Susan never gave up hope that her grandson would one day be found.
Wishing him his last happy birthday message, she posted on Facebook: “Please just give me a sign that you are okay.
“All I want to know is that you’re alive and well. It’s been years of torture. My heart is broken.
“I love you so much. I hope that I will see you again some day. I would give anything just for one hug.”
Alex ‘is well and providing information’
Alex is now apparently with social services while Greater Manchester Police work with French authorities.
Manchester cops said: “This is a complex and long-running investigation, and we need to make further enquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place.”
A French police spokesman added: “We can confirm that the young man who has been found is Alex Batty. He is well and providing information”.
Alex’s grandmother ‘thrilled’
Susan spoke to The Sun from her home today and said she was “thrilled” that her grandson has finally been found.
She said: “I am so happy. I have spoken to him and he is well.
“He is currently with the authorities in France. It is such a shock.
“I don’t know where his mum is. It is great news. I am just waiting for him to come home – I am thrilled.”
The 17-year-old reportedly fled a rural “spiritual community” in the Pyreneese mountains where he had been living in caravans and tents with Melanie and David.
Alex’s mum ‘didn’t believe in mainstream school’
Speaking in 2018, Alex’s guardian and grandmother Susan said: “On the Sunday, they were due back in the afternoon and my husband was going to go and pick them up.
“I got this message on Facebook and it was a YouTube video of the three of them.
“They all spoke on it and Melanie said the reasons why they had done what they had done.
“Alex said it was a million times better being with his mum and grandad. Obviously it hurt me a bit but then my other concerns kicked in.
“The reason I believe they have done this is because basically my lifestyle, my belief systems, are not what they agree with – just simply living day to day, how normal people do.
“They didn’t want him to go to school, they don’t believe in mainstream school.”
Who is Melanie Batty?
Melanie Batty is the mother of Alex, who is reportedly living in France.
However, it is understood that Melanie did not have legal parental guardianship of her son.
THE GRANDMOTHER of a British boy who went missing six years ago spoke of her joy after he was finally found safe and well in France.
Alex Batty was just 11 years old when he disappeared during a family holiday in Spain in 2017.
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Alex Batty disappeared six years during a family holiday in SpainCredit: Greater Manchester Police
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Alex’s gran, Susan Caruana, said she was “thrilled” her grandson has been found aliveCredit: PA:Press Association
The youngster, now 17, was travelling with his mum, Melanie, then 37, and grandfather David, then 58, when they failed to return home, sparking a kidnapping investigation.
“I am just waiting for him to come home – I am thrilled.”
Susan, who never gave up hope of finding him, revealed in 2018 that she believed her daughter and ex-husband had taken him abroad to live an “alternative lifestyle”.
Alex’s grandmother Susan has never given up hope that her grandson would be found.
Wishing him his last happy birthday message, she posted on Facebook: “Please just give me a sign that you are okay.
“All I want to know is that you’re alive and well.
“It’s been years of torture. My heart is broken.
“I love you so much. I hope that I will see you again some day. I would give anything just for one hug.”
In a statement, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “We are supporting a British national in France and are in contact with local authorities.”
Alex’s mother and grandfather remain wanted in connection with his disappearance.
Prosecutors yesterday revealed that the lad has been found alive and well nearly 900 miles away in Revel, near Toulouse, France, after fleeing a “spiritual community”.
Investigators believe Alex had been living in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
After days of hiking, he was reportedly picked up by a lorry driver who became suspicious and called police.
Alex was walking along a road with a backpack, skateboard and headlamp.
On the way to the police station he reportedly asked to borrow the man’s phone and sent his grandmother a message via Facebook Messenger letting her know he was alive.
It’s claimed he’d had enough living the “alternative lifestyle” and decided to leave.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed they are in contact with the French authorities.
Local newspaper reports said: “The Alex Batty mystery is about to be solved.
“Although he did not show any official document to the gendarmes who took him in, this young 17-year-old boy provided his identity on his own.
“His face and his story correspond in every way to that of the Briton kidnapped in 2017.
“’This Thursday the Toulouse public prosecutor confirmed that it is indeed Alex Batty.
“The teenager was entrusted to the department’s social services.”
The teen reportedly told the story of what had happened to him “serenely and calmly”.
He had flown out to Spain on a pre-agreed trip with his mum and grandfather for a week-long stay in the Benahavis area, near Marbella.
But they never returned home on October 8, 2017, sparking a massive police enquiry into the boy’s apparent abduction.
Alex’s grandmother Susan, then 62, revealed at the time that Melanie and David had previously lived on a commune in Morocco with the boy in 2014.
She said: “They didn’t want Alex to go to school, they don’t believe in mainstream school.”
Both Melanie and David were apparently not supposed to be with Alex at the time due to domestic difficulties.
A spokesperson for GMP said last night: “This is a complex and long-running investigation, and we need to make further enquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place.”
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Alex hiked for days to escape before a lorry driver picked him up and contacted policeCredit: PA:Press Association
FIVE people have died in a massive avalanche in Iran and four others have been left seriously injured.
Rescue workers found five bodies on the 13,000 ft mountain after local authorities warned about the risks following extreme weather.
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Rescue workers found five bodies on the 13,000 ft mountain after the avalanche
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The climbers had been warned about weather conditions before they began the ascent on Thursday
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Rescuers dig for survivors in the snow
Four survivors were rushed to hospital on Friday after starting the dangerous climb the day before.
The climbers were taking on Iran’s 4,150-metre Oshtorankuh mountain, around 180 miles southwest of Tehran, when they were caught up in the snow.
Its highest San Boran peak, has seen extreme weather conditions of heavy rain and snow in recent weeks, according to state news outlet IRNA.
In a statement, the Iranian Red Crescent said: “Yesterday, following the avalanche in Oshtorankuh, Lorestan, nine people had an accident, of which four people were taken to the hospital with the efforts of aid workers, and unfortunately five people were also missing.
“The bodies of two of the missing people were found yesterday.
“The bodies of three more missing climbers were found a few minutes ago with the efforts of the Red Crescent rescuers.”
While avalanches are not common in Iran, a deadly one in 2020 killed 12 people in mountains north of Tehran.
The Iranian Red Crescent posted footage online of rescuers working to free any survivors from the snow and to find bodies of those who didn’t survive.
They said in a statement under the clip on Thursday: “The moment one of the missing climbers was found by Red Crescent rescuers.
“Before noon today (December 3) following the avalanche in Ashtrankoh Lorestan, unfortunately 5 climbers were missing and the bodies of 2 people were found during the search and rescue operation.
“The search operation for 3 other climbers is still ongoing.”
A POTENTIAL new witness has been identified in the heartbreaking case of a missing toddler that has puzzled police for decades.
Cheryl Grimmer was just three years old when she vanished from an Australian beach in 1970.
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Cheryl Grimmer is believed to have been kidnapped from a changing area at the seaside in 1970, when she was aged threeCredit: PA
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Carole Grimmer with her three sons, Stephen, Ricki and Paul, the day after Cheryl disappeared from Fairy Meadow Beach, NSWCredit: Caters News Agency
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The military join police in the search for three-year-old CherylCredit: Caters News Agency
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A potential new witness has come forward with information that could lead police to answers in the mysterious case of Cheryl Grimmer, pictured aged threeCredit: Caters News Agency
Her family had migrated to Fairy Meadow, New South Wales from Bristol about two years prior in search of a better life.
Both of Cheryl‘s parents, Carole and John, sadly died without ever learning what happened to their daughter.
But Cheryl’s brothers Ricki, Stephen, and Paul, who have never stopped looking for their sister, might see the case solved in their lifetimes with a new witness now reportedly speaking to police.
The potential new eyewitness, whose identity has been kept private, was a child himself when Cheryl disappeared.
But what he claims to have seen the day the three-year-old vanished was “etched in my mind” forever.
The man says he remembers seeing a teenage boy leave the female changing rooms at Fairy Meadow Beach with a small child on a windy afternoon in January, 1970 – when he was seven.
It is understood Cheryl disappeared from the same changing rooms on January 12, 1970, when her brother turned away from her for a few seconds.
The three-year-old had spent a few happy hours playing with her brothers in the surf, enjoying the summerholidays, when winds picked up dramatically.
Cheryl’s mum Carole gathered her family’s things while her three sons took their sister with them to the beach’s shower block.
The possible eyewitness explained on a new episode of BBC podcast Fairy Meadow: “When I glanced back at the toilet block, the profile of the guy was sort of full-stride with this baby in his arm, just kind of screaming and yelling at his hip, like low on his hip.
He added: “I heard this screaming of the kid. That’s what caught my ear. What was that shrieking sound? I turned around and that’s what I saw.”
The man believes he can pinpoint the memory of the boy – who he said was of average build with medium-dark hair – to January 12, 1970 due to the day’s windy conditions.
With no English skills, having just relocated with his family to Australia from eastern Europe, and no idea a child was believed to have been abducted, the man did not think to approach police.
He said: “We had only been in the country for three or four weeks. We didn’t have a TV and we never read the newspapers at that time.
“We were oblivious to what was really going on. It wasn’t even on my radar that it was such an important thing that I saw.”
A friend of the man recently emailed the Fairy Meadow podcast with details of his story, which she said he had recounted for several years.
Former Det Sgt Damian Loone has since spoken to the man about his “compelling” testimony.
He said it was the first account anyone had provided of a teenage boy carrying a child from the beach.
Former Det Sgt Loone said: “He sounded very credible to me – and what he says he saw on that particular day is very important and it should be fully investigated.”
Detective Inspector Brad Ainsworth of New South Wales Police said in 2016 the teenager “was about 17 or 18 at the time so he’d be in his early sixties now.
He added: “It’s a big burden to carry around for nearly 50 years.”
Cheryl’s eldest brother Ricki said he is now “praying with everything I have left that police will now follow through and investigate… I won’t sleep until it’s over. And the only way it’s going to be over is when I hear the truth.”
The fresh development comes after officers discovered a confession made to police by a teenage boy a year after Cheryl disappeared.
A man in his sixties was charged with murder in 2016, only for a judge to rule later that the confession could not be presented as evidence in a trial.
The defendant, known only by his police codename “Mercury”, was freed and all charges – which he denied – were dropped.
New South Wales Police announced a $1million (£524,000) reward for information leading to a successful conviction in the case in 2020.
It is understood NSW Police made contact with the potential new witness in the past few days.
Cheryl’s niece, Ricki’s daughter, Melanie said last year: “We keep campaigning for Cheryl.
“She never had the chance to grow up and be my auntie, so I want her voice to be heard.”
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John Grimmer with his daughter, Cheryl Grimmer, who disappeared from Fairy MeadowCredit: Getty
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Cheryl is believed to have been abducted while on holiday with her familyCredit: 60 minutes
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Cheryl’s brother Stephen, who was just five when his sister went missingCredit: Caters News Agency
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A man (left) extradited from Victoria in connection with the 1970 abduction and murder Cheryl Grimmer is escorted by NSW police at an airport in 2017Credit: PA
Officials are searching for a 25-year-old woman who never showed up for a camping reservation at Big Bend National Park.
The National Park Service said that Christy Perry picked up a car rental in Midland, Texas on Nov. 8. The vehicle was seen parked at the trailhead for Big Bend’s Lost Mine trail the next day, but Perry did not arrive for a camping reservation at the park’s Chisos Basin Campground that same day.
Her family later reported that she did not return home from the camping trip, park officials said.
According to a flyer from the National Park Service, Perry is a Korean woman with brown hair and brown eyes who is approximately five feet and two inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. Anyone who may have seen her while hiking the Lost Mine trail on Nov. 8 or 9 is asked to contact the NPS.
A search is currently underway for a hiker reported missing. Christy Perry is a 25-year-old female, 5’2″ tall, 100…
Park rangers and U.S. Border Patrol Agents searched the Lost Mine trail on Nov. 15, with a National Park Service airplane surveying the area from above. An expanded search occurred on Thursday, with NPS employees and Border Patrol agents joined by Texas Game Wardens and local fire crews. Two helicopters from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Border Patrol also joined the search.
The trail is currently closed “to allow searchers room to work efficiently and quickly,” park officials said.
The park described the Lost Mine trail as a very popular hiking trail that’s about 4.8 miles round trip. The steep trail goes through wooded areas.
Big Bend National Park is in west Texas and has views of the Texas and Mexico deserts. The park shares 118 miles of border with Mexico, running alongside the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila, and is “one of the largest transboundary protected areas in North America,” according to the NPS. The park covers over 1,250 square miles, has three river canyons, and contains 196 miles of the Rio Grande.
The deadly hurricane slammed into the resort city last week
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Hurricane Otis left rubble and ruin in its wakeCredit: Reuters
Three foreign nationals have died since Otis made landfall on October 25, including the Brit as well as a Canadian and American.
Guerrero state governor Evelyn Salgado has now revealed another Brit is still missing.
The other foreigners unaccounted for are 11 Americans, five French nationals and a Peruvian.
Category 5 Hurricane Otis, the strongest on record for a landfalling Eastern Pacific tropical cyclone, claimed most of its victims in Acapulco.
A number of other people are also known to have died in the nearby municipality of Coyuca de Benitez.
It pummelled Acapulco with high winds, torrential rains and powerful waves as the “nightmare scenario” forecasters had warned of came true.
Footage showed Otis battering buildings, while people ran for cover as they found themselves at the eye of one the most powerful storms to hit Mexico.
The latest figures released by regional authorities puts the death toll at 46 and the number of people who are still missing at 58.
Hurricane Otis touched land just west of Acapulco on October 25, damaging many of the buildings in the city with landslides and flooding resulting from heavy rain.
The powerful storm had intensified quickly as it moved towards land – catching many off guard who scrambled to get emergency shelters ready.
The day Otis hit, Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that there had been “no communication” with the coastal city as its 165mph winds cut it from the rest of the world.
For days after, Acapulco was left with no drinking water and plenty of residents also lost power.
The army was mobilised to help survivors and assist in recovery efforts.
Residents in outlying areas of Acapulco have been complaining today that they are still without water and electricity and are low on food.
Acapulco is a city of more than one million people, where both luxury homes and slums alike cover the city’s hillsides with views of the Pacific.
Ten Hollywood actors, led by John Wayne and former Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller bought a hotel in the resort and helped turn it into one of the most fashionable of its era.
Its reputation has been tarnished in recent years by the rival drugs cartels that have turned part of the city into no-go areas.
British tourists now favour destinations like Cancun and the nearby Riviera Maya coastline.
As the area braced for Otis’ landfall last week, there were fears that the hurricane could rival the devastation unleashed on Acapulco by Hurricane Pauline in 1997.
The storm destroyed huge parts of the city and killed more than 200 people.
Hundreds of others were injured in flooding and mudslides that followed.
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An aerial view of a heavily damaged building in the aftermath of Hurricane Otis,Credit: Reuters
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Those closest to the sea faced the full brunt of the stormCredit: EPA
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Otis hit the coastal city of Acapulco head onCredit: EPA
A SICK online exchange between prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case Christian B and another paedophile has been revealed.
The vile messages “could be a hint” that finally leads investigators to answers for the toddler‘s grieving family, according to the case’s lead prosecutor.
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Convicted sexual predator Christian B is the prime suspect in Madeleine’s caseCredit: BILD
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Madeleine McCann vanished from a Portuguese resort in 2007 while on holiday with her familyCredit: PA:Press Association
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A lead prosecutor said messages could ‘hint’ at what happened to the toddlerCredit: BBC / Prime Suspect: Who Took Madeleine McCann?
Convicted sexual predator Christian B is yet to be formally charged but was named by cops as the prime suspect after the three-year-old vanished in 2007 while on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Sixteen years on, German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has told BBC‘s Panorama that online messages sent between Christian B and and another paedophile might include a reference to Madeleine.
In the chat discovered on one of Christian B’s computers, the suspect detailed his desires to abduct and kill a little girl – and “document it”.
He then spoke of “destroying evidence” to which the paedophile replied: “mm.”
Read more on Madeleine’s case
Of the exchange, Mr Wolters said: “It could be a hint.
“Of course, it’s important to us. It could be piece for the big puzzle.”
He allegedly discussed kidnapping and sexually abusing a child in a chatroom exchange in September 2013, and claimed he would make a lot of films if he were to capture a “little one”.
Christian B is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the brutal rape of a pensioner in Portugal at a high-security prison known as the “Alcatraz of the North” in the German city of Oldenburg.
He could face trial as early as February next year for a string of heinous alleged crimes including three rapes and two sex attacks on children, it was reported this month.
Two of the alleged rapes are said to have taken place at his former residence outside Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared.
German authorities have indicated a trial related to Madeleine’s case could take place shortly after Christian B’s upcoming trial, The Olive Press reports.
Mr Wolters added: “I can only say that we have only one suspect at the moment.
“[She died] in Portugal and we think maybe we know where it happened.”
In the Panorama documentary, a woman said Christian B ran a “rebellious gang” in Würzburg, Germany when he was a teenager.
She said: “They were very rebellious and destroyed a lot of stuff.
“They were always out and about, escaping through windows and gone.”
Others who encountered Christian B in the years following Madeleine’s disappearance spoke of his violent and aggressive nature.
A bar manager, Brigitte Szegedi, recalled the “fits of rage” she witnessed him have with other patrons, while a former employee of the suspect claimed he once confronted him with a knife.
The unnamed man told the BBC: “He had this long knife and wanted to stab me. He was drunk or on drugs.
“His eyes glistened like mad and he was filled with rage.”
The man added Christian B’s girlfriend, who was a teenager when the suspect was in his late 30s, was assaulted by him.
He claimed: “I met her at the bus stop and asked her where she had got those strangulation marks from and she told me he strangled her and beat her.
“She was scared stiff of him, she told me a lot of things. She was really scared of him.”
The main said he had no doubts Christian B was capable of the crimes he is accused of, explaining: “In the beginning he is sweet but once you get to know him, he is a psychopath.
“He has several faces. This man is highly, highly dangerous.”
A third man, who previously employed Christian B in the Algarve in Portugal, said Christian B once broke his nose in an argument.
Portuguese police have apologised to Gerry and Kate McCann over how they treated them while investigating the disappearance of their daughter MadeleineCredit: Getty – Contributor
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Disgraced former Portuguese cop Goncalo Amaral previously branded suspect Christian B a ‘scapegoat’ on Portuguese TVCredit: The Sun
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Madeleine went missing in May 2007 during a family holiday in the AlgarveCredit: Rex
The cops have told BBC’s Panorama that a delegation of senior officers travelled from Lisbon to London earlier this year.
They met Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s father, and apologised for the way detectives investigated the case and treated the family.
Both were questioned by Portuguese detectives, who believed they had staged an abduction and concealed their daughter’s body.
Read More on Maddie McCann
Kate McCann has said she was offered a deal to admit covering up her daughter’s death in exchange for a shorter sentence.
The couple’s arguido status was lifted in 2008, but they remained under suspicion in Portugal for years.
Much of the damage was caused by one man – the original lead detective, Goncalo Amaral.
He was sacked from the investigation but went on to write a book and present a TV documentary accusing the McCanns of being involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
As well as apologising, the Portuguese police have told Panorama that they also briefed the McCann family on the ongoing investigation.
They gave their support to German prosecutors who believe 46-year-old Christian B killed Madeleine McCann.
Portuguese detectives now also think he’s the prime suspect.
Christian B is currently serving a seven-year prison term in Germany for rape and drug trafficking.
The German denies killing Madeleine.
For the past five years, the German authorities have been investigating him in connection with Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
But Christian B hasn’t been charged.
Hans Christian Wolters, one of the German prosecutors on the case, said they hoped to complete their investigation next year.
“It’s a big puzzle and we have some important pieces but some pieces are missed.
“So, we hope to find as many pieces as we could get, so the picture will be a complete one.
“We think that he was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and we think that he murdered Madeleine McCann.”
Mr Wolters also welcomed the Portuguese apology to the McCann family.
He said: “It’s a good sign and it shows that in Portugal there’s development in the McCann case.
I think it’s a good and right decision.”
Christian B has already been charged with a further three rapes, sexual assault, and sexual assault of a child.
The five offences are alleged to have been committed on the Portuguese Algarve.
Mr Wolters confirmed that they would go to trial in February.
Christian B’s lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, said his client was exercising his right to silence.
He said: “We know the contents of the files, and I think the charges are all based on very, very shaky foundations.”
The McCann family have not commented on the apology.
The Panorama programme Prime Suspect: Who Took Madeleine McCann? airs tonight at 8pm on BBC1.
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The investigation into what happened to Madeleine continuesCredit: PA
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Madeleine’s parents were made arguidos – or suspects – in September 2007Credit: AFP – Getty
A sailor missing for nearly two weeks was found alive off the coast of Washington State’s Cape Flattery by a Good Samaritan two days after the Coast Guard suspended the search for him and one other person.
The two people on the boat had left Washington’s Grays Harbor on Oct. 12 in a 43-foot vessel called Evening. They were meant to return to the area on Oct. 15, the Pacific Northwest Coast Guard said in a social media post on Tuesday The agency searched 14,000 square miles of water before suspending the search on Wenesday.
The unidentified man was found in a life raft that was about 70 miles northwest of Cape Flattery, the Coast Guard said on social media on Thursday. It’s not clear how the good Samaritans found the man, but a photo shared by the Coast Guard shows their boat approaching the life raft. The photo shows two people standing on the edge of the vessel and the missing man sitting up in the raft.
Officials did not name the rescuers but KING-TV identified them as Ryan Planes and his uncle John, from Sooke, British Columbia.
“We pulled him on board. He gave me a big hug and it was emotional,” John told the station.
John told KING-TV the rescued man said he was alone on the raft for 13 days, and after running out of foof, he caught a salmon and ate it to survive.
“We made him breakfast. He drank three bottles of water,” he told the station. “He was pretty hungry, poor guy.”
The rescued man is said to be in stable condition, the Coast Guard said, and was transported to shore by the Canadian Coast Guard and a Canadian rescue agency.
A map shared by the Coast Guard showed where the man was found in relation to where the Evening departed from, with the harbor starred and the life raft’s location marked with a pin.
#BreakingNews (1/2) #UPDATE 1 of the 2 missing mariners was located alive in a life raft approx. 70 miles NW of Cape Flattery, by good Samaritans. The man was transported to shore by @CoastGuardCAN in coordination with @VicJRCC_CCCOS. He’s reported to be in stable condition. pic.twitter.com/Qb2QhwIKb3
A 9-year-old girl who went missing in New York over the weekend has been found alive after a massive search. A suspect is in custody, police said. Jericka Duncan reports.
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Authorities in North Carolina have made a breakthrough in a decades-old cold case involving a woman found by road crews on a highway near Jacksonville in 1990. After 33 years, the woman’s remains were identified recently using updated DNA technologies and forensic genealogy tests, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which is handling the case, wrote on Facebook.
The remains were identified as Lisa Coburn Kesler, who was 20 at the time of her death and previously spent most of her life in Jackson County, Georgia, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood announced.
“Our vision statement talks about the ability to be able to visit and travel through our community safely,” said Blackwood in a video message shared on Wednesday morning. “It took a long time to be able to solve this case. But the work, the diligence and not giving up, shows that we’re staying true to our mission.”
Kesler’s body was originally discovered along the side of I-40 East near New Hope Church Road, about 50 miles west of Jacksonville in southeastern North Carolina. Officials have said they believe that someone strangled her about one week before the discovery in 1990, and dumped her body on the roadside.
The woman’s identity was unknown for years, despite investigators’ efforts to learn more about her through potential witness interviews, missing persons reports and facial reconstruction techniques that allowed them to create a bust of the victim and model of her skull. They generated digital illustrations and approximate images of her that were then sent out online, hoping someone would recognize her, and pursued “hundreds of leads” overall, the sheriff said.
A digital illustration by Carl Koppleman (left) and a representation of Kesler’s possible appearance created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office via Facebook
But the identity remained a mystery until a new investigator, Dylan Hendricks, took over the case in 2020 and collaborated with the State Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina. They collected a hair fragment from the remains and sent it to a forensics laboratory for DNA profiling. A forensic genealogist, Leslie Kaufman, who specializes in homicide cases involving unidentified human remains, used databases to link the resulting DNA profile to people whom she believed to be the victim’s paternal cousins.
Subsequent interviews with those family members by investigators, plus additional tests cross-referencing the victim’s DNA and a DNA sample taken from a maternal relative, eventually led them to confirm Kesler’s identity.
“Essentially, there was a Lisa-shaped hole on a branch of the family tree right where the DNA told us Lisa should be, and no one knew where she was,” Hendricks said in a statement. Clyde Gibbs, a medical examiner specialist with the office of the chief medical examiner, has since updated the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to reflect the new development in Kesler’s case. The chief medical examiner will also amend Kesler’s death certificate to include her name and other details about her, according to the Orange County sheriff.
“Throughout the decades, some of our finest investigators kept plugging away. When you can’t close a case, it gets under your skin. You might set the file aside for a while, but you keep coming back to it, looking to see something you didn’t notice before, or hoping information gathered in ensuing cases has relevance to your cold case,” Blackwood said in a separate statement.
The sheriff also detailed his office’s work on Kesler’s case, and what work still needs to be done to find her killer, in an editorial for The News of Orange County newspaper.
“I am very happy we solved the decades-old mystery of this young woman’s identity, and I hope it provides solace to her remaining family members,” Blackwood wrote, adding, “Our work on this case is not finished.”
“Although we collectively demonstrated the value of dogged determination, we still need to identify Lisa’s killer,” the sheriff continued. “There is no statute of limitations on murder, and the investigation remains open.”
Anyone with information potentially related to the case has been asked to report what they know to Hendricks by calling 919-245-2951. Tips can also be submitted anonymously on the Orange County Sheriff’s Office website.
Carlee Russell, the 25-year-old Alabama nursing student who vanished Thursday night, has returned home. Russell disappeared after reporting she saw a child walking alone on the side of a highway. Astrid Martinez has the latest.
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A college student attends a party and is never seen again. A fellow student is long suspected of her murder. 26 years later – a jury speaks. “48 Hours” contributor Jonathan Vigliotti reports.
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A man who authorities believed was missing for eight years was not actually missing, Houston police said Thursday, adding that his mother deceived police by remaining adamant that he was missing.
Officials said earlier this week that Rudolph “Rudy” Farias was found alive after allegedly vanishing as a teenager eight years ago, but community members then raised questions about whether he was ever truly missing.
Police said Monday that Farias was found outside a church in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood at about 10 p.m. last Thursday. The Texas Center for the Missing, a nonprofit organization that works on missing persons cases, said in a tweet over the weekend that Farias was “located safe” and recovering at a hospital, although it did not share details about his condition.
Officials previously said Farias disappeared while walking his dogs in north Houston in March 2015. The dogs were later found, but Farias was seemingly gone.
Farias’ aunt told CBS affiliate KHOU that his mother was a “mess” in the wake of her son’s alleged return. Speaking to the station several years ago, Farias’ family said they were concerned that he may have been abducted and trafficked.
“He has such a huge heart. He loves with all his heart,” Farias’ mother told KHOU one year after his disappearance. “That’s why we know he wouldn’t just get up and go on his own.”
But neighbors who said they have spent time with Farias since he supposedly vanished have questioned the family’s story and whether or not he truly disappeared. Kisha Ross, who lives with her family on the same street as Santana in northeast Houston, told ABC affiliate KTRK-TV they were shocked to hear Farias was found last week and were not aware he was ever reported missing.
Quanell X, a community activist based in Houston, also spoke to news outlets including CBS affiliate KHOU in the wake of Farias’ apparent return home this week. Saying he met Farias Wednesday after Farias’ mother, Janie Santana, asked him to come to the hotel in Humble where they were meeting with investigators, the activist cast doubts on the accuracy of his family’s story.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Days after a young woman vanishes, a man in a distinctive hat is seen walking away from her car. Who is the man in the hat?
On Aug. 25, 2020, Kassanndra Cantrell, a 33-year-old woman from Tacoma, Washington, disappeared. Her mother Marie Smith recalled saying goodbye to Kassanndra early that morning, but says Kassanndra didn’t return home later that day, and had stopped responding to phone calls and texts.
Not like her
Alexandra McNary
According to Kassanndra’s friend, Alexandra McNary, the two had plans to meet on Aug. 26, 2020, but Kassanndra never showed up. The next morning, Kassanndra’s mother texted McNary to see if Kassanndra was with her to which Alexandra replied that she was not. Marie Smith called the police later that day.
Where did Kassanndra go?
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Pierce County Sheriff’s Detective Franz Helmcke spoke with Kassanndra’s family and friends and scoured footage from local surveillance cameras for clues. On a neighbor’s security camera, they found video of Kassanndra’s white Mazda leaving her neighborhood on the morning of Aug. 25, the day she went missing.
The man in the hat
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
On Aug. 28, 2020, police found Kassanndra’s car parked on a street in an industrial neighborhood; it was unlocked, with the keys on the center console. A light rail system operated along that same street, so investigators requested its train camera footage from August 25. One video showed a man in a dark hat walking away from Kasssanndra’s car and continuing to the nearby light rail station around 11:50 that morning.
Searching for clues
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Investigators had ordered a trace on Kassanndra’s cellphone to try to identify her last known location. The phone pinged about two miles south of a tower near Puget Sound. Based on that location, they believed her phone was likely somewhere in the water near Owen Beach in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park. The Pierce County Metro Dive Team went to the beach and formed a line and searched the area underwater.
An amazing find
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Incredibly, after a little over an hour, one of the divers spotted Kassanndra’s cellphone with its sparkly case. It was sent to a specialist to determine if any information could be recovered from it. Marie Smith, meanwhile, had combed through Kassanndra’s phone records. She noticed correspondence with an unfamiliar number with no name assigned to it. The last time that phone number appeared in Kassanndra’s phone record was the morning she disappeared.
An added urgency to find Kassanndra
Alexandra McNary
The investigation was operating on several fronts. Investigators had also learned that at the time she went missing, Kassanndra was around 10 weeks pregnant. Kassanndra had texted her friend Alexandra McNary a picture of a positive pregnancy test, and their planned meeting on August 26 had been to attend her first ultrasound scan.
A secret romance
Sue Evans
Alexandra McNary says Kassanndra told her the father of her future baby was an ex-boyfriend that she had been seeing again: Colin Dudley. He and Kassanndra met in 2006 during a local production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and dated for a few months. Dudley then began a relationship with another “Rocky Horror Picture Show” cast member, and by 2020 they were living together.
However, Kassanndra had told friends that she and Dudley had secretly rekindled their romance. Kassanndra had also said Dudley had previously told her he did not want kids. McNary told “48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales that Kassanndra called her after revealing her pregnancy to Colin. “… she said, ‘well, I told him … and it went better than expected … He was calm and said not to worry about it, and that they would talk.’”
Interviewing Colin Dudley
CBS News
Detective Helmcke went to Colin Dudley’s house to arrange an interview and left his number. Dudley called him back and agreed to speak with him the next day. When Det. Helmcke asked about Kassanndra, Dudley said he hadn’t had contact with her in years.
Remember that mysterious phone number Marie Smith had found in Kassanndra’s phone records? It was the same number Dudley had called Helmcke on to set up the interview. Helmcke confronted Dudley about Kassanndra’s claims that he was the father of her baby, and Dudley denied it and any involvement in her disappearance.
Following the man in the hat
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
When Det. Helmcke viewed the footage from the light rail system where Kassanndra’s car had been found, something stuck out. The man walking away from her car on Aug. 25 looked similar to Colin Dudley, but was wearing a mask and a black fedora. He appeared to walk away from the station towards a nearby parking garage, so Helmcke asked the garage security team to search their video recordings for any sign of the man in the hat.
Colin Dudley’s truck
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
The video from the garage did show the man in the hat walking in just after he had left the light rail station on the morning of Aug. 25, 2020. In the video, the man walked to a gray Chevy truck parked in the garage, got in, and drove out. As the truck left the garage, the license plate was visible. It was registered to Colin Dudley.
The pieces come together
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
As they scanned back through the garage footage from even earlier in the day on August 25, investigators found the Chevy truck had been parked there around 8 a.m. That video showed what appeared to be Colin Dudley in a different shirt driving the truck in and then riding off on a bike. Investigators believe Dudley was putting his truck in place for when he would later drop off Kassanndra’s car.
A planned meeting
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Cellphone provider data revealed that Kassanndra Cantrell and Colin Dudley would often text about meeting up at his house, and that Kassanndra had texted Dudley at 8:49 a.m. the morning she went missing: “I’m a bit early, that ok?” Dudley responded, “Yep, come on down.”
Investigators search Colin Dudley’s house
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Investigators searched Colin Dudley’s house but didn’t find Kassanndra. They did take evidence, including his truck, a bike, and a black fedora hat. Cadaver dogs showed particular interest in the basement, especially a brown couch. But it wasn’t enough to make an arrest. Detective Helmcke told “48 Hours,” “He’s guilty of something. But … what is he guilty of?”
A new lead
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Once investigators were able to zero in on Colin Dudley, they got a warrant to remove his truck’s black box to collect its data and track the truck’s movements on the day of Kassanndra’s disappearance.
Something that caught their attention was Dudley’s movements on August 26, the day after Kassanndra was at his house. Early that morning, Dudley’s truck drove to an area near a wooded ravine and stopped for several minutes. On Sept. 22, 2020, nearly a month after Kassanndra’s disappearance, investigators rushed to that ravine, only eight miles from Dudley’s house.
Police data shows Colin Dudley’s movements on the morning of Aug. 26, 2020. The yellow dots represent Dudley’s vehicle driving to the location where Kassanndra Cantrell’s remains were found.
Kassanndra Cantrell’s remains are found
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
In the area near where Colin Dudley’s Chevy had parked, investigators found a trash bin with a bag liner, blood and human remains. Det. Helmcke was able to identify the remains by a distinctive tattoo Marie Smith had told him Kassanndra had. It was a quote that read, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” Kassanndra Cantrell had been found.
Colin Dudley pleads guilty
KIRO
Colin Dudley was arrested that night and was charged with first-degree murder. He later pleaded guilty and the case did not go to trial.
On Nov. 14, 2022, Dudley was sentenced to just over 26 years in prison for the murder of Kassanndra Cantrell. With good behavior, he could be out as early as 2044.
Emergency crews on Monday called off a search for seven migrants who were missing after their boats overturned off the coast of San Diego over the weekend. At least eight bodies have already been found. Omar Villafranca reports.
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Jeffrey Vandergrift, a radio host on San Francisco’s Wild 94.9 station, has been missing since last Thursday, police said.
The San Francisco Police Department’s Missing Person Unit put out a request for the public’s help in locating Vandergrift, who is also known as JV. Vandergrift, 54, is described by the department as being “at risk.”
In a news release, Wild 94.9 said that Vandergrift was reported missing this past Friday. The station, owned by iHeartRadio, calls itself the Bay Area’s “#1 hit music station,” and Vandergrift hosts “The JV Show” and multiple podcasts covering celebrity news, viral trends and pop culture.
Vandergrift was last seen at his home on Thursday night, at around 10 p.m., the department said. He was last seen wearing black sweatpants. Police said that anyone who sees Vandergrift should call 911 and report his current location and physical description.
Anyone who sees Jeffrey Vandergrift is asked to contact the SFPD.
San Francisco Police Department
According to Wild 94.9, there has been “no trackable activity” on Vandergrift’s cell phone, and there has been no activity on his credit cards or other banking records.
“These updates are obviously incredibly worrisome, though we continue to hope and pray for better news,” the radio station said, adding that they were working closely with Vandergrift’s wife and investigators from the police department. “JV is loved by everyone here … and we know he is equally beloved by his Bay Area listening family.”
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Hamzah Alsaudi, a San Francisco State student, disappeared Thursday during a “polar plunge” at Esplanade Beach in Pacifica, California, police said in a news release.
At around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 19, police were called to the beach for a swimmer in distress. Officials said that Alsaudi and two others went into the ocean, but while in the water Alsaudi, 22, was hit with a large wave that pulled him further from shore.
The other two swimmers were able to make it back to the shore and called 911 for help, police said.
Hamzah Alsaudi
Pacifica Police Department
The U.S. Coast Guard sent aircraft and a surface vessel to assist in the search for Alsaudi, police said. CBS Bay Area reported that several other agencies, including a California Highway Patrol air unit and a drone from the San Bruno Police Department, were requested to aid in the search.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Alsaudi was a senior at San Francisco State majoring in political science with a minor in Arab studies, the college said. He was also a beloved member of the institution’s wrestling team, said his school in a letter to the community shared on Friday afternoon and was a four-year letter winner in high school.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Gator community right now as we process this news,” the letter said. “We remain deeply grateful to the Coast Guard, Police Department, and others for all they have done to help with the search.”
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