The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office released this image of a man in connection with a homicide, Feb. 2, 2026, in rural Momence near the Illinois/Indiana border. (Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office)
(MOMENCE, Ill.) — Investigators are searching for a man believed to be behind the fatal shooting of a rural bar owner in Momence, Illinois.
Courtney Drysdale, 30, was pronounced dead at a bar near the Illinois-Indiana state line on Monday shortly before noon, according to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators have released photos of the suspect and his vehicle that were captured by security footage at the bar.
Deputies responded to a report of a possible dead individual and classified the incident as a homicide based on evidence gathered during a preliminary examination on Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Drysdale was preparing to open the bar just before 11 a.m. when a suspect entered the bar and brandished a firearm, demanding money from the cash register, Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said at a press conference Tuesday.
Despite Drysdale’s cooperation, the suspect allegedly shot her twice “execution style,” Downey said.
Before fleeing the scene, the suspect attempted to remove what he believed was a digital recording device from a wall, but investigators were able to recover video evidence, Downey said.
No one else was in the bar at the time of the killing, Downey said.
The suspect was seen leaving the scene with a firearm and is believed to be armed and dangerous, according to Downey. The suspect was last seen traveling east toward Indiana in a white Ford or BMW sedan, with a sunroof and “distinctive dark rims,” Downey said.
Investigators are reviewing footage from the bar to determine if the suspect had previously been to the bar, according to Downey.
A $5,000 reward is being offered to anyone who can help positively identify the person or vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. Anyone who sees the suspect is asked to keep their distance and contact authorities.
Anyone who has information related to the murder is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at (815) 932-7463.
“Courtney was deeply loved not only by her family and her young daughter, but also by the many patrons and friends whose lives she touched,” Downey said.
“We are fully committed to bringing the person responsible to justice,” Downey said.
The Department of Homeland Security seal (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Domestic partners are “increasingly likely” to use chemical and biological toxins to kill or harm their partners, a trend so alarming that the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to law enforcement.
The warning came in a January intelligence note, obtained by ABC News, that said people intent on harming or killing their domestic partners are turning to poisons like cyanide or ricin to do it, which are “often sourced from online black markets or made at home.”
“The use of chemical and biological toxins in domestic violence cases poses a significant challenge for detection and prosecution due to the often subtle and delayed onset of symptoms,” the intelligence note said.
The document highlighted as an example the case of a Colorado dentist convicted of first-degree murder last year after gradually poisoning his wife with a mix of arsenic, cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, the latter a medication commonly found in over-the-counter eye drops. The dentist secretly dosed his wife by adding the poisons to her protein shakes, according to prosecutors, resulting in her being hospitalized three times in a 10-day span, and then gave her a fatal dose of cyanide while she was ill in the hospital.
“Incidents using chemical or biological toxins to harm or kill are driven by several factors including accessibility of online information, ease of obtaining certain chemicals, and perceived difficulty in detection,” the DHS note said. It also listed an additional 16 cases in the U.S. since 2019 in which individuals were accused or convicted of poisoning current or former spouses, domestic or romantic partners, or family members, 10 of which resulted in the victim’s death.
Substances most often used in domestic poisoning incidents are antifreeze, eye drops, the synthetic opioid fentanyl and the prescription medication colchicine, as well as cyanide and the chemical element thallium, according to the note.
“These substances are often chosen for their ability to mimic natural illnesses, complicating detection and investigation,” the note said.
“If the trend of using chemical or biological toxins to kill or harm continues, we may see an increase in fatalities and long-term health consequences among survivors,” as well as an increase in the “need for specialized training and equipment for first responders,” according to the DHS note.
“The recurring use of these toxins by domestic partners highlights the need for more awareness, regulation, and forensic expertise to address this trend in domestic partner violence,” the note further said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced on Sunday that a woman missing in Arizona is the mother of “Today Show” host Savannah Guthrie. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department)
(NEW YORK) — Investigations are continuing on Tuesday after the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie disappeared over the weekend in what authorities believe was a possible abduction from her Arizona home, police said.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen in the Catalina Foothills area on Saturday night, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Her family reported her missing on Sunday around noon local time, authorities said.
Investigators do not believe Nancy Guthrie left her home willingly and that she was abducted in her sleep early Sunday morning, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told ABC News.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators processed Nancy Guthrie’s home on Sunday and “saw some things at the home that were concerning to us,” and that it is considered a crime scene.
“She did not leave on her own, we know that,” Nanos said during a press briefing on Monday.
DNA samples collected from Nancy Guthrie’s home have been confirmed to belong to her, though authorities have not yet confirmed if they were blood, the sheriff’s department said Tuesday.
The sheriff is planning to hold a briefing on the case at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Nancy Guthrie is described as having some physical ailments and limited mobility, but does not have cognitive issues, her family said, according to the sheriff.
She takes medication that if she doesn’t have in 24 hours, “it could be fatal,” Nanos said Monday.
Authorities said they are reviewing the home’s security cameras and have Nancy Guthrie’s cell phone.
Sources briefed on the probe told ABC News that investigators are focusing on Nancy Guthrie’s electronic devices to see if there is data that could point to an assailant or a specific time when the abduction would have occurred.
Investigators are also paying attention to the condition of the home and whether things were moved or left out of place, which could suggest that someone with greater strength or agility was in the home and when, sources said.
“Right now, we don’t see this as a search mission, as much as we do a crime scene,” Nanos said.
In an Instagram post on Monday night, Savannah Guthrie asked her followers for prayers amid the investigation.
“Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment,” the talk show host wrote, alongside a prayer.
Rufe filed an inspection report on Monday evening, where she wrote that the 34 panels, both glass and metal, are stored in a “secure” place at the National Constitution Center and have not been “destroyed,” but Rufe noted that some panels “exhibited damage.”
“Still to be determined by the Court is the extent of any damage and the integrity of the exhibits regarding their amenability to being restored to their original condition,” Rufe wrote.
Counsel for the Trump administration and for the city of Philadelphia attended the inspection, after which Rufe told reporters that she observed some “marks” on the panels but could not determine when or how they were made.
The panels, which were removed by the National Parks Service on Jan. 22, tell the stories of the nine enslaved Africans who were held by President George Washington at the President’s House, an open-air outdoor exhibit and memorial at Independence National Historical Park that was built where Washington’s mansion originally stood.
The memorial honors the lives of Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe Richardson, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond, all of whom were held at the site by Washington.
Rufe ordered the federal government on Monday to “securely store all removed panels and to mitigate any further deterioration or damage.”
During a hearing on Friday, Rufe said that she planned to inspect the panels as she considers whether NPS’s removal caused “irreparable harm” as she considers a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the city of Philadelphia. The injunction would block the Trump administration from making any further changes to the President’s House as the lawsuit moves forward.
Rufe filed a post-hearing order on Monday, barring any further “removal and/or destruction of the President’s House” site “until further order from the court.”
Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, an advocacy group founded in 2002 by attorney Michael Coard, launched the 2002 campaign to urge the city to include a slavery memorial in the building of the President’s House. The group, which filed a motion to file an amicus brief in support of the city’s lawsuit, also participated in the inspection.
Coard told reporters on Monday that seeing the panels stored in a room against a wall was “completely disrespectful, demoralizing, defiling.”
“There were scratches and marks on several of the 34 items we saw, there was no cushioning. They were up against the wall. They were on the cement floor,” Coard said. “Had they slipped, the glass items would have fallen to the ground.”
“I can’t say, being quite candid, that there was any damage, there was no damage, but there was desecration, and for me, it’s the same thing,” Coard said.
Asked how he defines “desecration,” Coard said, “The Sixth and Market Street site where America’s first White House stood is historical holy ground. And anytime you defile holy ground, you desecrate it.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks onstage at Conrad Washington on January 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Democracy Forward)
(NEW YORK) — Observers from the New York Attorney General’s office will monitor and document federal immigration enforcement actions across the state, Letitia James announced Tuesday.
The legal observers, drawn from volunteers in the attorney general’s office, will not interfere with enforcement actions, and wear easily identifiable vests as they document Immigration Customs and Enforcement activity, she said.
“We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,” James said in a statement. “My office is launching the Legal Observation Project to examine federal enforcement activity in New York and whether it remains within the bounds of the law.”
The legal observers are meant to compile independent records of ICE conduct in the state that could, where potential violations occur, assist the attorney general’s office in any litigation.
The attorney general also urged New York residents to submit videos and other documentation of federal immigration enforcement to her office’s website.
The entrance to a U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) detention facility is seen following a shooting, on September 25, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(ARLINGTON, Texas) — A family in Arlington, Texas, grieved as they laid 30-year-old Wael Tarabishi to rest. His father, Maher Tarabishi, however, was not at the funeral. Instead, he was at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center nearly three hours away in Anson, Texas.
Wael faced a long battle with Advanced Pompe Disease, causing him to be severely disabled. Maher was by his side through it all, and has been described as his son’s arms, legs and lungs because of how involved and essential he was in his life.
Maher, a Jordanian native, overstayed a tourist visa here in the U.S. in 1994, his family and advocates said via @freemahertrabishi on Instagram account. The U.S. government allowed Maher to remain in the country legally to care for Wael through a Supervision Order in 2008, according to the account.
Maher presented himself at the Dallas field office to fulfill conditions of the Supervision Order last year for his annual check-in appointment, but found the building under temporary closure, the account noted. In an act of good will, the account said, Maher visited the office again once it re-opened.
Despite maintaining lawful status and carrying valid documentation of Wael’s condition, officers placed Maher in handcuffs and was told to “shut up and sit down” as he pleaded with them, according to the account.
After Maher was detained by ICE in October 2025, his family and advocates rallied to reunite the father and son. They said Wael, a U.S. citizen, would die without Maher’s care. Three months later, he did.
After Wael’s death on Jan. 23, heartbroken family and supporters desperately tried to get ICE to allow Maher to attend his son’s funeral on Thursday. Late Tuesday night, ICE gave final word that Maher would be denied permission.
“America speaks of freedom and family values yet it stole Maher from his dying son,” Shahd Arnaout, Maher’s daughter-in-law, posted on her Instagram today. “A funeral without Maher!!!!! This is a human rights crime.”
In a statement to ABC News, ICE accused Maher of being part of an organization the U.S. deems a terrorist group.
“Maher Mohd Tarabishi, 62, a criminal alien and self-admitted member of the Palestine Liberation Organization — a murderous foreign terrorist organization that has carried out countless terrorist attacks and plane hijackings, was arrested by ICE officers Oct. 28 in Dallas, Texas. Shockingly, Tarabishi has been permitted to remain in the U.S. illegally for nearly two decades despite being ordered removed from the U.S. by both an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals,” the agency said.
According to ICE, the Obama administration proactively filed a joint motion to dismiss the immigration case against Tarabishi in 2011, “despite the fact that he had admitted to being a member of a foreign terrorist organization” and had been ordered removed. The agency said its arrest of Tarabishi “shows clear evidence of the game-changing impact the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts are having.”
Shahd, a consistent voice for her family, vehemently denied these claims in an interview with ABC News’ Rhiannon Ally last week.
“We denied that he’s part of PLO or any other part of organization. And we did, his lawyer did,” she said. “He went to the Dallas Field Immigration Center and he spoke to an ICE agent and they respond with the no. He requested to go and at least to say goodbye and to the funeral and both answer was no. So why are they doing that?”
Ali Elhorr, attorney for Maher Tarbishi at Aspire Immigration Law, PLLC, said in a press release that he was profoundly disappointed in the decision and shared details of the process.
“We were in communication with multiple ICE officers who had shown the willingness to facilitate Maher’s supervised release to attend Wael’s burial … Initial steps in the process had already begun when I received a call from the ICE officer with whom I had been in contact,” he said. “The officer informed me that his director stepped in and told him that Maher would not be allowed to attend Wael’s burial. This was the final decision.”
Heartbroken, Shahd explained that Wael’s final wishes were to be with his father.
“We were trying so hard to let him out, to let Maher out, at least to say goodbye to Wael before he died. Because that’s what Wael’s wish was, ‘To say good-bye to my dad. At least let me see him one more time. At least, let me just maybe touch his hand before I die … ‘ ” he said. “Wael is a U.S. citizen And he asked for his dad, it was very simple ask for him. He trusted his country and he trusted the system. But they failed.”
Shahd described Wael as “an angel” and “an amazing person.”
“With everything Wael went through and all the hardship that he had, he always cared about his family. He always made us laugh,” she said. “Him and his father, it wasn’t just a normal relationship between any father and a son. No, he was his best friend. He was his caregiver. He was dad. He was everything for him.”
She said that she and many supporters believe ICE is directly responsible for Wael’s tragic death.
“ICE is responsible of the death of Wael Tarabishi. They may not kill him with a bullet, but they killed him inside.”
In her Instagram post last week, Shahd promised not to forget Wael.
“Me and the girls will miss you every single day. You will always live in our hearts. I will keep speaking your name, I will keep sharing your story, and I will keep every promise I made. I won’t stop until your dad is out and our family gets the justice and peace you deserved.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced on Sunday that a woman missing in Arizona is the mother of “Today Show” host Savannah Guthrie. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department)
(NEW YORK) — Investigations are continuing this morning after the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie disappeared over the weekend in what authorities believe was a possible abduction early Sunday morning from her Arizona home, police said.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen in the Catalina Foothills area on Saturday night, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Her family reported her missing on Sunday around noon local time, authorities said.
Investigators do not believe Nancy Guthrie left her home willingly and that she was abducted in her sleep early Sunday morning, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told ABC News.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators processed Nancy Guthrie’s home on Sunday and “saw some things at the home that were concerning to us,” and that it is considered a crime scene.
“She did not leave on her own, we know that,” Nanos said during a press briefing on Monday.
Nancy Guthrie is described as having some physical ailments and limited mobility, but does not have cognitive issues, her family said, according to the sheriff.
She takes medication that if she doesn’t have in 24 hours, “it could be fatal,” Nanos said Monday.
Authorities said they are reviewing the home’s security cameras and have Nancy Guthrie’s cell phone.
Sources briefed on the probe told ABC News that investigators are focusing on Nancy Guthrie’s electronic devices to see if there is data that could point to an assailant or a specific time when the abduction would have occurred.
Investigators are also paying careful attention to the condition of the home and whether things were moved or left out of place, which could suggest that someone with greater strength or agility would have been in the home and when, sources said.
“Right now, we don’t see this as a search mission, as much as we do a crime scene,” Nanos said.
Brendan Banfield testifies in his own defense on Jan. 28, 2026, during his double murder trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. (Pool/ABC News)
(FAIRFAX, Va.) — A jury has reached a verdict in the double murder trial of a Virginia man accused of killing his wife and a stranger lured to their home under false pretenses in an elaborate plot to get rid of his spouse so he could be with his au pair, with whom he was having an affair.
Brendan Banfield, 40, is accused of stabbing his wife to death in their home in Fairfax County and fatally shooting a man he allegedly “catfished” on a fetish website. Prosecutors said he pretended to be his wife to lure the man to their home for what was believed to be a consensual fake rape scenario in order to frame that stranger for his wife’s murder.
The jury deliberated nearly nine hours over two days, starting Friday, before reaching a verdict Monday afternoon. The verdict is expected to be read in court at 5 p.m. ET Monday.
The former IRS agent was charged with aggravated murder in 2024 following a monthslong investigation into the deaths of his wife, 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield, and the man, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.
Prosecutors accused Brendan Banfield of plotting the murders with the family’s au pair, 25-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who was initially charged with second-degree murder in connection with the deaths.
Ahead of the trial, Peres Magalhaes pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Under the plea agreement with prosecutors, she will receive time served for testifying against Brendan Banfield.
During closing arguments on Friday, the prosecutor made the case that the murders were premeditated.
“He was in love with Juliana. He can pretend that this was a fling and affair — he’d had them before, no big deal. He was in love with Juliana,” prosecutor Jenna Sands said. “He was afraid of losing her. He needed to get rid of his wife so that they could be together, so that they could marry, so that they could have those babies that he was picking out names for.”
Sands said there was no evidence that Christine Banfield had previously used dating or fetish websites, argued that there were signs that the crime scene had been “manipulated,” and reminded jurors that during the au pair’s testimony, Peres Magalhaes “told us how the plan was crafted and how it played out.”
The defense, meanwhile, pushed back on the catfishing theory, questioned the thoroughness of the investigation and argued that there were conclusions made based on confirmation bias. The attorney, John Carroll, claimed that prosecutors pressured Peres Magalhaes to change her story and that she “secured herself a deal that benefited her.” Carroll also said Brendan Banfield didn’t have to testify, but he did as they sought “to get the truth out there.”
“Is it reasonable, after a six- to eight-week affair, that someone is going to try to get rid of their companion of 19 years, wife of 12 years? Is that reasonable?” Carroll asked the jury. “You heard from my client: He thinks it’s absurd.”
During his testimony, Brendan Banfield called the allegations “absolutely crazy” and said his affair with Peres Magalhaes was just that and nothing more.
He said he came home on Feb. 24, 2023, after the au pair called to alert him about a stranger in the home. He said he went up to his bedroom with his gun drawn and found his wife naked with Ryan and that she called out, “Brendan, he has a knife!”
“I was extremely terrified,” Brendan Banfield told the jury. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more panicked in my life.”
He said he fired his government-issued firearm, striking Ryan in the head, after the man appeared to stab his wife.
Prosecutors said Christine Banfield was stabbed seven times in the neck.
Peres Magalhaes testified that Brendan Banfield expressed his desire to “get rid of” his wife in October 2022, saying, “At first, I thought he was joking.”
She testified that she had helped Brendan Banfield catfish Ryan on the fetish website to lure Ryan to the home.
Peres Magalhaes told the court that Brendan Banfield told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, and that he didn’t want to divorce his wife because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter.
Brendan Banfield was additionally charged with using a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder and child endangerment. The couple’s then-4-year-old daughter was in the house at the time of the killings, in the basement.
“He left her in the basement, knowing that Joe Ryan was upstairs,” Sands said during her closing argument. “He left her in the basement while he shot and killed Joe Ryan. He left her in the basement while he stabbed his wife.”
John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County speaks during a press conference at the Montgomery County Police Department in Gaithersburg, Md., Feb. 2, 2026. (Montgomery County Police Department)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Maryland and federal authorities announced Monday that they have shut down three Indian call centers linked to a gold bar scam that stole millions of dollars from American consumers.
Authorities said the operation netted almost $50 million from more than 600 victims across the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency and gold bar schemes.
The six alleged leaders of the scheme were also arrested, authorities said.
An ABC News investigation previously found that as the value of gold surged, grifters posing as federal agents convinced people — mostly older Americans — to convert their life savings into gold bars.
As part of the scheme, scammers sent “couriers” to pick up the bars in person to allegedly keep them in a secure location.
Last year, ABC News interviewed a suspected courier from jail as he faced charges in two states for his alleged involvement in the scam. He claimed he was hired by an individual in India and paid between $800 and $4,000 per job to pick up packages, some of which contained gold bars.
John McCarthy, the Maryland state attorney for Montgomery County, announced Monday that his office had indicted 10 couriers accused of collecting money from victims, and said that several of those cases have already resulted in convictions.
“They’re targeting people who have retirement money, who have pensions, who have investments, who’ve maybe sold their homes and have that money in reserve,” McCarthy said.
In this handout, the mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019. (Photo by Kypros/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Department of Justice officials say they have taken down “several thousand documents and media” from its website containing files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that “may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information due to various factors, including technical or human error,” according to a letter filed on the dockets of two federal judges Monday.
The government’s update comes after attorneys for Epstein’s victims asked the judges late Sunday to urgently order that the DOJ site be taken down because of redaction failures exposing the names or personal information, they said, of “nearly 100 individual survivors whose lives have been turned upside down by the DOJ’s latest release.”
The DOJ’s letter — submitted by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York — also notes that the Justice Department has “further expedited its processes” for responding to Epstein victims’ concerns and for removing documents to be reexamined for additional redactions.
The letter gives no indication that the government intends to pull the site offline, but it says they are continuing to engage with victims and their counsel to identify and remove materials, and are “making further enhancements” to best address victims’ concerns while also complying with the disclosure requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that mandates the release of the files.
“As of the writing of this letter, all documents requested by victims or counsel to be removed by yesterday evening have been removed for further redaction, and the Department is continuing to process any new requests and to run its own searches to identify any other documents that may require further redaction,” Clayton wrote. He noted that the DOJ had also removed a “substantial number” of documents identified independently by the department.
Clayton wrote that the DOJ has “iteratively revised its protocols” and has “teams of personnel” monitoring requests by victims and their lawyers.
The Justice Department is not “relying solely” on the victims to identify specific documents, Clayton said. A team worked through the weekend, according to the letter, running “supplemental searches to identify missed redactions.”
“The first 24 hours of engagement on these issues, as well as the Department’s own internal review of its processes, following the release of documents on Friday led to significant enhancements to and streamlining of the Department’s processes for addressing victim concerns,” Clayton wrote.
Three million pages from the DOJ’s files on Epstein were being released to the public, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday. Blanche said in total there were 6 million pages of Epstein documents in the DOJ’s files, but that nearly 3 million pages were being withheld for various reasons including the presence of child sexual abuse material and the obligation to protect victims’ rights.
