(NEW YORK) — Therese Mattingly’s two children were playing in the sand while the family was vacationing in Florida last month when suddenly “it just became chaos and horror,” the mother told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
Sloan Mattingly, 7, and her brother, Maddox Mattingly, 9, were both buried when the hole they were digging at the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea beach collapsed on Feb. 20, authorities said. Maddox was uninjured but Sloan died at the hospital, her family and police said.
Now, her parents are speaking out for the first time to honor their daughter and raise awareness about beach safety ahead of spring break.
“We’re the people that other parents or family members kind of roll their eyes at because we’re a little overprotective most of the time and think of everything,” Therese Mattingly told ABC News correspondent Erielle Reshef in an exclusive interview from the family’s home in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “When we go to the beach, we think of water safety. And this never, ever once crossed my mind.”
Her husband, Jason Mattingly, told Good Morning America that the day had been “perfect” up until then.
“We were just relaxing,” he said. “We were just getting ready to end our day there. And then that’s when the incident happened.”
Therese Mattingly said the collapse happened “really fast.”
“That part just hurts really bad because it didn’t matter that we were literally right there,” she said. “It was just a hole, and then there’s nothing.”
Many beachgoers came over to help as they frantically dug the children out, from helping dig to calling 911, the parents said. Therese Mattingly said once they pulled out Maddox, who was buried up to his chest, a nurse stayed with him while she continued to dig for Sloan.
“Everyone tried their hardest. And unfortunately, it didn’t work out in our favor,” Jason Mattingly said.
The father said the sand collapse happened in an instant.
“It’s kind of a blur, and it’s probably maybe in my mind protecting itself, but it just happened so fast,” he said. “And in my mind I had her in my hands, but the weight of the sand was too much.”
“It didn’t matter that we were literally right there,” Therese Mattingly added. “It was just a hole. And there’s nothing.”
Sloan, who was a first grader at Lafayette Meadows School, was “a beam of light,” and pure “joy,” her mother said.
“She would come out in the morning and she would fist pump you right out of bed,” Therese Mattling said.
She was a fan of Taylor Swift and loved to make friendship bracelets for her family, friends and teachers, her mother said while wearing some that her daughter had made.
Maddox and his sister were each others’ “built-in best friends,” though he became an only child “just all of a sudden,” Therese Mattingly said.
“I think he’s holding a lot in,” she said when asked how he is doing. “There’s a lot of things we have in motion to help him with that and to help us help him.”
“I think he’ll always be a little different now, but we’re willing to do whatever we need to do to make sure he has the help to kind of process this and move forward with Sloan in his heart,” Jason Mattingly added.
Jason Mattingly said the support they’ve received from friends, family and strangers who have reached out from across the globe have helped in the weeks since Sloan’s death.
“The love and support that we received is overwhelming,” he said. “We’ve read every letter. We really appreciate all the support.”
The family hopes that by speaking out about what happened to Sloan, they can help prevent another family from going through the same tragedy.
“I don’t know what steps to take in order for that to happen — for, you know, signage or lifeguards or patrol,” Therese Mattingly said. “But hopefully we can make some sort of change from this.”
Chris Vincent, mayor of Lauderdale by the Sea, thanked the family for working with them to inform others about what can happen with sand holes.
“First and foremost, our heavy hearts remain with Sloan’s family,” Vincent said in his statement. “As a father myself, I can’t fathom what they are going through. I want to thank them for staying in contact with us as we develop a national public safety campaign in Sloan’s memory. We will share it with as many coastal communities as possible to help prevent another unimaginable tragedy. We’re also discussing how we monitor our beach, a local Ordinance to ban digging on our beach, and the best way to honor Sloan.”
According to Karen Daniels, a physicist at North Carolina State University who studies how sand moves, for safety she advises beachgoers not to go deeper than the knee of the smallest person when digging a sand hole. If the hole is too deep, the walls can collapse, covering a person in the sand, she said. The sand can be heavy and impede a person from lifting themselves out of a hole to breathe, she added.
Daniels recommends that if you’re burying a friend in the sand, it’s better not to dig but to cover the friend with sand at the ground level so the foundation is sturdier. Additionally, she advises people to watch out for deep sand holes when walking on the beach as a fall in a deeper hole could lead to a broken limb.
An Alaska Airlines airplane takes off at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 5, 2023. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A 19-year-old student pilot is facing a federal charge over allegedly attempting to enter the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight multiple times, according to court documents.
The crew “reported a passenger disturbance” during a flight from San Diego International Airport to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on March 3, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The passenger, Nathan Jones, “got out of his seat multiple times and made three separate attempts to go to the front of the plane and open the aircraft’s cockpit door,” according to an affidavit from a federal air marshal filed in support of the criminal complaint.
Flight attendants ultimately requested the help of off-duty law enforcement officers, who “restrained Jones in flex cuffs and sat on either side of him for the remainder of the flight,” the affidavit stated. Flight attendants also blocked the cockpit with the beverage cart, the affidavit stated.
When flight attendants asked Jones why he tried to access the cockpit, he allegedly said he was “testing them,” according to the affidavit.
Alaska Airlines Flight 322 landed safely at Dulles, according to the FAA, which is investigating the incident.
While searching Jones’ belongings upon landing, federal agents found a student pilot’s license and “multiple notebooks with writings describing how to operate an aircraft, including take-off, in-air, and landing techniques,” according to the affidavit. He was arrested and charged with interference with a flight crew.
Jones is in custody in Alexandria County pending a detention hearing on March 18, court records show.
His attorney, Robert Jenkins, filed a motion on Wednesday asking that the court order a competency evaluation for Jones. The motion included a letter from an Alexandria County therapist describing him as having “symptoms indicative of a serious mental illness” and being on “suicide protocols.”
Jenkins told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday that Jones does not have any history of criminal conduct or violence.
“The charges against Mr. Jones are shocking to his mother and family,” Jenkins said. “The allegations are completely inconsistent with the life he has lived.”
“At this stage we are acutely concerned with his mental health and are working to address his needs,” the statement continued. “We have confidence that at the end it will be clear that Mr. Jones never intended to harm or threaten anyone.”
(NEW YORK) — Several counties in Kansas are under a tornado watch.
The National Weather Service on Wednesday night issued the tornado watch for Atchison, Coffey, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Franklin, Geary, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Leavenworth, Lyon, Miami, Morris, Osage, Pottawatomie, Riley, Shawnee, Wabaunsee and Wyandotte counties. The warning is in effect until 1 a.m. CT on Thursday.
The NWS has forecast thunderstorms across northeast and north central Kansas on Wednesday night, which it warns could “quickly become severe.”
What the NWS described as large to very large hail balls of more than two inches in diameter could be produced by the storm.
Thunderstorms with lightning may be on the way for northeast and east central Kansas on Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — A 27-year-old Florida woman has been found dead on a cruise ship in the Bahamas, authorities say.
Initial reports of the woman’s death began at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Monday when members of the Royal Bahamas Force from the Criminal Investigation Department – Grand Bahama were told that a female passenger was found in a cabin onboard a cruise line en route to the Bahamas, according to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police.
“A team of medical personnel from the ship assisted and performed CPR, but no vital signs of life were detected and she was declared deceased,” police said detailing their response to the case.
The cause of death is currently unknown, but police did confirm that they confiscated “a quantity of suspected cocaine from the cabin, and arrested a 32-year-old American male from Florida, U.S.A.”
The identity of the deceased woman and the 32-year-old male who was arrested has not yet been disclosed by authorities and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.
The investigation into the death of the 27-year-old woman is currently ongoing.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — Boeing overwrote surveillance footage from the repair facility where a door plug was reinstalled ahead of the blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this year, according to a letter Wednesday from National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jennifer Homendy to the Senate Commerce Committee.
The NTSB had been requesting the footage in order to investigate what happened during the midflight scare.
The NTSB still does not know which Boeing employees worked on the failed door plug of Alaska Airlines 1282, which had its door plug blow out during a flight in January, Homendy also said in the letter.
“To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” Homendy wrote to Sens. Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz. “Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During her hearing in front of the committee earlier this month, Homendy informed lawmakers that Boeing had not yet handed over documents needed in their investigation, including the names of 25 people who worked on the door plug.
After NTSB investigators initially requested the documents on Jan. 9, they learned the door crew manager was out on medical leave, according to Homendy. They requested updates on Feb. 15 and Feb. 22, though were informed by the manager’s attorney that “he would not be able to provide a statement or interview to NTSB due to medical issues,” Homendy wrote in her letter.
Following the March 6 hearing, Boeing provided a list of names to the NTSB of personnel who reported to the door crew manager, but that list did not identify who performed the door plug work, according to Homendy.
Homendy stated in her letter that she then contacted Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun after receiving the list and asked for the names of those who performed the work. Calhoun “stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed,” according to Homendy’s letter.
“The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward,” Homendy wrote in the letter, which was requested in response to questions during her testimony in front of the committee.
Homendy insisted in the letter that her agency is “not in any way seeking the names of employees who performed the work on the door plug for punitive purposes” — saying she instructed the NTSB to protect the identities of the door crew and other front-line employees who come forward.
Following the hearing, Boeing said in a statement to ABC News that the company has “worked proactively and transparently” to support the NTSB’s investigation, including by responding “comprehensively” to all agency requests with relevant information.
“Early in the investigation, we provided the NTSB with names of Boeing employees, including door specialists, who we believed would have relevant information. We have now provided the full list of individuals on the 737 door team, in response to a recent request,” the statement said. “With respect to documentation, if the door plug removal was undocumented there would be no documentation to share.”
“We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the NTSB’s investigation,” the company said.
The door plug of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 fell off a few minutes after take off from Portland International Airport on Jan. 5. Passengers captured footage showing a hole where the door plug came loose on the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane. The plane safely made an emergency landing and no one was seriously injured.
An NTSB preliminary report released last month found that four bolts designed to prevent the door plug from falling off the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane were missing before the plug blew off the flight.
The NTSB will hold a two-day investigative hearing on the door plug incident in August, the agency announced on Tuesday.
The investigating hearing will “assist in obtaining information necessary to determine the facts, circumstances, and probable cause of the transportation accident or incident under investigation and to make recommendations to improve transportation safety,” the NTSB said in a statement.
The agency held similar hearings last year on the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House has launched a nationwide call-to-action to save lives from opioid overdoses.
In its Wednesday announcement, the Biden-Harris Administration said it hopes the new effort will help get Naloxone, a drug meant to reverse opioid overdose, into as many communities as possible, increase training and broaden access to the drug.
“We really want to make sure that we’re flooding the zone with Naloxone, where appropriate, to ensure that everyone who needs it can get access,” White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden said on a call with reporters.
The administration said it is encouraging businesses and organizations to join the effort, train their employees and make Naloxone readily available to both customers and employees in their community.
More than 100,000 people died from an overdose in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year for the first time, the Food and Drug Administration approved two Naloxone nasal sprays for over-the-counter use.
With funding from the Department of Health and Human Services, the administration has delivered free life saving medications across the country preventing more than 600,000 overdose deaths and delivered nearly 10 million Naloxone kits, Tanden said.
A senior administration official said what they’ve done so far is “not nearly enough” and hope this call-to-action will help save even more lives.
“We’re committed to working with communities and those who sign up through this challenge to identify the resources necessary to be able to deliver those Naloxone kits,” a senior official said.
“But we’re also hoping that members of the private sector community can step up and do their part and help provide avenues to ensure access to their workforce and to their communities to keep people safe.”
(NEW YORK) — Doors are closing for 1,000 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar locations after the discount variety store chain announced an unexpected surprise fourth-quarter loss in its earnings report Wednesday.
Dollar Tree plans to shutter 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of fiscal 2024. Over the next several years, the company intends to close 370 more Family Dollar locations, as well as 30 Dollar Tree stores.
At the opening bell Wednesday on Wall Street, Dollar Tree shares fell 14% in value on the news.
Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar in 2015 for over $8 billion after a bidding war with Dollar General, but Wednesday’s earnings report signals difficulty in maintaining the value of both brands.
“As we look forward in 2024, we are accelerating our multi-price rollout at Dollar Tree and taking decisive action to improve profitability and unlock value at Family Dollar,” Rick Dreiling, Dollar Tree chairman and CEO, said in a press release Wednesday.
Dollar Tree announced it will record a $950 million impairment against Family Dollar’s trade name, in addition to a $1.07 billion goodwill charge.
Within the three-month review that ended Feb. 3, Dollar Tree lost $1.71 billion, or $7.85 per share. Last year, Dollar Tree earned $452.2 million, or $2.04 per share.
Dollar Tree revenue rose to $8.64 billion from $7.72 billion, which fell below the Wall Street estimate of $8.67 billion.
Also within the three-month review that ended Feb. 3, Dollar Tree opened 219 new stores, bringing full-year new store openings to 641.
“We finished the year strong, with fourth-quarter results reflecting positive traffic trends, market share gains, and adjusted margin improvement across both segments,” Dreiling said in the press release. “While we are still in the early stages of our transformation journey, I am proud of what our team accomplished in 2023 and see a long runway of growth ahead of us.”
Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, Dollar Tree operates 16,774 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada, as of Feb. 3.
Popular for selling budget-friendly items, Dollar Tree has $3 and $5 center-store merchandise available at approximately 5,000 Dollar Tree stores and $3, $4, and $5 frozen and refrigerated items available at more than 6,500 Dollar Tree stores, according to the press release.
“As an organization, we continue to execute at a high level,” Jeff Davis, Dollar Tree Chief Financial Officer, added in the release, “Our core operating performance was strong in the fourth quarter, despite some unanticipated developments related to general liability claims.”
(PONTIAC, Mich.) — James Crumbley, the father of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley, will not testify in his manslaughter trial as the defense rested after just one witness Wednesday.
After the jury was removed from the courtroom, James Crumbley was asked questions by his attorney under oath, in which he revealed it was his choice to remain silent, and not testify before the jury.
The court is currently taking a recess and closing arguments are set to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
James Crumbley is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a 2021 school shooting carried out by his son. Four of the shooter’s classmates were killed in the shooting and seven others were injured.
James Crumbley’s wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of the same four charges in February. During her trial, she chose to take the stand in her own defense, getting grilled by prosecutors over how she spent her time in the days and months leading up to the shooting, including extramarital affairs.
The Crumbleys are a rare case of parents facing criminal charges in connection with a shooting carried out by their son.
Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to 24 counts including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death.
Before the prosecution rested, Brett Brandon, one of the officers in charge of the James Crumbley case, took the stand on Wednesday, testifying about what the Crumbleys were doing during a manhunt for them and how they had groceries delivered to them.
After the parents were charged, they failed to turn themselves in by the deadline set by a judge, and a manhunt ensued until they were found hiding at a Detroit business.
After Brandon concluded his testimony, the prosecution rested and the defense called James Crumbley’s sister, Karen Crumbley, to testify. She was the only defense witness to be called to the stand.
Karen Crumbley testified to having seen both James and the shooter in April and June 2021 and not having seen or heard anything concerning about her nephew at that time. She also testified that she did not have any conversations with James Crumbley in which he would express concern over his son during that time.
In cross-examination, prosecutor Marc Keast used cellphone records to point out that Karen was not particularly close with her brother and did not talk to him that often via the phone or social media, having only spoken on the phone three times and exchanged 22 messages in all of 2021. She also answered questions about her brother buying a gun for his son.
“If you are getting gun specifically for your child to use at his leisure, that would be wrong. But with adult supervision, I don’t see any problem with it,” Karen Crumbley said.
During cross-examination, Karen Crumbley testified that if she had seen drawings of a gun from the shooter or if he wrote her “help me” she would have found that concerning, as a mother, and she would have tried to help.
Karen Crumbley also revealed on the stand that when family went to visit James, Jennifer and Ethan Crumbley at their Michigan home in June 2021, James Crumbley had shown the whole family his gun and where he kept it in his room. Prosecutors have sought to argue that James Crumbley could have prevented the shooting by securing the gun and preventing his son from having access.
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day investigative hearing on the Alaska Air door plug incident, the agency announced Tuesday.
The hearing will take place on Aug. 6 and 7, with the location and other details to be announced at a later date, the NTSB said.
The door plug of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 fell off a few minutes after take off from Portland International Airport on Jan. 5. Passengers captured footage showing a hole where the door plug came loose on the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane. The plane safely made an emergency landing and no one was seriously injured.
The investigating hearing will “assist in obtaining information necessary to determine the facts, circumstances, and probable cause of the transportation accident or incident under investigation and to make recommendations to improve transportation safety,” the NTSB said in a statement.
The agency held similar hearings last year on the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio..
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded approximately 171 Max 9s worldwide following the incident earlier this year. Alaska Airlines resumed flying the Boeing 737 Max 9 following fleet inspections on Jan. 26.
An NTSB preliminary report released last month found that four bolts designed to prevent the door plug from falling off the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane were missing before the plug blew off the flight.
The FAA conducted an audit of Boeing’s production and manufacturing in the wake of the door plug blow-out that has now concluded, the agency said Tuesday. The FAA said in a statement it identified “non-compliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control” through its audit.
No additional details are being released at this time amid an ongoing investigation, the FAA said.
In response to the audit, Boeing said it continues to “implement immediate changes and develop a comprehensive action plan to strengthen safety and quality, and build the confidence of our customers and their passengers.”
“We are squarely focused on taking significant, demonstrated action with transparency at every turn,” the company said in a statement.
In a notice to employees sent Tuesday, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal said the “vast majority of our audit non-compliances involved not following our approved processes and procedures.”
The Justice Department is also investigating the Alaska Airlines incident, three sources familiar with the situation told ABC News last month.
The probe will also examine specifically whether Boeing violated its 2021 deferred prosecution agreement when the company was investigated by the Justice Department over two 737 Max crashes. The deferred prosecution agreement forced Boeing to cooperate with federal government probes and fined the company $2.5 billion after Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019, both 737 Max planes, crashed.
