(EAST POINT, Ga.) — A body found at a garbage collection station in Georgia last month has been positively identified as missing 2-year-old J’Asiah Mitchell, according to the East Point Police Department.
Mitchell’s father, 23-year-old Artavoius North, will be charged with murder, concealing the death of another and cruelty to children, according to the East Point Police Department.
North had reported the child was kidnapped during an armed robbery last month.
A desperate search for the child was launched in the wake of him being reported missing. However, North’s story began to change in the hours after his son was reported missing.
A day after police announced the child was missing, East Point police announced they were charging North with lying about the robbery to police.
North, who was the last person to see the child alive, was later identified as a suspect in the child’s death.
Mitchell’s body was found a week after he was last seen alive.
“East Point Detectives were notified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that the child found at the East Point Transfer Station on August 23, 2023, has been positively identified as J’Asiah Mitchell,” East Point police said in a statement.
North has also been charged with misdemeanor false report of a crime and felony making false statements, according to court records.
(CHESTER COUNTY, Pa.) — Authorities believe a convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison may be attempting to return to his native Brazil, as the search for the inmate resumes for a second day.
Danelo Cavalcante, 34, escaped from the Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township Thursday morning, officials said. He was recently convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally stabbing his former girlfriend in 2021.
He was set to be transferred to a state correctional institution in four weeks before he escaped, according to Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan.
Ryan told reporters on Friday that authorities believe he may still be in the general area, though ultimately may be “heading south,” citing past behavior. After fleeing the 2021 stabbing in Chester County, he was assisted by family and friends until his capture in Virginia a day later, she said.
“We have evidence to suggest that he was captured in Virginia but the ultimate goal was to go to Mexico and then to Brazil, which is his native country,” Ryan said.
Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark said they have reached out to the Brazilian attaché to inform them that Cavalcante has escaped custody. There is an active homicide warrant for his arrest out of Brazil relating to a 2017 murder, according to Clark, who said Cavalcante fled from Brazil to Puerto Rico and entered the U.S. illegally.
There is currently no evidence Cavalcante is getting any help from family or friends to evade capture following his escape from prison, the district attorney said.
— Chester County District Attorney’s Office (@chescoda) August 31, 2023
Hundreds of police officers are assisting in the manhunt from agencies including Chester County detectives, Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service. Canine units, drones and helicopters are also being deployed in the search.
Chester County Commissioners and the U.S. Marshals are offering a combined $10,000 reward in the case.
Pennsylvania State Police Capt. Robert Wagner urged residents to report anything suspicious while also warning that the escapee is considered “very dangerous.”
“We need your help. Please check your cars in your outbuildings for any signs of criminal activity,” Wagner said during Friday’s briefing. “We ask that you also check your home video cameras. If you see any footage on there that’s suspicious, please report it to us.”
How Cavalcante escaped from the prison remains under investigation, Ryan said. He was last seen on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township around 9:40 a.m. Thursday wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers, her office said.
He was described as being 5 foot, 120 pounds with black curly hair and brown eyes. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and speaks some English.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call 911 and to not approach if they see him.
“I think people need to be on high alert. This person is dangerous. He has killed someone, he is alleged to have killed another person,” Ryan said. “So people need to take every precaution possible. Lock your doors, keep your eyes on your kids and keep your eyes on your neighbors and your friends.”
(SAN DIEGO) — A San Diego woman has been arrested after being accused of a murder-for-hire plot targeting her husband.
Tatyana Remley, 42, has been charged with solicitation of murder after meeting with an undercover detective earlier this month and allegedly providing detailed information on how she wanted her husband killed and his body disposed of, according to the San Diego Sheriff’s Office.
Remley came onto law enforcement’s radar when the sheriff’s office made contact with her after responding to a house fire on July 2. Remley, who was found to be in possession of three guns and ammunition, was arrested for firearms-related offenses.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
However, in the month following the fire, authorities received information that Remley was attempting to hire someone to kill her estranged husband.
On Aug. 2, Remley met with an undercover detective and said she wanted her husband killed, according to the San Diego Sheriff’s Office. She brought three additional firearms and money as a down payment for the murder, authorities said.
Remley and her husband were going through a divorce, according to court records.
Remley has been charged with solicitation of murder, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle that was not registered with the Department of Justice and carrying a loaded firearm in a public place.
She is being held without bail. Remley will be in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 16.
She pleaded not guilty at a hearing last month, according to The Coast News.
(NEW YORK) — Twenty-six years after her death, Princess Diana is speaking out in her own words in a new documentary, in never-before-heard audio recordings.
The documentary, Diana: The Rest of Her Story, features Diana discussing everything from her struggles with mental health to her two sons, Princes William and Harry, and her troubled relationship with her stepmother, Raine Spencer.
“I said everything I possibly could and Raine said, ‘You have no idea how much pain your mother put your father through,'” Diana says in one clip from the documentary. “And I said, “Pain, Raine, it’s one word you don’t even know how to relate to. In my job and in my role, I see people suffer like you’ve never seen, and you call that pain.’ I said, ‘You’ve got a lot to learn.'”
She continues, “I remember really going for her gullet.”
In another clip, Diana reflects on her then-husband Prince Charles — now King Charles III — and his troubled relationship with her mother Frances Shand Kydd.
“My husband won’t even talk to Mommy, barely, because at Harry’s christening, Charles went up to [her] and said, ‘You know, we’re so disappointed. We thought it’d be a girl,'” Diana recalls in the clip. “And Mommy snapped his head off and said, ‘You should realize how lucky you are to have a child that’s normal.'”
Diana continues, “And ever since that day, a shutter [has] come down, and that’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him, so to speak.”
Diana and Charles were married for 11 years before their divorce was finalized in 1996.
Just one year later, on Aug. 31, 1997, Diana died after a car she was a traveling in crashed in Paris. She was just 36 at the time of her death.
The audio recordings of Diana featured in Diana: The Rest of Her Story come from the princess’s conversations with her close friend, James Colthurst.
Their seven hours of conversation that were recorded happened while Diana was still married to Charles and living at Kensington Palace.
The secret recordings were later given, with Diana’s approval, to Andrew Morton, who used them as the basis for his bestselling book, Diana: Her True Story.
Morton, an ABC News royal contributor, told Good Morning America that he believes people hearing Diana’s voice in the newly-released recordings will give them a deeper sense of who she really was.
“It’s one thing to read something on a page, but it’s quite another to hear the person talking about it, and here we have Diana talking about her ambitions for the future,” Morton said. “There’s a real poignancy about some of the aspects of the tape and I think people will get a really vivid sense of her personality and her character.”
Morton was persuaded by the director and executive producer of the new documentary, Tom Jennings, to let him use the recordings of Diana for both this film and his first one, Diana: In Her Own Words, which was released in 2017 by National Geographic.
Jennings told GMA he convinced Morton to grant him access by proposing a new way of telling Diana’s story: by using her words only.
“I said, ‘Andrew, wait. We do this completely different. There’s no narrator. There are no modern-day interviews. We only use media from the time. It would be like Diana is narrating her own film,'” Jennings recalled. “And he said, ‘No one has ever asked me to do it that way before. When can you come to London?'”
Jennings continued, “I was in London the next morning. [Morton] pushed play on these tapes, and for the next seven hours, we sat in a very small room [and] it was as if Diana was sitting there with us, telling us her life story.”
Diana: The Rest of Her Story is expected to be released in 2024.
(NEW YORK) — A white teenager has been indicted by a grand jury on attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon for allegedly trying to drown a Black juvenile in a pond in Chatham, Massachusetts, according to the Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois.
The indicted teen, 14, who the district attorney said is “known to the court,” met the victim and a third juvenile, a white male, at a local pond on July 19.
After arriving, the indicted teen allegedly picked up a stone and threatened the Black juvenile, calling him a racial slur — the n-word, Galibois said.
The Black victim put on a life jacket and told the other juveniles he could not swim, according to the district attorney.
When the juveniles entered the water, the indicted juvenile allegedly began to pull on the victim’s life jacket and submerge him underwater four to five times, causing the victim breathing distress, the district attorney said.
The other white juvenile allegedly laughed at the victim during the apparent attempted drowning and referred to the victim as “George Floyd,” referring to the Black man who was killed by a white police officer in May 2020, according to the district attorney.
Officials say the indicted juvenile swam underneath the victim and attempted to grab his feet to pull the victim under water.
The victim started yelling for help and a bystander entered the water to intervene and bring the victim to shore.
None of the juveniles involved were named by the district attorney’s office.
“After a Dangerousness Hearing in the Barnstable Juvenile Court on August 31, 2023, the juvenile defendant was found dangerous by Judge Silvia Gomes,” according to the DA’s press release.
The indicted teen is being held without bail and is due back in court on Sept. 13 for a pretrial hearing at the Barnstable Juvenile Court.
(NEW YORK) — NASA has released images showing where it believes Russia’s failed Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the surface of the moon two weeks ago.
NASA said its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) operations team used estimates of the impact point published by Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, on Aug. 21, two days after the crash. The team then sent instructions to the LRO spacecraft to capture images of the area, which it did last week.
When the LRO team compared the new images to ones that were taken before the impact, in June 2022, they found a new crater.
“Since this new crater is close to the Luna-25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor,” the agency wrote in a statement.
The new crater is nearly 33 feet wide and is located at about 58 degrees south latitude, on the southwest rim of the moon’s Pontécoulant G impact crater, created millions of years ago, according to NASA.
The Luna-25 impact crater is a little more than 200 miles from where the spacecraft had planned to land, which was at near 70 degrees south latitude.
Russia launched the Luna-25 mission on Aug. 10 in an attempt to return to the moon for the first time since 1976 and intended to land in the lunar south polar region, an area that has been largely unexplored and is believed to contain frozen water. However, Russia’s space agency lost contact with the spacecraft, and it crashed on Aug. 19 at 7:58 a.m. ET, two days before its scheduled landing.
Four days later, India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon after its Chandrayaan-3 craft touched down in the south polar region, where it was scheduled to remain for two weeks, conducting experiments and gathering data.
The moon is covered with impact craters from asteroids and comets striking the lunar surface, according to the Lunar Planetary Institute. Scientists measure the size and the number of craters in an area to determine their age, which can be as old as three billion years.
While Earth has had its share of impacts from space rocks, those craters are harder to recognize due to weather and the erosion of the Earth’s surface. Because the moon lacks tectonic activity and flowing water, and its atmosphere is negligible, most lunar surface craters are still visible, the LPI said.
Lani Williams and her mother, Sincerity Mirkovich, hug Benny Reinicke, who saved them from the Maui wildfires. — ABC News
(HONOLULU) — A statewide, one-day vigil will be held Friday in Hawaii to aid in emotional and spiritual healing following the deadly fires that have devastated Maui.
As the sun rises over Maui, local cultural practitioners will guide the community in a chant to thank and recognize the sun for being a source of life.
As the sun passes overhead at noon, they will chant to recognize the creation of the Hawaiian Islands. And as the sun sets in the West, where it is believed the souls go when people die, they will chant to honor their ancestors and “those who have gone before us.”
Cultural leaders in Hawaii believe the community is in need of healing following the devastating wildfires on Maui, as residents prepare for a long journey toward recovery and rebuilding.
The vigil will foster healing through traditional ceremonies — such as hula and pule, or dance and prayer — for those in mourning, according to Maui-based kumu hula and Hawaiian elder Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla. More than 1,300 community organizations have committed to participating in the vigil.
At least 115 people were killed in the blaze and thousands of others have been displaced. Federal agencies are continuing the long road ahead toward recovery and rebuilding, while the community fights to meet the needs of its people.
Vigil organizer Kamana`opono Crabbe told ABC News the disaster response and humanitarian relief from across the country “has been tremendous” and has helped “alleviate a lot of what we call kaumaha. Kaumaha is this overwhelming sense of gloom and despair.”
Crabbe, who is also the executive lead for Rediscovering Hawaii’s Soul initiative, said while other needs like financial and physical well-being have been front-and-center in the aftermath, the emotional recovery of the community should also be a priority.
“It’s soul searching for us as a people and the real deep need for not just the relief effort for Maui, but to enter into prayer and ceremony, which is a very Hawaiian — Kanaka Maoli — tradition for us.”
He added that different denominations and cultural groups also will be part of the effort, to show that the island and those beyond it are “unified in solidarity.”
Holt-Padilla said people grieve in their own time, and their goal is to continue to provide a space for people to do so among their community members.
“There’s an urgent need for prayer, cleansing, and reflection so that together, we can help Maui and Hawai‘i heal,” Holt-Padilla said. “This vigil will help to create a space for grief and healing and the opportunity for Hawai‘i to be united.”
Organizers say the rituals are intended to honor and mourn those who have died and what has been lost, as well as to cleanse the land.
Commemorating aina, which describes the relationship between people and their land, is at the core of the day’s events.
“We’re Island people,” said Holt-Padilla in an interview. “All of our living is within our view. Our world ends at the horizon. So we cannot drive to another state to get water. We have to live and survive and flourish in the place that you can see with your own eyes.
The vigil, called “Kīpuni Aloha no Maui: Embrace Beloved Maui,” will take place at sunrise, 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. local time; then at noon, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and then at sunset, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Events will be held across the state on Maui, Oahu, Hawaii or The Big Island, and Molokai.
Those who wish to partake virtually can tune in live on ABC Honolulu affiliate KITV-4, Akakῡ Community Media, KAKU 88.5 FM, Maui Stream, Nā Leo TV, Hō‘ike TV, Hawai‘i News Now, KHON-2, online on HawaiiSoul.org/Maui and on YouTube.
“While the road to recovery will be long, the outpouring of support from all of Hawai‘i’s people and from those beyond our shores has been a bright spot and provides hope to build an even stronger Maui Nui and Hawaii,” said Rediscovering Hawaii’s Soul, a coalition of local community leaders that is co-hosting the vigil.
The vigil is backed by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, as well as other officials across the Islands, including Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, Kauai County Mayor Derek Kawakami and more.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — One person was killed and another three others injured in a shooting near The Arboretum mall in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, officials said.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, one of them being the suspected shooter, interim police chief Robin Henderson confirmed during a Thursday evening presser.
Henderson, who was just confirmed as Austin Police Department’s interim chief during Thursday’s city council meeting, said, “There are indications that it happened in and around the Arboretum area.”
The Arboretum Shopping Center is an outdoor mall in Austin, Texas.
An adult was transported to a local trauma facility with “critical, life-threatening injuries,” Austin-Travis County EMS said. Two other adults were being evaluated for minor injuries, according to EMS.
Multiple agencies responded to the “critical incident” around 5 p.m. local time, Austin-Travis County EMS said.
The scene remains an active crime scene and officials are urging people to avoid the area.
The relationship between the suspect and the victims still remains unclear at this time, according to officials.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(POCOPSON, Penn.) — A man recently convicted of stabbing his former girlfriend to death in broad daylight has escaped from a Pennsylvania prison, authorities said.
A manhunt is underway for Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who escaped from the Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township at approximately 8:50 a.m. local time Thursday, officials said.
He was last seen on Wawaset Road in Pocopson Township around 9:40 a.m. Thursday, according to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, which warned that Cavalcante should be considered “extremely dangerous.”
“His depravity knows no bounds and this is someone who has nothing to lose,” Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan told reporters at a press briefing Thursday.
Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder on Aug. 16 for fatally stabbing his former girlfriend 38 times in front of her two young children in 2021, officials said. At the time there was an active warrant for his arrest for an alleged murder that occurred in his native country of Brazil in 2017, according to Ryan.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole last week for the fatal stabbing and was set to be transferred to a state correctional institution in four weeks, Ryan said.
“I don’t know what he’s capable of doing,” Ryan said. “If he’s already engaged in a murder in broad daylight in front of her two children, there’s no stopping him from doing anything more egregious.”
How Cavalcante escaped is under investigation, Howard Holland, the acting warden of the Chester County Prison, told reporters.
“Once we noticed we had an issue with an inmate not being there, we mainly followed our protocols — locked down the prison, did what we call a special count to confirm there was only one person missing,” Holland said.
They also locked down schools and sent out alerts to residents in the immediate area of the prison, he said.
Canine units, drones and helicopters have been deployed in the manhunt, which involves law enforcement agencies including Chester County detectives, Pennsylvania State Police and U.S. Marshals.
Ryan said Cavalcante has family in the Phoenixville area in Chester County. She said he was assisted by family and friends in escaping following the 2021 stabbing before being apprehended in Virginia, and that there are concerns about him getting help now.
“If there are any family or friends who are actively engaging in assisting him at this time, they will also be prosecuted and we’re expecting them to cooperate with law enforcement,” she said.
Cavalcante was described as being 5 foot, 120 pounds with black curly hair and brown eyes. He was seen wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and white sneakers. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and speaks some English.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call 911.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against Senate Bill 12, which restricts “sexually oriented performances” and has been criticized for limiting public drag performances in Texas.
The law was set to go into effect on Friday, Sept. 1.
The law doesn’t specifically mention drag shows, but local politicians have made it clear the law is intended to restrict drag performances in the state.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement the bill would prohibit “sexualized performances and drag shows in the presence of a minor.”
The ACLU of Texas represented local LGBTQ groups, businesses and a performer in a lawsuit against state officials who would enforce the restrictions.
“The Texas Drag Ban is stunningly broad in scope and will chill entire genres of free expression in our state,” said Brian Klosterboer, attorney at the ACLU of Texas, in a statement.
He continued, “This law flies in the face of the First Amendment. No performer should ever be thrown in jail because the government disfavors their speech, and we are asking the Court to block this affront to every Texan’s constitutional rights.”
Business owners and a drag queen testified before U.S. District Judge David Hittner earlier this week.
The law would restrict the “exhibition or representation, actual or simulated, of male or female genitals in a lewd state” as well as “the exhibition of sexual gesticulations using accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics” which could restrict the use of cross-dressing in public performances, according to the bill.
These performances would be restricted from public properties or in the presence of someone under the age of 18.
This could impact touring Broadway plays, theater performances, professional cheerleading routines and drag shows.
Businesses could face a $10,000 fine for hosting such a performance, according to the law. Performers could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a fine of $4,000.
Texas is one of six states that have passed restrictions on drag performances, including Tennessee, Montana, Arkansas, Florida, and North Dakota. Several of these policies have been blocked due to federal court orders.
The law in Tennessee, which was the first state to restrict drag performances in public, was blocked and ruled unconstitutional.
