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  • 2023 In Review Fast Facts | CNN

    2023 In Review Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look back at the events of 2023.

    January 3 – Republican Kevin McCarthy fails to secure enough votes to be elected Speaker of the House in three rounds of voting. On January 7, McCarthy is elected House speaker after multiple days of negotiations and 15 rounds of voting. That same day, the newly elected 118th Congress is officially sworn in.

    January 7 – Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, is pulled over for reckless driving. He is hospitalized following the arrest and dies three days later from injuries sustained during the traffic stop. Five officers from the Memphis Police Department are fired. On January 26, a grand jury indicts the five officers. They are each charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. On September 12, the five officers are indicted by a federal grand jury on several charges including deprivation of rights.

    January 9 – The White House counsel’s office confirms that several classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered last fall in an office at the Penn Biden Center. On January 12, the White House counsel’s office confirms a small number of additional classified documents were located in President Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.

    January 13 – The Trump Organization is fined $1.6 million – the maximum possible penalty – by a New York judge for running a decade-long tax fraud scheme.

    January 21 – Eleven people are killed in a mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, as the city’s Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year. The 72-year-old gunman is found dead the following day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    January 24 – CNN reports that a lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI.

    January 25 – Facebook-parent company Meta announces it will restore former President Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks, just over two years after suspending him in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack.

    February 1 – Tom Brady announces his retirement after 23 seasons in the NFL.

    February 2 – Defense officials announce the United States is tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental United States. On February 4, a US military fighter jet shoots down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean. On June 29, the Pentagon reveals the balloon did not collect intelligence while flying over the country.

    February 3 – A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derails in East Palestine, Ohio. An evacuation order is issued for the area within a mile radius of the train crash. The order is lifted on February 8. After returning to their homes, some residents report they have developed a rash and nausea.

    February 7 – Lebron James breaks the NBA’s all-time scoring record, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

    February 15 – Payton Gendron, 19, who killed 10 people in a racist mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly Black area of Buffalo last May, is sentenced to life in prison.

    February 18 – In a statement, the Carter Center says that former President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care at his home in Georgia.

    February 20 – President Biden makes a surprise trip to Kyiv for the first time since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

    February 23 – Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is sentenced to 20 years in prison in a Chicago federal courtroom on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor. Kelly is already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court. Nineteen years of the 20-year prison sentence will be served at the same time as his other sentence. One year will be served after that sentence is complete.

    February 23 – Harvey Weinstein, who is already serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York, is sentenced in Los Angeles to an additional 16 years in prison for charges of rape and sexual assault.

    March 2 – SpaceX and NASA launch a fresh crew of astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station, kicking off a roughly six-month stay in space. The mission — which is carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates — took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    March 2 – The jury in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh finds him guilty of murdering his wife and son. Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of a prominent and powerful family of local lawyers and solicitors, is also found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.

    March 3 – Four US citizens from South Carolina are kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, in a case of mistaken identity. On March 7, two of the four Americans, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, are found dead and the other two, Latavia McGee and Eric Williams, are found alive. The cartel believed responsible for the armed kidnapping issues an apology letter and hands over five men to local authorities.

    March 10 – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announces that Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by California regulators. This is the second largest bank failure in US history, only to Washington Mutual’s collapse in 2008. SVB Financial Group, the former parent company of SVB, files for bankruptcy on March 17.

    March 27 – A 28-year-old Nashville resident shoots and kills three children and three adults at the Covenant School in Nashville. The shooter is fatally shot by responding officers.

    March 29 – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is detained by Russian authorities and accused of spying. On April 7, he is formally charged with espionage.

    March 30 – A grand jury in New York votes to indict Trump, the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges. On April 4, Trump surrenders and is placed under arrest before pleading not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege that Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a hush money scheme with payments made to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump. He has denied the affairs.

    April 6 – Two Democratic members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, are expelled while a third member, Rep. Gloria Johnson, is spared in an ousting by Republican lawmakers that was decried by the trio as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated. This comes after Jones, Pearson and Johnson staged a demonstration on the House floor calling for gun reform following the shooting at the Covenant School. On April 10, Rep. Jones is sworn back in following a unanimous vote by the Nashville Metropolitan Council to reappoint him as an interim representative. On April 12, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners vote to confirm the reappointment of Rep. Pearson.

    April 6-13 – ProPublica reports that Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, have gone on several luxury trips involving travel subsidized by and stays at properties owned by Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor. The hospitality was not disclosed on Thomas’ public financial filings with the Supreme Court. The following week ProPublica reports Thomas failed to disclose a 2014 real estate deal he made with Crow. On financial disclosure forms released on August 31, Thomas discloses the luxury trips and “inadvertently omitted” information including the real estate deal.

    April 7 – A federal judge in Texas issues a ruling on medication abortion drug mifepristone, saying he will suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of it but paused his ruling for seven days so the federal government can appeal. But in a dramatic turn of events, a federal judge in Washington state says in a new ruling shortly after that the FDA must keep medication abortion drugs available in more than a dozen Democratic-led states.

    April 13 – 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is arrested by the FBI in connection with the leaking of classified documents that have been posted online.

    April 18 – Fox News reaches a last-second settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, paying more than $787 million to end a two-year legal battle that publicly shredded the network’s credibility. Fox News’ $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is the largest publicly known defamation settlement in US history involving a media company.

    April 25 – President Biden formally announces his bid for reelection.

    May 2 – More than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) go on strike for the first time since 2007. On September 26, the WGA announces its leaders have unanimously voted to authorize its members to return to work following the tentative agreement reached on September 24 between union negotiators and Hollywood’s studios and streaming services, effectively ending the months-long strike.

    May 9 – A Manhattan federal jury finds Trump sexually abused former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996 and awards her $5 million for battery and defamation.

    June 8 – Trump is indicted on a total of 37 counts in the special counsel’s classified documents probe. In a superseding indictment filed on July 27, Trump is charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts, bringing the total to 40 counts.

    June 16 – Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, is convicted by a federal jury on all 63 charges against him. He is sentenced to death on August 2.

    June 18 – A civilian submersible disappears with five people aboard while voyaging to the wreckage of the Titanic. On June 22, following a massive search for the submersible, US authorities announce the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people aboard.

    June 20 – ProPublica reports that Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose a luxury 2008 trip he took in which a hedge fund billionaire flew him on a private jet, even though the businessman would later repeatedly ask the Supreme Court to intervene on his behalf. In a highly unusual move, Alito preemptively disputed the nature of the report before it was published, authoring an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he acknowledged knowing billionaire Paul Singer but downplaying their relationship.

    June 29 – The Supreme Court says colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission, a landmark decision overturning long-standing precedent.

    July 13 – The FDA approves Opill to be available over-the-counter, the first nonprescription birth control pill in the United States.

    July 14 – SAG-AFTRA, a union representing about 160,000 Hollywood actors, goes on strike after talks with major studios and streaming services fail. It is the first time its members have stopped work on movie and television productions since 1980. On November 8, SAG-AFTRA and the studios reach a tentative agreement, officially ending the strike.

    July 14 – Rex Heuermann, a New York architect, is charged with six counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three of the four women known as the “Gilgo Four.”

    August 1 – Trump is indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, in the 2020 election probe. Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

    August 8 – Over 100 people are killed and hundreds of others unaccounted for after wildfires engulf parts of Maui. Nearly 3,000 homes and businesses are destroyed or damaged.

    August 14 – Trump and 18 others are indicted by an Atlanta-based grand jury on state charges stemming from their efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. Trump now faces a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases, in four different jurisdictions — two federal and two state cases. On August 24, Trump surrenders at the Fulton County jail where he is processed and released on bond.

    August 23 – Eight Republican presidential candidates face off in the first primary debate of the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee.

    September 12 – House Speaker McCarthy announces he is calling on his committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden, even as they have yet to prove allegations he directly profited off his son’s foreign business deals.

    September 14 – Hunter Biden is indicted by special counsel David Weiss in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, the first time in US history the Justice Department has charged the child of a sitting president. The three charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

    September 22 – New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is charged with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment.

    September 28 – Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving female US senator in history, dies at the age of 90. On October 1, California Governor Gavin Newsom announces he will appoint Emily’s List president Laphonza Butler to replace her. Butler will become the first out Black lesbian to join Congress. She will also be the sole Black female senator serving in Congress and only the third in US history.

    September 29 – Las Vegas police confirm Duane Keith Davis, aka “Keffe D,” was arrested for the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.

    October 3 – McCarthy is removed as House speaker following a 216-210 vote, with eight Republicans voting to remove McCarthy from the post.

    October 25 – After three weeks without a speaker, the House votes to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

    October 25 – Robert Card, a US Army reservist, kills 18 people and injures 13 others in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine. On October 27, after a two-day manhunt, he is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.

    November 13 – The Supreme Court announces a code of conduct in an attempt to bolster the public’s confidence in the court after months of news stories alleging that some of the justices have been skirting ethics regulations.

    November 19 – Former first lady Rosalynn Carter passes away at the age of 96.

    January 8 – Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro storm the country’s congressional building, Supreme Court and presidential palace. The breaches come about a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election on October 30.

    January 15 – At least 68 people are killed when an aircraft goes down near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal. This is the country’s deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years.

    January 19 – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announces she will not seek reelection in October.

    January 24 – President Volodymyr Zelensky fires a slew of senior Ukrainian officials amid a growing corruption scandal linked to the procurement of war-time supplies.

    February 6 – More than 15,000 people are killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Turkey and Syria.

    February 28 – At least 57 people are killed after two trains collide in Greece.

    March 1 – Bola Ahmed Tinubu is declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election.

    March 10 – Xi Jinping is reappointed as president for another five years by China’s legislature in a ceremonial vote in Beijing, a highly choreographed exercise in political theater meant to demonstrate legitimacy and unity of the ruling elite.

    March 16 – The French government forces through controversial plans to raise the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64.

    April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO.

    April 15 – Following months of tensions in Sudan between a paramilitary group and the country’s army, violence erupts.

    May 3 – A 13-year-old boy opens fire on his classmates at a school in Belgrade, Serbia, killing at least eight children along with a security guard. On May 4, a second mass shooting takes place when an attacker opens fire in the village of Dubona, about 37 miles southeast of Belgrade, killing eight people.

    May 5 – The World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency.

    May 6 – King Charles’ coronation takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.

    August 4 – Alexey Navalny is sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges, Russian media reports. Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum-security facility on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up.

    September 8 – Over 2,000 people are dead and thousands are injured after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits Morocco.

    October 8 – Israel formally declares war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after it carried out an unprecedented attack by air, sea and land on October 7.

    November 8 – The Vatican publishes new guidelines opening the door to Catholic baptism for transgender people and babies of same-sex couples.

    November 24 – The first group of hostages is released after Israel and Hamas agree to a temporary truce. Dozens more hostages are released in the following days. On December 1, the seven-day truce ends after negotiations reach an impasse and Israel accuses Hamas of violating the agreement by firing at Israel.

    Awards and Winners

    January 9 – The College Football Playoff National Championship game takes place at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Georgia Bulldogs defeat Texas Christian University’s Horned Frogs 65-7 for their second national title in a row.

    January 10 – The 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards are presented live on NBC.

    January 16-29 – The 111th Australian Open takes place. Novak Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets to win a 10th Australian Open title and a record-equaling 22nd grand slam. Belarusian-born Aryna Sabalenka defeats Elena Rybakina in three sets, becoming the first player competing under a neutral flag to secure a grand slam.

    February 5 – The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.

    February 12 – Super Bowl LVII takes place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. This is the first Super Bowl to feature two Black starting quarterbacks.

    February 19 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins the 65th Annual Daytona 500 in double overtime. It is the longest Daytona 500 ever with a record of 212 laps raced.

    March 12 – The 95th Annual Academy Awards takes place, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting for the third time.

    March 14 – Ryan Redington wins his first Iditarod.

    April 2 – The Louisiana State University Tigers defeat the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 in Dallas, to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.

    April 3 – The University of Connecticut Huskies win its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over the San Diego State University Aztecs in Houston.

    April 6-9 – The 87th Masters tournament takes place. Jon Rahm wins, claiming his first green jacket and second career major at Augusta National.

    April 17 – The 127th Boston Marathon takes place. The winners are Evans Chebet of Kenya in the men’s division and Hellen Obiri of Kenya in the women’s division.

    May 6 – Mage, a 3-year-old chestnut colt, wins the 149th Kentucky Derby.

    May 8-9 – The 147th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show takes place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York. Buddy Holly, a petit basset griffon Vendéen, wins Best in Show.

    May 20 – National Treasure wins the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes.

    May 21 – Brooks Koepka wins the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill County Club in Rochester, New York. This is his third PGA Championship and fifth major title of his career.

    May 22-June 11 – The French Open takes place at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris. Novak Djokovic wins a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title, defeating Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 7-5 in the men’s final. Iga Świątek wins her third French Open in four years with a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory against the unseeded Karolína Muchová in the women’s final.

    May 28 – Josef Newgarden wins the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.

    June 10 – Arcangelo wins the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes.

    June 11 – The 76th Tony Awards takes place.

    June 12 – The Denver Nuggets defeat the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5, to win the series 4-1 and claim their first NBA title in franchise history.

    June 13 – The Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Florida Panthers in Game 5 to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

    June 18 – American golfer Wyndham Clark wins the 123rd US Open at The Los Angeles Country Club.

    July 1-23 – The 110th Tour de France takes place. Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard wins his second consecutive Tour de France title.

    July 3-16 – Wimbledon takes place in London. Carlos Alcaraz defeats Novak Djokovic 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 in the men’s final, to win his first Wimbledon title. Markéta Vondroušová defeats Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4 in the women’s final, to win her first Wimbledon title and become the first unseeded woman in the Open Era to win the tournament.

    July 16-23 – Brian Harman wins the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, Wirral, England, for his first major title.

    July 20-August 20 – The Women’s World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand. Spain defeats England 1-0 to win its first Women’s World Cup.

    August 28-September 10 – The US Open Tennis Tournament takes place. Coco Gauff defeats Aryna Sabalenka, and Novak Djokovic defeats Daniil Medvedev.

    October 2-9 – The Nobel Prizes are announced. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

    November 1 – The Texas Rangers win the World Series for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5.

    November 5 – The New York City Marathon takes place. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola sets a course record and wins the men’s race. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri wins the women’s race.

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  • Sandy Hook School Shootings Fast Facts | CNN

    Sandy Hook School Shootings Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. On December 14, 2012, six adults and 20 children were killed by Adam Lanza, who had earlier killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in their home.

    Birth date: April 22, 1992

    Death date: December 14, 2012

    Birth place: Kingston, New Hampshire

    Birth name: Adam Lanza

    Father: Peter Lanza, an accountant

    Mother: Nancy (Champion) Lanza

    Lanza’s parents were divorced in September 2009.

    A 2014 report by the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate described Lanza as a young man with deteriorating mental health who had a fascination with mass shootings.

    Weapons found at the scene were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza.

    Lanza used a Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S rifle during the shooting spree. Three weapons were found next to his body; the semiautomatic .223-caliber rifle made by Bushmaster, and two handguns. An Izhmash Saiga-12, 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun was found in his car.

    December 14, 2012 – At an unknown time, 20-year-old Adam Lanza kills his mother Nancy, 52, with a .22 caliber Savage Mark II rifle. Lanza then drives his mother’s car to Sandy Hook Elementary, about five miles away.

    At approximately 9:30 a.m., Lanza arrives at Sandy Hook Elementary, a school with about 700 students. The principal, Dawn Hochsprung, had installed a new security system that required every visitor to ring the front entrance’s doorbell for admittance. Lanza shoots his way through the entrance.

    Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach step out to the hall to see what is going on, and are followed by Vice Principal Natalie Hammond. Hochsprung and Sherlach are killed, and Hammond is injured.

    The first 911 calls to police are made at approximately 9:30 a.m. Police and first responders arrive approximately five minutes later.

    Lanza enters the classroom of substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau. Lanza kills 14 children as well as Rousseau and a teacher’s aide.

    He then enters the classroom of teacher Victoria Soto. Six children in the room, as well as Soto and a teacher’s aide, are killed. Lanza dies by suicide in the same classroom, ending the rampage in less than 11 minutes.

    At about 3:15 p.m., an emotional President Barack Obama gives a televised address, “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” He orders flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House and other federal buildings.

    December 15, 2012 – Connecticut State Police release the names of the victims: six adult women and 12 girls and eight boys, all ages six and seven.

    December 16, 2012 – Obama visits with the relatives of those who were killed. He also attends an interfaith vigil. “We can’t tolerate this anymore,” he says. “These tragedies must end, and to end them we must change.”

    December 17, 2012 – Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy announces a statewide moment of silence on December 21. He also requests that bells be tolled 26 times in memory of the victims.

    December 18, 2012 – Newtown Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson announces Sandy Hook students will remain out of school until January. At that time, they will be taught in a converted middle school.

    January 8, 2013 – Malloy announces the names of the people who will serve on the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, to review current policy and make recommendations on public safety, mental health and violence prevention policies.

    March 2013 – A new police report reveals Lanza possessed a list of 500 of the world’s most notorious mass murderers, and was trying to rack up the greatest number of kills in history.

    November 25, 2013 – Connecticut state officials release a report closing the investigation into the shooting and confirm that Lanza had no assistance and was the only shooter.

    December 4, 2013 – Audio recordings of the 911 calls from Sandy Hook Elementary are released.

    December 27, 2013 – The final report on the investigation into the shooting is released.

    November 21, 2014 – The Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate, as directed by the State Child Fatality Review Panel, releases a report profiling Lanza’s developmental and educational history. The report notes “missed opportunities” by Lanza’s mother, the school district and multiple health care providers. It identifies “warning signs, red flags, or other lessons” that could be learned.

    December 15, 2014 – The families of nine children killed, along with one teacher who survived the attack, file a wrongful death suit against the manufacturers and distributors of the Bushmaster rifle, as well as the retail store and dealer who sold the firearm used in the shooting.

    March 6, 2015 – The final report of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission is released.

    December 17, 2015 – In a final agreement, 16 plaintiffs will share in a $1.5 million settlement against the estate of Nancy Lanza. The plaintiffs are from eight separate lawsuits filed in early 2015.

    April 14, 2016 – A superior court judge rules that the wrongful death suit against gun manufacturers can proceed. The judge denies a motion to dismiss the case on the basis that firearms companies have limited liability when their products are used by criminals, according to a federal law passed in 2005.

    October 14, 2016 – Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis dismisses a lawsuit that families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims had filed against a gun manufacturer, invoking a federal statute known as PLCAA, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. The law prohibits lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors if their firearms were used in the commission of a criminal act.

    November 15, 2016 – The Sandy Hook families file an appeal, asking the Connecticut Supreme Court to consider their case against the gun manufacturer.

    March 14, 2019 – The Connecticut Supreme Court rules that the families of the Sandy Hook victims can go forward with their lawsuit against Remington, which makes the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle used in the shooting.

    April 5, 2019 – Remington files an appeal with the US Supreme Court, asking the high court to decide on the state’s interpretation of a federal statute that grants gun manufacturers immunity from any lawsuit related to injuries that result from criminal misuse of their product.

    November 12, 2019 – The US Supreme Court declines to take up the Remington appeal.

    July 27, 2021 – Remington offers nearly $33 million to nine families of victims killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in a proposed lawsuit settlement.

    November 15, 2021 – The families suing InfoWars founder Alex Jones win a case against him after a judge rules that Jones, and the entities owned by him, are liable by default in the defamation case against them. Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis cites the defendants’ “willful noncompliance” with the discovery process as her core reasoning behind the ruling. The case stems from past claims that the 2012 mass shooting was staged. Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting was real.

    February 15, 2022 – A settlement is reached between the nine families of victims killed and the now-bankrupt Remington and its four insurers, according to court records. The plaintiffs’ attorneys say the $73 million settlement also includes “thousands of pages of internal company documents that prove Remington’s wrongdoing and carry important lessons for helping to prevent future mass shootings.”

    August 4, 2022 – A jury decides that Jones will have to pay Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of a Sandy Hook shooting victim, a little more than $4 million in compensatory damages.

    October 12, 2022 – A Connecticut jury decides Jones should pay eight family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims and one first responder $965 million in compensatory damages caused by his lies regarding the shooting. On November 10, a Connecticut judge orders Jones to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages.

    November 13, 2022 – The Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial, designed by Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo, is unveiled publicly in Newtown, Connecticut.

    October 19, 2023 – A federal bankruptcy judge rules that bankruptcy proceedings will not shield Jones from more than $1.1 billion in damages he owes the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims.

    November 22, 2023 – In a court document, the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims offer Jones a “path out of bankruptcy” if he pays them a “small fraction” of the more than $1 billion he owes in damages, which could help resolve the bankruptcy cases of both Jones and Free Speech Systems. The families suggest Jones pay at least $85 million over 10 years — $8.5 million per year for a decade, in addition to half of any annual income over $9 million, “with a proportionate reduction of liabilities for each year of full payment.”

    The Victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School

    Allison Wyatt, 6
    Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
    Anne Marie Murphy, 52 (Teacher)
    Avielle Richman, 6
    Benjamin Wheeler, 6
    Caroline Previdi, 6
    Catherine Hubbard, 6
    Charlotte Bacon, 6
    Chase Kowalski, 7
    Daniel Barden, 7
    Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47 (Principal)
    Dylan Hockley, 6
    Emilie Parker, 6
    Grace McDonnell, 7
    Jack Pinto, 6
    James Mattioli, 6
    Jesse Lewis, 6
    Jessica Rekos, 6
    Josephine Gay, 7
    Lauren Rousseau, 30 (Teacher)
    Madeleine Hsu, 6
    Mary Sherlach, 56 (Psychologist)
    Noah Pozner, 6
    Olivia Engel, 6
    Rachel D’Avino, 29, (Therapist)
    Victoria Soto, 27 (Teacher)

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  • Suspect in 'bone-chilling' homeless killings charged with 4 counts of murder

    Suspect in 'bone-chilling' homeless killings charged with 4 counts of murder

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    The man wanted in a series of shootings that left three homeless men dead across Los Angeles last week was charged Monday with four counts of murder, prosecutors said.

    Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, was charged with four counts of murder, one count of robbery and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was expected be to arraigned in a downtown courtroom Monday afternoon.

    “I want to extend my deepest appreciation to the incredible men and women of law enforcement who worked tirelessly to bring justice to our community and arrest this individual,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a statement. “The swift actions of law enforcement undoubtedly saved lives this week.”

    Prosecutors also filed special circumstances allegations claiming Powell committed multiple murders. If convicted as charged, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Authorities say Powell, 33, of Los Angeles, began the string of attacks before dawn on Nov. 26. About 3:10 a.m., 37-year-old Jose Bolanos was shot while sleeping on a couch near 110th Street and Vermont Avenue.

    Roughly 24 hours later, Powell shot 62-year-old Mark Diggs on San Mateo Street near the Arts District as Diggs pushed a shopping cart and looked for a place to charge his phone, prosecutors said.

    Around 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 29, a third victim — identified only as a 52-year-old Latino man — was shot and killed in Lincoln Heights, police said.

    Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Saturday that police had not identified a motive in the slayings, but Powell had not robbed the victims and had “no interaction” with them. He described a video of Diggs’ slaying as “bone-chilling” and said Powell shot the man with no warning or provocation.

    Robbery-Homicide Division Capt. Scot Williams said investigators are “looking into every aspect of Powell’s life” to discern a potential motive for the shootings, “but at this point, it is a mystery.”

    Powell was arrested Wednesday night in Beverly Hills during a traffic stop after his car was linked to a fatal shooting three days earlier in San Dimas.

    Nicholas Simbolon, an employee of the Los Angeles County chief executive’s office, was killed in what police have termed a “follow-home robbery.” Simbolon’s wife found the 42-year-old with a gunshot wound, slumped inside his Tesla in the garage of their home in the 1800 block of Hawkbrook Drive, according to Sheriff Robert Luna, who said the shooter stole a few things during the targeted attack.

    Police say Powell fled the scene in a 2024 BMW M440i. The vehicle, which costs upward of $62,000 and which authorities say Powell owns, was spotted in Beverly Hills three days later by officers who initiated a traffic stop and took Powell into custody. He wasn’t linked to the killings of the homeless victims until late Friday or early Saturday.

    Court records show Powell has an extensive criminal and legal history in California.

    In 2013, a woman filed for a restraining order against him in Los Angeles, though it was quickly dropped. Three years later, another woman in San Bernardino filed for a restraining order, which was dismissed after a few weeks.

    In 2017, he was convicted of driving with a suspended or revoked license.

    While most of the crimes Powell is accused of committing were low-level offenses, he was charged in 2018 with assault with a deadly weapon after stabbing a man with a knife, according to San Bernardino court records reviewed by The Times.

    He pleaded guilty to a lower-level felony in that case and served nearly 400 days in jail, according to court records.

    In 2019, he was convicted of trespassing.

    Moore said investigators will try to reconstruct Powell’s movements to see if he left “a path of destruction behind him that we have not yet determined.” Luna said that based on his criminal history, “he didn’t just start doing this a week ago.”

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    James Queally, Noah Goldberg, Richard Winton

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  • Who killed Heidi Firkus? Her husband Nick says he didn’t do it.

    Who killed Heidi Firkus? Her husband Nick says he didn’t do it.

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    For over a decade, investigators worked to piece together the 2010 murder of Heidi Firkus who, according to her husband Nick Firkus, was shot and killed in a burglary at the couple’s Saint Paul, Minnesota, home. Investigators, however, believe the real killer was someone who knew Heidi.

    A shooting at the front door

    Nick and Heidi Firkus
    Nick and Heidi Firkus

    WCCO


    On the morning of April 25, 2010, 25-year-old Heidi frantically called 911 to tell them that someone was breaking into the home she shared with her husband Nick. During Heidi’s call, she was heard screaming out after a loud noise prosecutors believe was the shotgun blast that killed her. 65 seconds later, Nick dialed 911 from Heidi’s phone, and told the dispatcher he and his wife were shot by an intruder.

    Dead at the scene

    Firkus crime scene
    The entryway of the Firkus home.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    When first responders arrived on the scene, Heidi was pronounced dead. Nick Firkus was rushed to the hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his leg.

    An earwitness

    Firkus earwitness' house
    “Some noise got my attention, so I stuck my head out the window,” Brendan O’ Connor said, pointing to the window.

    CBS News


    Investigators cordoned off the scene and spoke to neighbors. No one saw an intruder fleeing from the Firkus house that morning. Brendan O’Connor, who was house sitting kittens next door, told police he heard a muffled argument, then gunshots and a voice yell out, “you shot her, you shot me, please, please, no.”  

    Nick Firkus’ account

    firkus-questioning.jpg
    Nick Firkus, seated left, is questioned by Saint Paul Police Sgt. Jim Gray.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    A few hours after Nick was treated at the hospital, he met with investigators at the police station to give his account of what happened. He described hearing someone fiddling with the front doorknob, grabbing his gun, waking Heidi up, rushing her down the stairs, and then having a confrontation with the intruder who gained access into the home.

    The struggle

    The murder weapon

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    According to Nick, he and the intruder struggled with the gun. “So my finger slipped onto the trigger … she was running away, so I definitely hit her in the back,” Nick told investigators. Shortly after that, he said he was shot and the intruder escaped.

    Financial troubles revealed

    The Firkus home
    The Firkus home

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Nick also revealed to investigators that he and Heidi were behind on their bills and lost their home. They were expected to vacate their house in 24 hours. 

    A suspect sketch

    Nick Firkus provided this sketch  to investigators.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    As the weeks went by, Nick provided a sketch of the suspect to investigators. They released it to the public but it did not generate any leads. 

    A new life

    firkus-rachel-wedding.jpg
    Rachel Sanchez and Nick Firkus were wed two years after Heidi’s death. Rachel says the two bonded over their faith.

    Rachel Firkus


    Investigators continued to work the case and Nick eventually started a new relationship. Two years after Heidi’s death, he married Rachel Sanchez.

    A tip comes in

    Five years after Heidi’s death, police got a break in the case. A tipster called in saying they recognized the person in the sketch. But, according to investigators, there was a problem. “He was already in prison on the date of Heidi’s death,” Sgt. Nichole Sipes told “48 Hours.”

    A new set of eyes

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes
    Sgt. Nichole Sipes of the Saint Paul Police Department

    CBS News


    In 2019, Sgt. Nichole Sipes was leading Heidi’s case. She, along with the help of the FBI, examined the case file. Sipes says she discovered something odd about Nick and Heidi’s financial situation.

    “There was no communication between the two of them to indicate that she had any idea of the depth of their financial issues,” Sipes said. The investigator believes Heidi was not aware of the foreclosure.

    Nick Firkus’ second wife speaks out

    Nick and Rachel Firkus
    Nick and Rachel Firkus

    Rachel Firkus


    Investigator Sipes contacted Rachel Firkus, who was now divorced from Nick. Rachel told her she left Nick because she discovered he was not paying the bills. A similarity, she says, that occurred in his relationship with Heidi. “He was definitely repeating the same things he did with Heidi with me,” Rachel told “48 Hours.”

    Rachel Firkus’ audio recordings

    Rachel Firkus
    Rachel Firkus says Nick’s dishonesty started to make her question whether he had also lied about Heidi’s death.

    CBS News


    Rachel told Sipes that she confronted Nick about their financial problems and recorded it. She gave the recorded conversation to police.

    Nick Firkus’ arrest

    Nick Firkus
    Eleven years after Heidi’s death, Nick Firkus was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. A grand jury ultimately indicted Nick on first- and second-degree murder charges.

    Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office


    On May 19, 2021, Nick was arrested for second-degree murder. A grand jury eventually indicted him on first- and second-degree murder charges.

    The trial of Nick Firkus

    Saint Paul, Minnesota, courthouse

    CBS News


    Almost two years later, Nick went to trial. Prosecutors argued that Nick staged the burglary because he was desperate and ashamed about their financial issues. “… his lies are about to crumble. He would have been exposed as a complete failure … and instead, he is a victim,” prosecutor Elizabeth Lamin told “48 Hours.”

    A 3-D model

    firkus-3d-model.jpg
    The 3-D model of the Firkus home that was created to scale by the FBI.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    During the trial, prosecutors presented a 3-D model of the Firkus home, which was produced by the FBI, to demonstrate the size of entryway where the struggle occurred, and to prove how Nick’s story was not reasonable. They also developed an animation of the crime to show how Heidi was shot.

    Tool marks

    Took marks on Firkus front door
    Nick Firkus’ defense team says marks on the door show there was an intruder. 

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Nick’s defense lawyers, Joe Friedberg and Robert Richman, say Nick had no reason to kill Heidi. They say Heidi was fully aware of the foreclosure, and there was proof of the intruder.

    “In fact, there were tool marks in the door, which would be consistent with someone wedging a screwdriver between the frame and the door,” Richman said. 

    The verdict is in

    On Feb. 10, 2023, after being on trial for 11 days, Nick was found guilty on two counts of murder.

    Life in prison

    Nick Firkus sentencing
    Nick Firkus reads a statement at his sentencing in which he refused to admit guilt. 

    WCCO


    On April 13, 2023, at Nick’s sentencing hearing, he refused to accept guilt for Heidi’s murder. “I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime.” The judge gave Nick a life sentence without parole. Nick is appealing his conviction.

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  • Heidi Firkus’ fatal shooting captured on her 911 call to report an intruder

    Heidi Firkus’ fatal shooting captured on her 911 call to report an intruder

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    At 6:30 a.m. on April 25, 2010, Heidi Firkus called 911 after her husband, Nick Firkus, said an intruder was breaking into their Saint Paul, Minnesota, home. She was shot and killed. Nick Firkus told investigators that his gun discharged when he struggled with the intruder – but something in his story struck police as odd.

    “It never felt right,” Sgt. Nichole Sipes of the Saint Paul Police Department tells “48 Hours” contributor Jamie Yuccas. “The story never made sense to me.”

    A SHOOTING AT THE FRONT DOOR

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Well, this area of Saint Paul, where Heidi and Nick Firkus lived, I would characterize as generally a quiet neighborhood.

    Back in 2010, nine years before she took charge of the Firkus case, Investigator Nichole Sipes of the St. Paul Police Department was a patrol cop who worked this neighborhood.

    Jamie Yuccas: Do you remember first hearing about the Firkus case?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I do.

    NICK FIRKUS (to 911): Ahh, please, please, somebody just broke in our house and shot me and my wife.

    911 OPERATOR: OK …

    It was early on a Sunday morning.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: The 911 call was at 6:30.

    PIC OF HOUSE W/POLICE TAPE

    Nick Firkus’ story of a burglar didn’t make sense to Sipes.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Most people are home at 6:30 on a Sunday morning, especially in a family neighborhood like that. … the last thing that most burglars want to encounter are people.

    Jamie Yuccas: Did police ever have any luck tracking down the intruder that Nick described?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: No.

    Branden O’Connor: You know, I’m looking, I didn’t see anybody come out of that house.

    Branden O’Connor was house sitting next door to the Firkus’ and taking care of kittens.

    Branden O’Connor: I was woken up by the kittens kinda walking around. … Some noise got my attention, so I stuck my head out the window (points to the window). Kinda listen.

    In his first TV interview, O’Connor says he recalls hearing a muffled argument coming from the Firkus’ house, listening through an open window.

    Branden O’Connor: That’s when I ended up hearing what sounded like gunshots.

    Around this time, O’Connor said he also heard that voice crying out.

    Branden O’Connor: Kind of this agonizing yell of, “you shot her, you shot me. Uh, please, please, no,” something along those lines and then — then it was done.

    Nick and Heidi Firkus
    Nick and Heidi Firkus

    WCCO


    First responders rushed to the scene. There was nothing they could do for Heidi; she was pronounced dead. Nick was rushed to a hospital and treated for a graze gunshot wound to his leg. He seemed not to be sure whether or not Heidi had been killed.

    SGT. KANE (at the hospital): Like I said, we’ll do our best to find out how, how Heidi is doing, OK?

    NICK FIRKUS: Please.

    Hours later, Nick  was transported to the St. Paul Police Department.

    Sgt. Jim Gray:  Then Nick and I started to have our conversation in the conference room.

    Nick entered the conference room using  crutches. Sergeant Jim Gray took Nick’s statement.

    SGT. GRAY (police interview) You know, I know this is a very traumatic situation, OK? And, I’m just going to try and ease into it, OK?

    NICK FIRKUS: OK.

    Nick said the couple ordered in food the night before and watched the movie “Avatar.” They went upstairs to their bedroom around 11 p.m. The next morning, Nick got up around 6 a.m. to get a drink of water from the bathroom.

    NICK FIRKUS (police interview): I go back to sleep. I just kinda fitfully sleep for 10 or 15 minutes, and then I heard the screen door open. … kinda let it go for a little while, but then I started hearing fiddling with our doorknob.

    SGT. GRAY: And is Heidi still sleeping then?

    NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

    SGT GRAY: OK.

    NICK FIRKUS: Like a rock.


    Husband suspected of killing wife, lying about intruder

    06:33

    Nick said he retrieved his shotgun from the closet.

    NICK FIRKUS: I keep two shells for just in case things go weird … So when I heard things, this morning, I did load it. … and then I wake up Heidi.

    SGT. GRAY: OK.

    According to Nick, he told Heidi someone was trying to break in and to call 911. As she spoke with the dispatcher —

    HEIDI FIRKUS (911 CALL): Someone’s trying to break into my home.

    They headed downstairs so they could get out of the house.

    SGT GRAY: Alright. So, you are going first down the stairs, or is she, is she behind you, or she in front of you, or what?

    NICK FIRKUS:  Umm, she is front because I’m kinda trying to move her along quickly.

    Nick said as they passed by the front door, it burst open.

    NICK FIRKUS (police interview) The guy was there … I think he — he grabbed the barrel. … I don’t remember exactly but the gun went off. So, my finger slipped onto the trigger.

    Nick told Sergeant Gray during the struggle over the weapon, the gun fired, striking Heidi who he said was in the kitchen.

    HEIDI FIRKUS (to 911): [Heidi screams]


    SGT. GRAY:  OK, so the gun’s —

    NICK FIRKUS: Gun’s here, chest high.

    SGT. GRAY: Yep.

    SGT. GRAY (stands to demonsrate):  You and I are like this?

    NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

    SGT. GRAY: And then the gun goes off?

    NICK FIRKUS: Mm hmm. I mean, you know, I know it hit Heidi. I just know I did. … She was running away, so I definitely hit her in the back.

    SGT. GRAY: It hit her in the back?

    NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

    Marcus Sarazin: I couldn’t believe it. I — I don’t want to believe it.

    Katina Sarazin: it can’t be true, that’s — there’s no way.

    Katina and Marcus Sarazin mentored Heidi at Calvary Church.

    Katina Sarazin: I think she’s one of those people that you can’t not like. Everyone liked Heidi. … She genuinely loved people … she was the life of the party … always finding fun ways to engage people. … and she was very loyal.

    Nick and Heidi Firkus
    Nick and Heidi Firkus

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    The couple met at the church, and in 2005, Heidi, 20, and Nick, 22, got married.

    Marcus Sarazin: Nick Firkus … had a very warm and engaging personality, always smiling … he carried himself with confidence. … and he … had high character, high integrity in the church. That was the reputation he built for himself.

    But just few hours after Heidi’s death, Sergeant Gray found himself questioning Nick Firkus’ account. He couldn’t figure out why the couple would leave the safety of their bedroom.

    SGT. GRAY (police interview): You come upstairs, you know, I hate to tell you this but my house, you know … I’m justified in killing you if you come breaking into my house.

    NICK FIRKUS: Yeah, I guess the …

    Nick explained that the couple had a plan in place. If they were ever in a precarious situation, they would avoid a confrontation and escape to their car in the garage and get away.

    NICK FIRKUS: If we can save ourselves, let’s, let’s do that instead of getting in a situation where —

    Sgt. Jim Gray: His story, didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

    Gray started probing into their marriage.

    SGT. GRAY: You guys, uh, have any problems or anything like that?

    NICK FIRKUS: Just the normal stuff like, ah, you know, stresses about finances and quality time and vacations and all that stuff. 

    SGT. GRAY: Yeah.

    NICK FIRKUS: But —

    SGT. GRAY: You guys aren’t behind on the bills or anything like that?

    NICK FIRKUS: We are behind on the bills which is a little stressful. … In fact we were planning on moving tomorrow. Um —

    SGT. GRAY: Moving where?

    NICK FIRKUS: Well, we hadn’t figured that out yet. … We were and this is, ah, a hard, it’s a hard place for us, but we, we’re foreclosing, we foreclosed on our house.

    Nick revealed they were behind on their mortgage payments and just 24 hours away from being evicted from their home.

    SGT. GRAY: Well, that’s kind of, I mean, kinda close notice.

    NICK FIRKUS: It is. And I think the reason is cause we’re both kinda dealing with the shame of the whole thing …

    Gray says his suspicions were raised. And, minutes later, he was struck by the way Nick asked about Heidi.

    NICK FIRKUS: Well, I just wanna know the final answer on, ah, the final answer on Heidi.

    SGT. GRAY: She didn’t make it.

    NICK FIRKUS: I figured that. I mean —

    Jamie Yuccas: Is that typically how someone asks if their loved one or spouse has been killed?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Not only is that not typical, that that’s how they’d ask it, but they wouldn’t wait an hour and 40 minutes into this conversation to ask that question.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I’ve watched the interview obviously numerous times. And I understand … people react to trauma differently. … But this was different than what I’d seen. … anybody that’s watched that interview cannot help but be struck by Nick’s demeanor during it.

    Jamie Yuccas: And that demeanor was?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: This was just another day. This was something he had to get through …

    Skeptical of Nick’s story, Gray confronted Nick about what happened that day.

    SGT. GRAY (police interview):, I, you know, part of me wants to ask you this question … Did you have anything to do with this?

    NICK FIRKUS: No, absolutely not.

    SGT. GRAY: OK.

    NICK FIRKUS Absolutely not.

    SGT. GRAY: Alright.

    NICK FIRKUS: Why is there a part of you that wants to ask that?

    SGT. GRAY: Well, Nick. I’m, I’m a police officer, OK? I got to ask, I got to ask the tough questions, alright?

    After the interview, Nick left the police station. That day, investigators returned to the Firkus home with a search warrant. Gray says it did not look like anyone was planning to move out the next day.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: Nothing was packaged up at all. … the closet was still full of clothes. … We noticed that there was still food in the refrigerator.

    And there was something else that investigators questioned.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: We didn’t see any signs of … forced entry into the house. … based off of the physical evidence at the scene … his version of the incident couldn’t be plausible.

    A LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE

    48 hours after Nick Firkus said an intruder shot and killed his wife Heidi, police went back to the crime scene to check out his story.

    Sgt. Jim Gray (at the Firkus house): He told us that there was a … life and death struggle inside the house.

    But Gray says the evidence at the scene didn’t match Nick’s account.

    Firkus crime scene
    The Firkus’ entryway did not appear to show signs of a struggle.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Sgt. Jim Gray (at the Firkus house): There was a vase, some receipts, a beer bottle … and none of that was knocked over. So that kind of raised suspicion to us that if there was such a struggle, why wasn’t any of this stuff knocked over?

    Gray says he examined the front door for signs of a break-in and did notice some markings.

    Sgt. Jim Gray (at the Firkus house): … but it wasn’t anything new … that would lead us to believe that the, the door had been forced open … the day of the murder.

    In his interview with police, Nick said he heard someone fiddling with the front door from upstairs.

    SGT. GRAY: Now what they were doing? I mean, were they just going like this? (jiggles door knob in the interview room)

    NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

    SGT. GRAY: Kinda like that?

    NICK FIRKUS: Yeah. Just shaking the knob —

    SGT. GRAY: OK.

    NICK FIRKUS: — and shoving the door.

    That day, Gray and his colleagues did a reenactment to determine if they could hear the front door shaking from the bedroom.

    SGT. GRAY (police video): April 27th, 2010.

    OFFICER: I’m in the bedroom …

    Sgt. Jim Gray: Sergeant Shackle and Sergeant Wright were upstairs in the bedroom.

    SGT. GRAY: I’m at the front door, so let me know when you guys are ready, I’ll try to knock for 15 seconds then….

    OFFICER: We are ready.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: They could not hear me fiddling with the door.

    SGT. GRAY: Alright.

    Gray says he also doubted Nick’s story about the couple’s eviction, and a scheduled move the day after Heidi was shot.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: There didn’t appear to be anything boxed up or packaged up to go. … There were a few empty boxes in the dining room area … there was not a grand stack of boxes … or anything for that matter that would lead us to believe that they were going to pack up all in one day.

    Meanwhile Heidi’s mentors from Calvary Church, Marcus and Katina Sarazin, were learning the details about her death and the eviction.

    Marcus Sarazin: it just didn’t add up. It’s just — something wasn’t right with that story.

    Katina Sarazin: It seemed so out of the ordinary that she would be moving and not have notified anyone, not have anything prepared for that. … because she planned things out and she liked things to be orderly.

    Heidi Firkus
    Heidi Firkus

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    On April 30, 2010 – five days after her passing — the Sarazins attended Heidi’s funeral.

    Marcus Sarazin:Yeah, the atmosphere at the funeral was … there was a lot of emotion.

    At the funeral, Marcus and Katina say they were struck by Nick’s demeanor.

    Katina Sarazin: I remember going through the receiving line and shaking his hand … there was no grief showing.

    Marcus Sarazin: … it just felt like he lacked emotion.

    Marcus says he went as far as asking some of the couple’s friends if Nick could have shot his wife.

    Marcus Sarazin: And the answer I got was, no, there’s no way that Nick killed Heidi. … He loved her, there, there’s just no way he could have done that. And I just wasn’t so sure about that.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: From what we gathered during our investigation, Nick and Heidi were in a loving relationship. There was no problems or issues that anybody saw.

    Joe Friedberg: Your first impression upon meeting Nick Firkus is … no way in the world could he have committed a violent act.

    The day after the shooting, Nick’s family hired attorney Joe Friedberg who advised Nick to stop talking to the police.

    Joe Friedberg: It didn’t take long to realize that he was being looked at as a suspect.

    When investigators asked Nick to sit down with their artist to draw a sketch of the intruder, Friedberg advised him not to.

    Joe Friedberg: They were going to use it as an opportunity to further interview him.

    Instead, Nick and his attorney hired their own sketch artist.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: It was quite odd that Nick would work with a private … sketch artist.

    And brought that drawing to police.

    Sgt. Jim Gray: And at that point, we were basically told that Nick … would not be answering any more questions with regards to our investigation.

    Firkus suspect sketch
    As the weeks went by, Nick Firkus provided a sketch of the suspect to investigators. It was released it to the public but did not generate any leads. 

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Investigators released Nick’s sketch to the public, but it didn’t generate any leads, they kept working the case…Nick moved out of their home a few weeks after Heidi’s death.

    Two months later, he began a friendship with the sister of one of Heidi’s best friends, Rachel Sanchez, who was going through a divorce.

    Rachel Firkus: At the time I thought … because we shared something traumatic, there was a deep connection there. … Because I had come out of something traumatic myself in a relationship …

    Rachel Firkus: I think Nick seemed to be handling things well … it felt like he was very grounded … he was, with his friends a lot, and they were processing together. So I think just his — his steadiness … was an attractive quality …

    Rachel says the two bonded over their faith. They began dating in the spring of 2011.

    Rachel Firkus: At the time, God played a big part in my life … And I think that’s another quality that I saw in him, that he, he loved God like I did.

    One year into their relationship, Nick proposed.

    Rachel Firkus: I knew it was coming. We had looked at rings before, and so it wasn’t really a huge surprise.

    firkus-rachel-wedding.jpg
    Rachel Sanchez and Nick Firkus on their wedding day. Rachel says the two bonded over their faith.

    Rachel Firkus


    And a few months later, the couple married. They started a family.

    Rachel Firkus: We did have kids pretty quickly.

    And soon were the parents of three children.

    Andrew Erickson: He absolutely loves his kids so much.

    Andrew and Emily Erickson are friends of Nick. They say for a long time, Nick didn’t talk much about Heidi’s murder.

    Emily Erickson: Yeah, it just didn’t seem like there was a lot of room for his grief during that time.

    But they say when he did talk about it, his story was always the same.

    Jamie Yuccas: What did he tell you?

    Emily Erickson: Same thing he’s always told everyone from the first day, same thing he’d tell you today. … That someone was breaking into the house, and they were gonna try to get out. And there was an altercation and tragically, Heidi was killed

    Investigators still did not believe that story, but five years after Heidi’s death, with little movement in the case, they finally got a break when someone called in a tip —

    Rachel Firkus: There was somebody that looked exactly like the sketch.

    — and put a name to Nick’s sketch.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Somebody called … and said, “I have an experience with this guy. I think I know who it is.”

    A NEW LOOK AT THE CASE

    After five years without a break in Heidi Firkus’ murder case, out of the blue, a tipster called police with a name after seeing the sketch of the suspect. But there was a problem, says investigator Sipes.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: He was already in prison on the date of Heidi’s death. 

    Nick’s second wife Rachel says her husband rarely talked about the case being solved. 

    Rachel Firkus: I had asked him … “are you gonna put effort into seeing if you can find the person that did this?”

    Rachel Firkus: He didn’t reach out to anyone as far as I know. … I know that from his lawyers he was told to “just stay silent.”  

    Police found it odd Nick never checked in. 

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Through four investigators in this case … he never contacted one of us to ask the status.

    Prosecutors Rachel Kraker and Elizabeth Lamin joined the investigation in 2015. 

    Jamie Yuccas: Was this case ever considered a cold case?

    Rachel Kraker: It wasn’t ever considered a cold case … because …

    Rachel Kraker: There just was not a lot of new information coming in. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: Heidi’s family … would check in on her birthday …. Is there anything, new development? 

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes
    Sgt. Nichole Sipes of the Saint Paul Police Department

    CBS News


    And there would be new developments when Sipes took over Heidi’s case in 2019.

    Jamie Yuccas: It seems her fresh set of eyes really made a huge difference.

    Rachel Kraker: It was absolutely critical 

    Elizabeth Lamin: I think Sipes definitely restarted something.

    Sipes dug deep — reviewing the entire case file, including an examination of a financial timeline she compiled with the help of the FBI.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I had the luxury of looking back on all of these things several years later. 

    Sipes learned Nick worked at his family’s carpet installation business; they were contractors for Home Depot. Heidi was a clerk at a financial services company in St. Paul. Their combined income was about $70,000 a year.

    Elizabeth Lamin: They seem like they were on top of all the bills before they bought the house. 

    But Lamin says the home purchase in 2007 strained the couple’s finances. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: And that home was just too much for them. 

    By the time Heidi died in April 2010, the couple was deeply in debt.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: He had not paid the mortgage in 22 months.

    In fact, the couple had lost their home to foreclosure and would be forced to move out. But Sipes discovered Heidi apparently had no idea. After reviewing the couple’s texts and emails, Sipes saw no evidence Nick ever told Heidi they were in financial trouble.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: There was no communication between the two of them to indicate that she had any idea of the depth of their financial issues.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I was able to determine through the foreclosure and eviction attorneys that there was no paperwork Heidi had signed, that nobody had ever talked to Heidi, nobody met Heidi. … Heidi didn’t go to the eviction hearing on March 8th, 2010.

    Sipes says Nick and Heidi’s family and friends didn’t know the couple had to relocate. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: And if she was serious about moving … she would’ve gotten the day off.

    Jamie Yuccas: So she was planning to go to work?

    Elizabeth Lamin: Yes.

    Jamie Yuccas: Why do you think he kept her in the dark so long?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Shame. … I believe he was concerned about the shame of what he had done, how it would look … that he couldn’t come clean with her. … You know, it had gotten too big at that point.

    And when Sipes talked to the couple’s friends, she learned why Nick wanted to hide their financial situation.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: He was described by his friends as being wise and being the person that they would go to for advice.

    Rachel Kraker: Nick Firkus really presented as somebody who had some of those bigger, tougher life questions figured out. … What kind of person do you want to be? … What kind of relationship do you want to have with God? 

    Jamie Yuccas: What does that tell you as you’re investigating the case and you see someone in that type of personality?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: It just became easier to see that this was someone who did not want … his friends, his family … to know the extent to which he had failed.

    Sipes says she discovered more of Nick’s lies when she learned about a conversation Heidi had with a friend just the day before she died.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Heidi had talked to us about how Nick had told her that they were victims of identity theft. … it was somewhere around $180,000 to $200,000 worth of identity theft. 

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Wasn’t true. They weren’t the victims. … This was all untrue.

    But as Sipes tried to figure out if there was a connection between Nick’s lies and Heidi’s death, she learned Nick and Rachel had divorced.

    Rachel Firkus: I remember very well when Nikki Sipes came to my door.

    And that Nick had also kept secrets from her.

    Jamie Yuccas: Did Rachel ever say anything about why their marriage dissolved?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: She did. … There were financial issues between the two of them … Nick was lying about a lot of things.

    Rachel Firkus: This is a story that’s happened before, and it didn’t end well. … that terrified me. 

    WHAT DID RACHEL FIRKUS KNOW?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Could there actually have been an intruder? 

    After spending 19 months digging deep into the Firkus case file, reviewing crime scene photos, 911 calls and Nick’s video interview, Sipes had come to one conclusion. 

    NICK FIRKUS (police interview): She was running away so it definitely hit her in the back …

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: What really matters is what happened in that foyer. … and there was no third person.

    Jamie Yuccas: You never found anyone else’s DNA?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: No. … No DNA evidence, no physical evidence, no sign of a struggle. To me, there were only two people in that house when Heidi was killed.

    Jamie Yuccas: And they were?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Nick and Heidi. 

    As part of the new investigation, Sipes reached out to Nick’s second wife Rachel. What did she know? 

    Rachel Firkus: In 2020 she came to my door … And I was like,  “Why are you here?” And she was like, “To talk about Heidi Firkus.” 

    At first, Rachel, then divorced from Nick, says she was reluctant to talk.

    Rachel Firkus: You’re asking for a lot when you get involved in something like this. And I didn’t want to. … But … I also knew that it was the right thing to do, and it was for truth. 

    Rachel told Sipes Nick had lied about their finances during their marriage.

    Rachel Firkus: I found a letter saying that we hadn’t paid our property taxes. And that we were gonna get evicted in 2020 if we didn’t pay them. And when I saw that, I was like, Oh, no. … Like he was definitely repeating the same things he did with Heidi with me.

    Rachel Firkus
    Rachel Firkus says Nick’s dishonesty started to make her question whether he had also lied about Heidi’s death.

    CBS News


    During that time, Rachel says Nick’s dishonesty started to make her question whether he had also lied about Heidi’s death.

    Rachel Firkus: And I said, “We gotta sit down and talk.”

    Rachel secretly recorded the conversation on her phone.

    RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): Your actions have caused me to just distrust you completely. 

    Rachel Firkus: If there was gonna be a confession, I was gonna make sure that … I could prove that he said it. 

    RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): And the fact that your lying was so easy for you to do in front of me over and over and over. Makes me think —

    NICK FIRKUS (on audio recording): That I could murder my wife?

    RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): — that you could lie about something.

    NICK FIRKUS (on audio recording):  That I could murder my wife.

    RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): Yes.

    NICK FIRKUS (on audio recording):  Oh— 

    RACHEL FIRKUS: When I listen, I think “this silence kills me.”

    Rachel Firkus: He’s angry at me … How dare I think those things. … Why aren’t you saying you didn’t? … Tell me I’m not right. 

    Rachel later shared the recordings with Sipes.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: The behavior that he exhibited in his marriage with Rachel was almost duplicative of … how he hid things from Heidi.

    Elizabeth Lamin: We cannot let this man be out on the street any longer. 

    For prosecutor Elizabeth Lamin, the time had come to act. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: I told Sergeant Sipes …  “we’re charging him. Let’s do it.”

    Nick Firkus booking photo
    Eleven years after Heidi’s death, Nick Firkus was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. A grand jury ultimately indicted Nick on first- and second-degree murder charges.

    Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office


    On May 19, 2021, 11 years after Heidi was shot to death, a Saint Paul Police SWAT team arrested Nick Firkus at his house and charged him with second-degree murder. A grand jury ultimately indicted Nick on first- and second-degree murder charges. 

    Marcus Sarazin: Our minds were absolutely blown. 

    Heidi’s friends Marcus and Katina Sarazin were relieved. 

    Marcus Sarazin: It’s hard to, to say, I don’t know what emotion you even put to it, it’s hard to say excited.

    Katina Sarazin: I felt grateful. 

    Emily Erickson: We don’t understand.

    Nick’s friends Emily and Andrew Erickson.

    Emily Erickson: You have to believe that a good man with no history of violence … killed the woman that he loved more than anything in life for no reason. … That’s what you have to believe. We can’t get there.

    After remaining free on bail for almost two years, on Jan. 27, 2023, Nick Firkus went on trial. Prosecutors would not be allowed to call Nick’s second wife Rachel to testify or use her taped conversation with Nick. The judge ruled her testimony, and the recording had no bearing on the case. 

    Natalie Micheal: I went into it with an open mind. 

    Natalie Micheal served on the jury. 

    Jamie Yuccas: Did he appear like a man who would kill his wife?

    Natalie Micheal: No, he did not. .. A lot through the trial … he was putting his head down … when they showed the photos of the two of them together, you know he seemed like he really was in love with her. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: I think Nick was … someone who … lived two lives.

    Prosecutors presented an unusual motive. They told the jurors Nick Firkus staged a burglary because he was desperate and ashamed his secrets were about to be revealed to Heidi and everyone else.

    Elizabeth Lamin: All of his kind of cards of lies are about to crumble. … He would have been exposed as a complete failure, a liar … to his friends and community. And instead, he’s a victim. … He walks away from this … supported by his friends, supported by his family. 

    Joe Friedberg: Nick had no reason. 

    Heidi and Nick Firkus
    Heidi and Nick Firkus

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Nick’s lawyers Joe Friedberg and Robert Richman say that simply makes no sense as a motive. 

    Robert Richman: There was nothing about murdering the woman who everyone agreed he loved that would help his situation.

    And they say the state’s contention that Heidi didn’t know about the couple’s finances simply was not true. 

    Joe Friedberg: Nick … said she was in on all of the major decisions. … He would say to us that … they’re making Heidi out to be an imbecile.

    Natalie Michael: At first, I was wondering how she couldn’t know … about the finances or some of the foreclosures or some of the things happening. 

    But Natalie Micheal says the prosecution’s case did not hinge on motive. 

    Natalie Micheal: The prosecution said … it really is — was there an intruder in the house or was there not an intruder?

    Robert Richman: It was our position … that there had been an intruder exactly the way Nick described to the police, on the 911 call.

    NICK FIRKUS (911 CALL): Somebody just broke into our house and shot me and my wife … 

    Robert Richman: At the scene —

    Sgt. Jim Gray: The information that Nick have at the scene is that this intruder came into the house.

    Robert Richman: At the hospital —

    NICK FIRKUS (police interview): He just came in

    Robert Richman: — and to Sergeant Gray.

    NICK FIRKUS (police interview): The guy that was there, I think he, he grabbed the barrel … 

    Nick’s lawyers say police didn’t find the intruder’s fingerprints or DNA at the scene because, as Nick told investigators in his interview at the hospital, the intruder was wearing gloves.

    OFFICER (hospital interview): And what else can you describe from him …

    NICK FIRKUS: Gloves.

    OFFICER: He’s wearing gloves. 

    Joe Friedberg: You don’t always leave DNA and especially when your hands are covered.

    But prosecutors say there was something else missing from the scene besides fingerprints.

    Jamie Yuccas: So what am I looking at here?


    What did investigators find at the Firkus’ Minnesota home?

    02:23

    Elizabeth Lamin: This is a physical model to scale that was created by the FBI. 

    They used a model to show the jurors there was no evidence of a struggle. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: I felt that it was very important for us to be able to recreate how small that entryway is.

    Jamie Yuccas (show and tell): Let’s say the intruder gets in … they have the struggle….

    Elizabeth Lamin: And they have this life and death struggle right in this area with nothing disturbed.

    Jamie Yuccas: On the table?

    Elizabeth Lamin: Exactly. … And then Heidi gets shot square in the back in a very clear shot.

    Firkus FBI aimation
    Animation created by the FBI shows that the bullet that killed Heidi was most likely shot from shoulder level.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Animation created by the FBI shows that the bullet that killed Heidi was most likely shot from shoulder level.

    Elizabeth Lamin: The height at which Heidi is shot fits exactly on Nick’s shoulder to aim and to fire.

    Nick’s attorneys say there was direct evidence that showed there was an intruder. 

    Robert Richman: In fact, there were tool marks in the door, which would be consistent with someone wedging a screwdriver between the frame and the door. 

    Attorney Joe Friedberg says Firkus’ next door neighbor Branden O’Connor testified he heard a voice. 

    Branden O’Connor: ” … you shot her, you shot me. Uh, please, please, no,” something along those lines… 

    Joe Friedberg: That means there must have been another person in that house. … Nick was talking to a third person when he said that.

    But prosecutors say O’Connor may have misheard Nick while he was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher.

    Elizabeth Lamin: He is screaming about being shot … And he did that over almost seven minutes.   

    NICK FIRKUS (TO 911): Somebody just broke into my house and shot me and my wife.

    NICK FIRKUS (TO 911): Please!

    911 OPERATOR: Please stay on the phone with me, OK?

    Nick Firkus did not take the stand. After an 11 day trial, the case went to the jury. 

    Emily Erickson: If there’s anything in this case, there’s reasonable doubt.

    Andrew Erikson: Yeah.

    JUSTICE FOR HEIDI

    As the state and Nick Firkus’ defense team presented their closing arguments on Feb. 10, 2023, attorneys on both sides were hopeful the jury would make the right decision.

    Elizabeth Lamin: It was a hard-fought litigated trial. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: We had great, we thought, circumstantial evidence that what Nick said happened did not happen. 

    Joseph Friedberg: It’s not enough if you have a hunch.

    Joseph Friedberg: There was no direct evidence that Nick murdered his wife. 

    In her closing argument, Prosecutor Kraker said Nick shot Heidi while she was on the phone with the 911 operator. 

    911 OPERATOR: Someone’s trying, west … 

    [Gunshots heard] 

    HEIDI FIRKUS: [Screams]

    RACHEL KRAKER: So, that call does end with a very, very loud noise, and the call goes dead. … And we believe … that that’s the gunshot. 

    According to phone records, 65 seconds passed from that moment until Nick made his 911 call.

    NICK FIRKUS (TO 911): Hello, please, please … somebody just broke in our house and shot me …

    Kraker reenacted for jurors what she believed Nick did before he made that call.

    Rachel Kraker: I walked over in the courtroom … to roughly as far as Heidi would have been on the ground, crouched down, turned her over to check for her pulse to be sure that she was, in fact, deceased … Walked back over. Picked up the firearm … and demonstrated how he could … shoot himself … and … call 911.

    911 OPERATOR: Where’s the guy that shot you? 

    Rachel Kraker: At 65 seconds … there was more than enough time for all of that to happen.

    To prove their theory Nick shot himself in the thigh, they point to marks left by shotgun pellets at the bottom of the front door.  

    firkus-model-door.jpg
    To prove their theory Nick shot himself in the thigh, they point to marks left by shotgun pellets at the bottom of the front door.

    Ramsey County Attorney’s Office


    Elizabeth Lamin: When he shot himself, we believe that Nick was about here (puts model facing the front door)

    Elizabeth Lamin: Which is how you would brace yourself, probably against the door … if you’re doing it to yourself. 

    But Firkus’ attorneys challenged the 65-second timeframe. Attorney Robert Richman says phone records also show Nick misdialed two numbers before getting through to 911, making it impossible to shoot himself.

    Robert Richman: What they reenacted was … 65 seconds, which was … ignoring the two misdials, which happened at 38 seconds.

    Robert Richman: The fact that we cannot find the intruder … is not evidence that there was no intruder. … And if anything, because of the next door neighbor, because of the tool marks … because of the 38 seconds, we feel that the evidence supports that there was an intruder.

    Emily Erickson: This isn’t blind belief.

    Nick’s friends Emily and Andrew Erickson were convinced the prosecution failed to prove Nick was the shooter. 

    Andrew Erickson: We were open to hearing … an inconsistency of what Nick said … but that didn’t happen.

    On Feb. 10, 2023, the jurors got the case and in five hours returned with a verdict.

    Emily Erickson: My last text to Nick was … it has to be innocent. There’s no way that they got to guilty this quickly. … We rushed to the courthouse, and we were so wrong.

    Nick Firkus was found guilty on two counts of murder — premeditated and intentional. 

    Katina Sarazin:  I believe justice was served.

    The Sarazins were in the courtroom when the verdict was read. 

    Marcus Sarazin: Justice may have been slow … but fortunately, the jury got it right. … it feels like this is the beginning of healing … it’s the beginning of a — of a new chapter. 

    Elizabeth Lamin: Heidi’s mom actually said … That for so many years they had to live with Nick Firkus’ narrative. … And they knew it was wrong, but they just didn’t have another narrative. And to finally be able to … have him finally held accountable it meant a lot to us …

    For Sergeant Sipes, there is still the mystery of what led to the couple’s financial problems.

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: We weren’t able to definitively say what the money was spent on.

    Jamie Yuccas: Does that frustrate you?

    Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Greatly. I think it would help complete the picture for some people. 

    On April 13, 2023, Nick Firkus was back in court for his sentencing hearing and to hear victim impact statements.

    Peter Erickson (in court): Growing up, Heidi was the quintessential little sister to me.

    Peter Erickson Is Heidi’s brother.

    Peter Erickson: Because of the lies we were told as early as the day after her murder … it’s been virtually impossible to find closure to our grief.

    Nick refused to admit guilt. 

    Nick Firkus sentencing
    Nick Firkus reads a statement at his sentencing. He refused to admit guilt.

    WCCO


    NICK FIRKUS (in court): I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime … my body stands condemned to serve another man’s sentence. But my soul, my soul remains free.

    Judge Leonardo Castro imposed the maximum sentence.

    JUDGE CASTRO: It is the sense of law and judgment of this court that you be committed to the commission of corrections for the remainder of your life without the possibility of release … Good luck to you sir, Godspeed.

    Rachel Firkus: My kids are always what I think of first. … They lost in this too, because one day they had a dad that they thought was somebody, and the next day he’s not that person anymore.

    firkus-full.jpg
    “She definitely lived a life of love,” Katina Sarazin said of Heidi. “That was the mark that she left. And that’s hard to let go.”

    Heidi Firkus


    Nick’s second wife Rachel often thinks about Heidi, too.

    Rachel Firkus: I like to think I have a connection with Heidi. … she didn’t get to have the voice that I have now. And so I can only hope that my voice — is something she would be proud of. 

    Katina Sarazin: Heidi was a genuine, loving, sincere young woman who wanted to live life to the fullest.

    Katina Sarazin: She … wouldn’t want people to become bitter or angry because of what she had to experience. … I think that Heidi would want people to choose to love regardless of circumstances. 

    Nick Firkus is appealing his conviction.

    Produced by Asena Basak and Paul LaRosa;  Jordan Kinsey is the field producer; Ryan Smith and Michelle Fanucci are the development producers; Richard Barber and  Michael Baluzy  are the editors; Anthony Batson  is the senior producer; Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor; Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

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  • LA officials: Suspect in homeless murders is in custody

    LA officials: Suspect in homeless murders is in custody

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    LOS ANGELES – At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Mayor Karen Bass and LAPD Chief Michel Moore along with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and LA County Sheriff Robert Luna announced the arrest of the suspect in the murders of three homeless individuals across the city.

    LAPD Chief Moore identified the suspect as Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, of Los Angeles. Powell is alleged to be the gunman behind the murders of homeless men across Los Angeles from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29.

    After a multiple agency cooperative investigation triggered by the follow-home murder of Nicholas Simbolon of San Dimas on Tuesday night by LASD homicide investigators, a car and weapon in that case was identified by the Beverly Hills Police Department.

    Simbolon was a tenured L.A. County employee, who worked for the chief executive officer as a project manager in the IT department.  

    “He was key in developing applications, software that helped to propel the office forward, and also helped us to meet our mission to deliver services to citizens and residents of L.A. County,” Sheriff Robert Luna said at Thursday’s press conference.  

    Related

    On Thursday morning, the suspect, Powell, was spotted in Beverly Hills driving the same vehicle and taken into custody.  

    “When you get to a scene, you just start playing it backwards,” Sheriff Luna said while announcing the arrest [Thursday]. “They start looking at every avenue.”  

    During the arrest, deputies recovered a gun that appeared to match the description of the weapon used to commit the crime, authorities added.

    “Over the course of the investigation of our murders, we were able to identify the vehicle we believe is connected to our three homicides as being the same vehicle that Mr. Powell used in the murder of Mr. Simbolon,” Moore said at Saturday’s press conference. “[We learned] that it was being held in custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as evidence of their murder.”  

    According to Chief Moore, that vehicle was the same being sought in the killings of the three homeless persons and the gun seized was the weapon used in the killings.

    Press Conference Live:

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    Brody Levesque

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  • Husband charged after estranged wife found dead in his Florida storage unit

    Husband charged after estranged wife found dead in his Florida storage unit

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    The estranged husband of a Florida woman who was found dead inside his storage unit last month has been charged in her slaying, the prosecutors office announced.

    Cory Hill was charged Friday with second-degree murder with a firearm in connection with the death of Shakeira Rucker, the Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit said in a statement.

    Authorities found her body inside a unit at Self Storage in Apopka on Nov. 18, after an employee reported a foul smell coming from within the facility. Rucker, a mother of four, was reported missing just days earlier and the subsequent search spanned most of central Florida, including Seminole, Polk, Orange and Lake counties.

    Shakeira Rucker is pictured. (Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Florida via Facebook)

    Rucker was last seen leaving her home on Nov. 11, and her family believed she left with Hill to “an unknown destination,” Winter Springs Police Department said in a Facebook post.

    “We were all hoping for a different outcome,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina told reporters at the time. “But there’s a little bit of closure for Shakeira’s family.”

    The sheriff noted that the unit where the body was found had been registered to Hill.

    While a motive for the deadly violence remains under investigation, Rucker recently discovered that Hill was in a relationship with another woman and living with her, according to an affidavit cited by NBC News.

    Hill was already in jail when his wife’s body was found. He was charged with attempted murder after he shot at an ex-girlfriend and her family on Nov. 12, officials said.

    “It can be deduced Hill killed Rucker and then attempted to kill the female he had an extramarital affair with,” the arrest warrant affidavit says.

    Hill could later be indicted with first-degree murder, the prosecutor’s office said, but officials are still building their case.

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    Jessica Schladebeck

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  • Body Of A Teen Girl Missing For Months Is Found Buried In Neighbor’s Yard

    Body Of A Teen Girl Missing For Months Is Found Buried In Neighbor’s Yard

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    The body of a 17-year-old Indiana girl missing since June was found buried Tuesday in the yard of her neighbor, who authorities said later confessed to killing her.

    Patrick A. Scott, 59, was charged with murder in the death of Valerie Tindall, a high schooler who lived with her family just behind his home in Arlington, a rural community southeast of Indianapolis. She also had a summer job mowing lawns for Scott, a family friend who owned a landscaping business. On June 7, she told her family she was going to work, according to a police report obtained by HuffPost, but they never saw her again.

    Tindall’s remains were identified by a coroner on Thursday.

    Valerie Tindall had worked for the neighbor, who had a landscaping business.

    Tindall, who had just finished her junior year in high school, loved animals and planned to be a veterinarian, her parents told reporters following a news conference Wednesday announcing Scott’s arrest.

    She was “so sweet and smart, and funny,” her parents, Shena Sandefur and Jack Tindall, said, and she loved to create TikTok videos with her two sisters.

    Scott was arrested at his home. When he was being interviewed, investigators reported, Scott said he strangled Tindall with his belt at his home because she tried to seduce him and then, when he turned her down, threatened to blackmail him.

    “I wasn’t going to have it,” investigators said they were told by Scott, according to the police report. When they asked whether it bothered him that he had killed her, investigators said he replied, “Well I wasn’t too crazy about it.”

    Scott had been identified as “a person of interest” within weeks of Tindall’s disappearance, Rush County Sheriff Allan Rice said at the news conference Wednesday. Investigators said he told them and Tindall’s family that he did not see her the day she disappeared but later changed his story several times, according to court documents obtained by HuffPost.

    On June 29, days after police found Tindall’s Honda Accord at an apartment complex where Scott did landscaping work, he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of lying to police and hindering the investigation. According to the police report, investigators said Scott changed his statements after they told him his accounts were contradicted by traffic camera footage, GPS data and a text message to him from Tindall at 11:23 a.m. on the day she disappeared saying, “I’ll be there soon.” According to investigators, Scott said then he had moved Tindall’s car at her request to a spot where it wouldn’t be noticed.

    A statewide missing person alert was issued for Valerie Tindall days after she disappeared.
    A statewide missing person alert was issued for Valerie Tindall days after she disappeared.

    Rush County Sheriff’s Department

    On Oct. 11, investigators said cadaver dogs confirmed the presence of human remains at a pond near Scott’s property, but her body wasn’t found. An aerial survey, however, showed “multiple areas of obvious ground disturbance,” and investigators returned to dig those areas on Nov. 28. They found her remains in a long wooden box wrapped in a tarp.

    The day after Tindall went missing, Scott purchased lumber at Home Depot matching the box her body was found in, investigators said in the police report, citing purchase records. During his interview, investigators said, Scott told them he had constructed the box and buried Tindall’s body in it after storing it overnight in his office. His family didn’t know he killed her and weren’t involved in concealing the crime, investigators said Scott insisted.

    Scott and Tindall “had a bond,” Sandefur, her mother, said. “They were friends. She worked for him, but she also hung out with his family.”

    Both families often socialized together, Sandefur said. In the days after Tindall’s disappearance, Scott and his wife visited their home several times to support and encourage them, suggesting that she had run away but would eventually return.

    But Tindall’s family said they never believed that. The fact that she hadn’t reached out to her family or friends or posted on social media told her mother that “something was definitely wrong.”

    “I didn’t believe that for one minute really in my heart” that she had run away, Sandefur said, “but I wanted to.”

    In a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for funeral expenses, Sandefur’s sister said, “All that’s left to do is put our baby girl to rest, get answers & justice.”

    In addition to murder, Scott is charged with felony obstruction of justice and false informing.

    According to court records, Scott is currently being held without bond. The county public defender appointed to represent him did not immediately return a request for comment. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 19.

    “My daughter didn’t deserve this,” Sandefur said, wiping away tears. “We just want answers right now. We just want answers as to why.”

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  • LAPD asking for public’s help with murders of homeless persons

    LAPD asking for public’s help with murders of homeless persons

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    LOS ANGELES — Project Angel Food saw a remarkable gathering of celebrities and 200 dedicated volunteers coming together to prepare and deliver 2,000 traditional turkey meals to critically ill clients on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. The initiative culminated in a total of more than 5,000 meals prepared and delivered throughout Thanksgiving week.

    Thanksgiving Day at Project Angel Food was not just about distributing meals but also about the spirit of giving back while cherishing moments with family and friends.

    Melissa Rivers attends Thanksgiving at Project Angel Food on November 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food)

    Melissa Rivers, who recently got engaged to lawyer Steve Mitchel on Oct. 13, made a notable appearance — showcasing her stunning 5.6 carat, emerald-cut engagement ring as she volunteered alongside adult son Cooper Endicott. She shared, “Sometime maybe in 2025. It would be my second marriage and his second marriage so if anything, we’ll have a party, and a ceremony might break out. But nobody’s in any rush.”

    Amanda Kloots, host of “The Talk”, expressed her deep affection for Project Angel Food, stating that she fell in love with the cause while filming a segment for the hit CBS talk show. She returned with Zach Braff and her four-year-old son Elvis, emphasizing, “I think it is so important to show our kids how blessed we are and how we can help one another.”

    Harry Hamlin attends Thanksgiving at Project Angel Food on November 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food)

    Joining the ranks, Lisa Rinna and her husband Harry Hamlin continued their annual tradition of giving back at Project Angel Food on Thanksgiving. Harry offered, “It goes without saying the people of L.A. need to be fed, and we’re here to do it, especially on Thanksgiving.” Lisa added, “It makes you feel good to give back, always, and we need to do it more.”

    Actor and model Sam Asghari, marking his first Thanksgiving after his divorce from Britney Spears, refrained from discussing the split but reflected “I think it is important when you have a platform and a voice, and you have the ability to help others it is important to do.”

    Sam Asghari attends Thanksgiving at Project Angel Food on November 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food)

    Unlikely friends Charo and Kat Von D were among the initial celebrity arrivals. Von D explained their unique bond, stating, “We’re Yin and Yang and complement each other. Since she had heard of Project Angel Food through Charo, she wanted to join.” Charo expressed her enthusiasm for volunteering, exclaiming, “I love people. This is my passion!”

    The event saw the participation of other notable celebrity volunteers, including Amy Yasbeck, singer Em Beihold, Eve Mauro, Jai Rodriguez, Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Laura Pierson, Lauren Tom, Lawrence Zarian, Lisa Foxx, Loni Love, Mary-Margaret Humes, Michael Hitchcock, Peter Porte, Rachel Lindsay, Sandra Lee, Tamara Brown, and Tim Bagley.

    Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub expressed heartfelt gratitude stating, “Every day is like Thanksgiving at Project Angel Food. But on this day, we are especially grateful to our celebrity friends and hundreds of volunteers committed to bringing a little light to the thousands of critically ill men, women and children we serve.”

    The meals were provided through “drive-by” pick-up for volunteers who then delivered them to Project Angel Food clients. The traditional Thanksgiving dinners included roasted turkey, root vegetables, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. Additionally, vegetarian meals were also provided. The Thanksgiving Day meals were sponsored by The Stanley & Joyce Black Family Foundation, with additional support from Joybird, which furnished the Joybird VIP Love Lounge, allowing volunteers to take a break during the morning of service.

    Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, Richard Ayoub, Lawrence Zarien and Melissa Rivers attend Thanksgiving at Project Angel Food on November 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
    (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Project Angel Food)

    Beyond serving meals to 2,000 critically ill individuals, Project Angel Food extended its support by providing Thanksgiving Day meals for 500 people at PATH. PATH works tirelessly to end homelessness by building affordable housing and offering supportive services. Furthermore, actress and director Joely Fisher sponsored Project Angel Food meals, hosting a SAG/AFTRA “Friendsgiving” at Hollywood United Methodist Church for 200+ union members affected by the 118-day SAG/AFTRA strike on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023.

    Project Angel Food remains dedicated to providing daily meals to 2,500 critically ill individuals and delivering more than 1.5 million medically tailored meals annually across Los Angeles. Their clients often grapple with serious illnesses compounded by challenges such as poverty, aging, and isolation. Established in 1989 by Marianne Williamson, the organization has prepared and delivered more than 17 million meals in its 34-year history.

    Project Angel Food serves up Thanksgiving meals for Angelenos:

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    Brody Levesque

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  • Indiana man suspected in teen Valerie Tindall’s disappearance charged with murder, allegedly admits to burying her in backyard

    Indiana man suspected in teen Valerie Tindall’s disappearance charged with murder, allegedly admits to burying her in backyard

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    A 59-year-old man suspected in the June disappearance of a 17-year-old neighbor has been charged with murder after human remains were found buried in a pit on his central Indiana property. Patrick Scott, the neighbor and boss of Valerie Tindall, reportedly admitted to officers that he killed the teen on June 7 — strangling her with a belt and then burying her in a homemade box in his Arlington backyard, CBS affiliate WTTV reports, citing court documents.

    Scott appeared Thursday in Rush County Circuit Court for an initial hearing. Scott also is charged with obstruction of justice and false informing.

    tindall.jpg
      Valerie Tindall

    Indiana State Police


    He was ordered jailed without bond. A public defender has been appointed to represent him, court records show. A person who answered the phone at the Rush County Public Defender’s office said Thursday that the office had no comment on the case.

    Tindall told her parents on June 7 that she was going to work. She worked for Scott who owned a lawn mowing business, according to court documents which detailed that Tindall met Scott and he drove her back to his home early that afternoon.

    Arlington is about 30 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

    Tindall later was reported missing.

    On Oct. 11, cadaver-sniffing dogs indicated the smell of decomposition in a pond near Scott’s property, but a search failed to turn up anything. One of the dog handlers told police that water is known to hold odor and that the smell could have come from runoff into the pond.

    Police on Tuesday found a large dirt pile and debris on Scott’s property. Using shovels, they dug up a rectangular box wrapped in tarp. Inside the box were human remains which included fingernails painted with orange polish, documents said.

    Police said that a photo posted to social media on June 7 showed Tindall with orange-colored nails.

    On Thursday, the Rush County Coroner positively identified the remains as those of Tindall, WTTV reported.

    “This is not the outcome we had all hoped for, but I want to stress to the public that this case is far from over,” Sheriff Allan Rice said Wednesday. “Justice will be sought.”

    Alleged confession

    Scott was arrested Tuesday and told investigators he strangled Tindall with his belt in the bedroom of his home when she tried to blackmail and seduce him, according to court documents.

    Scott said his wife and daughter “don’t know nothing” about the killing and told officers he strangled Valerie with a belt — a belt Scott said he continued to wear after, WTTV reported.

    “I put it around her neck and I held onto it until she quit,” Scott allegedly said to police.

    Shena Sandefur told WRTV-TV that her daughter worked for Scott and that the family trusted him.

    “She and him had a bond. They were friends,” Sandefur said. “She worked for him, but she also hung out with his family. His granddaughter was her friend, and we went places with them.”

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  • Orange County mother arrested on suspicion of killing 9-year-old daughter

    Orange County mother arrested on suspicion of killing 9-year-old daughter

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    A Westminster woman was arrested Friday on suspicion of killing her 9-year-old daughter, police said.

    Officers were called to a home in the 14100 block of Goldenwest Street shortly after noon to conduct a welfare check after receiving a tip from a concerned family member, Westminster police said in a news release.

    The officers forced themselves into the residence and found the girl dead and alone in the house “with obvious signs of trauma,” police said.

    The child’s mother, 32-year-old Khadiyjah Pendergraph, was identified as a person of interest. She was later located and arrested at a shopping center in Aliso Viejo by Westminster police detectives working with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

    Pendergraph was booked into the county jail on suspicion of murder, police said. There are no additional suspects, and the incident appears to be isolated.

    “While police officers are exposed to tragedies on a daily basis, this murder is particularly disturbing, due to the senseless loss of a child allegedly at the hands of her own mother,” Police Chief Darin Lenyi said in a prepared statement.

    Anyone with additional information is encouraged to call Det. Marcela Lopez at (714) 548-3773. Anonymous calls can be made to Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6287 or sent to www.occrimestoppers.org.

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    Dorany Pineda

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  • Timeline: The mysterious death of Stephen Smith in Murdaugh country

    Timeline: The mysterious death of Stephen Smith in Murdaugh country

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    While investigating the murders of Alex Murdaugh‘s wife Maggie and son Paul in June 2021, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) stumbled across a clue in another mysterious death — that of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old who’d been found dead on July 8, 2015. His death was ruled a hit and run even though investigators at the scene found no evidence of one, and the case had gone cold until SLED’s discovery after the Murdaugh murders brought it back to life. SLED announced it would be renewing the investigation into Smith’s death, sparking new theories and reviving old rumors.  

    SLED has never said what it found that led them back to Stephen Smith, but through reports and interviews found in the 2015 case file 48 Hours pieced together what happened in the original investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol. 

    The story of Stephen Smith’s death begins with his final conversation with his mother, just a week before his death.

    July 1, 2015: An unusual conversation

    Sandy and Stephen Smith
    Sandy and Stephen Smith

    Sandy Smith


    Sandy Smith says the last time she saw her son Stephen was July 1, 2015, when he visited her house. Stephen was a nursing student at the time and was shuttling between the homes of his parents, who lived apart. Sandy says Stephen told her something that day that now gives her pause. 

    “He told me that he was goin’ on a fishin’ trip, deep sea fishin’,” Sandy told “48 Hours.” What seemed odd, according to Sandy, was that Stephen said he was taking the trip with “a prominent person.” To this day, Sandy doesn’t know who that prominent person could have been, and Stephen never said. 

    Despite the mysterious exchange, Sandy says her last day with her son was joyful. As he left her house, she warned him of an oncoming storm and told him to text her when he arrived at his destination. “So, when he made it, he texts me and says, ‘I made it safe, Mom. Mama, I love you.’” Sandy says those were Stephen’s last words to her.

    July 8, 2015 | 3:59 a.m.: A body in the roadway

    Road where Stephen Smith's body was found
    A red square marks the spot on Sandy Run Road where Stephen Smith’s body was found on July 8, 2015.

    South Carolina Highway Patrol


    On July 8, 2015, a local man was on his way to work in the early morning hours when he noticed someone lying in the road — in the location indicated by the red square in the image above. Concerned, the man called 911 at 3:59 a.m. Officers were dispatched to the scene and found Stephen deceased in the roadway, blood pooling around his head. 

    What exactly had happened to Stephen? Highway Patrol agents noted that there was none of the evidence you might typically find at the scene of a vehicle accident. Officers saw no debris in the roadway, skid marks or injuries consistent with someone being struck head-on by a car. What they did see was a large wound to Stephen’s head. It was so significant that the incident report notes, “After checking the body, it appears that the victim had been shot.”  

    Thomas Moore, a retired lieutenant with the South Carolina Highway Patrol and an on-scene supervisor for the Smith case, told “48 Hours,” “The consensus when I got there, speakin’ with the coroner, the first words out of his mouth was, ‘This is not a hit and run. This is a murder.’”

    July 8, 2015 | Early morning hours: Stephen Smith’s car found

    Stephen Smith's car
    Stephen Smith’s car

    South Carolina Highway Patrol


    Not long after Stephen’s body was found officers discovered his car, as well. It was pulled over on the side of the road nearly three miles away, with the gas cap hanging off.  “In all the years I’ve worked, a car sittin’ on the side of the road with the gas cap off is — is not normal,” former Lieutenant Thomas Moore says. “I thought it was staged.”  

    So, had Stephen run out of gas and decided to walk down the road in search of help? Or was this truly a staged crime scene? It seems from the case file that there were more questions than answers that July morning.

    July 8, 2015 | Later that morning: “The biggest shock”

    Stephen Smith
    Stephen Smith

    Sandy Smith


    While officers were still at the scene on the morning of July 8, 2015, Sandy tuned in to a local radio show on her way to work. The host said a body had been found on a rural road, and Sandy recognized the location. It was close to Stephen’s father’s house.  

    “So, I called [Stephen’s sister] and asked her if everything was OK,” she told “48 Hours.” “And she said, “‘Mama, did Stephen stay with you last night? Because he didn’t come home last night.’” And then my stomach dropped, and I knew it was him.” Sandy eventually received confirmation: the body found in the road was her son.  “I lost it then,” Sandy says. “It was just the biggest shock of our life.”  

    July 8, 2015 | 12:30 p.m.: The autopsy: not a gunshot wound

    At 12:30 p.m., as Sandy mourned, Stephen was taken for an autopsy. Though officers initially believed Stephen had been shot due to the way his wound looked at the scene, the medical examiner performing the autopsy found no evidence of a bullet and came to a different conclusion. 

    “It is the opinion of the pathologist that the decedent died of blunt head trauma sustained in a motor vehicle crash in which the decedent was a pedestrian struck by a vehicle,” the doctor wrote. In simple terms: Stephen wasn’t shot, he was struck by a vehicle while walking in the road.  

    To Sandy, that conclusion didn’t sound right. She says Stephen was cautious and would never have been walking in the middle of the road so late at night. Something seemed fishy, and she was determined to find out what had really happened to her son.

    July 17, 2015: Unsubstantiated rumors

    Soon after Stephen’s body was found, Hampton County Guardian managing editor Michael DeWitt says rumors started spreading in the Lowcountry. “Everybody knows everybody,” he told “48 Hours” of Hampton’s small-town atmosphere.  

    It was especially true that everyone knew the Murdaugh family. Alex Murdaugh was a prominent attorney, and three generations of Murdaugh men had held the top prosecutor job in the circuit for nearly a century. It was natural, Sandy says, for all roads in Hampton to lead to the Murdaughs. “Anything happens,” she says, “the Murdaugh name comes up.” 

    Soon the name appeared in the Stephen Smith case file. On July 17, 2015, a recorded interview indicates that the Highway Patrol was informed of a rumor circulating about Buster Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh’s oldest son. The story officers heard in follow-up interviews was that Buster had supposedly been in a car with some other boys that night, when they saw Stephen in the road and struck him with an object.  

    Various versions of the rumor circulated in the community, many pointing to Buster Murdaugh’s purported involvement. But there is no public evidence that Buster or any Murdaugh had anything to do with Stephen’s death, and Buster himself has since contested the claims. 

    “These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” he said in a statement released through his father’s attorney in 2023. “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death, and my heart goes out to the Smith family.” 

    The case file indicates that investigators made a call to Buster in 2015, but there is no record of any investigator having spoken to him.  

    Dec. 18, 2015: A possible lead

    The Buster Murdaugh rumor wasn’t the only story the South Carolina Highway Patrol heard. According to the case file, on Dec. 18, 2015, a Highway Patrol officer was made aware of another tip called in by a man named Darrell Williams.  

    Williams told police that his stepson, a young man named Patrick Wilson, had come over to his house and told him a story involving his friend Shawn Connelly. Wilson said Connelly told him he’d been driving  drunk and had hit something he thought might’ve been a deer, then returned to the area the next day and saw law enforcement on the scene. 

    Though the case file indicates attempts were made to find Wilson and Connelly, there is no record of officers ever speaking to either of them. Wilson had no comment to 48 Hours.  Messages to the Hampton’s County Sheriff’s Office, Williams, and Connelly have not been answered. Sandy Smith says she asked Shawn Connelly point blank if he killed Stephen, and he told her he did not. 

    2016: The case goes cold

    screen-shot-2023-03-17-at-3-47-54-pm.png
    Stephen Smith

    Sandy Smith


    For reasons that are unclear, in 2016 Stephen’s case went cold. Despite the medical examiner’s opinion that Stephen had been hit by a vehicle, former Highway Patrol Lieutenant Thomas Moore still believes the case was not an accidental hit and run, but a murder. He feels the case went cold because the Highway Patrol was not equipped to handle that type of investigation alone. 

    “The case certainly went cold on our part. Lotta frustration,” Moore tells “48 Hours.” “From the beginning I felt like we were investigating a case that … we don’t handle. We’re not homicide investigators.” 

    Moore also says, “I don’t think it ever went cold for Sandy Smith.”  

    Sept. 28, 2016 | A plea for outside help  

    On Sept. 28, 2016, fed up with the lack of progress in Stephen’s case, Sandy Smith wrote to the FBI.  

    “I was just lettin’ ’em know that, you know, my son was murdered and there’s no progress,” Sandy says. “And just, “Please help. Just please help me.””  

    Her letter was answered. Sandy says agents came to her home, and they were later able to unlock Stephen’s phone. “[The agent] said there was a lot of interesting information in the phone that needed to be looked at,” Sandy says. “There’s somethin’ in that phone that nobody wants out there.” 

    But Sandy says local and state agencies didn’t pursue the information. And despite her best efforts, the case would remain cold. 

    June 7, 2021 | The Murdaugh murders

    Maggie and Paul Murdaugh
    Maggie and Paul Murdaugh

    Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook


    On June 7, 2021, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found dead at the kennels at Moselle, the family’s country estate. It was another Hampton County tragedy – though this time, there was no doubt that it was murder. It was investigated from the start by the SLED.

    June 22, 2021 | SLED steps up to the plate

    SLED headquarters.
    SLED headquarters

    CBS News


    On June 22, 2021, less than a month after the Murdaugh deaths, SLED made an announcement no one was expecting. “SLED has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith,” a spokesperson told the media, “based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.” 

    No one but SLED knows exactly what information it discovered during the Murdaugh case that pointed them back toward Stephen Smith. But the announcement gave Sandy hope that there might finally be progress in her son’s case. 

    “I hate that something bad had to happen for him to be brought back up, you know, brought to the light,” Sandy says, adding: “He deserves justice just like Paul and Maggie and everybody else. He deserves justice.” 

    March 19, 2023: A powerful team in Sandy Smith’s corner

    Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter
    Attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter 

    CBS News


    Two years passed. Even with SLED’s involvement, there didn’t seem to be any progress in Stephen’s case as SLED focused its resources on investigating Alex Murdaugh. But on March 19, 2023, high-powered South Carolina attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter announced their firm would be representing Sandy in the Stephen Smith death investigation.  

    “Ronnie and I are like arsonists. We started the fire,” Eric Bland says. He and Richter worked with Sandy to get Stephen’s case back in the public eye, in the hopes of raising awareness to achieve what had been one of Sandy’s goals for years: getting a new autopsy for Stephen, whose manner of death was still unclear. 

    “Our sole goal was to start the fire,” says Bland, “To rekindle the interest in Stephen’s death. And what that entailed was us being able to get permission to exhume his body and have a second autopsy performed.”

    March 31, 2023: Stephen Smith’s body exhumed

    smith-body-exhumed.png
    Stephen Smith’s exhumation on March 31, 2023.

    LunaShark Media


    On March 31, 2023, Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter helped Sandy Smith achieve her goal of exhuming Stephen’s body so another autopsy could be performed. It was an emotional day for Sandy, who says it was joyful for her to see a longtime goal realized.

    April 1, 2023: A new, independent autopsy


    How did SC teen Stephen Smith die? “48 Hours” obtains findings of independent investigation

    01:48

    Dr. Michelle DuPre, a former investigator and forensic pathologist who’s performed more than 3,000 autopsies, was hired by Bland and Richter to oversee Stephen’s new autopsy on April 1, 2023. Though results of the autopsy were not publicly shared, in an exclusive interview. DuPre tells “48 Hours” what she observed about Stephen’s injuries.  

    “There was blunt trauma,” she says, pointing to a spot on a model as pictured in the image above. “He had about a seven-and-a-half inch laceration on the right side of his forehead that went from his eyebrow to about the middle of his head.” 

    She was able to dispel some of the confusion surrounding Stephen’s death that occurred in the original investigation. “At one point, there was thought to be a gunshot wound,” she says, “We can definitively say that there was not.” She also doesn’t believe Stephen’s body was staged, saying, “We don’t believe that he was placed there. We believe that … whatever happened, happened right there.”

    May 16, 2023: Dr. Kenny Kinsey shares his findings

    Nikki Battiste and Dr. Kenny Kinsey
    CBS News national correspondent and “48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste and Dr. Kenny Kinsey.

    CBS News


    Bland and Richter also hired Dr. Kenny Kinsey, a crime scene expert and star prosecution witness in the Murdaugh murder trial, to conduct an independent investigation into Stephen’s death. On May 16, 2023, he told CBS News’ Nikki Battiste about his findings. 

    “How confident are you that you know what happened to Stephen Smith that night?” Battiste asks. 

    “I’m as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I’ve ever felt,” says Kinsey. 

    All of the information gathered by Kinsey and DuPre has been turned over to SLED for their ongoing investigation.

    Sept. 28, 2023: Stephen Smith’s dreams live on

    Sandy Smith
    Sandy Smith announces the Stephen N. Smith Memorial Scholarship.

    LunaShark Media


    In September 2023, Sandy Smith announced the creation of the Stephen Nicholas Smith Memorial Scholarship. As stated on the website for the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, “the mission of the Stephen Nicholas Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund is to provide annual scholarship support for qualified students with financial need.” 

    Stephen’s dreams of becoming a doctor were tragically cut short. He was buried in his scrubs with his stethoscope, Sandy says, “everything he needed.”  

    Now Sandy hopes this scholarship in his name will provide opportunities for kids like Stephen looking to pursue their goals through higher education. 

    2023: Hope for justice  

    Sandy Smith
    Sandy Smith holds a photo of her son.

    AP


    SLED’s investigation into Stephen Smith’s death has so far yielded no new public information, and it’s unclear how much progress has been made. Sandy’s attorneys confirm a grand jury was empaneled and has issued subpoenas.  

    Sandy hasn’t given up hope. She has offered a $30,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in Stephen’s case and urges anyone who knows anything about his death to come forward. If you have any information on the death of Stephen Smith, email SLED at tips@sled.sc.gov today.  

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  • Oscar Pistorius, ex-Olympic runner, granted parole more than 10 years after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

    Oscar Pistorius, ex-Olympic runner, granted parole more than 10 years after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

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    Johannesburg — Imprisoned former Paralympic gold medalist and Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was granted parole on Friday, but the South African parole board said the decision would not take effect until Jan. 5. The board made its decision on the Olympic runner’s fate more than 10 years after he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day 2013.

    The board had been expected to consider his conduct and disciplinary record in prison, his participation in educational or other training courses, his mental and physical state, whether they believed he was likely to relapse into crime and the risk he poses to the public. 

    South Africa’s national Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that the parole made its decision, “having assessed Mr. Pistorius’ profile and other material submitted for the purposes of parole consideration,” and noted that he was a “first time offender with a positive support system.”

    Steenkamp’s mother June did not address the parole board directly Friday, but a representative read out a family impact statement in which June said: “Rehabilitation requires someone to engage honestly, with the full truth of his crime and the consequences thereof. Nobody can claim to have remorse if they’re not able to engage fully with the truth.”


    “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, convicted in murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, up for parole

    02:33

    The Department of Correctional Services said the athlete would “complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections and will be subjected to supervision in compliance with parole conditions until his sentence expires.”

    Social workers inspected his uncle Arno Pistorius’ property in Pretoria earlier this year, which is where he’ll serve out the remainder of his sentence under the parole conditions. The terms of parole vary in South Africa but can include an electronic tag to monitor movements and a ban on making money from media interviews about the individual’s incarceration.   

    The televised 2014 trial had viewers around the world glued to the courtroom video feed as prosecutors argued that the athlete, known as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, had deliberately shot his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door. Pistorius maintained throughout that it was a terrible accident and that he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder.

    He was ultimately convicted of murder after prosecutors successfully appealed an initial conviction for culpable homicide, a lesser charge comparable to manslaughter in the U.S. He was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison in 2017, which took into account time he’d already served behind bars during the appeal process.  

    The double amputee, who turned 37 on Wednesday, lost his first bid for parole in March when the Department of Correctional service said he had not completed the minimum detention period to be eligible for parole. Inmates in South Africa must serve half their sentence to be eligible. Authorities decided in March that half of Pistorius’ sentence would be measured from his last conviction, but the Constitutional Court overturned that ruling last month, saying the date must be determined from the first day an inmate begins serving time in prison.  

    48-091014-pistorius-replacement-275668-640x360.jpg
    Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius

    Pistorius has been serving his sentence at Atteridgeville Prison, west of Pretoria. 

    The year before he killed his model girlfriend, Pistorius was a star of the London Olympics, achieving global recognition for being the first double amputee to run against able-bodied sprinters.

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  • Could cellphone evidence be the key to solving Stephen Smith’s cold case?

    Could cellphone evidence be the key to solving Stephen Smith’s cold case?

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    On June 22,  2021, two weeks after Alex Murdaugh, scion of the Murdaugh legal dynasty, reported finding the bodies of his son Paul and wife Maggie fatally shot at the dog kennels of the family’s sprawling Moselle property, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, released a simple statement to media: “SLED has opened an investigation into the death of Stephen Smith based upon information gathered during the course of the double murder investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.”

    That single sentence was the turning point for Sandy Smith, who’d been fighting to keep her son’s case from fading into obscurity, even writing letters to high-level politicians and the FBI. “That was the happiest day of my life,” she tells “48 Hours” contributor and CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste in “Stephen Smith: A Death in Murdaugh Country,” an all-new “48 Hours” airing Saturday, Nov. 25 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.  

    Stephen Smith
    Stephen Smith

    Sandy Smith


    For nearly a decade, Sandy Smith has refused to let her son’s case grow cold. In the early morning hours of July 8, 2015, Stephen Smith’s body was discovered on a rural road in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. This is where three generations of the Murdaugh family had occupied the top solicitor’s office and enjoyed a century of power and influence, particularly among local law enforcement. Stephen’s death was quickly ruled a hit-and-run by the medical examiner, a conclusion that neither Sandy Smith nor the investigators with the South Carolina Highway Patrol believed at the time.

    “I wanted a second opinion,” Sandy Smith tells Battiste.

    With a new high-profile legal team now in her corner, she’s finally getting it. A few days after Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter announced they were representing Smith pro bono, SLED chief Mark Keel publicly acknowledged SLED was treating Stephen Smith’s death as a homicide. And thanks to more than $130,000 in GoFundMe donations from Sandy Smith’s supporters, Bland and Richter were able to arrange an exhumation of Stephen Smith’s body in order to conduct an independent autopsy.

    When Battiste asks Sandy Smith, “What do you think it took for Stephen’s case to finally get the attention it deserves, that you wanted?” Smith doesn’t mince words. “Somebody else had to die,” she says, referring to Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

    Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the double murders of his wife and son after a sensational six-week trial watched around the world. Bland and Richter, who were already representing several of Murdaugh’s victims of alleged multimillion-dollar financial scams, offered to represent Sandy Smith pro bono. “This is a woman that has fought this battle alone since 2015 … screaming as loud as she could … with not a lot of people listening,” says Bland.

    Almost immediately after Stephen Smith’s death, rumors of Murdaugh involvement swarmed the Lowcountry like locusts. Hampton County Guardian editor Michael DeWitt Jr., who is also the author of the book “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh,” says he heard the same rumors in far-flung corners: “that at least one Murdaugh child was in a vehicle with other boys and allegedly, somebody in the vehicle … struck the young man with a baseball bat and killed him.”  A similar story was repeated to Highway Patrol investigators in recorded interviews, and the Murdaugh name, particularly Buster Murdaugh, comes up dozens of times in the original case file, obtained by “48 Hours” through public records requests.

    Buster Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh’s oldest son, who according to the case file, had not spoken with Highway Patrol investigators nor publicly addressed the allegations, broke his silence two weeks after his father’s conviction. In a statement released by his father’s attorney, Jim Griffin, Buster Murdaugh denied the rumors, calling them “baseless” and said in part, “I unequivocally deny any involvement [in Stephen Smith’s] death.” Buster Murdaugh issued a second denial several months later during a televised interview on Fox Nation. And for the first time, he also offered an alibi, stating he was with his mother and brother at their beach house at the time Stephen Smith was killed.

    “We are aware of no evidence today that would suggest that any Murdaugh played any role in Stephen Smith’s death or played any role in trying to cover up the investigation into his death,” says Richter.

    But the Murdaughs and Smith’s case remain inextricably linked by SLED’s findings. Richter tells “48 Hours,” “Somehow, some way in the Murdaugh murder investigation, a new thread was opened up into Stephen Smith.”

    While SLED has kept its investigation close to the vest, what evidence investigators found while looking into the Murdaugh murders that led them back to Stephen Smith has been the subject of intense speculation. “Whatever it was, it’s major enough for … the highest police organization in the state to open up its own investigation,” says DeWitt.

    Given the pivotal role cellphone evidence played in Alex Murdaugh’s trial, Bland and Richter say it’s possible evidence from Stephen’s tablet or phone, which was found in his front pocket,  may play a key role in this case, as well. But Sandy Smith says she had asked the FBI to crack Stephen’s phone back in 2016.

    “Do you know if … anyone actually was able to read Stephen’s text messages or see where he might’ve been based on cellphone evidence?” asks Battiste.

    “What I heard from the FBI agent,” says Sandy Smith, is “there was a lot of interesting information in the phone that needed to be looked at.” But she says neither local nor state authorities pursued the case further, and Stephen’s case went cold. “There’s something in that phone that nobody wants out there,” she tells Battiste.

    m
    Sandy Smith has been fighting to keep her son’s case from fading into obscurity, even writing letters to high-level politicians and the FBI.

    AP


    According to Sandy Smith’s attorneys, SLED now has all of the evidence in the Stephen Smith case, including his phone and tablet, and an investigative grand jury is zeroing in on potential suspects. Meanwhile, Sandy Smith is keeping hope alive that she will get answers and justice soon. She announced a scholarship fund in Stephen’s name, and she’s offering a $30,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

    During an independent investigation by Sandy Smith’s team led by Dr. Kenny Kinsey, who recently retired as chief deputy of the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office and was an expert witness in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial, the baseball bat theory was ruled out. Kinsey and Dr. Michelle DuPre, a retired investigator and forensic pathologist who oversaw Stephen’s new autopsy, theorized that Stephen had died from a single fatal blow to the head and died on the road where he was found.


    How did SC teen Stephen Smith die? “48 Hours” obtains findings of independent investigation

    01:48

    “The injuries can tell us so much about what happened,” says DuPre. And in this case, she says they did. 

    “Whatever hit him was fast and it was large,” Kinsey tells Battiste.

    These and other startling findings, shared exclusively with Battiste, are part of the latest “48 Hours” report.

    “How confident are you that you know what happened to Stephen Smith that night?” Battiste asks Kinsey. “I’m as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I’ve ever felt,” he says.

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  • Man accused of killing the brother of ex-Laker Michael Cooper is charged in two more violent crimes

    Man accused of killing the brother of ex-Laker Michael Cooper is charged in two more violent crimes

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    The man suspected of gunning down the brother of former Lakers star Michael Cooper at a park in Pasadena on Saturday also has been charged with attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm in two other recent incidents in the city, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

    Aaron Miguel Conell, 24, was charged Monday in the fatal shooting of Mickey Cooper, 64, at Washington Park, the same site where he allegedly shot another man in the neck. Authorities have charged Conell with one count of attempted murder in the earlier incident, which occurred around 2 a.m. on Oct. 29. Officers responded to gunshots and found a man with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

    Seven days later, around 9:30 p.m., Conell is accused of walking up to a car at a Pasadena gas station and pointing a gun at a man in the driver’s seat. He is charged with one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in that incident.

    Conell was arrested Saturday, the same day he’s accused of killing Cooper at the park that is “10 houses away” from where Michael Cooper, 67, said he and his younger brother grew up.

    “The reason my brother was there is that it was a safe haven for him, a place where he felt comfortable and safe,” Michael Cooper said. “And it had been until that tragic night.”

    Conell faces 50 years to life in state prison if convicted on each count of murder, attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm. His bail has been set at $4.25 million.

    Pasadena Police Department detectives said at a news conference Wednesday that Conell also is a suspect in two additional shootings.

    Police said that none of the incidents are connected and that Conell — who has never been convicted of a felony and no gang affiliation — seemed to commit the alleged violent acts without a motive.

    “Aaron Conell is diabolically evil, that’s the only motive we’ve come up with so far,” said Pasadena police Lt. Keith Gomez, who’s in charge of the robbery-homicide unit.

    Michael Cooper expressed his appreciation to the Pasadena Police Department for the swift identification and arrest of Conell. He said he’d been part of the Pasadena community his entire life.

    “This was the park where my brother and I would play basketball in the late ’60s and through the ’70s and ’80s,” said Cooper, who won five NBA championships during his 12-year career with the Lakers that ended in 1990.

    He said Mickey was a gentle, loving person who was addicted to drugs. Mickey would sleep at Washington Park because it was so familiar to him.

    Cooper said his brother was welcome to stay with him or at their grandmother’s home but that he often preferred the park.

    “We are going to miss Mickey, but I like to feel he’s in a better place,” Cooper said. “My brother had an addiction he just couldn’t shake. Over the last year, we tried to get him a lot of help. He may have appeared homeless, but he wasn’t. He had a home up in Altadena at my grandmother’s house.

    “I tried to bring my brother to my house several times. But that’s still not a reason for him not to go to that park, go to sleep and wake up and find himself in this situation.”

    Michael and Mickey were raised in Pasadena primarily by their grandmother, Ardessie Butler, after their parents, Marshall and Jean, divorced when the boys were young. Jean, who had 10 siblings, worked as a registered nurse, and the boys grew up in a hectic household.

    They attended Pasadena High School and Michael was drafted by the Lakers out of the University of New Mexico. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1986-87 and later became an assistant coach with the Lakers, the head coach of the WNBA Sparks, the head coach of the USC women’s basketball team and head coach of the Culver City High boys’ basketball team.

    “I want to express deep condolences to the family of the individual who died and unwavering support for the wounded victim,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said. “These violent senseless acts have no place in our communities, especially at a public park where families could be present.

    “We continue in our commitment to combating gun violence and will vigorously pursue justice for the victims and their families, while ensuring the safety and security of all of our residents.”

    Gomez said that a 9-millimeter semiautomatic firearm was recovered from Conell’s vehicle, and that evidence indicated it was the gun used in both Washington Park shootings. City officials said the park is relatively safe during daylight hours but that it has become increasingly dangerous at night.

    Justin Jones, the Pasadena City Council member who represents the Washington Park area, said he grew up a block from the park and that “recently residents have expressed concern about activities occurring in the park.”

    City and law enforcement officials have scheduled a town hall meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss ways to improve safety at the park. Michael Cooper said that, as a native of the city, he deeply appreciated the efforts of law enforcement and that Mickey’s being killed for seemingly no reason was difficult to process.

    “I remember back in the ’80s when we won, we had a championship parade here,” Cooper said. “And today I stand here [grieving]. … Mickey didn’t bother anybody. He loved everybody.”

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    Steve Henson

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  • Love triangle revealed after California man fatally stabbed in case involving texts, video and a Selena Gomez song

    Love triangle revealed after California man fatally stabbed in case involving texts, video and a Selena Gomez song

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    A woman and her alleged lover have been arrested more than a month after her husband was stabbed to death outside his home in Northern California, police said, in a case that included incriminating texts, surveillance video and a Selena Gomez song as evidence.

    On October 8, Hayward Police responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon on the street and found Parwiz Assar, 51, suffering from stab wounds. He was declared dead by medical personnel at the scene.

    Evidence ultimately led authorities to Seattle, where they arrested 21-year-old Samim Azizi. Police said he’s being held without bail at the King County Jail and awaiting extradition to California.  

    About two weeks later, Assar’s wife, 35-year-old Razma Mohammad-Ibrahim, was taken into custody in Hayward. Jail records show she is being held without bail at the Santa Rita County Jail. 

    Mohammad-Ibrahim and Assar were married for approximately 12 years and “had been experiencing marital problems,” police said, adding that Mohammad-Ibrahim and Azizi met around December of 2022 and became romantically involved.

    “It is believed the two planned to kill Assar so Mohammad-Ibrahim could end her marriage to be with Azizi, have full custody of her children, and have all the family assets,” Hayward Police said.

    According to the Mercury News, police collected a wide range of evidence implicating the suspects, including surveillance video, internet searches and an alleged text message from Azizi to Mohammed-Ibrahim that he had selected a “strong” knife.

    On the night of the attack, Assar’s Ring doorbell camera showed a masked man leap from a bush and attack him as he walked to his front door, the Mercury News reported. Just hours after the attack, a friend of Assar’s told police that Assar had asked if he could stay at his house because he was afraid his wife was planning to attack him, the Mercury News reported, citing police records.

    According to the Mercury News, on the day Assar was killed, a post made to his wife’s Instagram account included the Selena Gomez song “Single Soon.”

    Assar and Mohammad-Ibrahim have young children who are in currently with other family members, police said.  

    The U.S. Marshals Service, the Renton Police Department, the Washington State Crime Lab and the Washington State Department of Corrections helped the Hayward Police Department investigate the case.  

    “I would like to take a moment to recognize the outstanding investigative work that led to the arrests in this case,” Acting Chief Bryan Matthews said in a statement about the arrests. “Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Mr. Assar as they continue to grieve during this difficult time.” 

    Hayward is about 30 miles southeast of San Francisco.

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  • Orange County bartender pleads not guilty to beating woman to death with fire extinguisher

    Orange County bartender pleads not guilty to beating woman to death with fire extinguisher

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    An Orange County bartender accused of bludgeoning a woman to death with a fire extinguisher pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him Monday.

    Dino Rojas-Moreno, 26, was arrested Wednesday in Laguna Hills and charged with one count of murder with two felony enhancements: that the killing was committed in commission of a kidnapping and that it was carried out with a personal weapon, a fire extinguisher.

    Those enhancements would potentially make him subject to the death penalty, according to authorities.

    “The loss of an innocent life is a travesty for the entire community,” Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

    A call to Rojas-Moreno’s attorney was not immediately returned Monday. Rojas-Moreno is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Jan. 30.

    Prosecutors allege that Rojas-Moreno, who lives in Laguna Hills, assaulted 27-year-old San Clemente resident Tatum Goodwin around 1 a.m. on Nov. 12 in a parking lot near Carmelita’s restaurant in Laguna Beach.

    Goodwin had worked at Carmelita’s for four years, rising to the position of assistant manager, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by the restaurant’s owner.

    Rojas-Moreno, prosecutors allege, dragged Goodwin to the rear of the parking lot and down an alleyway to a secluded area. There, he is accused of beating her to death with a fire extinguisher, according to the district attorney’s office.

    About 8:20 a.m., a construction worker found Goodwin’s body under a chain-link fence at a nearby work site with a sandbag placed on her head, authorities say.

    “It is heartbreaking that a young woman with her entire future ahead of her had her life ended in such a brutal way and then discarded like her life never [mattered],” Spitzer said.

    It is unknown whether there was a prior relationship between the two. Though some news outlets reported that Rojas-Moreno had worked as a bartender for Goodwin at Carmelita’s, that is incorrect, according to Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

    Rojas-Moreno called in sick to work the day Goodwin’s body was found, saying he had been jumped in Santa Ana, according to the district attorney’s office.

    He is being held without bail.

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    Andrew J. Campa

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  • Man guns down wife, baby and child in murder-suicide: Police

    Man guns down wife, baby and child in murder-suicide: Police

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    An Ohio mother and her two young children were fatally shot in an apparent murder-suicide by the woman’s husband, who had been previously arrested, accused of domestic violence, local police said.

    Around 10 a.m. Sunday, officers were responding to a call about dogs running loose outside a residence on East 9th Street in Lorain, Ohio. When they went inside the second-floor apartment, they discovered the bodies of 29-year-old Tyler Young, his wife Skylar Young, 24, their 4-month-old son, Bandin Young, and Skylar’s 9-year-old daughter, Angel Issac, according to the Lorain Police Department (LPD).

    Investigators believe that Tyler Young fatally shot his wife and the two children before killing himself, sometime from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m., LPD Lieutenant Jacob Morris said during a press conference on Monday.

    Morris said investigators believe the incident was a murder-suicide, saying that Tyler Young was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, and next to his body, investigators discovered a 9-millimeter firearm they believe was used in the killings. Two other firearms were found in the home, the lieutenant said.

    “The shooting is still under investigation, and we have no final ruling, but we are not looking for any other suspects,” Morris said.

    Police tape blocks off a crime scene. An Ohio man fatally shot his wife, 4-month-old son and 9-year-old stepdaughter before turning the gun on himself, local police said.
    Andri Tambunan / AFP/Getty

    Newsweek reached out via email on Monday to the LPD for comment.

    Tyler Young had been previously arrested on charges of domestic violence and strangulation in May, Morris said. During that incident, Skylar Young told police, she was physically and verbally abused, saying that she had been threatened and “slapped and choked” by her husband while she was 26 weeks pregnant with Bandin at the time, Morris said. However, the wife recanted her statement to police in June.

    That case was presented to a Lorain County grand jury, which chose not to indict Tyler Young on any charges relating to the May incident.

    While a family member told investigators that Tyler Young was having a “schizophrenic episode” when the May altercation occurred, according to a police report, Morris said it’s unclear whether he had been officially diagnosed with a mental illness.

    Morris said that investigators did not have a suspected motive for the fatal shooting, but they believed Tyler Young’s mental issues could have played a role in the incident.

    Skylar Young was the biological mother to both children, Morris said, noting that Tyler Young was the biological father to 4-month-old Bandin, but not to Angel, who attended the Horizon Science Academy, a charter school in Lorain, according to the LPD.

    Newsweek reached out via email Monday night to Horizon Science Academy for comment.