(SAVANNAH, Ga.) — Bones found in a Georgia landfill are confirmed to belong to missing Savannah, Georgia, toddler Quinton Simon, the FBI announced Monday.
The search for 20-month-old Quinton began on Oct. 5 when his mother, 22-year-old Leilani Simon, reported him missing. One week later, Chatham County police said they believed Quinton was dead and authorities named the boy’s mother as the primary suspect.
On Oct. 18, police said they believed Quinton had been left in a dumpster, and authorities said a search was underway for his body in the local landfill.
Searchers spent 30 days scouring 1.2 million pounds of trash, police said.
On Nov. 21, police said remains had been recovered in the landfill and testing was underway to determine whether they belonged to Quinton.
Police also announced last week that Simon had been charged with malice murder, concealing the death of another person, false reporting and making false statements.
(NEW YORK) — Kim Kardashian has broken her silence on Balenciaga’s recent ad scandal.
“I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven’t been disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could have happened,” she wrote on social media Sunday, Nov. 27.
Kardashian has worn Balenciaga to high-profile events like the Met Gala in the past, and walked in the luxury brand’s couture show at Paris Fashion Week earlier this summer.
Kardashian’s post comes a week after Balenciaga was criticized for its advertisements featuring children posing with the company’s plush bear bags, which wear BDSM-inspired harnesses.
One photo featured a child standing on a bed with one of the plush bear bags, surrounded by other purses and accessories, which included what appeared to be a chain leash as well as a Balenciaga branded dog collar choker.
The reality star, businesswoman and mom to North, 9, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3, continued, “As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images. The safety of children must be held with the highest regard, and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”
“I appreciate Balenciaga’s removal of the campaigns and apology. In speaking with them, I believe they understand the seriousness of the issue and will take the necessary measures for this to never happen again,” she concluded.
The SKIMS founder added that she is “currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand.” Kardashian said she would base her future relationship with the brand on its willingness to accept accountability, as well as its actions to protect children.
The Spanish luxury brand previously issued an apology for the ads on its Instagram on Nov. 22, writing, “We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
In a follow-up statement on Monday, Balenciaga added, “We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative. The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility.”
“The first campaign, the Gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labelled BDSM-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the Gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone,” the brand continued.
“The second, separate campaign for Spring 2023, which was meant to replicate a business office environment, included a photo with a page in the background from a Supreme Court ruling ‘United States v. Williams’ 2008 which confirms as illegal and not protected by freedom of speech the promotion of child pornography. All the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents. They turned out to be real legal papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama,” Balenciaga said.
The company added, “The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint. We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently.”
Balenciaga’s holiday campaign photographer, Gabriele Galimberti, also issued a statement on Nov. 23.
“I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga’s choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same,” Galimberti wrote in the caption of an Instagram post. “As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style. As usual for a commercial shooting, the direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer.”
Galimberti also claimed he had “no connection with the photo where a Supreme Court document appears,” referring to a separate earlier ad for a purse, in which a Supreme Court ruling on child pornography laws could be seen.
“That one was taken in another set by other people and and was falsely associated with my photos,” he said.
Balenciaga has since filed a lawsuit against the North Six production company, as well as set designer Nicholas Des Jardins, over the Spring 2023 ad campaign.
According to court documents filed with the New York State Supreme Court for the County of New York on Friday, Balenciaga is seeking “redress for extensive damages defendants caused in connection with an advertising campaign Balenciaga hired them to produce” and accuses North Six and Des Jardins of “malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless” conduct.
“As a result of Defendants’ misconduct, members of the public, including the news media, have falsely and horrifically associated Balenciaga with the repulsive and deeply disturbing subject of the court decision. Defendants are liable to Balenciaga for all harm resulting from this false association,” the fashion house said in its court filing.
Balenciaga is seeking $25 million in damages from North Six and Des Jardins.
North Six has not yet commented publicly on the lawsuit. A source close to North Six told ABC News’ Good Morning America that the production company handled logistics for that shoot, including catering, shoot permitting, location booking and crew and equipment management, but did not have creative control or input in the ad campaign and was not on set during final set arrangements.
A representative for Des Jardins told the Washington Post on Monday that the Supreme Court documents seen in the earlier ad campaign “were obtained from a prop house that were rental pieces used on film [and] photo shoots.”
“Everyone from Balenciaga was on the shoot and was present on every shot and worked on the edit of every image in post production,” said Gabriela Moussaieff, Des Jardins’ agent, who claimed Des Jardins was “being used as a scapegoat,” according to the Post.
Moussaieff added that the set designer is currently hiring legal representation.
Good Morning America has reached out to North Six and Moussaieff for comment on the lawsuit.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Payton Gendron pleaded guilty Monday to state charges stemming from the May shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Gendron pleaded guilty to 15 charges in all, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate, murder and attempted murder. He still faces more than two dozen federal charges, some of which carry the possibility of the death penalty. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2023. Domestic terrorism motivated by hate carries a mandatory life sentence.
“Thank God the families and the victims who survived this and this community don’t have to endure a long, protracted trial,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said following the plea. “Nothing will ever bring back the 10 beautiful people who lost their lives on that day. This past Thursday on Thanksgiving, there were 10 empty chairs at the Thanksgiving dinner … I can never provide full closure. There’s never going to be full closure for the families.”
Gendron fatally shot 10 Black people “because of the perceived race and/or color” of the victims, according to the indictment by the Erie County district attorney.
He was charged with carrying out a “domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate” along with 10 counts of murder in the first degree, 10 counts of murder in the second degree as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
Flynn said Gendron illegally modified his gun, practiced shooting at state parks in Broome County and wrote 180 pages of racist screed that also contained the names of past mass shooters he admired.
White supremacist rhetoric online, including the promotion of racist conspiracy theories, has been linked to Gendron and his motive behind the Buffalo attack, ABC News has previously reported. Gendron traveled from his home near Binghamton, New York, to carry out the shooting, according to officials.
A document of Gendron’s uncovered by investigators outlined “the goals behind the attack which were to kill as many African Americans as possible, avoid dying and spread ideals,” Flynn said. “The document also detailed the defendant’s hateful beliefs, specifically his hatred for African Americans, Jewish people, immigrants, and other minorities.”
Gendron is the first to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate in New York under a 2020 statute, which was implemented following an El Paso, Texas, shooting targeting Latinos in 2019.
He has been charged by federal prosecutors with a total of 26 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death and a hate crime involving bodily injury. He’s also charged with using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence. In July, Gendron’s public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
“His decision to plead guilty will deliver the families some justice, but it will not end the racism that drove him to kill in the first place,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of civil rights group National Action Network. “That horrific day was the byproduct of a white supremacy so blatant that its followers don’t hide under a hood — they livestream their hate for everyone to see,” referring to the livestream of the shooting captured by a camera on Gendron’s helmet during the attack.
The families of Buffalo victims are expected to speak following the hearing.
(NEW YORK) — Ash and lava have begun spewing out of the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island — the largest active volcano in the world.
The activity, which began Sunday and continued into Monday morning, is the first eruption from Mauna Loa in nearly 40 years.
The lava was contained to the summit, and there are currently no threats to populated areas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. However, lava flows are significant enough to be visible from Kona, dozens of miles away.
Mauna Loa is so large it takes up more than half of the Big Island. The last time it erupted was in March and April 1984.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has closed the Mauna Loa Summit Area to visitors as a precaution.
Video posted to Twitter by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory shows thermal footage of the lava flowing out of the volcano’s summit.
In conjunction with the lava flow, were more than a dozen earthquakes in the region of more than 2.5 magnitude early Monday morning, according to the USGS.
Lava was still erupting from the summit and was overflowing from the caldera as of 5 a.m. local time, according to USGS Volcanoes. The National Weather Service issued an ashfall advisory for depositing ash and debris, as well as light accumulation of ash on vessels, until 6 a.m. along the Alenuihaha Channel, Big Island windward waters, Big Island leeward waters and Big Island southeast waters.
The NWS advised that vessels should remain at port or avoid advisory areas, and those with respiratory sensitivities should take extra precautions to minimize exposure.
Falling volcanic ash and debris can also render engines or electronics inoperative, according to the NWS.
Hawaii is home to several active volcanos, including the Kīlauea volcano on the Big Island, one of the most active in the world.
Volcano activity has been recorded all around the globe over the past year.
Major eruptions could be underway from two volcanoes on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula after clouds of ash and lava began spewing on Nov. 20.
In July, an eruption at the Sakurajima volcano in Japan prompted evacuation orders for residents nearby in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.
And last week, marine geologists announced that the underwater volcano eruption that occurred on Jan. 15 in the Tongan archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean is the largest ever recorded.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Monday criticized China’s coronavirus containment strategy and said people there have a “right to peacefully protest,” although its comments were notably restrained at a time it is seeking to strengthen relations with Beijing.
The comments follow the most significant demonstrations in China in decades as over the weekend, protesters in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere challenged police in the streets, with some even calling for China’s President Xi Jinping to resign.
“We’ve long said everyone has the right to peacefully protest, in the United States and around the world,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, who requested anonymity, said. “This includes in the PRC.”
The spokesperson used the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
The Biden administration has emphasized the need to manage the United States’ strategic relationship with China, which it this year labeled the United States’ “only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order.”
Biden has spoken with China’s Xi half a dozen times since taking office, most recently in person — for the first time since both became president — this month at a summit in Indonesia.
China’s continued strategy of locking down large parts of its cities and subjecting residents to stringent testing and restrictions stands in stark contrast to the approach to COVID in the United States and much of the rest of the world, which have largely returned to life as normal while living with the pandemic.
Since last winter’s omicron wave subsided, Biden has adopted a strategy that eschews large-scale lockdowns or mandatory restrictions on Americans. A significant portion of the American population is now vaccinated against the virus, and the country has increasingly prioritized its economic recovery.
In September said in an interview that the pandemic was “over.”
Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, told ABC News’ This Week on Sunday that a better strategy would be to “build up immunity in the population by getting people vaccinated,” as the United States has done.
The spokesperson also said that it would be “very difficult” for China to be able to contain COVID using its current strategy.
“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for China to be able to contain this through their zero COVID strategy,” Jha said in an interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz. “I would recommend that they pursue the strategy of making sure everybody gets vaccinated, particularly their elderly. That I think is the path out of this virus. Lockdown and zero COVID is going to very difficult to sustain.”
(HOUSTON) — Over two million Houston residents are under a water boil notice after a power outage Sunday affected a water treatment plant, officials said.
The water pressure dropped below the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s required minimum of 20 PSI during a power outage at the East Water Purification Plant around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to the agency. Houston schools were closed Monday because of the order.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the water was safe and that the boil order was done to comply with regulations. He tweeted that the city submitted its plan to TCEQ to lift the notice Sunday night.
“Water samples will subsequently follow and hopefully we will get the all clear from TCEQ. The City has to wait 24 hours from that point before the boil water notice is suspended. The earliest would be tomorrow night or very early Tuesday morning,” Turner tweeted Sunday night.
He is scheduled to update the situation at a news conference at 10:30 a.m. local time Monday.
Yvonne Williams Forrest, Houston’s water director, told ABC affiliate KTRK-TV Sunday night that the order the city’s pressure system was never at zero, just below the regulatory limit. That pressure is important because it prevents anything from infiltrating the water system, she said.
“There are a number of steps in the regulatory process before you issue a boil water notice and we didn’t want to unnecessarily alert the city if we did not have to issue a boil water notice,” she told KTRK.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron pleaded guilty to state charges stemming from the Tops supermarket shooting in a predominantly Black neighborhood of East Buffalo.
Gendron pleaded guilty to 15 charges in all, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate, murder and attempted murder. He still faces more than two dozen federal charges, some of which carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Gendron fatally shot 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket “because of the perceived race and/or color” of the victims, according to the indictment by the Erie County district attorney.
Gendron is charged with carrying out a “domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate” along with 10 counts of murder in the first degree, 10 counts of murder in the second degree as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
He is the first to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate in New York under a 2020 statute, which was implemented following an El Paso, Texas, shooting targeting Latinos in 2019.
“That charge only has one sentence if the defendant is found guilty of that charge: life in prison without parole,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said at the time the indictment was unsealed.
He has been charged by federal prosecutors with a total of 26 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death and a hate crime involving bodily injury. He’s also charged with using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence. In July, Gendron’s public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
White supremacist rhetoric online, including the promotion of racist conspiracy theories, has been linked to Gendron and his alleged motive behind the Buffalo attack, ABC News has previously reported. Gendron traveled from his home near Binghamton, New York, to carry out the shooting, according to officials.
The families of Buffalo victims are expected to speak following the hearing.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Authorities are receiving an influx of 911 calls from the fearful University of Idaho community weeks after four students were stabbed to death in an off-campus house.
The students — Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 — were killed in the early hours of Nov. 13. No arrests have been made.
Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves were roommates. Chapin was sleeping over with Kernodle, his girlfriend.
Moscow police said Sunday that, since the killings, they’ve received 78 “unusual circumstances” calls and 36 welfare check requests — up from 70 calls and 18 requests, respectively, for all of October.
Police, who have been asking the community for help, also noted that residents have uploaded over 488 digital media submissions to the case’s FBI page.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has directed up to $1 million in emergency funds for the ongoing investigation, according to police.
Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell told ABC News on Sunday that concerns from the victims’ families over the case going cold are “legitimate,” but he added, “our concern is a successful prosecution.”
“Justice is the end result — we have to do what we are doing [out of public view],” Snell said.
Two other roommates were in the house at the time of the murders and survived, appearing to have slept through the crimes, according to police. The surviving roommates are not considered suspects, police said.
As students return to campus following the Thanksgiving break, the university is gearing up for a candlelight vigil for the four victims, set for Wednesday.
Anyone with information can upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
(NEW YORK) — Lisa Niemi Swayze is reflecting on her late husband Patrick Swayze’s battle with pancreatic cancer 13 years after the actor’s death from the disease.
Speaking to Good Morning America for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, Niemi Swayze said Swayze “did not want to become the poster boy for cancer” but his “huge heart” kept him from sitting idly by and not stepping up to do what he could to help.
“I used to always say, particularly with the kinds of roles that Patrick liked to play, he always liked to be the hero. I always said, ‘You give him a sword, a cape and a horse and he’s a happy man,'” she said. “But I tell you what, when it came to him fighting his illness, this disease, you really saw he really was a hero.”
The Dirty Dancing star was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in January 2008. Following what Niemi Swayze called a “heartfelt, grueling, tough, determined fight for 22 months,” the actor died in September 2009. He was 57, with 34 of those years spent married to his beloved wife.
Niemi Swayze said playing even a small part in helping change the lives of those who are fighting the disease — or their loved ones — for the better is a “great honor.”
“Just because Patrick passed on … didn’t mean that fight was over, and I was carrying that on for him,” she said.
Reflecting on Swayze’s pancreatic cancer battle
Niemi Swayze said she could vividly recall a day when she and Swayze, during his battle with pancreatic cancer, were walking on their ranch in New Mexico and he grabbed her hand.
“It was a beautiful day and his eyes glistened and he said, ‘I want to live,’ ” she remembered. “I know that everybody else out there that is dealing with this disease and their families feel exactly the same.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists pancreatic cancer as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths, behind only lung cancer and cancer of the colon and rectum. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 62,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2022 and nearly 50,000 will die from the disease this year.
Niemi Swayze said this fight brought out the side of her husband “he always wanted to be,” which was a “truly courageous, humble, loving, determined [and] strong” person. She looked on with “such awe and admiration with how he did it.”
“He had his moments,” she said. “But, of course, Patrick was always aware that he was the one who would pay the ultimate price. You know, it’s just not fair that he had to be taken so soon in life. I don’t want to see that happen for other people.”
“The fact that November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month is so important,” Niemi Swayze said. “… The only way we’re going to stop it is by funding and research and better treatments and early detection.”
How she changed her relationship with grief and found love again
After Swayze died, Niemi Swayze grappled with grief, something she wrote about in her 2012 book Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss, and Moving Forward.
“Grief really sucks, and [it’s] very difficult to deal with,” she said. “As time goes on, it never goes away. It’s kind of like a wound and it heals over, but there’s always that scar. And it may not be as visible, but it’s always there and you never know when it will raise its head again.”
Niemi Swayze said this year in particular was a difficult one for her, with the timing of what would have been Swayze’s 70th birthday.
“…It all came back to me,” she said. “But you know what? It resolves, and I’ve learned to take the good with the bad. And, you know, the bad parts are the price of having a wonderful, great love — and I’ll take that any day of the week. I’d do it all over again.”
In the years following Swayze’s death, Niemi Swayze found love again. In May 2014, she married Albert DePrisco.
“I love Patrick so deeply — and it’s interesting, because that hasn’t changed in finding new love,” she said, adding that one of her “widow friends” reasoned that this is because “love comes from the same well.”
“Just because you lose someone doesn’t mean love stops,” she said, adding that both she and DePrisco “felt so blessed to find each other because we still have a lot of love to give, and it’s wonderful to find someone to give it to.”
Niemi Swayze’s message to those fighting pancreatic cancer — and their families
Having been by Swayze’s side throughout his pancreatic cancer battle, Niemi Swayze knows the toll of being a caregiver for a loved one with pancreatic cancer.
“The patient gets a lot of attention — and for good reason,” she said, noting that the charity group PanCAN — the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network — offers support for both those battling the disease and their caregivers “because it happens to everyone in the family. Pancreatic cancer is happening to everyone.”
Niemi Swayze reflected on her time as a caregiver, saying her biggest mistake was not taking better care of herself. “If you want to be in it for the long haul, you gotta take breaks here and there, and I couldn’t allow myself to do that for quite some time,” she said.
As for her message to other caregivers, she said, “Be good yourself … and talk to people who are going through it.”
Niemi Swayze found just that in two female friends, both of whom had also lost their husbands to pancreatic cancer. “We called ourselves The Widows of Eastwick,” she said, referencing the 1987 film The Witches of Eastwick.
“More than once we talked each other off the ledge, and there’s nothing like somebody else who’s going through what you are going through that really helps give you that support [and] makes you not feel so alone,” she said.
Niemi Swayze also urged those facing the disease and their loved ones to “be brave together.”
“Hold each other’s hands and go through this,” she explained. “Look each other in the eye, because this is an opportunity for a closeness beyond what you ever imagined.”
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron is expected to plead guilty to state charges Monday morning.
Gendron fatally shot 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black community “because of the perceived race and/or color” of the victims, according to the indictment by the Erie County district attorney.
Gendron is charged with carrying out a “domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate” along with 10 counts of murder in the first degree, 10 counts of murder in the second degree as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
He is the first to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate in New York under a 2020 statute, which was implemented following an El Paso, Texas, shooting targeting Latinos in 2019.
“That charge only has one sentence if the defendant is found guilty of that charge: life in prison without parole,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said at the time the indictment was unsealed.
He has been charged by federal prosecutors with a total of 26 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death and a hate crime involving bodily injury. He’s also charged with using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence. In July, Gendron’s public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
White supremacist rhetoric online, including the promotion of racist conspiracy theories, has been linked to Gendron and his alleged motive behind the Buffalo attack, ABC News has previously reported.
The families of Buffalo victims are expected to speak following the hearing.
