The U.S. Department of Justice says Timothy Ripley was one of 11 people who were associated with a Mexican drug trafficking organization. Between July 2023 and January 2025, leaders arranged for large quantities of methamphetamine to be delivered to the Twin Cities area, where it was broken down into smaller parcels to sell.
In January 2025, someone owed a leader a “substantial amount of money” which they couldn’t pay for. Ripley and three of the others who were charged lured the person who owed money to a location in St. Paul, chained them to a pole and held them against their will, the justice department said.
Ripley, of Maple Grove, Minnesota, was federally indicted with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to kidnap. He pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of firearm possession. The state had charged Ripley with one count each of kidnapping for a reward and kidnapping to commit great bodily harm, but those charges were dropped in favor of the federal case.
The Marion County teenager who faked his own kidnapping earlier this year — which led to an Amber Alert being issued — was sentenced to house arrest for the staged kidnapping.The state attorney’s office said the teen, who WESH 2 is not naming because he was not charged as an adult, will spend at least one year under house arrest with an ankle monitor. He is also required to complete 100 hours of community service, a firearms safety course and a counseling program, and he must pay back the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for resources wasted.The teen was sentenced after pleading no contest to his charges stemming from the staged kidnapping. He disappeared in late September after texting his mom that he had been attacked by several men.The teen went so far as to shoot himself in the leg before turning himself in.
MARION COUNTY, Fla. —
The Marion County teenager who faked his own kidnapping earlier this year — which led to an Amber Alert being issued — was sentenced to house arrest for the staged kidnapping.
The state attorney’s office said the teen, who WESH 2 is not naming because he was not charged as an adult, will spend at least one year under house arrest with an ankle monitor.
He is also required to complete 100 hours of community service, a firearms safety course and a counseling program, and he must pay back the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for resources wasted.
The teen was sentenced after pleading no contest to his charges stemming from the staged kidnapping. He disappeared in late September after texting his mom that he had been attacked by several men.
The teen went so far as to shoot himself in the leg before turning himself in.
A Tennessee man charged with killing four members of the same family and kidnapping a baby before eluding authorities for a week is scheduled Monday to make his first court appearance since he was indicted.
Austin Robert Drummond is expected to appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment in circuit court in Lake County, located in rural northwest Tennessee.
A grand jury indicted Drummond on Nov. 10 on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the July 29 shootings. Drummond had pleaded not guilty in a lower court before a judge ruled there was enough evidence for his case to proceed to the grand jury.
Drummond is accused of the deaths of the parents, grandmother and uncle of an infant found abandoned in a home’s front yard in rural west Tennessee. A weeklong search for Drummond ended on Aug. 5 in Jackson, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of the location of the killings in Tiptonville.
An FBI agent testified at a hearing in September that data from a cellphone used by Drummond showed he was in the vicinity of a wooded area where the bodies were found with gunshot wounds and covered by tarpaulins.
But Drummond’s attorney, Bryan Huffman, argued that there was no evidence presented during the hearing that showed Drummond actually shot any of the victims.
On the day of the shootings, officers responded to a call of an infant in a car seat being dropped off at a “random individual’s front yard” roughly 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Tiptonville, the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office has said.
Then investigators in neighboring Lake County reported four people had been found dead from gunshot wounds in Tiptonville. They were identified as the baby’s parents, James M. Wilson, 21, and Adrianna Williams, 20; Williams’ brother, Braydon Williams, 15; and their mother, Cortney Rose, 38.
Drummond’s girlfriend is the sister of the infant’s grandmother, according to Lake County District Attorney Danny Goodman.
In all, five people have been charged with being accessories after the fact in the case.
Drummond has served prison time for robbing a convenience store and threatening to go after jurors. He was also charged with the attempted murder of a prison guard while behind bars, and he was out on bond at the time of the killings, Goodman has said.
With a population of about 3,400 people, Tiptonville is about 120 miles (195 kilometers) north of Memphis, near the Mississippi River and scenic Reelfoot Lake.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The film, in which he plays a conspiracy theorist who kidnaps and tortures Emma Stone’s pharma CEO, believing her to be an alien, is the kind that might seem small in scope. On a certain level, it’s three people — the possibly insane mastermind Teddy (Plemons), his cousin and accomplice Don (Aidan Delbis) and their victim Michelle Fuller (Stone) — in a basement. And yet, in the hands of filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and his collaborators, it feels big in scope too, with a booming score, raw performances, grand themes about perceptions of reality and the human experiment and an ever-escalating tension as you try to figure out whom to believe.
“It’s a very entertaining film and a ride,” Stone said in an interview alongside her co-star. “It’s not this heavy meditation on something. There is a bit of absurdism and that stamp that he (Yorgos) puts on everything where there’s humor laced all throughout.”
“Bugonia” arrives in select theaters this weekend on a wave of good buzz and reviews after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. But it’s also coming into a theatrical marketplace that has been, at best, tough on art films and awards hopefuls, no matter how starry or well-reviewed.
Lanthimos’ films have broken through the noise before, especially when Stone is involved. “Poor Things” was hardly an assured box office hit, but managed to make over $117 million — over three times its production budget — by the end of its run.
“Bugonia” marks Stone’s fourth film with Lanthimos and Plemons’ second — they both recently appeared in his “Kinds of Kindness.” And they hope it breaks the current streak of art house fizzles.
Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone pose at the premiere of “Bugonia” in London, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone pose at the premiere of “Bugonia” in London, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
“It’s a movie that feels made to be experienced in theaters,” Plemons said. “I’d like to talk to all the people out there right now and say, ‘You can do it. You can pause Netflix, and come back to it, but you should see this in a theater.’”
Stone chimed in, laughing: “He said it! He said the controversial thing!”
From ‘Save the Green Planet’ to ‘Bugonia’
“Bugonia” is based on a 2003 Korean movie called “Save the Green Planet!” which also blended elements of science fiction and black comedy in its satirical meditation on truth and corporate misdeeds. It was the era of the coronavirus lockdowns when the idea of making an English-language version took hold, with screenwriter Will Tracy (“Succession,” “The Menu”) behind the adaptation. In Tracy’s script, the setting would switch to the U.S. and the CEO would become a woman.
“Sometimes you make these big decisions like that and it’s not like there’s a lot of premeditation about why and gender politics and any of it,” Tracy said. “It just seemed interesting.”
The gender switch had been made before Lanthimos came on board three years ago, but it was the kind of choice that opened up a door for him to call one of his favorites: Stone.
“So much about the story was intriguing,” Stone said. “This sort of tightrope walk of what she’s being accused of. The tension between her and Teddy.”
Also, she said, there was something exciting about playing the kind of boss who makes big pronouncements about staff feeling free to leave at 5:30 p.m. — unless, of course, they have work to do.
Emma Stone in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
Emma Stone in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
“Speaking these sorts of corporate-trained platitudes was really fascinating, to learn how to sort of give the illusion of humanity and connection, but done in a way that’s obviously allowed through HR,” Stone said.
It was Lanthimos’ idea to make the title “Bugonia,” which comes from a Greek word referring to a belief that bees were born out of the carcass of a dead ox. Teddy was always a beekeeper on the side, but suddenly they had an apt extended metaphor to play around with, too.
The non-professional breakout star
At Teddy’s side throughout the ordeal is Don, who seems to have his own misgivings about the plan and causing Michelle pain, but whose first loyalty is to his cousin — the only person who seems to care about him. Lanthimos wanted to cast a non-professional, neurodivergent actor in the role and worked with casting director Jennifer Venditti, who had helped make a documentary about a neurodivergent kid, to find the right person.
Delbis, who is autistic, did not do any training before joining the cast at age 17. Some little changes to the script were made to reflect his way of speaking and his presence. But the point, Lanthimos said, was that “he would bring his own experience and perception and way of thinking and energy. And that was what was so priceless.”
Stavros Halkias, Aidan Delbis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Alicia Silverstone and Jesse Plemons attend the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Stavros Halkias, Aidan Delbis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Alicia Silverstone and Jesse Plemons attend the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
It’s perhaps the most important relationship in the film, and Plemons said that he immediately felt bonded to Delbis.
“We just hit it off very quickly and very quickly he began to feel like my cousin that I wanted to protect and hang out with,” Plemons said.
Fighting for a vision
“Bugonia” is a surprisingly physical film, which everyone learned the hard way. Plemons and Stone worked with stunt coordinators for the big fights and the kidnapping scene. But she didn’t foresee just how much physicality was involved in being a captive, bloody, slathered in antihistamine cream and constantly trying to break free.
“Generally I think it was quite a challenge for everyone because it’s such a constrained film, just being in those few locations,” Lanthimos said. “We started forgetting what day it was, and if it was day or night outside.”
Plemons also had quite a bit of biking and running around for the exciting final 30 minutes of the film.
“Hats off to them for putting up with my writing,” Tracy said.
Emma Stone attends the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Emma Stone attends the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Stone, who also produced, remembered filming a scene one night in which she’s walking barefoot through a parking lot with ambulances all around her and giving Tracy some grief. What sounded fairly straightforward took on a lot of complications because they were shooting in England and the vehicles needed to be American.
“I was like, ‘You were just sitting there in your room, and you wrote one sentence: Michelle limps across the parking and there are ambulances,’” Stone said. “It was just like, wow must be nice! We spent a lot of money on that one line you wrote. You could have cut it!” Stone said.
She is mostly kidding. It might have been expensive, but they still did the shot. As a producer, Stone says she wants nothing more than to protect the integrity of a film, whether she’s acting in it or not.
“The American film system is really tricky with notes and studios and so many things that come in the way of people being able to realize that vision in the fullest capacity,” Stone said. “There’s no better feeling than getting to help facilitate someone bringing their story to life in the fullest way that they can imagine it being, and trying to be their advocate throughout every step of the process.”
After being found guilty at retrial earlier this month, Lyndon Wiggins is seeking a third trial over his role in the 2019 kidnapping and killing of Minneapolis realtor Monique Baugh.
Wiggins was set to be sentenced on Thursday, but his defense filed a motion for a new trial. The judge said he would have to read through the new motion before making a decision.
Wiggins, 40, was originally convicted in June 2022 and sentenced to life in prison. The Minnesota Supreme Court later reversed his conviction, saying the trial judge gave erroneous legal instructions to the jury. In a retrial that lasted nearly a month, Wiggins was convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder, aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated attempted murder, aiding and abetting kidnapping and aiding and abetting first-degree murder while committing kidnapping.
Monique Baugh’s mother said she is emotionally exhausted after sitting through two trials.
“I just think this is her strategy, this is the way that she works, and when I say she, I’m talking about his defense attorney,” Wanda Williams Baugh said. “Because you wait until the day of sentencing, you send a 13-page motion to get a new trial right before sentencing? I mean, who does that, who does that?”
Court documents said Wiggins and his codefendant, Elsa Segura, set up a fake home showing for Monique Baugh in a Minneapolis suburb. When she arrived at the Maple Grove, Minnesota, home on New Year’s Eve, two men abducted her, then drove to her boyfriend’s home, where one of them shot him.
Monique Baugh was shot three times and later died from her injuries. Her boyfriend identified Wiggins as a possible suspect.
The state Supreme Court also overturned Segura’s original conviction, but she subsequently pleaded guilty to kidnapping in 2024 and earned a 20-year prison sentence. The two other men involved, Cedric Berry and Berry Davis, received life sentences without the possibility of parole for their roles.
Monique Baugh, 27, was a mother of two who worked for Kris Lindahl Real Estate, which set up a fundraiser for her children after her death. Her aunt told WCCO in 2020 that she was “always happy, always nice to people.”
The memorial service for Kada Scott, the 23-year-old East Mount Airy woman who was kidnapped and killed last month, will be open to the public, the family announced.
The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ, located at 6401 Ogontz Ave., and be hosted by Meachem & Prioleau Funeral Home.
“Because of the overwhelming number of people who loved Kada and wish to honor her memory, the family has decided to open the funeral service to the public,” said a statement from the funeral home. “All who wish to attend are welcome to join in celebrating her life, provided they do so with reverence, respect and compassion.”
Seating will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. In honor of Scott’s “beautiful spirit and bright personality,” guests are asked to dress in shades of pink for the service.
A fundraising campaign that was set up on GoFundMe to cover the funeral expenses had amassed over $23,500 as of Wednesday afternoon.
“We are profoundly grateful for everyone who stood by us — those who donated, shared her story and prayed for her safe return,” a family statement on the page reads. “Our hope is that her story will continue to bring awareness and resources to other families still searching for their loved ones. … Thank you for standing with us, for keeping Kada’s memory alive and for helping us turn her light into hope for others.”
Scott disappeared on Oct. 4, shortly after showing up to work at a Chestnut Hill assisted living facility. Two weeks later, her body was foundburied in a shallow grave behind Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School in East Germantown.
Keon King, 21, has been charged with kidnapping, murder, arson and other charges related to the case and is being held without bail. He was arrested earlier this year for allegedly kidnapping another woman, throwing her into his car and assaulting her. Charges against him were dropped in May after the woman and a witness failed to show up to two court hearings, but they were refiled after King was arrested in the Scott case.
TEL AVIV—The body of the last dead American hostage in Gaza was returned by Hamas after more than two years, marking the close of
a painful chapter for U.S. families whose relatives were taken by the militant group.
Itay Chen, 19, an Israeli-American soldier who also holds German citizenship, was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack while fighting off militants with his tank crew in southern Israel. Chen was one of around 250 hostages taken during the attack, including around a dozen U.S. nationals, according to the Hostages Families Forum, an advocacy group.
Two people were arrested after an older woman told bank employees in Ceres, California, that she had been kidnapped and was ordered to withdraw a large amount of money, according to police. Wells Fargo employees reported the incident to police on Thursday. Police responded and immediately arrested a woman who police later learned identified herself with a false name. Police said that 33-year-old Nicholas Payton, who is a felon on probation, was also involved in the kidnapping. He fled the area before police arrived but was arrested a block away.Officers said they found a loaded rifle without a serial number in Payton’s backpack. Both suspects were booked on kidnapping, elder abuse charges and conspiracy to commit a crime charges. Payton was also booked for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, a prohibited person in possession of ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm in public, carrying a firearm while in possession of a controlled substance, and possession of an unserialized firearm.The victim was reunited with her family.Police said Saturday that they later learned with the help of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and fingerprint analysis that one of the suspect’s real names was Stephanie Maghoney. She had an active felony warrant for her arrest in Tracy, California, for burglary. Maghoney was re-arrested for that outstanding warrant and now also faces a felony charge for false impersonation.
CERES, Calif. —
Two people were arrested after an older woman told bank employees in Ceres, California, that she had been kidnapped and was ordered to withdraw a large amount of money, according to police.
Wells Fargo employees reported the incident to police on Thursday. Police responded and immediately arrested a woman who police later learned identified herself with a false name.
Police said that 33-year-old Nicholas Payton, who is a felon on probation, was also involved in the kidnapping. He fled the area before police arrived but was arrested a block away.
Officers said they found a loaded rifle without a serial number in Payton’s backpack. Both suspects were booked on kidnapping, elder abuse charges and conspiracy to commit a crime charges.
Payton was also booked for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, a prohibited person in possession of ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm in public, carrying a firearm while in possession of a controlled substance, and possession of an unserialized firearm.
The victim was reunited with her family.
Police said Saturday that they later learned with the help of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and fingerprint analysis that one of the suspect’s real names was Stephanie Maghoney.
She had an active felony warrant for her arrest in Tracy, California, for burglary.
Maghoney was re-arrested for that outstanding warrant and now also faces a felony charge for false impersonation.
An active-duty U.S. Marine has been arrested on accusations of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl from Indiana with the intent of sexually assaulting her, the FBI said Thursday.
William Richard Roy, 24, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, flew to Chicago last week, met the girl in a park and then took her to a hotel overnight before boarding a bus to Durham, North Carolina, the FBI said in a statement.
The girl’s grandmother first reported her missing on Friday, according to the statement.
The FBI arrested Roy when he arrived in Durham on Sunday and the girl was “safely recovered,” the agency said.
Roy faces three charges, which entail enticing and transporting a minor across state lines for an illicit sexual act.
Public records listed one working number that appeared to be associated with Roy, but the person who picked up declined to comment.
The U.S. Marine Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An active-duty U.S. Marine has been arrested on accusations of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl from Indiana with the intent of sexually assaulting her, the FBI said Thursday.
William Richard Roy, 24, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, flew to Chicago last week, met the girl in a park and then took her to a hotel overnight before boarding a bus to Durham, North Carolina, the FBI said in a statement.
The girl’s grandmother first reported her missing on Friday, according to the statement.
The FBI arrested Roy when he arrived in Durham on Sunday and the girl was “safely recovered,” the agency said.
Roy faces three charges, which entail enticing and transporting a minor across state lines for an illicit sexual act.
Public records listed one working number that appeared to be associated with Roy, but the person who picked up declined to comment.
The U.S. Marine Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police fatally shot a person accused of kidnapping a woman and killing two others in west Charlotte on Thursday afternoon.
Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers shot and killed a person in west Charlotte who had been accused of fatally shooting two other people and kidnapping a third.
One person was found dead at the scene and another died at after being taken to the hospital, a CMPD press release said.
Shortly thereafter, police got another call in the same area about a kidnapping and home invasion, Jennings said. CMPD said the suspect was driving a stolen vehicle.
Officers spotted the vehicle, with the suspect driving and the kidnapped woman in the passenger seat, the chief said.
Officers chased the vehicle while the suspect fired at their cars. The suspect crashed his vehicle at the intersection of Freedom Drive and West Morehead Street, got out and ran away. Officers continued the chase on foot.
“As they were running, the suspect continued to fire rounds at officers,” Jennings said. Officers fired back and hit the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene. A firearm was recovered at the scene, the news release said.
None of the officers was seriously hurt; the woman was uninjured. She was found near the scene, Jennings said.
Four officers were taken to the hospital as a precaution, the news release said.
The officers involved were placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol after a shooting involving police. The State Bureau of Investigation will investigate the shooting, CMPD’s news release said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Jeff A. Chamer is a breaking news reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He’s lived a few places, but mainly in Michigan where he grew up. Before joining the Observer, Jeff covered K-12 and higher education at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel identified the body of a deceased hostage Sunday morning, after Hamas handed over two bodies of what the militant group said are deceased hostages to the Red Cross late Saturday night.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the body was identified as Ronen Engel. The second body is still undergoing identification at Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine. Engel, 54, was killed during the Oct. 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border. His wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.
The move comes as Israel threatened to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed “until further notice.” The statement by Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.
Hamas has handed over the remains of 11 identified hostages. Israel has returned the bodies of 135 Palestinians to Gaza.
The handover of remains is among key points — along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory’s future — in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.
Opening of Rafah crossing a key issue
The Rafah crossing is the only one that was not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For Palestinians who want to leave Gaza, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allow entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter the Gaza Strip will need to apply at the embassy in Cairo for relevant entry documents.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in the territory. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate of wartime deaths by U.N. agencies and many independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.
Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas says discussions begin about 2nd phase of ceasefire negotiations
Hamas said discussions are underway with mediators on arrangements for launching negotiations on the second phase of the Trump plan to end the war in Gaza.
Hazem Kassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement late Saturday that the second phase negotiations “require national consensus.”
He said Hamas has begun discussions to solidify their positions on the issues but didn’t provide further details.
According to Trump’s plan, the second phase of negotiations include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an international-backed authority to run the embattled Gaza Strip.
Kassem reiterated that the group won’t be part of the ruling authority in a post-war Gaza. Hamas-run government bodies in the Gaza Strip are running day-to-day affairs to avoid a power vacuum, he said.
“Government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions,” he said.
Kassem called for a prompt establishment of the Community Support Committee, a body of Palestinian technocrats, to run the day-to-day affairs.
US accuses Hamas of planning attack against Palestinians in Gaza
“This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,” it said in a statement.
There was no immediate Hamas comment on the State Department statement. However, the Interior Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, has said its forces were working to restore law and order across areas Israel’s military withdrew from following the ceasefire.
Hamas-led fighters clashed with at least two armed groups in eastern Gaza City that Hamas alleges are involved in looting aid and collaborating with Israel. They executed a handful of suspects in public, in widely condemned street killings. __
Magdy reported from Cairo.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities in Philadelphia said Friday that they are no closer to locating a missing 23-year-old woman who disappeared from her nursing home job nearly two weeks ago, urging residents to come forward with even the smallest of potential clues.
District Attorney Larry Krasner used an afternoon news conference to lament “systemic issues” that he said led to 21-year-old Keon King, the man arrested and charged with kidnapping, stalking and other charges in the disappearance of Kada Scott, to go free after being charged in a similar case earlier this year.
“There is no doubt that there’s a list of people in this office, outside of this office — and, no, it doesn’t matter who they are — but there’s a list of people who made a lot of good decisions and a couple decisions that could have been made better,” he said.
Krasner pointed, in part, to the cash bail system. He said that prosecutors sought bail of just under $1 million in the earlier case but that the judge set the amount at $200,000 — which King was able to pay.
That meant his accuser would have had to come to the courthouse and testify “knowing that the defendant will walk out the same door she came in.” That reality likely deterred her from testifying against King, he said, which resulted in the charges being dropped. Since Scott disappeared on Oct. 4, charges in the earlier case have been refiled.
In the Scott case, King’s bail has been set at $2.5 million and he remains in custody. Krasner urged any other women he has victimized to come forward now with their stories — promising that they will be kept safe.
Police have found a damaged car they believe King was driving at the time of Scott’s disappearance and other evidence linking him to the missing woman. Authorities also say King was the last person in contact with Scott, but Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski said Friday that investigators are no closer to locating her or determining what happened to her.
King has a preliminary hearing in the Scott case on Nov. 3. A message was left seeking comment for a lawyer listed as his defense attorney.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
JONESBORO, Ga. — JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) — A suburban Atlanta man has been charged with murder in the death of his six-month-old son after initially telling police the baby was kidnapped during an armed robbery.
Antonio Pearce told police on Sunday that his son, Nnakai Pratt, was snatched by robbers. Clayton County Police said Pearce told them two armed men dressed in black stole $6,500 in cash and 3 pounds (1.36 kilograms) of marijuana from an apartment he was using as a stash house in Riverdale, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) south of Atlanta. He told them the men then snatched his son, who was in a car seat, and fled.
Searchers found Nnakai’s body in nearby woods on Tuesday evening after two days of looking. Police had already arrested Pearce on Sunday, charging him with marijuana possession and traffic offenses. They later added a false statement charge because he kept changing his story.
Pearce was charged Wednesday with Nnakai’s murder, court records show. He was also charged with concealing a death, tampering with evidence, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, cruelty to a child and falsely reporting a crime.
No lawyer is listed for Pearce in court records.
A judge denied him bail during a bond hearing Wednesday on the false statements charge.
“You did provide contradictory statements in an investigation of a missing child, and when witness accounts verified your contradictory statements, you admitted to concealing and falsifying material facts,” Clayton County Magistrate Judge Keisha Hill Wright told Pearce on Wednesday.
The infant was a twin and his surviving brother is in the care of their mother, who has not been charged.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang welcomed Avinatan Or from “two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity” in Gaza, saying a number of the chip giant’s families had suffered losses during the war.
An electrical engineer at Nvidia in Israel, 32-year-old Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023 along with 250 others including his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, whose desperate cries on the back of a motorcycle became one of the most haunting images of the Hamas attack.
“Avinatan — welcome home. Your safe return brings profound relief and joy to the entire Nvidia. We are here for you and for your family as you begin this next chapter of healing,” Huang wrote in a letter sent to Nvidia employees and seen by Reuters.
Or was released on Monday after 738 days in captivity by Hamas, in a U.S.-brokered deal to end the two-year war in Gaza under which Israel is now pushing for the return of the bodies of dead hostages.
Video footage showed Or arriving at Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv after his release, accompanied by his family and by Argamani, who spent 246 days in Gaza and was rescued by Israeli soldiers.
Citing testimonies from the hostages and initial medical reports, Israeli media said Or was starved and lost up to 40% of his body weight. He was completely isolated and did not see other hostages.
Huang wrote that “night after night” Nvidia employees had stood in a vigil with Or’s mother Ditza. He noted that for two years, thousands of Nvidia employees in Israel served in the military.
“Many have faced immense pain, loss, and uncertainty. Some have lost family members or loved ones,” he said. “The losses to our Jewish, Druze, and Arab families alike have been immense.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Or and four other former hostages at the hospital on Wednesday.
Nvidia, a leading designer of high-end AI chips, entered Israel in 2020, and it is planning to expand there. It is located in Yokne’am, a hub for tech companies near Haifa.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City man charged with killing an elderly couple and then setting their house on fire during a horrific home invasion last month had also attempted to drain their bank accounts before using their credit cards to go on a shopping spree, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Jamel McGriff, a serial robbery suspect on parole, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to multiple counts of murder, kidnapping and arson, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office.
The 42-year-old Bronx resident is charged in the Sept. 8 killings of Frank Olton, 76, and Maureen Olton, 77, in their home in the New York City borough of Queens.
Prosecutors say McGriff had been going door-to-door asking residents if he could come in to charge his cellphone. They say he spoke with Frank Olton, who had offered to help, before McGriff forced his way into the couple’s home, where he remained for nearly five hours.
Firefighters responding to a report of a house fire found Frank Olton’s body in the basement tied to a pole and with multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. Maureen Olton’s badly burned body was found in the living room.
Prosecutors in court Tuesday said McGriff had set the house on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence of the killings, the Daily News reports. They said Maureen Olton appears to have been tied to a chair and strangled to death.
Prosecutors said McGriff also unsuccessfully attempted to transfer more than $10,000 from the couple’s accounts to his own.
He took the couple’s credit cards as well, spending nearly $800 on clothes at a Macy’s in midtown Manhattan just hours after the killings, they said. McGriff was caught the following day after going to a movie in Times Square, prosecutors said in court Tuesday, the Daily News reports.
The convicted felon, who was on parole after serving 16 years in prison, was ordered held until his next court date on Nov. 12. If convicted, McGriff faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing McGriff, said in a statement Tuesday that it is in the early stages of investigating the case and urged the public “not to draw any conclusions until all the facts are known.”
A 28-year-old New York man was arrested outside an outdoor mall in Chino Hills on allegations that he, along with a female partner, kidnapped a 51-year-old woman and drove her across the country to commit fraud to repay debts she owed, according to authorities.
During the cross-country trek, the suspect, Rahson Govantes, and an unidentified woman are accused of torturing their victim by burning her with cigarettes and a curling iron, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department news release.
Deputies discovered the victim, a resident of North Carolina, and Govantes acting suspiciously and loitering outside a Sephora store in Chino Hills on Saturday afternoon, according to deputies.
Booking photo of Rahson Govantes.
(San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department)
Deputies arrested Govantes and booked him on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, torture, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s department said. Detectives are trying to determine whether there are additional victims, and released Govantes’ booking photo. Authorities have not been able to identify the other woman who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping, and she remains at large, according to the sheriff’s department.
Anyone who may have been victimized by Govantes or anyone with information about the case can contact the Chino Hills Police Department at (909) 364-2000. Anonymous calls can be made to We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78CRIME (27463) or at www.wetip.com.
NIR OZ, Israel—Inside the bomb shelter of a small house in this kibbutz near the Gaza border, a heart is scrawled on the wall around the letters “AA,” short for Ariel and Arbel.
Above it is a note written by one of them, a former hostage, to the other, her fiancé still in captivity: “I will wait for you, I love you more.”
Israeli authorities were preparing to receive the last hostages still alive in Gaza, after Hamas told mediators it had
20 living captives in its custody and was ready to begin setting them free.
The message, which the militant group sent to Israel through intermediaries, marked the first time Hamas has confirmed the number of hostages it holds. It also addressed uncertainty about whether Hamas, in its battered and fragmented state, could quickly assemble all the living hostages and pointed to a possibly accelerated timetable for their release.
