(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Elsa is delivering heavy rain as it moves up the East Coast, with more than 50 million Americans under flash flood watches over the next 24 hours.
The storm is moving northeast at 20 mph, with the center about 25 miles southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, as of Thursday afternoon. North Carolina residents saw heavy rain and wind gusts this afternoon that extended into southeastern Virginia, with maximum sustained winds at 45 mph.
There have been four reported tornadoes in three states thanks to Elsa, with Florida, Georgia and South Carolina all reporting damage.A tornado watch has been extended into southeastern Virginia and southern Maryland into Thursday evening.
Elsa is forecast to hug the Northeast coastline as it heads toward Nova Scotia, with some strengthening possible over the next 24 hours.
Heavy rain and gusty winds are expected in parts of Virginia and Maryland, and later in Delaware as it gets closer to Friday. The storm is forecast to hit Philadelphia and New York City early Friday, with heavy rain likely affecting commutes.
By late morning Friday, conditions likely will shift into New England and last into the afternoon and evening, before heading out of Maine Friday night.
Through Friday, a large swath of the East Coast is forecast to receive 2 to 4 inches of rain. The highest totals are likely along and east of Interstate-95 up across the mid-Atlantic. Up to 6 inches of rain is possible in parts of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Unrelated to Elsa, a severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for parts of the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, and remains in effect into Thursday evening.
(CHICAGO) — The Iowa man arrested after a cleaning service worker discovered firearms and ammunition in his hotel room overlooking Fourth of July activities in downtown Chicago has been released after posting bail.
Keegan Casteel, 32, of Ankeny, Iowa, was arrested Sunday and charged with two felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
Officials haven’t yet said why they believe Casteel may have brought the guns to Chicago.
In a bizarre twist, after posting $1,000 bond and being released from jail Wednesday, Casteel proposed to his girlfriend outside a police station, Chicago ABC station WLS reported.
A cleaning service member at the W Hotel Lakeshore found weapons in Casteel’s 12th-floor room facing Navy Pier “in a very suspicious position” on the windowsill around 5:45 p.m., Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said Tuesday.
Casteel had one loaded semi-automatic rifle, equipped with a forward grip assist and a high-powered laser attachment, with a live round in the chamber, as well as a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and four additional loaded magazines, the Office of the Cook County State’s Attorney told ABC News.
Brown said after the discovery of the weapons, Casteel was interviewed by the Chicago Police Department’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and arrested without incident. WLS reported that Casteel’s girlfriend was also in the room.
Brown said Tuesday the incident is “obviously very concerning, considering the position of the W Hotel to Navy Pier,” a major tourist attraction.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a press conference Tuesday she believes there was “something more nefarious” in Casteel’s taking a rifle with a scope across state lines.
His hotel room overlooked Ohio Street Beach and the lakefront, which was crowded for Fourth of July festivities at the time.
Casteel has an Iowa gun permit, prosecutors said. He did not have a Firearms Owner Identification Card in Illinois, which is required to have a gun in the state, Brown said Tuesday. Police confiscated the weapons.
Brown said Tuesday that Casteel does not have a criminal record, however a review of court records shows Casteel has been arrested several times in Iowa.
His most recent arrest was in September 2019 for failure to provide proof of financial liability, which was dropped a month later. He was arrested on the same charge in July 2019 and found guilty. He also was arrested in 2012 for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
(NEW YORK) — Not long ago, Michael Avenatti was a fixture on cable news, the bellicose nemesis of former President Donald Trump as lawyer to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He even briefly considered a run for president.
On Thursday, Avenatti dropped another few pegs on his descent into disrepute.
A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Avenatti to 30 months in prison for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike.
“Michael Avenatti used illegal and extortionate threats and betrayed one of his clients for the purpose of seeking to obtain millions of dollars for himself,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement about the sentencing. “Not only did Avenatti attempt to weaponize his law license and celebrity to seek to extort payments for himself, he also defrauded his own client. Avenatti will now serve substantial time in prison for his criminal conduct.”
Prosecutors said Avenatti deserved a substantial sentence after he “sought to enrich himself by weaponizing his public profile in an attempt to extort a publicly-traded company out of tens of millions of dollars.”
“While the defendant may have tried to hide behind legal terms and a suit and tie, the jury clearly saw the defendant’s scheme for what it was — an old-fashioned shakedown,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Geoffrey Berman said in a statement at the time of his conviction.
The sentence exceeded the six months the defense asked for, saying Avenatti had been “openly mocked” by Trump and suffered enough.
Avenatti was convicted by a federal jury in February 2020 after a two-week trial in New York City.
Trump once tweeted, sarcastically, “Such a fine guy! Presidential aspirations you know!” about Avenatti after his request for bail was denied in March 2020 as he awaited sentencing.
Avenatti attempted to extort at least $15 million from Nike or else he threatened to use his media influence to damage the brand, according to prosecutors.
He faces separate charges in New York for allegedly stealing a book advance from Daniels and in California for defrauding other clients.
Daniels, who praised the conviction last year, dumped Avenatti as her lawyer in early 2019.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — A 28-year-old man accused of shooting three law enforcement officers on Chicago’s South Side has been arrested.
Eugene McLaurin, a Chicago resident, has been federally charged with one count of using a dangerous and deadly weapon to assault an ATF agent, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, in connection with the shooting, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
McLaurin was expected to appear in court later on Thursday.
Two ATF Chicago agents and one Chicago Police Department officer were shot Wednesday morning on the heels of a violent holiday weekend where shootings in the city reached triple digits.
The officers were driving in the Morgan Park neighborhood, near an on-ramp to Interstate 57, just before 6 a.m. when they were fired upon by another vehicle, Chicago Police Superintendent David O’Neal Brown told reporters Wednesday morning. The officers were undercover and in an unmarked car.
The officers were participating in a federal investigation when they noticed that a white Chevrolet Malibu was following them, according to the Justice Department. After the officer took note of the license plate, the driver in the Malibu pulled alongside the vehicle, rolled the windows down and opened fire, officials said.
The Malibu was later found parked on a street in Chicago, and McLaurin was taken into custody later on Wednesday, according to the justice department. The investigation into the shooting continues.
The officers’ injuries were not life-threatening. One of the ATF agents was struck in the hand, the other was hit on the side of the torso and the police officer was grazed in the back of the head, Brown said. They were taken to Christ Medical Center and were last reported in stable condition, said Tom Ahern, deputy director of the police department’s news affairs and communications,
One of the ATF agents is female, while the other two officers are male, and all three are senior officers, he added.
Brown declined to provide details on the case the officers were working to avoid compromising the investigation.
The attack marks brings the tally of officers shot in Chicago this year to 36, Brown said. The shooting comes after a deadly Fourth of July weekend in the city, when 100 people were shot, 18 of whom died, including a 15-year-old boy, ABC Chicago station WLS reported. Two Chicago Police officers and five children 13 and younger were among the injured.
Brown said Tuesday that Chicago officers were “performing at the highest level” and are “risking everything to protect the people of Chicago.”
“They are doing their part, and no one would do what these officers are doing right now,” Brown said. “This is a very challenging time to be in law enforcement right now. They are rising to the challenge, doing all they can. The work they do is extremely dangerous.”
Speaking from outside the hospital, Chicago Alderman Matt O’Shea urged President Joe Biden to come to Chicago and offer additional assistance to the city, saying that 100,000 armed gang members who “have absolutely no fear, no respect for life” are wreaking havoc on the city. Residents are scared to let their children play outside, he said.
“Our communities are under siege,” he said. “Our police officers are under siege. They’re outmanned and they’re outgunned.”
Biden was met by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot upon landing in Chicago Wednesday afternoon. During the greeting, Biden expressed his personal support for the law enforcement officers that were injured and reiterated his commitment to working with the city in the fight against gun violence, said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Biden was scheduled to visit Crystal Lake, a city about 45 miles northwest of Chicago, Wednesday afternoon.
ABC News’ Cheryl Gendron, Rachel Katz and Alex Perez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones was offered tenure at the journalism school of her alma mater, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, but she won’t be taking it.
Instead, she will go to Howard University after her tenure was initially blocked for months at North Carolina. The school’s board of trustees declined to vote twice in November and January on her tenure but finally voted in favor of it just last week.
Hannah-Jones would’ve been the first Black Knight Chair at the school and the first not to have been granted tenure.
“I think it showed that there was not a respect for what Black faculty go through on campus. We know that the University of North Carolina lost some recruits over this, other Black faculty are considering leaving the university,” she told ABC News Wednesday. “If they were able to do this to me — I work at the New York Times. I have a huge megaphone, I have a huge platform — what do they think they could get away with when it came to lesser-known scholars?”
Reports swirled in May that her application for tenure had been blocked at the last minute by several politically conservative trustees.
Those who publicly voiced their disapproval at her tenure included a donor for whom the university’s school of journalism is named. However, the donor, Walter Hussman, insists he “never pressured anybody.”
Hussman has spoken out against Hannah-Jones’ landmark work with the New York Times, “The 1619 Project,” for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. The project examines the role of slavery in the birth of the United States. Critics, including prominent historians, took issue with the portrayal of the American Revolution and requested corrections be made.
The project was backed by support from the New York Times’ executive editor, publisher and magazine editor. She said in a statement her tenure controversy was tied to “the political firestorm that has dogged me since The 1619 Project published” two years ago.
“Tenure matters for exactly the reason that I didn’t initially receive it. …oftentimes, academics are doing research and producing work that could be seen as controversial, or that challenges the status quo, and this protects the ability to pursue work that may not be popular with people who are politically powerful,” Hannah-Jones told ABC News. “The fact that initially I was denied tenure, largely because of the nature of my works, specifically around conservative objections to The 1619 Project speaks to why I could not come to the university without it.”
UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz said he is “disappointed” that Hannah-Jones won’t be joining the faculty.
“We wish her the best,” he said in a statement. “I remain committed to recruiting and retaining the world-class faculty that our students deserve at Carolina. Members of my leadership team and I are actively engaged with student, faculty and staff leaders to continue working together toward a more inclusive and equitable campus living, learning and working environment where everyone knows they belong.”
Hannah-Jones admonished Guskiewicz and other leaders at the school for not addressing the deadlock of her tenure.
“The Board of Trustees not voting was one thing. But to also have the chancellor and the provost of the university fail to speak out publicly, fail to say that the board of trustees should’ve treated me like every other professor who came in under the Knight Chair, I think that sent the message to other faculty on campus that they would not have the protection and the support of the administration if it came down to a fight with political appointees,” she said.
Hannah-Jones will be the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Reporting at Howard University, a historically Black institution of higher education (HBCU). The Knight Foundation’s $5 million investment in the university includes $500,000 for the Knight Chair to help strengthen journalism teaching across HBCUs.
“Instead of fighting to prove I belong at an institution that until 1955 prohibited Black Americans from attending, I am instead going to work in the legacy of a university not built by the enslaved but for those who once were,” she said in her statement.
Hannah-Jones said she was approached by the dean of UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media, Susan King, to become the school’s Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Reporting. Hannah-Jones said the request came during last year’s racial reckoning, and she saw a need for “journalists to have the knowledge, training, historical understanding and depth of reporting to cover the changing country and its challenges.”
She said she accepted, underwent a rigorous tenure process, and passed two votes, first by all professors, then the Promotion and Tenure Committee, which both overwhelmingly approved her tenure.
UNC’s Board of Trustees were meant to vote in November for her start in January 2021.
Then, “we learned that my tenure application had been pulled but received no explanation as to why. The same thing happened again in January,” Hannah-Jones said. “Both the university’s Chancellor and its Provost refused to fully explain why my tenure package had failed twice to come to a vote, or exactly what transpired.”
She said she was told they would not consider her tenure at that time, and offered her a five-year contract for tenure consideration at a later, unspecified date. She reluctantly agreed, becoming both the first Black Knight Chair at the school, and the first not to have been granted tenure.
After a report from NC Policy Watch about her tenure process and ensuing student protests, the board of trustees finally voted on Hannah-Jones’ tenure, and approved it in a split vote.
“I cannot imagine working at and advancing a school named for a man who lobbied against me, who used his wealth to influence the hires and ideology of the journalism school, who ignored my 20 years of journalism experience, all of my credentials, all of my work, because he believed a project that centered Black Americans equaled denigration of white Americans,” she said of Hussman. “Nor can I work at an institution whose leadership permitted this conduct and has done nothing to disavow it.”
Hussman told Poynter this week that he hoped to meet with Hannah-Jones and Dean Susan King, but the meeting never came together. After reading The 1619 Project, Hussman said he voiced concerns about his belief that the report exaggerated the role of slavery as a possible cause for the American Revolution, and insisted his objections were with the scholarship, not Hannah-Jones.
“I don’t have any judgment about her (personally) — I’ve never met her,” Hussman told Poynter. “I feel certain I did what I should appropriately have done. I didn’t lobby against her appointment.” He added that he had no objection to the latest UNC vote to offer Hannah-Jones tenure.
She said she still has not received answers about what happened in her tenure process. She called on UNC to provide transparency, apologize to student protestors, and address demands for recruiting, supporting and retaining Black faculty.
Hannah-Jones told ABC News the lack of Black tenured faculty in schools across the country can be traced back to a system where previously-tenured professors, often white, offer tenure to others and can be “self-replicating.” Also, she said Black scholars are studying issues of inequality and race, which are “not often valued as other types of scholarship.”
“I hope that other universities who might find it easy to point at the board of trustees in North Carolina and say ‘They’re just backwards,’ will do some real, internal introspection on the way that they are also blocking so many other talented Black faculty who dedicated their life to academia.”
Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — At least 60 people have now been confirmed dead and 80 others remain potentially unaccounted for since a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last month.
The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. The rest of the building was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns about its structural integrity and an incoming tropical storm.
For two weeks, hundreds of first responders carefully combed through the pancaked piles of debris in hopes of finding survivors. But no one has been found alive in the wreckage of the building since the morning it partially collapse, and officials announced Wednesday evening that the search and rescue operation, in its 14th day, would shift to a recovery mission.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters that the decision was “a result of a consensus by those closest to the rescue efforts that the possibility of someone still alive is near zero.”
“And while there seems to be no chance of finding life in the rubble, a miracle is still possible,” Burkett said during a press conference Wednesday evening.
To mark the somber move, a moment of silence was held in honor of all the victims, of whom 35 have been identified thus far. A candlelight vigil was held later that night at the memorial site for the victims.
Reflecting on the transition the next day, U.S. Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., told reporters: “When that happened, it took a little piece of the hearts of this community.”
Crews paused their work atop the piles early Thursday “for a brief moment of silence to honor the two-week mark since the collapse,” according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“We have now officially transitioned from search and rescue to search and recovery,” Levine Cava said during a press conference Thursday morning. “The work continues with all speed and urgency. We are working around the clock to recover victims and bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can.”
“We are taking as much care as ever to proceed to find victims in the rubble,” she added.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that crews “will identify every single person” who is found. Officials will also continue to help the survivors and the families of the victims get back “on their feet as best as we possibly can,” even after the media attention wanes, DeSantis said.
Meanwhile, 200 people who were living or staying in the condominium at the time of the disaster have been accounted for and are safe, according to Levine Cava, who has repeatedly stressed that the figures are “very fluid” and “continue to change.”
Crews have hauled away more than 7 million pounds of debris from the vast scene, but large piles of rubble still remain. Officials said it could take several weeks to get to the bottom of the wreckage. Crews have been working virtually nonstop, with help from teams who came from across Florida and elsewhere in the United States as well as from abroad. However, their efforts were halted for almost an entire day last week due to safety concerns regarding the still-standing structure, prior to the demolition. Poor weather conditions have also forced them to temporarily pause working.
The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.
“This tragedy shook our community and the world,” Levine Cava told reporters Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — Elsa is moving through the Carolinas on Thursday morning with heavy rain and gusty winds and winds currently at 40 mph making it a weak tropical storm which could weaken into a tropical depression anytime.
There have been four reported tornadoes in three states thanks to Elsa with Florida, Georgia and South Carolina all reporting damage.
Elsa is now moving up the East Coast with a tropical storm warning issued from Georgia to Massachusetts, including Boston.
Elsa is expected to move through the Carolinas Thursday with a tornado threat, flash flooding and gusty winds.
Later Thursday night, Elsa will move into the mid-Atlantic states and approach Long Island, New York by Friday morning with gusty winds of up to 40 to 50 mph possible across the region and heavy rain and flash flooding possible for major cities in the Northeast, including Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.
The highest winds gusts will be along the coast from the Jersey Shore to eastern Long Island and into Cape Cod, Massachusetts and coastal Maine.
Elsa will then move into coastal New England in the late morning on Friday and will be out of the United States and into Canada by Friday night.
A flash flood watch has also been issued from North Carolina to Maine due to all of the heavy rain forecast in a short period of time across the region.
A tornado watch will also continue Thursday morning for South and North Carolina all the way from Charleston to Wilmington.
Some areas in the Northeast could see up to 5 inches of rain with heavy rain bands from Elsa starting Thursday night into Friday morning as flash flooding is expected along the I-95 corridor.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Elsa is now charging up the East Coast after making landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast Wednesday, causing at least one death and miles of destruction, according to officials.
Elsa made landfall at about 11 a.m. Wednesday in Taylor County, in Florida’s Big Bend region.
Elsa, which slammed Florida and Georgia with gusty winds and heavy rain, strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday night before weakening back to a tropical storm before landfall.
The storm churned two tornadoes Wednesday evening and tornado watches were issued from Jacksonville, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday night.
One person was killed after a tornado was reported in Jacksonville, according to Mayor Lenny Curry. A tree fell on the victim when the storm swept through the city, Curry said.
Curry said there were no other major injuries reported as of Wednesday evening but several homes and businesses were damaged and over 11,000 households were without power.
“Just be ready,” he told the public.
A second tornado was reported to have caused serious damage at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia. Photos and video showed motorhomes flipped on their sides and trees uprooted.
A spokesperson for the base told ABC News about 10 people were injured. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, but they were serious enough to be transported off the base, according to the spokesperson.
Slow-moving bands of heavy rain along the Georgia coast triggered dangerous flash flooding. Central Glynn County reported between 3 to 6 inches of rain Wednesday evening.
A boat capsized near Key West as Elsa blew through on Tuesday, according to the Coast Guard. Nine people remain missing.
Elsa is now barreling up the East Coast, set to bring heavy rain and flash flooding from Georgia to Maine through Friday.
The latest path shows Elsa moving over Georgia Wednesday night, South Carolina Thursday morning and North Carolina Thursday night.
Elsa is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression by Thursday morning as it brings rain and wind to Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington.
By Thursday night Elsa will be blowing through Virginia, Maryland and Delaware with heavy rain, gusty winds and flooding. Elsa will hit New Jersey overnight Thursday into Friday.
On Friday morning, Elsa will head up the Interstate 95 corridor with heavy rain and gusty winds from New York City to Boston.
(TERRE HAUTE, Ind.) — An FBI Task Force officer and 30-year police department veteran was shot and killed in the line of duty Wednesday after being ambushed outside an FBI building in Indiana, police say.
The incident occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m. local time, when FBI Task Force officer Greg Ferency was “ambushed and fatally shot” at the FBI Indianapolis Resident Agency in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to a statement from FBI Indianapolis Special Agent Paul Keenan.
Ferency had been an FBI Task Force officer since 2010 and was a 30-year veteran of the Terre Haute Police Department.
Authorities said another FBI agent was able to shoot the alleged gunman involved in the ambush. The suspect was subsequently taken into police custody and is now receiving medical attention at a local hospital.
“We want to extend our deepest sympathy to TFO Ferency’s family, friends and fellow officers,” Keenan continued in his statement.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb called Ferency’s death “senseless” in a statement on Twitter.
“The tragic events that unfolded today are senseless. Our heart breaks for Detective Greg Ferency’s family, loved ones and those who served with him every day protecting the residents of the Wabash Valley,” Holcomb said. “[My wife] and I are thinking of the Terre Haute Police Department, the community and Detective Ferency’s family as I know they will be steadfast in honoring his life, service and dedication to the residents of Vigo County.”
Indiana Sen. Mike Braun also tweeted about the tragedy and called on the public to keep Ferency’s family and colleagues in their prayers.
“Terre Haute PD Officer Greg Ferency was killed today in the line of duty doing what he has done for 30 years: selflessly protecting and serving his community. Please keep his family and fellow officers in your prayers, and all those who wear the badge,” said Braun.
Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch also expressed her condolences in a statement obtained by ABC News’ Indianapolis affiliate WRTV.
“I want to send my heartfelt prayers to Terre Haute and Hoosier law enforcement across Indiana, after learning of the violent and careless assault on Terre Haute Police Detective Greg Ferency,” said Crouch. “Attacks on the brave men and women who answer the call to be our heroes and protect our citizens and state will not be tolerated. Detective Ferency was an honorable servant, who kept drugs off our streets and partnered with federal authorities to defend Hoosiers and his community. I am keeping Ferency’s family and those who worked side by side with him during his 30 years of service in my thoughts as we come together to honor his commitment to making Indiana a safer place.”
The shooting is now under investigation by the FBI’s Inspection Division in accordance with FBI police.
“The review process is thorough and objective and is conducted as expeditiously as possible under the circumstances,” said Keenan.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly eight years after Shannon Keeler’s alleged rape after a 2013 fraternity party at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and after receiving a series of disturbing Facebook messages from the man she’d accused, authorities have filed charges against the man.
The Adams County District Attorney’s Office announced on June 30 that it had filed sexual assault charges against Ian Thomas Cleary, 28, of Saratoga, California. Authorities, however, have not yet found Cleary or released a photo of him.
Keeler was on vacation with her boyfriend last year when she says she saw what appeared to be multiple Facebook messages from Cleary. One specific message, she said, admitted to the attack.
“So, I raped you,” Keeler said the message read in an interview with ABC News in May. “I’ll never do it to anyone ever again.”
Watch the full story on “Nightline” Thursday night at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC
The charges were filed after what Keeler’s lawyer, Laura Dunn, says was an outpouring of support following public appearances by Keeler on news platforms, including ABC News. Dunn said they then joined forces with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape to further push for the charges to be filed.
“Shannon burst into tears,” Dunn told ABC News on Wednesday about Keeler learning charges had been filed.
“She has been fighting for over seven years in this case to get charges — to get an arrest warrant. … So, for her, it was a big moment,” Dunn said. “But as her attorney, my mind was onto the next: when is this arrest going to be effected? Where is Ian Cleary? We have concern that there was no arrest made yet in this case and we don’t want to see him absconded from justice.”
Dunn said they believe Cleary is in Europe, “possibly France,” or Australia. She asked for help from the public in finding him and turning him in.
Andrea Levy, legal director at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, says prosecution for these types of cases can be an uphill battle. She has had numerous clients who reported their sexual assault and were told “no” by prosecutors. She said that despite attempts to provide additional information to prosecutors as well as resources to support the county and push for action, most attempts are not successful.
“Ninety percent are denied,” she said, referring to cases on which she has worked.
Keeler was a freshman at Gettysburg in 2013 when she attended the frat party with her friends to celebrate the end of the semester. She told ABC News in May that Cleary, who was at the party but not a member of the fraternity, began to bother her and at one point insisted that she dance with him. She said he also tried to kiss her.
Keeler said she felt uncomfortable and asked a male friend to walk her back to her dorm room. Cleary confronted them during the walk back and offered her friend $20, she said.
“He said to my friend, ‘Let me have her. Please let me have her,’” Keeler told ABC News in May. “My friend pretty much told him, ‘I’m just trying to get her away from you.’”
Keeler said she was getting ready for bed in her dorm room when she heard someone knocking on the door and opened it thinking a friend had visited. Instead, it was Cleary, she said, who refused to leave and eventually assaulted her.
“He did force himself on me and raped me,” Keeler said. “After he did that, he started crying.”
She said he ran out of the room after apologizing.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said he told her, in part.
Keeler said that soon after, she reported the incident to campus and local police, who questioned her for hours and had her submit a rape kit. A Gettysburg College investigative report obtained by ABC News cites a written statement from Cleary from that time containing a general denial that he “engaged in any actionable misconduct.”
Keeler said he dropped out of Gettysburg College during the next semester, thus ending the school’s Title IX investigation.
“We applaud our former students’ bravery in continuing to bring these issues to light,” Gettysburg College said in a statement, adding, “We will continue to prioritize our efforts around sexual assault awareness. We know this work is ongoing and far from complete.”
Despite her full cooperation with authorities, then-District Attorney Shawn Wagner declined to charge Cleary, saying he did not have enough evidence to prosecute. She said he told her, “When alcohol’s involved, it’s really difficult to prove that a sexual assault occurred.”
Now a county judge, Wagner declined a request for comment from ABC News. Cleary also did not respond to requests for comment via email.
Former FBI agent and ABC News contributor Brad Garrett says the simplest way to track fugitives overseas is through the FBI, which has agents stationed in “virtually every country.”
“The real key in a fugitive investigation is, it’s extremely difficult to stay on the run, for starters,” he said. “In other words, all of your credit cards, all of your banks, anything that’s digital can track you. … And so, it’s because of all that, they ultimately do get caught.”
Dunn said that Keeler hopes to learn more about Cleary’s past, including whether there were other incidents like hers.
“If that’s the case, we may be looking for more significant time in the sentence related to this matter,” Dunn said.
But she said they’re also concerned about his well-being and that they hope he can be rehabilitated.
Keeler told ABC News in May that she was scared people wouldn’t believe her when she came out about her story all these years later, and that it would hurt her career and come to “define” her. Still, she said she hopes other people who hear about her story after going through something similar know that they’re not alone.
“We, together, can help … positively impact the broken system,” she said.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, know that you are not alone. Help is available anytime. Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
