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Tag: Girl

  • ‘That man is a monster,’ California serial child molester granted parole. Victims are outraged

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    A Sacramento man once described by a judge as “the monster parents fear the most” seemed destined to spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999.

    Instead he is now set to go free after being granted elderly parole — much to the anger and horror of some of his victims, as well as the prosecutor who oversaw his case.

    “He shouldn’t be breathing the same air that we’re breathing at all,” one victim, who was kidnapped and assaulted when she was just 4 years old, told The Times in an interview. “I disagree with him getting paroled out because he’s a horrible person. That man is a monster.”

    David Allen Funston approached children playing outside their homes in the Sacramento suburbs and used candy and toys to lure them into his vehicle in 1995 and 1996, prosecutors said.

    Following his conviction, he was sentenced to 20 years and 8 months in prison, as well as three consecutive sentences of 25 years to life. Now 64, he is incarcerated at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

    Under California’s elderly parole program, inmates are generally eligible for a parole suitability hearing if they are over 50 years old and have been incarcerated for at least 20 continuous years. The individual can then be released if the parole board determines they do not pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.

    Funston was initially denied elderly parole in a May 2022 hearing, according to records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. However, he was granted parole at a board hearing in September, and that decision was recently upheld in a review Wednesday by the full board, CDCR records show.

    CDCR did not respond to a request for comment Friday on Funston’s estimated release date or on the Board of Parole Hearings’ rationale for deeming him suitable for elderly parole.

    But those involved in Funston’s case struggle to understand how the program’s criteria could apply to him.

    “A lot of people get out of prison and I don’t scream about it, but this is one I’m screaming about,” said former Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert, who prosecuted the case against Funston while serving as a deputy district attorney.

    Funston used a Barbie doll to lure the victim who spoke with The Times into his vehicle in Foothill Farms in 1995. He then took her to a house, bathed with her, put her on a bed, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she told her family, prosecutors said. He performed multiple sex acts on her, causing her to bleed.

    “He’s one sick individual,” the victim said. “What if he gets out and and tries to find his old victims and wants to kill us?”

    The Times generally does not name victims of sexual assault.

    Schubert used DNA evidence found on one of the victims to help prove that Funston had kidnapped and abused her. Schubert later rose to prominence for her role in the case against Joseph James DeAngelo — also known as the Golden State Killer — where she pioneered the use of DNA evidence in securing cold case convictions.

    Although the DeAngelo case attracted national attention, Funston’s always loomed large in her mind.

    “It was the worst child sexual predator [case] I’ve ever prosecuted, hands down,” she said.

    Eight children — seven girls and one boy, all of whom were under the age of 7 when they were victimized — testified in the case against Funston, according to reporting from the Sacramento Bee. Before these offenses, he had also been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in Colorado.

    In one incident in 1995, prosecutors said Funston used candy to lure a 5-year-old girl into his car in Highland Hills, took her up into the hills and assaulted her.

    “He beat her. He took her underwear and shoved it down her throat because she was screaming. He then raped her to the point that she has vaginal trauma,” Schubert said.

    Afterward, Schubert said, he dumped the girl on the side of Highway 50, where she was found crying and walking barefoot.

    In November 1995, Funston took a 5-year-old boy into some bushes pulled down his pants, and orally copulated him, prosecutors said. Four days later, he kidnapped two sisters, ages 4 and 5, from outside their grandmother’s apartment by offering them candy and a ride home. A woman witnessed the girls getting in his car and called the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

    “He dropped us off after driving us a few hundred feet and we got out of the car, went home and there was already a sheriff questioning my mom,” one of the sisters told The Times. “We were the lucky ones. There were other victims who were not so lucky.”

    That victim said she believes granting Funston elderly parole is “a huge disservice to all Californians,” saying that his sexual attraction to young children is “an illness that doesn’t go away.”

    Schubert sent a letter to CDCR on Friday asking that Funston be referred for screening as a sexually violent predator. Under California’s sexually violent predator program, offenders who are eligible to be released from state prison can be civilly committed to a state hospital and prevented from being released into the public.

    “The pattern of behavior demonstrates predatory intent, multiple victims, use of force, threats of lethal violence, and sexual offenses against prepubescent children,” she wrote, “precisely the category of offender for whom the SVP Act was enacted.”

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    Clara Harter

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  • From burying to marrying: Funeral home director officiates wedding after judge doesn’t show

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    An Iowa couple ran into a wedding day hiccup Thursday when the judge scheduled to marry them didn’t show up, but love and a quick phone call found a way.Alexis and Rean Webb planned to tie the knot at the Marshall County Courthouse at 4 p.m. on Feb. 12. It was always meant to be something intimate, where they would be surrounded by close loved ones. “We wanted something very small and low-key,” said Rean Webb. The couple, joined by their children, posed for a photo inside the courthouse.Unfortunately, just moments later, they would learn the judge they had an appointment with wasn’t going to show up, and there wasn’t a different judge available. While the no-show could have derailed their plans, the Webbs kept calm. In fact, they said they were more surprised by how quickly everything came together next.”My dad instantly jumped up, and he was like, ‘I know somebody: Jody,’” Alexis Webb said.That “somebody” was Jody Anderson. He’s a family friend and is ordained. He and his wife are also the owners and funeral directors of Anderson Funeral Homes. Anderson said he was at home when Alexis’ father called his phone. His wife woke him up to let him know who was on the line.”I rolled into the funeral home. Parking lot was full of cars. Family members. Didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Anderson said.Still, he opened the doors to the funeral home’s chapel, welcomed the family inside, and took time to speak with the couple.”I took five to 10 minutes, met with them, discussed the importance, made sure they were both for real,” Anderson said.They were.Within 30 minutes of that first phone call, Alexis and Rean Webb were married in a ceremony the couple said turned out to be more meaningful than they expected.”It was even better than we expected because we kind of did get a real wedding in a sense. We’re in a chapel. I got to walk down the aisle with my dad. The girls got to be flower girls. My son got to be the ring bearer, and his son got to be his best man. I mean, what more could we ask for?” Alexis Webb said.For the Webbs, what began as a setback ended with a wedding they’ll never forget, and they’re grateful for Anderson.As for Anderson, helping was never a question.”It goes back to my career as a funeral director. The phone rings? I go. I mean, you don’t say no. You help people, and I think that’s what the good Lord put me on the Earth to do, is to help people, and I was just happy to help,” Anderson said.

    An Iowa couple ran into a wedding day hiccup Thursday when the judge scheduled to marry them didn’t show up, but love and a quick phone call found a way.

    Alexis and Rean Webb planned to tie the knot at the Marshall County Courthouse at 4 p.m. on Feb. 12. It was always meant to be something intimate, where they would be surrounded by close loved ones.

    “We wanted something very small and low-key,” said Rean Webb.

    The couple, joined by their children, posed for a photo inside the courthouse.

    Unfortunately, just moments later, they would learn the judge they had an appointment with wasn’t going to show up, and there wasn’t a different judge available.

    While the no-show could have derailed their plans, the Webbs kept calm. In fact, they said they were more surprised by how quickly everything came together next.

    “My dad instantly jumped up, and he was like, ‘I know somebody: Jody,’” Alexis Webb said.

    That “somebody” was Jody Anderson. He’s a family friend and is ordained. He and his wife are also the owners and funeral directors of Anderson Funeral Homes.

    Anderson said he was at home when Alexis’ father called his phone. His wife woke him up to let him know who was on the line.

    “I rolled into the funeral home. Parking lot was full of cars. Family members. Didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Anderson said.

    Still, he opened the doors to the funeral home’s chapel, welcomed the family inside, and took time to speak with the couple.

    “I took five to 10 minutes, met with them, discussed the importance, made sure they were both for real,” Anderson said.

    They were.

    Within 30 minutes of that first phone call, Alexis and Rean Webb were married in a ceremony the couple said turned out to be more meaningful than they expected.

    “It was even better than we expected because we kind of did get a real wedding in a sense. We’re in a chapel. I got to walk down the aisle with my dad. The girls got to be flower girls. My son got to be the ring bearer, and his son got to be his best man. I mean, what more could we ask for?” Alexis Webb said.

    For the Webbs, what began as a setback ended with a wedding they’ll never forget, and they’re grateful for Anderson.

    As for Anderson, helping was never a question.

    “It goes back to my career as a funeral director. The phone rings? I go. I mean, you don’t say no. You help people, and I think that’s what the good Lord put me on the Earth to do, is to help people, and I was just happy to help,” Anderson said.

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  • 7-year-old riding bicycle killed by a pick-up truck in Florida Keys: troopers

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    A 7-year-old girl died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, after a Ford F-250 struck her while she biked with her mother near a Marathon gas station in the Florida Keys

    A 7-year-old girl died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, after a Ford F-250 struck her while she biked with her mother near a Marathon gas station in the Florida Keys


    Getty Images | Royalty Free

    Getty Images/iStockphoto

    A 68-year-old man may be facing criminal charges after he drove his pick-up truck into a 7-year-old girl riding her bicycle, killing her, in the Florida Keys Tuesday afternoon, troopers said.

    Around 2:50 p.m., the man, whom authorities did not identify, was driving his Ford F-250 out of Valero Gas Station near Boot Key, 7301 Overseas Highway in Marathon, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

    Just as he was driving and about to make a right turn, the 7-year-old and her mother were riding their bicycles across the gas station entrance in front of the man’s pick-up truck.

    When their paths crossed, the man collided with the little girl. She was wearing her helmet, but she died from the impact, troopers said.

    Authorities noted alcohol was not a factor, but are continuing to investigate as charges are pending.

    Devoun Cetoute

    Miami Herald

    Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.

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    Devoun Cetoute

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  • Claims about Trump in Epstein files are ‘untrue,’ the Justice Department says

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    WASHINGTON — Tips provided to federal investigators about Donald Trump’s alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s schemes with young women and girls are “sensationalist” and “untrue,” the Justice Department said on Tuesday, after a new tranche of files released from the probe featured multiple references to the president.

    The documents include a limousine driver reportedly overhearing Trump discussing a man named Jeffrey “abusing” a girl, and an alleged victim accusing Trump and Epstein of rape. It is unclear whether the FBI followed up on the tips. The alleged rape victim died from a gunshot wound to the head after reporting the incident.

    Nowhere in the newly released files do federal law enforcement agents or prosecutors indicate that Trump was suspected of wrongdoing, or that Trump — whose friendship with Epstein lasted through the mid-2000s — was investigated himself.

    But one unidentified federal prosecutor noted in a 2020 email that Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported,” including over a time period when Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s top confidante who would ultimately be convicted on five federal counts of sex trafficking and abuse, was being investigated for criminal activity.

    The Justice Department released an unusual statement unequivocally defending the president.

    “Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the Justice Department statement read. “To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

    “Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims,” the department added.

    The Justice Department files were released with heavy redactions after bipartisan lawmakers in Congress passed a new law compelling it to do so, despite Trump lobbying Republicans aggressively over the summer and fall to oppose the bill. The president ultimately signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law after the legislation passed with veto-proof majorities in both chambers.

    One newly released file containing a letter purportedly from Epstein — a notorious child sex offender who died in jail while awaiting federal trial on sex-trafficking charges — drew widespread attention online, but was held up by the Justice Department as an example of faulty or misleading information contained in the files.

    The letter appeared to be sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, another convicted sex offender, shortly before Epstein’s death. The letter’s author suggested that Nassar would learn after receiving the note that Epstein had “taken the ‘short route’ home,” possibly referring to his suicide. It was postmarked from Virginia on Aug. 13, 2019, despite Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail three days prior.

    “Our president shares our love of young, nubile girls,” the letter reads. “When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair.”

    The Justice Department said that the FBI had confirmed that the letter is “FAKE” after it made the rounds on Tuesday.

    “This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual,” the department posted on social media. “Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law.”

    The department has faced bipartisan scrutiny since failing to release all of the Epstein files in its possession by Dec. 19, the legal deadline for it to do so, and for redacting material on the vast majority of the documents.

    Justice Department officials said they were following the law by protecting victims with the redactions. The Epstein Files Transparency Act also directs the department not to redact images or references to prominent or political figures, and to provide an explanation for each and every redaction in writing.

    The latest release, just days before the Christmas holiday, includes roughly 30,000 documents, the department said. Hundreds of thousands more are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a statement in response to the Tuesday release accusing the Justice Department of a “cover-up,” writing on social media, “the new DOJ documents raise serious questions about the relationship between Epstein and Donald Trump.”

    Documents from Epstein’s private estate released by the oversight committee earlier this fall had already cast a spotlight on that relationship, revealing Epstein had written in emails to associates that Trump “knew about the girls.”

    The latest documents release also includes an email from an individual identified as “A,” claiming to stay at Balmoral Castle, a royal residence in Scotland, asking Maxwell if she had found him “some new inappropriate friends.” Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has come under intense scrutiny over his ties to Epstein in recent years.

    Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday, Trump said the continuing Epstein scandal amounts to a “distraction” from Republican successes, and expressed disapproval over the release of images in the files that reveal associates of Epstein.

    “I believe they gave over 100,000 pages of documents, and there’s tremendous backlash,” Trump told reporters. “It’s an interesting question, because a lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody. So a lot of people are very angry that this continues.”

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    Michael Wilner

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  • Slender Man stabbing attacker missing in Wisconsin after cutting off GPS monitor

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    Morgan Geyser, one of the girls convicted in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet and left her group home Saturday night, according to Madison police.Geyser was last seen at 8 p.m. with an adult acquaintance. Police were notified of her disappearance Sunday morning. Anyone with information is urged to contact 911.In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier nearly killed their classmate by stabbing her 19 times as part of a plot involving the fictional character Slender Man. Both girls were found not guilty because of a mental defect or disease in 2017 and were sentenced to mental institutions. Geyser was released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute earlier in 2025 and placed in a group home after being granted a conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.Payton Leutner and her family of aware of the most recent situation regarding Morgan Geyser,” a spokesperson for the Leutner family said in a statement to WISN 12 News. “Payton and her family are safe and are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure their continued safety. The family would like to thank all of the law enforcement entities involved in the efforts to apprehend Morgan. The Leutner family also wish to thank the outpouring of support from family, friends, and well-wishers who have contacted them during this difficult time.”Sunday afternoon, Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, posted a video on Instagram after hearing the news of her disappearance.In the video, Cotton calls for Geyser to turn herself in immediately.”We don’t know any of the facts about what happened, or who might have assisted her, but certainly if there is somebody who has assisted her, that person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Cotton said in the video.Cotton also called for anyone who has been in communication with Geyser to contact police as soon as possible.

    Morgan Geyser, one of the girls convicted in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet and left her group home Saturday night, according to Madison police.

    Geyser was last seen at 8 p.m. with an adult acquaintance. Police were notified of her disappearance Sunday morning. Anyone with information is urged to contact 911.

    In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier nearly killed their classmate by stabbing her 19 times as part of a plot involving the fictional character Slender Man.

    Both girls were found not guilty because of a mental defect or disease in 2017 and were sentenced to mental institutions.

    Geyser was released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute earlier in 2025 and placed in a group home after being granted a conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

    Payton Leutner and her family of aware of the most recent situation regarding Morgan Geyser,” a spokesperson for the Leutner family said in a statement to WISN 12 News. “Payton and her family are safe and are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure their continued safety. The family would like to thank all of the law enforcement entities involved in the efforts to apprehend Morgan. The Leutner family also wish to thank the outpouring of support from family, friends, and well-wishers who have contacted them during this difficult time.”

    Sunday afternoon, Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, posted a video on Instagram after hearing the news of her disappearance.

    In the video, Cotton calls for Geyser to turn herself in immediately.

    “We don’t know any of the facts about what happened, or who might have assisted her, but certainly if there is somebody who has assisted her, that person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Cotton said in the video.

    Cotton also called for anyone who has been in communication with Geyser to contact police as soon as possible.

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  • Slender Man stabbing attacker missing in Wisconsin after cutting off GPS monitor

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    Morgan Geyser, one of the girls convicted in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet and left her group home Saturday night, according to Madison police.Geyser was last seen at 8 p.m. with an adult acquaintance. Police were notified of her disappearance Sunday morning. Anyone with information is urged to contact 911.In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier nearly killed their classmate by stabbing her 19 times as part of a plot involving the fictional character Slender Man. Both girls were found not guilty because of a mental defect or disease in 2017 and were sentenced to mental institutions. Geyser was released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute earlier in 2025 and placed in a group home.

    Morgan Geyser, one of the girls convicted in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet and left her group home Saturday night, according to Madison police.

    Geyser was last seen at 8 p.m. with an adult acquaintance. Police were notified of her disappearance Sunday morning. Anyone with information is urged to contact 911.

    In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier nearly killed their classmate by stabbing her 19 times as part of a plot involving the fictional character Slender Man.

    Both girls were found not guilty because of a mental defect or disease in 2017 and were sentenced to mental institutions.

    Geyser was released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute earlier in 2025 and placed in a group home.

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  • Trickle of revelations fuels scandal over Trump’s ties to Epstein

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    WASHINGTON —  A slow drip of revelations detailing President Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein that have burdened the White House all year has turned into a deluge after House lawmakers released reams of documents that imply the president may have intimate knowledge of his friend’s criminal activity.

    The scope of Epstein’s interest in Trump became clear Thursday as media organizations combed through more than 20,000 documents from the convicted sex offender’s estate released by the House Oversight Committee, prompting a bipartisan majority in the House — including up to half of Republican lawmakers — to pledge support for a measure to compel the Justice Department to release all files related to its investigation of Epstein.

    In one email discovered Thursday, sent by Epstein to himself months before he died by suicide in federal custody, he wrote: “Trump knew.” The White House has denied that Trump knew about or was involved in Epstein’s years-long operation that abused over 200 women and girls.

    The scandal comes at a precarious political moment for Trump, who faces a 36% approval rating, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC survey, and whose grip on the Republican Party and MAGA movement has begun to slip as his final term in office begins winding down leading up to next year’s midterm elections.

    Attempts by the Trump administration to quash the scandal have failed to shake interest in the case from the public across the political spectrum.

    The records paint the most expansive picture yet of Trump’s relationship with Epstein, the subject of unending fascination and conspiracy theories online, as well as growing bipartisan interest in Congress.

    In several emails, Epstein, a disgraced financier who maintained a close friendship with Trump until a falling-out in the mid-2000s, said that the latter “knew about the girls” involved in his operation and that Trump “spent hours” with one in private. Epstein also alleged that he could “take him down” with damaging information.

    In several exchanges, Epstein portrayed himself as someone who knew Trump well. Emails show how he tracked Trump’s business practices and the evolution of the president’s political endeavors.

    Other communications show Epstein closely monitoring Trump’s movements at the beginning of his first term in office, at one point attempting to communicate with the Russian government to share his “insight” into Trump’s proclivities and thinking.

    White House officials attempted to thwart the effort to release the files Wednesday, holding a tense meeting with a GOP congresswoman in the White House Situation Room, a move the administration said demonstrated its willingness “to sit down with members of Congress to address their concerns.”

    But House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York accused the White House and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of “running a pedophile protection program” for trying to block efforts to release the Epstein files.

    The legislative effort in the House does not guarantee a vote in the Senate, much less bipartisan approval of the measure there. And the president — who has for months condemned his supporters for their repeated calls for transparency in the case — would almost certainly veto the bill if it makes it to his desk.

    Epstein died in a federal prison in Manhattan awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner and the Justice Department’s inspector general.

    As reporters sift through the documents in the coming days, Trump’s relationship with Epstein is likely to remain in the spotlight.

    In one email Epstein sent to himself shortly before his imprisonment and death, he wrote that Trump knew of the financier’s sexual activity during a period where he was accused of wrongdoing.

    “Trump knew of it,” he wrote, “and came to my house many times during that period.”

    “He never got a massage,” Epstein added. Epstein paid for “massages” from girls that often led to sexual activity.

    Trump has blamed Democrats for the issue bubbling up again.

    “Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!” the president wrote Wednesday in a social media post, hours after the records were made public.

    Trump made a public appearance later that day to sign legislation ending the government shutdown but declined to answer as reporters shouted questions about Epstein after the event.

    Trump comes up in several emails

    The newly released correspondence gives a rare look at how Epstein, in his own words, related to Trump in ways that were not previously known. In some cases, Epstein’s correspondence suggests the president knew more about Epstein’s criminal conduct than Trump has let on.

    In the months leading up to Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges, he mentioned Trump in a few emails that imply the latter knew about the financier’s victims.

    In January 2019, Epstein wrote to author Michael Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls,” as he discussed his membership at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s South Florida private club and resort.

    Trump has said that he ended his relationship with Epstein because he had “hired away” one of his female employees at Mar-a-Lago. The White House has also said Trump banned Epstein from his club because he was “being a creep.”

    “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” Epstein wrote in the email to Wolff.

    One of the employees was Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s survivors who died by suicide this year. Giuffre said in a civil case deposition that she never witnessed Trump sexually abuse minors in Epstein’s home.

    Republicans in the House Oversight Committee identified Giuffre as one of the victims whose names are redacted in an April 2011 email.

    In that email, Epstein wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate who was later sentenced for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, that Trump was “the dog that hasn’t barked.”

    “[Victim] spent hours at my house with him,” Epstein wrote. “He has never once been mentioned.”

    “I have been thinking about that…,” Maxwell replied.

    White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that the emails “prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”

    News over the summer that Trump had penned a lewd birthday card to Epstein, drawing the silhouette of a naked woman with a note reading, “may every day be another wonderful secret,” had sparked panic in the West Wing that the files could have prolific mentions of Trump.

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    Michael Wilner, Ana Ceballos

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  • Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ Jeffrey Epstein claimed in emails as Democrats, GOP release trove of records

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    Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” and “knew about the girls,” Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier accused of orchestrating sex trafficking of young women and underage girls, wrote in private emails released Wednesday by House Democrats.

    The release of a small batch of Epstein’s communications sent shock waves through Washington, prompting a panicked defense of the president from White House aides who accused Democrats of colluding with the media to smear him. It also triggered Republican lawmakers to release an additional 20,000 documents from Epstein’s private estate, a move Democrats said was designed to distract from the implication of Trump.

    But several of the documents shared by the Republicans added fuel to the fire, highlighting Epstein’s interest in Trump in the years after Trump claimed their friendship had come to an end, and suggesting the convicted sex offender had information on the president he was keeping secret.

    By Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats — and a few Republicans — secured enough signatures for a petition that would force a chamber vote on the release of Justice Department files related to the Epstein investigation.

    The drama began Wednesday morning, when Democrats released three of Epstein’s old email exchanges.

    “Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said of Trump in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff in early 2019, during Trump’s first term as president — one of three emails released by Democrats that Epstein sent to Wolff and to Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death.

    A few hours after Democrats released three emails referencing Trump — and urged the Department of Justice to release all Epstein documents to the public — Republicans on the House Oversight Committee suddenly dumped a massive trove of documents, portions of which are redacted.

    Those files suggest that even after Trump won the 2016 election — a time when Trump has said he was no longer friends with Epstein — Epstein was deeply interested in Trump’s affairs and possibly involved in some way.

    In May 2017, a New York Times reporter emailed criminal defense attorney Reid Weingarten, then a finalist for Trump’s outside counsel, seeking comment. Weingarten forwarded the email to Epstein less than an hour and a half later: “do you want it? Or Jared?” he asked. It is not clear who Weingarten was referring to, but Jared Kushner was the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor at the time.

    “Do I have the choice?” Epstein replied. “And if so, your view?”

    Multiple people wrote to Epstein apparently under the belief that he could pass information along to Trump or people in his orbit.

    In June 2017, someone whose name has been redacted sent Epstein an email with a link to a YouTube video. “How are u? Send this interview to Donald Trump pls,” the subject line read. “Its going to be everywhere.”

    “ok,” Epstein responded.

    The documents released by Republicans show Epstein cultivating cozy relationships with national figures across the political spectrum, often for the purpose of gathering information and exchanging political gossip and legal opinion on Trump. Among the figures he appears to exchange emails with are Larry H. Summers, former U.S. secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, and Steve Bannon, Trump’s former advisor.

    The documents released Wednesday are sure to revive questions about Epstein’s relationship with Trump and what the president knew about Epstein’s sexual misconduct with girls and young women.

    Trump has denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes, though in July he told reporters he fell out with Epstein over his recruitment of spa workers at Mar-a-Lago. No investigation has tied Trump to Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking of young women.

    “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement as he released the documents.

    “These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president,” Garcia added.

    Even after the GOP shared thousands of Epstein documents, Trump dismissed the focus on the Epstein files as a Democratic attempt to divert attention from the party’s caving to Republicans on the government shutdown.

    “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump posted on TruthSocial. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap… There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

    Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Democrats had “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

    “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” she said in a statement, “and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

    It is not clear exactly when or how Trump and Epstein’s friendship came to an end.

    When prosecutors brought federal charges against Epstein in 2019, Trump downplayed their relationship and said he hadn’t spoken to Epstein for 15 years. “I had a falling out with him,” Trump told reporters the day after federal authorities took Epstein into custody. “I was not a fan.”

    In the emails released by Democrats, Epstein argued that Trump had more knowledge of Epstein’s affairs than he admitted.

    In the 2019 email to Wolff, which references a ‘victim’ whose name has been redacted, Epstein referred to Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago club: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” he wrote. “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

    The White House, however, pushed back on the idea that Trump was implicated by that email to Wolff: “The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt said.

    “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” Leavitt added.

    In another email dated Dec. 15, 2015, Wolff wrote to Epstein ahead of a Republican presidential primary debate: “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards.”

    Epstein wrote back: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”

    In a memo released Wednesday, the White House targeted Wolff as a journalist whose record is “riddled with mistakes and inaccuracies.” It cited concerns over his credibility documented in mainstream media outlets, including The Times, the Washington Post and others.

    In a third email, sent to Maxwell in 2011, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”

    Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that … .”

    The documents released by the GOP indicate that Epstein seemed to have had a special interest in Trump, his political career and his legal troubles. Over the years, the president’s name appears again and again in Epstein’s emails as he and his friends exchange articles about Trump. Some of Epstein’s acquaintances sent him their emailed exchanges with reporters regarding Trump, and in others Epstein is discussing Trump directly with reporters.

    In a June 2018 email exchange with Bannon, at the time a Trump advisor, Bannon shared an article critical of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the president and his campaign’s ties to Russia, suggesting it was tainted from the start by political bias.

    “Big deal,” Bannon wrote.

    Epstein responded that there were “many open questions” and that it was his belief that “flippers will dictate” the course of the investigation — or that the course of the investigation would be decided by the ability of prosecutors to flip associates of Trump into informants.

    In another 2018 exchange, Epstein appeared to email back and forth with Kathy Ruemmler, attorney and former White House counsel under President Obama, on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s cooperation with prosecutors.

    After Ruemmler sent Epstein a link to a New York Times story referencing Cohen pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws to pay adult filmmaker Stormy Daniels, Epstein wrote, “you see, i know how dirty donald is. My guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. What it means to have your fixer flip.”

    Before the 2024 presidential election, Trump called for the release of more documents related to Epstein, but his administration appears to have backtracked on its promises to release documents.

    Garcia called on the Department of Justice on Wednesday to release all Epstein files to the public immediately. “The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims,” he said in a statement.

    By the afternoon, Adelita Grijalva, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who was sworn in to office earlier in the day, became the 218th House member to sign a petition that would force a vote on releasing files from the Epstein investigation. Her signature kicked off a countdown of seven legislative days for House Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a vote on the matter.

    As Democrats push the Justice Department to release the files, GOP leaders are pressuring some Republicans to remove their names from the petition. The White House confirmed that senior administration officials met with Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert on Wednesday about the issue.

    Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested and charged in federal court with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. A watchdog report released last year found that negligence, misconduct and other failures at the jail contributed to his death.

    More than a decade earlier, Epstein evaded federal criminal charges when he struck a plea deal in a Florida case related to accusations that he molested dozens of girls.

    As part of the agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, including soliciting prostitution. He registered as a sex offender and served 13 months in jail but was allowed to leave six days a week to work at his office.

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    Jenny Jarvie, Michael Wilner, Kevin Rector

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  • All leads into finding Broward girl last seen in June ‘exhausted,’ detectives say

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    Gabrielle Patricia Terrelonge

    Gabrielle Patricia Terrelonge

    FBI Miami

    Detectives with several agencies, along with FBI agents, say all leads into the whereabouts of a 10-year-old Broward girl last seen over the summer are “exhausted.”

    Police arrested her mother Tuesday on child neglect charges, jail records show.

    The biological father of Gabrielle Patricia Terrelonge reported her missing Oct. 29 after he discovered her mother and sole custodian, Passha Davis, 34, was in jail after being arrested Oct. 17 on charges of giving law enforcement a false ID and resisting without violence charges.

    READ MORE: FBI joins search for missing 10-year-old girl last seen in South Florida in June

    The missing persons report sparked a multi-agency search for Terrelonge, that included the Miami field office of the FBI.

    What most concerned law enforcement is that the “last proof of life” for the little girl was when she was seen leaving a Walmart in Hollywood on June 21, according to Davis’ arrest paperwork.

    Passha Davis, 34, is the mother of Gabrielle Patricia Terrelong, who was reported missing Oct. 29, 2025. Terrelonge was last seen by anyone other than Davis in June. Margate police arrested Davis Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, a felony child neglect charge.
    Passha Davis, 34, is the mother of Gabrielle Patricia Terrelong, who was reported missing Oct. 29, 2025. Terrelonge was last seen by anyone other than Davis in June. Margate police arrested Davis Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, a felony child neglect charge. FDLE

    When police spoke with Davis at the Paul Rein Detention Facility on Oct. 31 to ask about her daughter, she told them she “had no knowledge” of the little girl’s disappearance and that she should be with her father, Margate Detective Antoine Kahlyl wrote in his report.

    The name of Gabrielle’s father was redacted from the report.

    Family members interviewed by police say that while Davis has been the only person to have custody of Terrelonge since birth, she has a history of mental health, substance abuse issues, per Kahlyl’s report. She’s also listed as homeless.

    Terrelonge’s extended family said they had not seen her since December.

    “At this moment, the whereabouts of [Terrelonge] remain unknown, despite Law Enforcement exhausting all family members, locations, associations and areas that the victim was known to be while with the defendant,” Kahlyl wrote in his report.

    Regarding the arrest of Davis, Kahlyl wrote:

    “The Defendant failed to provide any reasonable explanation as to the whereabouts of her minor child. [Davis] has also failed to provide adequate services and supervision necessary to maintain her physical and mental health.”

    Davis is being held in jail on a $100,000 bond, records show.

    Gabrielle stands four feet, eight inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. With shoulder-length hair, she was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and white Crocs.

    Anyone who has information on Gabrielle’s disppearance should call 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to tips.fbi.gov. Calls can also be made to the Margate Police Department at 954-972-7111

    David Goodhue

    Miami Herald

    David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.
    Support my work with a digital subscription

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    David Goodhue

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  • FBI searches Melodee Buzzard’s home in case of the missing Santa Barbara girl

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    The search for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard took a new turn on Thursday when the FBI searched the girl’s Santa Barbara County home weeks after she was reported missing.

    Detectives escorted the girl’s mother, Ashlee Buzzard, off the property to another location “that would not interfere with their ability to conduct a thorough search,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said.

    Along with the search at the home in the 500 block of Mars Avenue, authorities also searched a storage locker and the rental car that the girl was last seen in. Authorities said Melodee was missing on Oct. 14 after a prolonged absence from her school. Officials believe she was last seen as recently as Oct. 7 and may have been driven to Nebraska by her mother, the Sheriff’s Office said.

    Sheriff’s detectives and FBI agents served a search warrant at the Buzzard home where a makeshift memorial on the sidewalk includes a picture of the curly haired girl.

    “We appreciate the FBI’s assistance in today’s searches,” Lt. Chris Gotschall from the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “In cases like this, every detail matters and it is invaluable to have additional resources and specialized expertise. Collaboration with our federal partners allows us to ensure we’re using every available tool to help bring resolution to this case.”

    The Lompoc School District contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report the girl’s prolonged absence from her independent study program Oct. 14. Authorities then visited her home that day, but Melodee was nowhere to be seen and Buzzard refused to cooperate with their investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

    Relatives on the girl’s father’s side of the family said they have not seen the girl in years.

    “She hasn’t let us see her for a few years,” Melodee’s aunt Bridgett Truitt told local news station KEYT. “And all of us have tried. But we never stopped thinking about her or loving her or praying for her.”

    Local authorities were unable to confirm any sightings of the girl within the last year. The FBI joined the investigation four days after her school district reported her absence.

    Melodee is described as 4 feet 6 inches tall, weighing about 60 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

    Staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.

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    Nathan Solis

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  • Yes, this video shows ICE activity in Hoffman Estates

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    A viral video shows a law enforcement officer dragging a young woman out of a car, pinning her to the ground and arresting her. 

    Social media users described it as an Oct. 10 Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

    A top Department of Homeland Security official said otherwise. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, an agency spokesperson, said the video doesn’t show ICE and is more than a year old. 

    “Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago,” McLaughlin wrote Oct. 12 on X. “This isn’t even ICE.”

    Other X users and Grok, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, echoed McLaughlin’s comment, wrongly connecting  the video footage to a series of 2024 Chicago public transit attacks involving a teenage girl.

    Ample evidence from videos shared by people on social media, including the young woman’s aunt, shows this incident happened recently in Hoffman Estates and involved ICE. Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago, about 33 miles from downtown.

    The videos show officers wearing immigration enforcement vests. The background shows multiple houses on what appears to be a suburban street; and the visible street names place the footage in Hoffman Estates. 

    Although a Hoffman Estates police vehicle was on scene at the time of the incident, the agency said it was not involved in making an arrest. An agency spokesperson said it was stationed there for a non-related call. Chicago Police also said it was not involved in the matter. 

    The aunt said on Facebook that the young woman is a U.S. citizen who was protesting against ICE in their neighborhood. As ICE approached her and others, they left in their car, and ICE chased them, the woman said.

    That night, the aunt went live on Facebook, speaking in English and Spanish, and said no charges were filed against the teenager or others, and that she was at home.

    People have shared numerous videos about law enforcement operations and ICE raids since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. This one stands out for a fact-check because of the law enforcement tactics used on the young woman (CBS News reported she is 18) and the Department of Homeland Security’s false dismissal about what happened.

    PolitiFact reached out to DHS but did not receive an immediate response.

    What do local police say?

    One of the video’s giveaways that this incident didn’t happen in Chicago is the presence of a marked Hoffman Estates police car. Hoffman Estates Police Chief Kasia Cawley told PolitiFact she was aware of an “arrest that ICE made on Friday,” which was Oct. 10, but her officers were in the same area for a different reason.

    The police department posted a similar statement Oct. 10 on Facebook, after the ICE arrest video went viral on social media.

    Another clue that ICE was involved: uniforms. The officer who grabbed the teenager out of the vehicle wore vests that said “Police ERO,” which stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations. This ICE division is in charge of detaining and removing people illegally in the U.S., according to ICE’s website. 

    The same officers with “ERO” vests appear in another Oct. 10 video taken outside of the Hoffman Estates Police Department. The video, also shared by the aunt, shows the young woman sitting in a parked vehicle, surrounded by officers with “ERO” vests, before she is released and enters an ambulance. 

    Social media videos show clues about address, congressman confirms location

    Two street signs at the intersection depicted in the video say Morton Street and Glendale Lane. Google Maps shows the same intersection located in Hoffman Estates. 

    Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., confirmed the ICE incident happened in his district and called for accountability and transparency. 

    The young woman’s parents spoke with CBS News, saying their daughter and two friends sat in cars at the police department for hours. Cawley told PolitiFact that DHS has not filed a report about what happened.

    Our ruling

    McLaughlin said a video shared on X showed a “burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago.” 

    Numerous videos from the incident and police statements show the video depicts an ICE arrest in Hoffman Estates. 

    We rate the DHS spokesperson’s account False. 

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  • ‘Wannabe gangsters’ described killing two women. Why did convicting them take a decade?

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    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.

    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.

    Prosecuting attorney David Ayvazian makes his closing arguments at the murder trial.

    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 for Gabriella Calzada and Brianna Gallegos in November 2015 at Ernst E. Debs Regional Park.

    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.

    “Thank you. God bless you,” she said.

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    Sandra McDonald

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  • New Mexico teen becomes first girl in her county to earn the rank of Eagle Scout

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    TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO ABC. CHANGES CAME TO THE BOY SCOUTS IN 2019, WHEN THE ORGANIZATION REBRANDED, OPENED ITS DOORS TO GIRLS AT THAT POINT, THEN THIS YEAR BECAME WHAT THEY CALL SCOUTING AMERICA. AND NOW THE FIRST YOUNG WOMAN IN VALENCIA COUNTY JUST ACHIEVED THE RANK OF EAGLE SCOUT. OUR OWN PEYTON SPELLACY JOINS US IN THE STUDIO THIS MORNING WITH MORE ABOUT HER STORY. HI, PEYTON. HEY, TODD AND ROYALE. SO TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT, YOU MUST COMPLETE A MAJOR COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT FOR 17 YEAR OLD GABRIELLE MONTOYA. THAT MEANT TAKING SOMETHING LIKE A TIRE AND TRANSFORMING IT INTO A DOG BED FOR THE VALENCIA COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER. IT’S TAKEN HER ABOUT FIVE YEARS TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT, WHICH IS THE HIGHEST RANK IN SCOUTING, REQUIRING YEARS OF DEDICATION, LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY SERVICE. I ALSO WANT TO SHOW YOU HER UNIFORM HERE. THE SASH HOLDS MORE THAN 40 BADGES, EACH ONE REPRESENTING A SKILL THAT SHE’S MASTERED FROM FIRST AID TO SPACE EXPLORATION AND SHOTGUN SAFETY. EACH SKILL ALSO HELPED HER PREPARE FOR LIFE IN HER DREAM TO BECOME A VETERINARIAN. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE IS HELP THOSE ANIMALS AND HELP OTHER PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM IN THE SAME WAY THAT I DO. AND PART OF THE REASON THAT SCOUTING SORT OF HAS ASSISTED ME IN THIS WAY IS BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, YOU LEARN A THING OR TWO FROM MERIT BADGES LIKE THESE AND YOU LEARN HOW TO, YOU KNOW, BE THE BEST PERSON THAT YOU CAN BE THROUGHOUT THIS JOURNEY, MONTOYA SAYS SCOUTING HELPED HER GROW AS A LEADER AND AS A PERSON, AND HER MESSAGE TO YOUNG GIRLS WHO WANT TO BECOME AN EAGLE SCOUT IS TO JUST TAKE THE LEAP.

    Teen becomes first girl in her county to earn Eagle Scout rank

    17-year-old Gabrielle Montoya’s 5-year journey led to community service, leadership, and more than 40 merit badges

    Updated: 11:22 AM EDT Sep 20, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Changes came to the Boy Scouts in 2019 when the organization rebranded and opened its doors to girls. This year, it became Scouting America.Now, Valencia County, New Mexico, can boast its first girl to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.Seventeen-year-old Gabrielle Montoya earned the honor after five years of dedication, leadership, and community service. To reach the highest rank in scouting, she completed a major project that turned old tires into dog beds for the Valencia County Animal Shelter.Her uniform sash carries more than 40 merit badges, each marking a skill she has mastered, from first aid to space exploration and shotgun safety. Those skills, Montoya said, have prepared her not only for life but also for her dream career as a veterinarian.”One of the things that I want to do with my life is help those animals and help other people who love them in the same way that I do,” she said. “And part of the reason that scouting sort of has assisted me in this way is because, you know, you learn a thing or two from merit badges like these, and you learn how to, you know, be the best person that you can be throughout this journey.”Montoya also takes pride in the patches displayed on her uniform.”This is my patrol patch. We’re part of the Frosty Flippers. And the patrol is basically a leadership group within the troop. So kind of like a bureaucracy if you think, like, different levels of government, we’ve got the same thing in the troop,” she said. “This is a Journey to Excellence Award. And what this represents is a couple of things that our troop had to do in order to take the step up and be a step above, and maybe like an average Scout troop.”She pointed out one patch in particular.”This patch right here is particularly important. This is in memory of one of the scouts in our brother troop, who actually was an Eagle Scout named Evan Strickland, who passed away during an Osprey accident in service. So we wear this in memory for him and in memory for his family as well,” she said.Other patches on her uniform represent the High Desert Council, the troop she helped found, her role as a junior assistant scoutmaster, and her Eagle Scout rank. She also wears patches for completing polar bear plunge activities and for her membership in the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s honor society.Montoya said scouting helped her grow as a leader and as a person. Her advice to other girls hoping to follow in her footsteps is to take the leap.

    Changes came to the Boy Scouts in 2019 when the organization rebranded and opened its doors to girls. This year, it became Scouting America.

    Now, Valencia County, New Mexico, can boast its first girl to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

    Seventeen-year-old Gabrielle Montoya earned the honor after five years of dedication, leadership, and community service. To reach the highest rank in scouting, she completed a major project that turned old tires into dog beds for the Valencia County Animal Shelter.

    Her uniform sash carries more than 40 merit badges, each marking a skill she has mastered, from first aid to space exploration and shotgun safety. Those skills, Montoya said, have prepared her not only for life but also for her dream career as a veterinarian.

    “One of the things that I want to do with my life is help those animals and help other people who love them in the same way that I do,” she said. “And part of the reason that scouting sort of has assisted me in this way is because, you know, you learn a thing or two from merit badges like these, and you learn how to, you know, be the best person that you can be throughout this journey.”

    Montoya also takes pride in the patches displayed on her uniform.

    “This is my patrol patch. We’re part of the Frosty Flippers. And the patrol is basically a leadership group within the troop. So kind of like a bureaucracy if you think, like, different levels of government, we’ve got the same thing in the troop,” she said. “This is a Journey to Excellence Award. And what this represents is a couple of things that our troop had to do in order to take the step up and be a step above, and maybe like an average Scout troop.”

    She pointed out one patch in particular.

    “This patch right here is particularly important. This is in memory of one of the scouts in our brother troop, who actually was an Eagle Scout named Evan Strickland, who passed away during an Osprey accident in service. So we wear this in memory for him and in memory for his family as well,” she said.

    Other patches on her uniform represent the High Desert Council, the troop she helped found, her role as a junior assistant scoutmaster, and her Eagle Scout rank. She also wears patches for completing polar bear plunge activities and for her membership in the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s honor society.

    Montoya said scouting helped her grow as a leader and as a person. Her advice to other girls hoping to follow in her footsteps is to take the leap.

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  • Officials find remains they believe are Travis Decker

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    We want grief to only be for long, full lives, not short, sweet ones that have barely just begun. Tonight at 10, breaking news out of Washington state tonight with ties to Wisconsin, *** vigil there for three young girls found dead. Their father now charged with killing them, and tonight his family says he’s from Pewaukee. Travis Decker is *** wanted man at this hour. Investigators just updated us to say that they are still actively searching for him. 12 News Kendall Keyes leads us off with the court documents and the mystery about what happened. Whitney Decker speaking to *** Seattle news crew Monday about the father of her three girls, Travis Decker. I don’t personally think that he’s dangerous. I think that he is impulsive and he loves his children very much. The girls reported missing Friday by their mother after they did not return from *** scheduled visit with Decker. I think that he’s having *** Hard time and just needs something to make him feel better and for him that’s the girls. Her words haunting in hindsight. Decker now charged in the murder of his three daughters, 9-year-old Peyton, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia. Family 12 News spoke to in Wisconsin say the 32-year-old grew up in Pewaukee. Monday, investigators found Decker’s truck abandoned at *** campground in Chelan County, Washington. According to court documents, 12 news obtained approximately 75 to 100 yards past where the vehicle was located and down *** small embankment, CCSO deputies located the bodies of three school-aged children. Investigators saying each has *** plastic bag over the head. The likely cause of death was *** fixation, and their wrists were also zip tied. Kendall Keys joins us from the newsroom tonight. Kendall Decker’s on the run right now, right, Diana, and they say he could be dangerous because he’s former military with extensive training. Within the hour, law enforcement in Washington held *** news conference calling for Decker to turn himself in. Travis, if you’re listening, this is your opportunity to turn yourself in. Do the right thing, do what you need to do and take accountability for your actions. We’re not going to go away. We’re not going to rest, and we’re going to make sure we find you. Pewaukee police say they’re not involved in the search. We have yet to hear back from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office if they’ve been asked to assist in the investigation given Decker’s ties to Pewaukee.

    Officials find remains they believe are Travis Decker, wanted in killings of his 3 young daughters in Washington

    Updated: 1:04 AM EDT Sep 19, 2025

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    Authorities say they have found remains they believe are Travis Decker, an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, in the mountains of Washington state.The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that it was processing the site with the help of the Washington State Patrol crime scene response team. They will follow up with DNA analysis, it said.Video above: Wisconsin native on the run after death of his three daughters in Washington“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the statement said.Decker, 32, has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth.Three days earlier, he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled visit.Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said, and once spent more than two months living in the backwoods off the grid.More than 100 officials with an array of state and federal agencies searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air during the on and off search. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.Last September, Decker’s ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable. He was often living out of his truck, and she sought to restrict him from having overnight visits with their daughters until he found housing.An autopsy determined the girls’ cause of death to be suffocation, the sheriff’s office said. They had been bound with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.

    LEAVENWORTH, Wash. —

    Authorities say they have found remains they believe are Travis Decker, an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, in the mountains of Washington state.

    The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that it was processing the site with the help of the Washington State Patrol crime scene response team. They will follow up with DNA analysis, it said.

    Video above: Wisconsin native on the run after death of his three daughters in Washington

    “While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the statement said.

    Decker, 32, has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth.

    Three days earlier, he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled visit.

    Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said, and once spent more than two months living in the backwoods off the grid.

    FILE - This undated photo provided by the Wenatchee Police Department shows Travis Caleb Decker, who is wanted in connection with the deaths of his three daughters.

    Wenatchee Police Department via AP, File

    FILE – This undated photo provided by the Wenatchee Police Department shows Travis Caleb Decker, who is wanted in connection with the deaths of his three daughters.

    More than 100 officials with an array of state and federal agencies searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air during the on and off search. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.

    Last September, Decker’s ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable. He was often living out of his truck, and she sought to restrict him from having overnight visits with their daughters until he found housing.

    An autopsy determined the girls’ cause of death to be suffocation, the sheriff’s office said. They had been bound with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.

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  • 17-year-old girl arrested in Sacramento for stabbing man, police say

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    BACK TO YOU, BRIAN. THANK YOU. WE ARE FOLLOWING SOME BREAKING NEWS IN SACRAMENTO THIS MORNING. POLICE SAY THEY’VE DETAINED A 17 YEAR OLD GIRL FOR THE STABBING OF A 19 YEAR OLD MAN. HAPPENED AROUND 415 THIS MORNING IN A HOME ON NIGHTLINGER STREET IN WEST EL PASO HEIGHTS. OFFICERS GOT THERE AND FOUND THE MAN WITH AT LEAST ONE STAB WOUND. HE IS EXPECTED TO SURVIVE NOW. THE GI

    17-year-old girl arrested in Sacramento for stabbing man, police say

    Updated: 8:18 AM PDT Sep 8, 2025

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    A 17-year-old girl was arrested early Monday morning in connection with a non-fatal stabbing in Sacramento, officials said. Officers with the Sacramento Police Department were dispatched around 4:15 a.m. to a residence in the 3700 block of Knightlinger Street in the West Del Paso Heights neighborhood. Upon arrival, a 19-year-old man was found with at least one stab wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, the police department said. The suspect was detained at the scene. She was then taken to juvenile hall and booked for related charges, the police department said. The relation of the victim to the suspect, along with the circumstances leading up to the stabbing, is unknown to the public at this time. 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

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    A 17-year-old girl was arrested early Monday morning in connection with a non-fatal stabbing in Sacramento, officials said.

    Officers with the Sacramento Police Department were dispatched around 4:15 a.m. to a residence in the 3700 block of Knightlinger Street in the West Del Paso Heights neighborhood.

    Upon arrival, a 19-year-old man was found with at least one stab wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, the police department said.

    The suspect was detained at the scene. She was then taken to juvenile hall and booked for related charges, the police department said.

    The relation of the victim to the suspect, along with the circumstances leading up to the stabbing, is unknown to the public at this time.

    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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  • Taiwan Makes Venice Splash With Shu Qi’s ‘Girl’ and Record XR Lineup

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    Taiwan is making waves at the 82nd Venice Film Festival with its most significant presence to date, headlined by Shu Qi‘s directorial debut, “Girl,” becoming the first Taiwanese film to compete for the Golden Lion since Tsai Ming-liang’s “Stray Dogs” in 2013.

    “Girl,” a coming-of-age tale set in 1980s Keelung, represents Taiwan’s return to Venice’s top tier after more than a decade.

    “Not only Taiwanese films but films all over the world face the same challenges in the market,” Shu Qi tells Variety. “So don’t overthink it. If you have the opportunity to make a film, seize it, tell your story and tell it right.”

    Taiwan’s Venice footprint extends beyond the main competition. Joe Hsieh and Yonfan’s animated short “Praying Mantis” achieved another first, becoming the inaugural Taiwanese animated work selected for the Horizons short films international competition. The film is a pencil-sketch fable, rooted in Taiwanese mythology and presented in Taiwanese Hokkien.

    Taiwan’s presence is further bolstered by master filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s new documentary “Back Home” screening out of competition and a restoration of his 1994 Golden Lion winner “Vive l’amour” in Venice Classics.

    But it’s in the immersive media space where Taiwan’s presence is most pronounced. Six Taiwan-led or co-produced projects — “Blur,” “The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up,” “Dark Rooms,” “Sense of Nowhere,” “The Shadow (L’Ombre)” and “La Magie Opéra” — have secured spots in Venice’s competitive XR program, many backed by grants and residencies from the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA).

    “Taiwan has developed strong creative and production capabilities in both animation and immersive [XR] storytelling, gaining increasing visibility at international festivals and professional platforms,” TAICCA chair Sue Wang tells Variety. “These works feature diverse themes and styles with a high level of visual sophistication, and through their narratives rooted in local culture, they serve as an important window for international audiences to experience Taiwan.”

    The momentum extends to the business side, with three immersive projects — “After Being Shattered Into Dust,” “The Amazon Gold” and “Poetics of Soil: The Wood Wide Web” — pitching for international co-financing at the Venice Production Bridge’s Gap-Financing Market.

    Wang emphasized Taiwan’s unique technological advantages in the XR space: “Taiwan has a complete tech industry chain. Brands such as HTC, MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS and Acer are all established here. Taiwan is well-positioned and open to exploring innovations at the intersection of content and technology.”

    The agency head pointed to previous successes, including Taiwan-based Flash Forward Entertainment’s collaboration with France’s Novaya on “Colored,” which won best immersive work at Cannes 2024, and director Singing Chen’s “The Man Who Couldn’t Leave,” which took the best VR experience award at Venice 2022.

    The Venice showcase comes against the backdrop of significant industry challenges that make Taiwan’s breakthrough all the more remarkable. “One of the main challenges is that Taiwan’s market is still primarily domestic, with a need for more players capable of expanding internationally and bridging the value chain from midstream operators to large downstream distributors and platforms to strengthen exports,” Wang explains. “The industry consists largely of small and medium-sized enterprises, and much of Taiwan’s production is project-based, often without fully developed financial statements, which makes it more difficult to attract large-scale investment.”

    To address these challenges, TAICCA has implemented strategic support measures. “As a key industry facilitator, TAICCA provides both equity and project investment, along with advisory support throughout the application process, to help the industry secure the funding it needs to grow and also offer production teams a clear pathway toward internationalization,” Wang says. “In addition, co-investment through the National Development Fund reduces the risk for private investors, attracting sector and enabling greater support for content creation, thereby fostering a healthier, more sustainable ecosystem.”

    The agency has also forged crucial international partnerships to strengthen Taiwan’s global reach. “TAICCA has recently established partnerships with international studios including South Korea’s CJ ENM, MBC Plus, Something Special, Japan’s Asmik Ace, Singapore’s Mediacorp and France’s Cinéfrance Studios,” Wang says. “These collaborations promote international co-productions, creating diverse opportunities for Taiwanese creators — enhancing production quality and scale, expanding talent exchange and facilitating access to funding and international resources.”

    “Overall, Taiwan is shifting from a primarily local development focus toward a dual-track model that combines both domestic growth and active international touring and distribution,” Wang adds, citing successful international showcases like the “Portals of Solitude” exhibition at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image.

    Taiwan’s Venice 2025 presence signals the nation’s evolution from a regional cinema presence to a diversified content powerhouse spanning traditional narrative filmmaking, animation and cutting-edge immersive media — positioning itself as a key player in cinema’s technological future while maintaining strong cultural roots.

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    Naman Ramachandran

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  • Northern California professional women’s football team inspires young athletes

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    The Golden State Storm, Northern California’s newest professional women’s football team, is highlighting high school girls’ flag football to inspire the next generation of athletes.”This has opened the door for them to actually be able to show off their skill, their speed, their agility, and really just be rock stars out there,” said Nichelle Haynes, a parent.The Vanden Vikings girls’ flag football team, formed last year, is one of the teams benefiting from this initiative. Players have expressed excitement about the camaraderie and teamwork they experience.”It’s fun. There’s a lot of team chemistry. We’ve all been friends before we even got on the team. So like, if we play as a team, we’re going to win as a team,” said Makenna Holloway, a player for Vanden High School.Parents like Nichelle are thrilled about the opportunities now available for girls interested in flag football. “I mean, I’m super excited about all the opportunities that they have now for the girls playing flag football. So, I mean, it’s about time, right? Because so many women have always had an interest in football. We just never had an entryway,” said Haynes.The Storm is hosting its first-ever Golden State Showdown matchup, featuring Vanden and Rocklin high schools, to provide accessibility and showcase what the professional space can look like. The team aims to encourage players to continue the sport at the collegiate level and beyond.”This is more so for us to really just focus on providing accessibility and showing them what the professional space can look like. Obviously, the sport is growing at the collegiate level, so we want them to continue that in the collegiate level, and after that, there will be a professional space for them to play,” said Guppy Uppal, a team representative.Players and parents are hopeful for the future of the sport. “I want to go to college to do this and play professionally,” said Holloway. Haynes added, “With this coming, this has opened up a lot of doors for a lot of girls who have never thought about competing on the next level when it comes to sports.”The outreach program is just the beginning of what the professional team has planned. Over the next eight weeks, the team will travel across Northern California to build connections with high school flag programs and shine a spotlight on local talent.”This is the opportunity for us to really go out there and build our touch point with the girls’ high school flag programs across the Northern California region, but also amplify the talent that is that currently exists here,” said a team representative.The Golden State Storm will highlight 24 matches this fall across the Sacramento and San Joaquin regions, all in hopes of growing flag football in Northern California.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

    FAIRFIELD, Calif. —

    The Golden State Storm, Northern California’s newest professional women’s football team, is highlighting high school girls’ flag football to inspire the next generation of athletes.

    “This has opened the door for them to actually be able to show off their skill, their speed, their agility, and really just be rock stars out there,” said Nichelle Haynes, a parent.

    The Vanden Vikings girls’ flag football team, formed last year, is one of the teams benefiting from this initiative. Players have expressed excitement about the camaraderie and teamwork they experience.

    “It’s fun. There’s a lot of team chemistry. We’ve all been friends before we even got on the team. So like, if we play as a team, we’re going to win as a team,” said Makenna Holloway, a player for Vanden High School.

    Parents like Nichelle are thrilled about the opportunities now available for girls interested in flag football.

    “I mean, I’m super excited about all the opportunities that they have now for the girls playing flag football. So, I mean, it’s about time, right? Because so many women have always had an interest in football. We just never had an entryway,” said Haynes.

    The Storm is hosting its first-ever Golden State Showdown matchup, featuring Vanden and Rocklin high schools, to provide accessibility and showcase what the professional space can look like. The team aims to encourage players to continue the sport at the collegiate level and beyond.

    “This is more so for us to really just focus on providing accessibility and showing them what the professional space can look like. Obviously, the sport is growing at the collegiate level, so we want them to continue that in the collegiate level, and after that, there will be a professional space for them to play,” said Guppy Uppal, a team representative.

    Players and parents are hopeful for the future of the sport.

    “I want to go to college to do this and play professionally,” said Holloway.

    Haynes added, “With this coming, this has opened up a lot of doors for a lot of girls who have never thought about competing on the next level when it comes to sports.”

    The outreach program is just the beginning of what the professional team has planned. Over the next eight weeks, the team will travel across Northern California to build connections with high school flag programs and shine a spotlight on local talent.

    “This is the opportunity for us to really go out there and build our touch point with the girls’ high school flag programs across the Northern California region, but also amplify the talent that is that currently exists here,” said a team representative.

    The Golden State Storm will highlight 24 matches this fall across the Sacramento and San Joaquin regions, all in hopes of growing flag football in Northern California.

    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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  • Twitch hates the silly girl

    Twitch hates the silly girl

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    >Shondo gets very, very drunk on stream
    >Makes her admit she’s sad and depressed every day because of her mental illness and her family getting sicker, and especially says she’s constantly terrified of losing what she has
    >She wakes up the morning after and finds she’s banned without even getting an email at first, only gets this email after she demands answers
    >”We care about you, so we’re removing your income for a month”

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  • Dooming

    Dooming

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    Burned the **** out, girl is stressing me the **** out and blaming me for everything, unable to take personal accountability unsurprisingly.
    So I’m taking off for the middle of nowhere without cell service to sleep in my hammock and float in the river and get **** faced for a while. Might just not come back and become one with the trees.

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  • Hawk Tuah Girl, ‘Clipped’ Finale, and the Karen Read Trial

    Hawk Tuah Girl, ‘Clipped’ Finale, and the Karen Read Trial

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    Jodi and Chelsea are going all over the worldwide web this week, starting with updates on TikTok’s favorite courtroom drama, the Karen Read trial (5:50), before finally being ready to talk about the international implications of Hawk Tuah Girl (16:20). Then, Jodi tells Chelsea what she’s looking forward to this year, like the potential of Gladiator II and Wicked: Part One becoming 2024’s Barbenheimer (32:24), and a very Josh Hartnett summer (39:24). Finally, they talk about the last two episodes of Clipped, the portrayal of the notorious “silly rabbit” interview, and how the finale left them feeling (46:15), before sharing their personal obsessions of the week (1:0 0:15).

    Hosts: Jodi Walker and Chelsea Stark-Jones
    Producer: Sasha Ashall

    Subscribe: Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Stitcher

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    Jodi Walker

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