(NEW YORK) — Consumer sentiment soured in October as a government shutdown threatens to weaken a wobbly economy beset by an uptick in inflation and a sharp slowdown of hiring, fresh data on Friday showed. The reading marked a decrease from the previous month but it came in higher than economists expected.
Shopper attitudes have worsened for three consecutive months, resuming a decline that took hold after President Donald Trump took office, University of Michigan Survey data showed.
At its low point this year, consumer sentiment fell close to its worst level since an acute bout of inflation three years ago. The measure remains well below where it stood in December, before Trump took office.
Year-ahead inflation expectations ticked down from 4.7% in September to 4.6% in October, the data showed. The outcome anticipated by respondents would put inflation well above its current level of 2.9%. Long-run inflation expectations held steady from the previous month, data showed.
The data on consumer sentiment is likely to garner more attention than usual, since the government shutdown has halted closely watched releases from the federal government, including monthly jobs and inflation reports.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, is a key bellwether for the outlook of the nation’s economy.
A government shutdown typically risks only modest damage for the economy but it can cause a marked decline in consumer sentiment, threatening a later drop in consumer spending, some experts previously told ABC News.
Consumer sentiment fell more than 7 points from December 2018 to January 2019, coinciding with the most recent 35-day government shutdown, according to a Committee for Responsible Federal Budget analysis of University of Michigan survey data. A souring of consumer sentiment, albeit limited, occurred over each of the three most recent shutdowns that preceded 2018.
The government shutdown, which entered its 10th day on Friday, has shown little sign of resolution. The Senate has rejected dueling funding proposals from Democrats and Republicans in seven separate votes.
The shutdown has coincided with a delicate moment for the nation’s economy, as a hiring slowdown stokes recession fears and inflation proves difficult to fully contain.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last month that policymakers face a “challenging situation” while they attempt to navigate the economy through a “turbulent period.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia (R) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (L) attend a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(BALTIMORE) — Attorneys for wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be in court in Maryland on Friday for an evidentiary hearing in which government witnesses are expected to testify about the steps taken to remove him from the United States.
The hearing comes after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis appeared exasperated on Monday with government attorneys who could not answer if there was additional evidence about plans to deport him to Eswatini, beyond letters sent to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers.
The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday notified Abrego Garcia that it planned to deport him to Ghana. The agency told his attorneys later that the notice was “premature” and asked them to disregard the document.
Ghana’s foreign minister, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, said in a Friday X post that the West African nation is not accepting Abrego Garcia.
“This has been directly and unambiguously conveyed to US authorities,” he wrote. “In my interactions with US officials, I made clear that our understanding to accept a limited number of non-criminal West Africans, purely on the grounds of African solidarity and humanitarian principles would not be expanded.”
The Salvadoran national’s attorneys have argued that if there are no current plans for his imminent removal, Abrego Garcia should be released from detention.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty. After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in Pennsylvania.
The government has told Abrego Garcia’s attorneys that it intends to deport him to a country other then El Salvador, including possibly Uganda or Eswatini.
As Abrego Garcia awaits trial in Tennessee, Judge Xinis has currently banned the government from removing him from the United States.
A separate hearing in that case is scheduled for Friday, where his criminal attorneys in Tennessee will discuss discovery and Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss that case for vindictive and selective prosecution.
In a filing on Thursday, Robert McGuire, the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said he will not produce communications between senior government officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, about the prosecution of the case.
“The United States submits that any communications between senior government actors themselves about this case, but which did not influence the Acting United States Attorney because they did not reach him or were not communicated to him would not be discoverable,” McGuire said.
The government said in the filing that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have to show that McGuire was “prevailed upon” by another entity like the Department of Homeland Security or the Justice Department to seek an indictment that otherwise would not have been brought.
McGuire previously said in a sworn affidavit that he never received any direction from the DOJ “that was unethical or inappropriate.”
“Undersigned counsel intends to submit a supplemental affidavit that he has had no such communications from any source: the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, or anyone,” McGuire said.
Abrego Garcia’s criminal trial on the Tennessee charges is scheduled for Jan. 27.
The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado attends a protest called by the opposition in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025, one day before the presidential inauguration.(Photo by Jonathan Lanza/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her work “promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy.
Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, spoke broadly about the advance of authoritarian regimes in the world and retreat of democracy in the announcement.
The Nobel Committee called the Venezuelan politician and industrial engineer who is currently the opposition leader in Venezuela “a brave and committed champion of peace.”
“Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela,” the committee said. “But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy — understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government — is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.”
“Maria Corina Machado has led the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela. Ms Machado studied engineering and finance, and had a short career in business,” the Nobel Committee said.
In 1992, Machado established the Atenea Foundation, which works to benefit street children in Caracas and, 10 years later, she was one of the founders of Súmate, a group that works to promote free and fair elections and has conducted training and election monitoring. In 2010, Machado was elected to the National Assembly and won a record number of votes.
“The regime expelled her from office in 2014,” the Nobel Committee said. “Ms Machado leads the Vente Venezuela opposition party and in 2017 helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which unites pro-democracy forces in the country across political dividing lines.”
The announcement was made on Friday morning, but the actual award ceremony will take place on Dec. 10, in Oslo, Norway.
Frydens was asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “campaign” for the prize, but denied it had any impact on the decision making process.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence,” the Nobel Committee said.
“The Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world,” it continued. “We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair.”
“Maria Corina Machado meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy,” the committee said.
“[She] has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace,” Nobel Committee officials said.
Last year, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying that the testimony of the Hibakusha, who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is unique in this larger context and that their perspective helps to “generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons.”
There were 338 candidates nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, of which 244 were individuals and 94 were organizations. This is a significant increase from last year when there were 286 nominees. The highest number of nominees to date was in 2016 when there were 376 candidates.
The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize is released 50 years after the prize is awarded, in accordance with the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt turns 100 on Wednesday, Aug. 21,2019. Sister Jean is surprised after she’s given an NCAA Final Four ring before the Loyola Ramblers play the Nevada Wolf Pack in 2018 at Gentile Arena in Chicago, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the team chaplain for the Loyola University Chicago basketball team who became a national celebrity during the school’s 2018 underdog March Madness run, has died at 106.
“This is a tremendous loss of someone who touched the lives of so many people. We appreciate everyone’s thoughts & prayers during this difficult time,” the university said in a statement.
In an announcement last month, just a month after her 106th birthday, the university said Schmidt was retiring and stepping back from official duties at the school.
In a letter to students and other members of the university community sent on her birthday in August, Schmidt said she was unable to travel to campus to celebrate due to a “bad summer cold and other health issues.”
She wrote, “That makes me very sad, but you can still celebrate,” and encouraged students to “make new friends. Talk to your old friends. Enjoy your move-in and your preparations for class.”
Schmidt became a nationally recognized figure during the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, when Loyola University Chicago, which entered March Madness as an 11-seed, reached the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
Schmidt’s presence courtside — always adorned in the team’s maroon and gold colors — and her enthusiastic cheering on of the team drew attention from fans and national broadcasters.
“In many roles at Loyola over the course of more than 60 years, Sister Jean was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace for generations of students, faculty, and staff,” Loyola President Mark C. Reed said in a statement. “While we feel grief and a sense of loss, there is great joy in her legacy. Her presence was a profound blessing for our entire community and her spirit abides in thousands of lives. In her honor, we can aspire to share with others the love and compassion Sister Jean shared with us.”
Born Dolores Bertha Schmidt in San Francisco on Aug. 21, 1919, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1937, taking the name Sister Jean Dolores, according to a university obituary.
A basketball player in her youth, Schmidt later became a nun, then a grade school teacher, and started girls’ sports programs before her time on the college basketball sidelines.
She came to the university’s Lake Shore campus in 1961 to teach at Mundelein College, which affiliated with Loyola in 1991.
She first became an academic adviser for the men’s basketball team in 1994 and later became the team chaplain.
She released a memoir in 2023, “Wake Up with Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years.”
In a 2023 interview with ABC News, Schmidt said, “I think sports [are] very important because they help develop life skills, and during those life skills you’re also talking about faiths and purpose.”
(WASHINGTON) — In two courthouses in different parts of the country, President Donald Trump’s attempt to send troops into Democratic-led cities faced a critical legal test on Thursday, with a judge in Chicago temporarily blocking deployment.
District Judge April Perry entered a TRO enjoining the deployment of National Guard troops from any U.S. state into Illinois. This ruling will be in effect for 14 days.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal to Perry’s ruling late Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals helda heated, hour-long oral argument on whether to lift a lower court’s order blocking the deployment of troops into Portland.
The dueling hearings on Thursday set the stage for one of the most high-profile legal battles since Trump took office, as local governments turn to the courts to stop what some judges have described as a blurring of the line between military and civilian rule.
Chicago
In the decision, Perry determined that there is “no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in Illinois” and no evidence that the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the U.S.
She said that the deployment of the national guard to Illinois “is likely to lead to civil unrest” requiring a response from local and state law enforcement.
Referencing what she called the “provocative nature of ICE enforcement activity” in Illinois, she said, “I find allowing the national guard to deploy will only add fuel to the fire that they started.”
Before Judge Perry’s decision, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, Eric Hamilton, countered that the Chicago area is experiencing “brazen hostility” to federal law enforcement officers, a “tragic lawlessness” in the city that is manifesting in hostile and violent acts against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE personnel.
Hamilton listed as examples “agitators” that had brought guns to federal facilities, and who have thrown rocks, bottles, tear gas and fireworks at federal agents, and who have blocked and impeded immigration enforcement, including by surrounding ICE agents and ramming their vehicles into law enforcement vehicles.
All of which has shown, Hamilton argued, that in Illinois there is an “unprecedented” and “blatant disregard for law and order.”
Judge Perry questioned Hamilton extensively over the scope of the Guard’s deployments and responsibilities and asked what the limits were to their authority, scope and mission. Hamilton described a limited mission to protect federal personnel and property but, under repeated questioning from Perry, Hamilton declined to rule out an expansion of the mission if events were to warrant it.
Describing a “dynamic situation” on the ground in and around Chicago, Hamilton said, “the response is going to be tailored to whatever the needs are” at the moment.
If the mission changes, Hamilton said, the plaintiffs would be able to return to court to issue a renewed challenge.
Wells, the attorney for Illinois, contended that the situation on the ground, particularly outside the ICE facility in Broadview, had calmed substantially since the local government and police force had instituted restrictions on protest hours and since the Illinois State Police began providing protection at the facility.
Portland
As the Chicago hearing took place, a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to lift a lower court’s order blocking the deployment of 200 federalized members of the Oregon National Guard into Portland.
On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit issued an administrative stay of that order to preserve the status quo as the lawsuit moves through the court.
Oregon argued that the deployment of troops is “part of a nationwide campaign to assimilate the military into civilian law enforcement” and is based on “inaccurate information” about the conditions in Portland.
“Defendants’ nearly limitless conception [of the law] would give the President discretion to repeat this experiment in response to other ordinary, nonviolent acts of civil disobedience across our Nation. The public interest is served by a judicial order preserving the rule of law in the face of unprecedented and unlawful Executive action that threatens grave and irreparable damage to our State and the Nation,” lawyers for the state said in a recent filing.
A federal judge on Sunday expanded her order to bar any state’s National Guard from entering Portland after concluding that the Trump administration was attempting to work around her temporary restraining order by using troops from other states.
That second order has not been formally appealed yet, although the broader issue may arise during the hearing as the Trump administration challenges judicial limits on the president’s authority to deploy the National Guard.
“Congress did not impose these limits on the President’s authority to federalize the Guard, nor did it authorize the federal courts to second-guess the President’s judgment about when and where to call up the Guard to reinforce the regular forces in response to sustained and widespread violent resistance to federal law enforcement,” lawyers for the Trump administration wrote in a filing earlier this week.
In an amicus brief filed on Thursday, a group of former secretaries of the Army and Navy, retired four-star admirals and generals, encouraged Judge Perry to express caution about the broader use of the National Guard in domestic operations.
“Domestic deployments that fail to adhere to [the Posse Comitatus Act] threaten the Guard’s core national security and disaster relief missions; place deployed personnel in fraught situations for which they lack specific training, thus posing safety concerns for servicemembers and the public alike; and risk inappropriately politicizing the military, creating additional risks to recruitment, retention, morale, and cohesion of the force,” lawyers for the former military leaders wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — New York Attorney General Letitia James has been indicted on at least one count of alleged fraud, becoming the second political figure in a span of two weeks to face prosecution after President Donald Trump’s public demand that the Justice Department move “now” to charge his political enemies, according to sources.
The contents of the indictment were still not unsealed as of Thursday late afternoon.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan presented evidence to a federal grand jury Thursday seeking an indictment on charges of mortgage fraud against James, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
A spokesperson for James’ legal team declined to comment to ABC News.
Halligan was named U.S. attorney by Trump after Trump ousted her predecessor, Erik Siebert, who sources say had expressed doubts internally about bringing cases against James and former FBI Director James Comey.
As ABC News first reported, sources said Siebert and other career prosecutors in Virginia determined there was no clear evidence James had knowingly committed mortgage fraud when she purchased a home in the state in 2023, but Trump officials nevertheless pushed Siebert to bring criminal charges against her.
“It looks to me like [James] is very guilty of something, but I really don’t know,” Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office in September when he confirmed he wanted Siebert “out” of the job.
James, as New York AG, successfully brought a civil fraud case against Trump last year and leads multiple lawsuits challenging his administration’s policies.
Trump administration officials have argued that James committed mortgage fraud because one of the documents related to her 2023 home purchase, they say, falsely indicated the property would be her primary residence. The investigation began after Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent the DOJ a criminal referral about James in April.
However, investigators determined that the document — a limited power of attorney form used by James’ niece to sign documents on her behalf when James closed on the home — was never considered by the loan officers who approved the mortgage, sources said.
Halligan last month brought an indictment against Comey on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, just days after Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Department to act “now” to bring prosecutions against Comey, James, and California Sen. Adam Schiff.
“Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and Leticia???” Trump wrote in a social media post directly addressing Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and will seek to have his case dismissed for vindictive prosecution.
A Connecticut woman appeared in court on Thursday after she was charged with allegedly attempting to poison a man with whom she shares a child by putting antifreeze in his wine at his home in Ridgefield, according to the Connecticut State Police.
Kristen Hogan, 33, was arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of interference with an officer after she admitted to pouring ethylene glycol — a “poisonous ingredient within antifreeze and other household products” — in a bottle of wine from which the man drank, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.
During her court appearance on Thursday, Hogan’s bail was set at $1 million. She was told not to contact several individuals placed under protective orders and required to surrender all firearms.
On Sept. 12, police interviewed the 34-year-old male victim, who had been hospitalized “sometime in early August” and underwent a blood test that revealed he had ethylene glycol in his system, the affidavit said.
The victim, who has not been identified, said during the interview that he had “family over for dinner and that his stepmother had brought an unopened bottle of wine,” officials said. The victim and his family drank some of the wine, with the remainder being “corked and placed in the fridge at the end of the night,” officials said.
Then on Aug. 10, five days after the family dinner, the victim said he “consumed a small amount of the same wine,” went to bed and then “woke up in the middle of the night multiple times and became increasingly ill,” officials said.
At 6 a.m. the next day, the victim “woke up vomiting and called his father for advice,” who directed him to call his mother, who lived in the area, officials said.
Once at his home, the victim’s mother found her son “slurring his words, staggering, and vomiting,” and then decided to take him to the hospital, officials said.
The hospital “initially believed he was experiencing a stroke” but then determined that the victim was “exhibiting signs of an ethylene glycol poisoning,” the affidavit said. The victim was then placed on dialysis and admitted to the ICU, officials said.
Once authorities arrived at the hospital, the victim told them that he believed Hogan, with whom he shares a child, had poisoned the wine “based off the fact her phone uploaded data” to his Wi-Fi router a few days earlier and that she was the “last person other than himself to be in the residence prior to him drinking the already opened wine,” officials said.
The victim told officials he “believed that a motive for him being poisoned is the fact that Hogan would become the full owner of the residence and would gain full-time custody of their child,” officials said.
On Sept. 30, a final lab report indicated that “ethylene glycol was detected in the wine,” officials said.
Police also went through Hogan’s phone, which revealed searches for “various lethal amounts of poisons” and “how much mono ethylene glycol would kill you” after the victim was hospitalized, the affidavit said.
In an interview with police, Hogan said she and the victim had been separated since May but that she had “more recently started living back at the same residence” where the victim lived, officials said.
Hogan also said she “never intended to kill him, but just wanted to make him sick as payback for being mentally abusive,” the affidavit said.
Officials said Hogan had also claimed she was in Rhode Island when she was supposed to be in court with the victim on Aug. 7 regarding a complaint she had filed but that she was actually at the victim’s residence, to which she had full access, the affidavit said.
Hogan also told officials that she has poured “a very small amount” of the same substance into the man’s iced tea bottle on a separate date, the affidavit said.
In a statement to ABC News, Hogan’s lawyer, Mark Sherman, said it is “premature to comment on any specifics.”
“What we know is that Kristen is a loving mother who misses her children dearly right now. These are just accusations and we will be diligently investigating and defending her against these claims,” Sherman said in a statement.
Officials in Philadelphia are searching for Kada Scott, a 23-year-old woman who has been missing for nearly a week. Philadelphia Police Department
(PHILADELPHIA) — A 23-year-old Philadelphia woman has now been missing for nearly a week, with police saying she was being harassed by an unknown individual before disappearing.
Kada Scott was last seen by her mother on Saturday evening when she was leaving for work at a nearby nursing home, police said.
Scott arrived at work but left “prior to her shift’s completion,” and has not been seen since, John Craig, captain of the Philadelphia Police Department, said during a press conference on Wednesday. It was not clear what time Scott left work, but officials said her shift typically was from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
“This is completely out of character,” Craig said during the press conference.
She was reported missing to police on Sunday, with law enforcement saying they have “some concern, more so than usual” regarding her disappearance due to worrying phone calls she was receiving.
“In the days leading up to her disappearance, Ms. Scott related to her family and friends that an unknown individual or person had been harassing her via phone,” Craig said.
Craig said officials have not identified the person who was allegedly harassing Scott, but are continuing to investigate “very thoroughly.”
Police are canvassing the neighborhood for video, interviewing friends and family and looking at Scott’s cellphone data — including taking a “deep dive” of her social media — in their efforts to locate Scott. Officials are also speaking to Scott’s co-workers at the nursing home, Craig said.
“We have no cellphone activity or social media activity, and she has not reached out to family or friends,” Craig said.
Officials were able to recover Scott’s vehicle, which was located in the parking lot of the nursing home where she worked, Craig said.
Scott, who officials described as a “very bright, energetic woman,” is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds and has brown eyes and black hair, police said.
“I just need her to come home and be safe. That’s what I fear — she’s not safe,” Scott’s mother, Kim Matthews, told Philadelphia ABC station WPVI.
Scott’s name has also been entered into the National Crime Information Center database, Craig said.
Anyone who has information on Scott’s whereabouts is urged to call 215-686-3353, police said.
Adva Lavie is wanted for a string of burglaries in which she allegedly targeted older men, posing as a romantic companion on virtual dating platforms and social media, according to officials.
The suspect is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 104 lbs. with brunette hair and hazel eyes. Lavie is believed to drive a black Porsche SUV or white Mercedes-Benz.
She is also known to use the aliases Mia Ventura, Shoshana or Shana, according to officials.
When contacted by ABC News, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said they had no additional information to provide about the suspect or her alleged crimes.
Officials are asking anyone with information about Lavie or incidents in which she may have been involved to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department or Los Angeles Police Department.
Britney Gard is seen in an undated photo released by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office
(PUTNAM COUNTY, Ind.) — An Indiana woman who was reported missing last week following a “suspicious” fire in her house has been found alive, authorities said.
Britney Gard, 46, last had contact with her family the evening of Sept. 30, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. She was considered a missing endangered person “due to her unknown whereabouts,” the sheriff’s office said.
Following an extensive investigation, she was found in a wooded area about 2 1/2 miles from her home, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday evening. She was being cleared by medical staff and no additional details were available, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities responded to Gard’s home on Oct. 1, following a 911 call for a fire at her home in Bainbridge, located about 40 miles west of Indianapolis, the sheriff’s office said. Smoke was reported coming from the residence around 7:40 p.m., the office said.
Fire crews extinguished the blaze, which investigators believe is “suspicious in nature,” Putnam County Sheriff Jerrod Baugh said in a statement on Friday. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Baugh said in an update on Wednesday.
No one was found in the fire-damaged home, and attempts by family and friends to contact Gard following the fire have been unsuccessful, the sheriff’s office said. She was not located following a drone-assisted search of the area and searches of a pond on the property following the fire, the sheriff’s office said.
Gard was supposed to attend her daughter’s volleyball game on Oct. 1, but did not show up, her sister, Stephanie Bowen, told Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV.
“Her car’s at home, her purse is at home. She’s nowhere to be found, and the house is on fire. It makes no sense,” Bowen told WRTV on Monday.
“I just feel like there’s something here bigger that we don’t know,” she said.
The search continued this week for the mother of two, with dozens of people, including her sisters, looking through cornfields and wooded areas near Gard’s property on Monday, WRTV reported.
Drones were deployed in the area, and conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have been conducting searches of the ponds at the residence and in the surrounding area, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Detectives also worked with the FBI and Indiana State Police, “looking for any leads into the current and past locations of any and all devices that could lead investigators to the location of Britney Gard,” Baugh said Wednesday.
Amid the search, Bowen urged people to be “vigilant” and to check their home security cameras.
“Britney, we love you,” she told WRTV on Monday. “We hope to see you safely return home.”
