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(NEW YORK) — New York City prosecutors moved on Monday to vacate the convictions of two men who both spent more than 20 years in prison after being convicted in the 1990s in separate murder cases.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Jabar Walker, 49, who is also known as Jabar Moore, and Wayne Gardine, also 49, were both wrongfully convicted.

In the case of Walker, who was convicted in 1998 in a murder-for-hire case, Bragg’s office cited the existence of “newly discovered evidence” of his wrongful conviction and said Walker did not receive meaningful legal representation.

“Not only was the case against Jabar Walker built upon unreliable and recanted testimony, he did not have the benefit of an effective defense attorney — one of the constitutional bedrocks of our criminal justice system,” Bragg said in a statement. “Despite these serious issues, Mr. Walker received a sentence that could have kept him in prison for his entire life. I am thrilled he can now finally return home, and thank the Innocence Project for its steadfast advocacy throughout this matter.”

In Gardine’s case, Bragg’s office agreed with a court filing by the Legal Aid Society’s Wrongful Conviction Unit that there was never physical or forensic evidence connecting Gardine to a 1994 fatal shooting.

“The only evidence against him at trial was the word of a teenager who claimed to have witnessed the murder, was on felony probation for selling drugs at the time he first incriminated Mr. Gardine, and changed his story several times between the incident and trial in statements to police, in the grand jury, at trial and post-conviction,” according to the Legal Aid filing.

Gardine issued a statement, thanking “the whole team at Legal Aid” for working on his case.

Gardine also thanked Bragg and his staff “for their honest investigation, their respect for the truth, and for how quickly they worked on my case.”

“I also want to thank my mom for being there all these years, and I want to thank myself for never giving up,” Gardine said. “I’m happy that the justice system finally worked.”

Gardine had been serving a sentence of 18 1/2 years to life in prison after a jury convicted him in the Sept. 2, 1994, slaying of Robert David Mickens, who was shot 11 times on a street in the Harlem neighborhood of New York.

“Unjust convictions are the height of injustice and while we can never completely undo the pain he has experienced, I hope this is the first step in allowing Mr. Gardine to rebuild his life and reunite with his loved ones,” Bragg said.

Gardine, who moved to the United States from Jamaica with his family when he was 13, served nearly three decades in prison before he was released on parole in 2022. He was then transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), where he remains in custody, according to Bragg’s office.

Following Monday’s hearing, the Legal Aid Society called for Gardine’s release from ICE custody and the termination of pending deportation proceedings.

Walker, who was serving a sentence of two consecutive terms of 25 years to life in prison, was convicted of killing two men, William Santana and Ismael De La Cruz, who were found fatally shot in a car in Harlem on May 25, 1995.

Walker entered a courtroom Monday in handcuffs and exited a free man after serving 25 years in prison.

Bragg said in a statement that his office “agreed not to re-prosecute Walker in the interest of justice and because the case cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Walker and Gardine are just a few of the more than a dozen people who have been exonerated so far this year due to wrongful convictions based on misidentifications, false confessions, police failure to disclose evidence and more.

The exonerations have been recorded by the National Registry of Exonerations, an exoneration-tracking project hosted by the University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law.

There have been at least 3,287 exonerations recorded by the National Registry of Exonerations since 1989.

More than 29,100 years have been “lost” in prison due to “wrongful convictions” that have been uncovered thus far, according to the registry.

 

 

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(NEW YORK) — Opening statements in the trial of hip-hop star Young Thug, who is facing gang-related charges in a sweeping RICO indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, are expected to begin on Monday.

The rapper’s attorney, Brian Steel, confirmed the development to ABC News.

This comes nearly 11 months after jury selection began and after a judge ruled that prosecutors can “conditionally” use rap lyrics as alleged evidence in this case.

The Grammy-winning rapper, whose legal name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, was initially charged on May 10, 2022 with one count each of conspiring to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and participating in criminal street gang activity, and was later charged with an additional count of participating in street gang activity, three counts of violating the Georgia controlled substances act, possession of a firearm while committing a felony and possession of a machine gun.

He has pleaded not guilty to all eight counts.

“Mr. Williams has committed no violation of law, whatsoever,” Steel told ABC News in May 2022, after the charges were announced by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.

Young Thug’s legal team filed several motions over the past year to have him released on bond but they were all denied and he has remained in custody since his arrest on May 9, 2022.

It took nearly 10 months for Judge Ural Glanville to seat a jury in this case and now Young Thug is set to stand trial along with five other co-defendants.

The charges the rapper is facing stem from a sweeping grand jury indictment that named 28 individuals who are allegedly associated with the Atlanta-based Young Slime Life (YSL) – a gang that prosecutors allege Young Thug founded in 2012. But YSL, which is also the acronym for “Young Stoner Life,” is the name of the rapper’s label – an imprint of 300 Entertainment. The label is not named in the indictment. Lyrics were listed in the indictment as part of the alleged evidence.

Over the past year, several co-defendants took plea deals and the judge ruled that several others would be tried separately.

Although the scope of the indictment goes far beyond the use of rap lyrics, the inclusion of lyrics – performed by Young Thug and other co-defendants – as part of the alleged evidence, in this case, prompted outrage from artists across the music industry and helped spark a movement that came to be known as “Protect Black Art.”

Steel filed a motion in December 2022 asking the judge to stop prosecutors from using lyrics as evidence in this case, but Glanville denied the motion in a November ruling, where he determined that 17 sets of lyrics mentioned in the indictment can be preliminarily admitted in the trial.

“I’m conditionally admitting those pending lyrics, depending upon – or subject to a foundation that is properly laid by the state or the proponent that seeks to admit that evidence,” Glanville said.

The judge added that if prosecutors intend to include additional lyrics as part of the alleged evidence in this case, they can be submitted for the judge’s review.

 

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(NEW YORK) — This year’s Thanksgiving holiday shattered travel records.

There were 2,907,378 people screened Sunday at U.S. airports — the highest number of people to go through security on a single day ever, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

The record came despite a cross-country storm that brought snow to busy Chicago O’Hare International Airport and delayed more than 900 flights at the travel hub. However, only three flights were canceled at O’Hare on Sunday.

American Airlines said it had nearly 6.5 million customers over the Thanksgiving holiday — a record high for the airline. Sunday was American’s busiest day with more than 6,100 departures.

United Airlines said it had a record high of 3.2 million travelers ahead of Thanksgiving, from Nov. 17 to Nov. 23.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million civil lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.

Trump, his sons Eric Trump and and Donald Trump Jr., and other top Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The trial comes after the judge in the case ruled in a partial summary judgment that Trump had submitted “fraudulent valuations” for his assets, leaving the trial to determine additional actions and what penalty, if any, the defendants should receive.

The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Nov 27, 9:26 AM EST
Trump Organization execs to return to witness stand

Two current Trump Organization executives are scheduled to return to the witness stand today as part of the defense’s case as the trial resumes following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Mark Hawthorn, Trump Hotels’ chief financial officer, initially testified for the state’s case in October. State attorney Andrew Amer used his testimony as an opportunity to highlight that the Trump Organization had a qualified accountant who could have worked on Trump’s statement of financial condition, instead of the top executives who had less accounting experience.

“If any of them had asked you to work with them on preparing Mr. Trump’s statement of financial condition, would you have had the knowledge and experience to do so?” Amer asked.

“Yes,” Hawthorn responded, adding he was never asked to assist with preparing the statements that are at the center of the attorney general’s case.

Patrick Birney, an assistant vice president at the Trump Organization who also testified in October, offered some of the only testimony that supports the attorney general’s allegation of a conspiracy to inflate Trump’s net worth.

“Did Allen Weisselberg ever tell you that Mr. Trump wanted his net worth on the statement of financial condition to go up?” state attorney Eric Haren asked Birney.

“Yes, I think that happened in Allen Weisselberg’s office,” Birney said, prompting an objection from Trump’s lawyers.

Nov 22, 5:28 PM EST
Judge, clerk subjected to daily threats, official says in gag order filing

An attorney for Judge Arthur Engoron also filed in support of the gag order in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, arguing that violent threats have increased since the gag order was lifted.

The limited gag order, which prohibited Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly commenting about Engoron’s staff, was issued by the judge last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media. Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s First Department stayed the order on Thursday, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.

Engoron’s filing includes a report from Charles Hollon of the Judicial Threats Assessment Unit of the New York State Court System’s Department of Public Safety. According to the report, Engoron and his principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, have been inundated with credible, violent and antisemitic threats since Trump began criticizing Greenfield.

“The threats against Justice Engoron and Ms. Greenfield are considered to be serious and credible and not hypothetical or speculative,” Hollon wrote in the report.

Greenfield has been the victim of daily doxing of her personal email address and phone number, receiving dozens of calls, emails and social media messages daily, according to Hollon. Approximately half the harassing messages have been antisemitic, according to Greenfield.

In the report, Hollon wrote that Engoron was the subject of credible threats before the trial had started, but Trump’s Oct. 3 Truth Social post directed at Greenfield exponentially increased the number of threats directed at her.

The report included multiple examples of voicemails that were left on the telephone in Engoron’s chambers.

Hollon said the messages have created an “ongoing security risk” for Engoron, his staff and family, but that the gag order had been effective in lowering the number of threats.

“The implementation of the limited gag orders resulted in a decrease in the number of threats, harassment and disparaging messages that the judge and his staff received,” Hollon said in the report. “However, when Mr. Trump violated the gag orders, the number of threatening, harassing and disparaging messages increased.”

Engoron’s lawyer, Lisa Evans, said the threats detailed in Hollon’s affirmation justify the gag order, which functions as a reasonable limit on free speech.

“The First Amendment does not prohibit courts from limiting speech that threatens the safety of the court’s staff,” Evans wrote.

Trump’s reply to the filing is due on Nov. 27, after which the First Department will decide whether to fully lift the gag order.

Nov 22, 4:53 PM EST
NY AG argues for limited gag order in court filing

A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a court filing Wednesday, argued in favor of maintaining the judge’s limited gag after an appeals court temporarily lifted the order last week.

The limited gag order, which prohibited Donald Trump and his attorneys from publicly commenting about Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff, was issued by the judge last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media. Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s First Department stayed the order on Thursday, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.

James’ court filing Wednesday alleges that Trump and his lawyers continue to harass Engoron’s law clerk “as part of an improper tactic to disrupt trial and undermine the proceedings.”

James said the gag order is a necessary and “exceedingly limited restraint” to protect Engoron’s staff, and Trump’s lawyers failed to prove that attacks on judicial staff during a trial are protected by the First Amendment.

“A speedy denial is necessary to ensure the safety of [the] Supreme Court’s staff and the integrity and the orderly administration of the proceedings through the end of the trial,” James wrote, describing Trump’s attacks as “extraordinary and dangerous.”

Arguing that Trump has engaged in a “pattern” of attacking civil servants involved in proceedings against him, James cited his attacks on the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, as well as officials in his federal election interference case. She also mentioned Trump’s renewed attacks against the clerk over the last week since the gag order was lifted, including calling for her prosecution, sharing an article suggesting she engaged in drug use, and describing her as “crooked and highly partisan.”

Trump’s lawyers have defended such attacks as constitutionally protected speech and argued that Engoron failed to articulate how the attacks present a “clear and present danger” to the clerk.

Trump personally sued Engoron last week using a provision of state law called Article 78, which is generally used to challenge New York government agencies. Trump unsuccessfully attempted to use an Article 78 proceeding on the eve of the trial to delay the proceeding; however, his most recent attempt successfully resulted in a temporary stay of the gag order.

Trump’s reply to the filing is due on Nov. 27, after which the First Department will decide whether to fully lift the gag order.

Nov 21, 3:27 PM EST
Court adjourns for extended Thanksgiving break

After two days of testimony for the defense, former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney stepped off the witness stand.

Judge Arthur Engoron then adjourned court until Monday.

When court resumes after the Thanksgiving break, the defense plans to call two Trump Organization executives, followed by several Deutsche Bank employees.

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(BURLINGTON, Vt.) — A 48-year-old man was arrested on Sunday in connection with the shootings of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, on Saturday night, police said.

Jason J. Eaton was detained midday Sunday near the site of the shooting, the Burlington Police Department said in a press release. Police then searched his home and arrested him Sunday evening, officials said.

Eaton is expected to be arraigned Monday morning, police said.

The college students had been wounded Saturday night in a shooting in Burlington, the state’s most populous city, by a gunman who opened fire at them “without speaking,” police had said in a statement on Sunday.

A preliminary investigation by the Burlington Police Department determined the three students, all in their 20s, were shot outside the home of one of the victim’s relatives, which they were visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday, police said in a statement Sunday.

Police detectives, county personnel and federal agents spent Sunday canvassing the neighborhood near the shooting and conducting interviews with neighbors, authorities said. The FBI helped with “victim services and computer and cellphone analysis,” officials said.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were canvassing near the location of the shooting at about 3:38 p.m. when they “encountered and detained” Eaton, Burlington officials said.

The shooting occurred in front of the apartment building where Eaton lived, police said. After he was detained, officials were granted a search warrant, which was executed at his residence at about 9:53 p.m., police said.

“Evidence collected during that search warrant, and additional evidence developed during the course of this investigation, gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting,” police said.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Deena Zaru and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this story.

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(DENVER) — The trial of two Colorado paramedics charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, among other counts, in connection with the death of Elijah McClain will proceed with jury selection on Monday.

Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were the Aurora Fire and Rescue emergency medical technicians (EMT) who injected McClain with 500 milligrams (mg) of ketamine on Aug. 24, 2019, in Aurora, Colorado, after an encounter with police for “rapid tranquilization in order to minimize time struggling,” according to department policy.

Cooper and Cichuniec are being charged with criminally negligent homicide, assaults in the second degree, and crimes of violence. Cichuniec is facing an additional charge of manslaughter, according to the indictment. Cichuniec ordered the ketamine, and Cooper injected it into McClain. They have pleaded not guilty.

McClain was stopped by police on his way home from a convenience store after a passerby called 911 to report McClain as acting “sketchy” with a ski mask on; however, the caller said there was no weapon and that no one was in danger at the time.

Officer Nathan Woodyard, who was first on the scene, placed McClain in a carotid hold and he and the other two officers on the scene moved McClain by force to the grass and restrained him. McClain can be heard pleading with officers in police body camera footage, saying he can’t breathe correctly.

Cichuniec and Cooper arrived on the scene after McClain was restrained and in handcuffs, according to the indictment.

“Mr. McClain appeared unconscious, had no muscle tone, was limp, and had visible vomit coming from his nose and mouth,” after being held in a carotid chokehold by police and injected with ketamine, according to the indictment charging the EMTs. “Shortly after Mr. McClain was loaded into the ambulance, the paramedics discovered that Mr. McClain had no pulse and was not breathing.”

McClain was declared brain-dead days later and died on Aug. 30, 2019.

Cooper and Cichuniec diagnosed McClain with excited delirium, after approximately two minutes on the scene, according to the indictment. Cichuniec later told investigators excited delirium is a medical condition in which the patient has no control over their body and described resulting symptoms as hyper-aggression and disorientation, among others. Cooper said he reached the diagnosis after receiving information from officers and observing McClain for about one minute.

“Mr. McClain actually weighted 143 pounds (65 kg) and as such his weight-based Ketamine dose should have been closer to 325 mg of Ketamine,” rather than the 500 mg injected into the 23-year-old, according to the indictment.

The EMTs did not check McClain’s vital signs, talk to him, or physically touch him before administering the Ketamine, according to the indictment.

Cichuniec’s and Cooper’s legal defense did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for a statement.

McClain’s cause of death, which was previously listed as “undetermined,” was listed in an amended autopsy report as “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” The manner of death remained listed as “undetermined” as it was in the initial report.

The defense attorneys for Woodyard argued the ketamine administered by the EMTs that night was responsible for his death during Woodyard’s trial. He was acquitted by a jury on all charges earlier this month.

In the first trial in connection with McClain’s death, Officer Randy Roedema was found guilty on Oct. 12 of criminally negligent homicide and assault in the third degree. He will be sentenced in January and could face up to five years in prison and be fined more than $100,000. His employment with the police force was terminated following his conviction.

Another officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was found not guilty on charges of reckless manslaughter, assault in the second degree, and criminally negligent homicide in October. His employment with the police force was terminated in 2020.

“Everyone who was present during the night of my son’s murder will have an eternity of punishment and shame to face,” Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain’s mother told ABC News in a statement. “No one will ever forget what they did. Karma is real, so don’t be sorry for me. This is the system of biased hate that we all work for and pay into.”

ABC News’ Aisha Frazier contributed to this report.

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The body of an 11-year-old girl missing after a landslide in Alaska has been found, increasing the death toll to four, according to state officials.

The body of Kara Heller was found on Saturday just after 6:30 p.m. local time after a scent detection K-9 indicated an area of debris that was then investigated, the Alaska Department of Public Safety announced Sunday.

The death toll from the landslide also includes Kara Heller’s other family members — Timothy Heller, 44; Beth Heller, 36; and Mara Heller, 16 — all of whom were found dead at the scene Tuesday evening, officials said Friday when their identities were released.

Next of kin has been notified of Kara Heller’s death, officials said. Derek Heller, 12, and Otto Florschutz, 65, remain missing, according to the DPS.

The landslide occurred shortly before 9 p.m. local time Monday near Wrangell, a city in the Alaska Panhandle, along the Zimovia Highway at mile 11, officials said.

Three homes were determined to be directly in the path of the landslide: two houses on the mountainside and one on the waterside of the highway, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety. One of the mountainside homes is believed to have been empty at the time, officials said.

The landslide is estimated to have measured 500 feet across the highway, officials said.

On Thursday, officials resumed their search for Florschutz and the younger Heller children after all the areas accessible without heavy machinery had been searched.

The Alaska DPS searched the region with several resources including K-9s, drones, boats and helicopters since the landslide struck Monday night, but did not find any signs of the remaining missing persons until Saturday.

A woman who lived on the mountainside of the highway was rescued Tuesday morning and was listed in good condition, according to officials.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared a state disaster following the landslide.

Officials had said emergency crews were going to begin to clear the roadway and look to see if the missing people were buried.

“If new evidence or information suggests that any missing people may be in a specific area or slide zone, the Alaska State Troopers may restart the active search focused on that new area,” the Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

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A massive winter storm containing snow and heavy rain could disrupt travel for millions of Americans who will be returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday on Sunday, regarded as the busiest travel day of the year.

Snow began moving into the Chicago region on Sunday morning, reducing visibility at O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, which could trigger flight delays elsewhere in the United States.

Inclement weather in other large cities could cause a domino effect of delays, as well, forecasts show.

In Detroit, a chilly rainfall will develop throughout the day on Sunday, with some wintry mix possible. Cleveland has a similar forecast, with cold rain throughout the day.

Major cities in the Northeast along the I-95 corridor such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City will see rain developing on Sunday afternoon and turning heavier into the night. In New York City, the rain is expected to begin after sunset, around 5 p.m., but the timing of the heaviest rain is not expected until overnight and the early morning hours Monday.

While major problems are not expected in Atlanta, another major travel hub, some rain showers could develop later on Sunday.

Widespread, 1 to 2 inches of rainfall is forecast across states like Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

The snow from the storm will be limited to higher elevations in northern New England. Up to 2 feet of snow could fall in the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

The storm will have mostly moved off of the Northeast by Monday morning as people head back to school and work, with the exception of leftover rain in northern New England.

However, lake effect snow will begin to affect communities in western New York as the storm system moves out.

As the storm moves out, the cold air will move in behind it, creating conditions for heavy snow to blanket the area as the cold air passes over the relatively warm water in the Great Lakes.

The National Weather Service has issued lake effect snow warnings for most of the eastern shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Heavy snow bands will form on Monday and Tuesday, creating near-white-out conditions at times.

Snow amounts will be extremely localized based on the location of the bands, but some communities could see up to 2 feet of accumulation in the coming days, forecasts show.

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(NEW YORK) — Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of killing George Floyd, was stabbed in federal prison Friday, sources told ABC News.

Sources familiar add that Chauvin is as of now in “stable” condition and is expected to survive.

An inmate was assaulted at The Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, at approximately 12:30 p.m. local time, and prison employees responded and contained the situation, The Bureau of Prisons said in a statement.

The inmate has not been identified but sources told ABC News that it was Chavin, 47, who has been serving a simultaneous sentence at the medium-security prison for Floyd’s death. In a statement, the prison said that “life-saving measures” were taken by employees and Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

No employees were injured during the incident and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.

Chauvin has been serving a state and federal sentence at FCI Tucson in the death of Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody on May 25, 2020.

During the encounter which was caught on bystander video, Chauvin, who is white, held his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes. Floyd, who was handcuffed and in a prone position on the pavement, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before falling unconscious and losing a pulse, according to evidence presented at Chauvin’s state trial. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Floyd’s death, during the height of the pandemic, spurred nationwide and global protests over police brutality and racism.

Chauvin was found guilty on three counts in April 2021: Second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison in June 2021.

In June 2022, Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in prison on federal civil rights charges in the death of Floyd. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges but in December 2021, he pleaded guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights and admitted that he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck even after he became unresponsive.

The Supreme Court denied Chauvin’s appeal on Monday of his second-degree murder charge after his lawyer claimed he had not received a fair trial.

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca and Stephanie Guerilus contributed to this report.

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(WRANGELL, Alaska) — Alaska state officials have released the identities of the victims of a landslide that left three people dead and another three missing.

The landslide occurred shortly before 9 p.m. local time Monday near Wrangell, a city in the Alaska Panhandle, along the Zimovia Highway at mile 11, officials said.

Three homes were determined to be directly in the path of the landslide — two houses on the mountainside and one on the waterside of the highway — according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety. One of the mountainside homes is believed to have been empty at the time, officials said.

Five of the victims belong to the same family, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

The victims who were found dead at the scene were identified as Timothy Heller, 44; Beth Heller, 36; and Mara Heller, 16, officials said Friday.

The victims who remain missing at Otto Florschutz, 65; Derek Heller, 12; and Kara Heller, 11, according to the state Department of Safety.

Next of kin has been notified, officials said.

On Thursday, officials resumed their search for Florschutz and the younger Heller children after all the areas accessible without heavy machinery had been searched.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety searched the region with several resources including K9s, drones, boats and helicopters since the landslide struck Monday night, but have not found any signs of the remaining missing persons.

“After three separate active search efforts…search teams have reached all areas accessible without heavy machinery,” the agency said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

The bodies of three people, two adults and a juvenile girl, were recovered by search and rescue teams as of Tuesday evening.

The landslide is estimated to have measured 500 feet across the highway, officials said.

A woman who lived on the mountainside of the highway was rescued Tuesday morning and was listed in good condition, according to officials.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has declared a state disaster in the state.

Officials said that emergency crews will begin to start clearing the roadway and look if the missing three people are buried.

“If new evidence or information suggests that any missing people may be in a specific area or slide zone, the Alaska State Troopers may restart the active search focused on that new area,” the Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

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