Saul Garcia Gonzalez, 40, is charged with second-degree murder. Police said he killed his girlfriend, 37-year-old Nerida Martel, who is also the mother of their two-year-old daughter.
Courtesy of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office
When his girlfriend went missing in early October, police said Saul Garcia Gonzalez initially wondered to a family friend if she had been apprehended by immigration agents. Investigators with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said they soon determined Gonzalez had fabricated the theory. The 40-year-old was arrested this week and charged with killing the woman.
Nerida Martel, 37, was found dead in a canal in Southwest Miami-Dade on Oct. 11. An autopsy later concluded she died of a gunshot. Two days earlier, Gonzalez had called police to report Martel missing from their home near the corner of Southwest 208th Avenue and 168th Street.
He told deputies he had last seen her on Oct. 6, when he left for daycare with their two-year-old daughter and Martel was planning to catch a ride to work, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Martel never made it to work that day, an absence that police said shocked her unidentified employer because she was diligent about her job. A friend of Martel was concerned too, and Gonzalez told the person that Martel “was possibly in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said. When her name didn’t show up in federal detention records, the friend urged Gonzalez to report her missing and he did.
Investigators said Gonzalez didn’t seem to have a consistent timeline on Martel’s disappearance, telling police he last saw her at home but telling others he had dropped her off at the bus stop before work. When detectives obtained cellphone records for both him and Martel, they said the digital footprints seemed to contradict Gonzalez’s story.
On Oct. 6, the day Martel went missing, her cellphone stayed at the couple’s home while the one belonging to Gonzalez traveled to the canal where her body was later found less than half a mile from her home, according to the police report. The Gonzalez phone then traveled back to their home, followed by both phones returning to the canal, the report said. Then the records showed Martel’s phone being turned off.
Police said that in May, deputies went to the couple’s home after a woman in distress had called 911 and was screaming for help while a man could be heard yelling in the background. A child’s voice was also audible. But deputies on the scene were unable to find the woman who placed the call, according to the report.
In his final interview with investigators, Gonzalez denied killing Martel, according to the police report. He’s being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Detention Center, accused of second degree murder.
Officers had earlier searched the home for Renia Lewis, 28, of Vallejo, who had been reported missing Sunday, but could not find her.
Getty Images
Officers searching a home for a missing woman for a second time found her body hidden inside a concealed attic, California police reported.
Officers had earlier searched the home for Renia Lewis, 28, of Vallejo, who had been reported missing Sunday, Sept. 28, but could not find her, Vallejo police said in a Tuesday, Sept. 30, news release.
After an investigation led them back to the home, officers returned with a search warrant and uncovered the hidden attic with her body inside, police said.
“What did she do to you for you to kill her, and then put her in a wall?” Teri Lewis, the woman’s mother, told KTVU. “And she’s been gone since Friday so we were out here looking for my daughter and she’s in the wall — dead.”
Investigators arrested Douglas Irwin Shaw, 41, of Vallejo, on a charge of murder, police said. Shaw told officers in a statement that he was responsible for the crime, police said.
“This was a heartbreaking, senseless act of violence that has no place in our community. I am proud of our officers and detectives for making an arrest and solving this case,” Police Chief Jason Ta said in the release.
“I just prayed, ‘God please don’t let it be her, please don’t let it be.’ And he didn’t answer my prayer,” Teri Lewis told KTVU.
Don Sweeney has been a newspaper reporter and editor in California for more than 25 years. He has been a real-time reporter based at The Sacramento Bee since 2016.
Montgomery County Ride On bus driver Tilwanna Gollman Stevenson is being hailed as a hero after helping reunite a missing elderly woman with dementia with her family.
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Ride On bus driver’s instinct reunites missing women with her family
A Montgomery County Ride On Bus operator is being praised for her swift action and compassion after helping reunite a missing woman with dementia and her family.
On Monday night, bus operator Tilwonna Gollman Stevenson was driving her usual route through Germantown when a woman boarded her bus.
“When she got on the bus, she stood out to me because she’s not one of my regulars,” Stevenson recalled.
Shortly after, a countywide alert went out to Ride On drivers to be on the lookout for an elderly woman with dementia who had wandered away from a nearby hospital.
Police, acting on the belief that the woman may have taken the bus, pulled over Stevenson’s bus, but no one on board exactly matched the description.
“I was thinking, maybe a young person,” Stevenson said. “The 55 is a very busy bus.”
A few minutes later, Stevenson took another look at the woman who had caught her attention earlier.
“I looked over and said, ‘Hold up.’” she said.
Stevenson got on the radio, asked for more details, and when she learned the missing woman was in her 80s, she realized she had found her.
Stevenson pulled the bus over, contacted Central Communications, and calmly engaged the woman, who didn’t speak English, while waiting for help.
“I turned and I looked at her, and she looked at me, and she stood up like she knew. … I said, ‘Your family’s looking for you. Someone’s on their way to get you,’” she said.
Stevenson stayed with the woman until police arrived and confirmed her identity.
“I didn’t know how long she had been missing, how long she had been traveling on the bus. I just wanted to keep her calm, and I wanted her to know that she was safe,” she said.
Ride On later commended Stevenson with a certificate of appreciation for her actions, but she said she wasn’t looking for recognition.
“It could have been my grandmother who got turned around and maybe confused about where they were going,” she said.
She credited both her instincts and her training as a bus operator for helping her recognize something wasn’t right.
“I’m glad that I was the one who was able to help her,” Stevenson said.
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A man is accused of driving Dacara Thompson to his home in Bowie, Maryland, killing her in the bedroom and leaving her body in a grassy area where she was later found by police.
Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader participates in a Sept. 5 news conference announcing murder charges in connection to the death of 19-year-old Dacara Thompson.
(WTOP/Jose Umana)
WTOP/Jose Umana
A missing person flyer for Dacara Thompson, 19, of Prince George’s County, Maryland.
(Courtesy 7News)
Courtesy 7News
Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy participates in Sept. 5 news conference regarding the death of 19-year-old Dacara Thompson.
(WTOP/Jose Umana)
WTOP/Jose Umana
A man has been charged in the killing of a 19-year-old woman from Prince George’s County, Maryland, whose body was found last weekend after she was reported missing in late August.
Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, 35, was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree murder in Dacara Thompson’s death, investigators said Friday morning.
Hernandez-Mendez is accused of driving Thompson to his home in Bowie, killing her in the bedroom and leaving her body in a grassy area where she was later found by investigators.
A timeline of events by police
Surveillance footage showed Thompson willingly getting into a black SUV at around 3 a.m. on Aug. 23, police said. The driver, believed to be Hernandez-Mendez, took the young woman to his home in the 12000 block of Kembridge Drive in Bowie.
“We believe everything transpired in the bedroom,” said George Nader, the interim chief of Prince George’s County police. “What is surrounding the two coming together, that’s what we’re still investigating.”
Police believe Hernandez-Mendez brought her body to a spot near Route 50 in Anne Arundel County. That’s where Maryland State Police later found a body, now identified as Thompson, on Sunday, Aug. 31 — about one week after Thompson’s family reported her as missing.
The body was discovered as police followed up on a call about a disabled vehicle, which they believe is unrelated to the killing.
“That area is probably about seven miles away from the murder location, but a good distance away from where she went missing,” Nader said. “So we are thankful that the Maryland State Police had the ability to locate that body based on that call for service.”
State police contacted Prince George’s County police after finding the woman’s body.
County police identified Hernandez-Mendez as a suspect. Detectives got a search warrant for Hernandez-Mendez’s home, where they said they found evidence she was killed in the bedroom.
Hernandez-Mendez is being held without bond. He’s expected to appear at a bond hearing Monday to determine whether he should remain held, according to online court records.
Investigators are looking into whether Thompson and Hernandez-Mendez knew each other before Aug. 23.
During a Friday news conference, it was revealed Hernandez-Mendez was an immigrant without proper legal status in the U.S.
He was arrested by U.S. Park Police last April on a charge of driving under the influence, Braveboy said. He was released while awaiting his trial.
At that time, he was not detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But Nader said an ICE detainer was issued for Hernandez-Mendez on Thursday.
Thompson’s cause of death hasn’t been determined but is expected to be ruled a homicide, police said. Officials did not share details about the manner of her death.
There are no other suspects in her killing at this time, police said.
Police are asking anyone with more information to call Prince George’s County police at 301-516-2512.
A 19-year-old who served her community
Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy thanked the community and law enforcement for their efforts to find Thompson.
Thompson had graduated from St. Charles High School in Charles County.
She lived with her father in Lanham.
Thompson was participating in a “Service Year Option,” a program launched by Gov. Wes Moore in 2023. Young adults get placed in a service position that’s an area of interest, with the hope being it helps recent graduates prepare for their future career.
In a statement, Moore called Thompson a “bright light in our state.”
“She yearned to be part of our mission to solve big problems with bold solutions through her passion for the arts,” the governor wrote.
“This is a young woman who dedicated part of her young life to serving others,” Braveboy said. “I want that to ring home to all of you that this is a good, good, good young woman who wanted to do good for her community, and now her community will stand behind her family as we seek justice for her.”
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After family members of a slain Navajo woman described their grief in a federal courtroom, the judge on Monday sentenced her boyfriend to life imprisonment for first-degree murder in a case that became emblematic of what officials call an epidemic of missing and slain Indigenous women.
Five years after Jaime Yazzie was killed, her relatives and friends cheered as they streamed out of the downtown Phoenix courthouse after U.S. District Court Judge Douglas L. Rayas handed down the sentence for Tre C. James.
Yazzie was 32 and the mother of three sons when she went missing in the summer of 2019 from her community of Pinon on the Navajo Nation. Despite a high-profile search, her remains were not found until November 2021 on the neighboring Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona. At the time, the FBI offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Yazzie’s disappearance and/or death.
James was convicted last fall in Yazzie’s fatal shooting. The jury also found James guilty of several acts of domestic violence committed against three former dating partners.
Yazzie’s three sons, now ages 18, 14, 10, and other relatives attended Monday’s sentencing, along with several dozen supporters. Another dozen or so supporters stayed outside to demonstrate on the sidewalk, chanting and beating drums.
Jaime Yazzie
KPHO-TV
“There is no sentence you can impose that will balance the scale,” Yazzie’s mother, Ethelene Denny, told the judge before the announcement. Denny detailed the pain the family has suffered from the moment Yazzie disappeared, through a desperate 2 1/2-year search and the ultimate shock and heartbreak when her remains were found.
Denny told the judge she researched the right words to use, as English is her second language, CBS affiliate KPHO-TV reported.
“Looking through dictionaries, I wanted to have that powerful wording and everything to say my statement,” Denny said.
Federal prosecutors also played an earlier recorded video statement from Yazzie’s father, James Yazzie, who has since died.
“It’s not right,” the elder Yazzie said in the video, who was clearly ailing and had trouble speaking. “Taking my daughter away and taking my grandkids’ mom. It hits me right in the heart.”
“To see him again, it brought joy to my heart, but my heart is still breaking and being put back together,” Yazzie said.
The FBI hailed the sentence.
“Today’s sentence underscores the fact that Jamie Yazzie was not forgotten by the FBI or our federal and tribal partners,” FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Jose A. Perez said in a statement. “Our office is committed to addressing the violence that Native American communities in Arizona face every day and we will continue our efforts to protect families, help victims and ensure that justice is served in each case we pursue.”
Yazzie’s case gained attention through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women grassroots movement that draws attention to widespread violence against Indigenous women and girls in the United States and Canada.
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs characterizes the violence against Indigenous women as a crisis.
Women from Native American and Alaska Native communities have long suffered from high rates of assault, abduction and murder. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women – 84% – have experienced violence in their lifetimes, including 56% who have been victimized by sexual violence.
“We got justice for Jamie. We did it,” Yazzie’s family and friends chanted outside the federal courthouse in Phoenix after the sentence was handed down, KPHO-TV reported.
Supporters of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement wait outside the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, during a hearing where Tre C. James was sentenced to life imprisonment in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend Jamie Yazzie on the Navajo Nation in 2019.
After disagreements between prosecutors and the defense, a trial date was set for a Manassas Park, Virginia, husband who is accused of concealing the body of his wife, who has not been seen since July.
After disagreements between prosecutors and the defense, a trial date was set for a Manassas Park, Virginia, husband who is accused of concealing the body of his wife, who has not been seen since July.
Naresh Bhatt’s trial is scheduled for Dec. 9. Prosecutors and Bhatt’s attorney, Shalev Ben-Avraham, went back and forth before a packed courtroom.
Prosecutors said the early December date was unfair to the Commonwealth, as they still needed to gather more information, including interviewing numerous witnesses. Meanwhile the defense wanted an earlier start.
A suggested date in February would fall under the speedy trial schedule, but that date conflicted with the defense attorney.
Some 50 supporters of nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt, including members of her family, wore scrubs or T-shirts that said, “Justice for Mamta.”
“I’m initially disappointed with the speedy trial clock,” said Holly Wirth, a former co-worker.“I think we were all hoping for January or early February. But you know, when they could come to an agreement, unfortunately, was Dec. 9. So that puts a lot of pressure on the Commonwealth attorneys to get a case together, while also trying to build a case to indict on a murder charge.”
Naresh Bhatt has not been charged with murder.
More on the missing Manassas Park mother
Investigators have not found the body of the missing mother. However, prosecutors said in a previous hearing that there was evidence of blood found in the bedroom and shower of the couple’s Manassas Park home.
“The Commonwealth went on the record and said that Mamta was a victim of domestic violence,” Wirth said. “She was a victim of abuse. Certainly, there were red flag behaviors in that marriage and probably led to her untimely death.”
“I’m very nervous about the upcoming trial, what we’re going to hear and that is what I am preparing myself for,” said Prabha Bhattarai Deuja, a Nepalese immigrant like Bhatt who was in the courtroom.
When Mamta Kafle Bhatt disappeared in late July, members of her local community in northern Virginia and her family in her native Nepal banded together to try to figure out what happened.
Police in Manassas Park, Virginia, searched wooded areas for evidence in the case of a Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who went missing more than a month ago. (Courtesy 7News/Manassas Park Police Department)
Police in Manassas Park, Virginia, searched wooded areas for evidence in the case of a Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who went missing more than a month ago. (Courtesy 7News/Manassas Park Police Department)
MANASSAS, Virginia (AP) — When Mamta Kafle Bhatt disappeared in late July, members of her local community in northern Virginia and her family in her native Nepal banded together to try to figure out what happened to her.
They posted on social media, hosted community events and held a rally for the 28-year-old mother and pediatric nurse. Within days of her disappearance, community members began to apply public pressure on her husband, Naresh Bhatt.
“My friend called me and said, ‘What do you think?’ and I said, ‘Let’s talk about it,’ so we initiated a group chat and then the movement was started,” said Bina Khadkalama, a member of the local Nepali community in northern Virginia.
Bhatt was arrested about three weeks after his wife disappeared and charged with concealing a dead body. A prosecutor later said in court that the amount of blood found in Bhatt’s home indicated injuries that were not survivable.
Though his wife’s body remains missing, Naresh Bhatt waived his right to grand jury proceedings on Thursday, paving the way for him to head to trial by early 2025. The trial date is expected to be set during Bhatt’s next hearing in Prince William Circuit Court on Sept. 16.
Prince William Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Sweet described the waiver as a tactical move by Bhatt’s attorneys that limits prosecutors’ time to build their murder case — a process that typically takes longer than six months.
“We have multiple agencies, multiple witnesses who are out of the state — out of the country — that we have to prepare for,” Sweet said in court.
Chief Public Defender Tracey Lenox argued that Bhatt was still entitled to a speedy trial, despite prosecutors’ wish for more time, adding that his defense couldn’t control whether the arrest was premature.
“They chose to charge in this,” Lenox said, adding: “I understand the inconvenience to the Commonwealth, but this is where we are.”
On Thursday, Manassas Park police said they were searching for evidence in the investigation at a nearby school, multiple parks and other community areas.
The investigation has drawn international attention to the small northern Virginia community, where homicide cases are rare. In the courtroom, more than a dozen community members sat among the benches, wearing pink pins printed with Bhatt’s face.
“We’re always thinking about her, we’re doing so much here,” Khadkalama said. “The case is a 24-hour topic for us … I go to work, I drive home, I think about Mamta.”
Holly Wirth, a nurse who used to work with Mamta Bhatt, has been vocal in the case, hoping to gain accountability for her friend. She described Naresh Bhatt’s waiver of grand jury proceedings to be “legal gymnastics,” but said she believed prosecutors would still have ample time to prepare this case or other charges that they could be pursuing.
“Mr. Bhatt thinks he is smart, but I guarantee you, the weight of justice is leaning hard on him, and we are going to see this come to fruition,” Wirth said.
___
Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
As the search for a missing Manassas Park mother intensifies, police executed a search warrant at her home Wednesday night. The City of Manassas Park Police chief that confirmed Kafle Bhatt’s husband is a person of interest in the investigation but is not cooperating with officials.
Police activity is seen Aug. 22, 2024, at the home of 28-year-old Mamta Kafle Bhatt in Manassas Park after police named her husband, Naresh Bhatt, as a person of interest in her disappearance. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)
Police activity is seen Aug. 22, 2024, at the home of 28-year-old Mamta Kafle Bhatt in Manassas Park after police named her husband, Naresh Bhatt, as a person of interest in her disappearance. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)
After being named a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, a Manassas Park, Virginia, man was seen in handcuffs being escorted out of his home by police on Thursday morning.
Cameras from WTOP’s partners at 7News captured the scene as a man they reported to be the husband of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, was led away in cuffs.
Kafle Bhatt, 28, was last seen on July 31, and is “thought to be missing on involuntary circumstances,” according to City of Manassas Park Police.
There was also a large police presence at the same home on Heather Court in the Blooms Crossing neighborhood on Wednesday evening where police executed a search warrant.
At a news conference later that night, the City of Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo confirmed Kafle Bhatt’s husband was a person of interest in the investigation and was not cooperating with officials.
Otherwise, he said the investigation is ongoing and there are no significant updates they can share with the public.
“To this point in the investigation, our investigators have executed over 10 search warrants and conducted hundreds of interviews related to this case,” he said. “My staff continues to work tirelessly and follow up every lead, which we have received hundreds of leads on this case.”
Mamta Kafle Bhatt was last seen July 31, 2024. (Courtesy Manassas Park Police Department)
WTOP’s Dick Uliano reported from the Manassas Park neighborhood Wednesday evening.
“Those who I have spoken with have expressed frustration that this has been going on for three weeks. They also express disappointment. They feel that the case has demanded, and certainly deserved, a higher degree of visibility than what has been provided,” he said.
Holly Wirth, a former hospital co-worker of Kafle Bhatt, said, “People don’t have to voluntarily cooperate, but through subpoenas and search warrants, we can certainly get him to cooperate.”
Uliano added that neighbors are hoping for the best and have even taken part in recent searches, like the one last Thursday.
Kafle Bhatt was reported missing on Aug. 5 and a police flyer with her description was released by Manassas Park Police three days later. She is described as 5 feet tall and 132 pounds with black hair and dark brown eyes.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact the department at 703-361-1136. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to the Manassas City/Manassas Park Crime Solvers by calling 703-330-0330 or at manassascrimesolvers.org.
WTOP’s Luke Lukert and Dick Uliano contributed to this report.
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(FOX40.COM) — Placer County law enforcement is asking for the public’s assistance to find a missing 82-year-old woman who is at risk because of severe memory loss.
Karen Garlow was last seen around 4 p.m. on Tuesday as she left Rutlan Way, according to the Rocklin Police Department. Garlow was wearing a green button-down shirt and two different shoes – one pink Croc an one tennis shoe.
Anyone with information on Garlow’s whereabouts is advised to contact the Rocklin PD at 916-625-5400.
FLUSHING, Queens (WABC) — Smack dab in the middle of downtown Flushing, Queens is a shopping plaza where shoppers will find a jeweler and herbs.
Tucked away in the back is Judy Tailor, where 68-year-old Xiuping Shen, a well-known seamstress, famously worked before she vanished sometime in November.
“She’s famous for her job,” said Harriette Lo of Tianjin Commerce Association. “People say a year, 365 days, she’s been working 364 days.”
Shen’s family is all in China, and after not being able to reach her for two months they contacted Lo, who got the police involved.
In mid-January, they found her at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital.
“I talked to her doctor,” said Lo. “The doctor told me about her situation there. And the doctor said she’ll be ok. Maybe next week she will discharge.”
Shen had been sick for a while with kidney failure.
She was discharged a week later, but no one was able to find her.
“They cannot tell us anything because we are not the emergency contact person,” said Lo.
Harriette enlisted the help of State Assembly Ron Kim, who was able to convince the hospital that the family authorized him to speak on their behalf.
The hospital told him Shen had been discharged to a nursing home.
However, when they got to the facility, they discovered she had passed away in their care on Jan. 29.
“Harriette went there to try to get more information,” Kim said. “They wouldn’t communicate with Harriette.”
Shen’s cause of death was kidney failure.
Given the news, the family is now working on coming to the US to close the loop on these frantic couple of months with a proper burial.
“Just when we called them it was at that time period where they were about to dispose the remains at a public cemetery,” said Kim. “We were able to intervene and through Harriette and her people remove the remains to a local funeral home as our office is expediting their visas from abroad to come here to have a proper funeral and then take the remains back to China.”
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RINGWOOD, New Jersey (WABC) — A missing hiker at Ringwood State Park in New Jersey was located safely Monday afternoon.
Carol Heimbach, 63, survived an entire day and night lost in the woods along the New York/New Jersey border, going more than 24 hours missing.
Authorities believe Heimbach, from Wayne, New Jersey, entered the park for a hike near Skylands Manor on Sunday around 12:30 p.m.
The New Jersey State Park Police said the woman’s family first reached out to authorities after Heimbach didn’t return home for dinner, which initiated the search.
They say Heimbach’s vehicle was located in Parking Lot B of the state park just before 11 p.m., and a massive multi-agency search and rescue operation, using canines and aviation units, began a few hours later and continued overnight.
Authorities say they started receiving tips regarding the missing hiker around 9 a.m. Monday morning, after the Ringwood Police Department posted information on their Facebook page about the disappearance.
They say a homeowner’s Ring camera footage positively identified Heimbach.
“At 1 p.m. we received probably the most credible tip that we could expect, and it was based off a Ring cam in Scottsburg New York,” said George Fedorczyk of New Jersey State Park Police.
She was located safely around 1:30 p.m. in Sloatsburg, New York, and was then taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern.
Police say she was in good shape and suffered no apparent injuries but was “disoriented.”
She has since been reunited with family.
Her husband told Eyewitness News he’s grateful to police for keeping up the search.
Police say it’s not yet clear the circumstances that led the woman to go missing.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Officials and family members are searching for a pregnant Texas teenager who disappeared a day before she was scheduled to be induced.
The Leon Valley Police Department told CBS News that Savanah Nicole Soto, 18, was reported missing by her family and was last seen on Dec. 22.
Soto’s family told CBS News affiliate KENS that she was set to be induced on Saturday night and is a week past her due date. Police confirmed to CBS News that Soto had missed an appointment.
On Monday, the department issued a CLEAR alert, which are sent out for missing, kidnapped or abducted adults who are in immediate danger, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The CLEAR alert said that Soto, who is 5’1″ and has brown hair and eyes, was last seen at around 2 p.m. on Dec. 22. The alert said that she might be in a gray 2013 Kia Optima with temporary Texas tags.
KENS reported that the address where Soto was last seen was the apartment complex where she lived with her boyfriend, the father of her child. According to Soto’s family, no one has been able to contact the boyfriend since Soto disappeared.
Savanah Soto.
Texas Department of Public Safety
Rachel Soto, the teen’s grandmother, said that her granddaughter was excited to welcome her baby and had a nursery decorated and a name picked out. The teen is expecting a baby boy, her grandmother said.
“She was thrilled and excited about being a mom … I pray to God every day, every minute, every second of the day we pray to God to bring her home, to bring her home safely because we need her home, to complete our family again,” Rachel Soto said.
KENS reported that police attempted to enter Soto’s apartment on Monday, but were unsuccessful. Soto’s friends and family organized a search of the area on Monday night as well.
Soto’s grandmother says the family just wants answers and to see the teen safely returned.
“It’s not normal, something’s not adding up here … I want answers, we all want answers,” Soto said. “She’s a beautiful girl … She’ll help anyone and I want someone to help us.”
Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
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Police are continuing to build a timeline of Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell’s whereabouts after the 25-year-old vanished Thursday night after calling 911 to report spotting a toddler on an interstate in Alabama. Russell returned home two days later as the incident gained national attention.
Russell vanished after she called 911 in regards to a toddler in a diaper walking along the side of a highway, authorities say. She returned home Saturday night, but in the days since, investigators have not found any evidence of a child on the highway, the Hoover Police Department said Wednesday. The department never received any other 911 calls about a toddler on Interstate 459, even though multiple vehicles passed through the area on Thursday night.
“Numerous evidentiary items are still being evaluated, and those items are key in the process of determining exactly what took place in the approximately 49 hours Carlee was missing, but also what took place prior to her disappearance,” police said in a social media post Wednesday.
So far, police have been able to determine some of what happened before Russell vanished.
She left from work at a business in Birmingham, about 10 miles from Hoover, around 8:20 p.m. local time on Thursday, police said. Russell ordered food from a nearby business at The Colonnade and picked it up. She then stopped at a Target on Highway 280 to buy some snacks.
At 9:34 p.m. local time, she called 911 to tell them about a toddler on the highway, saying she’d stopped to check on the boy, police said. The call quickly ended and Russell then called a relative.
The family member “lost contact with” Russell during the call, “but the line remained open,” Hoover Police Lt. Daniel Lowe said in a news conference Friday.
Hoover officers arrived on scene within five minutes of being dispatched, police said. Russell was gone, but officers found her car, cellphone, wig and purse. Her Apple Watch was in the bag and no snacks were found.
Russell returned home on foot on Saturday night, about 49 hours after she went missing. Police received a call at around 10:45 p.m. local time notifying them of her return. While the 911 caller told the dispatcher Russell was “unresponsive but breathing,” she was conscious and speaking when first responders arrived.
Officers spoke with Russell “very briefly” and got a statement, police said. She was taken to a hospital for evaluation and has since been treated and released.
Police are still waiting for Russell to be made available so they can get a more detailed statement about what happened while she was missing.
The Hoover Police Department will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. CST Wednesday regarding the case.
A 25-year-old nursing student who went missing on Thursday night after calling 911 to say she’d seen a male toddler in a diaper walking along the side of an Alabama highway has returned home, police said.
Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell came back home on Saturday night. Police received a call at around 10:45 p.m. notifying them of her return. Officers and medics responded and Russell was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Hoover Police Captain Keith Czeskleba said. They also spoke with Russell and got a statement.
“The details of that statement are a part of the ongoing investigation which is expected to continue over the next few days,” Hoover Police Lt. Daniel Lowe said in a Sunday press release. “During the initial portion of the investigation detectives were able to retrace nearly all of Carlee’s steps until the point she went missing and are confident that will continue to be the case.”
Officials have not yet given any indication of where Russell was during the search, which began Thursday night. The nursing student was on her way home from work in Birmingham after having stopped to pick up food when she called 911 at about 9:30 p.m. She told the Hoover dispatchers that she’d stopped to check on a young child who she’d seen walking on the side of Interstate 459. After she hung up, Russell called a family member, police said. The family member “lost contact with” Russell during the call, “but the line remained open,” Lowe said in a news conference Friday.
Responding officers found Russell’s car, wig and cellphone abandoned at the scene, officials said. There were no signs of Russell or a child. Police said they had not received any calls regarding a missing child and Russell’s 911 call remains the only timely report of a child on the interstate.
Officers analyzed Russell’s phone during the missing person investigation. They also spoke with a witness who reported seeing a vehicle and a man standing outside Russell’s car. Police obtained traffic camera footage, which is still being analyzed.
Hoover is part of the Birmingham metropolitan area. Lowe said local police worked with state and federal agencies during the search. A large group of volunteers organized by Russell’s parents also assisted in the search effort.
Talitha Russell, Carlee’s mother, told reporters that her daughter was on the phone with her sister-in-law at the time her voice dropped out.
“She’s known to be helpful and she has a big heart,” Talitha Russell said about Carlee. “And she does know not to stop for anyone, even a child on the side of the road. But she did call 911. And I think she kind of let her guard down thinking they were so close. And when she got out of the car, she did tell my daughter-in-law, ‘I can’t just leave this little child on the side of the road.’”
Faris Tanyos and Camille C. Knox contributed to this report.
A search is underway for a 25-year-old woman who went missing Thursday night after she called 911 from a highway in Hoover, Alabama, to report that she had seen a toddler walking along the side of the interstate, authorities said.
The Hoover Police Department reports that Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell called 911 emergency dispatchers just after 9:30 p.m. local time Thursday and informed them that she had stopped to check on a young child that she had seen walking on the side of Interstate 459.
Police said that after speaking to 911, Russell immediately called a family member. During that call, the family member “lost contact with” Russell, “but the line remained open,” Hoover Police Lt. Daniel Lowe said in a news conference Friday.
An undated photo of 25-year-old Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell, who went missing after calling 911 from the side of a highway in Hoover, Alabama, on July 13, 2023.
Hoover Police Department
Responding officers located Russell’s abandoned car along with some of her belongings nearby, Lowe said, but no sign of her or a child.
“A single witness has reported possibly seeing gray vehicle with a light-complected male standing outside of Carlee’s vehicle, but we have no further information on that individual or the vehicle at this time,” Lowe said.
Russell was on her way home from work after having stopped off to pick up food, police said.
Talitha Russell, Carlee’s mother, told reporters that her daughter was on the phone with her sister-in-law at the time that her voice dropped out.
“She’s known to be helpful and she has a big heart,” Talitha Russell said of Carlee. “And she does know not to stop for anyone, even a child on the side of the road. But she did call 911. And I think she kind of let her guard down thinking they were so close. And when she got out the car, she did tell my daughter-in-law, ‘I can’t just leave this little child on the side of the road.’”
Lowe said a massive search was ongoing involving local, state and federal agencies. A large group of volunteers organized by Russell’s parents were also assisting in the search effort.
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Lori Slesinski went missing in June 2006. Friends, family and investigators say details about her dog Peanut led them to a suspect with a criminal past.
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Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old mother of three from Massachusetts, has been missing since sometime after having dinner with her husband and a friend on New Year’s Eve. The case has been under investigation for over a week.
Searches for Walshe have been unsuccessful, even as the investigation fanned out from the area of her home in Cohasset to other towns in the state.
The case took a turn when her husband, Brian Walshe, was arrested on Jan. 8 on a charge of misleading investigators.
While police have discovered some physical evidence they’re investigating, Ana Walshe herself has not been found. Here’s what we know so far.
Who is Ana Walshe?
A friend of Ana Walshe, Alissa Kirby, described her as “a loving wife and mother to, she always says, ‘three beautiful boys.’”
The Walshe family lives in Cohasset, about 45 minutes down the coast from Boston, but Ana Walshe spent workweeks in Washington, D.C. for her job as a real estate investment manager, CBS Boston reported. The family had a vehicle and townhouse in Washington, police have said.
In addition to keeping busy with work, friends say Ana Walshe was an active member of a Newton-based organization for immigrants in America called the Sky International Center.
The Walshes’ three young sons, ages 2, 4 and 6, are now in the custody of the state’s Department of Children and Families.
When was Ana Walshe reported missing?
Ana Walshe was reported missing on Jan. 4. Police Chief William Quigley said in a press conference said it was “simultaneously reported” by her husband Brian and by employees at her Washington, D.C. workplace.
“Officially we realized (Wednesday) that she was missing. We suspected maybe something Tuesday,” her friend Alissa Kirby, who lives in Washington, told CBS Boston.
Ana Walshe was last seen at her home on Jan. 1, according to police. Her husband said she took a rideshare to Boston’s Logan International Airport to fly to Washington, D.C., but there is no evidence that she got on the plane. Quigley said they also could not confirm that she was ever picked up by the vehicle.
Quigley said Brian Walshe said he did not see his wife leave the house because he was asleep at the time. Another family member saw her at the house at 4 or 5 in the morning, Quigley said, though he did not explain which family member that was.
“We’re not exactly sure” why there was a gap between when Ana Walshe was last seen and when she was reported missing, Quigley said. “It seems like it was a situation where … she does work in D.C. and it’s not abnormal for her to work long hours and not contact the home right away. That seems to be the case.”
Who is Ana Walshe’s husband and why was Brian Walshe arrested?
Ana Walshe’s husband, Brian Walshe, was on home confinement at the time of her disappearance, because of a federal conviction involving a scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol paintings. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, and possession of converted goods and unlawful monetary transaction, CBS Boston reported.
Ana and Brian Walshe.
Photos from Cohasset Police and Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool
The station reports his house arrest bracelet was not equipped with GPS tracking and that he had an exemption that allowed him to take the couple’s three sons to school. Quigley said in his press conference that those charges were not related to Ana Walshe’s disappearance.
Police initially said that Brian Walshe was cooperating with their investigation into his wife’s disappearance, but on Jan. 8, he was charged with misleading investigators.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s office announced the arrest, saying that in the course of the investigation, police “developed probable cause to believe that … Brian Walshe had committed the crime of misleading police investigators.”
Brian Walshe has pled not guilty to charges and remains in jail on a $500,000 bond, according to CBS Boston.
What has the investigation into Ana Walshe’s disappearance found?
As the investigation has unfolded, information has come to light about Brian Walshe’s movements after his wife was last seen.
According to court documents from his arraignment, Walshe was seen on security camera footage purchasing $450 of cleaning supplies, including tarps and buckets, at a home improvement store while wearing a disposable mask and gloves on Jan. 2 — two days before Ana Walshe was reported missing but one day after she was last seen.
Brian Walshe had told police he had been to a supermarket and a pharmacy, but there is no evidence that he was at either store, Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Lynn Beland said in the hearing.
Another surveillance video showed him at a juice bar on the same day, and video footage reviewed by CBS Boston’s investigative team show Brian Walshe near a liquor store dumpster in Swampscott, Massachusetts. Sources told CBS Boston that no physical evidence was found there.
Physical evidence has been found in multiple other locations, including the couples’ Cohasset home and the woods behind the house. A broken knife and blood were found in the home’s basement, according to CBS Boston, but it hasn’t been confirmed whose blood it was.
Sources told CBS Boston’s investigative team that Brian Walshe’s car has been impounded and showed signs of being recently cleaned.
CBS Boston also reports that investigators are reviewing an incident from August 2014 in which Ana Walshe, who was not yet married to Brian Walshe, claimed someone threatened to kill her and her friends. In a Washington, D.C. police report viewed by the station, she claimed the threat came from Brian Walshe over the phone. But no charges were filed after she refused to cooperate with the investigation.
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – UPDATE: Douglas County sheriff’s office confirms they are searching the landfill potentially connected to Cari Allen’s case.
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Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies were at the home of a missing Omaha woman on Wednesday morning, wrapping up their search just before noon.
It’s Day 4 of the search for 43-year-old Cari Allen.
Cari Allen, 43(Douglas County Sheriff’s Office)
“We are constantly searching based on tips that we receive,” Douglas County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Wayne Hudson told 6 News.
6 News saw a K-9 unit search Stolley Prairie near 168th Street between Blondo Street and West Dodge Road.
Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a search Wednesday morning, Nov. 23, 2022, near the home of a missing Omaha woman.
Stolley Prairie is 24 acres — a lot of ground to cover. The 43-year-old missing woman lives nearby, in a neighborhood near 168th and Blondo streets. She was last seen in that area late Saturday night.
After an hour of following the tree lines, there was no sign of her, so investigators said they were off to the next search area. 6 News spotted more investigators on the other side of 168th Street, under West Dodge Road — a known dumping ground that’s well hidden.
“I think they should search here because that is a place that’s isolated and alone,” said jeri Whitmarsh of Omaha. “You don’t know if she came down here or someone brought her here — that would be sad.”
Meanwhile, back at Allen’s home, lab techs removed envelopes of possible evidence. A tow truck driver also collected the dark sedan in the garage for closer inspection back at headquarters.
Authorities removed a car from a home in west Omaha while conducting a search for Cari Allen.
Investigators have said very little about Allen’s disappearance, other than she was last seen around 11 p.m. Saturday by her home.
On Monday night and into Tuesday morning, Douglas County investigators, with the help of the Topeka Police Department, executed a search on a home in Kansas. Nebraska investigators told 6 News it was connected to the Allen case.
A K-9 unit was also involved in that search.
No one came to the door in Topeka when police there asked. The home belongs to a man by the name of Aldrick Scott.
The connection to the two locations was seemingly made after an odd 9-1-1 call Monday night that came from a third party in Texas, according to WIBW, our sister station in Topeka. Dispatch mentioned a code that means dead body.
Investigators carried evidence from the Kansas home, but there was no sign of Scott — or Allen, so the mystery remains separated by 150 miles for now.
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Investigative reporter Mike McKnight contributed to this story.
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