(CLARK COUNTY, Wisconsin) — Nine people were killed and one was injured after a semi-trailer truck collided with a van at a highway intersection in Wisconsin, authorities said.
The incident occurred in Dewhurst Township in central Wisconsin on Friday, at the intersection of Highway 95 and County Road J, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
The tractor-trailer was traveling eastbound on Highway 95 and the van was traveling northbound on County Road J when the crash occurred shortly before 8 a.m. local time. The van was struck by the semi as it entered the intersection, according to preliminary reports, the sheriff’s office said.
Eight people in the van, including the driver, and the driver of the semi were pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. The lone survivor, a passenger in the van, was transported to a local hospital for their injuries, the sheriff’s office said. Their condition was not released.
The names of those involved are not being released pending family notification.
“Kathy and I are saddened today by the fatal crash that occurred in Clark County, tragically taking nine lives,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said on X. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of all those involved, as well as the first responders who worked quickly to provide support at the scene.”
Aerial footage of the scene from ABC Twin Cities affiliate KTSP showed extensive damage to both vehicles following the crash, with the semi lying in a ditch off the side of the highway and the van on its side nearby. The scene has since been cleared.
The investigation remains ongoing. The sheriff’s office said the Wisconsin State Patrol is assisting.
(LONDON) — Former President Donald Trump’s escalating legal penalties are a little larger after a judge in the United Kingdom ordered him to pay more than $380,000 to a firm run by Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who penned the infamous 2016 dossier accusing Trump of harboring close ties to the Russians.
Trump sued Steele’s firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, in a London court in 2022 over claims that the series of memos known as the “Steele Dossier” harmed his reputation and violated British data privacy laws.
But in February, Justice Karen Steyn tossed the suit — without determining whether the allegations in the dossier were true or false — and ordered Trump to compensate Steele for his legal fees.
According to the judge’s order, which was made public Thursday, the judge gave Trump 28 days to execute the payment of GBP 300,000, which equates to roughly $384,000.
Last month Trump was fined a total of $464 million in disgorgement and interest in his civil fraud case brought by the New York attorney general, and this week he posted a $91 million bond to cover the judgment plus interest in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case while he pursues an appeal.
Neither Trump’s U.K.-based attorney nor Orbis Business Intelligence responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James after she threatened legal action over the county’s recent anti-transgender sports ban.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by Blakeman, a Republican, who said he believes the designation of separate athletic teams or sports based on sex assigned at birth “is necessary to maintain fairness for women’s athletic opportunities.”
“On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of women and girls in Nassau County, I have filed a federal lawsuit against @NewYorkStateAG to protect women’s sports and ensure a safe environment for women,” Blakeman said in a post on X.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office called the executive order “transphobic and discriminatory.”
“Our laws protect New Yorkers from discrimination, and the Office of the Attorney General is committed to upholding those laws and protecting our communities,” the statement said. “This is not up for debate: the executive order is illegal, and it will not stand in New York.”
Last week, James’ office issued a cease-and-desist letter against his Feb. 22 executive order that bans transgender women and girls from competing in events aligning with their gender identity in county-run facilities.
The executive order states that sports leagues, organizations, teams and other entities in Long Island County must expressly designate teams based on an athlete’s sex assigned at birth for all sporting competitions or events.
Under the executive order, permits will not be given to any event or competition that allows transgender women or girls to compete in girls’ or women’s sporting events. These restrictions were set to go into effect immediately, according to Blakeman’s office.
Blakeman’s lawsuit argues that the executive order is not a ban on transgender athletes competing in sports: “The Executive Order invites transgender biological males to compete except in teams and leagues that advertise or identify as exclusively all-girls or all-women.”
“Women and Girls hard work, on-field achievements, and athletic futures deserve to be fostered, nurtured, and celebrated,” Blakeman stated in the executive order.
The attorney general’s office argues that the order is “in clear violation of New York State anti-discrimination laws and demands that it be immediately rescinded.”
“The Order’s immediate effect is to force sports leagues to make an impossible choice: discriminate against transgender women and girls, in violation of New York law, or find somewhere else to play,” said the letter. “In addition to violating basic civil and human rights, the executive order will impose undue increased scrutiny on women’s and girls’ teams and leagues and will also subject all athletes on women’s and girls’ sports teams to intrusive and invasive questioning and other verification requirements.”
Blakeman’s lawsuit claims James’ order violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and asks the court to enjoin James’ office from taking action against the county and Blakeman for implementing the executive order.
In his response to the cease-and-desist letter, he said his executive order “stops the bullying of women and girls by transgender males who have many outlets to compete without putting the safety and security of females in danger.”
The executive order goes against guidelines from local and national sports associations.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s transgender policy states that it is “committed to providing all students with the opportunity to participate … in a manner consistent with their gender identity and the New York State Commissioner of Education’s Regulations.”
The governing bodies of several national and international sports leagues, including the International Olympic Committee, require transgender women to meet certain hormone levels in order to play on sports teams with cisgender women.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association transgender guidelines vary from sport to sport. Transgender student-athletes typically need to document sport-specific testosterone levels at the beginning of their season and a second documentation six months later, and then another documentation four weeks before championship selections.
Restrictions on hormone levels have impacted athletes with differences in sex development, including track star Caster Semenya, who was born intersex and has naturally high testosterone levels.
There is no clear data on whether transgender women have an advantage physiologically, according to health experts.
Experts wrote in a recent JAMA Pediatrics editorial that preventing trans youth from participating in school sports could be bad for the mental and physical health of an already at-risk population because they lose out on the developmental benefits of sports participation.
Local civil rights advocacy groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, argue that the executive order is illegal.
“Requiring girls who are trans to compete on boys’ teams effectively bars them from sports altogether,” NYCLU said in a statement to ABC News. “Participating would mean being outed and being denied the same opportunities other girls enjoy: to challenge themselves, improve fitness, and be part of a team of their peers.”
(NEW YORK) — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted Friday in a Manhattan federal court on drug trafficking charges.
Hernandez, who served as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, had been charged by U.S. authorities with drug trafficking and weapons offenses that linked him to tons of cocaine imported into the United States over the last two decades.
Two co-defendants pleaded guilty, including a former Honduran police chief, Juan Carlos Bonilla, and Hernandez’s cousin Mauricio Hernandez.
Hernandez claimed the prosecution was the result of drug traffickers smearing him to get revenge for his crackdown on the drug trade. According to federal prosecutors, Honduras became a narco-state under his leadership.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(PONTIAC, Mich.) — James Crumbley’s manslaughter trial continued Friday with multiple witnesses taking the stand testifying about his alleged activity in the days leading up to the shooting, including purchasing the firearm that his son later used in a school shooting.
As the trial continues, Judge Cheryl Matthews has limited the communications he can make from prison at the prosecutor’s office request on Thursday. It was revealed late Thursday that James Crumbley allegedly made threats to an undisclosed person from prison.
James Crumbley’s communications from prison have been limited except with regard to his defense until a jury reaches a verdict.
James Crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter for his alleged role in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in which four students were killed and seven others were injured. Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17, were killed in the shooting.
His trial comes weeks after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of the same four counts of involuntary manslaughter over their role in the 2021 school shooting. Their cases are a rare instance of parents facing criminal charges in relation to a shooting carried out by their child.
After the prosecution questioned former Oakland County Detective Edward Wagrowski Thursday, in which he revealed James Crumbley had not signed on to work for the day before he met with school officials the morning of the shooting, the defense prompted him to reveal that James Crumbley began working within minutes of leaving the school.
The school had called the Crumbley parents in for a meeting the morning of the shooting after a teacher discovered he had made concerning drawings on a math test. A school counselor then spoke with Ethan Crumbley and was concerned he was having suicidal thoughts. School officials advised the parents to get their son immediate mental health care, offering them facilities that could provide him care that day.
Wagrowski’s testimony hit back at the prosecution’s argument on Thursday that the Crumbley parents said they could not take their son home because they needed to return to work, presenting evidence that James Crumbley had not yet begun working for the day. During her trial, Jennifer Crumbley and her former employer both testified that she could have left work for the day or brought her son to work with her if she needed to.
Upon choosing to leave their son at school rather than have him return home alone, the parents said they would work to arrange care for him. Hours later, the shooting occurred.
Cammy Back, an employee at the firearm store where James Crumbley purchased the gun used in the shooting, testified about selling him the gun just days before the shooting. Back testified that his son was with him at the time of the purchase and that James Crumbley told her he had had his eye on the gun before buying it.
The Crumbley parents had bought the gun for their then-15-year-old son.
But, Back testified that despite Crumbley telling her he had his eye on the gun that he ultimately purchased, she did not witness any communication in which his son pointed out or said he wanted the gun.
With their line of questioning, the prosecution pointed to a safety pamphlet and gun lock that were handed to the Crumbleys when they made the purchase, ultimately highlighting that it was James Crumbley’s responsibility—as the purchaser—to secure the gun and ensure that his son did not have access to it.
Part of the prosecution’s argument rests on the shooter having access to the gun and James Crumbley not properly securing it, enabling the shooting to occur.
Other evidence presented during the trial included a video taken by Ethan Crumbley at home days before the shooting in which he loaded the gun. According to cell phone evidence collected by police, James Crumbley was at home at the time the video was taken.
(CHEVY CHASE, Md.) — A Russian state-backed group that Microsoft said hacked into its corporate email accounts was able to gain access to its core software systems, the company announced on Friday.
Microsoft said its security team detected the attack in January and identified the group responsible as Midnight Blizzard, “the Russian state-sponsored actor also known as Nobelium.”
“In recent weeks, we have seen evidence that Midnight Blizzard is using information initially exfiltrated from our corporate email systems to gain, or attempt to gain, unauthorized access,” Microsoft said in a blog post update on Friday. “This has included access to some of the company’s source code repositories and internal systems.”
The company said it has found no evidence that Microsoft-hosted customer-facing systems have been compromised due to the breach.
As of Friday, the incident has “not had a material impact” on Microsoft’s operations, the company stated in an SEC filing.
“The Company has not yet determined that the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact the Company’s financial condition or results of operations,” the filing stated.
Midnight Blizzard is apparently attempting to use “secrets” that it has found in the hack, according to Microsoft.
“Some of these secrets were shared between customers and Microsoft in email, and as we discover them in our exfiltrated email, we have been and are reaching out to these customers to assist them in taking mitigating measures,” Microsoft said.
The volume of some aspects of the ongoing attack has intensified, increasing as much as 10-fold in February compared to January, Microsoft said. That includes “password sprays,” in which a user uses a single common password against multiple accounts on the same application, the company said.
“Across Microsoft, we have increased our security investments, cross-enterprise coordination and mobilization, and have enhanced our ability to defend ourselves and secure and harden our environment against this advanced persistent threat,” Microsoft said Friday. “We have and will continue to put in place additional enhanced security controls, detections, and monitoring.”
The attack began in November, Microsoft said. The company was able to remove the hacker’s access to the email accounts on Jan. 13, according to a company filing with the SEC.
The company said in its SEC filing on Friday that it continues to coordinate with federal law enforcement on the ongoing investigation into the incident.
(GAINESVILLE, Fla.) — University of Florida students protested outside of the Board of Trustees meeting Friday over the university’s decision to eliminate all of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions.
Student groups across campus joined together for an open letter denouncing the firings, particularly the firing of the university’s chief diversity officer, Marsha McGriff.
“As students, we have watched Dr. Marsha McGriff champion a campus where all students, no matter their background, may be enabled to embody our guiding values and fulfill our mission to lead and influence the next generation and beyond for economic cultural and societal benefit,” the statement read.
The letter was signed by the presidents of the college’s Hispanic Student Union, Black Student Union, Women’s Student Association, Asian American Student Union, Jewish Student Union, Pride Student Union, and the Florida Cicerones.
“In these moments, those who fail to understand the benefits of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer find themselves on the wrong side of history,” the letter continued.
An administrative memo released on March 2 announced the firings, citing a recent state ban on the use of public funds for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, activities and policies — as well as activities for “political or social activism” — in the public college system.
“As we educate students by thoughtfully engaging a wide range of ideas and views, we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect for every member of the Gator Nation,” the memo said.
The University of Florida and its Board of Trustees did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Student government leaders also criticized the firings, saying DEI helped foster “a more supportive and inclusive environment for students.”
“This decision will bring about many abhorrent changes, however, our community must come together to push forward growth, resilience and a reinvigorated commitment to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion,” the group’s statement read. “In the face of these changes, we, as an all-women minority-led ticket, are more determined than ever to raise the voices of underrepresented groups and champion initiatives through the student government that celebrate diversity in all its forms.”
The Florida Board of Governors defines DEI as “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.”
DEI, as defined by DEI professionals, are programs or initiatives aimed at correcting inequities within an organization — this could include implementing accessibility measures for people with disabilities, correcting discriminatory hiring practices, addressing gender and racial pay inequities, anti-bias training, and more.
The Florida Board of Governors and the Board of Education passed restrictions on DEI in January, almost a year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 266, prohibiting universities from expending state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs or activities relating to DEI or social and political activism.
DeSantis applauded the decision, saying on X: “DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities. I’m glad that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states follow suit.”
These efforts by the governor and state school officials follow legal blows to DeSantis’ past efforts to block race-related curriculum and trainings in K-12 schools, higher education and in the workplace via the “Stop WOKE” Act. Judges have blocked these restrictions from taking effect in all but K-12 schools, with one judge arguing that the First Amendment protects speech in the classroom and that the law’s vague restrictions are unenforceable.
Conservatives across the country have recently set their sights on removing diversity programs from educational institutions.
The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, chaired by Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Ohio, held a nearly two-hour hearing on DEI on Thursday.
Owens called “a long-growing cancer that resides at the heart of American academic institutions.”
Several of Owens’ colleagues condemned the criticism of DEI, claiming they were “villainizing” an entire concept to “advance a political narrative,” Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., said.
Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., condemned her Republican colleagues, asserting that they “can’t have it both ways.”
“You can’t claim to be protecting free speech and diversity of thought, while simultaneously trying to deny our history, which is the history of America,” McBath said.
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Audrey Mostek contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — Chicago health officials have confirmed the city’s first measles cases since 2019 amid a rising number of infections across the U.S.
The first case was confirmed Thursday in a city resident whose source of infection is unknown, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), as reported by local ABC News affiliate ABC 7 Chicago.
The infectious period ended Wednesday and the patient is currently recovering well at home, health officials said.
On Friday, a second case was confirmed in a young child staying at a new arrivals shelter in the Pilsen neighborhood, in the city’s Lower West Side, health officials said in a release provided to ABC News. Similar to the first patient, the child has since recovered and is no longer infectious, according to officials.
No identifying information was provided about either patient, including names, ages, sex or race/ethnicity.
Health officials said people may have been exposed to the first patient on Feb. 27 either at Galter Medical Pavilion at Swedish Hospital between 8:30 a.m. CT and 12 p.m. CT, or on Chicago Transit Authority Bus 92 (Foster) between 9:15 a.m. CT and 11:30 a.m. CT, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
For the child shelter resident case, it’s unclear who may have been exposed so the CDPH is asking all residents of that shelter, located in the 2200 block of S. Halsted St., to remain in place so health officials can determine if the residents have been previously vaccinated against measles.
“Those who have been vaccinated can go about their normal business while those who have not been vaccinated will have to remain indoors to watch for symptoms,” the CDPH said. “All unvaccinated residents will be screened for symptoms and offered the measles vaccine.”
The CDPH further said it is delivering masks and other personal protective equipment for shelter residents and staff, and that the Department of Family and Support Services has secured additional meals for those staying on site.
Health officials added that most Chicago residents are routinely vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in childhood and so are not at high risk for contracting measles.
Last month, the CDPH said it was investigating a possible measles exposure in Chicago, after a northwest Indiana resident with a confirmed case of measles sought medical care at three Chicago hospitals while contagious between Feb. 11 and Feb.16. It’s unknown if the two confirmed Chicago cases are linked to the Indiana case.
“The MMR vaccine is 97% effective at stopping transmission of measles and has enabled us to live in a time when seeing cases of measles at all is a rarity,” CDPH Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige said in a statement at the time. “It is never too late to get vaccinated against this virus, not only to protect yourself but also to protect those around you who may be unable or too young to be vaccinated themselves.”
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but pockets of unvaccinated or under-vaccinated communities have led to sporadic outbreaks over the last several years.
As of Feb. 29 of this year, 41 measles cases have been reported in 16 states – California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Illinois is now the 17th state to see measles cases.
(WASHINGTON) — A wide-ranging Pentagon review of decades of U.S. government investigations into UFO sightings has found no evidence that any of the sightings were extraterrestrial in origin and also found no evidence that the U.S. government or private companies have ever possessed extraterrestrial technology that has been secretly reverse-engineered.
The review of U.S. government records dating back to 1945 was conducted by the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) which over the past two years has integrated the U.S. government’s investigations into UFO or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) incidents, as required by Congress because of renewed interest as to whether they are extraterrestrial in origin.
“AARO has found no verifiable evidence that any UAP sighting has represented extraterrestrial activity,” Tim Phillips, AARO’s acting director, told reporters ahead of the 63-page unclassified report’s public release on Friday.
“AARO has found no verifiable evidence that the U.S. government or private industry has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology,’ he added. “AARO.has found no indications that any information was illegally or inappropriately withheld from Congress.”
“AARO assesses that alleged hidden UAP programs either do not exist, or were misidentified authentic national security programs unrelated to extraterrestrial technology exploitation,” said Phillips. “We assess that claims of such hidden programs are largely the result of circular reporting in which a small group of individuals have repeated inaccurate claims they have heard from others over a period of several decades.”
Phillips emphasized that individuals with previous links to the U.S. military or the U.S. government who have stepped forward with some of these claims discounted by the review did so “without malice or any effort to mislead the public.”
“Many have sincerely misinterpreted real events, or mistaken sensitive U.S. programs for which they were not cleared as having been related to UAP or extraterrestrial exploitation,” he said.
The report highlights several incidents where individuals named authentic classified programs but “the interviewees mistakenly associated these authentic USG programs with alien and extraterrestrial activity.”
For example, AARO reviewed a report of a person “overhearing a conversation about a technology test at a military base where “aliens” allegedly were observing, and AARO judges that the interviewee misunderstood the conversation.”
The report also details the testing of a sample from an alleged extraterrestrial crash that AARO acquired from a private UAP investigating organization and the U.S. Army that was determined to be “a manufactured, terrestrial alloy” of magnesium, zinc, bismuth, with trace elements of lead that “does not represent off-world technology or possess any exceptional qualities.
The historical review was described by Phillips as the most comprehensive government-wide review ever of classified and unclassified U.S. government records related to UFO incidents.
“Nobody got in our way and said no,” said Phillips of how even secretive government agencies provided their historic information to AARO. “When we had people who were slow to agree, the door was eventually opened.”
Overall, he said that about half of AARO’s 40-person staff were involved in the effort to gather historical information from all federal agencies that had conducted previous reviews of UAP incidents, interviews of witnesses referred by Congress, as well as put together the report that in some cases involved reviewing physical documents held by the National Archives.
The report includes a summary of every major U.S. government investigation of UFO incidents dating back to 1945 well beyond the well-known Project Blue Book and includes some whose existence was declassified for the first time so they could be included in the report.
One of those investigations was “Kona Blue” a proposed program within the Department of Homeland Security that was never fully approved because it was found to lack merit. Advocates for establishing the program “were convinced that the USG (U.S. Government) was hiding UAP technologies” and that Kona Blue would provide a structure where they could be monitored by congressional committees.
“It is critical to note that no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected,” said the report. “This material was only assumed to exist by KONA BLUE advocates and its anticipated contract performers. “
The report assessed that the majority of UAP sightings in earlier decades could be blamed “on the misidentification of ordinary phenomena and objects” and that some were almost certainly were a result of the surge in new technologies that observers would have understandably reported as UFOs.”
One of those new technologies that was misidentified in the 1950s was the then secret and newly developed U-2 spy plane that flew at an altitude of 60,000 feet at a time when most planes flew at 20,000 feet. It’s high-altitude flights and the sun’s reflection at certain points in the horizon “would illuminate the U2” said the report.
The U2 was among the two dozen new airplane and space technologies listed in the report that may have been misidentified as UAP’s because their existence was in some cases classified.
Phillips recounted a personal experience he had as an active duty Marine during a training exercise in Arizona that was later determined to have been an encounter with a secret classified military technology under development at that ti.
Phillips said that he and members of his unit could see and hear an object flying overhead, but it did not appear on the radar of the air defense systems they were working on. Yet, they were able to see an object on the system’s optical tracker that did not resemble anything they had ever seen before.
They all learned much later that what they had seen was a flight test of the F-117 Nighthawk, the first fighter aircraft to incorporate stealth technology that prevented it from appearing on radar.
“The stealth worked because the radar didn’t pick it out” said Phillips. “But to us, we didn’t know what that what that was” which he said was a similar experience to what they found in the interviews with UAP witnesses referred to AARO by Congress.
He explained that AARO investigators interviewed witnesses, referred to them by Congress, who provided details of their experiences which in some cases they could cross reference with technological testing at a nearby range that matched what they had described.
“I would have thought it would have been a UAP myself when I actually saw the picture of it,” said Phillips. “So these are rational people making observations that just relating to what they know. “
The report describes the interest in UFO’s in popular culture “is more pervasive now than ever” and that “the speed of discovery, and the ubiquity of information available through the internet on the topic is unprecedented.”
“Aside from hoaxes and forgeries, misinformation and disinformation is more prevalent and easier to disseminate now than ever before, especially with today’s advanced photo, video, and computer generated imagery tools,” said the report which also cited Internet search and content recommendation algorithms as reinforcing “individuals’ preconceptions and confirmation biases.”
AARO continues to review new reports of UAP incidents being made by military personnel, as well as by the FAA and NASA. Phillips said that the number of incidents that have been forwarded to AARO now numbers more than 1,200, but that they are able to resolve a good number of them quickly, with 122 resolved in February.
Phillips said that if his office ever determined that a UAP incident was actually determined to be extraterrestrial in origin that information would not become classified because that is not within his office’s purview.
“The fact that we don’t understand something, it’s not necessarily classified,” he said.
Phillips told reporters that as part of his office’s effort to quickly resolve UAP incidents AARO was working to develop a new portable real time UAP sensor technology known as Gremlin that could be deployed on short notice to national security sites where UAP incidents were reported to have taken place.
“We need to understand what that is,” said Phillips. “And so that’s why we’re developing sensor capability that we can deploy in reaction to reports.”
“We already have specified what type of sensors they need to have to capture this in real time and then how that information will be relayed back to us and our mission partners we can analyze it, help them mediate whatever that particular incident is,” he said.
Phillips said the new system is currently undergoing range testing to detect profiles for drones, as well as birds and bats, and has provided new insights into other natural occurrences.
“We’re learning a lot about solar flaring,” said Phillips. “We’re really starting to understand what’s in orbit around our planet and how we can eliminate those as anomalous objects.”
(NEW YORK) — In April 2009, Brittanee Drexel told her mother she would be spending a few days at a friend’s house in Rochester, New York. But what Dawn Drexel didn’t know was that her 17-year-old daughter was really more than 800 miles away on a spring break trip in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, without permission.
Brittanee was last seen exiting a Myrtle Beach hotel lobby.
It was a case that kept the Drexel family on edge for 13 years and kept the nation in suspense as investigators searched long and hard for the high school junior.
A new “20/20” episode airing March 8 at 9 p.m. ET and streaming on Hulu the next day takes a behind-the-scenes look at the FBI investigation to solve Brittanee’s murder and the arrest and plea deal that brought justice to the family.
The show features exclusive interviews with key members of the FBI investigative team and never-before-heard details of how they cracked the case.
Dawn Drexel had no idea that Brittanee had snuck down to Myrtle Beach until she heard from her boyfriend, John, a few days later.
John did not travel with Brittanee to Myrtle Beach, but kept in constant contact with her, text messaging his girlfriend during her trip until their text message exchanges abruptly stopped on April 25, according to police records.
Investigators said they tracked Brittanee Drexel’s cell phone pings from Myrtle Beach to a rural, swampy area nearly 50 miles south.
Despite searching the dense and desolate Lowcountry swamp on horseback, ATV and foot, investigators came up empty.
Investigators eyed Raymond Moody, a registered convicted sex offender they identified through the local sex offender registry, who was living 10 miles away from the last place Brittanee’s phone pinged.
Moody had returned to his hometown of Georgetown, South Carolina, after being convicted and serving approximately half of his 40-year sentence in California for multiple sexual assaults.
In 2011, investigators conducted a search of the motel in Georgetown, where Moody had been staying at the time of Brittanee Drexel’s disappearance.
But the search of the motel produced no evidence that could connect Moody to Brittanee.
Still, more than ten years would pass before significant new information would help investigators discover what happened to Brittanee and who was responsible for her disappearance.
By that point, a new FBI team had stepped in and started re-examining the evidence, including Drexel’s cell phone location pings and surveillance footage from the boulevard in Myrtle Beach where Brittanee had been walking the night she vanished.
Caleb Messer, an FBI intelligence analyst, told “20/20” in an exclusive interview that “eventually there was a point in time where there was one specific vehicle that stood out to us.” That vehicle was a 1998 Ford Explorer.
Investigators found documentation that a woman named Angel Vause, Raymond Moody’s girlfriend, had had access to that same vehicle.
Authorities interviewed Vause after discovering a police recording where she was documented on tape while talking with a friend, saying that she was responsible for Brittanee Drexel’s death.
Investigators could not corroborate her claim, but saw an opportunity to try to get to Moody, whom they suspected was actually responsible.
During the interview, Vause claimed she had been drinking the night of the recording and that her friend kept asking about Moody. She said that she was just trying to get the attention off him.
“I just wanted everybody to leave him alone, so I put the blame on me instead of him,” she told investigators, admitting that her claim to be responsible wasn’t true.
Vause told the FBI she still possessed the cell phone that she had at the time of Drexel’s disappearance and offered to locate it for them, but after leaving her interview, she never followed through.
Investigators then decided to execute a search warrant for that phone and wound up face-to-face with Moody.
“I give Ray a copy of the search warrant, he can put two and two together and start to realize that we’ve got evidence and, ultimately, we would go after whatever and whomever we had to, to get justice for Brittanee Drexel,” Hank Carrison, a senior investigator with the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News.
Soon after, Moody’s lawyer contacted the local prosecutor and asked to meet. In May 2022, Raymond Moody confessed to picking up Drexel in the Ford Explorer, then raping and strangling her.
Moody told investigators he was driving with Vause when they picked up Drexel on the Myrtle Beach strip and went to a remote boat landing south of Georgetown.
He said Vause had no involvement in her murder. He said that during a period of time when Vause had left and he was alone with Drexel that night, he raped and killed the 17-year-old.
He then took investigators to a wooded area where he claimed he buried the body while Vause was sleeping.
After three days of excavating, investigators found human remains on May 11. Forty-eight hours later, Brittanee Drexel’s remains were positively identified through her dental records.
Moody was charged with obstructing justice, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct and murder.
Dawn Drexel told “20/20” she was shocked when she learned that Moody was in custody.
“I go, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,'” she said, recalling that Moody had been identified as a person of interest in 2011.
Vause also gave a proffer statement to investigators about the night’s events. Under its terms, she agreed to fully tell the truth while the state agreed to take her cooperation into account in deciding whether to prosecute her.
Vause admitted that she was in the car when they picked Drexel up, and said that she was still alive when Vause left her and Moody at the boat landing. Vause said that when she returned, Drexel was gone and that Moody told her a friend had come and picked the girl up.
According to prosecutors, phone records show that there was a time during that night when Vause and Ray were not together.
Vause was not charged in connection with Brittanee’s disappearance.
On Oct. 19, 2022, Moody pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. The state dropped the obstruction of justice charge.
“Once he walked into that courtroom, I was so angry,” Dawn Drexel said.
“He wouldn’t even look at me, and I was shaking. I was that mad,” she added.
Moody was sentenced to life in prison without parole, in addition to two consecutive terms of 30 years.
At a memorial for Brittanee in 2022, Dawn Drexel recognized the FBI team that cracked the case and presented them with a pendant. It had a picture of Brittanee on one side and the message “Thank you for finding me” on the other.
“There is nobody more singularly responsible for the resolution of this case than Dawn Drexel,” FBI Special Agent Michael Connelly said.
