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(NEW YORK) — Between March 2020 and February 2022, vaccine-maker Emergent BioSolutions was forced to discard or destroy up to 400 million coronavirus vaccine doses due to the contamination of ingredients, according to a congressional report published Tuesday — a figure that reflects more than five times what was previously disclosed by the beleaguered firm.

Congressional investigators probing the Maryland-based biotech company found that Emergent executives had privately raised urgent quality-control concerns even before the company began manufacturing the vaccines’ key ingredient — despite publicly expressing confidence in their ability to deliver on their multimillion-dollar government contract.

Meanwhile, according to the report, Emergent lab workers intentionally sought to mislead government inspectors about issues at its Bayview, Maryland, plant, and repeatedly “rebuffed” efforts by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson to inspect their facilities.

“Despite major red flags at its vaccine manufacturing facility, Emergent’s executives swept these problems under the rug and continued to rake in taxpayer dollars,” House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said of the report, which determined that the company’s “manufacturing failures and deceptive tactics” led to the largescale waste of ingredients that could have helped make millions of vaccine doses.

None of the compromised batches of the ingredient in question made it into finished vaccine doses released from Emergent’s plant, the committees said.

An Emergent spokesperson said the firm learned of the congressional report from news outlets who reached out seeking comment, and did not address a list of detailed questions from ABC News.

“Emergent has been open and forthcoming with the FDA, Congress and our partners about the work at our Bayview site and the challenges that were encountered, including providing thousands of documents, willingly participating in a congressional hearing and inviting them to visit our facilities,” the spokesperson said.

Tuesday’s joint report from the House Oversight Committee and the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis aggregates the findings of their yearlong probe into Emergent’s quality control issues. As part of their efforts, committee investigators secured internal Emergent emails and interviewed several key witnesses, including senior officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Emergent landed a $628 million contract from the Food and Drug Administration in June 2020 to help develop Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines at its Bayview facility as part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s rapid vaccine development program.

But according to the committees’ report, issues at Bayview arose even before the firm secured its vaccine-development deal. In a flurry of internal emails during the spring of 2020, executives and managers expressed a growing concern with the firm’s response to an April 2020 FDA audit that identified troubling safety deficiencies.

Sean Kirk, at the time an Emergent executive, wrote in a June 2020 email to a quality-control manager that the situation was “deeply concerning” and demanded that he “fix this.” In email correspondence with another colleague that same day, Kirk wrote that “room for improvement” in the Bayview plant’s quality control systems “is a huge understatement.”

Outwardly, however, the firm claimed its longstanding relationship with U.S. government agencies — which included multiple contracts to develop anthrax vaccines — was evidence of its competence. But internally, said the report, alarm bells continued to sound — and anxiety over Bayview’s readiness grew.

“Of all the things we have to deliver on [Operation Warp Speed], the thing that keeps me up at night is overall perception of state of quality systems at bayview [sic],” Kirk wrote to Emergent CEO Robert Kramer in late June 2020.

The drumbeat of concern over quality control at Bayview reached a fever pitch in the fall of 2020, as internal memos ahead of a September 2020 FDA inspection indicated that executives were fully aware of gaps in quality control measures for months after vaccine development began, according to the congressional report.

“We are not in full compliance yet — BUT — we are making [vaccine] batches NOW,” Emergent’s senior director of quality wrote in an internal email, according to the report. “Our risk is high!”

In November 2020, according to an email obtained by the committees, a consultant with an outside firm warned the company that “ultimately Emergent will have to decide what level of risk they are willing to accept, but this is one of those where you really better listen to me and do exactly what I tell you to.”

“I am stating very loudly that this work is NON-compliant,” the consultant said. “And a direct regulatory risk.”

AstraZeneca representatives who visited Bayview in November 2020 complained that “a lack of fundamentals [was] contributing to bioburden issue,” and that “poor cleaning was part of the root cause” of the persistent contaminations, per the report.

Emergent executives acknowledged in internal emails that, in its rush to ramp up production, it hired temporary employees with “little or no pharmaceutical experience,” and described trash “piling up” in its facilities, said the report. FDA leaders told the committees that Emergent “hired a lot of individuals not as familiar with vaccine manufacturing, that did not have adequate training to do so” — a message it conveyed directly to Emergent as early as April 2020.

The committee found that despite these red flags, Emergent “did not remediate the issues, and problems persisted at the [Bayview] facility for months.” And from late 2020 to early 2021, the committee wrote, a series of contaminations at Bayview led to the disposal of enough vaccine drug ingredients to produce 240 million doses.

“The investigation has revealed that the impact of these issues is larger than previously known,” the committee said in its report, “with more incidents of contamination and millions more vaccines [ingredients] destroyed than previously revealed by Emergent.”

In February 2021, under pressure from manufacturers to tighten up quality controls, Emergent apparently “rebuffed multiple requests from Johnson & Johnson’s quality staff to access Bayview,” the committee wrote. Around the same time, the committee found that Bayview lab workers sought to hide the extent of their failures prior to an FDA site visit.

According to an email written by one of Emergent’s external consultants and obtained by the committees, Emergent employees removed quality-assurance “hold tags” from two batches of Johnson & Johnson vaccine drug ingredients just one hour before FDA inspectors began their tour of the facility. The “hold tags” were bright yellow and indicated that those batches may have quality issues.

“Since the tags were deemed necessary before and after the FDA’s visit, it is my understanding, based on the entirety of what I observed and was told, that the purpose of removing the QA [quality assurance] hold tags was to avoid drawing attention to the two subject containers during the tour by the FDA inspectors,” the consultant wrote.

In their report, the committees indicated that senior leaders at Emergent were aware of the removal of the tags, and that the incident amounted to an “apparent attempt to impede oversight.” The FDA inspectors “still identified serious concerns” during their visit to the site in February 2021, but did not halt production at the facility until April 2021, after Emergent alerted the Biden administration to its cross-contamination incidents.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told the committees in a briefing that FDA leaders and inspectors bore some responsibility for the extent of leniency they granted Emergent.

“Shame on us for thinking that [Emergent’s] experience in manufacturing would mean they would be able to move ahead and make the vaccines in a high-quality manner that we would expect for an experienced vaccine manufacturer,” Marks told committee members, according to the report.

In May 2021, during a hearing before the Congress, Emergent executives said the company hoped to resume production of the vaccines “in the coming days.” According to the committees, that didn’t happen; three months passed before regulators allowed Emergent to resume vaccine manufacturing in August 2021. But even then, the problems persisted.

From August 2021 to February 2022, the committee found that Emergent manufactured 15 new batches of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, six of which — the equivalent of 90 million vaccine doses — “were either aborted or rejected by Johnson & Johnson.”

All told, Emergent was forced to discard or destroy up to 400 million doses’ worth of the ingredient that helps make the coronavirus vaccine. Company executives had previously pegged the number at 75 million.

In November 2021, the Biden administration canceled Emergent’s contract to continue developing vaccines, which at the time would have paid the company an estimated additional $320 million.

But the real victims, according to the committees, are those who would have benefited from the 400 million doses that failed to materialize.

“Emergent’s failures wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and impacted our country’s ability to meet the urgent, global need for coronavirus vaccines,” the report concludes.

The Emergent spokesperson told ABC News that the company “remains committed to being a trusted partner of the U.S. and allied governments … [and] will continue to use our more than 20 years of public health preparedness experience to help inform an all-of-the-above approach to help prepare for the public health challenges to come.”

On Feb. 7 of this year, Emergent told the committees that its Bayview plant was entering a “maintenance shutdown period.” The company said it hopes to resume manufacturing in August 2022.

Emergent still maintains a federal contract to develop anthrax vaccines.

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(NEW YORK) — Florence, Alabama, murder suspect Casey White has been interviewed extensively since he was apprehended in Indiana on Monday, ending an 11-day, multistate manhunt, and is cooperating with the investigation, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding told ABC News.

After escaped inmate Casey White, 38, and Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56, were spotted at an Evansville, Indiana, hotel on Monday, they led police on a car chase in a Cadillac, Wedding said.

The crash ended in a wreck and Vicky White was hospitalized for injuries from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said. She died at a hospital Monday night.

“When we were taking Casey White into custody, upon his surrender he said, ‘Help my wife, she just shot herself,'” Commander Deputy U.S. Marshal Chad Hunt told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday.

An autopsy is set for Tuesday.

The manhunt began on April 29 when Casey White and Vicky White, who are not related, fled the Lauderdale County Jail. Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participated in the escape, which took place on her last day before retirement.

The duo left Alabama in a Ford Edge and ditched the car in Williamson County, Tennessee — about a two-hour drive north of Florence — just hours after the jail break.

“When we located the orange Ford Edge our investigators were able to determine that Casey and Vicky purchased another vehicle out of Tennessee,” Hunt said.

On Monday, U.S. Marshals said investigators were in Evansville following up on a tip after a 2006 Ford F-150 believed to have been used by Casey White and Vicky White was found abandoned at a car wash on May 3. Police were alerted to the vehicle on Sunday.

“We were able to verify the footage — that that was Casey White in the Ford F-150,” Hunt said.

“We obtained information, after we located the [Ford F-150] vehicle, that they had possibly gotten into a beige 2006 Cadillac. We dispatched our people into the area of the car wash and observed the vehicle at a hotel,” U.S. Marshal Marty Keely told GMA.

No one was injured as a result of the escape, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said.

Casey White had been in the Lauderdale County Jail awaiting trial for capital murder after allegedly stabbing a woman to death in 2015, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

He will be brought back to Lauderdale County to be arraigned, Singleton said.

“They were located through just police work, good police work, with all the agencies involved,” Keely said. “We also had some information, tips, that came forward. We certainly want to thank the public.”

Vicky White had served for 17 years as a corrections officer in Lauderdale County. Singleton described her as “an exemplary employee” until the escape.

She withdrew approximately $90,000 in cash from multiple banks before allegedly fleeing, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said. He said the banks were local to the Lauderdale County area, but he could not say when she withdrew the money.

On April 18 — just days before the escape — Vicky White closed on the sale of her home for just over $95,000.

“Based on her experience in the corrections industry and law enforcement, this was definitely a well thought-out escape,” Hunt said. “And obviously her pre-planning and her involvement aided in their evasion.”

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(LAS VEGAS) — As the water level of the nation’s largest man-made reservoir keeps receding due to drought, human bodies keep emerging.

For the second time in seven days, human remains have been discovered in Lake Mead near Las Vegas.

U.S. National Park Service rangers said human skeletal remains were found about 2 p.m. Saturday at Lake Mead near Callville Bay. The Clark County Medical Examiner collected the remains and is working to identify the person and determine a cause of death.

The discovery came a week after the decayed body of a man was found stuffed in a steel barrel near the reservoir’s Hemenway Fishing Pier, more than 20 miles from Callville, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

“We believe this is a homicide as a result of a gunshot wound,” Lt. Ray Spencer, head of the LVMPD’s homicide section, said of the body found on May 1.

Spencer said the Clark County Medical Examiner is attempting to identify the body. He said detectives believe the man was killed in the mid-1970s to early 1980s based on his clothing and footwear.

In regards to the second body found on Saturday, LVMPD officials said Monday they have found no evidence to suggest foul play.

Saturday’s discovery of skeletal remains was made by two sisters, Lindsey and Lynette Melvin, who said they were paddle-boarding on the lake because the water was too shallow to go snorkeling.

The sisters told ABC affiliate station KTNV-TV in Las Vegas that they found the skeletal remains when they stopped to explore a sand bar they said used to be underwater before a prolonged drought dropped the water table to historic record lows.

At first, the sister thought it was the remains of a big horn sheep. Then they discovered a human jawbone with teeth still attached and reported them to National Park Service rangers.

“We just really hope that the family of that person finally gets answers and hope their soul is laid to rest peacefully,” Lynette Melvin said.

The sisters said they grew up in Las Vegas and have heard rumors of Mafia hitmen dumping bodies in the lake.

Geoff Schumacher, a mob historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, told ABC News on Monday that the discoveries of the bodies, especially the man found in the barrel, have reignited those rumors.

“Certainly, Las Vegas has a history with the mob and there have been people who have gone missing in this area over the years that may have been the victims of mob violence. But I don’t recall a case where we had anything like this where we found a body in a barrel that popped up in Lake Mead,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher said disposing of a body in a barrel is a classic mob technique dating back to the 1880s.

He said one famous case was that of Chicago gangster John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli, who helped the mob control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. Roselli disappeared after testifying in 1975 before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about an alleged conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.

Roselli’s decomposing remains were discovered in 1976 stuffed inside a 55-gallon steel barrel a fisherman found floating in Dumfoundling Bay near Miami. An autopsy determined Roselli died of asphyxiation.

Noting that police suspect the slain man found in a barrel in Lake Mead this month may have been killed in the 1970s or 1980s based on his clothing and shoes, Schumacher said the mob was prominent in Las Vegas during that time frame.

“There was a lot of conflict and I would not at all be surprised to find that was the victim of mob violence,” Schumacher said.

He said that as the reservoir, which is formed by Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, continues to recede, more shocking discoveries are likely to emerge, including the wreckage of a B-29 bomber that crashed in the lake in 1947.

“There’s probably a whole bunch of sunken boats out there, too,” Schumacher said. “Who knows what other stuff people have thrown out into the water over the years, physical objects as well as bodies.”

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(BOSTON) — A woman who accused celebrity chef and restauranteur Mario Batali of groping her said Monday she was speaking out “to be able to take control of what happened,” while a defense attorney for Batali called her a liar who is twisting the truth “for money and for fun.”

Natali Tene, 32, alleged Batali, 61, forcibly kissed her and grabbed her breasts, buttocks and groin after meeting him in a Boston bar while having a drink with a friend in March 2017. Batali, she claimed, was “grabbing me in ways I had never been touched before, squeezing between my legs … pulling me closer to him.”

Batali has said he is not guilty of the allegations. At the start of the trial on Monday in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, Batali told Judge James Stanton he wanted to waive his right to a jury trial, which means Stanton will render the verdict directly.

The alleged assault took place after the accuser asked the chef for a selfie. He smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated, she alleged. Tene has also filed a civil complaint for unspecified damages based on the same allegations that will be tried separately from this case.

If found guilty, Batali could face nearly three years in prison and be forced to register as a sex offender.

Under cross-examination from attorney Anthony Fuller, Tene repeatedly said she did not remember text messages she sent friends that described her meeting Batali as “exciting.” In one message, she purportedly suggested to a friend that she could “hopefully” get $10,000 for photos of the encounter.

“I really, honestly thought this is how it all worked. I thought [with] celebrities, when they get in trouble, that’s how it works,” she said. “$10,000 is just an arbitrary number to me.”

Fuller characterized Tene as uncredible and flatly denied that the encounter took place.

“The defense in this case is very simple: It didn’t happen,” he said. The photo evidence “[does] not show any indecent assault and battery.”

In his questioning of Tene, he also referenced her claim that she is clairvoyant, an answer she used to allegedly get out of jury selection in a previous criminal trial.

Four women accused Batali of inappropriate touching in December 2017, which prompted him to leave the ABC daytime cooking show The Chew and remove himself from his restaurant business. In a statement following the accusations, Batali said he was “so very sorry” for disappointing his friends, family, co-workers and fans.

“My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility,” he said at the time.

Batali’s company paid a $60,000 settlement following a state investigation that alleged the company promoted a sexualized culture that violated multiple human rights laws.

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(EVANSVILLE, Ind.) — Florence, Alabama, jail employee Vicky White has died Monday after she was apprehended along with murder suspect Casey White in Evansville, Indiana, which ended a 10-day manhunt, according to the Vanderburgh County Coroners Office.

After Inmate Casey White, 38, and Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56, were spotted at a hotel, Casey White and Vicky White led police on a car chase that ended with a wreck, Indiana authorities said. Vicky White, who was driving the Cadillac, was hospitalized with “very serious” injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Vanderburgh County, Indiana, sheriff’s office.

“Can’t clarify how long they have been in Evansville … lucky we stumbled upon them today,” Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said Monday.

He said the pursuit only lasted a few minutes.

“We got a dangerous man off the street today,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday during a press conference.

Casey White and Vicky White, who are not related, fled the Lauderdale County Jail on April 29.

Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participated in the escape, which took place on her last day before retirement.

The duo fled Alabama in a Ford Edge and ditched the car in Williamson County, Tennessee — about a two-hour drive north of Florence — just hours after the jail break.

On Monday, U.S. Marshals said investigators were in Evansville, Indiana, following up on a tip after a 2006 Ford F-150 believed to have been used by Casey White and Vicky White was found abandoned at a car wash on May 3. Police were alerted to the vehicle on Sunday.

At the time of his escape, Casey White was facing two counts of capital murder for allegedly stabbing a woman to death in 2015, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Vicky White has been charged with forgery and identity theft for allegedly using an alias to buy the Ford Edge used to facilitate the escape, according to the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office. A warrant was also issued for Vicky White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape.

No one was injured as a result of the escape, Singleton said.

Vicky White died Monday evening at Deaconess Hospital. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Casey White will be brought back to Lauderdale County to be arraigned, Singleton said.

“He’s not getting out of this jail again,” Singleton said. “I assure you that.”

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(EVANSVILLE, Ind.) — Florence, Alabama, jail employee Vicky White and murder suspect Casey White were apprehended in Evansville, Indiana, on Monday, ending a 10-day manhunt, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton announced.

After Inmate Casey White, 38, and Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56, were spotted at a hotel, Casey White and Vicky White led police on a car chase in that ended with a wreck, Indiana authorities said. Vicky White, who was driving the Cadillac, has been hospitalized with “very serious” injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Vanderburgh County, Indiana, sheriff’s office.

“Can’t clarify how long they have been in Evansville … lucky we stumbled upon them today,” Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said Monday.

He said the pursuit only lasted a few minutes.

“We got a dangerous man off the street today,” Singleton said.

Casey White and Vicky White, who are not related, fled the Lauderdale County Jail on April 29.

Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participated in the escape, which took place on her last day before retirement.

The duo fled Alabama in a Ford Edge and ditched the car in Williamson County, Tennessee — about a two-hour drive north of Florence — just hours after the jail break.

On Monday, U.S. Marshals said investigators were in Evansville, Indiana, following up on a tip after a 2006 Ford F-150 believed to have been used by Casey White and Vicky White was found abandoned at a car wash on May 3. Police were alerted to the vehicle on Sunday.

At the time of his escape, Casey White was facing two counts of capital murder for allegedly stabbing a woman to death in 2015, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Vicky White has been charged with forgery and identity theft for allegedly using an alias to buy the Ford Edge used to facilitate the escape, according to the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office. A warrant was also issued for Vicky White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape.

No one was injured as a result of the escape, Singleton said.

The pair will be brought back to Lauderdale County to be arraigned, Singleton said.

“He’s not getting out of this jail again,” Singleton said. “I assure you that.”

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — New charges have been filed against Florence, Alabama, jail employee Vicky White as she allegedly remains on the run with escaped murder suspect Casey White.

The charges — forgery and identity theft — stem from Vicky White allegedly using an alias to buy a Ford Edge used to facilitate the escape, according to the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office.

A warrant was issued earlier for Vicky White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape.

Inmate Casey White, 38, fled the Lauderdale County jail with Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56, on April 29. The inmate and employee are not related.

The duo fled Alabama in the Ford Edge and ditched the car in Williamson County, Tennessee — about a two-hour drive north of Florence — just hours after thejail break.

On Monday, U.S. Marshals said investigators were in Evansville, Indiana, following up on a tip after a 2006 Ford F-150 believed to have been used by Casey White and Vicky White was found abandoned at a car wash on May 3. Police were alerted to the vehicle on Sunday.

Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participated in the escape, which took place on her last day before retirement.

Vicky White was seen shopping for men’s clothes at a Kohl’s before the pair went missing, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told ABC News.

Authorities are also concerned that Casey White could be “extremely violent” without his medication, Singleton said. The sheriff did not provide details as to what the medication is or what Casey White’s being treated for, but said the concern is due to the escapee likely not having the medication with him.

Casey White was facing two counts of capital murder for allegedly stabbing a woman to death in 2015, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

They may be armed with weapons including an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

A $15,000 reward is available for information leading to Casey White’s capture. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Vicky White.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Authorities are concerned that escaped Florence, Alabama, murder suspect Casey White could be “extremely violent” without his medication, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told ABC News on Monday.

The sheriff did not provide details as to what the medication is or what Casey White’s being treated for, but said the concern is due to the escapee likely not having the medication with him.

Casey White, 38, fled the Lauderdale County jail with Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56, on April 29. The inmate and employee are not related.

Casey White was facing two counts of capital murder for allegedly stabbing a woman to death in 2015, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Singleton said that Vicky White was seen shopping for men’s clothes at a Kohl’s before the pair went missing.

Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participated in the escape, which took place on her last day before retirement.

The duo fled Alabama in a Ford Edge and ditched the car in Williamson County, Tennessee — about a two-hour drive north of Florence — just hours after the jail break.

They may be armed with weapons including an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

A warrant was issued for Vicky White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape.

A $15,000 reward is available for information leading to Casey White’s capture. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Vicky White.

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(NEW YORK) — A 22-year-old Michigan woman was found dead from an apparent suicide after authorities alleged she fatally shot her boyfriend and brother in what appeared to be a premeditated act of gun violence.

The body of Ruby Taverner was discovered in a wooded area in Independence Township, Michigan, near her apartment, where deputies found her brother and boyfriend dead early Sunday, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Monday. Taverner apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Bouchard said.

“It’s a terrible situation. It always seems to be magnified when you get someone who commits something horrible like that — a homicide — and then kills themselves,” Bouchard said. “You almost wonder what was the point to this whole thing? You never get any answers that satisfy those questions because, now, all parties are deceased.”

Bouchard said deputies were called to the Independence Square Apartments in Independence Township, about 16 miles north of Pontiac, after a neighbor reported being awakened by gunshots coming from Taverner’s apartment around 3:20 a.m. Sunday.

Deputies entered the apartment and discovered the bodies of Taverner’s brother, 25-year-old Bishop Taverner, in the living room and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Ray Muscat in a rear bedroom, according to a sheriff’s officials. Ruby Taverner and Muscat lived together, Bouchard said.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds, Bouchard said. He said Bishop Taverner was shot once in the head.

He said investigators suspect that after allegedly committing the homicides, Taverner fled the apartment on foot, leaving behind her cellphone and car.

Bouchard said detectives are trying to determine a motive for the double slaying, and a preliminary investigation indicates the killings were premeditated.

“You don’t typically find someone shot in the head one time unless they just kind of coolly and calmly walked up and did it,” Bouchard said.

Sheriff’s deputies combed the area around the apartment complex for evidence and were searching a nearby lake on Sunday, but Bouchard did not immediately say if that was where Taverner’s body was located.

He said records show Taverner had three registered firearms, including two 9mm handguns and a .38 caliber pistol. One of the weapons was legally purchased last week, according to the sheriff. Bouchard had warned local residents on Sunday that investigators suspected Taverner was armed and dangerous.

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(NEW YORK) — As a leaked draft Supreme Court decision shows the court may be ready to overturn the abortion rights guaranteed under Roe v. Wade, state legislators in New York and California are looking to increase access to reproductive services, including to people coming from other states.

The draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked to Politico earlier this week and confirmed as authentic by Chief Justice John Roberts, who ordered an investigation into its public release.

Roberts said in a statement the document “does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

State legislators in California have proposed a package of bills to address what they expect to be an influx in people seeking access to abortion in the state if Roe is overturned. New York lawmakers have also proposed legislation that would help people pay for abortions, even allowing taxpayers to contribute donations.

U.S. Senate Democrats, who have widely criticized the court’s apparent decision, are planning a vote on a proposed bill, the Women’s Health Protection Act, next week which would codify Roe v. Wade, making it federal law. The bill would also outlaw all abortion legislation at the state level, including legislation that was in line with Roe. But it is unlikely to become law, despite passing in the House.

With the Supreme Court decision expected over the summer, lawmakers in Canada expressed concern over how the court’s apparent decision would limit access to abortion in Canada and the U.S.

“One of the concerning factors here is that there are many Canadian women who maybe don’t live near a major city in Canada, but will often access these services in the United States,” Karina Gould, Canada’s families, children and social development minister, told the CBC. “I’m very concerned about the leak yesterday. I’m very concerned about what this means, particularly for American women, but also for Canadian women.”

Gould said American women will be able to get abortions in Canada if Roe is overturned, in the interview.

“I don’t see why we would not,” said Gould “If they, people, come here and need access, certainly, that’s a service that would be provided.”

Those seeking abortions would also be able to get access in Mexico. Last year, Mexico’s Supreme Court rule to decriminalize abortion, deeming it unconstitutional to punish abortion.

Legislation proposed in New York

The New York State Senate has proposed a bill that would establish an access fund to pay for abortions and allows taxpayers to contribute to the fund on their state income tax returns. The bill is currently with the Senate Finance Committee.

Another proposed New York bill would require insurance policies providing maternity care coverage to provide coverage for abortions. The bill, currently with the Senate Insurance Committee, cited the federal government’s “hostility toward abortion” in its justification for the state’s need to enact such a law.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in a letter to Congress urging it to pass the WHPA, said the state can expect an “11 to 13% increase in out-of-state patients traveling to New York for abortion care,” if Roe is overturned.

Hochul said the state is preparing to provide access to abortion care for people from out of state.

“For New York State to fully step up and be able to accommodate everyone who needs care, we need significant federal support to bolster our provider network and accommodate these new patients. Following action to repeal the Hyde Amendment, Congress must make federal funding available to states like New York that expect an influx of patients from other states,” Hochul said.

Hochul also called for federal protections that would allow the U.S. Postal Service to ship abortion medication to all states and for the expansion of telehealth services to facilitate access to abortion.

“As many states work to close off avenues to safe abortion services within their borders, the demand for abortion-inducing medications through mail and delivery services is growing. The U.S. Postal Service is a critical partner to meet the current demand, and Congress must adequately fund the postal service to ensure patients can receive prescribed medical abortion medications, regardless of their zip code,” Hochul said.

In the letter, Hochul also called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which she said has “prevented federal funds from being used for abortion services, including health insurance funds that support low-income Americans.”

New York is one of only 15 states to cover abortions with state Medicaid dollars and the state has passed a law that requires health plans to cover abortion services without cost-sharing, Hochul said.

The state has also allowed abortion telehealth services and has convened an Abortion Access Working Group, which will meet regularly with patients, providers and advocates to guide state abortion policy and respond to needs.

Legislation proposed in California

In anticipation of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the California State Legislature introduced a package of 13 bills in January in an effort to make California a “sanctuary or a refuge for individuals seeking abortions and reproductive health care,” California assemblywoman and chair of its women’s caucus, Cristina Garcia, told ABC News in an interview.

“We introduce a package of bills and I think the idea is: that a right without access is an empty promise,” Garcia said.

When crafting the bills, legislatures relied on a report from the Future of Abortion Council, a group made up of more than 40 organizations across the state, which gave recommendations to protect and expand access to abortion in California.

According to research from the Guttmacher Institute, overturning Roe, which would allow some states to ban abortions, would increase the number of women whose nearest provider would be in California from 46,000 to 1.4 million.

“That’s an over 1,000% increase for what we see here in California. And so we really need to shore up our access here to make sure we have enough providers that could perform these services,” Garcia said.

Among the aims of the package of bills, the legislature is trying protect the privacy of providers and patients coming in from out of state and widen the number of providers able to perform the procedure and where the procedure could be performed, Garcia said.

Legislatures are doing their best to move up the timeline for when these bills would pass, she said.

“While we were being proactive in January when we introduced the bills and we’re just letting them go through the regular process, we realized that we missed something in our planning. The fact that we expect something come June — July was like, oh, we should hurry up and add urgency, where appropriate, to our bills,” Garcia said.

One bill, which has already passed, eliminates copays, deductibles and any cost-sharing requirements for abortions for all state-licensed health care service plans or disability insurance policies issued after 2022. This would apply to covered spouses and dependents, and Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

The legislature on Friday placed urgency on a bill to protect patients and providers from civil actions and financial retaliation for abortion services that are legal in California. A second bill they are also looking to add urgency to would deny out-of-state subpoenas for patient information regarding reproductive health care granted in California.

“Our goal is to get that through and passed before the end of June, and then would go into effect July 1,” Garcia said.

The California Legislative Women’s Caucus is in the process of identifying which other bills should take priority in order attempt to pass them by the June 30 deadline, she said. Those bills, with urgency, would become law by July 1, according to Garcia.

Other bills could become law as soon as next year. For a bill to go into effect in the new year, it needs to pass the legislature by Aug. 31 and be signed by the governor by Sept. 30. Some of the bills in the package may have later starting dates, according to Garcia.

The package also aims to increase access to people in marginalized groups who have access problems, including Californians.

One of the proposed bills would make Los Angeles a safe haven for abortions, regardless of residency. The bill would also establish a Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program, with the goal of advancing reproductive healthcare, specifically abortions, according to the bill.

Another bill would use tax dollars to set up a website that would help connect people coming from out of state with groups providing support services for those seeking abortions. The services include airfare, lodging, ground transportation, gas money, meals, dependent childcare, doula support and translation services, to help a person access and obtain an abortion, according to the bill.

“The idea is to create a public-private partnership … so that people looking to come to the state could then be connected to the different groups are already providing that network of support: to help you with the travel, to help you to ensure that you’re at a good provider, [and] that you have lodging while you’re here,” Garcia said.

State legislators from Connecticut and Washington have also reached out to Garcia for advice on implementing similar protections in their states and Garcia has been connecting those legislators with different groups that they work with in California, she said.

Anti-abortion rights groups, such as Live Action, have criticized California’s laws, one of which they said would permit abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. This includes what Live Action’s president called “death by neglect” by failing to provide medical care during the perinatal period after a child is born.

“That should not be the right of California to do. They don’t have the right to endanger children in the womb that way,” said Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action.

Rose also criticized California’s governor for the state’s move to help pay for abortions.

“It’s really disgusting what [Governor] Gavin Newsom in California is doing announcing that California is actually going to pay for people to come to our state to have abortions, literally making it an abortion tourism state,” Rose said.

She added, “the solution or the response should be we need to work to help women and help children so that they can live as opposed to we’re going to encourage them to literally travel to kill their children or have their children be killed.”

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