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(NEW YORK) — A 70-year-old man is in “good spirits” after being found nearly a week after going missing while on an off-road trail in California, authorities said Wednesday.

Warren Elliott got lost after walking away from his group while on the Rubicon Trail in Placer County Friday afternoon, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

Following a dayslong search in tough terrain, Elliott was found “safe and uninjured” Wednesday morning at Hell Hole Reservoir, the sheriff’s office said. A person texted 911 at approximately 8 a.m. PT that they were with a missing person who was determined to be Elliott, the sheriff’s office said.

Elliott was camping in Rubicon Springs with a group doing trail rehab ahead of an upcoming event dubbed the Jeepers Jamboree when he got lost after going out for a walk, the sheriff’s office said. He was familiar with the area but upon returning from his walk he went in the wrong direction, according to the sheriff’s office.

Elliott managed to drink water from a river and ate a “handful of berries” while lost, the sheriff’s office said.

He was found roughly nine miles from the point where he was last seen though had walked much farther than that over the past five days, the sheriff’s office said.

Elise Soviar, a spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, said Elliott was airlifted out of the area by helicopter. The remote region, located west of Lake Tahoe, is accessible by road, though a helicopter was the quickest way to evacuate him, she said.

A California Highway Patrol helicopter transported him to the command post at Homewood Mountain Resort, where he was “greeted by cheers and clapping” and reunited with his family, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office released a video of Elliott’s emotional return, in which he could be seen in the now-tattered shirt he was wearing when he went missing.

“This is a tremendous relief for Mr. Elliott’s family and friends,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post. “A heartfelt thank you to all the search and rescue teams who tirelessly assisted from across the state.”

The sheriff’s office said they were also “immensely grateful to Jeepers Jamboree,” which provided food, drinks and a place to camp overnight amid the search.

Dozens of searchers from 10 agencies across the state were involved in the search, which also used drones and dog teams, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Rubicon Trail is an approximately 22-mile-long route near Lake Tahoe that features a popular off-highway vehicle trail.

“Tears of joy are flowing this morning,” the Jeepers Jamboree said on social media after Elliott was found. “All of us at Jeepers Jamboree are so incredibly relieved to have Warren found! We can’t express the appreciation we have for everyone who has been a part of finding Warren!”

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(NEW YORK) — A Connecticut woman was found dead at her home on Wednesday, hours before she was scheduled to be sentenced for killing her husband.

Linda Kosuda-Bigazzi, 76, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in March in the 2017 death of her husband, 84-year-old Pierluigi Bigazzi, according to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice. Police found the University of Connecticut Health doctor and professor dead in the basement of the couple’s Burlington home while responding to a welfare check call from his employer, who had not heard from him for several months, prosecutors said.

Kosuda-Bigazzi also pleaded guilty to first-degree larceny for continuing to receive her husband’s pay following his death, according to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice. Investigators found that checks from her husband’s employer were deposited into the couple’s joint checking account from his death in July 2017 until the discovery of his body in February 2018, prosecutors said.

Kosuda-Bigazzi’s hearing was scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Her death was “not anticipated,” according to her attorney.

“We were honored to be her legal counsel and did our very best to defend her in a complex case for the past six years,” her attorney, Patrick Tomasiewicz, said in a statement. “She was a very independent woman who was always in control of her own destiny.”

Connecticut State Police said they have opened an “untimely death” investigation in the incident.

Troopers responded to her home Wednesday morning after an individual reported at approximately 10:37 a.m. ET that they were at her residence but were unable to make contact with her, state police said.

With help from the local fire department, troopers entered the residence and found Kosuda-Bigazzi unresponsive inside, state police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

No additional details were released by state police.

ABC News has reached out to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice for comment.

Kosuda-Bigazzi had been out on $1.5 million bail while awaiting sentencing.

Police found handwritten documents at the home in which Kosuda-Bigazzi claimed she had killed her husband in self-defense, according to court records.

Bigazzi’s death was ruled a homicide by blunt injuries to the head, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Bigazzi was a UConn Health faculty member in the School of Medicine for over 40 years. Kosuda-Bigazzi also worked at UConn Health from 1986 to 1998 as a science instructor and she then volunteered, helping her husband through the summer of 2017, school officials said.

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(NEW YORK) — The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie on stage at a speaking event in upstate New York in 2022 now faces federal terrorism charges, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, was indicted by a grand jury on three counts, including attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and providing material support to terrorists. The indictment alleges that he “knowingly did attempt to provide material support and resources” to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and “had engaged, and was engaging, in terrorism.”

Matar was also charged with an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries for the attack against Rushdie on Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York. The indictment alleges that he “did knowingly attempt to kill, and did knowingly maim, commit an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and assault with a dangerous weapon.”

The grand jury was empaneled in July 2023 though the charges weren’t filed until July 17, according to the indictment.

Matar has not yet entered a plea on the federal charges, according to online court records. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.

Matar has pleaded not guilty to two state charges — second-degree attempted murder and assault — in connection with the attack.

The new charges come after Matar rejected a plea deal earlier this month that involved the state and not-yet-filed federal charges.

The deal required a guilty plea to the top state count of second-degree attempted murder for a sentence of 20 years — down from a maximum of 25 years for the charge, the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office said.

Under the deal, state and federal prosecutors agreed to the 20-year sentence “with the understanding that Mr. Matar would also plea to a charge in federal court and receive an additional 10-20 years in a federal facility,” the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to ABC News at the time.

The federal sentence would have run consecutive to his state sentence, for 30 to 40 years of total incarceration plus lifetime supervision upon release, the office said.

The defense had made a counteroffer that proposed a 15-year sentence for the second-degree attempted murder charge, which was rejected by the state, his public defender, Nathaniel Barone II, told ABC News.

“At that point, it was determined that he was not going to accept the state’s offer,” Barone said at the time.

Matar, who was 24 years old at the time of the attack, remains in custody at the Chautauqua County Jail.

The trial in the state case was pushed back last week from September to October. Both men are expected to testify.

Rushdie is now blind in his right eye from the attack, which he recounted in a new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.

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(NEW YORK) — Several people were taken to the hospital after an escalator caught fire at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told ABC News.

The small fire in Concourse C sent smoke billowing through the airport’s Terminal 8 at about 7 a.m.

Nine people received minor injuries due to smoke inhalation, four of whom were hospitalized, according to New York ABC station WABC-TV. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

About 960 people were evacuated on buses to another area of the terminal, officials said.

One traveler, Nate Peckinpaugh, told ABC News he had been about to board a flight from New York to Washington, D.C., when the fire broke out.

“I was catching a flight at the exact terminal we evacuated from. The alarm was going off for a long time and no one was paying attention,” Peckinpaugh told ABC News.

“Eventually this woman started running around and yelling for someone to help,” he added.

Peckinpaugh recorded the incident on his phone, from the alarm going off at the terminal to passengers being escorted outside, some covering their faces from the smoke. Firefighters were then seen arriving at the scene, with a few people being rescued from the jet bridge while others were being put on stretchers to receive assistance.

Operations had resumed in the terminal by about 8:15 a.m., officials said, and the cause of the fire is now under investigation.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Agricultural officials in Southern California are battling an active infestation of red imported fire ants that are “highly aggressive in nature,” and pose a risk to California’s agricultural economy.

The infestation occurred at a private property in Montecito, in Santa Barbara County, according to a recent press release from the Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.

Located over 90 miles north of Los Angeles, Montecito is best known as a celebrity enclave with Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle among the town’s residents.

Officials did not name the owners of the private property.

Venom released from the ants’ stings can cause “painful pustules on the skin, and can be particularly dangerous, even fatal, to sensitive groups or those with an allergy to the venom,” officials said in the July 18 release.

Red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, pose “an immediate threat” to California’s agricultural economy because they require a quarantine of nursery products, officials said.

The ant species is native to South America but has established populations in parts of Southern California, particularly in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties. The first recorded presence of the species in California was in 1984.

Siavash Taravati, an entomologist and integrated pest management advisor with the University of California’s Cooperative Extension offices, noted the distinction between this species of ants and ants native to California.

Native fire ants and argentine ants appear similar to red imported fire ants in size and color but the quickest way to differentiate them is by their “aggressive behavior,” Taravati told ABC News.

The ants’ stinging behavior is hazardous to fieldworkers and infestations can clog irrigation systems and damage electrical wiring, Taravati said.

The presence of red imported fire ants is known to increase the cost of fruit picking in the region, according to Taravati, due to the health dangers associated with the species.

The ants can also threaten wildlife and displace native ant species, Taravati said.

This is the only known active infestation in Santa Barbara County, according to officials, who said there are currently no red imported fire ant quarantines in place.

The infestation is believed to have originated from a nursery stock shipped from Riverside County in September 2023, which was infested by the red ants and spread to the surrounding property.

Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office staff are conducting regular surveys of the impacted property and determining appropriate treatments by a licensed and registered pest control business, according to the release.

Officials are working in collaboration with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), and Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office staff.

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(HOUSTON) — A suspect has been identified after an abandoned newborn was found crying by a dumpster in Houston, police said Wednesday.

A person called 911 early Sunday afternoon reporting that they had heard a baby crying near a dumpster at an apartment complex, according to Houston Police Department spokesperson Jodi Silva.

First responders found the infant in the dumpster area, Silva said. Video captured by a bystander showed first responders rescuing the baby from the dumpster and appearing to swaddle him in a blanket.

The newborn was transported to a local hospital and is believed to be in good health, Silva said.

Child Protective Services has since taken custody of him, she said. It is unclear how long the infant was by the dumpster.

Police have been investigating the incident, including checking surveillance footage, to identify who placed the newborn there and any potential witnesses, Silva said.

Police have since identified a suspect and “are continuing to work through the investigation,” Silva said.

No additional details on the suspect have been released at this time, including their alleged connection to the incident. The name of the suspect will not be released until charges have been filed, Silva said.

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(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — The former sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her Illinois home while responding to her call for help has held six different police jobs since 2020, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board confirmed to ABC News.

Body camera footage released Monday shows former deputy Sean Grayson yelling at Massey, an unarmed 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two, to put down a pot of boiling hot water.

The footage, reviewed by ABC News, shows that Massey told the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” and then she apologized after the officer threatened to shoot her. She poured the water into the sink and ducked down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rose, and Grayson shot her three times in the face.

A review by Illinois State Police found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.

Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death.

The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) records show that Grayson, 30, worked three full-time and three part-time jobs in four police departments and two sheriff’s offices over the past four years, all within the state of Illinois.

Grayson was employed at three different police departments in 2021 alone, the records show. His shortest term of employment was with the Kincaid Police Department, where he was employed for just over three months. Records list his reason for leaving as “other.”

His longest term of employment was with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, where he worked for a year and two months. Grayson was fired from Sangamon County last week, following Massey’s death.

Grayson worked part time at the Pawnee Police Department from August 2020 to July 2021; his reason for leaving is listed as “other.” He also worked part time at the Kincaid Police Department from February to May of 2021.

The Kincaid Police Department told ABC News that Grayson was “let go by the Village of Kincaid board when he refused to live within the 10-mile radius of the village.” They also said they have no complaints against Grayson and no disciplinary actions were taken against him while he worked with the Kincaid police.

The Virden Police Department hired him part time from May to December 2021, and he also worked full time at the Auburn Police Department from July 2021 to May 2022. Both departments list his reason for leaving as “resigned.”

Grayson then worked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office full time from May 2022 until he resigned in April 2023. He was hired at the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office in May 2023 where he remained until he was fired last week.

ABC News is seeking further details on Grayson’s employment history.

“It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards. Therefore, Sean Grayson’s employment with the Sheriff’s Office has been terminated,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell wrote in a statement last week announcing Grayson’s termination.

Massey’s father, James Wilburn, questioned Grayson’s employment history.

“The biggest question is: How did this man ever get hired in law enforcement?” Wilburn told ABC News. “When a Black man has just a little blemish in his credit, he can’t get hired in the police department. But here’s a man who, in four years, he’s been in six different departments.”

Wilburn has also criticized Sheriff Campbell for his role in Grayson’s employment and called for Campbell to resign at a press conference on Tuesday.

“The sheriff here is an embarrassment,” Wilburn said. “[Grayson] should have never had a badge. And he should have never had a gun. He should have never been given the opportunity to kill my child.”

Campbell told ABC News he will not be resigning.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Massey’s family, says that Grayson must be held accountable for his actions.

“Sonya Massey needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to the face. We cannot continue to shoot first and ask questions later when it’s Black people,” Crump said to ABC News.

ABC News’ Davi Merchan and Emily Chang Contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — A week before Thomas Mathew Crooks opened fire on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, he became “very focused” on Trump and the rally, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Crooks also searched for information on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, he said.

Wray told Congress in the last few days the FBI has been able to analyze a laptop connected to Crooks.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for quote, ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy?’ So that’s a search that’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray said.

He added that Crooks had pictures of public figures on his phone, but had “no rhyme or reason” to their methodology.

The FBI director said there is no apparent motive yet for the July 13 assassination attempt.

“We’re hoping to learn more, and we’re still exploiting a number of digital devices,” Wray said.

Crooks went to the site a week before the assassination attempt, he also said.

“He traveled to the grounds, I think, a week before, he spent roughly 20 minutes there,” he said. “Then he went to grounds again on the morning of the event, it appears, for about 17 minutes.” Crooks went to the site a third time “for good.”

Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the rally venue and had it up in the air for about 11 minutes, he testified.

“We have recovered a drone that the shooter appears to have used,” Wray said, adding the drone was recovered in the shooter’s vehicle.

“It appears that around 3:50 p.m., 4 o’clock, in that window, on the day of shooting, that the shooter was flying the drone around the area,” he said.

“Let me be clear about the area, not over the stage, and that part of the area itself, but I would say about 200 yards, give or take away,” he said.

Wray said it appears the shooter was a “loner” and didn’t have a lot of contacts in his cell phone.

“A lot of people describe him as a loner … that does kind of fit with what we’re seeing in his devices. You know, his list of contacts, for example, is very short, compared to what you would normally see from most people … there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of interaction between him, you know, face to face or digital, with a lot of people,” Wray said.

The FBI has conducted over 400 interviews with “many more to conduct,” he said.

Border threat

In addition to questions about the assassination attempt against Trump, the FBI director was asked about the threat emanating from the southern U.S. border.

Over the past five or six years, the number of known or suspected terrorists encountered along the southern border “has increased,” and “that should be of concern,” Wray testified.

He also said that it doesn’t take a lot of foreign terrorists to be a “real problem.”

“I am increasingly concerned that foreign terrorists could seek to exploit vulnerabilities at our Southwest border or at other ports of entry or in other aspects of our immigration system to facilitate an attack here in the United States. I think that is something we have to be concerned about,” he said.

Election threats

Wray also said the Russians are continuing attempts to “influence” and “in various ways interfere with our democracy.”

“In fact, just in the last few weeks, we announced a significant disruption of a generative AI, enhanced social media and a bot farm, essentially of the Russians that was designed, designed to be an influence operation, and some of the fake, fictitious profiles of those bots purported to be US persons, so they’re still at it,” Wray said.

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(NEW YORK) — A 28-year-old high school coach was “randomly shot and killed” standing on a rooftop bar while she was in town for a conference, police said.

Ayden Burt, a 28-year-old high school coach from Jasper Independent School District in Texas, was visiting San Antonio for the Texas High School Coaches Association Conference when, just after midnight, she was randomly shot and killed while standing at a local rooftop bar on the 500 block of E. Crockett St., police said.

“Our Homicide Detectives are working to bring justice to Ayden and her family; however, details are limited,” according to a statement issued by the San Antonio Police Department.

Burt was reportedly at the bar with other coaches from across the state when the shooting occurred.

“She was sitting right next to me laughing and talking and the next bleeding in my lap,” said Humble High School football coach Robert Murphy on X. “My coaches did everything they could performing CPR etc to save her life. She was excited about the upcoming year. Traumatizing.”

Jasper Independent School District Superintendent John Seybold announced her death in a statement on social media.

“It is with a heavy heart that we have learned of the passing of one of our staff members, Ayden Burt. We ask for prayers of comfort for her family, as well as her extended family, the students and staff of Jasper ISD,” Seybold said. “Ayden has been teaching in Jasper ISD since 2019, teaching English at both Jasper High School and Jasper Jr. High, also serving as a Cheer Sponsor and Coach. We ask that everyone respect the privacy of the family and staff at this time.”

The San Antonio Police Department is asking for the public’s help for any information regarding this tragic incident.

If you have any information regarding this murder, please contact our SAPD Homicide unit at 210-207-7635. Any information provided may help solve this case.

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(ST. LOUIS) — A judge in St. Louis issued a written order Monday vacating the murder conviction of Christopher Dunn, who has served 33 years in a Missouri prison for a murder he has maintained he did not commit.

The order follows a hearing two months ago during which Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser heard evidence in favor of Dunn’s exoneration, including findings from an evidentiary hearing four years ago in which the presiding judge declared that if Dunn were tried today given the current evidence, “reasonably, properly instructed jurors would find [Dunn] not guilty.”

“In conclusion, the only evidence inculpating Dunn has been recanted,” court documents of Sengheiser’s ruling stated. “The [St. Louis] Circuit Attorney [Gabe Gore] has made a clear and convincing showing of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the basis of Dunn’s convictions because in light of the new evidence, no juror, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment, nor did the state prosecutor’s office return ABC News’ request for a statement, including when Dunn might be released from prison.

Dunn, 52, was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a first-degree murder conviction in the death of 15-year-old Rico Rogers, who was shot to death in May 1990.

There is no physical evidence linking Dunn, who was 18 at the time, to Roger’s murder. His conviction was based on the testimony of two eyewitnesses who said they saw Dunn nearby just before the shooting. The witnesses — DeMorris Stepp, then 14, and Michael Davis Jr., who was 12 — recanted their testimonies in 2005 and 2015, respectively.

The eyewitnesses said they were coerced by prosecutors and police to testify that Dunn was guilty. The state attorney general’s office testified during the hearing, which began May 21, that they never coerced, manipulated or threatened the witnesses.

Defense attorneys for Dunn argued during the hearing that Stepp and Davis’ alleged false testimonies were “inconsistent, uncertain and unsure” and made while they were children, and that Stepp and Davis corrected their testimony when they became adults.

Gore filed the motion to vacate Dunn’s murder conviction in February this year. 

“There remains no evidence upon which a reasonable jury could return a verdict of guilty,” Gore said in closing statements during the hearing earlier this year. “In fact your honor, in this case, there simply remains no evidence at all.”

Prosecutors from the Missouri Attorney General’s office maintained that Dunn was guilty, arguing that regardless of their testimonies, the witnesses were still able to identify Dunn via photo and a live lineup.

This is the second time a judge has heard Dunn’s case for exoneration. In a 2020 evidentiary hearing, Texas County Judge William Hickle ruled that given the new evidence, and the recantations of the testimonies, “reasonably, properly instructed jurors would find [Dunn] not guilty.”

Still, Dunn was not exonerated on account of a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only allowed death row inmates to make a “freestanding” claim of innocence.

“We are overjoyed to soon be welcoming home MIP [Midwest Innocence Project] client Christopher Dunn,” his defense team told ABC News in a statement. “The Attorney General’s Office is continuing to waste taxpayer money as it fights Chris’ release even though two judges have now found that no jury would convict Chris today.”

In 2021, Missouri adopted a new law that expands the rights of incarcerated persons without death sentences to file for an exoneration. The law allows prosecutors to request hearings to vacate a conviction if they have information that demonstrates that the convicted person is not guilty, or was otherwise wrongfully convicted.

During the May hearing, Dunn’s defense attorneys brought up Judge’s Hickle’s findings in 2020 that Dunn had met the standard for exoneration, and called on Judge Sengheiser to “establish actual innocence and allow you to do what Judge Hickel could not do. Vacate the wrongful conviction of Christopher Dunn.”

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