(PHILADELPHIA) — A female American Airlines flight attendant has been found dead with a sock in her mouth in a hotel room near Philadelphia’s Airport, according to ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI-TV.
Cleaning staffers discovered the unnamed 66-year-old victim late Monday evening at approximately 10:45 p.m. at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott directly adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport.
Investigators told ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI that the woman worked for American Airlines and was supposed to have checked out of her room two days earlier.
It is unclear why her body went undiscovered during that period, but authorities were immediately notified after cleaning staff made the discovery.
“It’s very strange,” Tracee Quinn of Ferris Hills, Pennsylvania, told WPVI in an interview. “And it seems like [there are] a lot of unanswered questions. But it is very sad.”
Several sealed bottles of prescription drugs were found in the room, according to WPVI, but police also reported that there were no signs of forced entry, struggle or any weapons recovered during their investigation.
An autopsy is now pending to determine the cause of the flight attendant’s death.
Police said the case is suspicious and that the Homicide Detectives Division is now investigating, according to WPVI.
(NEW YORK) — A Virginia man was arrested at a church after allegedly being found inside with a loaded semi-automatic pistol with an additional magazine, a folding knife and a folding “credit card”-style knife, according to police.
Fairfax County police arrested 35-year-old Rui Jiang after becoming tipped off by a Maryland woman who called Anne Arundel Police to report that Jiang allegedly made suspicious posts that included “vague threats” on Instagram, according to the police report.
Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis said, “This was a thwarted diabolical plot to kill churchgoers in Haymarket, Virginia, and local law enforcement stopped it.”
Anne Arundel Police alerted Fairfax Couty police that Jiang allegedly made threats against the Park Valley Church in Haymarket, Virginia.
“In the postings, vague threats of violence were made, some of which included images of a location later determined to be Park Valley Church,” Prince William County police said.
Police were able to quickly locate Jiang’s assumed residence in Falls Church, Virginia, but found he wasn’t home, according to the police report.
As the investigation continued, Fairfax County police contacted Prince William County police and an off-duty, uniformed Prince William County police officer who was working an assignment at the Park Valley Church located the car outside, police said.
Police at the church identified a suspicious person who they later identified as Jiang. He was detained after entering the building through a separate door.
No one was injured during the incident, however, Fairfax County Police say they later discovered Jiang’s “disturbing” “kill manifesto,” at his home. Police did not describe what was found in the alleged document.
Jiang was charged with threats of bodily harm and carrying a dangerous weapon in a place of religious worship.
Jiang’s bond hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning, it wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment.
Prince William County police have asked anyone with information leading up to this incident, please call 703-792-7000.
(TROY, Ill.) — Police are looking for a young boy — estimated to be about 6 years old — who is thought to be at the center of a pizza scam by selling fake gift cards as a fundraiser for his baseball team, authorities said.
The Troy Police Department in Troy, Illinois, located some 20 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri, said they have been made aware that members of the public are being sold fake “buy one get one free” Dominos Pizza gift cards in Troy and the surrounding area, police said in a statement posted to social media on Sunday evening.
“The cards are being sold by a young juvenile white male, about six years old, who was last described wearing a dirty pink baseball uniform with a southern accent,” said the Troy Police Department. “The juvenile is likely accompanied by an adult, and he tells victims he’s selling the cards as a fundraiser for his baseball team.”
Authorities are concerned for the boy’s wellbeing and have asked the public to contact the Troy Police Department at (618) 667-6731 if they see the juvenile, the adult who is accompanying him or suspect any else of selling fake promotional cards.
Authorities also took the opportunity to remind consumers not to buy things without properly checking them out and verifying their validity first.
“It’s always a good idea to call the fundraiser businesses to see if gift cards are valid if you suspect any suspicious activity,” police said.
(FLINT, Mich.) — Police in Michigan are looking for an auto plant employee who they say struck a group of picketing auto workers with their vehicle outside a plant Tuesday afternoon.
Chief Matthew Bade of the Metro Police Authority of Genesee County told ABC affiliate WJRT that the employee was leaving the Flint Processing Center on Bristol Road in Swartz Creek when he struck the crowd that was picketing around 4 p.m.
The picketers were allegedly blocking a driveway to the plant as the employee was exiting the facility, Bade said.
At least five people were injured in the incident with minor injuries, according to Bade. No one was hospitalized.
The driver wasn’t immediately identified or found, police said.
Jack Crawley, a spokesman for General Motors, which operates the plant, said in a statement, “Plant leadership is working closely with local authorities to investigate and understand what happened.”
(BATON ROUGE, La.) — When Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) leadership found out about the allegations of the “brave cave,” the police chief immediately went to the FBI in August, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The police department faces several lawsuits over the treatment of detainees, including at a now-shuttered police warehouse that officers allegedly called the “brave cave,” according to the complaints.
It is exceedingly rare for a police chief to go to the FBI and ask for an investigation into their own department.
The FBI announced over the weekend, they are investigating the Baton Rouge Police Department following allegations that some officers “abused their authority.”
The New Orleans FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana have opened the probe, with investigators “reviewing the matter for potential federal violations,” FBI New Orleans said in a statement on Friday, while urging anyone with information on the case to contact them.
Additionally, according to the source, the Baton Rouge Police Department has both an administrative and criminal investigation into the allegations ongoing.
In a statement to ABC News, the Baton Rouge Police Department said they are “committed to addressing these troubling accusations and have initiated administrative and criminal investigations.”
In 2021, following allegations of misconduct within the BRPD’s narcotics division, the police chief fired the officers involved and they were ultimately arrested according to court records.
(NEW YORK) — The husband of the owner of a New York City day care where a 1-year-old boy died following fentanyl exposure has been arrested, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Felix Herrera Garcia was arrested in Mexico, on a bus in Sinaloa, after a manhunt that lasted more than a week, the sources said.
He was allegedly seen in surveillance images running out of the Bronx day care with heavy shopping bags as the children were suffering from fentanyl exposure, according to court records.
On Sept. 15, Nicholas Dominici, a 1-year-old, died following exposure to fentanyl at the day care.
Three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan, police said. An analysis of urine from one of the victims confirmed the presence of fentanyl, officials said.
Investigators found a kilo of fentanyl stored on kids’ play mats at the day care, along with a device to press drugs into bricks for sale, according to court records. In a trap floor under the day care’s play area, investigators found fentanyl, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia, police said.
The first two to be arrested were day care owner Grei Mendez, who is Garcia’s wife, and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, who is Garcia’s cousin and Mendez’s tenant. They face federal charges of narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death as well as state charges including murder.
Federal authorities last week promised to hold accountable anyone linked to the day care.
This weekend, a third person, Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, was arrested. He was charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute narcotics.
(HOUSTON) — A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against a Texas bill that restricted “sexually oriented performances” and has been criticized for limiting public drag performances in the state.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner said the law is an “unconstitutional restriction on speech” and “violates the First Amendment as incorporated to Texas by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
A similar law in Tennessee, the first state to restrict drag performances in public, was also blocked and ruled unconstitutional.
The law was set to go into effect on Friday, Sept. 1, but a preliminary injunction halted its enforcement.
“LGBTQIA+ Texans, venue owners, performers, and our allies all came together to uphold free expression in our state — and we won,” the ACLU of Texas said in a social media post. “This work isn’t done but for now we celebrate. Long live Texas drag!”
The Texas law doesn’t specifically mention drag shows, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said 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.
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” would have been restricted under the law.
Performances would be restricted from public properties or in the presence of someone under the age of 18.
Under the law, businesses would have faced a $10,000 fine for hosting such a performance. 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.
Critics of the bill said traveling Broadway plays, theater performances, professional cheerleading routines and drag shows would have been impacted.
(BALTIMORE) — A homicide investigation is underway after the 26-year-old founder of a tech company was found dead with “blunt-force trauma wounds” in a Baltimore apartment building, police said.
Police found Pava LaPere dead after responding to a call for service midday Monday at an apartment complex in the 300 block of West Franklin Street, the Baltimore Police Department said in a statement.
A missing person’s call had been made prior to the discovery, police said.
Homicide detectives are investigating. There are no updates on suspects or arrests in the case, a Baltimore police spokesperson said Tuesday.
Police identified the victim on Tuesday as LaPere, who was the CEO and founder of EcoMap Technologies.
“With profound sadness and shock, EcoMap announces the tragic and untimely passing of our beloved Founder and CEO, Pava LaPere,” EcoMap said in a statement Tuesday. “The circumstances surrounding Pava’s death are deeply distressing, and our deepest condolences are with her family, friends, and loved ones during this incredibly devastating time.”
The Baltimore-based company said LaPere was a “visionary force” behind the startup as well as a “deeply compassionate and dedicated leader.”
EcoMap said it will share more details on how it plans to honor her memory in the coming days.
Last month, EcoMap raised $3.5 million in seed funding, bringing the total raised by the company to nearly $8 million, the company said in a press release.
The company builds platforms to help people navigate business communities, industries and institutional networks. Its tools are used by more than 65 organizations, including Venture for America, the Aspen Institute, T.Rowe Price and the state of Indiana, it said.
The Johns Hopkins University graduate was profiled in Forbes 30 Under 30 this year.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is narrowing the timeline in which migrants can stay in city-run facilities as he takes the battle over the state’s “right-to-shelter” laws to court.
More than 60,000 migrants are in the city’s care, according to city officials, as Texas officials continue sending busloads of migrants from the border to Democrat-led cities in a move that New York Mayor Eric Adams has called a “political stunt” and “dehumanizing” for migrants seeking asylum.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the busing brings attention to the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
What do the ‘right-to-shelter’ laws entail?
The New York State Constitution states that “the aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state and by such of its subdivisions, and in such manner and by such means, as the legislature may from time to time determine.”
In 1979, the Coalition for the Homeless sued state and city officials on behalf of homeless men in New York City in the court case Callahan v. Carey, arguing that a right to shelter for the homeless existed under the New York State Constitution.
That lawsuit led to a 1981 consent decree. The consent decree required that the city and state provide temporary emergency shelter to anybody who “meets the need standard to qualify for the home relief program established in New York State,” or “by reason to physical, mental or social dysfunction, is in need of temporary shelter.”
The right to shelter was extended to homeless women by Eldredge v. Koch in 1983 and to homeless families with children by McCain v. Koch in 1983, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.
How does this impact the ongoing migrant crisis?
The city requested in May that the language of the decree be changed to allow the city to forgo its obligation if it lacks “the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter,” according to court filings.
In housing tens of migrants who lack basic resources, the city argues that it is “facing an unprecedented demand on its shelter capacity,” and that these challenges could never have been “contemplated, foreseeable, or indeed even remotely imagined” when the consent decree was originally agreed upon.
The mayor has already begun to limit the extent of the city’s right to shelter obligations.
All asylum seekers arriving for the first time will now receive a 30-day period to find alternate housing outside of a city-run facility, supported by “intensified casework services” to “discuss their options and plan their next steps,” according to Adams’ office.
Adult asylum seekers were previously given 60-day notices to find alternate housing. Those who have not yet secured housing under the 60-day notice and seek to reapply for shelter will be given an additional 30 days with intensified casework services under Adams’ plan.
“For over a year, New York City has stepped up while waiting for the substantial help necessary from federal and state partners to comprehensively address this crisis and support the tens of thousands of asylum seekers in our care, and today’s announcement is another step in our efforts to help asylum seekers take the next step in their journeys,” said Adams on Friday when he announced the new restrictions.
He continued, “With more than 60,000 asylum seekers still in our care and without additional help, we will be forced to continue making difficult decisions.”
The city said it has opened 210 emergency shelters, including 17 total large-scale humanitarian relief centers, to take care of the influx of migrants.
Critics say the move is unnecessary after the federal government announced that it would be expanding Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and expanding resources to job opportunities to transition people from shelters. Housing advocates also assert that an end to the right to shelter policies for migrants will spur a surge in homelessness.
“Any policy limiting the amount of time that our clients can reside in shelter is arbitrary and devoid of compassion,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a joint statement. The two organizations are fighting the city’s attempts to restrict the right to shelter.
It continued, “Pushing new arrivals who have nowhere else to turn out of the shelters risks dramatically increasing the number of people bedding down on the streets, something nobody wants to see happen.”
City officials and right-to-shelter advocates will return to court Tuesday to continue discussions.
(REEMS CREEK, N.C.) — A woman who was hiking through Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina this weekend fell 150 feet from an overlook to her death, park officials said.
Nancy Sampson, 61, of Greer, South Carolina, reportedly fell off a steep cliff at the Glassmine Falls Overlook around noon Saturday, according to the National Parks Service.
NPS Law Enforcement Rangers and first responders from Reems Creek Fire Department quickly responded to the scene and found Sampson fell 150 feet below the overlook and had succumbed to her injuries, the NPS said.
The fire department members rappelled from the top of the overlook to the site where Sampson’s body was discovered, the Reems Creek Fire Department said.
Authorities said it hasn’t been determined yet how Sampson fell off the overlook and police are investigating.
The overlook is one of the park’s main attractions and is at an elevation of 5,200 feet, according to the NPS.
Park visitors come to the overlook to view the Glassmine Falls, a skinny waterfall that only flows during rainy weather, the NPS said.
