(PHOENIX) — A man accused of fatally stabbing a woman hiking on a desert trail in Phoenix last month in an apparently random attack has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Zion William Teasley, 22, appeared in court for an arraignment hearing Tuesday following his indictment by a Maricopa County grand jury on one count of first-degree murder for the death of Lauren Heike.
The judge entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf for the murder charge.
Teasley’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 10, with the trial expected to begin in mid-January 2024. He is currently being held in the Maricopa County Jail on $1 million bond.
Heike, 29, was found dead in a desert area the morning of April 29 — about 24 hours after the attack is believed to have occurred, according to Phoenix police.
Phoenix police were on their way to a person-down call on the hiking trail that day when they also got a call from Heike’s friend saying she did not show up for work that day and that it was unusual, according to the probable cause document.
A medical examiner determined Heike had 15 stab wounds on her upper body, and there were defensive wounds on her hands and forearms, according to the probable cause document.
Phoenix police Lt. James Hester told reporters earlier this month following Teasley’s arrest that he believes the attack was random, but added that police “have not concluded our investigation into that.”
Teasley was allegedly captured in surveillance footage running away from the scene, police said.
DNA from Heike’s shoe at the crime scene was preliminarily matched to Teasley, according to the probable cause document. A search warrant for cell carrier data showed him in the area at the time of the murder, and the suspect captured in the surveillance footage was wearing clothing Teasley had stolen from his previous employer, according to the document.
Teasley is already on probation; he had been convicted of robbery, armed robbery and disorderly conduct in another case and was released from prison in November, prosecutors said.
A case involving Teasley’s probation is also ongoing. The court entered a denial of violation of probation on his behalf in that case on Tuesday.
(NEW YORK) — Verified accounts on Twitter may have contributed to the viral spread of a false claim that an explosion was unfolding at the Pentagon.
Around 8:42 AM on Monday, a verified account on Twitter, labeling itself as a media and news organization, shared a fake image of smoke billowing near a white building they said was the Pentagon. The tweet’s caption also misrepresented the Pentagon’s located.
No such incident took place, the Arlington County Fire Department later said on Twitter. The Pentagon, the headquarters building of the U.S. Department of Defense, is located in Arlington County, Virginia.
A Pentagon spokesperson also told ABC News that no explosion had occurred.
But throughout the morning, the fake image and misleading caption picked up steam on Twitter. Cyabra, a social analysis firm, analyzed the online conversation and found that roughly 3,785 accounts had mentioned the falsehoods, dozens of these were verified.
“The checkmark may well have contributed to giving the account the appearance of authenticity, which would have helped it with achieved virality,” Jules Gross, a solutions engineer at Cyabra, told ABC News.
Some of these accounts were verified, but they didn’t appear to be coordinated, according to Cyabra.
“The bad news is that it appears that just a single account was able to achieve virality and cause maximum chaos,” Gross added.
While ABC News has not been able to determine the source of the content, nor confirm that the original tweet was the 8:42 tweet, the image contains many hallmarks of being generated using a text-to-image AI tool.
There are many visual inconsistencies in the image, including a streetlamp that appears to be both in front and behind the metal barrier. Not to mention that the building itself doesn’t look like the Pentagon.
Text-to-image tools powered by artificial intelligence allow users to input a natural language description, called a prompt, to get an image in return.
In the last few months, these tools have become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, leading to an explosion of hyperrealistic content fooling users online.
The original false tweet was eventually deleted, but not before it was amplified by a number of accounts on Twitter bearing the blue check that was once reserved for verified accounts, but which can now be purchased by any user.
ABC News could not immediately reach a spokesperson for Twitter to request comment.
What are the solutions?
“Today’s AI hoax of the Pentagon is a harbinger of what is to come,” explained Truepic CEO Jeff McGregor, who says his company’s technology can add a layer of transparency to content posted online.
Truepic, a founding member of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, has developed a camera technology that captures, signs, and seals critical details in every photo and video, such as time, date, and location.
The company also created tools that would allow users to hover over a piece of AI-generated content to find out how it was fabricated. In April, they published the first “transparent deepfake” to showcase how the technology works.
While some companies have adopted the C2PA technology, it’s now up to social media platforms to make that information available to their users.
“This is an open-source technology that lets everyone attach metadata to their images to show that they created an image, when and where it was created, and what changes were made to it along the way,” Dana Roa, general counsel and chief trust officer at Adobe, told ABC News. “This allows people to prove what’s real.”
Alterations like if an image was cropped or filtered would be displayed, but the user would also be able to select how much data they make available to the public.
The user would be able to select how much data they make available to the public.
ABC News could not immediately reach a spokesperson for Twitter to request comment.
Both state and local law enforcement were provided a written briefing Monday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an organization dedicated to countering extremism, hate and disinformation, with details on the incident.
“Security and law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned there’s an increased concern in AI-generated information operations intended to undermine credibility in government, stoke fear or even incite violence,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former acting undersecretary for intelligence.
“Digital content provenance will help mitigate these events by scaling transparency and authenticity in visual content by empowering users and creators,” added McGregor.
(FLORIDA) — Police in Florida are looking for a missing man who friends say was last seen likely going out for a run three days ago.
Makuach Yak, 31, a youth basketball coach from Delray Beach, was supposed to coach on Saturday but was nowhere to be found, his friend and business partner told ABC West Palm Beach affiliate WPBF.
“He’s very responsible,” his friend, Tate VanRoekel, told the station. “If he says he’s gonna do something, he’s gonna do it.”
Home security footage shared with WPBF recorded Yak in his front yard around 6:30 a.m. Saturday in a purple shirt and black shorts, the station reported.
VanRoekel told WPBF that Yak’s wallet, keys, cellphone and Apple Watch were “all on the counter, just sitting there.”
The Delray Beach Police Department said in a missing person post on social media that Yak had walked away from his home in Delray Beach on Saturday and “most likely was wearing workout clothes.”
In the days since he was reported missing, friends have been knocking on doors and organizing searches for Yak throughout Delray Beach, a city on Florida’s east coast located between West Palm Beach and Boca Raton.
“I’ve been looking through alleyways,” VanRoekel told WPBF. “I’ve been looking underneath bridges, in wooded areas, abandoned houses, anything, anywhere.”
Yak’s cousin, Diew Malou, has also been involved in the search efforts, WPBF reported.
“We’re just trying to make sure that he’s safe,” Malou told WPBF.
“We just miss him,” Malou added. “If we can find where he’s at, if anybody could help us, that would be great.”
A police spokesperson told ABC News Tuesday evening there were no updates in the case and that Yak, a native of South Sudan, remains missing.
“We are urging the public to call us if they see someone matching his description,” Delray Beach Police spokesperson Ted White said.
Police said Yak is around 6 foot 4 and weighs 165 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to call the Delray Beach Police Department at 561-243-7800.
(OHIO) — Two inmates, including one convicted of murdering two people, have escaped from an Ohio prison, authorities said.
The Allen County Sheriff’s Office warned residents on Tuesday to “be aware and use caution” after the two men escaped from the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima.
“If you see either inmate please DO NOT APPROACH,” the sheriff’s office said on social media. “Immediately call 911.”
The inmates were identified by the sheriff’s office as Bradley Gillespie, 50, and James Lee, 47.
Gillespie was convicted of murdering a man and woman in 2016 and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction online records. He is described by authorities as being 200 pounds and bald with blue eyes.
Lee was convicted in 2021 of charges including burglary, safecracking and breaking and entering and was serving at least 20 years in prison, state records show. He is described by authorities as being 300 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
No other information was immediately available on the escape.
(UTAH) — A 2-year-old was struck in the head by a stray bullet while playing outside at a Utah day care, authorities said.
The incident occurred Monday at a day care in Spanish Fork while several children were playing outside in a vinyl fenced-in area of the facility, according to police.
While playing, one child “appeared to stumble and was seen bleeding from the face,” Spanish Fork Police Lt. Cory Slaymaker said in a statement Tuesday.
— Spanish Fork Police, Fire & EMS (@SpanishForkPDFE) May 23, 2023
The day care notified the parents, who took the child to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Doctors discovered through scans a “small caliber bullet” lodged in the toddler’s head, Slaymaker said.
The child was transferred to a local children’s hospital for treatment and is currently in stable condition, police said.
It is unclear where the gun was fired from and why. The incident appears to be a “tragic accident” and remains under investigation, Slaymaker said.
“Open fields are directly west of the daycare and it is believed the round may have come from that area,” Slaymaker said.
(FLORIDA) — A trip to the bathroom left a Florida man without an arm on Saturday night.
Jordan Rivera, 23, was at Banditos Bar in Port Charlotte, Florida, late Saturday night. Deterred by the long line to the bathroom, Rivera told ABC affiliate WZVN that he decided to venture to a nearby pond instead.
“I just saw the lake, just gonna go over there and take a little pee or whatnot,” he said. “Something happened where I either tripped…and ended up in the water, and that’s literally the last thing I remember.”
Unfortunately, the pond near where Rivera fell was also inhabited by a ten-foot alligator, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Rivera does not recall the next series of events that brought him to a local hospital, but he was missing his right arm when he woke up.
FWC officials, as well as first responders from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and EMS, responded to a report early Sunday morning of a man suffering “significant injuries” after being bitten by an alligator, according to the FWC.
“Those gators, I didn’t truly understand them until I woke up in the hospital and, ‘Oh, gator got your arm,'” Rivera said.
Rivera’s mother credits bystanders for saving her son’s life, noticing his body near the pond and rushing to assist.
“I call them angels that were there that saved his life,” Teresa Rivera told WZVN. “The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet to me is a miracle that he’s here.”
After the incident, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hired a professional alligator trapper, who located the 10.5-foot alligator at the same property where Rivera was attacked. Officials removed the alligator from the pond and euthanized the animal.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the incident, instead referring questions about the attack to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is continuing to investigate the incident.
Asked about online speculation that he might have tried to feed the alligator, prompting the attack, Rivera firmly denied the possibility, adding that the nearby bar does not offer food that he could have fed the gator.
Rivera is still recovering in the hospital with his arm amputated, but he is looking back on the incident optimistically.
“I didn’t lose my life, lost an arm,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world.”
(NEW YORK) — A powerful typhoon is headed toward Guam, which could be the strongest tropical cyclone to impact the island in decades.
Super Typhoon Mawar could directly hit Guam with winds as strong as 160 mph — equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. The strong tropical cyclone is expected to strike around noon local time Wednesday, which would be around 10 p.m. ET Tuesday.
A typhoon warning has been issued for the U.S. island territory, located in the western Pacific.
Rainfall could reach as high as 20 inches, and storm surge is forecast to reach as high as 25 feet. The super typhoon is already producing waves up to 45 feet in the ocean near Guam.
Guam’s Office of Civil Defense advised residents on Tuesday to seek shelter immediately, as Mawar is “expected to make a direct hit or very near passage for Guam.”
“There is a potential of a catastrophic and devastating event for Guam,” the office said in a bulletin.
Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero also urged residents on Tuesday to seek shelter immediately as “damaging winds” were expected to start soon.
“Please take all the necessary precautions in an abundance of safety before we feel the full strength of the super typhoon,” she said on social media.
One emergency shelter in northern Guam had already reached capacity, the governor said.
President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Guam due to Mawar and ordered federal assistance to support the response to the typhoon.
A super typhoon is used to connote a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of at least 150 mph.
Mawar could be one of the strongest typhoons to impact Guam since the 1960s — the start of the satellite era.
The most destructive typhoon to hit Guam was Karen in 1962, with 155 mph winds and wind gusts of at least 170 mph, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Most homes on the island were destroyed.
More recently, in 2002, Super Typhoon Pongsona moved near the island with 144 mph winds and gusts up to 173 mph, causing $700 million in damage at the time, according to NOAA.
(NEW YORK) — As the Jewish community grapples with a recent surge in antisemitic incidents, many U.S. synagogues are increasingly turning to trainings led by security experts who can advise on what to do if there’s a violent threat on the premises.
Antisemitic assaults jumped 26% and acts of vandalism spiked more than 50% in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Three out of the last five years have been record breakers for such incidents, the ADL said.
Non-profit Secure Community Network says it holds “countering active threat” trainings for the American Jewish community.
Following antisemitic incidents, the organization tends to see “big spikes” in requests for these trainings, a spokesperson told ABC News. A Texas rabbi credited a training with knowing how to respond when an armed suspect took four congregants hostage at a Colleyville synagogue last January. The hostages escaped and the suspect was fatally shot by police after a standoff.
The following month, requests for active threat trainings in synagogues and Jewish spaces rose to nearly 300 across the country, the spokesperson said.
“We were established to ensure that the Jewish community had access to the best practice information around safety and security preparedness,” Robert Graves, deputy director of Strategic Operational Development at Secure Community Network, told ABC News podcast “Start Here.”
Graves recently led one such training at a synagogue in Montgomery County, Maryland. The synagogue spoke to ABC News under the condition their name or specific location wouldn’t be identified.
“I’m a mom and, you know, I come here with my kids and it terrifies me, that I’m not going to be able to protect myself or protect them,” a congregant named Jen told “Start Here.”
“It’s hard. It’s very hard and it’s kind of discombobulating sometimes, but I feel like it’s one of the things that comes with the territory, sort of as being a Jewish person in the world today. But that’s where the training comes in. So you have to kind of remind yourself, ‘I am safe.’ And then you can let yourself into the moment,” she continued.
Montgomery County has the largest percentage of Jewish residents in the state — over 10% out of 1 million residents. Just last year, the local police department reported 48 anti-Jewish bias incidents in the county, which was up 55% compared to the previous year.
The Secure Community Network holds 40 to 50 active threat trainings in the D.C.-area Jewish community per year, the spokesperson said.
At one point in the synagogue’s history, the building was vandalized with a graffiti swastika in an incident that stoked fear among the community, a congregant said. But there haven’t been any threats or acts of violence targeting the synagogue, according to local police.
Still, the congregation keeps its doors locked at all times, even on the Sabbath and other holidays. Congregants use fingerprint access to gain entry to the synagogue. A security committee discusses security of their building and coordinates safety education, such as the training conducted by the Secure Community Network.
“These attacks, these shootings can happen anywhere. You know, synagogue’s just a place that a lot of us spend a lot of time, and sure, we are an enhanced target,” said another congregant, adding that he believes it’s still the best time and place to be Jewish, “compared to some of the things that our ancestors have been through.”
“One of our many narratives of the Jewish people facing oppression in the past [is] you know, through courage, rising up and changing this story and changing the outcome of this story,” the synagogue’s rabbi said.
While just over 2% the U.S. population self-identifies with the religion, Jewish people were the targets of 51.4% of 1,590 religiously motivated hate crimes reported in 2021, according to FBI data released in March.
The Secure Community Network was founded in 2004 under the auspices of The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, according to their website. Along with safety training, the organization conducts threat assessments and offers consulting on safety and security matters. The organization also says it monitors and shares “credible threat and incident” information with law enforcement and others in the community.
(WASHINGTON) — The driver of a rented box truck that collided with a security barrier near the White House on Monday was arrested and charged, law enforcement officials said.
The U-Haul truck crashed at about 10 p.m. on the north side of Lafayette Square near the White House, officials said.
The suspect was identified as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, according to the U.S. Park Police.
Kandula was charged with five counts, including assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, trespassing and destruction of federal property, U.S. Park Police said.
He was also charged with threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a president, vice president or their families, police said.
Kandula allegedly traveled from St. Louis to Dulles International Airport where he rented a U-Haul truck and drove to the White House, law enforcement sources told ABC News. After ramming the bollard, Kandula exited the vehicle and began waving a flag with what authorities say appeared to be a swastika on it, and that is when officers from the U.S. Park Police detained him.
The FBI interviewed Kandula and told law enforcement that he wanted to seize power, take over the government and kill the president, according to three law enforcement sources. Additionally, sources tell ABC News that authorities are looking at a mental health component to the investigation.
There were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House personnel, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, said in a statement.
A “preliminary investigation reveals the driver may have intentionally struck” the barrier, he said.
The truck was cleared for potential explosives, a law enforcement official said.
Park Police confirmed to ABC News that the investigation is still ongoing.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The families of two of the victims in the University of Idaho killings last fall have filed notice reserving their right to sue the city of Moscow, according to documents filed with the city.
The families of slain students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21, may seek damages against the city for the murders of their daughters, according to the notices, which were dated May 3 and May 11, respectively, and were obtained by ABC News.
The notices do not specify what kind of claim the families may make. They say that potential dollar figures for damages are “undetermined at this time.”
No lawsuit has yet been filed, but the claims protect the families’ rights to sue within two years, Shanon Gray, an attorney representing the Goncalves and Mogen families, told ABC News.
“Filing a tort claims notice is really just a safeguard,” Gray said. “It’s a safeguard to protect the interests of the families, the victims and really the whole community around, because if something goes wrong, or was done improperly, then someone is held accountable for that.”
Gray said he had also filed tort claims notices with Washington State as well as Idaho State.
“Those aren’t meant to do anything other than protect the interests of the families and the victims moving forward,” Gray said.
When reached Monday evening, Moscow Mayor Art Bettge had no comment on the matter.
Goncalves and Mogen were among four students at the university, along with Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, who were found stabbed to death at their off-campus house on Nov. 13 by officers responding at the scene. After a more than six-week hunt, police zeroed in on a suspect: Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University.
Kohberger was arrested on Dec. 30 in Pennsylvania, after driving cross-country to spend the holidays at his family home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, a grand jury returned a multi-count indictment against Kohberger, including four counts of murder in the first degree.
Kohberger stood silent at his arraignment Monday. Second District Judge John Judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Early on in the investigation, Gray and the Goncalves families had expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation and what they described as lack of transparency.
In a mid-December interview on NBC, Gray questioned whether the local police were “capable” of handling the quadruple homicide investigation and that they had done a “poor job” of communicating information to the family.
“If they are in over their heads, then acknowledge that and turn the investigation over to someone who is more versed in handling these types of matters,” Gray said.
