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Tag: Missing persons

  • Father of Madeline Kingsbury’s children denies involvement in missing Minnesota mother’s disappearance | CNN

    Father of Madeline Kingsbury’s children denies involvement in missing Minnesota mother’s disappearance | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The father of a missing Minnesota mother’s children said he is cooperating with law enforcement “at every turn,” nearly two weeks after the disappearance of 26-year-old Madeline Kingsbury.

    Adam Fravel denied any involvement in Kingsbury’s disappearance in a statement Wednesday.

    “Over the course of the last 12 days my family and I have been subject to a myriad of accusations regarding the disappearance of the mother of my children, Maddi Kingsbury. During these last 12 days I have cooperated with law enforcement at every turn, including sitting down for multiple interviews with Winona County law enforcement.

    “I did not have anything to do with Maddi’s disappearance. I want the mother of my 5-year-old and 2-year-old to be found and brought home safely. I want that more than anything,” said Fravel.

    Fravel said he had been advised by law enforcement on April 2 not to attend news conferences or assist in searches for Kingsbury due to safety concerns.

    “My non-attendance and silence has been inferred by many as a sign of apathy, or worse. That could not be further from the truth. I want Maddi home and for her to be able to be with our two children,” said Fravel.

    Bonney Bowman, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told CNN on Thursday she is not aware of any law enforcement agencies advising Fravel not to attend news conferences or organized searches for Kingsbury.

    Asked whether Fravel has cooperated with law enforcement, Bowman said, “I’m not able to share that information at this time.”

    Kingsbury was last seen on the morning of March 31.

    She did not show up at work as expected the day she disappeared, and did not answer calls from family and friends, police said. She didn’t pick up her children from day care that afternoon or make other arrangements.

    The Winona County Health and Human Services Department was notified by police on April 4 that the two children “are in need of protection or services” after their mother was designated an endangered missing person, according to court documents obtained and reviewed by CNN.

    The agency took custody of the children – who were located with their father at their grandparent’s residence – after their mother was deemed an endangered missing person, according to court documents obtained by CNN.

    Fravel doesn’t have custodial rights to his children, but he had his children at his home and his parent’s home, according to the documents.

    When social workers confronted Fravel at the home last week, he was not cooperative with officials and initially did not allow them access to his children before he eventually placed them in HHS custody, the court documents say.

    Evidence suggests Kingsbury’s disappearance was “involuntary and suspicious,” the Winona Police Department said in a Wednesday update.

    “We remain extremely concerned for her safety,” police said in their update.

    “We have drafted and served numerous search warrants as part of our search efforts.”

    The update didn’t address whether Fravel has been cooperating with authorities.

    Kingsbury’s family said in a statement Wednesday they have been working with investigators in the search for her. “Members of our family and close friends coordinate closely with law enforcement and send out search teams day after day, every day,” the statement said.

    “We will find Madeline. This is our mission and we will not falter.”

    Police have said they believe her vehicle, a 2014 dark blue Chrysler Town and Country, may have traveled from Winona to eastern Fillmore County on the day of her disappearance.

    They have asked residents in that area to check their “video cameras, doorbell cameras, game cameras … for any signs of the van passing through or stopping.”

    Winona is in southeastern Minnesota, near the Wisconsin border.

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  • The shooting deaths of 3 missing rappers were ‘gang violence related,’ Michigan police say | CNN

    The shooting deaths of 3 missing rappers were ‘gang violence related,’ Michigan police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The deaths of three Michigan rappers whose bodies were found in an abandoned apartment building in early February were related to gang violence, state police said, asking members of the public who might have information about the case to come forward.

    In a series of tweets Friday, Michigan State Police confirmed they were continuing to investigate the triple homicide of Armani Kelly, 28; Dante Wicker, 31; and Montoya Givens, 31, who were reported missing after their January 21 performance at a Detroit club was canceled.

    Their bodies were found almost two weeks later in the apartment complex in Highland Park, about 6 miles northwest of Detroit, and state police later said they each died of multiple gunshot wounds.

    “This was a gang violence related incident,” Michigan State Police said on Twitter on Friday, addressing what it said were “rumors” circulating about the investigation. “This homicide was not random and had nothing to due (sic) with music or a performance.”

    While no one is in custody, police said, “There are other people that know the details and we need them to come forward.”

    “Together we can bring closure to these families,” state police said.

    Police were first alerted to the men’s disappearances by Kelly’s mother, who reported him missing on January 23, Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes at the Detroit Police Department, previously said.

    As the story of Kelly’s disappearance gained media attention, “other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.

    The bodies were discovered February 2, in the complex police described as “rat infested.” Several days later, state police confirmed “this was not a random incident” and said investigators believed they had determined a motive.

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  • FBI offers $20,000 reward in case of missing American woman who was kidnapped from her home in Mexico | CNN

    FBI offers $20,000 reward in case of missing American woman who was kidnapped from her home in Mexico | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    More than a month after a 63-year-old US citizen was kidnapped from her home in Mexico, the FBI has announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

    Maria del Carmen Lopez was kidnapped February 9 in Pueblo Nuevo, a municipality in the southwestern Mexican state of Colima, the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in a release Thursday.

    Lopez is also a Mexican citizen, according to a statement from the Colima Attorney General’s office, which said it is working with the FBI on the investigation.

    Though the FBI did not share details on the case, it described Lopez as having blonde hair, brown eyes and tattooed eyeliner.

    Federal authorities don’t believe drug cartels were involved in the kidnapping, the FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office Donald Alway told CNN. The agency has witness accounts confirming Lopez was kidnapped, Alway said, but didn’t share other details about the case.

    “We are going to pursue this, and we’ll look at every avenue and we’ll follow every lead and we’ll open every door that we can find to ensure that our primary goal is to get her back safely,” he added.

    The FBI’s announcement comes nearly two weeks after the violent kidnapping of four Americans in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, two of whom were killed, and three weeks after the disappearance of three women who crossed into Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market.

    The investigation into Lopez’s disappearance was opened by the Colima Attorney General’s Office on the day of the suspected kidnapping and the Mexican Attorney General’s Specialized Prosecutor for Organized Crime has since requested to take the case, the statement from Colima authorities said.

    The Colima prosecutor’s office said it has shared information with Mexican federal authorities and has also collaborated with US agencies “seeking to clarify the facts and safeguard the integrity of the victim.”

    The FBI encouraged anyone with information about where Lopez may be located to contact their local FBI office, submit a tip online or reach out to the nearest American embassy or consulate.

    CNN has reached out to the FBI for additional information.

    In all, more than 100,00 Mexicans and migrants are missing across the country, leaving their families no explanation and little solace. The Mexican government’s quick response to recent disappearances of Americans has raised eyebrows among some who criticize officials for lacking such prompt reactions in a slew of domestic cases.

    Lopez’s daughter is pleading for information on her mother’s whereabouts after being gone for more than a month.

    Lopez moved to Mexico after she retired and was living “a quiet life back in their homeland,” her daughter, Zonia Lopez, told CNN. Her mother never expressed any concerns for her safety while living in Mexico, she added.

    When asked if a ransom was demanded, Zonia said she could not share too much information because it is “still an open investigation.”

    Zonia said she learned about her mother’s disappearance after getting a call from her sisters who said their father was told in a phone call that Lopez was kidnapped. Her family reached out to the embassy, who connected them with the FBI, Zonia said.

    “It’s a horrible feeling not knowing if she is okay, not knowing where she’s at or who has her,” Zonia said. “We’re literally powered by the strength that we know she has and the love that she has for us, and we are literally holding on to a thread of hope.”

    Zonia said she remains hopeful and her mother’s “vibrant attitude and her outlook on life” keeps her family going.

    “We will not stop until we have answers, and we are making sure that this gets enough attention so that other families, along with ours, get some kind of information, some kind of closure to this,” Zonia said.

    While the FBI and Mexican authorities work to find her mother, Lopez offered a message to the person or people responsible for her kidnapping: “Please give her back. We need our mom.”

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  • Woman missing more than 30 years and thought to be dead found living in Puerto Rico nursing home | CNN

    Woman missing more than 30 years and thought to be dead found living in Puerto Rico nursing home | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Pennsylvania woman who disappeared more than 30 years ago and was believed to be dead by her family was recently found living in a nursing home in Puerto Rico, her family and police said at a news conference Thursday.

    Patricia Kopta, 83, was last seen in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1992, according to a missing person flier posted by the Pennsylvania Emergency Response Center.

    Her husband, Bob Kopta, reported her missing a few months later in the fall. At the time, he advised authorities that it wasn’t uncommon for his wife to “drop out of sight for short periods,” according to the flier.

    “I come home one night and she’s gone, and nobody knew where she was at,” Kopta said at the news conference with Ross Township Police.

    Police said they were first informed about the discovery of the missing woman when an agent from the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and a social worker from Puerto Rico contacted them last year saying that they believed Patricia was living in an adult care home in Puerto Rico.

    “What they reported to us was that she came into their care in 1999, when she was found in need in the streets of Puerto Rico,” Ross Township Deputy Chief Brian Kohlhepp said.

    INTERPOL and the social worker said Patricia was found wandering the streets and through the years she had “refused to ever discuss her private life or where she came from,” Kohlhepp said.

    In her advanced age, Patricia started revealing nuggets that would eventually spur those around her to contact Ross police, Kohlhepp said.

    When she was in Pittsburgh, Patricia was a “well-known street preacher,” according to the missing person flier. She would approach strangers, telling them she had visions of the Virgin Mary and that the world was coming to an end, the flier said.

    Police said her disappearance wasn’t overtly suspicious because they “knew she had a mental health history and she had made statements to other family individuals that she was leaving, that she was concerned that she was going to be placed into a care facility here,” Kohlhepp said. Kohlhepp said police knew she had likely left of her own volition.

    Her husband said that his wife had talked about wanting to go to Puerto Rico to live in a tropical environment.

    “I even advertised in the paper down in Puerto Rico looking for her,” Kopta said at the news conference, adding that he spent a lot of money over the years searching for her.

    Patricia and Bob were married for 20 years before she went missing, Kohlhepp told CNN. He added that Patricia had no known family or connections in Puerto Rico.

    Police determined the woman was in fact Patricia through a nine-month-long process in which they compared DNA samples provided by her sister, Gloria Smith, and her nephew.

    “We really thought she was dead all those years,” Smith said at the news conference.

    Even before DNA testing was completed, the family knew it was Patricia as soon as they saw her photo, Kohlhepp said.

    Smith said that she has called the adult care home in Puerto Rico several times but has been unable to hold a conversation with her sister because she has dementia.

    “We didn’t expect it. It was a very big shock to see – to know that she’s still alive,” her sister said. “You know, we’re so happy and I hope I can get down to see her.”

    CNN has not been able to directly contact the woman’s family.

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  • Nomination of Native American leader in New Mexico in limbo

    Nomination of Native American leader in New Mexico in limbo

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    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s Democratic governor says she believes vetting of her Cabinet members is crucial. But with two weeks left in the legislative session, she has yet to submit her pick to lead the state Indian Affairs Department to the Senate for confirmation.

    Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s nomination of James Mountain has sent shockwaves through tribal communities, particularly among advocates dedicated to stemming the tide of violence and missing persons cases in Indian Country.

    That’s because Mountain, a former San Ildefonso Pueblo governor, once was indicted on charges that included criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and aggravated battery of a household member. The charges were dropped in 2010, with prosecutors saying they did not have enough evidence to go to trial.

    Native American women who spoke to The Associated Press say they’ve been told by some in their communities to stay quiet about the appointment, but they refuse.

    “I think relationships are at risk right now that have taken generations for us to build,” said Angel Charley, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women. “And while we understand the pain and division that this is causing, it’s important to remember that it’s not the women who are bringing this up who are causing the division. We are simply highlighting a concern.”

    It’s much like the narrative surrounding a nationwide movement to confront the disproportionate numbers of missing and slain Indigenous women and how women themselves are being asked to solve a problem they didn’t create, said Christina M. Castro, a founding member of the social justice organization Three Sisters Collective.

    “We’re not only being tasked with taking this on, but we’re villainized for speaking up,” Castro said.

    The governor’s office said in a statement Thursday night that it was prioritizing sending appointments for university regents to the Senate during the final days of the legislative session, since regents cannot work without being confirmed.

    Mountain still can serve as head of Indian Affairs without confirmation. If no hearing takes place before the Legislature ends March 18, the next likely opportunity for the full Senate to vote on confirming him wouldn’t come until January 2024.

    A request made a week ago on behalf of the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force to meet with the governor went unanswered, and many state elected officials have remained mum about the governor’s choice not to push for a hearing.

    Advocates call the silence deafening.

    “It’s really up to the governor at this point to do the right thing and to recognize the pain and hurt it’s creating and look for other nominees who can do the job,” said Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty, a member of the task force. “And there’s plenty of New Mexicans out there from different tribal nations who can do this job.”

    Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren outlined his concerns in a letter sent to Lujan Grisham this week.

    “Governor, I greatly appreciate your strong advocacy on behalf of the Navajo and Indigenous people of New Mexico and across the country,” he wrote. “However, on this particular issue, I must stand with our leadership and my people whose voices are so often unheard on concerns like this.”

    The governor has defended Mountain’s nomination, saying those who disagree should respect that charges against him were dismissed. Lujan Grisham spokesperson Maddy Hayden said substantiated allegations against someone in a leadership position would be cause for concern and, likely, disqualification.

    “We are certainly not in receipt of any such allegations nor is anyone else, to our knowledge,” Hayden wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “We would strongly encourage anyone with substantiated allegations to bring them to light.”

    Mountain has not directly addressed the concerns about his nomination, but he has defended himself, telling the online outlet New Mexico in Depth that he dedicated himself to reestablishing connections and confidence among tribal communities.

    The Indian Affairs Department declined Friday to share details of Mountain’s vision for the agency but pointed to a letter of support from his daughter, Leah Mountain, that was directed to state lawmakers. She described a devoted father who instilled cultural identity, confidence and aspiration in her after her mother left.

    She said the allegations against him are false.

    “It has been painful for only half of this story to be told,” she wrote.

    For some Native American women, trusting the judicial system as the governor has suggested and having a platform from which to raise their concerns have been challenges. Task force members have countless stories about families who are left to search for loved ones when law enforcement didn’t.

    Having an advocate overseeing Indian Affairs who can relate to survivors and families who are missing relatives would create a pathway for Native women’s voices to be heard, said Ashley Sarracino, president of the Laguna Pueblo Federation of Democratic Women.

    While she comes from a family that empowers women, not everyone has that support, she said.

    “A lot of the women are silent,” she said. “A lot of the women experience oppression and, you know, they’re just not willing to speak up,” she said.

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  • 31 bodies found in clandestine graves in Mexico region plagued by drug cartel violence

    31 bodies found in clandestine graves in Mexico region plagued by drug cartel violence

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    Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Mexico — Thirty-one bodies have been exhumed by authorities from two clandestine graves in western Mexico, officials said Thursday. The first grave was found on February 1 in the town of San Isidro Mazatepec in Jalisco state, a region hit by violence linked to organized crime. A second grave was found after several days of investigation and the extraction of bags containing bodies.

    “We have already counted 31 victims,” Jalisco state prosecutor Luis Joaquin Mendez told reporters.

    Jalisco, which is controlled by the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, is among the Mexican states most heavily impacted by organized crime violence. Last year, 301 bodies were discovered in the state in 41 clandestine graves, and 544 bodies were found in 2020, the highest number to date.

    MEXICO-CRIME-VIOLENCE-MASS GRAVE
    Personnel of Jalisco’s Forensic Institute work at the site where a clandestine mass grave was discovered in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Jalisco State, Mexico, in a January 13, 2020 file photo. Two more clandestine mass graves were discovered in the same area in February 2023, containing the remains of at least 31 people.

    ULISES RUIZ/AFP/Getty


    Mexico’s homicide rate has tripled since 2006 — when an intensification of the government’s war on drug cartels triggered a spiral of violence — from 9.6 murders per 100,000 inhabitants to 28 in 2021.

    Joaquin Mendez, the Jalisco prosecutor, said authorities had sufficient evidence to identify about half of the bodies found this week so they can be returned to their families.

    Civilians are often caught up in the killing. As of late last year, more than 100,000 people were officially missing across the country. Mexican police and other authorities have struggled for years to devote the time and other resources required to hunt for the clandestine grave sites where gangs frequently bury their victims.

    That lack of help from officials has left dozens of mothers and other family members to take up search efforts for their missing loved ones themselves, often forming volunteer search teams known as “colectivos.”


    Hunting for hidden graves in Mexico

    02:45

    In 2018, CBS News’ Haley Ott spent a day with the members of one colectivo in the Mexican state of Nayarit, just north of Jalisco. Every member of the group had lost a loved one, and they met twice every week to hunt for burial sites, relying largely on tips from community members.

    One of the group members, María, told CBS had been looking for her son for months, since he was grabbed off a street and thrown into a van as she ran to try to reach him.

    “They had taken him. He was in a truck a street away,” she said. “Like I have my son, others have their children, their siblings, their spouses, their parents. There’s every kind of person. That’s why we’re here; to search.”

    Over the last few years, even the mothers searching for their missing children have been targeted by the cartels. At least five were murdered in 2021 and 2022.

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  • 3 bodies found near Detroit identified as missing rappers

    3 bodies found near Detroit identified as missing rappers

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    Three bodies found in an abandoned apartment complex in the Detroit area were identified Friday by Michigan State Police as the missing rappers who had not been seen since a gig they were scheduled to perform at two weeks ago was canceled.

    MSP tweeted: “The victims in this homicide investigation have been positively identified by investigators. They are: Armani Kelly, Male, Oscoda; Montoya Givens, Male, Detroit; Dante Wicker, Male, Melvindale. We offer condolences to their family and friends.”

    The cause of death and motive is unknown.

    Last month, the rappers were supposed to perform at Lounge 31 in Detroit, but the show was canceled due to equipment problems, police said. 

    Kelly was last seen leaving Oscoda —about three hours north of Detroit— around 11 a.m. on Jan. 21 around to head to the lounge. In the days after he disappeared, Kelly’s mother, Lorrie Kemp, tracked his vehicle through Onstar and found it at three locations in Warren, about half an hour north of Detroit, CBS Detroit reported. 

    A week later, a 15-year-old was arrested driving a vehicle associated with one of the missing men, authorities said.

    “I can tell you that there was a juvenile that was arrested, not in connection with the missing people, but in connection with a vehicle associated with one of the missing people,” Dawn Fraylick, communications director for the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office, told CBS News.

    During a news conference Tuesday, Detroit Police Chief James White said all three of the men’s cellphones were turned off around the same time the night they went missing.

    Thursday evening, MSP said via Twitter that “multiple victims” were found in the building on the corner of McNichols and Log Cabin in Highland Park, a city about 10 minutes from Detroit, but their identities had not yet been confirmed. MSP said via Twitter that the building where the bodies were found “is in very poor condition and rat invested which is slowing progress.”

    Anyone with information is being asked to contact 800 SPEAK.UP or 855 MICH.TIP.

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  • Hundreds of child asylum seekers have gone missing in UK, government admits | CNN

    Hundreds of child asylum seekers have gone missing in UK, government admits | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Hundreds of child asylum seekers have gone missing since the British government started housing minors in hotels due to a strain on the country’s asylum accommodation system, British Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told lawmakers in parliament on Tuesday, amid calls for an investigation into the matter.

    Jenrick said Tuesday that around 200 children have gone missing since July 2021. “Out of the 4,600 unaccompanied children that have been accommodated in hotels since July 2021, there have been 440 missing occurrences and 200 children still remain missing,” he said.

    Approximately 13 of the 200 missing children are under the age of 16, and one is female according to government data. The majority of the missing, 88%, are Albanian nationals, and the remaining 12% are from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkey.

    Jenrick blamed the problem on an increase in migrant boat crossings through the English Channel to the United Kingdom which left the government “no alternative” than to use “specialist hotels” to accommodate minors as of July 2021.

    Although the contracted use of hotels was envisioned as a temporary solution, there were still four in operation as of October with over 200 rooms designated to child migrants, according to a report from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

    British charities and migrant rights groups have long complained about the bad conditions in the country’s overwhelmed and underfunded asylum system.

    The number of asylum claims processed in the UK has collapsed in recent years, leaving people in limbo for months and years – trapped in processing facilities or temporary hotels and unable to work – and fueling an intractable debate about Britain’s borders.

    The missing migrant children was first reported in British media on Saturday, when the newspaper The Observer reported that “dozens” of asylum-seeking children were kidnapped by “gangs” from a hotel run by the UK Home Office in Brighton, southern England.

    Calls have since been mounting for an urgent investigation into the matter, with the the opposition Labour Party, human rights organization the Refugee Council, as well as local authorities demanding urgent action.

    The Home Office has called those reports untrue and in a statement to CNN a Home Office spokesperson said: “The wellbeing of children in our care is an absolute priority.”

    The spokesperson added that they had “robust safeguarding procedures” in place and ” when a child goes missing, local authorities work closely with agencies, including the police, to urgently establish their whereabouts.”

    While the British government is without the power to detain unaccompanied minors, who are free to leave the hotels, Jenrick defended the UK Home Office’s safeguarding practices saying that records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotels and that support workers are on hand to accompany children off site on activities and social excursions.

    “Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located,” Jenrick told parliament.

    Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, from the opposition Labour Party, blamed human traffickers in her response to parliament saying “children are literally being picked up from outside the building, disappearing and not being found. They are being taken from the street by traffickers.”

    Cooper said “urgent and serious action” is needed to crack down on gangs to keep children and young people safe.

    “We know from Greater Manchester Police, they’ve warned asylum hotels and children’s homes are being targeted by organised criminals. And in this case, there is a pattern here that gangs know where to come to get the children, often likely because they trafficked them here in the first place,” she added. “There is a criminal network involved. The government is completely failing to stop them.”

    On Monday, UK charity Refugee Action said that it is “scandalous that children who have come to this country to ask for safety are being put in harm’s way. Ultimate responsibility lies with the Home Secretary, and her decision to run an asylum system based not on compassion, but hostility,” they added.

    UK charity the Refugee Council tweeted that they are “deeply concerned by the practice of placing separated children in Home Office accommodation, outside of legal provisions, putting them at risk of harm with over 200 of them having gone missing.”

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  • A married couple taking care of a 4-year-old girl is under arrest and face charges in her disappearance, Oklahoma officials say | CNN

    A married couple taking care of a 4-year-old girl is under arrest and face charges in her disappearance, Oklahoma officials say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A married couple who police say was caring for a 4-year-old girl in Oklahoma has been arrested and charged after the child’s disappearance, investigators said.

    Athena Brownfield was first discovered missing by authorities after her young sister was seen unattended outside a home in the town of Cyril – about 55 miles southwest of Oklahoma City – earlier this week, prompting officers and volunteers to launch a search for the child, authorities said.

    Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested Thursday in nearby Grady County and faces two counts of child neglect, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

    Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona, Oklahoma and Phoenix police said. An outstanding felony warrant had been issued from Oklahoma on first-degree murder and child neglect charges, according to a court document filed in Maricopa County obtained by CNN affiliate KNXV.

    Authorities learned Athena was missing on Tuesday after a mail carrier called police and reported a young girl was unattended, wandering outside the Adamses’ home, investigators said. The girl turned out to be Athena’s 5-year-old sister, who was not hurt when police found her, law enforcement said. However, authorities have not been able to locate Athena since then.

    Athena was being cared for by the couple at the time of her disappearance, according to Oklahoma authorities, who say the investigation is ongoing and are concerned about her well-being.

    “You’re talking about a toddler who’s been on her own,” state bureau of investigation spokesperson Brook Arbeitman said Wednesday afternoon.

    Authorities have been in touch with Athena’s parents but refused to provide additional information about the circumstances of the case, they said earlier this week.

    Police searched Athena’s home and are looking for more clues around the community.

    “I’m not going to call them evidence, but we are finding things around town that could be helpful in this case,” Arbeitman said.

    Ivon Adams is currently being held in Maricopa County Jail as he awaits extradition to Oklahoma, the State Bureau of Investigation said. Alysia Adams is in custody at Caddo County Jail in Oklahoma, officials said.

    It was unclear Friday whether the couple has legal representation. CNN has reached out to authorities for more information.

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  • Missing teenage girls in Pakistan ran away to meet BTS, police say | CNN

    Missing teenage girls in Pakistan ran away to meet BTS, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two teenage girls reported missing in Pakistan last week have been found more than 750 miles from home after attempting to travel to South Korea to meet K-pop super band BTS, police in the South Asian country said.

    The two girls, aged 13 and 14, went missing on Saturday from Korangi in Karachi city, said Abraiz Ali Abbasi, a senior police superintendent of the area.

    During a search of their homes, police found a diary that revealed their plans to travel to South Korea to meet the supergroup BTS, Abbasi said in a video statement.

    “From the diary we saw mentions of train timetables and that they had been planning to run away with another friend of theirs … who we then interviewed,” Abassi said.

    “We started tracking them aggressively and found out they were in custody of the police in the city of Lahore where they had traveled by train.”

    Abbasi said arrangements for the girls to be taken back home to Karachi have been made in coordination with police in Lahore.

    And he made an appeal for parents to “please monitor their children’s screen time,” so they’re more aware of what their children are viewing online.

    “It isn’t a surprise that two teenagers took this risk because ‘stans’ are capable of doing this for their idols,” said culture journalist Rabia Mehmood, using a colloquial term for loyal fans. “But if we had more safe organized fan-girling spaces, younger fans could engage openly and freely with each other about their favorites instead of taking such risks.”

    K-pop has a huge following all over the world, including Pakistan, with fans spanning age groups and genders. BTS posters and albums are sold all over the South Asian country, while Korean dramas are gaining popularity as well.

    The seven-member Korean sensation BTS took a hiatus late last year, as its oldest member began mandatory military service last month. Jin, 30, started his military service on December 13, a commitment expected to last 18 months.

    BTS is set to be kept apart until at least 2025 as other members of the group come of age to enter military bootcamps. The band has said they will use this time to pursue solo projects.

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  • Rapper Theophilus London Has Been Found, His Cousin Says

    Rapper Theophilus London Has Been Found, His Cousin Says

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper Theophilus London has been found safe after disappearing for months, a relative announced Wednesday night.

    “We have found Theo. He is safe and well,” the rapper’s cousin, Mikhail Noel, posted on Instagram. “At this time the family would love prayers and privacy. Thank you all!!!”

    The post didn’t provide details of where London had been found, where he had been or why he hadn’t contacted his family, which filed a missing persons report with Los Angeles police last week and asked for the public’s help in finding him.

    London’s family and friends had said they believed someone last spoke to the musician in July in Los Angeles.

    London, 35, posted prolifically on Instagram, but his last posts also came in July.

    An LAPD news release on Dec. 28 said London was last seen in the Skid Row area in October and his family had completely lost contact with him.

    The rapper was born in Trinidad and Tobago and later raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York. He was nominated for a 2016 Grammy for best rap performance for a featured spot alongside Paul McCartney on Kanye West’s “All Day.”

    London has frequently collaborated with the artist now known as Ye, who produced and guested on 2014′s “Vibes.” London would often post updates on Ye’s “Donda” and “Donda 2” on Instagram, even saying he was “promoted to tackle media duties” on Ye’s behalf for the month of February.

    London has released three studio albums: 2011′s “Timez Are Weird These Days,” “Vibes” and 2020′s “Bebey.” He recently was a featured artist on Young Franco’s “Get Your Money,” released in September, the month before he was last seen.

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  • Colorado launches new alert system to help find missing Indigenous people | CNN

    Colorado launches new alert system to help find missing Indigenous people | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    After community members searched for Wanbli Vigil in knee-deep snow and brush in Denver, Colorado, authorities activated a statewide alert system on Tuesday to help find the missing 27-year-old Lakota man.

    Vigil’s disappearance is the first case to activate Colorado’s new Missing Indigenous Person Alert (MIPA). The system was launched last week to address the state’s missing Indigenous people crisis. Colorado is among a handful of states that have created similar alert systems in the past year amid the nationwide crisis of unsolved Indigenous missing and murder cases.

    “It’s needed, because we … as Indigenous people have been silenced too long, and abused too long and not taken seriously,” said Daisy Bluestar, a Southern Ute advocate and member of the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives Taskforce of Colorado, a grassroots group that lobbied for the creation of the new alert system.

    Vigil was last seen on December 29 around 2 p.m. as he left an apartment building in Denver and was reported as missing on New Year’s Day, his aunt, Jennifer Black Elk, told CNN. He was wearing blue jeans and a black jacket with white stripes, according to the alert issued by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

    Black Elk said Vigil walked out of their apartment after sharing “personal issues” and left the door cracked. She initially thought Vigil went to pray because he was seen carrying a chanunpa, a ceremonial pipe, she said.

    “He’s pretty funny. He’s pretty laid-back, easygoing and helpful and just a good person inside,” Black Elk said of her nephew.

    The Colorado Bureau of Investigation launched the Missing Indigenous Person Alert system on December 30, 2022.

    Its creation is the result of legislation passed last year to expand the investigation of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Bluestar and other Indigenous advocates like her worked with state lawmakers to draft and pass Senate Bill 22-150 despite pushback from some lawmakers and agencies in the state. Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law last summer.

    The legislation also required the state to create an office of liaison for missing and murdered Indigenous people.

    The alert system is designed to be activated when an Indigenous person is reported missing to law enforcement. The legislation requires law enforcement agencies that receive a report of a missing Indigenous person to notify the CBI within eight hours of a report of a missing adult or within two hours of a report of a missing child, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

    If an Indigenous child is abducted, an Amber Alert will go out statewide, pinging residents’ phones, the CBI said. An alert under the new system will be issued if an Indigenous child goes missing in a non-abduction case.

    Once an alert is issued, local and state law enforcement in Colorado are notified, as well as media outlets and other stakeholders who might distribute the alert information via email or text, CBI said. Unlike an Amber Alert, state investigators say the Missing Indigenous Person Alert will not go out to cell phones.

    “The CBI understands the importance and effectiveness of the various alerts that are in place in Colorado, and we are pleased to have been asked to develop this newest alert in an effort to quickly locate missing Indigenous persons and return them safely to their loved ones,” CBI Director John Camper said in a statement.

    As the search for Vigil continues, activists criticized how the new alert system was activated this week and said it could have been done in a more timely manner.

    Denver Police said Vigil was reported missing on Sunday, but the Missing Indigenous Person Alert wasn’t issued until Tuesday.

    “We’re losing valuable time in locating this young man or finding evidence as to where his whereabouts might be,” said Raven Payment, a Ojibwe and Kanienkehaka activist and member of the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives Taskforce of Colorado who has joined the search for Vigil.

    When asked about the time it took for the Missing Indigenous Person Alert to be issued, the Denver Police Department said its missing persons unit “opened a missing persons case and followed the notification procedure.”

    When asked about the alert’s timing, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it issued the alert when it received information from the Denver Police Department. “The Denver Police Department is the lead on this case, as they took the report, and may have been performing investigative tasks leading up to the request for the alert,” the CBI said.

    “For us to get this pushed through was an accomplishment, major accomplishment. But right now, you know, we’re at this point where it still doesn’t seem like it’s important enough or urgent enough,” said Bluestar, the other advocate.

    Colorado is among three states that have implemented alert systems aimed to locate missing Indigenous people. Last year, Washington became the first state to create one and California launched a Feather Alert to assist in search efforts for an Indigenous person who has been reported missing under suspicious circumstances.

    Nationally, there were 782 unresolved cases of missing Native American people as of August 2022, according to data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

    Correction: This story has been updated to correct the length of time authorities spent searching for Vigil before the alert system was activated.

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  • Parents of missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari arrested for failure to report child’s disappearance | CNN

    Parents of missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari arrested for failure to report child’s disappearance | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The parents of missing 11-year-old North Carolina girl Madalina Cojocari were arrested Saturday for failure to report her missing, the Cornelius Police Department said in a news release.

    Madalina’s mother Diana Cojocari, 37, and her stepfather Christopher Palmiter, 60, were arrested on Saturday for failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement, police said. Both Cojocari and Palmiter are being held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, according to records.

    Madalina was last seen at her home in Cornelius, about 20 miles north of Charlotte, on November 23. Her parents took until December 15 to report her missing to a school resource officer at Bailey Middle School, where Madalina attended.

    She was last seen wearing jeans; pink, purple and white Adidas shoes; and a white T-shirt and jacket, authorities said. The FBI described her as 4-foot-10-inches and weighing 90 pounds, and a photo released to the public shows a softly smiling girl wearing a shirt that reads, “I can change the world with love.”

    CNN has not been able to reach Cojocari or Palmiter.

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  • The search for a missing toddler in Tacoma continues nearly 24 years later | CNN

    The search for a missing toddler in Tacoma continues nearly 24 years later | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Theresa Czapieski couldn’t hold back tears when police in Tacoma, Washington, showed her what her daughter could look like today. She has not stopped searching for the then-2-year-old Teekah Lewis since 1999.

    “I’m not giving up until my daughter is found,” Czapieski told CNN.

    Tacoma police released an age progression photo of Teekah last week in the hopes of solving one of the area’s oldest missing children’s cases.

    Teekah was last seen in the video game area at the New Frontier Lanes bowling alley on the night of January 23, 1999. Czapieski said Teekah was a “mama’s girl.” The toddler had been next to her until it was Czapieski’s turn to bowl. She then asked her brother and then-boyfriend to keep an eye on the toddler. When Czapieski turned around to check on her daughter, she was gone.

    “They said they didn’t see nothing, so whoever took her, took her within seconds.” Czapieski told CNN.

    Police say no one remembers seeing the toddler leave the building. That night, Czapieski says, the bowling alley was packed, and hundreds of people could have been there.

    Czapieski previously visited the bowling alley with some of her children and thought it was a safe place to take Teekah in an outing with other family members, she said.

    Tacoma Police Detective Julie Dier said Teekah’s disappearance has been “a big mystery.”

    “At this point, we don’t have any evidence, any physical evidence. We have no body. And while that remains the case, there is always a chance that she is still somewhere out there,” Dier told CNN on Monday. “It’s a big mystery.”

    When the toddler disappeared in 1999, Dier said police went to great lengths to find her, mowing down a wetland and using search dogs. Investigators have received numerous tips since Teekah went missing, but none have ever led to a suspect, police said.

    Now, they’re asking the public for information about a late 1980s or early 1990s maroon or purple Pontiac that a witness says fishtailed while speeding from the bowling alley parking lot, moments before announcements of Teekah’s disappearance were made inside the building.

    Dier said investigators are hoping the release of the age progression photo and calls for information about Teekah’s disappearance result in someone who may have seen something contacting police.

    It is still a possibility that Teekah is alive and doesn’t know she was a kidnapping victim, police said.

    The composite showing how Teekah might currently look was created by the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) Laboratory at Louisiana State University, which offers forensic anthropology services to law enforcement and coroner’s offices.

    Larry Livaudais, an imaging specialist at the lab, told CNN it took him about three weeks to create the age progression image. He referenced about four dozen photos of Teekah’s mother, father and siblings, alongside images of Teekah herself, to get a possible image of what she would look like in 2022.

    “It really is an artistic creation, but it is based upon scientific knowledge of facial growth patterns and morphological changes that take place in the face,” Livaudais said, adding that he built cognitive triggers into the image that are designed to spur recognition and memory in people who know might know Teekah.

    Czapieski says she hopes her daughter, who would be in her mid-20s, has so far lived a good life. She likes to imagine that Teekah played sports in high school, graduated and went on to college, the mother said.

    “If she’s out there and she sees this, know you have five sisters that want to meet you. You have a mom and (an) enormous number of aunts and uncles that are just waiting for you to come home. We know it’s been almost 24 years, and I’m sure you don’t know this but we want to know you. We want to bring you home, because I’ve never given up on you,” Czapieski said. “I will not stop looking for you until you’re found.”

    The Tacoma Police Department is asking anyone with information about the case to contact call the Crime Stoppers of Tacoma-Pierce County at 1-800-222-TIPS. Police are also offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to arrest and charges in the case.

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  • Airplane crash in Gulf of Mexico leaves 2 dead, 1 missing

    Airplane crash in Gulf of Mexico leaves 2 dead, 1 missing

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    VENICE, Fla. — A private airplane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast Saturday night, with two people confirmed dead as authorities searched for a third person believed to have been on the flight, police said.

    Authorities in Venice, Florida, initiated a search Sunday after 10 a.m. following a Federal Aviation Administration inquiry to the Venice Municipal Airport about an overdue single-engine Piper Cherokee that had not returned to its origin airport in St. Petersburg, Florida.

    Around the same time, recreational boaters found the body of a woman floating about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) west of the Venice shore, city of Venice spokesperson Lorraine Anderson said in a statement.

    Divers from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office located the wreckage of the rented airplane around 2 p.m. about a third of a mile offshore, directly west of the Venice airport, Anderson said.

    Rescuers found a deceased girl in the plane’s passenger area. A third person, believed to be a male who was the pilot or a passenger, remained missing Sunday, Anderson said.

    The county sheriff’s office, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Sarasota Police Department, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the District 12 Medical Examiner’s Office and the National Transportation Safety Board were involved in the investigation, Anderson said.

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  • FedEx driver is arrested in the kidnapping and killing of a 7-year-old girl who went missing outside her home this week, police say | CNN

    FedEx driver is arrested in the kidnapping and killing of a 7-year-old girl who went missing outside her home this week, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A driver working for FedEx was arrested and charged Friday in the kidnapping and killing of a 7-year-old girl who had disappeared from her home’s driveway in Texas earlier this week, police said.

    Athena Strand’s body was recovered Friday evening, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said at a news conference.

    “It hurts our hearts to know that child died,” Akin said Friday.

    “It’s one of the toughest investigations that I’ve been involved in because it’s a child. And anytime there’s a child that dies, it just hits you in your heart,” he said.

    Athena was reported missing Wednesday and authorities launched a search for her across Wise County, located northwest of Fort Worth. Authorities believe the young girl was killed within an hour after her kidnapping from her family’s driveway, which is about 200 yards from her home.

    Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, is being held in Wise County jail on capital murder and aggravated kidnapping charges, according to its website. Bond was set at $1.5 million, Akin said. It was unclear whether Horner had an attorney Friday.

    Horner, identified by authorities as a contract driver for FedEx, was allegedly making a delivery to Athena’s home at the time she disappeared.

    Earlier Friday, police say they received a tip that helped investigators determine Horner abducted the child from her driveway.

    Strand’s mother, Maitlyn Presley Gandy, said her daughter was taken from her by “a sick, cruel monster for absolutely no reason,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday morning.

    “I cannot describe the pain and absolute anger I feel. Missing her doesn’t cover how I feel,” Gandy said in the post accompanying a video of Athena, then age 3. “I want the world to know my baby, my first baby, my first true love, the reason I breathe.”

    “Athena is innocent, beautiful, kind, intelligent, and just the brightest, happiest soul you could ever meet. I don’t want her to be the girl known as the one murdered and discarded by a monster,” she added. “I want everyone to know, every single person in this world, that this is my baby and my baby was taken from me. I want everyone to know her face and her voice and just how wonderful of a person she is.”

    Athena will be remembered for so much, like her dream of growing up to be a Viking princess with tattoos just like her dad’s, how much she loved her two little sisters, and her love for anything pink, her mother wrote.

    Authorities did not indicate a possible motive and said Horner did not know the family or the child, according to Akin.

    Athena’s cause of death remains under investigation and her body was transferred to the medical examiner’s office Friday, Akin said.

    Gandy shared another Facebook post dedicated to thanking “the hundreds if not thousands of volunteers” and the authorities who helped look for her daughter.

    “As a mother, I know no one is as broken as I am…” she wrote, adding that the official agencies who assisted in the investigation “have all cried with me.”

    “It takes a special kind of person and whether a child is yours or not, working crime scenes involving children are hard,” she added. “Thank you for finding my baby. I know everyone wishes this would have ended differently.”

    In a statement to CNN, FedEx expressed its sympathies and directed further questions to law enforcement.

    “Words cannot describe our shock and sorrow at the reports surrounding this tragic event. First and foremost, our thoughts are with the family during this most difficult time, and we continue to cooperate fully with the investigating authorities,” the statement reads.

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  • Body of 7-year-old Texas girl found, FedEx driver arrested

    Body of 7-year-old Texas girl found, FedEx driver arrested

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    PARADISE, Texas — A 7-year-old Texas girl has been found dead, two days after being reported missing, and a FedEx delivery driver arrested in her death, authorities said.

    The body of Athena Strand was found Friday and Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, was arrested on kidnapping and murder charges after confessing to killing the girl and telling authorities where to find her body, according to Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin.

    Horner remained jailed Saturday on $1.5 million bond. Jail records did not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

    Akin said during a late Friday news conference that a tip led authorities to Horner, who the sheriff said had made a delivery to the girl’s home shortly before she disappeared.

    Horner did not know the girl’s family, according to Akin, who declined to discuss a motive for the crime.

    “We really can’t get into the content of the confession, but I will say we have a confession” from Horner, Akin said.

    The girl’s stepmother had reported her missing on Wednesday from the family home near Paradise on the northwestern outskirts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

    Her body was found near the town of Boyd, about 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) southeast of Paradise, a town of about 475 people, Akin said.

    James Dwyer, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas field office, said FedEx cooperated with investigators.

    FedEx said in a statement that it is working with law enforcement agencies investigating the case.

    “Our thoughts are with the family of Athena Strand during this most difficult time,” according to the statement. “Words cannot describe our shock and sorrow surrounding this tragic event.”

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  • Oklahoma man told woman he killed 4 men, “cut them up,” according to prosecutor’s affidavit

    Oklahoma man told woman he killed 4 men, “cut them up,” according to prosecutor’s affidavit

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    A man described as a “person of interest” in the killing and dismemberment of four men in eastern Oklahoma admitted to a woman that he killed the men and “cut them up,” according to a prosecutor’s affidavit. Authorities believe 67-year-old Joseph Kennedy shot and killed the four men on Oct. 9 at Kennedy’s scrap yard, according to the affidavit unsealed Thursday and signed by Assistant District Attorney Carman Rainbolt. 

    The dismembered bodies of Mark Chastain, 32; Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and Alex Stevens, 29, were found Oct. 14 in the Deep Fork River in Okmulgee, a town of around 11,000 people that’s about 40 miles south of Tulsa. The men were believed to have left a house in Okmulgee on bicycles the evening of Oct. 9.

    Kennedy told a woman in Gore, Oklahoma, that he killed and dismembered the four men because they were stealing from him, according to the affidavit, which was filed by prosecutors who were seeking to increase Kennedy’s bond. Since Nov. 17, Kennedy has been held on a $10 million bond in connection with a 2012 charge of assault and battery with a deadly weapon for which he was still on probation. No charges related to the murders have been filed.

    One of Kennedy’s court-appointed attorneys, Gregg Graves, declined to comment Friday. A telephone message left Friday for Rainbolt and Okmulgee County District Attorney Carol Iski was not immediately returned. 

    Kennedy was named a person of interest in the investigation after investigators found blood at a property next to the salvage yard Kennedy owned, according to CBS affiliate KOTV. A vehicle belonging to Kennedy was found abandoned in Morris, Oklahoma, police said on Nov. 17.

    Okmulgee police chief Joe Prentice announced on Oct. 18 that Kennedy had been arrested in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, in a vehicle that had been reported as stolen the day before. Kennedy was quickly extradited to Oklahoma. 

    In an interview with KOTV, the cousin of Mark and Billy Chastain said that the deaths of her relatives will always leave a mark.

    “There’s gonna be that void, there’s gonna be that hole, there’s gonna be just that memory. It’s all we got now, the memories of them, and it hurts,” said Ashley Carnes.

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  • Affidavit: Oklahoma man said he killed 4 men, ‘cut them up’

    Affidavit: Oklahoma man said he killed 4 men, ‘cut them up’

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    OKMULGEE, Okla. — A man described as a “person of interest” in the killing and dismemberment of four men in eastern Oklahoma admitted to a woman that he killed the men and “cut them up,” according to a prosecutor’s affidavit.

    Authorities believe 67-year-old Joseph Kennedy shot and killed the four men on Oct. 9 at Kennedy’s scrap yard, according to the affidavit unsealed Thursday and signed by Assistant District Attorney Carman Rainbolt.

    Kennedy told a woman in Gore, Oklahoma, that he killed and dismembered the four men because they were stealing from him, according to the affidavit, which was filed by prosecutors who were seeking to increase Kennedy’s bond.

    The dismembered bodies of Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29, were found Oct. 14 in the Deep Fork River in Okmulgee, a town of around 11,000 people that’s about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Tulsa. The men were believed to have left a house in Okmulgee on bicycles the evening of Oct. 9.

    One of Kennedy’s court-appointed attorneys, Gregg Graves, declined to comment Friday.

    Kennedy was arrested Oct. 17 in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, while driving a stolen vehicle, according to Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice. He was later extradited to Oklahoma.

    Kennedy has not been formally charged, but Okmulgee County Jail records show he is being held on $10 million bond in connection with a 2012 charge of assault and battery with a deadly weapon for which he was still on probation.

    A telephone message left Friday for Rainbolt and Okmulgee County District Attorney Carol Iski was not immediately returned.

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  • Indiana judge issues gag order in case of 2 slain teen girls

    Indiana judge issues gag order in case of 2 slain teen girls

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    DELPHI, Ind. — An Indiana judge imposed a gag order on Friday in the case of a man charged in the notorious slayings of two teenage girls.

    Richard Matthew Allen, 50, of Delphi, is charged with murder in the killings of Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, whose bodies were found after they went on a hike just outside the same small town nearly six years ago.

    Allen County Judge Fran Gull’s order applies to attorneys, law enforcement officials, court personnel, the coroner and the girls’ family members. It bars them “from commenting on this case to the public and to the media, directly or indirectly, by themselves or through any intermediary, in any form, including any social media platforms.”

    Anyone violating the order could be charged with contempt of court and face a fine or incarceration, Gull wrote.

    Prosecutors had sought the order, citing intense public scrutiny and media attention. Gull, who was brought in as a special judge to oversee the case after a Carroll County judge recused himself, said she’d review her order at a Jan. 13 hearing where she’ll also consider a change of venue request. The defense wants the trial held at least 150 miles from Delphi, arguing it will be difficult to find impartial jurors in Carroll County.

    Abby and Libby went missing on Feb. 13, 2017, while hiking on a trail near their hometown, Delphi, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. Their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, heavily wooded area.

    On Tuesday, Gull ordered the public release of a redacted probable cause affidavit and charging documents, which had been sealed at the prosecutor’s request.

    The affidavit states that an unspent bullet found between the bodies of Libby and Abby “had been cycled through” a pistol owned by Allen. Investigators determined Allen had purchased that gun in 2001. Allen told police two days before his Oct. 28 arrest that he had never allowed anyone to borrow the gun, according to the affidavit.

    The affidavit also states that Allen told an officer in 2017 that on the day the teens vanished, he had visited the Monon High Bridge, an abandoned railroad bridge the youths had also visited that day.

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