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(OREGON)–An Oregon man is accused of holding a woman captive in a makeshift cinder block cell in his garage before she managed to break free, according to federal authorities, who said they believe there may be past sexual assault victims of the suspect.

Negasi Zuberi, 29, is in federal custody for interstate kidnapping, the FBI’s Portland Field Office said. He was arrested last month after a woman escaped from his home in Klamath Falls and claimed she was “kidnapped, shackled, sexually assaulted and locked in this makeshift cell,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Shark told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday announcing the suspect’s arrest.

“Although law enforcement daily combats violence and tragedy, some cases alarm even the most seasoned investigators — particularly when shocking details are revealed and we see that there may be multiple unknown victims,” she said, adding that this is “that kind of case.”

Zuberi allegedly met the victim shortly after midnight on July 15 after traveling from his home in Klamath Falls to Seattle, according to the federal complaint.

Zuberi allegedly solicited the services of a sex worker before claiming to be an undercover police officer who needed to take her into custody, according to the complaint. He allegedly showed a badge to the woman, who observed a handgun in the vehicle, the complaint said.

The complaint alleges that Zuberi pointed a Taser at the woman, placed her in handcuffs and leg irons in the back seat of the car and drove approximately 450 miles to his home in Klamath Falls, sexually assaulting her during the trip.

Once at the residence, Zuberi allegedly placed the victim in a cell in his garage that was “made of cinder blocks and a metal door installed in reverse so it could not be opened from the inside,” the complaint stated.

After Zuberi reportedly said he had to leave to do some paperwork, the woman slept briefly but “awoke to the realization that she would likely die if she did not attempt to escape,” according to the complaint.

The woman repeatedly punched the metal screen door and managed to break it open and crawl through after being held for a couple of hours, according to Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds. She suffered several lacerations on her knuckles in the process, he said.

“She realized that she needed to get out of that residence because her life was in danger, and she took the substantial steps to force her way out of that cell,” Reynolds said during the briefing.

The woman fled the garage, climbed over a wooden fence and flagged down a passing motorist, who called 911, according to the complaint.

Klamath Falls police executed a search warrant for Zuberi’s residence on July 16 and found the “makeshift cell” in the garage, along with the woman’s purse, according to the complaint.

Zuberi was located by Nevada state police in a Walmart parking lot in Reno, Nevada, on the afternoon of July 16 with his wife and child, according to the complaint. He was taken into custody after a 45-minute standoff, Shark said.

Zuberi was ordered detained in Reno during a July 26 court appearance and is in the process of being extradited to Oregon, prosecutors said Wednesday.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment on Wednesday charging Zuberi with interstate kidnapping and sexual assault. The charge of interstate kidnapping carries a maximum sentence of up to life in federal prison if convicted, while transporting an individual across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison.

Court records do not include any attorney information for Zuberi. He is expected to appear in Oregon federal court in the coming weeks.

According to the FBI, Zuberi has lived in Oregon for several months and nine other states since August 2016 — Washington, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Alabama and Florida.

In the two weeks since his arrest, investigators have tied the suspect to at least four sexual assaults in four other states, according to Shark, who did not provide any additional details on the cases due to the active investigation.

“There is escalation of violence and intent, and so we are concerned that if we work backwards we’re gonna find unfortunately numerous victims,” Shark said.

Zuberi is also known as Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi, the FBI said. Investigators believe he may have used several different methods to allegedly gain control of his victims, including drugging their drinks and impersonating a law enforcement officer, Shark said.

Those with any information on Zuberi are urged to visit tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

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(GEORGIA)–The mother of a Georgia woman who vanished more than two weeks ago, issued an emotional plea on Wednesday for anyone with knowledge of her daughter’s whereabouts to contact police.

Clarine Andujar-White, the mother of the missing woman, Imani Serafina Roberson, said her daughter came to her home for Sunday dinner on July 16 with her children and has not been seen since.

She said her 29-year-old daughter is a married mother of four children, including a 1-month-old infant.

“Imani loves her children. I know she would never leave her children or myself. Please help me reunite these babies with their mother,” a tearful Andujar-White said at a joint news conference on Wednesday afternoon with Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett.

Levett said investigators have spent more than 400 hours searching for Roberson, who was last seen driving a white Mazda SUV.

He said investigators issued a search warrant on Roberson’s home in Conyers, Georgia, on July 19, and gathered evidence that prompted them to search for her in Atlanta and South Fulton County.

“I have assured the family that we are going to find her daughter. We’re going to find out why her daughter is missing and so we’re urging the community to assist us with that,” Levett said.

Andujar-White described her daughter as 5-foot-2 with a small build, dark brown eyes, a caramel complexion and reddish braided hair. She said her daughter wears glasses and has a tattoo sleeve on her left arm.

Atlanta police said Roberson’s car was spotted in southwest Atlanta on July 16, the day she went missing.

Levett said that on the day Roberson vanished she went to her mother’s home for dinner with her four children. He said that after dinner, Roberson and two of her children left to go home and the other two children stayed with Andujar-White.

Andujar-White said her daughter left her home about 5:30 p.m. with two of her younger children and was planning to drive to her residence two streets away.

She said the next day, she called her daughter repeatedly but got no answer. She went to her daughter’s residence, but nobody was home, she said.

Andujar-White said she then reported her daughter missing to the sheriff’s office.

Andujar-White said three of her children have died in the past two decades. She did not say how they perished.

“Over the course of the last 20 years I have lost three children, please help me bring Imani home,” Andujar-White said. “Anyone who thinks they may have seen her or the car, please… There is no detail too small. We really need your help.”

ABC News’ Brittany Gaddy contributed to this report.

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(NEW JERSEY)–A tractor-trailer carrying lemons overturned on a New Jersey highway on Wednesday giving new meaning to the phrase “when life gives you lemons.”

Police responded to numerous 911 calls right before 10 a.m. about an overturned tractor-trailer on Route 17, the Mahwah Police Dispatch said in a press release.

Upon arriving on the scene, officers found the trailer portion of the truck on the southbound lane of Route 17 after it hit another vehicle, police said. The trailer was completely blocking the northbound lane.

“The driver of the tractor trailer, from Ontario Canada, stated that he was hauling a truck load of lemons; which were subsequently thrown across the highway as a result of the crash,” Mahwah police said in the press release.

The driver told police he was driving on the northbound lane when he felt the trailer load move. He tried to fix the issue but that caused the trailer to dislodge, police said.

According to the police reporter, both the truck driver and the driver of the other vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were both transported to area hospitals.

Mahwah police anticipated that the crash would cause extensive traffic delays for a few hours on Wednesday.

An investigation into the crash is ongoing, police said.

In a similar incident, a truck carrying nacho cheese spilled across a highway in Arkansas on Tuesday, the Arkansas Department of Transportation said Tuesday on social media.

“Taco Tuesday, anyone? A truck carrying cans of nacho cheese spilled today on I-30 west near Prescott,” the state’s transportation department tweeted. ” Things are all clear now and traffic is moving.”
 

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(WASHINGTON D.C)–The Capitol Police Department is urging everyone inside the Senate buildings at the Capitol to shelter in place following a report of a “possible active shooter.”

The Capitol Police said its “officers are searching in and around the Senate Office Buildings in response to a concerning 911 call,” adding that there’s no confirmed reports of gunshots.

A spokesperson for Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department told ABC News the call about an active shooter appears to be a bad call.

“No injuries and no shooter were located,” the spokesperson said.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives are currently out of session on a summer recess.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON D.C)–All Senate buildings at the Capitol have been searched and deemed clear following a report of a “possible active shooter,” authorities said.

“There is no active threat,” police tweeted.

“We found nothing concerning,” police said at a news conference.

“This may have been a bogus call,” police said, adding that there were no confirmed gunshots.

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon the Capitol Police urged everyone inside the Senate buildings to shelter in place as officers searched “in response to a concerning 911 call.”

The original call warned that there was an active shooter in body armor at the Hart Senate Office Building, police said.

Scary. Major police response at the US Capitol Russell Building, police yelling at people to run away. pic.twitter.com/h6PY0Zj9Cw

— Corey Walters (@cjmithli) August 2, 2023

 

According to law enforcement officials, police are trying to trace the source of the call. Police said at the press conference that when they tried calling back the number, it bounced back to different locations every time.

Someone suffering from “emotional distress” was seen being taken out on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance, sources said.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives are currently out of session on a summer recess.

People being led out of Russell Senate Office Building amid reports of possible active shooter pic.twitter.com/VC4Kpe2Kux

— bryan metzger (@metzgov) August 2, 2023

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(TENNESSEE)– Germantown, Tennessee, has placed a city employee on administrative leave after a diesel spill contaminated the town’s water supply and left some residents without access to clean tap water for over a week.

The city determined the diesel spill “was in part due to human error by a tenured employee,” the city confirmed to ABC News.

The employee will remain on administrative leave pending the completion of an investigation, according to the city.

Residents in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis, were told not to use tap water after people reported a strong odor to their tap water on July 20. An investigation into the the cause revealed that diesel fuel was leaking into an underground reservoir from a generator that was powering a water treatment facility due to a power outage.

Residents were told to only use tap water to flush their toilets.

About 100 gallons of diesel contaminated about 4.2 million gallons of water that were being held on site, according to the city.

City officials gradually lifted the restriction on using tap water for residents. Results from a sample collected on Sunday came back all clear, officials said.

“The City continues to execute additional main line flushing to target areas still experiencing residual odor. As required by [the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation], the City also continues to sample the water in the main lines at these targeted locations for diesel and its sub-compounds. The City will continue flushing the area until tests are clear,” the city said in an announcement Tuesday.

While flushing residential water lines, residents are advised to ensure there is proper ventilation in place in case of strong odors.

Aside from the leak, additional contamination was found deeper in the soil immediately surrounding a pipe that was carrying clean water from the treatment plant into the underground reservoir, Public Works Director Bo Mills said in a recorded message to city residents last week.

“There was a breach in this pipe at this location which allowed the diesel fuel in the soil to enter the reservoir. The pipe has been repaired and the contaminated soil is being removed and contained on site and will be properly disposed of as required by regulations,” Mills said.

“Good, clean soil has been acquired to backfill and compact the area in the full repair. The generator has been fully inspected multiple times by outside contractors to ensure that there are no issues with the generator,” Mills said.
 

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(NEW YORK)– NYPD detectives are looking for a 17-year-old in connection with Saturday night’s fatal stabbing of dancer O’Shae Sibley at a gas station in Brooklyn.

The 17-year-old has a history of arrests but, because he’s a minor, the records are sealed and the details are unavailable, police said.

According to police, the 28-year-old Sibley was stabbed in his torso on Saturday around 11 p.m. In a video posted to Facebook, Sibley’s friend Otis Pena said he and Sibley were among a group of friends that were voguing and dancing at the gas station while pumping gas when they were confronted by another group.

According to Pena, the group hurled homophobic slurs at Sibley’s group. The confrontation then turned violent and Sibley was stabbed, witnesses said.

Sibley was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing. Police say they are trying to move quickly to establish what happened and whether this was a bias crime.

Sibley, a Black gay man, was a beloved figure in the New York and Philadelphia dance communities. He was a student of the Ailey Extension, the official dance studio of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation, and formerly a part of Philadanco, the Philadelphia Dance Company.

Ja’Michael De’Shawn, a fellow dancer who worked with Sibley, called him a “joy to be in a studio with” and said he had “a beautiful and sweet spirit.”

“He was just spectacular to see move on stage,” De’Shawn told ABC News. “He has so much passion, so much technique. And he always made us everyone in the room feel confident, like we could do it.”

De’Shawn recalled that on his 31st birthday, Sibley broke out singing “Happy Birthday” in the dressing room before a performance.

“How is it even possible for someone’s life to be taken at such a young age, so talented, so kind,” he said.

Sibley was reportedly dancing to Beyoncé’s album “Renaissance,” which pays homage to the Black queer community.

The pop star honored him on her website, in a tribute that reads: “Rest in Power O’Shae Sibley.”

The killing comes at a time of growing anti-LGBTQ+ extremism across the U.S., that has led to protests, threats and violence against the queer community.

Philadanco and Ailey Extension paid tribute to the dancer on social media.

“This news is absolutely heartbreaking and we believe no one deserves to be targeted for simply being themselves and living in their truth,” read a statement from Philadanco.

“O’Shae was a cherished and devoted Ailey Extension student. He had incredible energy in the studio and was loved by instructors and fellow classmates,” said the Ailey Extension, the official dance studio of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation, in a statement.

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(NEW YORK) — As a teenager in the mid-1980s, Christina Boyer became a media sensation after she and her family claimed she possessed the ability to move objects with her mind. She returned to the headlines in 1992 when she was charged with the murder of her 3-year-old daughter, Amber.

Facing the death penalty, Boyer took an Alford plea, pleading guilty while maintaining her innocence, and was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison with the possibility of parole.

But at the heart of the case remains a perplexing question: How could Boyer be guilty of murder when, according to evidence, she wasn’t home at the time of Amber’s death or in the hours leading up to it?

“Demons and Saviors,” a new three-part series from ABC News Studios and Latchkey Films, explores Boyer’s childhood and efforts to exonerate her by a group of steadfast supporters who are convinced she’s innocent and calling on officials to revisit the case. Meanwhile, authorities involved in investigating and prosecuting the case argue that Boyer is a master manipulator who is right where she belongs.

Boyer, speaking via phone from Georgia’s Pulaski State Prison, says she was 14 years old when seemingly unexplainable events started happening at her home in Columbus, Ohio, such as: an alarm clock going haywire, the TV playing after it was unplugged, lights turning on and off and objects flying across the room.

Then known as Tina Resch, her parents, John and Joan Resch, were religious and believed these incidents were caused by some sort of demonic spirit that had possessed their daughter, so they called in a priest to perform an exorcism.

“They had their hands on my head and they were doing all kinds of praying. And while they were doing that, things in the kitchen were going haywire and basically that they just felt like whatever they were doing, it was not enough,” Boyer said.

Joan Resch then called the local paper, The Columbus Dispatch, who sent photojournalist Fred Shannon to try and document the mysterious phenomena. Shannon shot a now-infamous photo purporting to show Boyer sitting in an armchair with a telephone on the end of a phone cord flying across her lap.

The news coverage brought Boyer newfound notoriety, attracting both paranormal investigators fascinated by the case and skeptics determined to debunk the phenomenon.

“Everybody wanted to see what was going on. It was like ‘Showtime at the Apollo,’” Boyer said, referring to the hit variety television show.

Meanwhile, Boyer alleges she was being abused at home. After a shocking “caught on camera” moment put her powers into question, Boyer ran away from home and soon entered into what she referred to as an abusive marriage. A few years later, she started a new life in the small, Bible Belt town of Carrollton, Georgia, with her daughter Amber.

She chose Carrollton because residing there were Bill Roll and Jeannie Lagle, two psychologists who had previously studied her purported abilities. Lagle and Boyer began writing a book together about Boyer’s experiences. Boyer started dating David Herrin, a local man who Boyer says was “straight-laced and mild-mannered” compared to her other relationships. By all accounts, things seemed to be looking up for Boyer – until April 14, 1992, when Boyer says she came home from Lagle’s house and found Amber, 3, unresponsive.

Boyer had left Amber in Herrin’s care for several hours – a claim corroborated by Lagle, Boyer’s alibi witness, and Herrin himself.

The medical examiner characterized Amber’s injuries as a clear case of child abuse that occurred over the course of several days and found the girl most likely died of a fatal blow to the head during a time period that Boyer, according to her alibi, wasn’t home.

“When you looked at her with all the bruising, it was kind of obvious the child’s been severely, physically abused,” retired Carrollton police detective Mike Bradley said.

Boyer and Herrin were both arrested for the murder of Amber, and each of them blamed the other for the girl’s injuries. Amber did have previous injuries, according to the medical examiner – some of them older and others fresher from several days before.

Herrin claimed that on April 10, Amber got a knot on her forehead after tripping on a sidewalk curb. The next day, Herrin also reported that Amber fell down the front porch steps and she landed face first in the gravel.

“He told me that he had gone to sleep in the lazy boy chair in the living room. He obviously didn’t think about locking the screen door. And she got out and fell down the stairs,” Boyer said.

“I did see a goose egg, what we call a goose egg knot, on her forehead. So I was concerned, of course. And I know that the only thing you can do is to just observe them and I saw Amber coloring. I thought that was a very good sign she wasn’t showing any effects. I consider that Amber was on my watch and I have gone over and over and over what happened,” Lagle said.

On the morning of April 14, Boyer said she planned to leave around noon to go to Lagle’s to “work on some typing.”

“When I asked [Amber] about going with me, she had grabbed a book and climbed up in [Herrin’s] lap,” Boyer said.

Former District Attorney Peter Skandalakis says in “Demons and Saviors” that, if the case had gone to trial, there were witnesses who would have testified they had previously seen Boyer be physically abusive toward her daughter.

Boyer’s case also attracted local media attention in the deeply religious town and news accounts revealed details about her past.

“On the front page of the newspaper, it says not only child murderer, but psychic child murderer. After those newspaper headlines came out, I don’t believe there was anybody left in town that didn’t believe she did it, because she was the witch, she was the paranormal,” Lagle said.

Rather than face trial and the possibility of a death sentence, Boyer agreed to a plea bargain negotiated by her attorney and the prosecutors. At Herrin’s trial, he was acquitted of murder and convicted of cruelty to children. He served 12 years of his 20-year sentence and was released on parole in 2011.

Now, after decades behind bars, Boyer has found hope in an eclectic group of amateur sleuths who refer to themselves as “Team Tina.” Leading these efforts are three former Georgetown University students who began taking a closer look at Boyer’s case as part of a course called “Making an Exoneree” in the spring of 2019. “Team Tina” has pored over case files to try and uncover new details that could prove her innocence. Boyer’s supporters focus on the fatal blow rather than the alleged pattern of abuse, saying Boyer can’t be guilty of murder when she wasn’t there when the fatal blow occurred.

“I’m more hopeful now actually, because there’s so many more people all around that are involved. I sat here for years with very few people really knowing what had happened and caring. So I have more hope now that if there’s anything that can be done, somebody will find it,” Boyer said.

“Team Tina” faces firm opposition from the people who put her away, including Bradley, and fellow retired Carrollton police detective Mike Thomas.

“They’re listening to her side, and that’s the only side they know,” Thomas said.

“If we could put this whole case file back together and set them down, I guarantee you I could change their mind,” Bradley said.

Skandalakis, the lead prosecutor on the case, says he’s often asked about the disparity of the two verdicts involving Herrin and Boyer in the case.

“[People say,] ‘Here you have Christina Boyer who is obviously held to a higher standard because she’s the mother, serving life in prison. David Herrin gets convicted of cruelty and does 20 years in prison, and how’s that fair?’ My answer to that is, I don’t know. After the jury acquitted him [of murder] I remember the jury filing through the courtroom and I asked, ‘How did y’all find him not guilty of felony murder but you found him guilty of cruelty to children?’ And she looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘It wasn’t his child,'” Skandalakis said.

“Demons and Saviors” begins streaming Aug. 3 on Hulu.

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(NEW YORK) — A body recovered from a New York City creek has been identified as a 27-year-old Goldman Sachs analyst, according to police.

The remains of John Castic were discovered on Monday in Newtown Creek in the city’s Brooklyn borough, according to the New York City Police Department.

The grim discovery was made around 11 a.m. Monday after a 911 caller spotted the body floating in Newtown Creek in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

An NYPD Harbor Unit was called to the scene and recovered the body from the water. Castic was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The New York City chief medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death, police said.

🚨MISSING PERSON ALERT 🚨

John was last seen in the East Williamsburg / Bushwick area leaving Brooklyn Mirage late Friday, early Saturday morning.

If you have any information at all please contact 212.334.0711 pic.twitter.com/GQxti766f3

— CM Jen Gutiérrez (@CMJenGutierrez) July 31, 2023

“We are all shocked and saddened to learn of John’s tragic passing,” Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman David Solomon said in a statement. “John was a dedicated, driven member of our Controllers team working closely with our Asset and Wealth Management business. Our thoughts are with his mother Dawn, his father Jeff, and his entire family at this very difficult time. John will be deeply missed by his Goldman Sachs family.”

Castic went missing early Saturday after leaving a concert at the Brooklyn Mirage nightclub, several blocks from Newtown Creek, New York City Councilmember Jen Gutierrez posted on Twitter.

Prior to Castic’s body being found, friends of the financial analyst formed a search party, combing the area around the nightclub and passing out missing-person flyers with photos of Castic.

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(NEW YORK) — A federal jury has sentenced Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooter Robert Bowers to death.

All 12 jurors had to agree to impose the death penalty. Otherwise, Bowers would have been sentenced to life in prison.

Wednesday’s verdict came on the second day of deliberations.

The family of 97-year-old victim Rose Mallinger said in a statement, “Although we will never attain closure from the loss of our beloved Rose Mallinger, we now feel a measure of justice has been served.”

“Returning a sentence of death is not a decision that comes easy, but we must hold accountable those who wish to commit such terrible acts of antisemitism, hate, and violence,” the family said. “May we always remember those who were taken too soon — Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Daniel Stein, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Irving Younger, Melvin Wax, and Rose Mallinger. May their memories be for a blessing.”

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the massacre, said in a statement, “In the years we have spent waiting for this trial to take place, many of us have been stuck in neutral. It was a challenge to move forward with the looming specter of a murder trial.”

“Now that the trial is nearly over and the jury has recommended a death sentence, it is my hope that we can begin to heal and move forward,” Myers said. “I have my faith, bolstered by the embrace and respect with which my community has been treated by our government and our fellow citizens. For this and the seriousness with which the jury took its duty, I remain forever grateful.”

Bowers shot and killed 11 worshippers, including a 97-year-old woman, at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.

Bowers had offered to plead guilty if the death penalty was taken off the table, but prosecutors turned him down.

He was convicted in June on all 63 charges against him, including 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

On July 13, the jury decided Bowers and the crime met the criteria to be eligible for the death penalty.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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