change the film to have a happy ending.
Ryan’s co-star Billy Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner for decades, was part of a group that also included Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David that released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple Tuesday night.
“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”
Rob Reiner has another daughter, Tracy Reiner, from his first marriage, to actor-director Penny Marshall.
The lawyers on the Reiner case
Nick Reiner’s attorney Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.
On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.
Authorities have not said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.“Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said.The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.At Wednesday’s hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.Authorities haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
“Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.
Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.
Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.
“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said.
The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.
Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.
Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.
“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”
Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.
Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.
On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.
Authorities haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
A 24-year-old Maryland woman was arrested and is facing charges with the murder of her infant child in Cecil County.
A 24-year-old Maryland woman was arrested and is facing charges with the murder of her infant child in Cecil County.
Destiny Faith Chiveral, of Charlestown, Maryland, has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse, according to Maryland State Police.
On Dec. 4, just after 9 a.m., authorities responded to a 911 call in the unit-block of Leedle Circle in Rising Sun, Maryland. When they arrived, they pronounced a five-week-old infant dead at the scene, the police said.
State police investigators conducted and executed search warrants for Chiveral, her phone and two residences in connection with her.
Police said that evidence found is what led to the arrest and charges against Chiveral.
She is being held without bond at the Cecil County Detention Center.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Below is a map of the area where the infant child was found dead:
(Courtesy Google Maps)
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The downtown San Diego Superior Court and satellite courts will have new download charges starting Jan. 1, 2021. (File photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)
A jury has convicted a man of first-degree murder after he fatally stabbed his stepfather at their Rancho Bernardo home.
Pablo Johnson, 26, was found guilty on Tuesday of killing Michael Johnson, 61, at their Caminito Campana home on the evening of Jan. 28, 2024.
According to trial testimony, the victim sustained over 100 stab wounds and cuts, mostly to his head, face and neck.
A woman walking her dog just before 6 p.m. saw a bloody Michael Johnson draped over the railing of the home’s patio and called 911. Officers arrived a short time later and arrested Pablo Johnson, while Michael Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Deputy District Attorney Cassidy McWilliams told jurors that the relationship between the defendant and victim had grown contentious over what she said was the defendant’s unwillingness to work or take care of chores around the residence.
Jurors were shown text messages between the pair that displayed escalating arguments over household chores and living expenses, which culminated in a physical altercation one day before the killing.
McWilliams said the defendant attacked his stepfather on Jan. 28 and stabbed him with enough force to break the knife into multiple pieces.
Deputy Public Defender Leanne Skirzynski said what occurred that evening was more akin to a mutual fight, which she said was sparked by the victim. She told jurors Michael Johnson had been consistently abusive to her client and had physically assaulted him on numerous prior occasions.
She said that yet another argument between the pair on Jan. 28 resulted in Michael Johnson charging at her client in the home’s kitchen, prompting Pablo Johnson to grab the first thing he could to defend himself, which was a knife.
Both men armed themselves with knives and during the ensuing melee, Skirzynski said, her client was “flailing” his knife, rather than targeting any particular place on his stepfather’s body. Another knife found near Michael’s body bore none of her client’s DNA, she said.
The prosecutor said that while Michael Johnson had multiple stab wounds and other injuries, Pablo Johnson had virtually no wounds to his body, other than a pair of small cuts to his hands, which she said were likely accidental self-inflicted wounds sustained during the fatal attack.
San Diego Police officers at the scene of the 2023 shooting in City Heights. (File photo courtesy of OnScene.TV)
A man convicted of gunning down an acquaintance in front of a City Heights home was sentenced Friday to 35 years to life in state prison.
Michael Hall, 23, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of first-degree murder for the 2023 shooting death of Cedrick Deshawn Cruz, 35.
Prosecutors say Cruz was shot more than a dozen times in front of his mother’s home. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Some of Cruz’s relatives who attended the sentencing hearing said Hall was friends with a member of the victim’s family and had recently been taken in by the Cruz family during a troubled time in his life.
Trial testimony indicated the shooting may have stemmed from a dispute over a gun Hall owned that went missing while he was staying with at the Cruz residence.
“The Cruz family opened their home to the defendant,” Deputy District Attorney Jerry Wendricks said during the hearing. “They viewed him as another son, another brother. The defendant betrayed their trust.”
Hall faced a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in state prison for the murder count, plus a gun allegation, but Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney opted to sentence Hall to 10 years in prison for the gun allegation, as well as the mandatory 25 years to life for first-degree murder.
Devaney also rejected defense requests to reduce the murder conviction to second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.
During his trial, Hall testified that he shot Cruz in self-defense, while Wendricks called the killing a “planned execution.” The prosecutor said Cruz was running away from Hall when he was fired on and all the rounds that struck him were in his back and side.
Hall, who was 20 years old at the time of the June 27, 2023 shooting, was driven away from the crime scene by his mother, Kiesha Lewis, who helped him flee the state, according to prosecutors. Hall was arrested in Arizona three days later.
Lewis, 50, was initially charged with murder for allegedly aiding and abetting her son’s crime, but pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to six years in state prison.
The man is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing Dec. 4, according to prosecutors.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
A man “repeatedly abused” his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, ending with a “violent assault” that caused her “rapid death,” California prosecutors say.
Elvis Alberto Lopez, 27, was convicted of first-degree murder in Mila Solis’ 2023 death, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office said in an Oct. 1 news release.
In an Oct. 2 email to McClatchy News, George L. Steele, Lopez’s attorney, called the case “heartbreaking,” adding that he respected the jury’s service.
“But the fact remains: there was no direct evidence that Mr. Lopez ever harmed Mila,” Steele wrote. “He called 911, followed instructions, and tried to save her life.”
Lopez pleaded not guilty at his February 2023 arraignment, KSBY reported.
“This was a horrific case involving the senseless death of a young child who deserved love and protection,” District Attorney John T. Savrnoch said in the release.
The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
With help from the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s office, police said its detectives investigated the toddler’s death.
Investigation into the “heinous crime” led detectives to identify Lopez as a suspect, police said, adding that he was arrested after a warrant was issued Feb. 11, 2023.
Lopez is accused of “repeatedly” abusing the toddler in the months leading up to her death, prosecutors say.
“On February 4, 2023, the abuse culminated in a violent assault that severed Mila’s spine and ruptured her aorta, causing her rapid death,” prosecutors said.
During trial, Dr. Manual Montez, a pathologist with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau, testified in court and likened the girl’s injuries to those resulting from a traumatic accident, Noozhawk reported.
“I have seen these in car accidents,” Montez said, the outlet reported. “I have seen this in multi-story falls. I have seen this with weapons.”
Montez went on to say the “injury to the spinal column was the result of a swift force to the back” and not from a fall off a bed, the outlet reported.
In addition to murder, prosecutors said a jury also found Lopez guilty of assault on a child under 8 causing death and four counts of corporal injury to a child.
“Mila was a beautiful, loving child, and while nothing can bring her back, this verdict ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his violent actions,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Karapetian said in the release.
In his statement, Steele said prosecutors’ theory was based “on assumptions, not proof.”
“They do not know the mechanism of death,” Steele said. “We will be pursuing an appeal to ensure that the courts fully examine the problematic issues in this case. Justice requires certainty, and this case leaves too many unanswered questions.”
Lopez is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing Dec. 4 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole, according to prosecutors.
Daniella Segura is a national real-time reporter with McClatchy. Previously, she’s worked as a multimedia journalist for weekly and daily newspapers in the Los Angeles area. Her work has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association. She is also an alumnus of the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley.
The two bodies discovered on a brush-covered slope in the Montecito Hills were not easily identified.
The victims were “faceless” after being shot and bludgeoned beyond recognition, according to Los Angeles County prosecutor Stephen Lonseth.
But there were clues: A tattoo with a family name. Fingernails painted aqua blue, a teenage girl’s beauty routine.
One had the word “hoe” written on her stomach in blood. The autopsy showed she was around seven weeks pregnant.
Flowers that were left for Gabriella Calzada and Brianna Gallegos at an entrance to Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in November 2015 near where they were found dead.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Investigators found the remains in a ditch in Ernest E. Debs Regional Park on Oct. 28, 2015. Using tattoos and dental records, police identified the victims as Gabriella Calzada, 19, and Brianna Gallegos, 17, who was carrying the baby.
Police interviewed a prime suspect within the first week: Jose Echeverria, 18, whose name Gallegos had tattooed on her chest. Four months later, detectives seemingly caught him confessing on a jailhouse recording that he and Dallas Pineda, 17, had brought the young women to the park and killed them.
But what seemed like an open-and-shut case dragged on for nearly a decade. Until Monday, when a jury convicted Echeverria and Pineda of first-degree murder.
Even by the glacial standards of L.A. County — where proceedings are known to crawl along due to frequent delays and a pandemic-fueled backlog — the path to justice was painfully slow.
Jose Echeverria listens to closing arguments in his murder trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The recent trial dredged up old memories, with some evidence suggesting gang loyalties pushed Echeverria and Pineda to commit the grisly crime — while prosecutor David Ayvazian alleged a more sinister motive.
“They didn’t kill these girls because they were rivals, they used that as an excuse. They liked it,” Ayvazian said. “They set up this murder. They beat these girls to a bloody pulp.”
When prosecutors displayed gruesome crime scene photos that showed how Calzada and Gallegos looked when they were found, some members of the jury recoiled. One woman covered her mouth in shock. Someone in the courtroom whispered: “Jesus.”
Adam Garcia, who discovered the bodies while walking his dogs, testified that so much time had passed he could recall only “flashes” of what he saw. Judging by the amount of blood, he assumed a coyote had killed something.
“I can’t hold the image too well,” he said. “It was shocking, I guess, for me to see that.”
Police questioned Echeverria in his home a week after the killings. He said he had been in a relationship with Gallegos, but it was winding down because she got out of hand when she drank. They socialized with Pineda and Calzada, who were a couple.
In a photo displayed in court, the four smile and pose holding beer cans, arms slung over each other’s shoulders.
Prosecutor David Ayvazian makes his closing arguments at the murder trial of Jose Echeverria and Dallas Pineda, with photos of victims Gabriella Calzada, left, and Brianna Gallegos displayed.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“I remember making bad choices as a kid,” prosecutor Ayvazian said during closing arguments, referencing the girls’ decision to hang out with Echeverria and Pineda. He called them “wannabe gangsters.”
Detectives noted that Echeverria had scratch marks on his arms, as if he’d been in a struggle. He went by the nicknames “Klepto” and “Diablo,” and had recently been jumped into 18th Street, a large street gang.
But investigators had no weapon or links that connected him to the crime scene.
Trial evidence showed Echeverria used the Facebook messaging app to plan a meet-up with Gallegos and Calzada in Debs Park.
Valeria Maldonado, now 29, was living with Calzada and her parents when she went missing. Maldonado said the last time they spoke was by phone, when Calzada and Gallegos were headed by bus to Echeverria’s neighborhood.
The next day, after Calzada didn’t come home, Maldonado reached out to Echeverria, who said the girls never showed up for their planned meeting.
“Man she was the girl” Echeverria wrote.
Prosecutors noted that his use of past tense was suspicious. Although the bodies had been discovered in the park that morning, they had not yet been identified. All anyone knew was that Calzada and Gallegos were missing.
Maldonado answered with a question mark.
“She the home girl thas what I meant , have mas love for her” Echeverria wrote.
Four months after the young women turned up dead, Echeverria was arrested as a suspect in a drive-by gang shooting. Detectives put him in a cell with an undercover informant, who posed as a fellow 18th Street member. Still new to the gang, Echeverria fell for the ruse.
The informant asked Echeverria how the women he called his friends ended up in the park, according to a translation of the conversation in Spanish played in court.
“Well, we took them up there,” Echeverria said, recounting how they first shot at the women with a .22 rifle.
Community members lead a vigil in memory of Gabriella Calzada and Brianna Gallegos in November 2015 at Ernst E. Debs Regional Park.
(Los Angeles Times)
“Okay, so after you guys shot them, they didn’t completely die?” the informant asked.
“No,” Echeverria said.
“So what did you do?”
“Ah … con una piedra.” Echeverria said. “Uh … with a rock.”
They didn’t plan the killing ahead of time, Echeverria told the informant, but were provoked when one of them said, “F— 18th Street.”
Echeverria faked an alibi by taking Calzada’s phone and using her Facebook account to call himself after the killings, he told the informant.
Afterward, Echeverria said he took the phone, smashed it with a hammer until it leaked battery acid, put it in a sock and tossed it on top of Huntington Elementary School.
LAPD Det. Frank Carrillo testified that when he and his partner climbed on top of the school, they found a smashed phone inside a black sock.
Echeverria’s younger friend Pineda was also in police custody, and authorities decided to pull the same move on him. Locked up in juvenile hall, Pineda unburdened himself to an informant whom investigators arranged to be his cellmate.
According to a recording of the conversation played in court, Pineda said he feared older members of 18th Street would “greenlight” him because they had killed two young women without permission.
The gun they used had been given to someone else to get rid of, he said, and Echeverria went back to the scene with his brother to pick up the shell casings before the bodies were found. Pineda took the “big ass rock” they used to beat the girls and threw it in a nearby dumpster.
The gun, rock and casings were never found by police.
“We picked up afterwards,” Pineda told the informant.
Although both men admitted to aspects of the murder, defense attorney for Pineda, Mia Yamamoto, argued that the evidence did not show that he participated in the violence at all; instead, she painted him as an innocent bystander paralyzed by fear and implicated by a burst of violence from Echeverria.
Pineda allegedly missed three or four times with the rifle before Echeverria pulled the gun from him and shot Gallegos.
“How can you miss unless you’ve intended to miss?” Yamamoto asked.
Despite the recordings that made it seem like an open-and-shut case, the prosecutions of Echeverria and Pineda stretched on for years, winding through the L.A. County courts.
“This case took nearly 10 years to resolve due to a series of legal and procedural requirements beyond the control of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” the office said in a statement to The Times.
Initially filed as a death penalty case and subjected to a lengthy review, the process of seeking to try Pineda as an adult further prolonged the proceedings.
Both defendants had other cases pending that needed to be resolved before the trial began, furthering the delays, according to the D.A.’s office.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the state — and by extension, the court system. It aged the case by at least three years, said Ayvazian, the prosecutor.
Even as Echeverria and Pineda’s fate went to the jury last week, delays continued. Jurors told the court one person was holding out because they believed the jailhouse tapes should not have been permitted as evidence.
On Monday afternoon, the foreperson finally read out the verdict, finding Echeverria and Pineda guilty on two counts of murder in the first degree. The convictions, combined with charging enhancements added for the crime of “lying in wait” and committing multiple killings, will ensure life terms when when they are sentenced in December.
Families of the two victims did not respond to interview requests.
After the verdict Monday, Calzada’s mother was seen tearfully thanking the jury in Spanish. The long wait for justice was finally over.
FAIRMONT — The attorney defending the most recent Pagan’s murder trial accused the Marion County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of bad faith against her client in a motion to dismiss she filed on Friday.
“Knowing no evidence existed to tie Ryan Lane to first degree murder, the State began its quest in bad faith to ‘poison the well; with crimes committed by ‘the Pagans’ in an attempt to paint Ryan Lane as a despicable individual who acted in conformity with ‘Pagans’ in general and no one in particular,” Elgine McArdle, Lane’s attorney, wrote in the filing. “In reality, Ryan Lane is a thirty-seven year old man who has never been arrested.”
The Marion County Prosecuting Attorney’s office charged Ryan Lane, 37, with the September 2022 murder of Henry Silver. A love triangle drove the deadly outcome. Silver and the girlfriend of one of the members of the Central Chapter of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club had an affair. After the boyfriend, John Wolfe, found out, Wolfe called one of his fellow club members and five men drove out to Carolina, where Silver was shot five times.
After an investigation, law enforcement arrested six men for the crime, including Lane. The prosecuting attorney’s office worked under the theory a conspiracy formed between the six men to kill Silver. However, Lane — the chapter president — was not present when the crime took place. Austin Mullins, one of the five men, confessed to shooting Silver during his trial. Before Lane’s case reached trial, four successive trials weakened the prosecuting attorney’s theory. Mullins testified he acted on his own, which cast serious doubt on the prosecution’s theory.
“Prior to presenting testimony to a second grand jury in February, 2025, the State knew exactly who killed Henry Silver upon the hells of Austin Mullins’ conviction on Jan. 27, 2025,” McArdle wrote. “Yet approximately 10 days after the trial and conviction of Austin Mullins, the State presented testimony to a second grand jury to accuse Ryan Lane of first degree murder.”
At Lane’s trial, the prosecution was unable to prove conclusively to a jury that Lane was part of a conspiracy and guilty of Silver’s murder. The jury deadlocked, and the judge declared a mistrial.
Marion County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sean Murphy, who tried the case, has lost the confidence of the victim’s family. Jason Silver, Henry’s father, told WDTV that Lane is innocent.
“No hard evidence or any evidence that connects Ryan Lane to my son’s murder,” Silver said to WDTV. “This has become a personal vendetta for one man against the Pagans. We want it about our son Henry. We want closure. It’s three years today (since Henry’s murder).”
Jason Silver concluded by asking the prosecuting attorney to not go after the Pagan’s on the blood of his son.
“I want justice and peace for my family,” he said.
McArdle argued In her filing that the defense can show Murphy overreached in his prosecution of Lane. She said the prejudicial climate Murphy created may prevent a retrial under the Double Jeopardy Clause.
“The key factor is the bad-faith intent behind the misconduct, not merely judicial or prosecutorial error,” she wrote in the filing.
McArdle explained the fundamental tenet behind the Double Jeopardy Clause in the U.S. Constitution is that the State should not be able to oppress individuals through abuse of the criminal process.
McArdle also alleged juror misconduct. She alleged one of the jurors on the trial admitted under oath to discussing the case with their spouse outside of deliberations. During trials, the jury is instructed to not discuss the trial with anyone. According to McArdle, the hung jury resulted because this juror was left on the panel.
It’s not known how the tainted juror will affect the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney’s decision to move forward with a retrial. Murphy did not return a request for comment before press time. Previously, Murphy indicated the state’s intention to retry the case with a new jury.
Alongside the motion to dismiss, McArdle asked for her client to be released on bond pending further hearings, trial or rulings on the case. She argued that continuing to hold and try Lane would constitute fraud on the state of West Virginia and allow prosecutorial misconduct to proceed.
“The facts clearly dictate that this killing, through an unfortunate series of unplanned events, resulted in Henry Silver’s death,” McArdle wrote. “The state has done nothing but attempt to use one isolated incident of self-defense and make it into a case for glorification of its own sensationalized theory of the case.”
An 11-year-old boy was fatally shot in Houston after a prank in which he rang the doorbell of a home and ran away, police said Sunday.The boy had been ringing doorbells as a prank late Saturday evening, the Houston Police Department said in a statement. Commonly referred to as “ding dong ditching,” the prank involves fleeing before someone inside the home opens the door. The boy, who has not yet been identified, died of his wounds Sunday, police said.Police spokesperson Shay Awosiyan said that officers were still investigating and had not arrested anybody in connection with the boy’s death as of Sunday evening.Other “ding dong ditch” pranks have turned deadly in the past. In 2023, a Southern California man was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder for killing three teenage boys by intentionally ramming their car after they rang his doorbell as a prank.And in May, a Virginia man was charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting an 18-year-old who had rung his doorbell while filming a TikTok video of the prank, the New York Times reported.
HOUSTON —
An 11-year-old boy was fatally shot in Houston after a prank in which he rang the doorbell of a home and ran away, police said Sunday.
The boy had been ringing doorbells as a prank late Saturday evening, the Houston Police Department said in a statement. Commonly referred to as “ding dong ditching,” the prank involves fleeing before someone inside the home opens the door.
The boy, who has not yet been identified, died of his wounds Sunday, police said.
Police spokesperson Shay Awosiyan said that officers were still investigating and had not arrested anybody in connection with the boy’s death as of Sunday evening.
Other “ding dong ditch” pranks have turned deadly in the past. In 2023, a Southern California man was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder for killing three teenage boys by intentionally ramming their car after they rang his doorbell as a prank.
And in May, a Virginia man was charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting an 18-year-old who had rung his doorbell while filming a TikTok video of the prank, the New York Times reported.
In a news release, Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West said Belk left behind “a tremendous legacy, and the family carries on a tremendous legacy.”
“The crime is a horrific loss of a life — the violence was extreme. The amount of fear and terror that preceded the violence doesn’t exist in most cases,” West said, adding that the murder was “so heinous, I can’t think of a lesser sentence that would be appropriate.”
The Belk family stands beside prosecutors and an investigator in front of the Charles County Circuit Court in La Plata, Maryland, on Aug. 23, 2024. (Courtesy Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office)
Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington said the murder caused “generational trauma” because it took 45 years to solve. Covington also said he admires Belk’s family for having “so much grit, determination and grace” throughout the legal process.
“[Belk’s] son grew up without a mother. Her parents had to bury their daughter. Her parents had to lay on their deathbed not knowing who killed their daughter. Her grandchildren never got a chance to meet their grandmother,” Covington said in a news release. “When you victimize someone like this and then murder them, it really doesn’t get more horrific than that.”
Belk’s disappearance and murder
At the time of her death, Belk, who was 28, was living in Suitland, Maryland, and worked at the Department of Agriculture. But, on Aug. 28, 1979, she was reported missing by her boyfriend after she didn’t come home from work.
A day later, Belk’s body was found by a teenager along Route 277 in Charles County. She had a gunshot wound to the side of her head and was unclothed from the waist down, prosecutors said.
Authorities began to investigate her murder immediately, but eventually, as Charles County detectives tried unsuccessfully to find new leads and clues, the case went cold.
DNA’s breakthrough in the case
In recent years that Detective Sgt. John Elliott of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Division took another look at the case.
Aided by advancements in forensic science, investigators submitted Belk’s clothing for more advanced DNA testing in 2022.
The effort gathered enough DNA from the suspect to submit it to the FBI’s national DNA database, CODIS.
There was a breakthrough in the case in November 2022 when the sheriff’s office was informed the DNA results came back with a match: Andre Taylor.
Authorities said there is no evidence Belk and Taylor knew each other prior to her murder.
Belk’s family created the Vickie Belk Scholarship Foundation, which awards scholarships in her honor to graduating seniors at Oakland Baptist Church (OBC) in Alexandria, Virginia.
“Through this scholarship, Vickie’s love for education and the youth of OBC continues,” the organization said, adding that the namesake gift has already aided roughly 100 graduates.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this story.
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Just eight months after being attacked in state prison, the man convicted of killing Kristin Smart was stabbed by another inmate and hospitalized again. The incident is being investigated as an attempted homicide.
Paul Flores, 47, was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student last seen on campus with Flores more than 25 years ago and was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for first-degree murder.
On Wednesday at 3:27 p.m., staff at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, Calif., witnessed Flores being stabbed by another inmate on the recreation yard, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
Responding officers quickly put an end to the incident without using force, according to the CDCR. Two inmate-manufactured weapons were recovered from the scene.
An injured Flores was transported to an outside medical facility for a higher level of care. He has since returned to the prison and is in fair condition.
No other staff or incarcerated people were injured.
The person who attacked Flores, whose name was not disclosed, has been placed in restricted housing as the investigation continues, the CDCR said.
The prison’s investigative services unit is looking into the incident, and the Office of the Inspector General has been notified.
CDCR has not released any other details.
The facility did not clarify whether this was the same person who stabbed Flores last August.
In the first attack, Jason Budrow, 43, stabbed Flores in the neck, causing Flores to be hospitalized for two days, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported.
Budrow is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for two separate murders, one being the murder of Roger Reece Kibbe, the serial rapist and killer known as the “I-5 Strangler.”
Flores was arrested in connection to Smart’s disappearance in 2021 after San Luis Obispo County resident Chris Lambert released the “Your Own Backyard” podcast series, which unearthed information previously unseen by the local sheriff’s office.
Smart’s body has never been found. Flores was convicted in October 2022 of murder for killing Smart, his classmate, during an attempted rape in his dorm room in May 1996.
Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, could not be reached for comment. KSBY reported that Mesick said he plans to request that Flores be moved to another facility.
The Pennsylvania man who allegedly cut off his father’s head and showed it off in a YouTube video was apparently just getting started.
If you haven’t heard the shocking story, Justin Mohn is facing charges of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse after reportedly displaying his dad’s severed head on the streaming site. Why would he do that? Well, the video — titled “Call to Arms for American Patriots” — was all the explanation we need, as he ranted about Joe Biden leading a “war” on America. This is a man who’s been radicalized by right–wing talking points, which have gotten more and more violent over the past few years.
The conspiracy theorist’s views are in line with QAnon, and he’s even written multiple books about it, including a dystopian sci-fi novel called The Kingdom of Darkness. It was a thinly veiled COVID analogue all about how Satan was using technology to take over the world, and people of faith should shun science.
He also reportedly wrote about the spread of the “virus” of communism needing to be stopped — and how “the only logical way to do so is for every American born 1991 or later to kill anyone born before 1991.” 1991 seems a little arbitrary until you consider… he’s 33, so… it was probably the year he was born? Naturally.
Most shocking, however, was a pamphlet titled America’s Coming Bloody Revolution. More of a manifesto, the book suggest true patriots — you know, MAGA folk — should simply murder their families to keep them from voting. He writes, per Newsweek:
“Americans will have to weigh what is worse — allowing themselves to lose freedom and independence or killing their own family members, teachers, coworkers, bosses, judges, elected leaders, and other older generations.”
Those people (pretty sure he means those who vote Democrat) are “traitors” who “wish to take away the freedom and independence that comes with America, democracy, and free market capitalism.”
“Killing their own family members.” He wrote that and then allegedly chopped off his father’s head. He was serious. And he wanted others to do it, too. Scarily, his books are on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing! That one suggesting readers kill their Democrat family members? It’s been available to read since 2020!
Since the murder charge news, his profile has been removed from Amazon. But how many people did he spread his message to? It used to be this kind of psychotic behavior was localized… But this is only spreading!
We’ve warned readers a number of times how the increasingly violent rhetoric of Donald Trump and his supporters, and especially QAnon, was going to cause a lot more real-life violence before all this was over. We’ve seen in multiple cases of grown men murdering their children because it was so hammered into them how much they were surrounded by enemies. This time it’s a 33-year-old killing his father? And it won’t stop.
These sites convince people of insane conspiracy theories, like how Trump is the only person in the government fighting against an army of satan-worshipping Democrats who molest and consume children. Donald Trump. Their hero is a man who has actually been found to be a rapist in a court of law. But the further these people sink into the false reality, the more they see facts as lies, allies as enemies, truth as an enormous conspiracy being perpetrated by, well… most of the world, we guess.
Again, we must say this: please, if you know someone who has been falling down this rabbit hole, you cannot afford to sit by and hope it gets better. It’s not getting better. Be safe out there, everyone.
[Image via YouTube/Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.]
