(SEATTLE) — A fugitive who has been on the run for more than six weeks after escaping authorities at an airport while being transported across state lines has been captured, authorities said.
The incident began almost seven weeks ago on May 4 when 29-year-old Sedric Stevenson was in the custody of contracted agents at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and was being transported to Kentucky so he could face outstanding warrants that had been issued to him there when he vanished, according to a statement from the U.S. Marshals Office of Public Affairs in the Western District of Washington.
Stevenson, who was wanted in the State of Kentucky on multiple charges — including convicted felon in possession of a firearm, assault in the third degree and enhanced possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (methamphetamine) — subsequently managed to avoid law enforcement for 45 days before he was caught on Wednesday in Seattle by U.S. Marshals while they were serving an arrest warrant in the 1400 block of Madison Street, police said.
“This arrest sends a clear message: no matter how long it takes or how far someone runs, justice will catch up with them. Our deputies and taskforce officers worked tirelessly and with unwavering dedication to bring Stevenson back into custody. The community can rest easier, knowing a dangerous fugitive is no longer on the streets” said U.S. Marshal Donrien Stephens.
Stevenson’s arrest was a collaborative effort between state and local partners along with the U.S. Marshals Service Western Kentucky Fugitive Task Force, officials said.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Newly surfaced bodycam footage from last year shows an interview with a woman claiming to be a DoorDash driver, who says she saw murder suspect Bryan Kohberger while she was dropping off food just moments before police say four University of Idaho college students were slain in 2022.
In the video, the woman, who is wrapped in a gray blanket, is being questioned in a holding facility in Pullman, Washington, in connection with an unrelated incident.
The woman in the video claims she dropped off food at the King Road home in Moscow, Idaho, shortly before Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle were stabbed to death.
In the video, the woman is heard saying, “Now I have to testify in that big murder case here, ’cause I’m the DoorDash driver.”
When asked to clarify which case, she says, the “murder case with the college girls … I’m the DoorDash driver. I saw Bryan there. I parked next to him.”
Idaho authorities have said it was Kernodle who placed the order and received her delivery around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022. Police believe the murders took place shortly after — between 4:07 a.m. and 4:20 a.m.
Cmdr. Ruben Harris, with the Pullman Police Department, confirmed to ABC News that the bodycam video is authentic and that it was taken in September 2024. The woman’s charge was amended to first-degree negligent driving, and she pleaded guilty, according to authorities.
Pullman is located about 10 miles west of Moscow.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was arrested in December 2022. He’s charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, and a not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf.
(BOSTON) — A Massachusetts jury found Karen Read not guilty of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend in 2022, nearly a year after her first prosecution ended in a mistrial.
The jury began deliberating the afternoon of June 13 in Norfolk County before reaching a verdict Wednesday afternoon.
She was acquitted of the most serious charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after an accident resulting in death.
The jury did find her guilty of operating under the influence of liquor. The judge immediately sentenced her to one-year probation, the standard for a first-time offense.
Cheers could be heard from outside the courthouse, where supporters of Read have gathered, while the verdict was being read. Read embraced her legal team and cried following the verdict.
Prosecutors alleged Read hit her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her car outside the Canton home of fellow police officer Brian Albert in January 2022 and then left him to die there during a major blizzard.
The defense had argued that Read’s vehicle did not hit O’Keefe and instead said O’Keefe was attacked by a dog and beaten by other people who were in the house before he was thrown out in the snow to die.
Read pleaded not guilty to the charges and has maintained her innocence.
Following the verdict, several of the witnesses who testified against Read called the result of the retrial “a devastating miscarriage of justice.”
“Today, our hearts are with John and the entire O’Keefe family. They have suffered through so much and deserved better from our justice system,” members of the Albert and McCabe families said in a statement. “While we may have more to say in the future, today we mourn with John’s family and lament the cruel reality that this prosecution was infected by lies and conspiracy theories spread by Karen Read, her defense team, and some in the media.”
During deliberations, the jury asked four questions, including, “If we find not guilty on two charges but can’t agree on one charge, is it a hung jury on all three charges or just one charge?” the judge told attorneys in court.
The judge told the jury she is not able to respond to their question, telling attorneys it was a “theoretical question.”
The jury also asked about the time frame for when Read is accused of driving under the influence, whether video clips from Read’s interviews about the case are to be considered as evidence and if she is convicted on a sub-charge, if that would mean she is guilty on the overall charge.
In an unusual moment, Judge Beverly Cannone told the courtroom earlier Wednesday that the jury had indicated during the lunch break that they had reached a verdict, then updated that they did not have a verdict. Cannone sealed that verdict slip and informed the court that there was not yet a verdict “because, as we all know, there is no verdict until it is announced and recorded in open court.”
Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial in July 2024 after the jury could not reach a verdict.
At least four jurors who served on her first trial last year have confirmed that she was found not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, according to Read’s attorneys. However, the jury could not agree on the third charge of manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, the attorneys said.
Her lawyers filed multiple appeals, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming Read should not be retried on the counts the jury apparently agreed on, saying it would amount to double jeopardy. Each appeal was denied.
Read’s attorneys made motions for a mistrial twice during her second criminal trial, both of which were denied by the judge.
Like her first trial, Read did not take the stand in her own defense.
“I am not testifying,” Read said to reporters outside the courthouse on June 10. “[The jury has] heard my interview clips. They’ve heard my voice. They’ve heard a lot of me.”
Read had added one of the alternate jurors from her first trial to her legal team for the retrial. Victoria George, the alternate juror, is a licensed civil attorney in Massachusetts.
(NEW YORK) — Air India announced on Wednesday it will reduce international service on widebody aircraft by 15% starting June 20 through at least mid-July.
The decision comes less than a week after an Air India airliner carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members en route to the United Kingdom crashed into a building shortly after takeoff on June 12, leaving 246 dead and at least one surviving passenger, local officials and the airline said at the time.
The airline said it’s reducing service due to the safety inspection of aircraft and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which have disrupted operations, resulting in 83 flight cancellations over the past six days.
“Given the compounding circumstances that Air India is facing, to ensure stability of our operations, better efficiency and to minimise inconvenience to passengers, Air India has decided to reduce its international services on widebody aircraft by 15% for the next few weeks,” the airline said in a press release.
Passengers will have the option to either reschedule their flights at no additional cost or receive a full refund.
Air India also said 26 out of the 33 Dreamliners in its fleet have now been returned to service following the required safety inspections by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The airline is also performing “enhanced safety checks” on its Boeing 777 fleet as a precaution and is cooperating with authorities.
The victims of the deadly Air India crash included 241 passengers and crew members, as well as five medical students who were inside the medical college and hospital the aircraft crashed into, according to hospital officials.
Many others inside the building were injured — some seriously — and received treatment, hospital officials said at the time. The Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad confirmed to ABC News that Vishwaskumar Ramesh, one of the passengers, was the sole survivor who was aboard the aircraft during the crash.
The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport, in India’s Gujarat state, the city’s Police Commissioner G.S. Malik said at the time.
Boeing’s Dreamliner planes had not previously been involved in an incident where passenger fatalities were reported.
This plane had more than 41,000 hours of flying time, which is considered average for this aircraft, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
(BOSTON) — A Massachusetts jury has reached a verdict in the retrial of Karen Read, who is accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend in 2022, nearly a year after her first prosecution ended in a mistrial.
The jury began deliberating the afternoon of June 13 in Norfolk County before reaching a verdict Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors allege Read hit her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her car outside the Canton home of fellow police officer Brian Albert in January 2022 and then left him to die there during a major blizzard.
The defense has argued that Read’s vehicle did not hit O’Keefe and instead said O’Keefe was attacked by a dog and beaten by other people who were in the house before he was thrown out in the snow to die.
Read pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, leaving a scene of personal injury and death, and manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and has maintained her innocence.
During deliberations, the jury asked four questions, including, “If we find not guilty on two charges but can’t agree on one charge, is it a hung jury on all three charges or just one charge?” the judge told attorneys in court.
The judge told the jury she is not able to respond to their question, telling attorneys it was a “theoretical question.”
The jury also asked about the time frame for when Read is accused of driving under the influence, whether video clips from Read’s interviews about the case are to be considered as evidence and if she is convicted on a sub-charge, if that would mean she is guilty on the overall charge.
In an unusual moment, Judge Beverly Cannone told the courtroom earlier Wednesday that the jury had indicated during the lunch break that they had reached a verdict, then updated that they did not have a verdict. Cannone sealed that verdict slip and informed the court that there was not yet a verdict “because, as we all know, there is no verdict until it is announced and recorded in open court.”
Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial in July 2024 after the jury could not reach a verdict.
At least four jurors who served on her first trial last year have confirmed that she was found not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, according to Read’s attorneys. However, the jury could not agree on the third charge of manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, the attorneys said.
Her lawyers filed multiple appeals, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming Read should not be retried on the counts the jury apparently agreed on, saying it would amount to double jeopardy. Each appeal was denied.
Read’s attorneys made motions for a mistrial twice during her second criminal trial, both of which were denied by the judge.
Like her first trial, Read did not take the stand in her own defense.
“I am not testifying,” Read said to reporters outside the courthouse on June 10. “[The jury has] heard my interview clips. They’ve heard my voice. They’ve heard a lot of me.”
Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(TUCSON, Ariz.) — A Texas man has been charged for allegedly purchasing explosives he intended to use to attack police during protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles last week, according to the Justice Department .
Grzegorz Vandenberg, 48, is alleged to have purchased fireworks from a travel center in New Mexico, where he reportedly told employees he had prior special forces military experience and could make pipe bombs, according to federal prosecutors.
“Vandenberg informed the cashier that he would be traveling to Los Angeles, California for the riots to kill law enforcement officers or government officials,” charging documents say.
Vandenberg further asked the clerk to identify which fireworks in the store contained the largest amount of explosives and invited them to join him “and his platoon” that he said was waiting to meet with him in California.
“Vandenberg purchased six mortars that hold 60 grams of gun powder each, and 36 large fireworks,” the complaint says.
Based on his concerning comments, the cashier ultimately followed Vandenberg out of the store and took down his license plate and alerted law enforcement.
Vandenberg was placed under arrest last Friday in Tucson, Arizona, according to court records.
“Targeting law enforcement with violence is not protest – it’s a crime,” U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison said in a statement. “Anyone who attempts to harm officers or undermine public safety will be held accountable. Protecting the safety of our communities and upholding the integrity of lawful demonstrations are priorities, and those who cross the line into violence will be prosecuted swiftly and to the fullest extent of the law.”
He does not yet have an attorney listed as representing him.
More than 500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles since protests broke out on June 6. The protests broke out after federal agents executed search warrants authorized by a Los Angeles federal judge at four businesses suspected of unlawfully employing undocumented immigrants and falsifying employment records, according to a criminal complaint.
LA Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday lifted a curfew for the first time after it was put in place on June 10.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(BROOKLYN PARK, Minn.) — A break-in has been reported at the home of slain Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, authorities said.
After the Saturday morning killings, the house was processed by crime scene investigators and then was boarded up early Sunday, Brooklyn Park police said. On Tuesday, Hortman family members took their valuables from the house, police said.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday police said they were alerted to an overnight break-in. They discovered the plywood covering the back window was pried off and the window was broken, police said.
“The home was once again processed by crime scene investigators for evidence of the burglary,” police said. “The home appeared to have been searched by an unknown individual; however, the family has indicated that they don’t believe anything is missing.”
The police department is asking local residents to check their surveillance cameras and call the police with any information.
Vance Boelter is accused of killing Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in Brooklyn Park and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their house in nearby Champlin early Saturday morning, authorities said.
Boelter allegedly showed up to their doors impersonating a police officer and wearing a realistic-looking latex mask, officials said, noting that two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings.
He allegedly “stalked his victims like prey,” acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph Thompson said.
In a search of a home in north Minneapolis tied to Boelter, authorities seized a list of public officials that had a notation under Melissa Hortman’s name reading, “married Mark 2 children 11th term,” according to the affidavit. Another notebook included an added notation next to Melissa Hortman’s name reading, “Big house off golf course 2 ways in to watch from one spot,” the affidavit said.
Boelter allegedly had a list of 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, prosecutors said.
Boelter faces federal charges including stalking and firearms charges and state charges including first-degree murder, officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer — and it’s heading to the most densely populated part of America for a prolonged period.
A heat wave forecast to envelop the Midwest and the Northeast with triple-digit weather is expected to arrive on the heels of the first official day of summer.
But before the sizzle, the country’s midsection and much of the East Coast will have to endure at least a couple of days of severe weather.
Over the next two days, more than 120 million people are under the threat for severe storms from the Midwest to the East Coast.
The risk for severe weather — which could produce damaging wind, tornadoes, large hail and possible flash flooding — is at a level 3 out of 5 on Wednesday from Michigan to Missouri, including the cities of Indianapolis and Louisville. Meanwhile, the risk of severe weather for the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Nashville and Texarkana is at a level 2 out of 5 on Wednesday.
Storms are expected to reach Chicago around the lunch hour on Wednesday and move into Indianapolis, Detroit and Cincinnati later in the afternoon. Nashville and Texarkana are expected to see severe weather Wednesday evening and and overnight.
On Thursday, severe weather is expected to move to the East Coast from North Carolina to Vermont and include Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Out West, extreme heat warnings are in place for Thursday and Friday from Phoenix to Las Vegas, where temperatures could soar to 115 over the region.
The hot weather in the West is also expected to elevate the risk of fire danger from Nevada to Colorado. The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for Wednesday afternoon and into the evening for northwest Colorado and northeast Utah, where 35 mph gusts and single-digit humidity could allow fire to spark and spread rapidly.
By week’s end, daily high temperature records could fall in parts of the West, where places like Denver could top 100 degrees.
Bracing for the season’s first heat wave
Starting on Sunday, the hot weather will invade the Midwest and parts of the Southeast. The heat index is forecast to make it feel like more than 100 degrees in Chicago, Louisville and Nashville.
By Monday, record-breaking daily high temperatures are expected to be widespread across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with highs from the mid-90s to the low-100s.
High humidity will make conditions more stifling for tens of millions of people. The heat index, a measure of what the temperature feels like, is expected to rise to the low to mid-100s in New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C., on Monday and extend into next week.
During the heat wave, nighttime temperatures are expected to only drop into the 70s, meaning that without adequate air conditioning this heat wave will be extremely dangerous for many Americans.
The dangerous heat in the Northeast is not expected to subside until late next week, when clouds and rain will move into the region.
A memorial is seen on the desk of DFL State Rep. Melissa Hortman in the House chambers at the Minnesota State Capitol/Steven Garcia/Getty Images
(GREEN ISLE, Minn.) — Vance Boelter was preoccupied with societal problems and how he could fix them to serve the greater good, according to some of his previous writings and the man who worked with Boelter for more than a decade doing web design for a series of his projects.
Before allegedly carrying out a “political assassination” on Saturday, Boelter was “clearly very religious, very passionate,” and “devout, and sincere in his beliefs,” said Charlie Kalech, CEO of the web design firm J-Town, commissioned by Boelter. But at that time, Boelter appeared to show no signs of the violent extremism of which he’s now accused, Kalech said.
Boelter is charged with killing Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Allegedly posing as a police officer over Father’s Day weekend, authorities said Boelter “shot them in cold blood” in an alleged early-morning rampage that launched a two-day manhunt.
However, in the preceding years, Boelter seemed like a hard worker striving to make his ideas real, and sometimes, struggling to make ends meet. His fervent personality frothed with big, civic-minded ideas on how to “make the world a better place,” Kalech said. In the professional relationship they had, Boelter was clearly “idealistic.”
“I think he sincerely believed in the projects that we worked on, that he was acting for the greater good,” Kalech told ABC News. “I certainly never got the impression he saw himself as a savior. He just thought of himself as a smart guy who figured out the solution to problems, and it’s not so difficult – so let’s just do it. Like a call to action kind of person.”
Most of those grand-scale projects never came to fruition, and the last time Kalech said he had contact with Boelter was May 2022. But in planning documents and PowerPoint presentations shared with ABC News, which Kalech said Boelter wrote for the web design, Boelter detailed lengthy proposals that expressed frustration with what he saw as unjust suffering that needed to be stopped. Some of those projects were also sweeping, to the point of quixotic — even for the deepest-pocketed entrepreneur.
Boelter first reached out to Kalech’s firm for a book he had written, “Revoformation,” which Kalech took to be a mashup between “revolution” and “reformation.” It’s also the name of the ministry Boelter had once tried to get off the ground, according to the organization’s tax forms.
“It seemed to me like maybe he volunteered more than what was good for him. In other words, he gave too much away instead of worrying about earning money, because he didn’t always have money,” Kalech said. “It was never clear to me if the ministry really existed. Are there congregants? Is there a constituency? I don’t know. Or was it like something in his head that he was trying to make? That was never clear to me.”
Kalech recalled that Boelter chose his firm for the work because they are Jerusalem-based, and he wanted to support Israel.
Boelter’s interest in religion’s impact on society is reflected in a “Revoformation” PowerPoint that Kalech said Boelter gave him, dated September 2017.
“I am very concerned that the leadership in the U.S. is slowly turning against Israel because we are losing our Judaic / Christian foundations that was [sic] once very strong,” the presentation said. “I believe that if the Christians are united and the people who are leading this Revoformation are a blessing to Israel that it will be good for both Israel and the U.S.”
Over the years, Boelter would reach out with what appeared to be exponentially ambitious endeavors, Kalech said: “What he wanted to take on, I think, might have been bigger.”
Boelter wanted to end American hunger, according to another project’s PowerPoint. And while the idea would require massive changes to current laws and food regulation, it appeared Boelter dismissed that as surmountable if only elected officials could get on board.
“American Hunger isn’t a food availability problem,” the presentation said. “American Hunger is a tool that has been used to manipulate and control a vast number of American’s [sic], with the highest percentage being people of color. This tool can and should be broken now, and failure to do so will be seen as intentional criminal negligence by future generations.”
“We should be embarrassed as a nation that we let this happen and have not correctly [sic] this injustice 100 years ago,” one slide said.
One slide described how his own lived experience informed his idea, referring to him in the third person: “several times in his life Vance Boelter was the first person on the scene of very bad head on car accidents,” and that he was able to help “without fear of doing something wrong” because he was “protected” by Good Samaritan law – which could and should be applied to food waste, the slide said.
To keep an eye on which lawmakers supported the necessary legislation, “there needs to be a tracking mechanism,” the presentation said, where citizens could “see listed every singe [sic] elected official and where they stand on the Law (Food Providers Good Samaritan Law).”
“Those few that come out and try to convince people that it is better to destroy food than to give it away free to people, will be quickly seen for who they are. Food Slavers that have profited off the hunger of people for years,” the 18-slide, nearly 2,000-word presentation said.
“At least in his mind and on paper, he was solving problems,” Kalech told ABC News. “He would think about things and then have a euphoric moment and write out a manifesto of, How am I going to solve this? And then bring those thoughts to paper and bring that paper to an action plan and try to implement it.”
The last project Kalech said Boelter wanted to engage him for was a multifaceted collection of corporations to help start-up and expanding businesses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, all under the umbrella “Red Lion Group.”
The 14-page, over 6,000-word planning document for the project outlined ideas for what Red Lion Group would offer: ranging widely from “security services” to agricultural and weapons manufacturing sectors, medical supplies, investment services, martial arts, oil and gas and waste management. Red Lion would also serve in media spaces: with “CONGOWOOD” Film Productions “to be what Hollywood is to American movies and what Bollywood is to Indian movies.”
Boelter was to have a 49% minority ownership of the group, with a business partner owning 51%.
“The Africa thing, the Red Lion thing, we didn’t really get into it, because it became pretty apparent pretty soon that he just didn’t have the funds to go ahead,” Kalech said – at least, as far as his web design services were concerned.
“He was interested in doing good,” Kalech said. “But moderation in all things, and when good becomes extreme, it actually becomes bad,” adding that hurting anyone crosses a “red line.”
“The question one keeps coming back to is – what makes the seesaw tip? Like, he’s good, he’s good, he’s good, he’s acting for the greater good, he has all these good ideas, he’s trying to engage community, serving on a government committee, he’s engaging churches and places of worship, and then something happens, and he goes ballistic,” Kalech said.
“Who would do that? Someone who’s absolutely desperate, just seeing that there’s no other choice. That’s the only thing I can imagine. But look, obviously someone like this is not operating on the same frequency as we are,” Kalech said. “They’re blinded by their faith, or their beliefs. And, you know, especially something like murder, it’s so ironic, because that’s one of the big 10.”
