(AUBURN, Ala.) — A man is in custody for allegedly killing a retired Auburn University professor, whose body was discovered in an Alabama dog park, authorities said.
Dr. Julie Gard Schnuelle, a veterinarian and longtime employee of Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was found dead in a wooded area of Kiesel Park on Saturday, Auburn police said.
The 59-year-old died from an assault, police said.
Harold Rashad Dabney III, of Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested on Sunday and charged with two counts of capital murder, police said.
Dabney, 28, also allegedly stole the former professor’s car, which has been recovered, police said.
Dabney is being held without bond, police said. The Lee County District Attorney declined to discuss details of the case with ABC News.
Auburn University called Schnuelle a “beloved” faculty member at the Department of Clinical Sciences in the Large Animal/Food Animal section, where she worked from 2003 to 2021.
“She was a cherished educator, mentor and colleague whose dedication to students and passion for theriogenology and veterinary medicine left a lasting impact on Auburn,” an Auburn spokesperson told ABC News. “Dr. Gard Schnuelle’s legacy of compassion, scholarship and service will continue to inspire generations of veterinarians.”
Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama senator and former Auburn football coach, wrote on social media, “Suzanne and I are devastated by the news of this tragic loss in our community. We are praying for the victim’s family and loved ones and for justice to be served.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks alongside President Donald Trump during a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 5, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Employers in nearly every industry have cut back on hiring, according to the latest data, leaving job seekers with fewer places to turn.
A recent jobs report extended a lackluster run of labor data that stretches back to the beginning of the summer. While the unemployment rate stands at a historically low level, millions of out-of-work Americans face stiff conditions.
Nearly two million job seekers have been out of the workforce for more than 27 weeks, which amounts to about a quarter of all unemployed people, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday.
At the same time, worker confidence in their ability to find a new job has hit a record low, according to a survey released by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday.
Analysts who spoke to ABC News attributed the tepid job market in part to economic uncertainty hanging over employers as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariff and immigration policies. The recent adoption of artificial intelligence tools has also diminished prospects for jobs in some entry-level roles, some analysts added.
“New hiring has really slowed to a crawl,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, told ABC News.
In a note to clients Friday, Joseph Brusuelas, global economist at RSM, described the U.S. as a “slow hire, slow fire economy,” saying that a sharp increase in tariffs has burdened some importers with higher taxes and cast doubt over the nation’s economic outlook.
“The impact of tariffs on hiring is undeniable,” Brusuelas said in the note, adding that the levies had “pushed economic uncertainty to the highest level in years.”
Restrictive immigration policies, meanwhile, have reduced the supply of available workers and threatened employers with higher labor costs, deepening a sense of uncertainty, some analysts said.
The Trump administration has pursued an immigration policy that features the detention of undocumented immigrants at work sites and the revocation of Temporary Protected Status – a form of temporary legal status – for hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
“We’re deporting lots and lots of working immigrants. That just stirs the pot even further in terms of employers feeling, ‘We don’t know what’s going on here,’” Michelle Holder, a labor economist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told ABC News.
For its part, the Trump administration downplayed the weaker-than-expected jobs report late last week, voicing expectations of an upward revision of the data and predicting better job performance.
A tax-cut measure enacted by Trump earlier this year will boost business investment and drive up hiring, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters on Friday.
“President Trump knows that we’re super optimistic about the future of the jobs numbers, because we’re seeing a massive blowout in capital spending,” Hassett said.
The hiring cooldown has hit nearly every industry, including leisure and hospitality and the federal government, BLS data shows.
The manufacturing sector has suffered a net loss of 78,000 jobs this year in the midst of a tariff policy that the Trump administration has said is aimed at reviving domestic production. Construction, another key sector dependent on long-term investment, has incurred a net loss of 10,000 jobs over the past three months.
“This has to do with producers’ uncertainties about the future,” Holder said.
In response to the flagging labor market, the Fed is expected to cut interest rates when policymakers meet later this month. Investors peg the chances of a quarter-point rate cut this month at about 88% and the odds of a half-point cut at nearly 12%, according to CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
In theory, a reduction of interest rates could boost hiring as borrowing expenses fall and businesses encounter more favorable conditions for new investment. However, the Fed’s incremental approach is unlikely to yield major improvement for job seekers anytime soon, Hamrick said.
“It will have a marginal impact for people,” Hamrick added. “I don’t see that producing a sea change in the environment anytime soon.”
(HAPPY VALLEY, Ore.) — A man in Oregon was arrested for living in a crawl space of a condominium complex for an “extended period of time,” according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
Beniamin Bucur, 40, was arrested on Wednesday after officials investigated a “suspicious circumstance at a condominium complex” in Clackamas County near Happy Valley, the sheriff’s office said in a press release last week.
On Wednesday at around 11 p.m., a witness reported seeing a man “who was not known to live in the complex parking his car and walking to the back of one of the buildings,” officials said.
Upon further investigation, the witness also noticed the “door to the crawl space was open and light was coming from inside,” according to authorities.
Once officials arrived at the scene, they said they noticed the door to the space was “damaged and now locked,” along with an extension cord running through a vent.
Deputies reached out to the owner of the complex, who said “nobody was supposed to be down there” and that they had heard “strange noises coming from the crawl space before,” officials said.
When the keys the owner gave deputies did not unlock the door to the space, officials “breached the door and located the man,” identified as Bucur, according to authorities.
Bucur had taken “significant steps to improve the conditions of the crawl space,” with a bed, lights, chargers, televisions and other electronics all found “plugged into the house,” the sheriff’s office said.
A pipe with white residue that “tested positive for methamphetamine” was also found at the scene, according to officials.
Bucur was transported to the Clackamas County Jail where he was booked on charges of first-degree burglary and the unlawful possession of methamphetamine, authorities said.
The suspect’s preliminary hearing was on Thursday, with his bail set to $75,000, officials said.
It remains unclear whether Bucur has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
(MEMPHIS) — Four children, including a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, were shot Sunday night in Memphis, Tennessee, according to police.
The shooting occurred around 9:54 p.m. at a home in the Hickory Hill area. Memphis Police and Fire Departments responded to the scene, where they found four juvenile victims.
Two 15-year-old victims — one male and one female — were transported to a local hospital in critical condition. A 3-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy were also taken to the hospital in non-critical condition, officials said.
According to police, multiple suspects fled the scene on foot, heading northbound. The suspects were wearing all-black clothing and ski masks at the time of the shooting.
As police secured the area with crime scene tape, distraught family members began arriving at the scene late Sunday night, according to police dispatch audio.
Memphis Police are actively investigating the incident. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.
ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The GOP-led House Oversight Committee is expected to receive documents and communications from the Jeffrey Epstein estate on Monday.
The committee issued a subpoena in late August for information from the estate, which includes a copy of the alleged “birthday book” compiled for the disgraced financier’s 50th birthday. The committee requested a delivery of the documents — which includes banking and financial records, flights logs and calendars — on or before Sept. 8, 2025.
“It is our understanding that the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein is in custody and control of documents that may further the Committee’s investigation and legislative goals. Further, it is our understanding the Estate is ready and willing to provide these documents to the Committee pursuant to a subpoena,” Chairman James Comer said in a statement on Aug. 25.
The alleged “birthday book” was compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, and the Wall Street Journal reported contains a “bawdy” letter from President Donald Trump.
The estate’s lawyers have said they will comply with all legal process, but have not said if they have the book.
Trump has denied the existence of the letter and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter.
Dow Jones, the parent company of the newspaper, said in a statement that it has “full confidence in the rigor and accuracy” of its reporting and “will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Epstein’s former associate Ghislaine Maxwell told a top official for the Justice Department that Epstein asked her to coordinate contributions to his 50th birthday book, but said she could not recall if Trump, then a private citizen, was among those who responded, according to a transcript of Maxwell’s interview last month with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. In that interview, Maxwell continued to profess her innocence.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 by a federal jury on sex trafficking and other charges. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding and participating in Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls, which involved a scheme to recruit young women and girls for massages of Epstein that turned sexual. Federal prosecutors in New York said Maxwell helped Epstein recruit, groom and ultimately abuse girls as young as 14.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and child sex trafficking. He died in custody a month later, while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
Although the documents are expected to be turned over to the committee on Monday, it may not mean the committee will release anything to the public on the same day.
Last week, the House Oversight Committee released tens of thousands of pages of documents related to Epstein, much of which was already publicly known.
The Court did not formally explain its decision. It overruled two lower courts which had imposed a temporary restraining order after concluding that ICE had likely violated the Fourth Amendment by targeting suspects based primarily on race or ethnicity and language.
In a concurring statement agreeing with the decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained that he believed the government had a “fair prospect of success on the merits” in the litigation and should not be hindered in using the strategy for now.
“Apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a relevant factor.”
He also questioned whether the advocacy groups and individual plaintiffs challenging the government policy had sufficient standing to bring the legal challenge to begin with.
The Court’s three liberal justices dissented.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the decision a “grave misuse” of the Court’s emergency docket, rather than let the case continue to play out in lower courts.
“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent,” she wrote.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said on X the ruling is a “win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law.”
“DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor,” she posted.
Iryna Zarutska, who is not pictured, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack while riding the light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. (Charlotte Area Transit System)
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Monday he was “appalled” by the unprovoked murder of a Ukrainian woman on Charlotte’s light rail system late last month, with the recent release of the attack on video causing outrage nationwide.
“I am heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence, and I am appalled by the footage of her murder. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe,” Stein said in a statement on Monday.
Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed on Aug. 22 just before 10 p.m. while riding the Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.
According to the affidavit, Zarutska boarded the train and sat in an aisle seat directly in front of the suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., who is seen in a window seat wearing an orange sweatshirt.
The train travels for “approximately four and half minutes before the suspect pulls a knife out of his pocket, unfolds the knife, pauses, then stands up, and strikes at the victim three times,” according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.
Prior to the stabbing, there appeared to be “no interaction between the victim and defendant,” the affidavit said.
Zarutska was pronounced dead at the scene and a witness directed officials to the location of the suspect, the affidavit said.
Brown was arrested after he was released from the hospital with “non-life-threatening injuries sustained at the time of the incident” and was charged with first-degree murder, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The suspect’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 19, according to court records. It is unclear whether Brown has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said the murder was a “senseless and tragic loss” and Lyles’ “prayers remain with [Zarutska’s] loved ones as they continue to grieve through an unimaginable time.”
“Like so many of you, I’m heartbroken — and I’ve been thinking hard about what safety really looks like in our city. I remain committed to doing all we can do to protect our residents and ensure Charlotte is a place where everyone feels safe,” Lyles said in a statement on Saturday.
The Charlotte Area Transit System, or CATS, confirmed to ABC News there was not security on board the train at the time of the attack, with a spokesperson saying a security team “patrols the system, they are not stationed in one area.”
“At the time of the incident they were riding on a train directly in front of where the incident occurred,” a spokesperson for CATS told ABC News.
According to Zarutska’s obituary, she was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. with her mother, sister and brother to “escape the war, and she quickly embraced her new life in the United States.”
The 23-year-old, who was described as a “gifted and passionate artist,” will be remembered for her “kindness, her creativity and the lasting impression she left on everyone she met,” according to her obituary.
Police released surveillance images of the unidentified suspect wanted in a shooting, Sept. 7, 2025, at a bar in Cleveland, Texas, that left one man dead and five victims injured. (Liberty County Sheriff’s Office)
(CLEVELAND, Texas) — As a manhunt stretched into its second day for a gunman whom police alleged shot six people, one fatally, on the patio of a bar in suburban Houston early Sunday, investigators released surveillance images of the suspect and his alleged getaway vehicle.
The shooting occurred at the Alas Locas sports bar in Cleveland, Texas, about 45 miles northeast of Houston, according to the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
The shooting was captured on security video, authorities said.
Overnight, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office released images from the security video showing an unidentified man at the sports bar during the shooting, whom they identified as the suspected shooter. Investigators also released an image of a white van with no side windows in which they said the suspect fled the scene after the shooting.
Police officials are asking anyone who spots to suspect or has information about the shooting to contact investigators immediately.
Witnesses told investigators that prior to the shooting, the gunman was quietly sitting by himself drinking at the bar, according to Capt. David Myers of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
Based on the number of shell casings collected at the scene by investigators, including Rangers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Myers said the gunman fired at least 20 shots before fleeing the bar.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
The shooting unfolded at around 2:30 a.m. local time Sunday, when police received multiple calls of shots fired at the bar, Myers said in an interview at the scene with ABC Houston station KTRK.
Myers said witnesses told investigators that the suspect arrived at the bar between midnight and 2 a.m. and ordered a beer but was “not really conversing with anyone for about an hour prior to the shooting.”
At some point, according to Myers, the suspect walked out of the bar and later reemerged on the bar’s outdoor patio, where he allegedly opened fire without warning with a .40 or .45-caliber handgun, shooting at patrons who were eating and drinking on the deck.
The shooter fled the bar and drove off in an unknown direction in a white full-size van with no side windows, authorities said.
One victim, who was at the bar with his wife, was critically injured and taken by medical helicopter to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to officials.
Five other men and a woman were shot in the incident, including two who were in critical condition, Myers said.
The incident marked the second mass shooting at a bar in the Houston metropolitan area this year.
On March 23, six people were shot, including four who were critically injured, at the Latinas Sports Bar in southwest Houston.
Two days after the shooting, the Houston Police Department arrested a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, Jose Miguel Briceno, who was charged with aggravated assault mass shooting stemming from the shooting at the Latinas Sports Bar. A second suspect in the shooting is still being sought and police believe he fled to Mexico, authorities said.
According to a criminal complaint, Briceno, who authorities said is an undocumented immigrant, used a firearm to shoot inside the doorway of the bar and then discarded the firearm, which law enforcement never recovered. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Briceno has yet to enter a plea to the charges.
In June, Briceno was among 16 foreign nationals illegally residing in the Houston area indicted on federal drug trafficking and weapons charges following a law enforcement operation targeting Venezuelan nationals and alleged members or associates of the Anti-Tren transnational criminal organization, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
In the indictment, federal prosecutors alleged that the shooting at the Latinas Sports Bar was the result of a “turf war” between the Anti-Tren and the TdA gangs.
“These arrests are the largest takedown of suspected Anti-Tren members and associates by the FBI, so far, and they happened right here in Houston,” Douglas Williams, special agent in charge of the FBI Houston Field Office, said in a June 30 statement. “These individuals are accused of engaging in a turf war with TdA members and carrying out numerous violent crimes throughout our city, including a mass shooting at a local sports bar that left six people wounded. Fortunately, for the good and safety of our community, these individuals are now in federal custody facing U.S. justice.”
ABC News’ Tristan Maglunog contributed to this report.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump, and granddaughter Arabella Kushner attend the men’s singles final of the US Open Tennis Championships in New York City, September 7, 2025. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The White House said it didn’t ask the U.S. Tennis Association to censor reactions to President Donald Trump during his attendance at the U.S. Open over the weekend.
“That’s not true,” a White House official told ABC News on Sunday. “We did not ask anyone to censor.”
USTA officials earlier responded to a report that they had asked broadcasters to censor any reactions or protests aimed at Trump as he appeared at the tournament’s men’s final in New York on Sunday.
“We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions,” USTA spokesperson Brendan McIntyre told ABC News.
The Athletic, a sports publication from The New York Times, published a report on Saturday that described a USTA memo to broadcasters. The Athletic reported that it had reviewed the memo.
“We ask all broadcasters to refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions in response to the President’s attendance in any capacity,” the USTA said in the memo, according to The Athletic.
The president drew boos and some cheers when he arrived at Arthur Ashe stadium in Queens, where Trump grew up.
Trump, arriving back at Joint Base Andrews after the championship match, said he “really enjoyed” it and said the fans were “great.”
“I loved it. First of all, the two players have unbelievable talent. It just seemed they hit the ball harder than I’ve ever seen before. Incredible talent and I enjoyed it. I used to go all the time but, you know, lately, it’s a little bit more difficult. I really enjoyed it.”
Trump said the “fans were really nice.”
“I didn’t know what to expect. Usually, you would say that would be a somewhat progressive, as they say nowadays, crowd. Sometimes — some people would call it liberal. But we’ll use the word they like to use, progressive. But they were great, the fans were great.”
E. Jean Carroll leaves the courthosue on September 6, 2024 in New York City. Both parties appear in court today as Trump’s lawyers fight to overturn the jury’s finding that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll. (Photo by Alex Kent/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court in New York on Monday upheld the $83.3 million judgment imposed on President Donald Trump for defaming former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in 2019.
“Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity. We also conclude that the district court did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable,” the opinion said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
