Tag: relative

Woman whose body was pulled from Santa Ana River is identified as a mother of two

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A woman whose body was pulled from the Santa Ana River in Orange County on New Year’s Day has been identified as 39-year-old Alejandra Ramirez Torres, coroner’s officials said. Her body had been carried by the river’s current from Santa Ana to Fountain Valley before it could be retrieved by fire crews.

Ramirez Torres was the mother of two daughters, ages 11 and 16, according to a GoFundMe page created by her relatives.

Orange County fire officials said crews responded to 911 calls before noon Thursday after bystanders reported seeing a body in the river near Warner Avenue and Harbor Boulevard.

Some 60 firefighters responded to the scene, including swift-water rescue teams. They found Ramirez Torres’ body south of the river’s juncture with the 405 Freeway, north of the Gisler Avenue river trail in Costa Mesa, about 1.5 miles from where witnesses first saw the woman.

A ladder truck was used to lower a rescuer to the water and retrieve Ramirez Torres, who was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

“This sudden and heartbreaking loss has deeply affected our family. We are doing everything we can to support Alejandra’s girls as they face an uncertain future without their mother,” states the GoFundMe page, which relatives said was set up to cover the costs of Ramirez Torres’ funeral and provide support for her daughters.

The woman was a possible transient at the time of her death, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Lizbeth Gwisdalla confirmed Friday to the Daily Pilot.

How and why she entered the river was not known.

Cardine writes for The Times’ sister publication the Daily Pilot.

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Stacy Perman, Sara Cardine

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January 4, 2026
Justice Department questions retired FBI agent’s role in $1.4 billion Sandy Hook lawsuit

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A senior U.S. Justice Department official sent a letter to a lawyer for relatives of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, asking pointed questions about a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit that led to a $1.4 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” asked in the letter whether retired agent William Aldenberg received any financial benefits from helping to organize the lawsuit, in which he was a plaintiff along with victims’ family members.Aldenberg, like the parents and other relatives of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has been the subject of false conspiracy theories spread by Jones on his “Infowars” broadcasts.Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.Martin sends lawyer letter asking about retired agentIn a Sept. 15 letter to Christopher Mattei, a lawyer who represents Sandy Hook families, Martin suggested he was scrutinizing Aldenberg’s role in the lawsuit.“As you may know, there are criminal laws protecting the citizens from actions by government employees who may be acting for personal benefit,” Martin wrote.Mattei responded to the letter in a text message to The Associated Press.“Thanks to the courage of the Sandy Hook families, Infowars will soon be finished,” he said, referring to the families’ efforts in court to liquidate Jones’ assets to help pay the judgment. “In his last gasps, Jones is once again harassing them, only now with the corrupt complicity of at least one DOJ official. It’s as disgusting as it is pathetic, and we will not stand for it.”The Justice Department said it had no immediate comment Tuesday.Martin, who has been examining President Donald Trump’s claims of anti-conservative bias inside the Justice Department, has sent letters to a host of targets in other, unrelated matters, seeking information or making appeals, but it’s unclear whether such requests have amounted to anything.Jones posted a copy of the letter on his X account Tuesday, saying “Breaking! The DOJ’s Task Force On Government Weaponization Against The American People Has Launched An Investigation Into The Democrat Party / FBI Directing Illegal Law-fare Against Alex Jones And Infowars.”Retired agent testified at the trialAldenberg joined the relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims in suing Jones, alleging defamation and infliction of emotional distress.Aldenberg was one of the first witnesses to testify at the trial in 2022. He broke down on the witness stand as he described entering the two classrooms where children and educators were shot.He also testified about how he and others in the community and law enforcement were targeted with threats and conspiracy theories, including one that claimed he was an actor who also pretended to be the father of a victim.Messages were left at a phone listing and email addresses listed for Aldenberg in public records.Relatives of the shooting victims testified that they were subjected to violent threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media because of Jones.Martin has been serving as head of the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group” since his nomination for top federal prosecutor in Washington was pulled amid bipartisan concerns about his modest legal experience and his advocacy for Jan. 6 rioters.Attorney General Pam Bondi created the group to scrutinize matters in which conservatives have claimed they were unfairly targeted or treated.Martin was also recently named a special prosecutor to help conduct the separate mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff.In his letter to Mattei, he asked for several pieces of information and requested that the lawyer respond by Sept. 29.In the letter, Martin asks Mattei to keep the correspondence confidential because “I do not wish to litigate this in the media.” On Sept. 14, Jones posted a photo on his X account of him and Martin together, saying the two met in Washington, D.C.Jones recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the $1.4 billion judgment. He also is appealing a $49 million judgment in a similar lawsuit in Texas filed by two other parents of children killed in Newtown. He has cited free speech rights, but he has acknowledged that the shooting was “100% real.”Jones claims Democrats have been targeting him for his speech.He filed for bankruptcy in late 2022. The Sandy Hook plaintiffs are now trying to liquidate Infowars’ assets in state court proceedings in Texas.

A senior U.S. Justice Department official sent a letter to a lawyer for relatives of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, asking pointed questions about a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit that led to a $1.4 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” asked in the letter whether retired agent William Aldenberg received any financial benefits from helping to organize the lawsuit, in which he was a plaintiff along with victims’ family members.

Aldenberg, like the parents and other relatives of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has been the subject of false conspiracy theories spread by Jones on his “Infowars” broadcasts.

Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.

Martin sends lawyer letter asking about retired agent

In a Sept. 15 letter to Christopher Mattei, a lawyer who represents Sandy Hook families, Martin suggested he was scrutinizing Aldenberg’s role in the lawsuit.

“As you may know, there are criminal laws protecting the citizens from actions by government employees who may be acting for personal benefit,” Martin wrote.

Mattei responded to the letter in a text message to The Associated Press.

“Thanks to the courage of the Sandy Hook families, Infowars will soon be finished,” he said, referring to the families’ efforts in court to liquidate Jones’ assets to help pay the judgment. “In his last gasps, Jones is once again harassing them, only now with the corrupt complicity of at least one DOJ official. It’s as disgusting as it is pathetic, and we will not stand for it.”

The Justice Department said it had no immediate comment Tuesday.

Martin, who has been examining President Donald Trump’s claims of anti-conservative bias inside the Justice Department, has sent letters to a host of targets in other, unrelated matters, seeking information or making appeals, but it’s unclear whether such requests have amounted to anything.

Jones posted a copy of the letter on his X account Tuesday, saying “Breaking! The DOJ’s Task Force On Government Weaponization Against The American People Has Launched An Investigation Into The Democrat Party / FBI Directing Illegal Law-fare Against Alex Jones And Infowars.”

Retired agent testified at the trial

Aldenberg joined the relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims in suing Jones, alleging defamation and infliction of emotional distress.

Aldenberg was one of the first witnesses to testify at the trial in 2022. He broke down on the witness stand as he described entering the two classrooms where children and educators were shot.

He also testified about how he and others in the community and law enforcement were targeted with threats and conspiracy theories, including one that claimed he was an actor who also pretended to be the father of a victim.

Messages were left at a phone listing and email addresses listed for Aldenberg in public records.

Relatives of the shooting victims testified that they were subjected to violent threats, in-person harassment and abusive comments on social media because of Jones.

Martin has been serving as head of the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group” since his nomination for top federal prosecutor in Washington was pulled amid bipartisan concerns about his modest legal experience and his advocacy for Jan. 6 rioters.

Attorney General Pam Bondi created the group to scrutinize matters in which conservatives have claimed they were unfairly targeted or treated.

Martin was also recently named a special prosecutor to help conduct the separate mortgage fraud investigations into Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff.

In his letter to Mattei, he asked for several pieces of information and requested that the lawyer respond by Sept. 29.

In the letter, Martin asks Mattei to keep the correspondence confidential because “I do not wish to litigate this in the media.” On Sept. 14, Jones posted a photo on his X account of him and Martin together, saying the two met in Washington, D.C.

Jones recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the $1.4 billion judgment. He also is appealing a $49 million judgment in a similar lawsuit in Texas filed by two other parents of children killed in Newtown. He has cited free speech rights, but he has acknowledged that the shooting was “100% real.”

Jones claims Democrats have been targeting him for his speech.

He filed for bankruptcy in late 2022. The Sandy Hook plaintiffs are now trying to liquidate Infowars’ assets in state court proceedings in Texas.

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September 24, 2025
Australian judge sentences Erin Patterson to life in prison for poisoning relatives with mushrooms

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An Australian judge on Monday sentenced triple-murderer Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.Justice Christopher Beale told the Victoria state Supreme Court that Patterson’s crimes involved an enormous betrayal of trust.Video above: Jury returns guilty verdict in Erin Patterson ‘mushroom murder’ trialPatterson was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged death cap mushrooms.Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in a hospital.Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home.Murderer robbed her children of their grandparents“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” Beale said.“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.Both prosecution and defense lawyers had agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment for the 50-year-old on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.But defense lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Prosecutors had argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.Survivor calls for kindnessIan Wilkinson did not comment on the sentence but thanked police, prosecutors and health services he’d encountered since the poisonings.“We’re thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover,” he told reporters outside court.“Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I’d like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other. Finally, I want to say thank you to the many people from across Australia and around the world who through their prayers and messages of support have encouraged us,” he added.Beale said Patterson had also intended to kill her husband if he had accepted his invitation to lunch.She had pretended to have been diagnosed with cancer as a reason to bring them together. She claimed to have wanted advice on how to break the news to her two children, who were not present at the lunch.Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson’s account that the guests were served grey plates while Patterson ate from an orange-tan plate. This was to ensure she didn’t accidentally eat a poisoned meal, Beale said.Only triple-killer knows her motivation“Only you know why you committed them (the crimes). I will not be speculating about that matter,” the judge told Patterson.Patterson showed little emotion during the sentencing hearing, which took less than an hour. She kept her eyes closed for much or it or stared directly ahead.Patterson maintained at her trial that she had added foraged mushrooms to the meals by accident.But she had initially denied to authorities that she fed her guests foraged mushrooms. A drug that is a specific antidote for death cap mushroom poisoning was not initially administered to her dying victims.Beale told Patterson he inferred “from your pitiless behavior that your intention to kill was ongoing.”Beale noted that no psychiatric or psychological reports had been provided in her sentencing hearing. He said he had no doubt she had instructed her lawyers not to provide such evidence.Patterson has been in custody since she was charged on Nov. 2, 2023. Her sentence is backdated until then. She has 28 days from her sentencing to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.Patterson, who turns 51 on Sept. 30, will be 82 years old when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056.The case has attracted enormous public interest in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Because of this, the Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the first time a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television.Beale accepted that because Patterson was classified as a “notorious” prisoner who had to be kept separate from other inmates for her own safety, her conditions were harsher than those of a mainstream prisoner.Patterson spends at least 22 hours a day in her call and has never spoken to the only inmate she’s allowed to. That inmate, who has an adjoining exercise yard that shares a mesh wire fence, has been convicted of terrorism offenses and has attacked other prisoners.”I infer that, given the unprecedented media coverage of your case, and the books, documentaries and TV series about you which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to remain a notorious prisoner for many years to come, and, as such, remain at significant risk from other prisoners,” Beale said.

MELBOURNE, VIC —

An Australian judge on Monday sentenced triple-murderer Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.

Justice Christopher Beale told the Victoria state Supreme Court that Patterson’s crimes involved an enormous betrayal of trust.

Video above: Jury returns guilty verdict in Erin Patterson ‘mushroom murder’ trial

Patterson was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged death cap mushrooms.

Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in a hospital.

Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home.

Murderer robbed her children of their grandparents

“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” Beale said.

“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.

Jason South
Convicted killer Erin Patterson, right, arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria for sentencing in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.

Both prosecution and defense lawyers had agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment for the 50-year-old on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

But defense lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Prosecutors had argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.

Survivor calls for kindness

Ian Wilkinson did not comment on the sentence but thanked police, prosecutors and health services he’d encountered since the poisonings.

“We’re thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover,” he told reporters outside court.

“Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I’d like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other. Finally, I want to say thank you to the many people from across Australia and around the world who through their prayers and messages of support have encouraged us,” he added.

Beale said Patterson had also intended to kill her husband if he had accepted his invitation to lunch.

She had pretended to have been diagnosed with cancer as a reason to bring them together. She claimed to have wanted advice on how to break the news to her two children, who were not present at the lunch.

Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson’s account that the guests were served grey plates while Patterson ate from an orange-tan plate. This was to ensure she didn’t accidentally eat a poisoned meal, Beale said.

Only triple-killer knows her motivation

“Only you know why you committed them (the crimes). I will not be speculating about that matter,” the judge told Patterson.

Patterson showed little emotion during the sentencing hearing, which took less than an hour. She kept her eyes closed for much or it or stared directly ahead.

Patterson maintained at her trial that she had added foraged mushrooms to the meals by accident.

But she had initially denied to authorities that she fed her guests foraged mushrooms. A drug that is a specific antidote for death cap mushroom poisoning was not initially administered to her dying victims.

Beale told Patterson he inferred “from your pitiless behavior that your intention to kill was ongoing.”

Beale noted that no psychiatric or psychological reports had been provided in her sentencing hearing. He said he had no doubt she had instructed her lawyers not to provide such evidence.

Patterson has been in custody since she was charged on Nov. 2, 2023. Her sentence is backdated until then. She has 28 days from her sentencing to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.

Patterson, who turns 51 on Sept. 30, will be 82 years old when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056.

The case has attracted enormous public interest in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Because of this, the Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the first time a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television.

Beale accepted that because Patterson was classified as a “notorious” prisoner who had to be kept separate from other inmates for her own safety, her conditions were harsher than those of a mainstream prisoner.

Patterson spends at least 22 hours a day in her call and has never spoken to the only inmate she’s allowed to. That inmate, who has an adjoining exercise yard that shares a mesh wire fence, has been convicted of terrorism offenses and has attacked other prisoners.

“I infer that, given the unprecedented media coverage of your case, and the books, documentaries and TV series about you which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to remain a notorious prisoner for many years to come, and, as such, remain at significant risk from other prisoners,” Beale said.

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September 7, 2025
Lyle Menendez denied parole, will remain in prison along with younger brother Erik

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SACRAMENTO — A day after his younger brother was denied release, Lyle Menendez also saw California parole officials reject his bid for freedom, ruling he will remain behind bars for now for the 1989 shotgun murders of his parents.

The parole board grilled Menendez, 57, over his efforts to get witnesses to lie during his trials, the lavish shopping sprees he and his brother Erik, 54, took after their parents’ killings, and whether he felt relief after the murders.

“I felt this shameful period of those six months of having to lie to relatives who were grieving,” Menendez told the board. “I felt the need to suffer. That it was no relief.”

As the elder brother, Menendez said he at times felt like the protector of Erik, but that he soon realized the murders were not the right way out of sexual abuse they were allegedly suffering at the hands of their parents.

“I sort of started to feel like I had not rescued my brother,” he said. “I destroyed his life. I’d rescued nobody.”

The closely watched hearing for Lyle Menendez, one of the most well-known inmates currently in the state’s prison system, was thrown into disarray Friday afternoon after audio of his brother’s parole hearing on Thursday was publicly released.

The audio, published by ABC 7, sparked anger and frustration from the brothers’ relatives and their attorney, who accused the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of leaking the audio and tainting Lyle’s hearing.

A CDCR spokesperson confirmed the audio was “erroneously” issued in response to a records request, but did not elaborate or immediately respond to additional questions from The Times.

“I have protected myself, I have stayed out of this, I have not had a relationship with two human beings because I was afraid, and I came here today and I came here yesterday and I trusted that this would only be released in a transcript,” said Tiffani Lucero-Pastor, a relative of the brothers. “You’ve misled the family.”

Heidi Rummel, Lyle Menendez’s parole attorney, also criticized CDCR, accusing the agency of turning the hearing into a “spectacle.”

“I don’t think you can possibly understand the emotion of what this family is experiencing,” she said. “They have spent so much time trying to protect their privacy and dignity.”

After the audio was published, Rummel said family members who planned to testify decided not to speak after all, and said she would be looking to seal the transcripts of Friday’s hearing.

Parole Commissioner Julie Garland said regulations allowed for audio to be released under the California Public Records Act. Transcripts of parole hearings typically become public within 30 days of a grant or denial, under state law.

During his first-ever appeal to the state parole board, Lyle Menendez was questioned over his credibility.

Garland referred to Menendez’s appeal to get witnesses to lie, plans to escape, and lies to relatives about the killings as a “sophistication of the web of lies and manipulation you demonstrated.”

Menendez said he had no plan at the time, there was just “a lot of flailing in what was happening.”

“Even though you fooled your entire family about you being a murderer, and you recruited all these people to help you … you don’t think that’s being a good liar?” Garland asked.

Menendez said the remorse he felt after the crimes perhaps helped create a “strong belief” he didn’t have anything to do with the killings.

Dmitry Gorin, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor, said the board’s decision denying parole was consistent with past decisions involving violent crimes.

“Although this is a high-profile case, the parole board rejecting the release demonstrates that it seeks to keep violent offenders locked up because they still pose a risk to society,” Gorin said. “Historically, the parole board does not release people convicted of murder, and this case is no different.

He called the decision a win for Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, who has opposed the brothers’ release.

The brothers were initially sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the killings of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, but after qualifying for resentencing they gained a chance at freedom.

Many family members have supported their cause, but the gruesome crime and the brothers’ conduct behind bars led to pushback against their release.

The killings occurred after the brothers purchased shotguns in San Diego with a false identification and shot their parents in the family living room.

The bloody crime scene was compared by investigators to a gangland execution, where Jose Menendez was shot five times, including once in the back of the head. Evidence showed their mother had crawled, wounded, on the floor before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.

The brothers reported the killings to 911, according to court records. Soon afterward, prosecutors during the trial noted, the two siblings began to spend large sums of money, including buying a Porsche and a restaurant, which was purchased by Lyle. Erik bought a Jeep and hired a private tennis instructor.

Prosecutors argued it was access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance that prompted the killing after Jose Menendez shared that he planned to disinherit the brothers.

But during the trials, the Menendez brothers and relatives testified that the two siblings had undergone years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their father.

In contrast to their frenzy around their trial, Thursday and Friday’s parole hearings were quiet — yet occasionally contentious — affairs.

A Times journalist was the only member of the public allowed to view the hearing on a projector screen in a room inside the agency’s headquarters outside of Sacramento.

During the Friday hearing, the parole board quickly dived into the allegations that the brothers were sexually assaulted by their father, which Lyle Menendez said confused and “caused a lot of shame in me.”

“That pretty much characterized my relationship with my father,” he said, adding that the fear of being abused left him in a state of “hyper vigilance,” even after the abuse stopped and his father began to abuse Erik.

“It took me a while to realize that it stopped,” Menendez said. “I think I was still worried about it for a long time.”

Growing up, he said, taking care of his younger brother gave him purpose, and helped to protect him from “drowning in the spiral of my own life.”

Menendez alleged his mother also sexually abused him, but said he did not share it during his comprehensive risk assessment because he “didn’t see it as abuse really.”

“Today, I see it as sexual abuse,” he said. “When I was 13, I felt like I was consenting and my mother was dealing with a lot and I just felt like maybe it wasn’t.”

Board members also questioned Lyle Menendez on why he didn’t mention the possibility they were removed from their parents’ will in their submissions to the board, but Menendez contended their inheritance was not a motive in the killings.

Instead, he said, it became “a problem afterward” as they worried they would have no money after their parents’ deaths.

“I believe there was a will that disinherited us somewhere,” he said.

The result of Thursday’s hearing means Erik can’t seek parole again for three years, a decision that left some relatives and supporters of the younger brother stunned.

“How is my dad a threat to society,” Talia Menendez, his stepdaughter, wrote on Instagram shortly after the decision was made. “This has been torture to our family. How much longer???”

In a statement issued Thursday, relatives said they were disappointed by the decision and noted that going through Lyle’s hearing Friday would be “undoubtedly difficult,” although they remained “cautiously optimistic and hopeful.”

Friends, relatives and former cellmates have touted the brothers’ lives behind bars, pointing to programs they’ve spearheaded for inmates, including classes for anger management, meditation, and helping inmates in hospice care.

But members of the board questioned both siblings about their violation of rules, zeroing in at times about repeated use of contraband cellphones.

During the hearing Friday, Lyle said he sometimes used cellphones to keep in touch with family outside the prison. But Deputy Parole Commissioner Patrick Reardon questioned this explanation, and asked why Menendez needed a cellphone if he could make legitimate calls from a prison-issued tablet.

The rule violation, board members pointed out, had resulted in Menendez being barred from family visits for three years.

Reardon pointed out that Menendez pleaded guilty to two cellphone violations in November 2024 and in March 2025. Menendez was also linked to three other violations, although another cellmate of his took responsibility for those violations.

Menendez said the violations occurred when he lived in a dorm with five other inmates, and admitted the use of cellphones was a “gang-like activity.” The group, he said, probably went through at least five cellphones.

Heidi Rummel, Menendez’s parole attorney, argued in her closing that despite the cellphone issues, Menendez had no violent incidents on his prison record.

“This board is going to say you’re dangerous because you used your cellphones,” she said. “But there is zero evidence that he used it for criminality, that he used it for violence. He didn’t even lie about it.”

But members of the board repeatedly focused on what seemed to be issues of credibility. Reardon said at times it felt like Menendez was “two different incarcerated people.”

“You seem to be different things at different times,” Reardon said during the hearing. “I don’t think what I see is that you used a cellphone from time to time. There seems to be a mechanism in place that you always had a cellphone.”

Garland asked Menendez about whether he used his position on the Men’s Advisory Council — a group meant to be a liaison on issues between inmates and prison administrators — to manipulate others and gain unfair benefits.

Menendez said the position gave him access to wall phones, and used the position to help him barter or gain favors.

Garland also pointed to an assessment that found Menendez exhibited antisocial traits, entitlement, deception, manipulation and a resistance to accept consequences.

Menendez said he had discussed those issues, but that he didn’t agree he showed narcissistic traits.

“They’re not the type of people like me self-referring to mental health,” he said, adding that he felt his father displayed narcissistic tendencies and lack of self-reflection. “I just felt like that wasn’t me.”

Menendez pointed to his work to help inmates in prison who are bullied or mocked.

“I would never call myself a model incarcerated person,” he said. “I would say that I’m a good person, that I spent my time helping people. That I’m very open and accepting.”

The parole board applauded Menendez’s work and educational history while in prison, noting he was working on a master’s degree.

Despite the violations, Menendez argued he felt he had done good work in prison.

“My life has been defined by extreme violence,” he said, tears visible on his face. “I wanted to be defined by something else.”

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James Queally, Salvador Hernandez, Richard Winton

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August 22, 2025
'Our heart is captive in Gaza': Families of Israeli hostages plead for return of loved ones

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At 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, the piercing sound of sirens woke up Naama Weinberg in her Tel Aviv apartment. As she always did when sirens warned of an incoming missile attack, she immediately checked her family’s WhatsApp group chat for messages from relatives living in a kibbutz near the Gaza border.

“Please pray for us,” her aunt wrote, describing the sounds of screaming and shooting.

Then a red heart emoji.

Then silence.

Itay Raviv, left, and sisters Naama and Ofir Weinberg attend a dinner in Beverly Hills to share the stories of relatives who are being held hostage by Hamas.

(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

Weinberg, 27, would later learn from Israeli government officials that her aunt, Orit Svirsky, was murdered that day — shot while hiding under blankets — during the attack by Hamas militants. Her uncle, Rafi Svirsky, was found dead in a nearby house with his three golden retrievers, all shot. Her 97-year-old grandmother, Aviva Sela, somehow survived, but the body of Gracie Cabrera, her longtime caretaker from the Philippines, was found mutilated near the home.

Her cousin, 38-year-old Itay Svirsky, was gone. The family was told by Israeli government officials that Svirsky was kidnapped and is being held by Hamas somewhere in Gaza.

And he remains in captivity — failing to win release in the exchange of Israel hostages for Palestinian prisoners that began during a cease-fire last week. So far, Hamas has released about 105 hostages — most of them Israeli women and children — and still holds about 135. Israel has released about 240 prisoners.

Weinberg and her sister Ofir, 24, came to Los Angeles last week to share their story about the attack on Oct. 7, which killed at least 1,200 Israelis — the deadliest assault in the nation’s 75-year history. More than 15,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during Israel’s retaliatory strikes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Weinbergs came to urge the world not to forget their cousin and the other hostages who remain in Hamas’ hands. They were joined by Itay Raviv, whose great-uncle, 78-year-old Avraham Munder, remains a hostage; all three spoke at a dinner in Beverly Hills on Saturday with representatives of the American Jewish Committee and other supporters of Israel.

Raviv, 27, and the Weinbergs asked the dinner guests to do one thing to help the hostages — appeal to elected officials, share a social media post, contact nonprofits and charities. They shared photos of their relatives and the necklaces they carry with them inscribed with the phrase in Hebrew, “Our heart is captive in Gaza,” and, in English: “Bring them home now!”

The family believes Svirsky is still alive, based on accounts of hostages who saw him before they were released. They said he had not been physically harmed but was under extreme mental duress because Hamas captors were telling hostages that Israel had been destroyed, they had no home to return to and no one was fighting for them. His relatives also live with the daily fear that he could be executed while in captivity.

Itay Raviv, left, and siblings Naama and Ofir Weinberg show necklaces inscribed with the phrase in Hebrew, “Our heart is captive in Gaza,” and, in English: “Bring them home now!”

(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

“We are very worried that the damage could be irreversible,” Ofir Weinberg said. “That is why the clock is ticking.”

Three of Raviv’s relatives — his great-aunt Ruthi Munder, her daughter Keren Munder and 9-year-old grandson Ohad Munder-Zichri — were released as part of the hostage deal. But their house in the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel less than a mile from the Gaza Strip was partly burned, Raviv said.

Raviv said his relatives were not beaten and managed to survive on meager portions of rice and bread. They told him they were moved from place to place — sometimes to below-ground tunnels — and slept on the ground without the ability to wash. He considers his family lucky for being able to reunite with three of his relatives — but he worries constantly about his great uncle, who walks with a cane and suffered bruises falling off a motorcycle during his abduction, according to reports from released hostages who saw him during captivity.

“He doesn’t have that much time,” Raviv said. “He will not be able to survive. Even though some hostages were released, we must do everything in our power to speak out. I’m not a politician. I don’t know what the best solution is. I just know that they need to be out.”

Raviv and the Weinbergs said their relatives had sought to live in peace with their Palestinian neighbors — collecting monthly donations for those who used to work in the kibbutz but no longer could after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Weinbergs’ aunt, Orit Svirsky, had attended an international women’s peace conference three days before she was murdered. Raviv said his great-uncle, in his younger days, would volunteer to drive Palestinians north to Israel for medical care.

Itay, the sisters said, had started work as a “life coach” focusing on mental health after studying philosophy, psychology and economics. He loved guitar and yoga and grew up in the Be’eri kibbutz, co-founded by her grandparents 77 years ago in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip. Her grandparents, whose family had escaped the pogroms of Russia in the early 20th century, started the kibbutz as a lifelong mission to create a communal, safe place for Jewish people in Israel, she said.

Despite the decades of bloodshed and bitterness, the young Israelis say they refuse to give up their dream of peace.

“It’s really hard to imagine right now, but I still believe the conflict can be solved with words and without violence,” Ofir Weinberg said, referring to understandings with the broader Palestinian people and not Hamas.

“I understand the Palestinian people should stay. I recognize this is their home,” she said. “I just want us to coexist in peace.”

Naama Weinberg, left, holds a picture of her cousin Itay Svirsky, who is a hostage in Gaza, as her sister Ofir shares her story during a dinner in Beverly Hills.

(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

For now, however, Weinberg said her world has narrowed to one overriding goal: to see the return of her cousin. She has stopped her studies and taken time off from a part-time job at a prominent Israeli tech firm. She has put off a vacation to the Philippines with her partner. She’s moved back home to stay with her parents, who are building a small unit in their garden for Weinberg’s grandmother to live.

Her only dream now is to see her cousin alive, sitting with their grandmother and sharing their favorite treat: a cup of cold coffee with a scoop of ice cream.

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Teresa Watanabe

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December 3, 2023
A ‘catfishing’ cop killed three family members. A relative is suing the sheriff’s office that gave him a badge

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Relatives of the Riverside family killed by “catfish” cop Austin Lee Edwards nearly a year ago filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Virginia sheriff’s office that hired him.

Edwards, a former Virginia state trooper then employed by the Washington County, Va., sheriff’s office, killed Mark Winek, 69; Sharie Winek, 65; and Brooke Winek 38, in their Riverside home on the morning of Nov. 25, according to authorities. He set fire to their home and kidnapped Brooke’s then-15-year-old daughter. Police said Edwards, 28, “catfished” the girl by telling her during previous online conversations that he was 17.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Central California, the teen’s aunt, Mychelle Blandin, sued the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Edwards’ estate for damages, citing violation of 4th Amendment rights, battery and negligent hiring, supervision and retention, among other allegations. Blandin, who is the guardian of the 15-year-old’s younger sister, has also sued on behalf of the younger child, and is seeking unspecified financial compensation.

After kidnapping the teen, Edwards drove into the Mojave Desert with the girl, where he died in a confrontation with law enforcement. Police initially said he was killed in a shootout but later said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot with his service weapon. The girl wasn’t physically uninjured.

“Our law enforcement agencies and their process for screening new hires must be held to the highest standards,” Alison Saros, an attorney for Blandin, said in a news release. “These individuals are meant to protect us, but the Sheriff’s Office failed to follow the proper processes. Sadly, the Winek family has suffered irreparable tragedy.”

A memorial stands out in the darkness at the home where three family members were murdered Nov. 25, 2022, in Riverside.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Times previously reported that Edwards told the Virginia State Police during his application process that he was detained for psychiatric evaluation and went to a mental health facility in 2016, showing that the agency knew about his mental health issues. This visit led to two custody orders, which typically allow law enforcement to take someone into custody and transport them for mental health evaluation, and a judge revoking his gun ownership rights.

Col. Gary Settle, the state police superintendent, wrote in a letter to the state’s inspector general after the slayings that Edwards’ admission wouldn’t have automatically disqualified him from being hired, but should have prompted Virginia State Police to investigate further.

“Unfortunately, the error allowed him to be employed, as there were no other disqualifiers,” Settle wrote.

After resigning from Virginia State Police after nine months, Edwards applied to work at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. He used his father and a close friend as references in his application. He was hired as a patrol deputy nine days before he killed the Wineks.

In a statement after the slayings, Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis said that Edwards had started orientation at his agency and that none of Edwards’ prior employers had disclosed any red flags.

Mychelle Blandin (center) is comforted by her friend Tammy Porter (left) and her husband, Ben Blandin, as she holds a photo of her mom and dad. Mychelle Blandin’s parents and sister were victims of a triple homicide in Riverside that authorities say began with a “catfishing” case involving Blandin’s niece.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“It is shocking and sad to the entire law enforcement community that such an evil and wicked person could infiltrate law enforcement while concealing his true identity as a computer predator and murderer,” Andis said.

During the murders, police believe Edwards presented his badge to Sharie and Mark Winek and told them he was there for an investigation in order to lure Brooke Winek and her 15-year-old daughter back to the Riverside home, The Times previously reported.

He put bags over the heads of Sharie and Mari Winek, who both died from asphyxiation, according to their coroner’s reports also included with the lawsuit. Edwards then stabbed Brooke Winek, who died from a wound to her spinal cord, according to her coroner’s report.

“Edwards never should have been hired by the Sheriff’s Department. He was barred by the courts from owning or possessing a gun because of his mental illness and because he was a clear danger to the community,” said David Ring, Blandin’s attorney. “He used his position as a sheriff’s deputy and the gun they gave him to kill these innocent victims.”

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Summer Lin, Erin B. Logan

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November 16, 2023
For Californians whose relatives were kidnapped in Israel, the uncertainty is ‘an unimaginable nightmare’

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Galia Mizrahi walked past rows of freshly dug graves, preparing to bury two loved ones killed when Hamas attacked southern Israel.

The 55-year-old had left her home in Tarzana less than two weeks earlier for the country of her birth, her heart “aching to be here for [her] family” as Israel plunged into war.

Not only were her 48-year-old cousin and his 20-year-old daughter killed in their kibbutz on Oct. 7 — four other family members are among the more than 220 people kidnapped and being held hostage in Gaza.

“In the presence of so much loss, all you can do is latch onto the hope that those who were taken will be returned,” Mizrahi said in a Zoom interview on Monday, still wearing her funeral black from earlier that day.

Mizrahi’s relatives in Israel, pictured in July. Within months, following a Hamas attack, two people in the photo would be dead, four kidnapped and another family left homeless after their house was burned down.

(Galia Mizrahi)

The kidnappings have reverberated around the world, including in the homes of Californians like Mizrahi. Some have visited a Shabbat dinner table in Beverly Hills with seats kept empty for the hostages or shared their stories from the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento. Others have flown to Israel to support their families.

Sometimes, there are signs of hope. Nurit Cooper, 79, whose son lives in San Diego, was freed Monday evening. Cooper’s husband, Amiram, is still being held captive.

The news that Cooper and three other hostages were released has heartened Ryan Pessah, a Sacramento resident.

His cousin, his cousin’s girlfriend and his cousin’s sons, ages 12 and 16, were kidnapped.

“I remain optimistic,” Pessah said. “There’s no other choice.”

::

Mizrahi was at a Shabbat dinner in Beverly Hills on Oct. 6 when she first learned of the code red alerts warning of an impending missile attack in southern Israel. Her aunt and uncle and two cousins, along with their wives and children, live in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, near the border with Gaza.

Within 15 minutes, Mizrahi received a text message from her family, saying there had been an attack. She cut the dinner short and headed home to wait for updates.

One cousin described hearing the alert and heading to a safe room in her house with her husband and children. Then, she told Mizrahi, her husband spotted someone coming down on a paraglider, machine gun in hand. The family got in their car and fled to a relative’s home.

Four houses down, Mizrahi’s other cousin, Nadav Goldstein Almog, had gone into their safe room with his wife; two daughters, ages 17 and 20; and two sons, 9 and 11. An Ironman athlete, Goldstein Almog was recovering from a hit-and-run cycling accident. He was still on crutches, and Mizrahi believes that’s why he couldn’t flee.

Gal and Tal Goldstein Almog were among those kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

(Galia Mizrahi)

“The logical solution for him was to go into the safe room and keep his family safe,” Mizrahi said.

Days passed with no word about Goldstein Almog and his family. Other relatives later heard from the Israel Defense Forces that four bodies had been found in the safe room. Government officials were unable to confirm the identities, Mizrahi said.

On Oct. 11, Mizrahi’s father died in an Israeli hospital of causes unrelated to the war. After landing in the country two days later, she learned that only two bodies, not four, had been found in her cousin’s house. That left four relatives unaccounted for.

That weekend, Mizrahi’s family received preliminary confirmation that the bodies were those of Goldstein Almog and his daughter, Yam, an active-duty member of the military who had gone home for the weekend.

Investigators were able to determine their identities, Mizrahi said, through the crutches and metal plate in Goldstein Almog’s hip and Yam’s distinctive tattoo of two butterflies. No one knew where the other family members were.

“At the time, missing meant two things: Either they’re kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, or they’re just unrecognizable,” Mizrahi said. “A few days go by without us knowing what missing means.”

Relatives held off on a funeral, unsure whether the four were still alive or whether they might have to bury them too. Then, on Oct. 19, authorities told the family they had information confirming that the four had been kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

Their condition remains unknown to the family.

The days Mizrahi has spent in Israel have felt like years, she said. “I’m so sorry for your loss” has become the new hello as she walks the streets.

“I feel like what I’ve squeezed into these 10, 12 days is someone else’s lifetime of sorrow,” she said.

::

For Pessah, the details of his Israeli family members’ kidnappings unfolded one devastating, surreal text message at a time.

On Oct. 7, he was driving his wife and two young children from their home in Sacramento to the Bay Area to visit his uncle.

It was Saturday — Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest — a day he does not use his phone. His wife uses hers, though. As they drove, her phone began flashing with news alerts.

Yair Yaakov, standing in back in a family photo, is the cousin of Ryan Pessah of Sacramento. Yaakov is believed to be a hostage in Gaza, as are Yaakov’s girlfriend and two sons, 12 and 16.

(Provided by Ryan Pessah)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just declared war, she read aloud, stunned.

Then, a text message from Pessah’s mother in San Diego: “Yair and his family are missing.”

Nobody could reach Pessah’s cousin Yair Yaakov or his girlfriend, Meirav Tal, who were at Yaakov’s home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel two miles from Gaza.

Yaakov’s sons also were nowhere to be found.

On Sunday, Pessah’s mother — who is Yaakov’s aunt — texted a video.

It shows the inside of Yaakov’s house filled with smoke. His girlfriend, her eyes wide with terror and her clothing covered with dust from a grenade blast, grasps the hand of a militant, pleading as she is pulled and shoved. Yaakov sits on the floor, at gunpoint, as an intruder speaks to him.

Hamas militants filmed the video and texted it to Yaakov’s siblings, Pessah said.

“The moment I see Yair, I’m just shaking, crying. Just completely,” Pessah said. “He was taken because he’s Israeli. Because he’s Jewish. What is going to happen? How will we get him back? Just — why?”

::

Yaakov, 59, a slender, bald man, is the ultimate cool guy, who smells of cigarette smoke when he wraps his arms around you, Pessah said.
“‘Let’s enjoy life.’ He embodied that,” Pessah said. “He’s a great hugger, always smiling and laughing.”

On the day of the siege, Yaakov and Tal were at his home, hiding in a bomb shelter, which are common in Israeli houses.

Meirav Tal was kidnapped by Hamas militants from Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel, with boyfriend Yair Yaakov, according to his family.

(Provided by Ryan Pessah)

Hamas militants burst in, using a grenade to open the door to the shelter, and pulled the couple out, Pessah said.

Yaakov’s daughter and her boyfriend hid in a shelter in another home in the kibbutz. The attackers exploded a grenade in there too, but it jammed the door shut. They were found days later — grief-stricken but safe, Pessah said.

Yaakov’s sons were staying nearby at their mother’s house, but she was not there during the attack, Pessah said. In a phone call, she heard the boys pleading with the militants, telling them they were too young to be taken. Then the line went silent.

There has been no other communication from Yaakov, his girlfriend, his sons or the abductors.

Pessah, a 35-year-old political lobbyist, has become a de facto spokesman for his family in Israel, which includes most of his mother’s 11 siblings.

He has done media interviews. He spoke during a rally this week on the steps of the California Capitol. He told a state legislator to “check in with [their] Jewish community; they do not feel safe.”

Still, Pessah said, he feels helpless half a world away.

He said he feels scared, even here in California, where Jewish schools and synagogues and other institutions have increased security. It’s been frustrating, he said, seeing some people at pro-Palestinian rallies here in the U.S. appear sympathetic toward Hamas without condemning the killings and kidnappings of Israeli civilians.

“These are terrorists, period,” Pessah said of Hamas.

Pessah said he knows that if Israel launches a ground invasion of Gaza, there are likely to be “a high number of casualties on both sides.” He hopes that if the Israel Defense Forces do invade, they know in advance where the hostages are being kept.

For now, he hopes that Yaakov and his girlfriend and sons are together. He hopes they’re safe.

“It’s this unimaginable nightmare,” Pessah said. “I keep telling myself, ‘You’re not dreaming. You’re not going to wake up. This is reality.’”

::

On Monday afternoon, a military procession escorted two coffins holding Goldstein Almog and his daughter, Yam. They were being buried at the Shefayim kibbutz in central Israel, Mizrahi said, because it was too dangerous in the south.

The hope, she said, is to transfer them back to their kibbutz once the community is rebuilt.

Israeli soldiers take part in Monday’s funeral for Sgt. Yam Goldstein and her father, Nadav Goldstein Almog. Relatives of Mizrahi’s, they were killed Oct. 7.

(Ariel Schalit / Associated Press)

Around 500 people attended the funeral, including Yam’s military friends, who spoke highly of her dedication.

“Twenty-year-olds giving eulogy to other 20-year-olds is something I haven’t seen,” Mizrahi said. “They’re all so young, and they’ve all experienced so much loss.”

The four missing relatives were not forgotten during the three-and-a-half-hour service. It was held on the birthday of Goldstein Almog’s wife, Chen. The couple were high school sweethearts.

Inbar Goldstein, Goldstein Almog’s sister, read the crowd a poem she’d written.

“Our duty is not to forget,” she said. “Not to forget who was taken beyond the fence, not to forget those who are waiting to come home.”

After the attack, Yam’s aunt got the same butterfly tattoo as her niece. She added six hearts beside it, two of them blackened in.

The other four will remain empty, Mizrahi said, “until we know what happened to them.”

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Brittny Mejia, Hailey Branson-Potts

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October 25, 2023