Police are searching for two men suspected of fatally beating a mother-of-four, Keisha Falow, in this alleyway in North Philadelphia, June 7, 2026. (WPVI)
(PHILADELPHIA) — Two suspects are being sought in a horrific homicide in which police allege a mother of four was beaten with bricks and stomped to death during a robbery in North Philadelphia.
The victim, identified as 45-year-old Keisha Furlow, lived near an alley where she was found brutally beaten early Sunday morning, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
“Investigators also recovered two bloodied bricks on the ground in close proximity to the victim, which are believed to have been used in the assault,” police said in a statement on Wednesday to ABC News.
ABC Philadelphia station WPVI obtained security video that captured the deadly incident. In the grainy video, an individual is seen appearing to throw a woman to the ground in the North Philadelphia alley and then hitting her repeatedly in the head with a brick, kicking her, and stomping her face, WPVI reported.
The suspected attacker and an accomplice fled the scene with Furlow’s purse, which was discovered by officers emptied of its contents a few blocks from where the fatal attack occurred.
Police officers were called to investigate a disturbance in the alley off North Opal Street around 6:15 a.m. on Sunday, according to the police statement.
When police arrived, paramedics were already at the scene and pronounced Furlow dead, according to the statement.
“Upon arriving at the location, officers discovered a female victim lying on the ground in the rear alleyway suffering from severe lacerations to her face,” police said in the statement.
Authorities are asking anyone with knowledge of the case to contact Philadelphia homicide detectives.
Neighbors expressed outrage over Furlow’s death, saying she was a mother of four, including an 11-month-old baby.
“I hope whoever did it, I hope that justice will be brought because she didn’t seem to bother anybody in this community, and I just don’t understand it,” neighbor Alexia Zia told WPVI.
Darnel Henry, another North Philadelphia resident, said Furlow’s death is a reminders that “There are demons out here.”
“She didn’t cause no problems with nobody. She did what she did; that was how she lived. But she was at peace with it,” Henry said told WPVI. “But for her to be dead in that alleyway, nobody should go out like that.”
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates stops to speak to the media as he arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee probing the government’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein that Gates “never victimized anyone” and that meeting with Epstein “was a grave error in judgment,” according to his prepared opening remarks.
Gates is facing questions Wednesday about his relationship with the late financier, marking one of the most high-profile interviews conducted by the Oversight Committee since it began probing the government’s handling of its investigations into the notorious sex offender.
“I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone,” Gates testified in his closed-door appearance, according to a copy of his prepared opening statement.
Gates said that Epstein sought to “foster a personal relationship” with him, but said his focus remained on using Epstein to recruit new donors for Gates’ global health initiative.
“My interactions with Epstein began with a limited number of preliminary meetings — three in 2011 and two in 2012 — during which I talked about the goals of my work,” Gates said, according to his statement. “We began more extensive conversations in 2013 and 2014. The discussions focused on identifying potential giving structures, such as donor-advised funds, and how to enroll individuals he claimed were interested in making significant contributions.”
Gates said he can “recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues” but added he “did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” per the statement.
He also told the committee that he Epstein learned “sensitive information about my personal life” — including that he had been unfaithful in his marriage to Melinda Gates.
“These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates said, according to the statement. “As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”
In brief remarks to reporters on his way in Wednesday morning, Gates said, “I’ll start with an opening statement in the hearing room. I hope my testimony is helpful to the work, important work of the committee to find justice for the victims.”
Gates’ association with the late financier has roiled his nonprofit and reshaped the public perception of the tech billionaire who was once the world’s richest man.
“I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him,” Gates said in February.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) first reached out to Gates in March to schedule the behind-closed-doors interview, writing in a letter that the tech billionaire might “have information that will assist in its investigation.” In recent weeks, the Committee has conducted similar transcribed interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff.
“Gates welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee,” a spokesperson for Gates said in March. “While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work.”
Gates’ relationship with Epstein faced a new wave of scrutiny earlier this year when the Department of Justice’s release of Epstein files included correspondence between the two men, as well as cryptic notes drafted by Epstein that hinted at Gates’ extramarital affairs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates apologized to the staff of his nonprofit during a town hall in February and acknowledged that he had affairs with two Russian women that Epstein later discovered. A spokesperson for Gates in a 2023 statement said that Epstein “tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates.”
“In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told ABC News.
Melinda French Gates — who previously said her 2021 divorce from Bill Gates was driven in part by his association with Epstein — said earlier this year that the documents brought back memories of “some very, very painful times” in their marriage.
“Whatever questions remain there … those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband,” she said on NPR’s Wild Card podcast about what she described as a societal “reckoning” over the Epstein files. “They need to answer to those things, not me.”
Members of the Oversight Committee have expressed a desire to learn whether Epstein used his sex trafficking network to lure in wealthy and influential men to blackmail — allegations that the DOJ and FBI said they found “no credible evidence” of last year.
Neither of the women who Gates acknowledged having affairs with — a Russian bridge player and nuclear physicist — were said to have been introduced to Gates by Epstein, though a spokesperson later said that Epstein sought to “leverage” his knowledge of one of his past relationships to “threaten” Gates.
The interview is also likely to touch on how Epstein was able to ingratiate himself with Gates just three years after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. Gates has previously said he was aware of an “18-month thing” that limited Epstein’s travel, and he regrets not further investigating Epstein’s background.
According to documents released earlier this year by the Department of Justice, Gates first met Epstein in 2011.
“I won’t have time to do another meeting and I won’t be able to do the dinner with Jeff Epstein,” Gates wrote in a 2010 email to Boris Nikolic, his former science advisor. “I was looking forward to the dinner.”
Gates later said he hoped he could leverage Epstein’s relationships with “very rich people” to support his global health philanthropic efforts.
“The focus was always: he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end,” Gates told 9News Australia in February.
According to documents released by the DOJ, both men continued to communicate for at least three years, with Epstein at one point urging Gates to use a specific philanthropic vehicle known as a “donor advised fund” to make charitable contributions. At the time, Epstein compared donor advised funds to “cloud computing for the giving world.”
“It is a good analogy,” Gates wrote in a February 2014 email. “It is clearer to me now than before and it could be a great thing.”
But by December 2014, Gates appeared to cool on Epstein’s proposal, suggesting in an email that the plan was not viable for him.
“In terms of the DAF I don’t think we have any people at this point who will move to do something soon,” Gates wrote. “It is a good idea, but it won’t come together with 4-6 partners anytime soon.”
In a statement earlier this year, the Gates Foundation said it did not move forward with Epstein’s fund and never transferred any funds to the disgraced financier.
“On the basis of Epstein’s claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, a small number of foundation employees interacted with Epstein to try to secure this potential funding. Ultimately, the foundation did not pursue any collaboration with Epstein and no fund was ever created,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said in February.
By March, the Gates Foundation commissioned an external review to assess its past engagement with Epstein as well as its policies for vetting philanthropic partnerships. Foundation officials said in a statement they expected to get an update about that review later this summer.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in a photo released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
(WASHIGTON) — Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff told the House Oversight Committee Tuesday that the convicted sex offender was a “master manipulator” and that she was unaware of his crimes, according to her prepared opening remarks and multiple sources familiar with her closed-door testimony.
Groff appeared as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators, which to date has included interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Sarah Kellen, and a prison guard who was on duty the night Epstein died in his jail cell.
In her prepared opening remarks, Groff said she hoped her testimony would “dispel the false notions” that she “knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Groff said, according to a copy of the remarks shared with ABC News.
Groff said that since Epstein’s arrest in 2019, she has struggled to sleep and eat, been the target of harassment and death threats, and been “shunned” by many of her friends and acquaintances.
Groff, who worked for Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, was once described by her boss as an “extension of my brain.”
She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein’s controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007, which she said, “remains her scarlet letter.”
“I am not a conspirator and I never would have agreed to this language,” Groff said in her prepared testimony.
Among her job requirements were scheduling Epstein’s frequent meetings with celebrities, scientists and politicians, booking Epstein’s daily massage appointments when he was in New York, and arranging travel for women linked to Epstein.
Groff said she was told when hired that Epstein’s typical day included a morning muffin, yoga and a massage. She said she made daily massage appointments for Epstein, but “never met any of the masseuses” and never heard from these women or from anyone else that they were minors or that they were sexually abused.
Groff also told lawmakers Tuesday that she never had a romantic or sexual relationship with Epstein and said the message appointments she scheduled for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists, a source said.
Groff could not recall scheduling massages for anyone other than Epstein and former Goldman Sachs chief counsel Kathy Ruemmler at a spa, and said the masseuses were both male and female, sources said. She testified that she would receive the names of the massage therapists from Epstein, and that he instructed her to schedule the massages.
Sources said Groff told lawmakers that she scheduled most of the massages for Epstein’s New York residence. Groff testified that she never witnessed or knew of any sexual abuse.
Groff testified that she never met a single massage therapist in person and believes that Epstein — or Bella Klein, a one-time Epstein associate — would pay them with “petty cash,” sources said. Groff told lawmakers that she would occasionally send cash via couriers, said sources.
Groff said that from the moment she was hired in 2001, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell “established guardrails” and made it clear that she was replaceable.
She said she was told never to associate with their friends.
“Their business was none of my business,” she said she was told. She recalled that she was once “torched” by Epstein after he found out she had attended a party with one of his contacts, but he stopped short of firing her.
“In hindsight, I wish he had fired me,” she said.
Groff explained that she did not leave her job with Epstein after his arrest in 2006, because Epstein lied to her and “insisted that he had been blackmailed and set up,” she said in her prepared remarks.
“It was a shakedown, he claimed, for money,” she said. “In my mind, that was the reasons that he was treated so leniently by law-enforcement for such a serious crime.”
She described her now-deceased former boss as a “master manipulator and deceiver who separated his legitimate life from his secret life as an abuser” and made sure “those two worlds did not collide.”
“Members of the Committee, my heart breaks for these women. I believe them,” Groff said in concluding her opening remarks. “Words cannot express how badly I feel that I was employed by Mr. Epstein during the time he abused these women. I will live with this horrible feeling for the rest of my life. But what I cannot and should not live with are the false innuendos and accusations that I knowingly aided his evil conduct.”
Last September at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda specifically called out Groff, alleging that Groff had called her so many times to go to Epstein’s place for a massage that she dropped out of high school before the ninth grade.
Lacerda — who was one of the key witnesses that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment for child sex trafficking — told ABC News in an interview this week that Groff was the conduit to Epstein.
“Anything that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Lacerda told ABC News in an interview, “had to go through Lesley Groff.”
Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Groff, declined comment in advance of her appearance on Capitol Hill. He previously told ABC News that Groff “never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18, and had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever.”
“Ms. Groff, a parent herself, is incredibly shocked and deeply upset about the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein,” Bachner said.
After Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors in New York included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Bachner informed the government, just four days after Epstein’s arrest, that his client “would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination” if called to appear before a grand jury.
Prosecutors informed her lawyers that “numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused,” and that she should consider cooperating with the investigation, according to DOJ records released in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Groff, now 59, eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that “making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make” for Epstein, and said that scheduling massages was “around 1%” of her job.
Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001, told the FBI she was immediately struck by Epstein’s lifestyle and the company he kept, describing it as “pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, et cetera.”
“Groff felt, ‘Wow,'” according to an FBI account of her interview.
Groff was initially paid a salary of $60,000 a year, but saw it doubled to $120,000 by Epstein four years later, DOJ records show.
The New York Times reported in 2005 that Epstein bought Groff a new Mercedes and paid for a nanny to ensure she would keep working for him.
“There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein said of Groff, according to the newspaper’s account.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
When Epstein was arrested a second time in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Federal prosecutors in 2021 informed Groff that she would not be charged, according to a statement from her attorneys.
“After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff,” the statement said.
Lacerda said she hopes the congressional investigators press Groff for answers.
“I just think that she should be honest about it so that we can have some accountability here,” she said.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on his way in Tuesday morning that he believed Groff has “information that is very valuable to our investigation.”
“Hopefully, we’ll learn more today,” Comer said.
The chairman reiterated that the committee is conducting “the most thorough investigation ever of Epstein.”
“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the truth to the American people. If there’s an opportunity for accountability, we sure want to see that happen,” he said.
Groff did not speak to reporters upon her arrival.
The booking photo for Karmelo Anthony. (Frisco Police Department)
(FRISCO, Texas) — A teen was found guilty of murder over the fatal stabbing of another teen at a high school track meet last year and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Karmelo Anthony, 19, was indicted on first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco, Texas, in April 2025.
Prosecutors called the stabbing “senseless” and “plain and simple murder,” while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense.
Following the announcement of the jury’s announcement, Metcalf’s parents and his twin brother delivered emotional victim impact statements, addressing Anthony directly.
“We will never know what our future could have been,” Meghan Metcalf, Austin Metcalf’s mother, said, according to WFAA. “For journalists, activists, this is a story. For our family, this is our reality.”
Jeff Metcalf, Austin Metcalf’s father, said his son’s death destroyed the person he used to be.
“People think grief is sadness, it is not. It is rage. Pure unfiltered rage,” he said, as he slammed his fist on a table, according to WFAA.
The jury began deliberating midday Tuesday before reaching the guilty murder verdict in three hours, according to a court spokesperson. The jurors also could have considered manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years.
The same jury reached a decision on the sentence after several more hours of deliberation on Tuesday.
After being remanded to the custody of the sheriff’s office, Anthony could be seen crying when he returned to the court for the punishment phase, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA, which was in the courtroom for the trial.
Anthony’s mother was the only person to take the stand during the punishment phase, asking the jurors to show him mercy as he is sorry for what he did, WFAA reported. The judge said that Anthony waived his right to testify during the punishment phase, according to the station.
The murder charge carried a sentence of five years to life in prison. The state agreed to allow jurors to consider “sudden passion,” which, if proven, would have limited the sentence from two to 20 years, according to WFAA. The defense argued that Anthony was overwhelmed by a strong emotion and acted before having time to calm down.
The deadly stabbing occurred at a Frisco Independent School District stadium on April 2, 2025, during a track and field competition involving multiple schools in the district.
Police said Metcalf, an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School, was stabbed during an altercation under his school’s tent in the stadium bleachers. Witnesses said the two got into an argument over Anthony, a then-17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, being under Metcalf’s school tent during the rainy track meet.
Jurors heard testimony over four days at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas. Anthony did not take the stand in his own defense.
Judge John Roach imposed a gag order in the case, restricting what those involved can say, and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the trial due to the attention the case has garnered.
Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye told jurors that the stabbing was not self-defense but “unjustified” murder, according to WFAA.
In his closing argument on Tuesday, Wirskye claimed that Anthony provoked Metcalf, questioned why the defendant didn’t walk away and called the stabbing disproportionate.
“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab — especially if you provoke a shove,” Wirskye told jurors, according to WFAA.
Defense attorney Mike Howard told jurors that Anthony had gone to the Memorial tent to get out of the rain when Metcalf confronted him and told him to leave, WFAA reported. Howard said Anthony “acted in fear and chaos” after Metcalf pushed him, and stabbed the other teen in self-defense, according to WFAA.
During his closing argument on Tuesday, Howard said Metcalf had “no legal right” to use force on Anthony, WFAA reported. In response to contentions that Anthony could have just left, the defense attorney said, “I am sure he wishes he did,” according to WFAA.
Multiple students who were at the track meet that day testified that they saw Metcalf push Anthony, who was seated on the bleacher, with some describing it as a two-handed push, like a “lineman move,” while others said it was a one-handed “small shove,” WFAA reported.
One witness testified that Anthony was asked to leave the tent about 15 times, according to WFAA. Some recalled Anthony saying, “Touch me and see what happens,” during the altercation, which witnesses said lasted about four to six minutes, according to WFAA. Another witness quoted Metcalf as telling Anthony, “I’m not going to fight you,” the station reported.
Surveillance footage from the track meet played in court did not show the stabbing, and some of the witnesses were asked to demonstrate the incident, according to WFAA.
After the stabbing, witnesses said Anthony jogged away from the tent, and a coach who spoke to him on the track testified that he said, “He put his hands on me. I stabbed him,” according to WFAA.
A pocket knife used in the stabbing was found on the bleachers, police said. Collin County Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Ventura testified that Metcalf was stabbed on the left side of his chest, and the knife perforated his right ventricle, according to WFAA.
Several people spoke during the trial of the efforts to save Metcalf. A football coach who was helping at the track meet testified that he put pressure on the stab wound, and Memorial’s athletic trainer said she did CPR until paramedics arrived, according to WFAA.
“Everybody was praying,” Memorial High School head track coach Robert Starr said in emotional testimony, according to WFAA. “I just knew Austin was gone.”
Metcalf was transported to an area hospital, where he was ultimately pronounced dead, police said.
Frisco ISD reacted to the verdict, saying in a statement, “We respect the judicial process and will continue to support our students with compassion and care.”
“We know this trial has brought strong emotions and deep grief, and we ask that our community continue to support each other with respect, sensitivity and understanding,” the statement continued.
The booking photo for Karmelo Anthony. (Frisco Police Department)
A teen has been found guilty of murder over the fatal stabbing of another teen at a high school track meet last year.
Karmelo Anthony, 19, was indicted on first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco, Texas, in April 2025.
Prosecutors called the stabbing “senseless” and “plain and simple murder,” while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense.
The murder charge carries a sentence of up to life in prison. Ahead of closing arguments on Tuesday, the judge decided that jurors could also consider manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA, which was in the courtroom for the trial.
The jury began deliberating midday Tuesday before reaching a verdict in three hours, according to a court spokesperson. Anthony could be seen crying when he returned to the court for his sentencing, which will be determined by the jurors, the station reported.
Anthony’s mother was the only person to take the stand during the punishment phase, asking the jurors to show him mercy as he is sorry for what he did, WFAA reported.
The deadly stabbing occurred at a Frisco Independent School District stadium on April 2, 2025, during a track and field competition involving multiple schools in the district.
Police said Metcalf, an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School, was stabbed during an altercation under his school’s tent in the stadium bleachers. Witnesses said the two got into an argument over Anthony, a then-17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, being under Metcalf’s school tent during the rainy track meet.
Jurors heard testimony over four days. Anthony did not take the stand in his own defense.
Judge John Roach imposed a gag order in the case, restricting what those involved can say, and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the trial due to the attention the case has garnered.
Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye told jurors that the stabbing was not self-defense but “unjustified” murder, according to WFAA.
In his closing argument on Tuesday, Wirskye claimed that Anthony provoked Metcalf, questioned why the defendant didn’t walk away and called the stabbing disproportionate.
“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab — especially if you provoke a shove,” Wirskye told jurors, according to WFAA.
Defense attorney Mike Howard told jurors that Anthony had gone to the Memorial tent to get out of the rain when Metcalf confronted him and told him to leave, WFAA reported. Howard said Anthony “acted in fear and chaos” after Metcalf pushed him, and stabbed the other teen in self-defense, according to WFAA.
During his closing argument on Tuesday, Howard said Metcalf had “no legal right” to use force on Anthony, WFAA reported. In response to contentions that Anthony could have just left, the defense attorney said, “I am sure he wishes he did,” according to WFAA.
Multiple students who were at the track meet that day testified that they saw Metcalf push Anthony, who was seated on the bleacher, with some describing it as a two-handed push, like a “lineman move,” while others said it was a one-handed “small shove,” WFAA reported.
One witness testified that Anthony was asked to leave the tent about 15 times, according to WFAA. Some recalled Anthony saying, “Touch me and see what happens,” during the altercation, which witnesses said lasted about four to six minutes, according to WFAA. Another witness quoted Metcalf as telling Anthony, “I’m not going to fight you,” the station reported.
Surveillance footage from the track meet played in court did not show the stabbing, and some of the witnesses were asked to demonstrate the incident, according to WFAA.
After the stabbing, witnesses said Anthony jogged away from the tent, and a coach who spoke to him on the track testified that he said, “He put his hands on me. I stabbed him,” according to WFAA.
A pocket knife used in the stabbing was found on the bleachers, police said. Collin County Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Ventura testified that Metcalf was stabbed on the left side of his chest, and the knife perforated his right ventricle, according to WFAA.
Several people spoke during the trial of the efforts to save Metcalf. A football coach who was helping at the track meet testified that he put pressure on the stab wound, and Memorial’s athletic trainer said she did CPR until paramedics arrived, according to WFAA.
“Everybody was praying,” Memorial High School head track coach Robert Starr said in emotional testimony, according to WFAA. “I just knew Austin was gone.”
Metcalf was transported to an area hospital, where he was ultimately pronounced dead, police said.
Frisco ISD reacted to the verdict, saying in a statement, “We respect the judicial process and will continue to support our students with compassion and care.”
“We know this trial has brought strong emotions and deep grief, and we ask that our community continue to support each other with respect, sensitivity and understanding,” the statement continued.
In this photo illustration, collectible Pokémon cards are viewed in a store on January 23, 2026 in Pasadena, California. A surge in value for Pokémon cards in recent years has triggered a string of robberies in Southern California, along with New York, Texas, and Massachusetts in recent months. (Photo Illustration by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(CALIFORNIA) — A California card store became the latest target in a string of Pokémon trading card thefts after suspects burglarized a location and made off with the collectibles in minutes.
Masked suspects were caught on surveillance cameras leaping over display cases at The Card Lab in Brentwood on Saturday night and stealing $15,000 worth of Pokémon cards in under 40 seconds, police said.
The suspects drove off in a Nissan Altima and are still on the loose, according to police.
Ronnie Hackett, The Card Lab’s owner who opened the store two months ago, told ABC affiliate KGO that the manager was on another level of the store when the theft went down.
“My first thought was ‘I hope that my employee was OK,’ and I was relieved to see that she was,” he told the station.
The store was closed for a few days to get additional security measures in place.
The Brentwood theft took place days after a similar threat went down on the other side of the country.
Masked thieves burglarized Big Pack Hobby Shop in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, on Thursday, smashing through a glass door and stealing $40,000 to $50,000 worth of cards and merchandise, according to police.
The burglary happened in under two minutes and was caught on camera, authorities said.
“This was like a dream of mine opening the card store, we just celebrated our three-year anniversary yesterday actually, this is a passion of mine, as much as it sucks and it could happen again, I’m just going to keep going because this is what I love,” Pablo Rancier, the store’s owner, told WABC.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in a photo released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
(NEW YORK) — Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff told the House Oversight Committee Tuesday that the convicted sex offender was a “master manipulator” and that she was unaware of his crimes, according to multiple sources familiar with her closed-door testimony.
Groff is appearing as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators, which to date has included interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Sarah Kellen, and a prison guard who was on duty the night Epstein died in his jail cell.
Groff, who worked for Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, was once described by her boss as an “extension of my brain.”
Among her job requirements were scheduling Epstein’s frequent meetings with celebrities, scientists and politicians, booking Epstein’s daily massage appointments when he was in New York, and arranging travel for women linked to Epstein. She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein’s controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007.
According to federal prosecutors, “numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused.”
Groff told lawmakers Tuesday that she never had a romantic or sexual relationship with Epstein and said the message appointments she scheduled for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists, source said. Groff could not recall scheduling massages for anyone other than Epstein and former Goldman Sachs chief counsel Kathy Ruemmler at a spa, and said the masseuses were both male and female, sources said. She testified that she would receive the names of the massage therapists from Epstein, and that he instructed her to schedule the massages.
Sources said Groff told lawmakers that she scheduled most of the massages for Epstein’s New York residence. Groff testified that she never witnessed or knew of any sexual abuse.
Groff testified that she never met a single massage therapist in person and believes that Epstein — or Bella Klein, a one-time Epstein associate — would pay them with “petty cash,” sources said. Groff told lawmakers that she would occasionally send cash via couriers, said sources.
Groff testified that when Epstein was arrested in 2006, he told Groff that he was blackmailed, sources said. She told lawmakers that she did not know she was tied to the 2008 non-prosecution agreement as a listed co-conspirator, which she described that as a “scarlet letter” she wears to this day, according to sources.
Groff said Epstein told her again after the 2008 plea deal that he was blackmailed. Groff said she resigned in 2019 when Epstein was arrested again, sources said.
She described to lawmakers that her relationship with Epstein was strictly business, sources said. Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell told Groff that she should not associate with their friends or colleagues, and insisted their business was none of her business, sources added.
She told lawmakers that Epstein had a lot of people in his circle, and she did not find it odd that he had a “large” massage list for individuals across the world, sources said.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on his way in Tuesday morning that he believed Groff has “information that is very valuable to our investigation.”
“Hopefully, we’ll learn more today,” Comer said.
The chairman reiterated that the committee is conducting “the most thorough investigation ever of Epstein.”
“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the truth to the American people. If there’s an opportunity for accountability, we sure want to see that happen,” he said.
Groff did not speak to reporters upon her arrival.
Last September at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda specifically called out Groff, alleging that Groff had called her so many times to go to Epstein’s place for a massage that she dropped out of high school before the ninth grade.
Lacerda — who was one of the key witnesses that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment for child sex trafficking — told ABC News in an interview this week that Groff was the conduit to Epstein.
“Anything that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Lacerda told ABC News in an interview, “had to go through Lesley Groff.”
Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Groff, declined comment in advance of her appearance on Capitol Hill. He previously told ABC News that Groff “never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18, and had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever.”
“Ms. Groff, a parent herself, is incredibly shocked and deeply upset about the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein,” Bachner said.
After Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Bachner informed the government, just four days after Epstein’s arrest, that his client “would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination” if called to appear before a grand jury.
Groff, now 59, eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that “making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make” for Epstein, and said that scheduling massages was “around 1%” of her job.
Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001, told the FBI she was immediately struck by Epstein’s lifestyle and the company he kept, describing it as “pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, et cetera.”
“Groff felt, ‘Wow,'” according to an FBI account of her interview.
Groff was initially paid a salary of $60,000 a year, but saw it doubled to $120,000 by Epstein four years later, DOJ records show.
The New York Times reported in 2005 that Epstein bought Groff a new Mercedes and paid for a nanny to ensure she would keep working for him.
“There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein said of Groff, according to the newspaper’s account.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”
When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”
When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Federal prosecutors in 2021 informed Groff that she would not be charged, according to a statement from her attorneys.
“After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff,” the statement said.
Lacerda said she hopes the congressional investigators press Groff for answers.
“I just think that she should be honest about it so that we can have some accountability here,” she said.
NYPD SRG officers push back a crowd outside of a watch party at Bryant Park for Game 3 of the NBA Finals between New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs on June 8, 2026 in New York City. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — While most New York Knicks fans remained peaceful following the home team’s first loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, police said some were arrested in clashes with law enforcement officers and for other rowdy behavior.
At least 21 people were arrested following Monday night’s Game 3 of the championship series played at Madison Square Garden, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
After the game, in which the Spurs broke the Knicks’ 13-game playoff winning streak, fans spilled out of a watch party in Manhattan’s Bryant Park and onto 42nd Street, where some allegedly turned violent.
The NYPD said that in the immediate aftermath of the game, several people allegedly threw beer bottles at or punched police officers, climbed on light poles and scaffolding, got into fistfights, and jumped on top of cars and taxi cabs.
Eight people were arrested on charges of assaulting police officers, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration, according to the NYPD. Thirteen others were issued criminal court summonses for disorderly conduct, the NYPD said.
Videos shared on social media showed some fans clashing with police officers, and other videos captured apparent Knicks fans attacking San Antonio fans on the streets, ripping off their Spurs jerseys.
One video showed NYPD officers wearing riot helmets escorting several people wearing Spurs jerseys to a taxi cab to protect them from a crowd yelling at them.
With President Donald Trump attending Monday night’s game, the NYPD and the Secret Service put Madison Square Garden on lockdown, creating a security perimeter around the Garden and only allowing fans with game tickets or a legitimate excuse to get close to the arena.
Earlier on Monday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that a fan watch party scheduled to occur outside of Madison Square Garden on Monday night was canceled, but other watch parties were scheduled around the city, including the one in Bryant Park.
Tisch said the watch party outside the Garden will resume for Game 4 on Wednesday night.
The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series two games to one in the team’s quest to win its first NBA championship since 1973.
“We will have no tolerance for violence, particularly violence against police officers, destruction of property, climbing on light poles or structures, blocking emergency vehicles or other chaotic behavior,” Tisch said at a Monday morning press conference.
Nick Reiner appears with Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene during his arraignment in Los Angeles County Superior Court on February 23, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Torres-Pool/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — Nick Reiner says he needs money from his trust fund to help pay for his defense team, specifically to rehire famed defense attorney Alan Jackson, according to a new court filing. The petition alleges that Reiner is entitled to the funds in his trust, which were required to be released to him when he turned 30, something he claims did not happen.
Reiner, 32, was charged with the murders of his parents, renowned director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner, in December.
Reiner was previously represented by Jackson, but Jackson abruptly resigned from the case in January for reasons that were not shared at the time.
The petition alleges Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, had initially agreed to pay Jackson’s fees, but in January, “Nick learned that Jackson and his firm were forced to withdraw because the anticipated funding did not materialize, and the Public Defender was appointed to take over Nick’s defense.”
It is not known why funding from Reiner’s siblings was unavailable.
“Since then, Nick has repeatedly asked that Jackson’s firm resume its representation if funds become available,” the petition states, adding that Jackson “has reaffirmed not only that he ‘stands ready, willing, and able to resume [his] representation,’ but that he is ‘committed to representing’ Nick and ‘willing to consider reasonable alternatives to the original fee arrangement.'”
“These are not estate assets, and Nick does not seek them from his parents’ estate,” the petition adds. “They are his own funds. Nick has no other means — to pay for his legal expenses, or for his basic support needs while incarcerated.”
The petition specifically notes that the trust in question was created for Reiner by his parents “more than 30 years ago, when Nick was an infant,” and that similar “children’s” trusts were also created for his siblings.
The petition argues that these children’s trusts were “funded independently” of the larger family trusts that hold the Reiner family’s estate, and that the terms of the independent trusts required one half to be paid out when the beneficiary turned 30, with the other half disbursed when they turned 35.
“Nick turned 30 on September 14, 2023 — more than two and a half years ago — at which point his right to one-half of the Trust vested and became due to him as a matter of right. But he did not receive his Mandatory Age-30 Distribution then, and he has not received it since,” the petition alleges.
The petition claims the “Current Trustee” overseeing Reiner’s independent trust “has offered a shifting series of excuses and justifications, none of which can be reconciled with the Trust’s plain terms — most recently, unsubstantiated ‘concerns’ about Nick’s so-called competence to ‘manage a trust.'”
It adds, “Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation.”
Jackson told reporters in January that he “had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel” due to “circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control.”
“Sadly, it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation of Nick,” Jackson said at the time.
Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on Dec. 14, 2025. The night before their deaths, Nick Reiner — who had been living on his parents’ property at the time — got into an argument with Rob Reiner at a holiday party and was seen acting strangely, sources told ABC News in December.
Nick Reiner was taken into custody in downtown Los Angeles hours after the bodies were discovered. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders, to which he pleaded not guilty.
He remains in jail on no bail. His is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing in September.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the description of the trust fund in question, which is an individual “children’s” trust and not a family trust.
