(MARTHA’S VINEYARD, Mass.) — The body of a missing paddleboarder recovered from a pond in Martha’s Vineyard on Monday morning was an employee of former President Barack Obama, the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) said.
Divers for the MSP Underwater Recovery Unit retrieved the body of 45-year-old Tafari Campbell at Edgartown Great Pond.
“Tafari was a beloved part of our family. When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House –creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together,” President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama said in a statement. “In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter.”
The Obamas asked Campbell to continue working with them after they left the White House and he “generously agreed,” they said in a statement.
“He’s been part of our lives ever since, and our hearts are broken that he’s gone. Today we join everyone who knew and loved Tafari — especially his wife Sherise and their twin boys, Xavier and Savin — in grieving the loss of a truly wonderful man.”
Campbell was visiting Martha’s Vineyard at the time of his death, police said. The Obamas were not at the home when the incident occurred, according to MSP.
The victim’s body was located by Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers, according to MSP.
The underwater recovery unit retrieved the victim’s body about 100 feet from the shore and 8 feet underwater, according to state police.
The paddleboarder went missing in the pond on Sunday, but authorities suspended the search after several hours to “allow dive teams, flight crews, and other responders to re-equip and assess next steps” after they could not find the man, MSP said.
The Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit is investigating the incident for the Cape and Islands District and Edgartown Police.
(HOOVER, Ala.) — Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who returned home on July 15 after she was reportedly missing for two days, was never missing, Hoover Police Department Chief Nicholas Derzis told reporters at a news conference Monday.
Derzis read a statement he said was provided to police by Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, acknowledging “there was no kidnapping.”
“My client has given me permission to make the following statement on her behalf. There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13th 2023. My client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person. My client did not have any help in this incident. This was [a] single act done by herself,” the statement, as read by Derzis, said.
“We ask for your prayers for Carlee as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward. Understanding that she made a mistake in this matter, Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers,” the statement continued.
Derzis said police have a meeting with Anthony scheduled to discuss the case, and they are in discussions with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office over “possible criminal charges related to this case.” He said there is no meeting with Russell or her family at present.
Derzis added that police will announce potential charges “when and if they are filed.”
The press conference on Monday came after police told the public last Wednesday that Russell searched for Amber Alerts and the movie “Taken” on her phone before her disappearance.
Russell also made searches related to bus tickets in the hours before she went missing, Derzis said.
“There were other searches on Carlee’s phone that appeared to shed some light on her mindset,” Derzis said, adding he would not share them out of privacy.
“Taken,” the 2008 movie starring Liam Neeson, centers around a young woman who is abducted and the quest to save her from her kidnappers.
ABC News has reached out to Anthony and Russell’s family for comment.
Russell told police that she was taken by a male and a female when she stopped to check on a toddler she saw on the highway, Derzis said last Wednesday.
“She stated when she got out of her vehicle to check on the child, a man came out of the trees and mumbled that he was checking on the baby. She claimed that the man then picked her up, and she screamed,” he said at the time.
Asked if investigators saw a man abduct Russell in the surveillance video of the interstate, Derzis said that they did not.
Russell called 911 on July 12 at around 9:30 p.m. ET to report a toddler on Interstate 459 in Alabama before her disappearance, but the Hoover Police Department said in a press release last Tuesday that investigators did not find any evidence of a child walking on the side of the road.
“The Hoover Police Department has not located any evidence of a toddler walking down the interstate, nor did we receive any additional calls about a toddler walking down the interstate, despite numerous vehicles passing through that area as depicted by the traffic camera surveillance video,” the press release said.
“People have to understand that when someone says something like this, we put every available resource — everybody comes from a state, local, federal — it’s just a lot of work,” he said last week.
Derzis was also asked last week if the next time a woman of color goes missing, the case may not be taken seriously. He replied: “We investigate every crime to the fullest just like we have this one.”
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab and Mariama Jalloh contributed to this report.
(MARTHA’S VINEYARD, Mass.) — The body of a missing paddleboarder was recovered from a pond in Martha’s Vineyard on Monday morning, the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) said.
Divers for the MSP Underwater Recovery Unit retrieved the body of a 43-year-old man at Edgartown Great Pond.
The victim’s body was located by Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers, according to MSP. The man’s name isn’t being released at this time, police said.
The underwater recovery unit retrieved the victim’s body about 100 feet from the shore and 8 feet underwater, according to state police.
The paddleboarder went missing in the pond on Sunday, but authorities suspended the search after several hours to “allow dive teams, flight crews, and other responders to re-equip and assess next steps” after they could not find the man, MSP said.
The Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit is investigating the incident for the Cape and Islands District and Edgartown Police.
(NEW YORK) — Robert Hadden, the former Columbia University gynecologist who prosecutors said “abused his position of power to assault patient after patient, year after year,” was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison.
Hadden was convicted in January for sexually abusing four of his patients, including a minor, and two who were pregnant.
Hadden will serve the four 20-year sentences, the maximum amount for “enticing and inducing individuals to travel interstate to engage in illegal sexual activity,” concurrently, per Judge Richard M. Berman’s order.
“This case is like no other in my experience in terms of horrendous, beyond extraordinary, depraved sexual assault,” Judge Berman said at the sentencing.
Prosecutors previously asked for at least 25 years in prison contending that “the magnitude of the defendant’s crimes is staggering and warrants a commensurate sentence.”
“In this case in particular, the court must impose a sentence that will reflect the seriousness of the offense, provide just punishment and general and specific deterrence, promote respect for the law, and protect the public from further crimes by the defendant,” the prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
Hadden, who worked at Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, pled not guilty in September 2020 after he was indicted in federal court on charges he enticed and induced victims to his medical offices and subjected them to unlawful sexual abuse.
Federal prosecutors alleged Hadden also assaulted “dozens of female patients, including multiple minors” between 1993 and 2012 while pretending to medically examine them.
“Over the course of his 25-year career as an OB/GYN, Hadden sexually abused dozens of victims, some repeatedly, hiding behind his position of power, authority and trust as a physician, as well as the guise of purported gynecological exams, in order to carry out countless acts of sexual abuse and assault,” prosecutors said.
Hadden developed a relationship with his victims before engaging in a course of increasingly abusive conduct, which he tried to mask under the guise of legitimate medical care. He invited victims to meet with him alone in his office, sent nurses and medical assistants out of the examination room for periods of time and, according to the indictment, enticed and coerced four women to travel to New York City from another state to engage in illegal sexual activity.
He was convicted on January 24, during a three-week trial.
The defense conceded Hadden caused victims “immeasurable” pain but asked for a far lower sentence.
“In its zeal to persuade this court to give Mr. Hadden the equivalent of a life sentence, no matter what the facts or law, the government takes extreme positions better suited to our current political discourse than a brief from a litigant with special responsibilities in our system of justice,” defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
Some of Hadden’s victims were outside the courthouse Monday and consoled each other after learning of the sentence.
In October, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian announced it had reached $230 million settlement with more than 200 of Hadden’s patients who reported instances of sexual abuse or misconduct.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The Coast Guard is searching for a man who jumped overboard from a Carnival cruise ship, officials said.
The 30-year-old went overboard on Sunday morning while the Carnival Elation was about 95 miles east of Melbourne, Florida, and heading back to Jacksonville after a cruise to the Bahamas, according to the Coast Guard and Carnival Cruise Line.
The passenger was reported missing to the ship’s crew on Sunday afternoon after his companion couldn’t find him, according to the cruise line.
Carnival said its crew determined the man jumped after reviewing security footage.
Carnival said it’s “providing support to the guest’s family,” adding, “our thoughts are with them and the guest.”
The incident was the second time in two months that a person went overboard on a Carnival cruise ship off the coast of Florida. A 35-year-old Virginia man apparently fell off the Carnival Magic about 186 miles east of Jacksonville in late May. The Coast Guard called off the search without success in early June.
(NEW YORK) — A deadly heat wave that has persisted for weeks continues to grip a swath of the United States.
The National Weather Service has issued heat alerts that are in effect on Monday for 40 million Americans across at least a dozen states, from Montana to Texas and Florida.
The latest forecast shows scorching temperatures will linger in the Southwest while intensifying in the Midwest this week. A heat dome that has been stationary over the Southwest is expected to stretch into the Midwest on Monday, as the ridge builds into the Heartland.
Although temperatures will be warming in the Northeast this week, they are expected to cool off and be seasonal or even chillier than average by the weekend and into early August. Meanwhile, the South is expected to remain hot as the Southwest may get a slight reprieve from the excessive heat.
On Monday, temperatures are forecast to reach or exceed 110 degrees in Palm Springs, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Tucson, Arizona. Heat index values — a measure of how hot it really feels when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature — are expected to be in the 100s from Texas to Florida again.
Arizona’s capital is on a record stretch of 24 consecutive days with temperatures at or above 110 degrees. Overnight temperatures in Phoenix have also not dropped below 90 degrees for at least 14 days. Meanwhile, Tucson has been at or above 100 degrees for 38 days in a row and may on Monday tie its record of 39 days, which was set in 2013.
Las Vegas has tied its record, set in 1961, of 10 consecutive days at or above 110 degrees. Temperatures in Nevada’s most populous city are forecast to be at 109 degrees on Monday, potentially just shy of breaking the record.
El Paso, Texas, has been on a record-smashing stretch of 38 straight days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees. This is expected to continue this week and may finally come to an end over the weekend. The city’s previous record of 23 consecutive days was set in 1994.
So far this month, at least four heat-related fatalities have been reported in Texas’ Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth. The victims ranged in age from 26 to 79 and either had no air conditioning at home or were either working outdoors at the time of their death, according to Dallas ABC station WFAA, which cited the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Miami, Florida, which is under an excessive heat warning on Monday, has had a heat index high of 100 degrees for a record 43 days in a row, well past the previous record of 32 days in 2020. The city also had its hottest day in more than three years on Sunday with a high temperature of 98 degrees.
Grand Junction, Colorado, hit a daily record of 105 degrees on Sunday, marking the second day this summer that temperatures there were at or above 105 degrees — only the fifth summer on record to do so and the first since 2021.
Later this week, temperatures in much of the Midwest are forecast to reach near 100 degrees, with some heat index values up to 110 degrees. Just a week ago, temperatures in the area only topped out in the 70s and 80s.
The last 21 days on Earth have been the hottest on record.
The Northern Hemisphere had its hottest day on record on Sunday at at 22.48 degrees Celsius, or 72.46 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record for the eighth straight day. Before July 16, the previous all-time record — set last year — was 22.18 degrees Celsius, or 71.9 degrees Fahrenheit.
(MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y.) — Police are digging up the Gilgo Beach, New York, murder suspect’s backyard as the search for evidence continues.
A backhoe was brought to Rex Heuermann’s suburban Massapequa Park, Long Island, home on Sunday. The excavating equipment was in use for about three hours on Sunday and remains at the scene.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Saturday that the search would likely wrap up this week.
One theory investigators are exploring is whether Heuermann, a husband and father of two, killed any of his alleged victims inside his house, but law enforcement sources told ABC News they are still searching for the evidence.
Prosecutors have said that, based on phone records, Heuermann’s wife and children were not home at the time of the killings. The records also point to the house as a location where phones pinged, but prosecutors were careful not to identify a location yet where they believe the victims died.
Heuermann, a New York City architect, was arrested on July 13 for the murders of three sex workers — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello — whose bodies were found covered in burlap on Long Island’s South Shore in 2010. The young women disappeared in 2009 and 2010.
Heuermann’s attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
He is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007, though he has not been charged in that case.
Video showing a police dog attacking and biting a suspect who had his hands up and was on his knees during a July 4, 2023, incident was released on July 21, 2023, by the Ohio State Highway Police. — Ohio State Highway Police
(CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio) — An investigation is underway into why a police dog was deployed to attack a semi-truck driver who appeared in body-camera footage to be complying with orders to get on his knees and keep his hands in the air after allegedly leading officers from several law enforcement agencies on a highway chase, authorities said.
The incident occurred on July 4 on U.S. Route 23 near Circleville, Ohio, about 28 miles south of Columbus, but police body-camera footage of the arrest of 23-year-old Jadarrius Rose was not released to the public until Friday, July 21, by the Ohio State Highway Police.
The body-camera video shows the German Shepherd K-9, a member of the Circleville, Ohio, Police Department, arriving at the scene and initially being held back by its handler as troopers yelled to Rose, “Get on the ground or you’re going to get bit.”
The footage shows Rose complying with orders to get on his knees with both hands in the air. A police trooper can be heard in the video repeatedly yelling, “Do not release the dog with his hands up.”
The dog, however, was let loose and attacked Rose, grabbing his arm as he screamed, “Get it off” and appeared to be in pain.
Other officers, including the dog’s handler, rushed to Rose as he was being attacked in the grassy center medium and pulled the animal off Rose, according to the video.
“As troopers were attempting to gain compliance by providing verbal commands to the suspect, the Circleville Police Department deployed their canine, which resulted in the suspect being bitten by the canine,” the Ohio State Highway Police said in a statement.
Rose was taken into custody and troopers immediately performed first aid on him as they waited for paramedics to arrive, according to the statement.
Rose was treated at a hospital and released into the custody of the state Highway Police. He was booked at the Ross County Jail on charges of failure to comply, a fourth-degree felony, according to the highway patrol.
It remained unclear Sunday why Rose did not immediately pull over when troopers initially ordered him to.
The Circleville Police Department said the city’s Use of Force Review Board is conducting an investigation.
The state Highway Police identified the K-9 Officer who was handling the German Shepherd during Rose’s arrest as Circleville Police Officer R. Speakman. Circleville officials would not say if Speakman has or will be placed on leave during the investigation.
Efforts by ABC News to reach Rose or Officer Speakman for comment were unsuccessful.
According to online records, Rose has been released from the Ross County Jail. It is unclear if he has hired an attorney.
The union representing the Circleville police officers told ABC News affiliate station WSYX-TV in Columbus that it is asking “everyone reserve judgment” and declined further comment.
Nana Watson, president of the NAACP Columbus Chapter, said the organization is also looking into the incident. Watson said that after viewing the body-camera video of Rose’s arrest, she was “traumatized because it brought back memories from the 1960s.”
“I was afraid for him. I was fearful for him,” Watson told WSYX. “I was taken aback when he had his hands up, and they unleashed the dog on him.”
Watson added, “It saddens me that in 2023 we have officers who are unleashing dogs on a person who clearly had his hands in the air. That did not matter to the Circleville Police Department.”
The incident began about 9:30 a.m. on July 4, as troopers from the state Highway Police Department’s Motor Carrier Enforcement Inspector unit attempted to pull Rose over on westbound U.S. Route 35 for what they described as an alleged traffic defect violation, according to an initial incident report released by the state Highway Police.
Rose allegedly refused to pull over and led troopers on a chase through two counties, according to the incident report.
“I activated my marked patrol vehicle light bar and siren, but the suspect failed to stop. I drove in the left lane and along the left side of the vehicle in an attempt to get the driver’s attention. The driver would not make eye contact and did not acknowledge me,” a trooper wrote in the report.
As the chase shifted onto U.S. Route 23, the big rig forced a trooper to “swerve off the right side of the roadway to avoid contact,” according to the report.
Troopers placed stop-sticks, or spike strips, in the roadway ahead of the chase and blew out Rose’s tires, forcing him to pull over on Route 23 in Pickaway County and surrender, according to the report.
A Coast Guard aircrew saves two men Sunday morning after their boat capsized off the coast of Jekyll Island in Georgia, in this photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Savannah. — U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Savannah
(JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga.) — A U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Savannah aircrew said it saved two men Sunday morning after their boat capsized off the coast of Jekyll Island in Georgia.
The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call through 911 dispatchers Saturday evening after two men did not return to Christmas Creek Marina, and after calls to both of their phones went straight to voicemail.
An aircrew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was deployed Sunday and was able to spot the two men who were waving their arms from the water about four miles off the coast of Jekyll Island, the Coast Guard said in a press release. One man was sitting on top of the capsized 16-foot boat, and the other was in the water when the crew arrived.
Both men were successfully pulled out of the water by the Coast Guard and were later seen by medical personnel, officials said. Neither boater was reported injured.
“The southeast is prone to powerful storms that aren’t predictable and are capable of capsizing smaller vessels,” said Lt. Tucker Williams, Air Station Savannah’s public affairs officer. “We recommend all mariners carry a radio, flares and other distress signals in case they encounter an unexpected situation.”
(NEW YORK) — Separate boat crashes in Massachusetts and Missouri over the weekend have left multiple people injured and at least one person dead.
A 17-year-old girl was killed and five other people were injured when a boat crashed Friday night into a jetty in Cape Cod, according to Massachusetts State Police (MSP).
The boat crashed into Sesuit Harbor in Dennis, Massachusetts, around 9 p.m. local time, the Massachusetts State Police said Sunday morning.
The body of the 17-year-old was recovered at 11:30 p.m., local time by the MSP regional dive team with help from the Dennis Fire-Rescue team, authorities said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a letter obtained by ABC News to Dover Sherborn High School students and staff, the school identified the teen who died as Sadie Mauro.
“Our school community is devastated and heartbroken,” the school said. “Sadie’s smile could light up a room, she had a heart of gold and the sweetest spirit. She had such a strong sense of self and had a love for adventure and anything outdoors. A hardworking student and great athlete, Sadie was genuine and effortlessly kind.”
The school’s principal said the school is offering counseling services on Monday for students and staff members.
Another passenger, described as a teenage male, sustained a head laceration and was sent to Cape Cod Hospital for treatment, according to MSP.
The MSP Marine Unit and the Underwater Recovery Unit will dive and search the crash site Sunday for debris from the boat, as their investigation continues.
Mauro’s death is being investigated by the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit for the Cape and Islands District, Dennis police and the Cape and Island District Attorney’s Office.
On Saturday, eight people were injured after an intoxicated boater crashed ashore and hit a home in the Lake of the Ozarks, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The incident occurred at 11:55 p.m. on Saturday, local time, when the 1200-horsepower boat ran aground, crashed into a shorefront home, overturned and ejected its seven passengers and driver, according to the Highway Patrol.
Two passengers sustained moderate injuries, five passengers and the boat’s driver suffered serious injuries, the Highway Patrol said.
In a press release, the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District said one person was in critical condition.
The driver of the boat, Adam Ramirez, 47, of Huntington Beach, California, was charged with two counts of boating while intoxicated on Sunday morning, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. He has since been released for medical treatment.
The home, which was occupied at the time of the incident, suffered “extensive damage” according to the Highway Patrol and the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District.
