National

(NEW YORK) — Amid restaurant closures, changing rules and regulations, worker shortages, supply chain issues that lead to price hikes and more, during the COVID-19 crisis restaurants in the U.S. have faced challenges at every turn.

The latest hurdle has been dealing with rising tensions over masks and vaccine mandates during the pandemic.

While the CDC and many states have laid out guidelines and regulations for dining, the burden of enforcing the protocols often falls on the shoulders of individual businesses and the hosts, servers and managers, resulting in an influx of difficult, awkward and at times, dangerous interactions with disgruntled customers.

“It’s been almost a 24/7 job of keeping up with the regulatory changes — the city, the state, the federal government all issue different regulations – so particularly for restaurants in New York it has been a tough job to keep up,” restaurant and hospitality legal expert Carolyn Richmond, co-chair of Fox Rothschild Hospitality Practice Group, told “GMA.”

She added that it’s been “an increased labor cost to make sure somebody is at the door checking.”

These challenges have been widespread, according to reports from New York to Texas and Hawaii.

Hawaii restaurant owner Javier Barberi of Down the Hatch and Mala Tavern in Maui said they have had to hire additional staff and security to deal with the situation.

Barberi told “GMA” that while adapting to state and local mandates the already tense situation of asking their hosts to check vaccination status has been exacerbated recently by stressful customer interactions.

Under the Maui Safer Outside guidelines, unvaccinated customers can choose to dine outdoors, but proof of vaccination is required for indoor dining. Oahu’s Safe Access program takes the regulation a step further, asking customers for proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test for both indoor and outdoor dining.

“We’ve had absolute nightmare scenarios at the hostess stand,” Barberi said. “It’s so stressful. I’ve had staff crying after customers yell at them over the vaccination policy and say they can’t work like this or don’t want to come in the next day — but we are following what our government asks of us because we could get shut down or fines.”

Barberi said one customer became combative with the front of house team after his party was denied indoor dining access because a guest was not fully vaccinated. The customer “started losing it on our host,” he said. “ and a A 20-year-old woman should not have to be prepared to handle a situation like this.”

Encounters like these have forced him to hire additional security, he said.

“We’ve had to hire additional security, which doesn’t look good to customers because this is a nice, formal restaurant and not what you want to see when you first arrive,” he explained. “Now we have to hire a male host, additional security and who pays for it? … these things aren’t free. There’s no restaurant relief left, there’s no government assistance coming from the PPP.”

With tensions reaching an inflection point, similar scenes have played out in other states such as New York.

Earlier this month a hostess at Carmine’s, an Italian restaurant in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, was reportedly assaulted by three customers after she asked for proof of vaccination — which is required of restaurants by law and if they fail to comply to check patrons’ vaccine status can result in fines over $1,000.

“Three women brutally attacked our hosts without provocation, got arrested and charged for their misconduct, and then, over the last several days, had their lawyer falsely and grossly misrepresent their acts of wanton violence in a cynical attempt to try to excuse the inexcusable,” Carmine’s owner Jeffrey Bank said in a statement the day he released security footage of the incident.

He continued, “My team members work too hard to serve our guests, work too hard to comply with New York’s vaccination requirements, and still suffer too much from the attack for me to allow these false statements to stand.”

The footage showed a group of six people welcomed upon showing proof of vaccinations and later when three men who were part of the same party arrived and could not show proof of vaccination were told they could not enter given New York law. The previously seated guests, according to Bank and the footage, argued to let their friends inside and as one host returned to the outside station, “three of the women came back outside, attacked our host — and then assaulted both our Asian host and our Latinx host,” according to Bank.

“This attack was entirely unprovoked – the three women launched the attack and continued it, seriously hurting our hosts and requiring our staff and nearby men and women to have to literally tear the women away from our hosts,” Bank said. “Carmine’s staff acted appropriately and professionally. When my employees mess up, I hold us accountable. But when our employees are attacked, I will defend them to the limit.”

Andrew Rigie executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance commented on the incident calling it “abhorrent” and added that there should be punishments in place.

“We’re calling on the City and State of New York to immediately increase penalties for assaulting restaurant workers in New York City in conjunction with enforcement of Covid-19 protocols,” he said.

Staff shortages, supply chain woes

Texas Restaurant Association CEO Emily Williams Knight told “Good Morning America” she’s most worried about staff and labor shortages coupled with elevated consumer behavior.

“There’s been an evolution of customer behavior,” she said. “We have very few, if not any restrictions here in Texas, but the staffing labor challenge with the supply chain is definitely frustrating customers and employees.”

In the last month in Texas, which she says accounts for 50,000 restaurants, Knight said “the hours worked per employee in restaurants, was the highest we’ve ever seen. So the folks that are there are exhausted, they’re working extensive hours and they’re now facing a growing public that is losing patience and not having a perfect experience.”

Although Texas does not have a vaccine mandate, Knight said “we’ve had very little challenge here in Texas around masks.”

Much like New York City and other high-traffic hospitality areas restaurant associations across the country have added measures to explain guest safety and behavior expectations upon arrival at a restaurant — something Knight said prompted the TRA to create “the restaurant promise.”

“It’s a two-way commitment between the consumer and the restaurant, so before you enter on the door, it says, this is what we’re going to do to keep you safe. And this is what we were going to do if you enter the business. And it doesn’t surprise them,” she said.

Ellis Winstanley, owner of El Arroyo in Austin, Texas, told “GMA” that customer traffic has fluctuated — “as the pandemic has ebbed and flowed.”

“I think I think there’s just a lot of tension generally right now — I think you see it in restaurants because restaurants are so public — but I think our staff experiences that more than any other industry does.”

Barberi added that they’re facing backlash from guests who are now “boycotting” theirs and other local restaurants enforcing the vaccination policies.

“It breaks my heart – they’re adhering to the rules of the government ,” he said and that the conflict has a negative impact on customers and restaurants.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 696,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 65% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Oct 01, 3:02 pm
White House COVID-19 team on rapid testing, vaccine updates

The White House COVID-19 team told ABC News that they are aiming to double the number of rapid tests available at market within the next two months.

“You’re right that the at-home rapid test is under a lot of demand,” said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. “The manufacturing is scaling up significantly, doubling across the next couple of months, and we’re just going to keep at it to encourage those manufacturers to increase capacity and to drive down the cost of those tests.”

Zients added: “Overall, we’ll continue to pull every level we can to further expand the manufacturing and the production of these tests in order to make them more widely available, and to drive down the cost per test.” He did not offer further specifics.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also said that the shots for children ages 5 to 11 are “on the horizon.” Murthy deferred to the FDA and CDC’s  “rigorous review process” and independent advisory panels to determine further absolutes.

The White House team urges Americans not to let their guard down even though the latest surge of COVID-19 may be subsiding. White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said that it is not an excuse for unvaccinated Americans to remain unvaccinated.

“I think that the people who are unvaccinated, when they see the curve starting to come down, that is not a reason to remain unvaccinated, because if you want to ensure that we get down to a very low level and that we don’t re-surge again,” Fauci said. “We still gotta get a very large proportion of those 70 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not been vaccinated, we’ve got to get them vaccinated.”

-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik

Oct 01, 2:11 pm
California to require COVID-19 vaccine for all students

California will be the first state to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible students, faculty and staff in public and private schools. Gov. Gavin Newsom says that the COVID-19 vaccine will be one of 11 vaccines required to attend schools in California.

The vaccine will be required at the start of the upcoming school term following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the vaccines. Terms begin in January and July.

The government has only fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over.

School staff will be required to be vaccinated on the same timeline as grades 7-12, the earliest group to see full FDA approval.

There are exemptions for medical reasons and for personal and religious beliefs.

-ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman

Oct 01, 12:20 pm
Vaccine acceptance at high amid delta surge: Polls

Polls found that coronavirus vaccine acceptance is at a high — with surveys finding 80% to 82% of people say they have been vaccinated or are likely to get vaccinated. These are the highest percentages [since the vaccine rollout began] ().

The CDC reports that 77% of adults have gotten at least one vaccine dose.

Vaccinations have gone up since August, and a study by [health policy research organization Kaiser Family Foundation] () indicates that gaps by race and ethnicity are almost eliminated — 73% of Hispanics, 71% of white people and 70% of Black people are said to be vaccinated.

However, vaccine gaps persist across party lines — KFF found that 90% of Democrats say they’ve gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with 68% of independents and 58% of Republicans.

However, unvaccinated people continue to express doubts concerning the vaccines’ effectiveness and resistance to vaccine mandates in the workplace.

In a poll by [the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index] (), 71% of unvaccinated Americans believe that the vaccine booster shots and breakthrough infections are signs that vaccines are not as effective as they are said to be.

Only about 29% of unvaccinated workers say they would get a shot if their employer mandates it, according to the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Oct 01, 8:35 am
Merck announces virus-fighting breakthrough in pill form

Merck Thursday morning announced the results of an ongoing Phase 3 study of an antiviral pill that may slash the risk of being hospitalized or dying of the virus by 50%.

The study’s results are so compelling that an independent monitoring board recommended, in consultation with the FDA, ending the trial early so the companies can swiftly seek authorization.

Read the full story here.

Sep 30, 4:33 pm
Daily hospital admissions down 32% in last month

Since the beginning of September, the U.S. has seen a drop of more than 27,000 patients in hospitals across the country, according to federal data. A little less than half of those patients come from Florida.

Daily hospital admissions are down by nearly 15% in the last week and by 32% in the last month, according to federal data.

The country’s daily case average has fallen to 107,000 — a 33% drop in the last month. However, about 97% of counties are still reporting “high” or “substantial” community transmission.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(HOUSTON) — A suspect is in custody after police responded to reports of an active shooter at a Houston prep school, local authorities said.

Officers are searching the school for any other possible suspects, the Houston Police said and the scene is still active.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHANDLER, Ariz.) — A helicopter and a fixed-wing plane collided in mid-air in Chandler, Arizona, Friday, local authorities confirmed.

Chandler police tweeted that they are currently at the scene.

“We are at the scene of a mid-air collision between a plane and helicopter at a Chandler Airpark. We ask anyone who possibly witnessed or caught this incident on camera to contact Chandler PD at 480-782-4130,” the police posted.

The plane was able to land safely, but the helicopter crashed and caught on fire, the Chandler Fire department reported. Chandler Police have confirmed two deaths.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MONTEZUMA, Iowa) — The remains of an adolescent were discovered by a farmer in rural Iowa Thursday, along with clothes that matched what a boy who lived in the region was last seen wearing before he vanished in May, authorities said.

Xavior Harrelson was last seen the morning of May 27, days before his 11th birthday, when he left his home in Montezuma to go on a bike ride, authorities said.

His disappearance sparked a widespread search by police and community volunteers through miles of cornfields, lakes, ravines and wilderness in Poweshiek County.

Around 2 p.m. local time Thursday, the local sheriff’s office received a call from a farmer working in a field a few miles outside of Montezuma who had discovered what they believed to be human remains, authorities said.

The remains were found in a grassy area of a combined field, and the state medical examiner determined them to be human and likely those of an adolescent, according to Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation.

“We are not saying it is Xavior Harrelson at this time,” Mortvedt told reporters at a press briefing near the scene Thursday. “There’s a lot of work yet to be done at the scene here, and as you can imagine, the state medical examiner’s office and state anthropologist have a lot of work left ahead of them in the days and weeks, even, to come.”

The remains had likely been in the field for a “significant” amount of time, Mortvedt said, and the documentation at the scene will be a “very slow and methodical process.”

The clothing found was “consistent with what we knew Xavior to last be wearing,” he said.

Xavior was last seen wearing a red T-shirt, blue pajama pants and black high-top shoes, according to the sheriff’s office.

His family has been contacted about the development, Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel told reporters. “Naturally she was upset,” he said of the boy’s mother.

The field where the remains were found had not been previously searched on foot as part of the investigation, Kriegel said.

The medical examiner will be working to identify the remains, a process that could take weeks, Mortvedt said. The cause and manner of death will be investigated, and “whether or not there was foul play,” he said.

A reward for information in the case has grown to $36,000.

Anyone with information or tips is urged to call the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-5679.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Three years ago, a 26-year-old postal worker who was eagerly expecting her first child mysteriously disappeared in her own neighborhood.

There’s still no resolution, leaving her heartbroken mother desperate to know if her daughter is even alive or dead.

Kierra Coles was about three months pregnant when she vanished on Oct. 2, 2018, on Chicago’s South Side. Her car was found in front of her apartment with her phone and packed lunch still inside.

The Chicago Police Department considers the case “a high-risk missing person investigation with potential foul play suspected.”

For Coles’ mother, Karen Phillips, having no answers is torturous.

Phillips said police have not provided any information whenever she’s called over the last year.

“I could never reach nobody. They’re gone to lunch, they’ll call me back, they’re out of the office. It’s always something,” she told ABC News last week. “They don’t even reach out and say, ‘Well, Ms. Phillips, we’re still going through this’ … or, ‘We don’t have any new leads.’ Just say something.”

The Chicago police didn’t respond to Phillips’ claim that they ignored her calls, but in a statement to ABC News the police department said it urges “anybody with knowledge of her last whereabouts … to contact the Chicago Police Department.”

“We are seeking any and all information in an attempt to locate her and we won’t stop until we do,” police said.

For Phillips, the loss is “unbearable.”

“I went from seeing my child every day — if not seeing her, at least talking to her every day — to not seeing her in three years,” Phillips said. “I try to stay strong for the other kids, I try to not really break down in front of them. But we talk about her all the time, we got pictures everywhere. We just really want her home.”

Coles’ siblings range in age from 35 to 24. Coles, a devoted aunt to her nieces and nephews, was the last of Phillips’ children to have a baby.

Phillips said she misses the grandchild she never got a chance to meet.

“I miss him — he or she — even though they wasn’t born yet. I just miss him because she would’ve been a great mother,” she said. “For her to be a mother, we were so excited. … That was the last thing she was waiting for.”

Coles had a plan for her life and so far “everything was going according to plan,” her mother said.

Coles first wanted a good job, and after years with the post office she had saved for a car and a home. Then, she and her boyfriend decided they were ready for a baby, Phillips said.

For her to vanish “out of the blue,” she said, “I can’t understand it.”

The United States Postal Inspection Service and the FBI are both working with the Chicago police on the case.

“Since October 2018, Postal Inspectors have tracked down and vetted nearly 400 leads across the country. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service distributed thousands of reward flyers,” the Postal Inspection Service said.

“Kierra Coles is a member of our Postal family and we will continue looking for her and following up on all leads,” the agency continued. “If you know something, no matter how trivial it may seem, please come forward as it may be crucial to our investigation. Please contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service hotline at (877) 876-2455 and reference case number 2693502.”

Some days Phillips said she “really can’t function because my mind just, you know, keeps wondering — where’s my child? Is she being harmed? Is she dead or alive?”

“It’s hard waking up every day wondering,” she said. “I just want somebody to come forward and say what happened.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Women’s rights advocates are preparing to march again in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the U.S. this weekend, with a focus on reproductive rights.

The fifth annual Women’s March will take place on Saturday, a date specifically chosen for its proximity to the start of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term — Oct. 4, the first Monday in October.

Women’s March organizers said the restrictive abortion law that went into effect in Texas in September motivated them to act now.

The law, which bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect after the Supreme Court rejected a request by Texas abortion providers to block the law as legal challenges continued.

“When the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to block Texas’s abortion ban, they effectively took the next step towards overturning Roe v. Wade. Simply put: We are witnessing the most dire threat to abortion access in our lifetime,” reads a statement on the Women’s March website.

The Supreme Court also is scheduled to hear in December oral arguments in a case that could be the most consequential abortion rights case in decades. The state of Mississippi is asking the justices to overturn longstanding legal precedent that restrictions on abortion access before a fetus is viable outside the womb — around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy — are categorically unconstitutional. Mississippi wants to ban abortions after 15 weeks, or even earlier.

Reproductive rights advocates call the case, which centers around Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic, an existential threat to American abortion rights not seen in nearly 50 years.

This year’s protest will follow in the footsteps of Women’s March protests that have taken place every year since 2017, when the first march drew more than a million people to various locations across the U.S. the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The protests have dwindled in size since the first march, but have continued across the country.

As women take to the streets this year to march, in addition to battles over reproductive rights, women have also experienced disproportionate job loss during the coronavirus pandemic and faced greater caregiving burdens than male counterparts, data shows.

Women’s March organizers said that in addition to the Washington, D.C., march, there will be smaller marches from Bangor, Maine, and the way to Seattle.

The Washington march will begin at Freedom Plaza and continue along Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Supreme Court building.

Busy Phillips, who has spoken publicly about having an abortion at age 15, is among the speakers confirmed for the Washington march.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Newly released police body cam footage shows the moments before a white police officer attempted to tackle a Black woman walking her dog in a closed park, allegedly unprovoked.

Nikkita Brown said that on Aug. 28 the officer drove up to her as she was walking her dog in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago and told her to leave the area immediately. She said that she was walking out of the park, adhering to his instructions, when the incident occurred.

The video shows that the officer identified himself and showed his badge at Brown’s request. It also shows that Brown repeatedly asked the maskless officer to remain within six feet of her, citing concerns over potential exposure to COVID-19.

“Please don’t. Please respect my space. It’s COVID. Six feet,” Brown said.

“Respect your space? I’m about to put handcuffs on you,” the officer replied.

Brown said she consistently told him, “I am leaving” and “I am walking away,” as she actively walked toward the exit, but he got out of his car and continued to follow her.

The officer got out of his car and told her, “You can go to jail,” according to a video taken by Brown who recorded part of the encounter.

Brown’s attorney identified the officer as Bruce Dyker through his badge.

A Chicago Police Department spokesperson told ABC News earlier this month, “The officer in question has been placed on desk duty as the COPA investigates the video.”

At one point during the argument with Brown — while she had her phone out to record — Dyker ran toward her and attempted to tackle her.

The physical struggle between the two lasted for more than a minute and Dyker repeatedly threatened to arrest Brown. In the end, no arrest was made.

Brown told Good Morning America earlier this month that she believes she was targeted because she’s Black and said she hopes that her speaking out will stop others from being targeted.

“I walked past four kids that were behind me … white males. As soon as I saw the car pull up, I looked behind me to see if he said anything to the kids. He didn’t,” Brown said.

The bodycam video was released last Thursday by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), the group investigating the incident.

A COPA spokesperson told ABC News that the investigation is ongoing and once it concludes, COPA will send recommendations to the Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown to review.

“Ultimately. we want him fired, given this incident and his horrible disciplinary record,” Brown’s attorney, Keenan Saulter, told ABC News.

Dyker has 24 allegations of misconduct filed against him, three of which resulted in discipline.

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A new study on fatal police violence shows more than half of killings by police were left unreported in the last 40 years, and that Black Americans were estimated to be 3.5 times more likely to die from police violence than white Americans.

Researchers compared data from the National Vital Statistics System — a federal tracker of deaths in the United States — with three independent, non-government, open-source databases: Fatal Encounters, Mapping Police Violence and The Counted.

From 1980 to 2019, there were 30,800 deaths from police violence, which is 17,100 more deaths than the NVSS reported, according to the study by researchers from the University of Washington and published in the Lancet.

The study found that the NVSS underreported 55.5% of these deaths overall, but that percentage rose to 59.1% when reporting deaths among Black Americans.

“Police violence and racism is really a public health problem,” senior author Mohsen Naghavi told ABC News.

The NVSS did not respond to ABC news’ request for comment.

The rate of police killings for non-Hispanic Black victims was about 3.5 times higher than that of non-Hispanic white people, and Hispanics were 1.8 times more likely to be killed by police violence than non-Hispanic white people.

The study confirms a pattern of systemic racism in policing, predominantly burdening communities of color, the study’s co-author Eve Wool says.

“Even when unarmed, Black Americans experienced disproportionately high levels of police contact, even for crimes that Black and white folks committed at the same rates,” Wool told ABC News.

Open-source data, which is compiled from open access sources, like news articles and public records, are typically more comprehensive when it comes to tracking these kinds of incidences, according to Neghavi and Wool.

Even with more comprehensive data, they say, there is a lot more research to be done on police violence.

The study didn’t take into account the non-fatal victims or incidences of police brutality, and the binary gender identifiers in the data didn’t allow for analysis of gender-based discrimination against people of transgender or nonbinary identities.

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(ORLANDO) — The FBI has joined the search for 19-year-old Florida college student Miya Marcano as her desperate family said they suspect she was kidnapped from her apartment a week ago.

Marcano, a student at Valencia College in Orlando, was last seen at her apartment complex on Sept. 18 and a man Orange County Sheriff John Mina named Thursday as a “prime suspect” in her disappearance was found dead from an apparent suicide after investigators searched his home and car.

“We’re just ready to bring her home, but we need everyone’s help. We need every resource at this point,” Marcano’s aunt, Semone Westmaas, told ABC affiliate station WFTV in Orlando.

Mina said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that 60 detectives from his agency’s Criminal Investigations Division are working exclusively on this case.

“I know that Miya’s family and her loved ones are going through unimaginable anguish as they try and find out what happened to Miya,” Mina said. “Hundreds of sworn and civilian personnel here at the sheriff’s office and beyond have been working around the clock to employ all the resources at our disposal to find Miya.”

Sheriff investigators initially named Armando Manuel Caballero, a maintenance employee at the Arden Villas apartments where Marcano lives as a person of interest in her disappearance. Authorities said Caballero had expressed a romantic interest in Marcano but she rebuffed his advances.

Investigators said the 27-year-old Caballero possessed a key fob to access apartments and his was used at Marcano’s unit just before her disappearance.

Caballero was found dead on Monday in his apartment from an apparent suicide.

“We believe that the suspect that we had named, Armando Caballero, is responsible. We don’t know all the circumstances involved in what happened there, but he was obviously the prime suspect,” Mina said.

He said that at this time investigators do not believe another person was involved in the disappearance of Marcano, but have not entirely ruled out that possibility.

Mina said the sheriff’s office Emergency Response Team and personnel from other law enforcement agencies have conducted nearly 30 searches since Marcano went missing across three different counties. He said at least 175 people have been involved in the searches.

The sheriff said his agency reached out to the FBI for assistance and that the federal agency has provided resources.

“We are working with the FBI and they are assisting in this case. I’ll just say in a manner of technology at this point,” Mina said.

He announced the FBI’s involvement after Marcano’s loved ones called on the bureau to help in the case.

Mina said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has also loaned investigators a K-9 unit that is trained to search for electronics, specifically cellphones.

Deputies were seen on Wednesday combing through storage facilities at the Arden Villas apartments in Orlando, where Marcano also works, and searching a nearby wooded area.

Marcano was last seen at around 5 p.m. on Friday at her apartment complex, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Westmaas said relatives reported her missing after asking the sheriff’s department to conduct a welfare check on Marcano. She said that when she and other relatives entered Marcano’s normally tidy apartment, they found it “a mess” and discovered signs of an apparent struggle.

WFTV obtained a video of Caballero walking through the parking lot of the Arden Villas apartments after Marcano went missing, carrying what her family said resembled items belonging to her.

“We were given that video right away,” Mina said. “That video led us to be able to do a search warrant on Caballero’s apartment and vehicle.”

Mina did not disclose what evidence investigators found.

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.