Musician and Rapper Javonnta Murphy From Sylmar Identified By Coroner 

The body of a deceased man discovered inside a sealed barrel at Malibu Lagoon State Beach has been identified as Javonnta Murphy, a 32-year-old singer-songwriter and rap artist from Sylmar, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Murphy’s body was found naked inside the barrel, but the cause of his death has not yet been released to the public. The timeline of how long he had been inside the barrel remains unclear.

Murphy’s social media presence described his career as a singer/songwriter, and the music posted on his Instagram and Youtube channel was in the hip-hop genre. Murphy rapped in the songs. The discovery of the barrel at the beach was brought to attention by former Malibu Mayor Jefferson Wagner, who initially had seen the barrel in the lagoon and mistaken it for a toxic waste container.

“This is not what happens in Malibu,” Wagner expressed to the Times. “This is not a common occurrence. I mean, bodies in a barrel is just sad.”

As authorities investigate this tragic incident, they are now seeking to examine security footage in the vicinity for any leads or information that may shed light on the circumstances surrounding Murphy’s death.The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has asked anyone with information to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or (323) 697-7327. Information can also be provided anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org/.

By Dolores Quintana

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Good Shepherd News Media brings your The OC Deviant – The Best News in Southern California

Michigan State University police said at least five people have been shot, some with life-threatening injuries, on the MSU campus on Monday night. They are still looking for a suspect, who they say is a Black male, short in stature, wearing red shoes, a gym jacket and a ball cap. They are looking at surveillance video now. Police say it started around 8:18 p.m. at Berkey Hall and they received several 911 calls. Police arrived quickly, officials say, and they located the five victims.

Michigan State University students were told to run, hide, fight Monday evening after a report of shots fired on the school’s East Lansing campus.

The school sent an alert at 8:31 p.m. and later said there were reports of injuries.

Here’s what we know:

This is a breaking news report and will be updated.

3 people were killed in Michigan State shooting

Three people were killed in the shooting at Michigan State University on Monday, Feb. 13.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Five fired Memphis police officers were charged Thursday with murder and other crimes in the killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist who died three days after a confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told a news conference that although the officers each played different roles in the killing, “they are all responsible.”

The officers, who are all Black, each face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

Video of the Jan. 7 traffic stop will be released to the public sometime Friday evening, Mulroy said. Nichols’ family and their lawyers say the footage shows officers savagely beating the 29-year-old father and FedEx worker for three minutes.

Both lawyers said they had not seen the video.

“We are in the dark about many things, just like the general public is,” Ballin said.

Second-degree murder is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.

The attorneys for Nichols’ family, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, issued a statement saying that the charges offer “hope as we continue to push for justice for Tyre.”

“This young man lost his life in a particularly disgusting manner that points to the desperate need for change and reform to ensure this violence stops occurring during low-threat procedures, like in this case, a traffic stop,” they wrote.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who founded and runs the National Action Network and will deliver the eulogy at Nichols’ funeral service next week, called the charges “a necessary step in delivering justice” for Nichols, who was an avid skateboarder and had a 4-year-old son.

“There is no point to putting a body camera on a cop if you aren’t going to hold them accountable when the footage shows them relentlessly beating a man to death,” Sharpton said. “Firings are not enough. Indictments and arrests are not convictions. As we’ve done in the past … we will stand by this family until justice is done.”

At the White House, President Joe Biden said Nichols’ family and the city of Memphis deserve “a swift, full and transparent investigation.”

“Public trust is the foundation of public safety, and there are still too many places in America today where the bonds of trust are frayed or broken,” Biden said in a statement.

The Memphis police chief has called the officers’ actions that night “heinous, reckless and inhumane.”

“This is not just a professional failing. This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual,” Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said in a video statement released late Wednesday on social media.

Davis said the five officers found to be “directly responsible for the physical abuse of Mr. Nichols,” were fired last week, but other officers are still being investigated for violating department policy. In addition, she said “a complete and independent review” will be conducted of the department’s specialized units, without providing further details.

Two fire department workers were also removed from duty over the Nichols’ arrest.

As state and federal investigations continue, Davis promised the police department’s “full and complete cooperation” to determine what contributed to Nichols’ Jan. 10 death.

Mulroy told The Associated Press on Tuesday that local and state investigators wanted to complete as many interviews as possible before releasing the video. The timetable has rankled some activists who expected the video to be released after Nichols’ family and the family’s lawyers viewed it Monday.

Crump said the video showed showed that Nichols was shocked, pepper-sprayed and restrained when he was pulled over for a traffic stop near his home. He was returning home from a suburban park where he had taken photos of the sunset.

Police have said Nichols was stopped for reckless driving and at some point fled from the scene.

The legal team likened the beating to the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.

Relatives have accused the police of causing Nichols to have a heart attack and kidney failure. Authorities have only said Nichols experienced a medical emergency.

When video of the arrest is publicly released, Davis said she expects people in the community to react, but she urged them to do so peacefully.

“None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens,” she said.

One of the officers, Haley, was accused previously of using excessive force. He was named as a defendant in a 2016 federal civil rights lawsuit while employed by the Shelby County Division of Corrections.

The plaintiff, Cordarlrius Sledge, stated that he was in inmate in 2015 when Haley and another corrections officer accused him of flushing contraband. The two officers “hit me in the face with punches,” according to the complaint.

A third officer then slammed his head to the ground, Sledge said. He lost consciousness and woke up in the facility’s medical center.

The claims were ultimately dismissed after a judge ruled that Sledge had failed to file a grievance against the officers within 30 days of the incident.

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Tyre Nichols: What we know about his death and the Memphis officers charged with murder

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Five fired Memphis police officers are facing second-degree murder and other charges in the arrest and death of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist who died three days after a confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop.

The five officers charged are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith.

Here’s what we know about Nichols, his death and what led to criminal charges for the officers involved.

Who was Tyre Nichols?

Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old father and FedEx worker. He was stopped by police on Jan. 7 for reckless driving while returning home from a suburban park where he’d taken photos of the sunset

Police said in a statement the day after the encounter that “a confrontation occurred” as officers approached the vehicle and Nichols ran; they said officers caught up to him and that “another confrontation occurred” while they were taking him into custody. Police said Nichols complained of shortness of breath and was taken to a hospital, where he died three days later.

Attorney Ben Crump, who has seen video of the encounter, said Memphis police officers beat Nichols for three minutes, treating him like “a human piñata.”

Nichols was described by family as a “good kid” who loved skateboarding, photography and his 4-year-old son.

Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, told reporters that his stepson had good reason to run from the officers.

“Our son ran because he was scared for his life,” Rodney Wells said. “And when you see the video, you’ll see why he was scared for his life.”

Relatives have accused the police of causing Nichols to have a heart attack and kidney failure. Authorities have only said Nichols experienced a medical emergency.

RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, said that on the day of the arrest, her son was looking forward to a chicken she was going to cook for dinner that night.

“All my son was trying to do was come home,” said Nichols’ mother, who sobbed during the news conference and told reporters Nichols was less than 80 yards (73 meters) from home when Memphis police officers “murdered him.”

“We’re going to get justice for my son, Tyre, if that’s the last breath I take,” she said.

Who are the Memphis officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols?

About a week before they were charged with murder, Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis announced that the five officers involved in the arrest were fired after the police probe determined that they used excessive force or failed to intervene and render aid.

Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

All five officers are Black, though Crump said that was irrelevant and that Black motorists often are treated differently than Whites regardless of the officers’ race, and that the pain of Nichols’ death “is just the same.”

The Memphis police chief has called the actions of five officers involved in the violent arrest of Nichols “heinous, reckless and inhumane” and urged residents of the predominantly Black city to protest peacefully when video is released.

“This is not just a professional failing. This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual,” Davis said in a video statement released late Wednesday on social media.

Davis said the five officers found to be “directly responsible for the physical abuse of Mr. Nichols,” were fired last week, but other officers are still being investigated for violating department policy. In addition, she said “a complete and independent review” will be conducted of the department’s specialized units, without providing further details.

As state and federal investigations continue, Davis promised the police department’s “full and complete cooperation” to determine what contributed to Nichols’ death.

The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the officers and their actions.

One of the officers, Haley, was accused previously of using excessive force. He was named as a defendant in a 2016 federal civil rights lawsuit while employed by the Shelby County Division of Corrections.

In the complaint, Cordarlrius Sledge stated that he was in inmate in 2015 when Haley and another corrections officer accused him of flushing contraband. The two officers “hit me in the face with punches,” according to the complaint. A third officer then slammed his head to the ground, Sledge said. He lost consciousness, waking up in the facility’s medical center, according to the complaint.

The claims were ultimately dismissed after a judge ruled that Sledge had failed to file a grievance against the officers within 30 days of the incident.

Two fire department workers were also removed from duty over the Nichols’ arrest.

When will the Tyre Nichols video be released?

Police video viewed by the family on Monday showed that Nichols was shocked, pepper sprayed and restrained, Crump said. He said the encounter was reminiscent of the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.

Crump said the video shows the encounter was “violent” and “troublesome on every level.” Romanucci called it “savage” and out of proportion to the alleged offense.

Attorneys said Nichols can be heard on the video crying out for his mother.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy initially said releasing the video would risk compromising the investigation, but later officials said the video will be released. Mulroy said the video will be released after 6 p.m. Friday (Jan. 27).

Will there be protests in Memphis?

The city has been on edge about the release of the police footage because of the possibility of unrest.

Nichols’ stepfather asked that if there are protests, that they remain peaceful, saying violence “is not what Tyre wanted and won’t bring him back.”

The city’s police chief said she expects the community to react.

“I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest, to demand actions and results, but we need to ensure our community is safe in this process,” Davis said. “None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens.”

In a statement, President Biden said Nichols’ family deserves a “swift, full, and transparent investigation into his death.”

“As Americans grieve, the Department of Justice conducts its investigation, and state authorities continue their work, I join Tyre’s family in calling for peaceful protest,” he said. “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice.

“Public trust is the foundation of public safety and there are still too many places in America today where the bonds of trust are frayed or broken,” he continued. “Tyre’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment, and dignity for all.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

source

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‘A failing of basic humanity’:
How five police officers,
were charged with the ‘heinous’ murder
of Tyre Nichols a father and hard working man

Five Memphis officers have been fired after violating multiple department policies in the death of Tyre Nichols as criminal and civil rights investigations are launched. Gustaf Kilander reports

A 29-year-old father died in hospital several days after he was taken into custody by police during a traffic stop.

Now five officers at the Memphis Police Department have been removed from their posts and jailed on second-degree murder charges. source

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Tyre Nichols: 5 Fired ex-MPD officers charged with second-degree murder

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Five officers involved in the death of Tyre Nichols were taken into custody at 201 Poplar on Thursday morning.

Those former MPD officers are: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmit Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.

All five are charged with: official misconduct thru unauthorized exercise of official power, official misconduct thru failure to perform a duty imposed by law, official oppression, second-degree murder, aggravated assault – act in concert, aggravated kidnapping causing bodily injury, and aggravated kidnapping while possessing a weapon.

First-degree murder usually falls into one of the following two categories: premeditated, intentional killings and felony murder. Second-degree murder is generally either: an unplanned, intentional killing (reacting in the heat of the moment when angry) or a death caused by a reckless disregard for human life.

Haley and Martin are in jail on a $350,000 bond. Smith, Mills and Bean were booked on a $250,000 bond.

Mills and Smith are now free on bond.

Mills is being represented by attorney Blake Ballin. Martin turned himself in, according to his attorney Bill Massey.

In a press conference Thursday, both attorneys admitted they have not seen the police body camera footage of Nichols’ arrest.

“At this point, we don’t know what proof they have because we have not seen or discovered, and we have not seen the video,” Massey said. “So we are kind of in the blind right now. This process has just started.”

Tyre Nichols, 29, died on January 10, days after a confrontation with police put him in the hospital.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy held a press conference at 2 p.m. to provide an update on the investigation. Mulroy was joined by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and other members of the DA’s office.

“We understand and acknowledge the grief that the friends and family of Tyre Nichols are experiencing right now,” Mulroy said.

Nichols was pulled over by Memphis police in the Hickory Hill area on January 7 for what was originally reported as reckless driving.

“The actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols, and they are all responsible,” Mulroy said.

Mulroy was joined by TBI Director Davi Rausch during Thursday afternoon’s press conference.

“I’ve been policing for more than 30 years. I’ve devoted my life to this profession and I’m grieved — and frankly, I’m sickened, by what we’ve learned through our extensive investigation,” Rausch said. “Let me be clear. What happened here does not, at all, reflect proper policing. This was wrong. This was a crime.”

The five officers were fired following an internal investigation for their involvement, as well as two EMTs with Memphis Fire being relieved of duty pending the results of their own internal investigation.

MPD determined the officers violated multiple policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid.

The United States Department of Justice and FBI announced the opening a civil rights investigation into the death on January 18.

Wednesday night, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis issued a statement regarding the investigation.

“In light of the horrific circumstances surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols, it is absolutely incumbent upon me, your chief, to address the status of what the Memphis Police Department is doing, has done, and will continue to do in furtherance of finding truth in this tragic loss, ensuring we communicate with honesty and transparency, and that there is absolute accountability for those responsible for Tyre’s death,” Chief Davis said.

Family members and attorneys got the chance to review the police body cam footage Monday before it was publicly released. They also met with Memphis police.

Mulroy said in a statement Thursday that he expects the video to be publicly released sometime after 6 p.m. Friday.

The family retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorney Antonio Romanucci to represent them following Nichols’ death. Crump called the video “appalling, heinous, violent and troublesome.”

Crump said Nichols’ mother was unable to sit through more than a minute of the video. In that first minute, Tyre asked police officers, “What did I do?” Crump said.

Nichols’ funeral will take place at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church on February 1 at 10:30 a.m.

Church officials say Reverend Al Sharpton will be on hand to deliver a eulogy.

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By Jacob Gallantsource

All five officers fired over the death of Tyre Nichols who died after a ‘violent‘ traffic stop;
have been charged with second degree murder and taken into custody

• FedEx driver Tyre Nichols died on January 10 following a violent altercation with Memphis cops
• A preliminary autopsy showed he suffered ‘extensive bleeding caused by severe beating’
• Each of the five officers involved in the January 7 altercation have now been arrested and charged in connection with Nichols’ death 

Five fired Memphis police officers were charged on Thursday with second-degree murder over the death of Tyre Nichols – who died three days after being beaten during a January 7 traffic stop.

Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills, Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith, who are all black, are now in custody.

In addition to second degree murder the five were also charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

On Thursday afternoon DA Steve Mulroy briefed the press, saying his team had moved ‘swiftly, but also fairly’ to review the case that led to the charges against the five officers. He added that the police bodycam footage of the incident will be released sometime after 6pm Central Time on Friday.

Second-degree murder, described by the Memphis District Attorney as a ‘knowing murder,’ is punishable by 15 to 60 years in prison under Tennessee law.

 

This combo of booking images provided by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office shows, from top row from left, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, bottom row from left, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. The five former Memphis police officers have been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the arrest and death of Tyre Nichols, a Black motorist who died three days after a confrontation with the officers during a traffic stop, records showed Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023

All five former cops were detained on bonds of up to $350,000.

Court records don’t list attorneys for Smith, Bean or Haley. Martin’s lawyer, William Massey, confirmed that his client had turned himself in. He and Mills’ lawyer, Blake Ballin, said they planned to discuss the charges at a news conference later Thursday.

Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx driver, was pulled over on January 7 by the Memphis police for what was initially reported as reckless driving.

That interaction led to a violent confrontation that put him in the hospital, where he would die three days later (January 10) due to ‘extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,’ according to preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by attorneys for his family.

He reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and kidney failure following the allegedly brutal interaction with the officers.

By Sophie Mann source

Tyre Nichols video: Memphis officials condemn five arrested officers’ ‘criminal’ actions – latest

Tyre Nichols, 29, died on 10 January, three days after traffic stop turned into confrontation with officers

The Memphis police chief is calling for calm ahead of the Friday release of bodycam footage from the “heinous, reckless and inhumane” death of Tyre Nichols – as she warned it will reveal how five police officers failed the Black man, his family and their community and showed a “disregard for basic human rights”.

Nichols, 29, was allegedly violenty beaten by five officers during a traffic stop on 7 January. He died three days later in hospital. An independent autopsy released by his family has since revealed he suffered “extensive bleeding” before his death.

Five former Memphis officers have been charged with murder over the violent arrest.

“The world is watching us and we need to show the world what lessons we can learn from this tragedy,” Shelby County district attorney Steven Mulroy said on Thursday, announcing the charges.

“We all want the same thing,” he added. “We want justice for Tyre Nichols.”

KEY POINTS

By Adrian Sainz source

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the arrest of Tyre Nichols, who died days after a confrontation with Memphis Department Police Officers during a traffic stop, officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. attorney’s office released a statement saying the FBI’s field office in Memphis and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department are investigating the use of force used by police during Nichols’ Jan. 7 arrest.

The arrest and death of Nichols, 29, already has sparked separate investigations by Memphis police and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Nichols’ family, and protesters who have rallied at a police station and the National Civil Rights Museum, have pushed for the release of police body camera footage and have called for officers to face charges.

RELATED: Georgia trooper stable after being shot, protester killed near controversial ‘Cop City’ police facility site

Relatives have accused police of beating Nichols and causing him to have a heart attack. Authorities have said Nichols, who was Black, experienced a medical emergency.

Nichols was arrested after officers stopped him for reckless driving, police said. There was a confrontation as officers approached the driver, and he ran before he was confronted again by the pursuing officers, who arrested him, authorities said. He complained of shortness of breath and was hospitalized. Officials said a cause of death has not yet been determined.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the state’s police agency, said Nichols died Jan. 10. The agency is conducting a use-of-force investigation at the request of Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy.

Relatives have said that the officers who pulled over Nichols were in an unmarked vehicle and that he experienced cardiac arrest and kidney failure because of a beating by officers.

Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said Sunday that the department was serving notice to the officers involved concerning policy violations. The statement did not indicate how many officers were involved.

Davis and Mayor Jim Strickland said Tuesday that video footage of the arrest will be released after the police department’s investigation is completed and the family can review it.

The police department’s internal investigation will be completed by the end of this week, and city leaders are arranging a meeting early next week with the family of Nichols, according to a joint statement from both Strickland and Davis.

RELATED: Man convicted in Ahmaud Arbery murder moved to Georgia medical prison

After initially declining comment on the Justice Department’s investigation, the city of Memphis sent out a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying it will fully cooperate with the federal agencies conducting the probe. Memphis’ police department did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

At a memorial service for Nichols on Tuesday, family and friends remembered him as a joyful, lovable man who worked making boxes at FedEx, enjoyed skateboarding and regularly drank coffee and chatted with friends at Starbucks. Some of those in attendance wore T-shirts that read “Justice for Tyre,” and “Skate in Peace.”

Relatives said Nichols was from California and moved to Memphis about a year ago. He had two brothers and a sister, relatives said.

Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, said during the service that Nichols’ supporters want the officers involved in the arrest to be charged with first-degree murder.

“We’re not going down without a fight,” Wells said.

Attorneys: Police beat Tyre Nichols for three minutes

“An attorney for the family of a Black man who died at a hospital,
three days after a confrontation with police during a traffic stop,
says video of the encounter shows it was “violent” and “troublesome on every level !”

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — An attorney for the family of a Black man who died at a hospital three days after a confrontation with police during a traffic stop said Monday that video of the encounter shows it was “violent” and “troublesome on every level.”

Attorney Ben Crump said during a news conference that the footage of Tyre Nichols’ Jan. 7 arrest “is appalling. It is deplorable. It is heinous.”

Crump, who viewed the video along with Nichols’ family and their other lawyers earlier Monday, said it reminded them of the infamous video of the Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King.

“Regrettably, it reminded us of Rodney king video. … And unlike Rodney King, Tyre didn’t survive,” he said.

Another of the family’s attorneys, Antonio Romanucci, said the beating of Nichols lasted three minutes.

“He was a human piñata for those police officers,” said Romanucci.

Crump said the authorities won’t release the video to the public for a week or two, but that it will be released.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy issued a statement investigators don’t want the release of the video to the public yet because they don’t want to risk compromising the investigation.

Nichols, a 29-year-old father, FedEx worker and avid skateboarder, died Jan. 10 at a hospital, authorities said.

Memphis Police Department Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis announced Friday that five officers involved in the arrest were fired after the police probe determined that they used excessive force or failed to intervene and render aid.

Nichols’ family, protesters and activists have called for the video’s release and for the officers to be charged with murder.

The officers have been identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. All five are Black.

Relatives have accused police of beating Nichols and causing him to have a heart attack. Authorities have only said that Nichols experienced a medical emergency. The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the arrest, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether excessive force was used.

City and community leaders have expressed concern about the possibility of civil unrest following the video’s release.

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat, said the predominantly Black city has been on edge since the arrest, which he called “horrific and senseless.”

“The release of the tape may certainly aggravate the feelings of hurt, sorrow and embarrassment that we are all feeling,” Parkinson said. “However, the need for transparency is vitally important in all cases of police involved deaths.”

Van Turner, president of the Memphis chapter of the NAACP, also acknowledged that Memphis appears tense as it waits for the video. But he praised the city and the police department for taking “quick action” in firing the officers.

“We will continue to monitor and support a fair and just resolution to this matter,” Turner said. “We join the call for peaceful protests as we all work towards making sure that proper measures are put in place to prevent this type of incident from occurring in the future.”

Turner also said that the potential for unrest could be higher if the officers who were involved were white.

“If the video is significantly more egregious than what we have seen, then the unrest could still be there,” Turner said.

Nichols was arrested after officers stopped him for reckless driving, police said. In a news release the day after his arrest, the police department said that as officers approached the vehicle, “a confrontation occurred’ and he ran. It said officers caught up to him and that ”another confrontation occurred” while they were taking him into custody. Police said he complained of shortness of breath and was hospitalized.

Officials said a cause of death has not been determined.

Relatives have said the officers who pulled over Nichols were in an unmarked vehicle and that he experienced cardiac arrest and kidney failure from the officers beating him.

Crump and Romanucci issued a statement Friday saying they support the department’s decision to fire the officers.

“This is the first step towards achieving justice for Tyre and his family. They must also be held accountable for robbing this man of his life and his son of a father,” they said.

The attorneys said they “will continue to demand transparency and accountability” and plan to review video footage to seek additional clarity about the circumstances that led to Nichols’ death. The lawyers planned a news conference for later Monday with the family.

As for the timing of the video’s release to the public, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the law “places limits on such video release, and that we have to make sure we do so without compromising our ability to arrive at justice in this case.”

“I ask for your patience as we gather all necessary information so that we don’t compromise the investigation or any possible future prosecution,” Mulroy said in a statement.

The Nichols case is the latest high-profile death case to rattle the city. Since November 2021, Memphis has seen the fatal shooting of rapper Young Dolph in a daytime ambush at a bakery; a crime rampage in which a man has been charged with fatally shooting three people and wounding three others; the killing of a United Methodist Church pastor during a carjacking in her driveway; and the early-morning kidnapping of a jogger whose body was later found near a house.

By ADRIAN SAINZ source Follow Adrian Sainz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/asainz22

‘We will see what they did to Tyre’ | Family asks for patience, recounts ‘horrific’ & ‘appalling’ video of confrontation with MPD

MEMPHIS, Tenn — The Shelby County District Attorney’s office said the release of video footage of the arrest of Tyre Nichols, which led to five Memphis Police officers being fired after Nichols died in the hospital, could come “this week or next.”

Relatives of Tyre Nichols met with city officials Monday morning to view video footage of the Jan. 7 arrest, according to attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family.

During a news conference at Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church Monday afternoon, Crump said they would not get into too many details because the investigation was ongoing, but they saw multiple videos.

“We will see what they did to Tyre,” said Crump as he asked activists to be patient for one to two weeks for the video, to allow the family “to get what they want most, which is justice.”

What Tyre’s parents said about the video of his arrest

Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, asked first if there were any protests, for them to be peaceful. Wells called the video “horrific”, saying, “No father, mother, should have to witness what I saw today.” Wells continued talking of Tyre, saying “my son was a great, great kid. He didn’t deserve what he got. Now what he deserves is justice.” Wells also said justice for them is nothing short of “murder one. Anything less than that we will not accept.”

He said, “Our son ran because he was scared for his life. He wasn’t running because he had drugs he was trying to get a rid or had a gun. I want to get that out there of ‘why did he run?’ He ran because he was trying to get home (safely).”

Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said “my son really was a good boy.” She said skateboarding was his passion, and he would want to skate every day. She called him a beautiful soul, and said he didn’t mind being in Memphis after the pandemic because he was “with his mom.” She said Nichols was less than 80 yards away “when they murdered him.” His mom said her son died on Jan. 7, but doctors “pulled the plug” on Jan. 10.

“My son was a wonderful soul. He received a tremendous outpouring of support from FedEx, despite working there for only nine months. Tyre will never walk through that door and say ‘hello parents’ because that’s what he would do. I’ll never hear that again,” said his mother.

“I hate the fact that us as Black people, we out here killing each other. I don’t know why? We have the police killing us? I don’t know why… What happened to the humanity and kindness? What happened to it all?” said RowVaughn Wells. “We are going to get justice for Tyre, if that’s the last breath I take.”

Nichols was “kicked, tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained” in the video

Crump called the video “appalling, deplorable, heinous, violent, and very troublesome on every level.” He said it is “evidence of what happens to Black and Brown people because of simple traffic stops.” He said, “We have to ask America: how would you treat our White brother and sisters in a traffic stop? Then treat our Black and Brown citizens the same way.”

Crump said Chief Davis told them she “was not proud of what they were about to see” in the video. He said “regrettably,” it reminded them of Rodney King video.

He asked the community to keep the family in their prayers, especially Nichols’ mother, who keeps asking, “Why my baby? Why my baby?”

Attorney Antonio Romanucci said Nichols was “defenseless” and a “human piñata” for police officers, and said Nichols was beaten for three minutes. “It was unabashed, nonstop beating. That is what is going to show up in that video,” said Romanucci.

He called the beating “savage.” He said the officers were in unmarked cars, and wanted to know why they are conducting traffic stops. “Let’s call this what it is; this is a racist traffic stop… These police officers knew it in their mind they could get away with this.”

Romanucci said Nichols was defenseless, and was kicked in the video. Crump then said Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained as the MPD officers were arresting him.

Romanucci also asked everyone to exercise patience until the video comes out, “then you can be your own judge.”

He said they will move forward with civil litigation and their own investigation. “Not only are we looking for justice, we are looking for changes. We are looking for policy changes,” said Romanucci.

Crump said during the video, Nichols said, “I just wanna go home.” He said in the last words on the video, Nichols called out “mom” three times, while only about 80 yards from his home.

Van Turner spoke during the news conference, and said the question becomes “why does this keep occurring again and again, and what can we do to keep this from happening?”

Turner said they are working to make sure police policy is followed, especially policies put into place after situations like George Floyd’s death.

Following the news conference, Crump and Romanucci issued the following statement: “Today, with the family of Tyre Nichols, we saw with our own eyes the disgusting way in which he lost his life at the hands of Memphis police. Tyre was brutalized by Memphis police, much like how Rodney King was beaten more than thirty years ago –– but unlike Rodney, Tyre lost his life from this violent attack. How are we here again so many years later? These former officers must face the consequences of taking this young man’s life and robbing his family of their loved one –– justice is the only path forward.”

 

What city officials are saying about Tyre Nichols’ death

The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office released this statement after meeting with the family Monday morning: “Earlier today, we met with the family of Tyre Nichols— who have now seen the video. Transparency is a priority for the DA’s Office, and we understand the public’s desire for immediate release. However, it’s important that the release does not compromise the investigation.

We’re working with the TBI and FBI to expedite that investigation and are consulting regularly with the City of Memphis about the video’s release, which we expect will occur this week or next.”

In a statement to social media following the meeting with the family, Memphis Police said “The Memphis Police Department & City Administration met with the family of Tyre Nichols this morning to facilitate the viewing of video recordings.

The Memphis Police Department is fully cooperating with the criminal investigation being conducted by the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office.

‘Transparency remains a priority in this incident, and a premature release could adversely impact the criminal investigation and the judicial process. We are working with the District Attorney’s Office to determine the appropriate time to release the video recordings publicly,’ said Chief Cerelyn Davis.”

Mayor Jim Strickland and MPD Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said previously video of the arrest would be released after the conclusion of an internal police investigation and after Nichols’ family has seen it, but the exact timing wasn’t immediately clear.

Nichols, a 29-year-old father, FedEx worker and avid skateboarder, died Jan. 10, authorities said.

His family, protesters and activists have called for the video’s release and for the officers to be charged with murder. Davis announced Friday that five officers involved in the arrest were fired after the police probe determined that they used excessive force or failed to intervene and render aid.

The officers have been identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. All five are Black.

Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr, Demetrius Haley, and Tadarrius Bean were fired by Memphis Police Depart for their role in the death of Tyre Nichols

Relatives have accused police of beating Nichols and causing him to have a heart attack. Authorities have only said that Nichols experienced a medical emergency. The U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the arrest, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether excessive force was used.

City and community leaders have expressed concern about the possibility of civil unrest following the video’s release.

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat, said the predominantly Black city has been on edge since the arrest, which he called “horrific and senseless.”

“The release of the tape may certainly aggravate the feelings of hurt, sorrow and embarrassment that we are all feeling,” Parkinson said. “However, the need for transparency is vitally important in all cases of police involved deaths.”

Van Turner, president of the Memphis chapter of the NAACP, also acknowledged that Memphis appears tense as it waits for the video. But he praised the city and the police department for taking “quick action” in firing the officers.

“We will continue to monitor and support a fair and just resolution to this matter,” Turner said. “We join the call for peaceful protests as we all work towards making sure that proper measures are put in place to prevent this type of incident from occurring in the future.”

Turner also said that the potential for unrest could be higher if the officers who were involved were white.

“If the video is significantly more egregious than what we have seen, then the unrest could still be there,” Turner said.

Nichols was arrested after officers stopped him for reckless driving, according to Memphis Police. In a news release the day after his arrest, the police department said that as officers approached the vehicle, “a confrontation occurred’ and he ran. It said officers caught up to him and that “another confrontation occurred” while they were taking him into custody. Police said he complained of shortness of breath and was hospitalized.

Officials said a cause of death has not been determined.

Relatives have said the officers who pulled over Nichols were in an unmarked vehicle and that he experienced cardiac arrest and kidney failure from the officers beating him.

Credit: WATN

Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent Nichols’ family, issued a statement Friday saying they support the department’s decision to fire the officers.

“This is the first step towards achieving justice for Tyre and his family. They must also be held accountable for robbing this man of his life and his son of a father,” they said.

The attorneys said they “will continue to demand transparency and accountability” and plan to review video footage to seek additional clarity about the circumstances that led to Nichols’ death.

As for the timing of the video’s release to the public, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the law “places limits on such video release, and that we have to make sure we do so without compromising our ability to arrive at justice in this case.”

“I ask for your patience as we gather all necessary information so that we don’t compromise the investigation or any possible future prosecution,” Mulroy said in a statement.

The Nichols case is the latest high-profile death case to rattle the city. Since November 2021, Memphis has seen the fatal shooting of rapper Young Dolph in a daytime ambush at a bakery; a crime rampage in which a man has been charged with fatally shooting three people and wounding three others; the killing of a United Methodist Church pastor during a carjacking in her driveway; and the early-morning kidnapping of a jogger whose body was later found near a house.

Attorneys: Autopsy shows Tyre Nichols suffered ‘extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating’

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — An independent autopsy indicated that Tyre Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating”, according to attorneys representing his family.

Nichols died on Jan. 10 after he was involved in a traffic stop that left him critically injured three days earlier. Five Memphis police officers involved in his arrest were fired.

Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci confirmed the findings Tuesday in a statement saying:

“On January 23, 2023, our legal team had its own independent autopsy performed on the body of Tyre Nichols by a highly regarded, nationally renowned forensic pathologist. We can state that preliminary findings indicate Tyre suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating, and that his observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7, 2023. Further details and findings from this independent report will be disclosed at another time.”

The news comes as the Department of Justice, FBI, TBI and district attorney’s office continue their investigation. At the request of the investigating agencies, the video of the incident will be released to the public in one to two weeks.

by: Autumn Scott source

Independent autopsy shows Tyre Nichols ‘suffered extensive bleeding caused by severe beating,’ attorneys say

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci have issued a statement on preliminary findings in the independent autopsy of Tyre Nichols, who died after an encounter with Memphis police.

Nichols died on Jan. 10, days after he was involved in a traffic stop conducted by the Memphis Police Department that left him critically injured. Nichols fled the traffic stop scene, and the police began to chase him. Police brutalized him to the point of being unrecognizable.

Attorneys for the family issued the following statement:

“On January 23, 2023, our legal team had its own independent autopsy performed on the body of Tyre Nichols by a highly regarded, nationally renowned forensic pathologist. We can state that preliminary findings indicate Tyre suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating, and that his observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7, 2023. Further details and findings from this independent report will be disclosed at another time.”

source

Police radio traffic holds clues in Tyre Nichols case

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — As we wait for the video footage of what happened to be released to the public, police radio traffic holds clues as to what led to the brutal arrest of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols.

You can hear some of the tense moments that ultimately led to Nichols’ death and the firing of five officers. Two Memphis firefighters were also relieved of duty while the investigation is underway.

Memphis Police say they initially pulled Nichols over for reckless driving, around 8:30 the night of January 7 at East Raines and Ross Roads. His family says he was on his way home, and the initial stop was less than half a mile from his house.

“Any other Scorpion car pull over to East Raines and Ross. We have one running on foot,” one officer was heard saying on radio traffic from Broadcastify obtained by WREG.

An officer asks for a perimeter to be set up.

“Run that tag, see the address,” an officer says.

Officers realize Nichols lives close by. It sounds as if some kind of chase has started.

“[Inaudible]… at Ross and Castlegate Lane, he’s fighting at this time.”

What happens over the course of the interactions and confrontations as described by police is sparsely documented on the radio.

“Taser was deployed as well,” one officer said.

Police dispatch from the moments of Tyre Nichols’ confrontation with officers

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — FOX13 News has obtained police dispatch audio from the day investigators said officers had two confrontations with Tyre Nichols, 29.  Here is a transcript of the dispatch audio:

“2933, we have one black male running.”

“2938, you still have eyes on that subject?”

“Any other Scorpion units pull over to east Raines and Ross.”

“Any other scorpion units pull over to east Raines and Ross. We have one running on foot.”

“Run that tag and see its address.”

“Be advised the subject lives at —- Castlegate.”

“Show me at —- and ——-.””At Ross and Castlegate Lane.  He’s fighting at this time.”

“Does the fire department need to come back down to you or are you bringing him back down?”

“Check … they’re on their way now.”

The duration of the police dispatch audio pertaining to the incident involving Nichols goes on for nearly 10 minutes.

Attorneys for the Nichols family said the police confrontation in which they viewed between officers and Tyre Nichols lasted for approximately three minutes.

It’s then assumed Nichols spent seven minutes running from police officers.

Tyre Nichols: Memphis police body cam video of traffic stop is ‘appalling,’ attorney says after review

An attorney described Tyre Nichols as ‘a human pinata’ in body camera footage showing his encounter with Memphis police

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump on Monday described body camera footage showing a Jan. 7 traffic stop involving deceased Tyre Nichols, who died three days after his encounter with Memphis police, as “appalling” and “heinous” after reviewing the video with Nichols’ family.

“It is appalling. It is deplorable. It is heinous. It is violent,” Crump said of the footage, likening it to video of Rodney King, a Black man who was beaten by police in the 1990s.

MPD initially pulled over Nichols, 29, on Jan. 7 around 8:30 p.m. for “reckless driving” near Raines Road and Ross Road in Memphis, according to a press release MPD published on Jan. 8.

A portrait of Tyre Nichols is displayed at a memorial service for him on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn. Nichols was killed during a traffic stop with Memphis Police on Jan. 7. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)

“While attempting to take the suspect into custody, another confrontation occurred; however, the suspect was ultimately apprehended,” MPD said in the press release. “Afterward the suspect complained of having shortness of breath, at which point an ambulance was called to the scene.”

Authorities transported Nichols to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, and the 28-year-old died three days later on Jan. 10, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), which is investigating the incident.

Nichols’ family believes 28-year-old died as a result of officers’ actions on that day.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump likened police-worn body camera footage of Tyre Nichols to that of Rodney King in the 1990s.

“He was defenseless the entire time. He was a human piñata for those police officers. It was an unadulterated, unabashed beating of this young boy for three minutes. … Not only was it violent. It was savage,” another attorney in Crump’s firm stated during the conference as Nichols’ mother could be heard crying in the background.

Skateboarders skate in front of city hall in remembrance of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, five of whom have been fired, in Memphis, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 23, 2023.  (Gerald Herbert)

“He loved his son. Everything he was trying to do was to better himself as a father for his 4-year-old son,” the civil rights attorney said.

On Jan. 20, MPD announced the termination of five police officers involved in the incident for violating “multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid,” MPD Chief CJ Davis said in a press release at the time.

The five officers who were fired as a result of violating MPD policies include Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. All five officers were hired between 2017 and 2020.

On Jan. 20, MPD announced the termination of five police officers involved in the incident for violating “multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid,” MPD Chief CJ Davis said in a press release at the time. (MPD)

Crump said during Monday’s press conference that the race of the officers involved is not as significant as the race of the victim.

“It is not the race of the police officer that is the determinable factor of the amount of excessive force that is being exerted. It is the race of the citizen,” the civil rights attorney said. “We have to have accountability no matter who tramples on the Constitution of rights for our citizens.”

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also opened an investigation into the incident on Jan. 18.

“As this is an open investigation, we are not able to provide additional comment or release further information at this time,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz said in a statement at the time.

MPD is expected to release the body camera footage in the near future.

By Audrey Conklin | Fox News

Tyre Nichols’ family, lawyer Ben Crump speak after seeing ‘appalling’ footage from arrest

He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition. Nichols died in the hospital.

Nichols’ family calls video ‘horrific’

Nichols’ father, Rodney Wells, said during a press conference the family wants the officers charged with “murder one.” Wells said he believed his son ran from police because he was afraid for his life.

“What I saw on that video today was horrific. No father or mother should have to see that,” Wells said.

Shelby Co. DA Steve Mulroy weighs in on Tyre Nichols’ death investigation

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s been more than a week — eight days to be exact — since the death of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old who Memphis Police said had a confrontation with officers.

Since then, there’s been protests, outcry and now, the federal government is stepping in.

“I want to assure the public that we take this kind of case very seriously, we understand what’s at stake, we understand the public importance of it and we are committed to being as transparent as we can as quickly as we can,” said Mulroy.

The two biggest questions: When will the body camera footage be released? And will his office be the one to prosecute the officers?

“With that in mind, let me just tell you that I originally decided during the campaign and shortly after I took office that when we had officer-involved fatalities, the appropriate course was to get an independent prosecutor. In the first two instances in my tenure, I did precisely that. I went to the TN DA’s conference, a statewide entity, and asked for what’s called a pro-tem appointment of an independent prosecutor, but sadly, because there’s been so many officer-involved fatality cases happening so rapidly, I decided to come up with a different process,” he said.

That different process he’s referring to is to turn to his Justice Review Unit, which was just launched last month.

It consists of Lorna McCluskey and Rob Gowan, two longtime Memphis defense attorneys.

“This is the unit that’s primary responsibility is to look back at our own work in our DA’s office and see if there’s been wrongful convictions or wrongful sentences but I’ve also decided to give them this responsibility as well to make a recommendation based on the TBI investigation in officer involved fatality cases as to whether a prosecution of the involved officers is warranted,” he said.

As for how many officers, Mulroy would not confirm the number of officers or any of the findings from the city investigation, which Mayor Jim Strickland says was completed over the weekend.

But he said once a hearing happens later this week, we can expect to see the video soon after.

“We’re currently thinking that sometime next week might work but we don’t want to guarantee anything because there’s still an ongoing investigation but if all goes well, then something along that timeframe I think is possible,” he said.

Mulroy said there are a handful of reasons why the video has not been released yet.

By Kayla Solomon source

5 officers fired after investigation in death of man

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — On Friday, Memphis Police Department announced the five officers involved in the arrest of Tyre Nichols have been fired: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith.

The arrest of Nichols, 29, brought national scrutiny to the department and the city after the incident resulted in the man’s hospitalization and eventual death.

In a statement, MPD wrote:

“The Memphis Police Department has concluded its administrative investigation into the tragic death of Mr. Tyre Nichols. After a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding this incident, we have determined that five MPD officers violated multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid.

Earlier today, each officer charged was terminated from the Memphis Police Department. The Memphis Police Department is committed to protecting and defending the rights of every citizen in our city. The egregious nature of this incident is not a reflection of the good work that our officers perform, with integrity, every day.”

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy provided the following statement:

“We understand there are many questions from the public surrounding the Tyre Nichols case. Additionally, we’re aware of the reasonable requests to release video, which we are committed to doing as swiftly as possible. 

But we must reemphasize the law places limits on such video release, and that we have to make sure we do so without compromising our ability to arrive at justice in this case. Those who know me know I don’t take situations like this lightly and that I believe firmly in transparency. I ask for your patience as we gather all necessary information so that we don’t compromise the investigation or any possible future prosecution.”

What we know about the case

• On Jan. 7, MPD says officers stopped Tyre Nichols for “reckless driving.” Police say as they approached him, a “confrontation” occurred, and he took off running. After a pursuit, officers claim another “confrontation” occurred before taking Nichols into custody.
• Family says the second confrontation happened just yards from where he lived. The incident was also reportedly captured by a SkyCop camera.

• Police say Nichols then complained of “shortness of breath” and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

• Nichols’ family says the incident made him go into cardiac arrest, left him with a broken neck and he suffered from other medical issues.
• On Jan. 10, he died in the hospital.
  

  Who is Tyre Nichols?

  He leaves behind a 4-year-old son.

  Family says he’s never been in trouble.

  He liked to take pictures and loved to skateboard. Friends wore “Skate in Peace” shirts to his memorial.

  • He was “infectious,” family said. The type of guy that “everywhere he went, he left an impact.” They say he had a “pure soul” and loved helping people.
  • He worked at FedEx. The company released a statement and said, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our team member.”
    

    Who’s investigating?

    • Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy immediately asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conduct an independent investigation into the use of force by Memphis police officers.
    • On Jan. 9, his office sent an email stating they plan “to publish the redacted results on the SCDAG website when the findings are complete.”
    • On Jan. 15, Police Chief C.J. Davis and Mayor Jim Strickland released a joint statement stating the officers involved in the incident have been served notice of “impending administrative action.” Davis also stated she reviewed “various sources of information involving this incident.”
    • On Jan. 16, Nichols’ family retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump. He stated, “all of the available information tells us that this was the tragic and preventable death of a young man deeply beloved by his family and community.” He added, “nobody should die from a simple traffic stop,” and the footage is the “only way to discern the true narrative.”
    • On Jan. 17, the city issued a statement saying the video would be released publicly after the completion of the internal investigation into the actions of the officers and after Nichols’ family has had the opportunity to review it privately. They have not said what type of video from the incident exists, but that they are arranging to meet with Nichols’ family next week.
    • On Jan. 18, United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office in coordination with the FBI and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into Nichols’ death.

5 Memphis police officers fired in death of Tyre Nichols

Five Memphis police officers who were involved in the arrest of Tyre Nichols – who died three days after a traffic stop earlier this month – have been fired, the department announced Friday.

The five officers were dismissed following an “internal investigation” which determined that they “violated multiple department policies, including excessive force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid,” Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis said in a statement.

The five officers were identified by the department as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.

On Jan. 7, the 29-year-old Nichols, who is Black, was arrested after officers stopped him for reckless driving, police said.

There was a confrontation as officers approached the driver, and he ran before he was confronted again by the pursuing officers, who arrested him, authorities said. He complained of shortness of breath and was hospitalized. Officials said a cause of death has not yet been determined.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the state’s police agency, said Nichols died Jan. 10. The agency is conducting a use-of-force investigation at the request of Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy.

he five officers who were fired are all Black, according to a Memphis Police public information officer.

Federal authorities announced Wednesday they were launching a civil rights investigation into the actions of Memphis police.

Relatives have said that the officers who pulled over Nichols were in an unmarked vehicle and that he experienced cardiac arrest and kidney failure because of a beating by officers.

Davis and Mayor Jim Strickland said Tuesday that video footage of the arrest will be released after the police department’s investigation is completed and the family can review it.

source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hTGxseMJL4

Sierra Rogers, holding her daughter Khloe Rogers, 1, wipes away tears as she speaks during a memorial service for her friend Tyre Nichols, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)

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Death of FedEx employee under investigation

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An investigation is underway after a FedEx employee died while on the job.

Airport officials tell WREG that on Wednesday afternoon, a two-vehicle accident sent two people to the hospital. A 48-year-old man died as a result of the crash.

Officials with FedEx confirm he was an employee, saying, “We are deeply saddened. Our heartfelt thoughts are with our team member’s family, colleagues and all of those affected by this event.”

While FedEx declined to provide any specifics surrounding the accident, WREG has learned the state’s occupational safety and health administration is conducting an investigation.

An OSHA spokesperson tells WREG that investigators arrived at the facility Thursday and plan to get to the bottom of what happened. They will be conducting interviews with management and employees and reviewing the company’s records.

This is the second person to be killed at the World Hub this year and third overall death at a FedEx facility in the Mid-South.

At this time, officials have not released the name of the person killed. OSHA says their investigation could take eight to ten weeks to complete.

OSHA will not release any information regarding the incident until the investigation is final. The report, which will detail the agency’s findings, will be open for review by the citizens of Tennessee when it is done.

by: Jordan James source

Tyre Nichols Remembered as a ‘Beautiful Soul;’ City Offers Public Release of Video Footage

By Katie Riordan source

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is processing previously withheld John F. Kennedy assassination-related records to comply with President Joe Biden’s Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the Temporary Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, requiring disclosure of releasable records by December 15, 2022. The National Archives has posted records online to comply with these requirements.

Accessing the Release Files

The table below displays metadata about all the released documents. You can also DOWNLOAD PDF that has LIVE LINKS to EVERY DOCUMENT RELEASED download the spreadsheet as an Excel file cited https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/release2022?page=36

The assassination of John F. Kennedy

For Americans of a certain age, Nov. 22, 1963, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, joined Dec. 7, 1941, and Sept. 11, 2001, as dates that “live in infamy,” never to be forgotten.

President Kennedy’s death, shot from the Texas schoolbook depository by Marxist sharp-shooter Lee Harvey Oswald during a Dallas motorcade, stunned the nation and the world.

In Greenville, which had voted overwhelmingly for Richard Nixon three years earlier (the state went Democratic), the news brought flags lowered to half-mast across the city, tolling bells from St. Mary’s, and sobbing mourners in offices, schools, and factories.

During the weekend that followed, people picked up special editions of The Greenville News and sat glued to their television sets as the drama continued to unfold. They saw strip club owner Jack Ruby’s murder of Oswald on live television. They watched film of Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin being carried into the Rotunda of the Capitol and mourned with thousands of visitors from around the world.

On Monday, when newly sworn in President Lyndon Johnson declared a day of national mourning, they watched, many with tears in their eyes, the almost 19th century pageantry of Kennedy’s funeral procession and his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. cited

Background

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was shot twice while riding in a motorcade on the way to give a speech. His alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested that same day but was shot to death a few days later while in police custody.

The Assassination

Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were in Texas on a fundraising trip. After visiting San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth, the couple traveled to Dallas. Riding in an open car in the presidential motorcade, the Kennedys were accompanied by Texas governor John Connally and his wife. Vice president Lyndon B. Johnson was in a separate car.

As the president’s car passed through Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m., he was shot first in the neck and then in the head by bullets that appeared to be fired from the Texas School Book Depository. Connally was injured by the same bullet that passed through Kennedy’s neck. The motorcade rushed to the hospital, where Kennedy was declared dead at 1 p.m. Vice President Johnson was sworn into office as president at 2:38 p.m. on board Air Force One.

Lee Harvey Oswald

A little over an hour after the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by police as the main suspect. In between Kennedy’s assassination and the arrest, Oswald had also allegedly shot and killed Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit.

Oswald, a Marxist and former Marine, proclaimed his innocence, but two days later (November 24), he was shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby on live television as he was being transferred to the county jail.

Committee Investigations

Kennedy’s funeral was held on November 25. Almost immediately after Kennedy’s death, conspiracy theories began circulating. Johnson created the Warren Commission on November 29, 1963, to investigate the shooting. After 10 months, the commission determined that Oswald had acted alone.

In 1976, the House Select Committee on Assassinations was created to reevaluate Kennedy’s death (as well as that of Martin Luther King Jr.). In 1979, this committee reported that there was likely more than one shooter. However, afterward, the reliability of the evidence, and thus the committee’s conclusions, were questioned.

Learn more about the Assassination of John F. Kennedy through historical newspapers from our archives. Explore newspaper articles, headlines, images, and other primary sources below. cited 

JFK assassination: Thousands of records of President Kennedy’s killing in 1963 made public

The US National Archives has released more than 13,000 documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

But the White House, citing national security concerns, has blocked the release of thousands more. A batch of archives on the case had already been declassified in December 2021.

According to the National Archives, 97% of the approximately five million pages of the file are now available to the public.

The release of the latest documents was not expected to include any new bombshells or change the official conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine and communist activist who had lived in the Soviet Union, acted alone.

However, the latest cache will be useful for historians focusing on the events around the assassination.

Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in his motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963, at the age of 46.

Thousands of books, articles, TV shows and films have explored the idea that Kennedy’s assassination was the result of an elaborate conspiracy. None have produced conclusive proof that Oswald worked with anyone else.

Many of the released documents belonged to the CIA, including several that focused on Oswald’s movements and his contacts. Other documents focus on requests from the Warren Commission investigating the assassination.

The documents show that the US government opened a file on Oswald in December 1960, nearly three years before Kennedy’s murder and after Oswald’s failed defection to the Soviet Union in 1959.

In Mexico City, they “intercepted” a phone call Oswald made from the Mexican capital to the Soviet Embassy “using his own name” and speaking “broken Russian”. The documents show that Oswald was hoping to travel through Cuba on his way to Russia and was seeking a visa.

There were initial concerns that Jack Ruby — a nightclub owner who fatally shot Oswald two days after the assassination — might have had some connection to Kennedy’s killer. But a memo to the presidential commission investigating the assassination in September 1964, newly released, said the CIA had “no indication” that they had ever been “connected in any manner”.

In 1992 the US Congress ordered that all remaining sealed files on the investigation should be made public by October 2017, except for those the president authorised for further withholding.

In 2017, then-President Donald Trump released some, but decided to release the remaining documents on a rolling basis.

All remaining JFK files were originally supposed to have been released in October 2021, but President Biden postponed the move, citing delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.They were then meant to be disclosed in two batches: in December 2021 and another by December 15, 2022, after undergoing an intensive one-year review.

The CIA said that with Thursday’s release, 95% of the documents in its JFK assassination records collection have been released in their entirety. No documents will remain redacted or withheld in full after an “intensive one-year review” of all previously unreleased information, the intelligence agency said.

Biden said a review of still undisclosed documents would continue until 1 May 2023, after which date any withheld information would be released by 30 June — unless agencies recommended continued postponement cited 

 

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JFK assassination: National Archives releases nearly 1,500 confidential documents

Many of the documents relate to Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald

By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi | Fox News

The National Archives and Records Administration on Wednesday released nearly 1,500 confidential documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The government agency released the files via their website. Historians, political scholars and believers in a wide range of theories about Kennedy’s assassination immediately began poring over the documents.

Many of the documents relate to Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Many files also reference tensions between the United States and Cuba, evaluating statements from leader Fidel Castro that allude to the possibility of Kennedy being in danger due to escalating aggression between the two nations.

NARA explained in a brief statement on their site that the institution was “processing previously withheld John F. Kennedy assassination-related records to comply with President Joe Biden’s Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the Temporary Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, requiring disclosure of releasable records by December 15, 2021.”

The records are scanned and available individually as PDF files. The site also offers a text search for readers looking for key subjects or phrases.

“The National Archives has posted records online to comply with these requirements,” the site explains.

Many unanswered questions remain about the Kennedy assassination which took place on Nov. 22, 1963. In the decades since, conspiracy theories and speculation of all kinds have surfaced, adding to the swell of allure surrounding the single event that changed – and continues to mystify – the country.

Fox News legal analyst and host of ‘JFK: The Conspiracy Continues’ Gregg Jarrett joined ‘Fox & Friends’ in August, telling co-host Will Cain that the government is to blame for the skepticism — asserting that most Americans don’t believe the beloved 35th U.S. president was shot and killed by a lone gunman.

“The government, to this day, continues to hide thousands of assassination records,” said Jarrett.

US unseals thousands of classified JFK assassination documents

The documents cover a CIA surveillance operation against Lee Harvey Oswald before JFK’s assassination

By Anders Hagstrom , Adam Sabes | Fox News

The National Archives unsealed thousands of formerly classified documents relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

President Biden ordered the release of 12,879 documents relating to the attack, including many from the CIA’s personality file on Lee Harvey Oswald that it maintained both before and after JFK’s killing.

Conspiracies surrounding JFK’s killing have piqued the curiosity — and sometimes obsession — of Americans for decades. Nevertheless, White House officials have reportedly indicated that nothing in the documents will support the two most popular conspiracies: That Oswald was not the shooter and that JFK’s killing was a government conspiracy.

The release is the largest since December of last year when the Biden administration released 1,500 documents, most of them related to Oswald; 12,879 documents were released on Thursday. Fox News is reviewing the files.

In ordering the release of the documents, Biden said that some documents are being withheld “to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.”

The president said he directed government agencies to review “the full set of almost 16,000 records that had previously been released in redacted form” and added that they “determined that more than 70 percent of those records may now be released in full.”

“This significant disclosure reflects my Administration’s commitment to transparency and will provide the American public with greater insight and understanding of the Government’s investigation into this tragic event in American history,” Biden said in the order.

Last year’s release was disappointing for many interested in the issue, with Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett stating at the time that the government had much more to release.

“There are some surprising results and information in those documents,” Jarrett said. “But, thousands more are yet to be released.”

“The government, to this day, continues to hide thousands of assassination records,” he added.

Jarrett went on to assert that most Americans do not believe the official story that Oswald operated as a lone gunman in the attack, as was found in the 1964 Warren Commission.

Adding fuel to the fire was Oswald’s own assassination in 1963 at the hands of a Texas nightclub owner.

The chief topic in Thursday’s release is Oswald’s 80-volume “personality file,” a document containing essentially everything the CIA knew about Oswald both before and after the attack, according to Politico.

The documents also offer insight into the CIA’s surveillance operation against Oswald in Mexico City just weeks before the assassination.

JFK assassination files:
Gregg Jarrett breaks down public skepticism over document reveal

Fox Nation’s ‘JFK: The Conspiracy Continues’ breaks down the wider story and offers proper context to the conspiracy theories and speculation fueled by the assassination

By Yael Halon | Fox News

The National Archives and Records Administration on Wednesday released nearly 1,500 confidential documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

The tranche of documents comes amid public demands for transparency about the November 22nd, 1963 assassination, which has fueled conspiracy theories and speculation of all kinds in the decades since.

Fox Nation revisited that tragic day in Dallas in a special titled, ‘JFK: The Conspiracy Continues,” which outlined some unanswered questions and public skepticism historians hope to finally clarify in light of Wednesday’s document release, with thousands more yet to be disclosed.

Fox News legal analyst and host of the Fox Nation show Greg Jarrett said in August that the government is to blame for the skepticism — asserting that most Americans don’t believe the beloved 35th U.S. president was shot and killed by a lone gunman.

“There are some surprising results and information in those documents,” Jarrett said. “But, thousands more are yet to be released.” “The government, to this day, continues to hide thousands of assassination records.”

President Biden in October delayed their release until this month, giving federal agencies more time to review the documents and make the necessary redactions.

Many of the newly released documents relate to Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Many files also reference tensions between the United States and Cuba, evaluating statements from leader Fidel Castro that allude to the possibility of Kennedy being in danger due to escalating aggression between the two nations.

“He denied killing the president, was paraded before reporters and told them he was a patsy,” Jarrett said.

Almost immediately after the Warren Commission in 1964 ruled that Oswald had been the lone gunman, conspiracy theories began to circulate over whether he had been the only shooter and if the CIA had been involved in the Kennedy assassination.

“For some Americans,” the Warren Commission was part of the conspiracy, drawn in by Johnson and FBI director Jay Edgar Hoover days after Kennedy was shot,” Jarrett explained.

But before authorities were able to fully question Oswald, the former U.S. Marine was shot and killed on Nov. 24, 1963, by Texas nightclub owner Jack Ruby – adding more fuel to the speculative fire that the U.S. government was hiding what it knew about the assassination.

“The questions were swirling about Lee Harvey Oswald, why he did it, who motivated him to do it, was he alone or was there some shadowy conspiracy involved?” Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera says in the Fox Nation show. “What the hell happened that day in Dallas Texas?”

Now, with the help of award-winning director Oliver Stone, Jarrett’s four-part deep-dive takes on the issue, striving to give the American people the whole story and offer proper context as historians and political scholars analyze the latest trove of documents. Fox News’ Laura Carrione contributed to this report.

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Thousands of JFK assassination files finally released – will bombshells emerge?

Material not expected to rebut Warren commission conclusion that president was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone

Historians and conspiracy theorists have been given an early Christmas present: the release from US National Archives of 13,173 documents relating to the official investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F Kennedy.

From barely legible memos filled with the crabby handwriting of CIA agents, through reports on secret meetings with Russian diplomats, to painstaking detective work on the movements of Lee Harvey Oswald, the trove of documents will keep JFK assassination obsessives busy for months. Few expect bombshells among the pile, however.

The newly declassified materials are unlikely to disturb the conclusion of the 1964 Warren commission charged with getting to the bottom of the outrage. It found that Oswald, a former Marine and communist who defected to the Soviet Union, had killed Kennedy, acting alone, by firing three shots as the 46-year-old Democratic US president rode in an open-top limousine through Dealey Plaza in Dallas on 22 November 1963.

One of the newly released documents, dating from September 1964, underlines that point. At the request of the commission, the CIA had searched its own files for any connection between Oswald and Jack Ruby, the local nightclub owner who shot and killed Oswald on live television in the basement of Dallas police headquarters two days after the Kennedy assassination.

“Examination of Central Intelligence Agency files has produced no information on Jack RUBY or his activities,” the document states. “The Central Intelligence Agency has no indication that RUBY and Lee Harvey OSWALD ever knew each other, were associated, or might have been connected in any manner.”

Thursday’s release of thousands of documents means that 95% of the CIA’s records on the assassination are now available to the public. As a final step there will be an “intensive one-year review” of any remaining closed files before a complete opening of the books by 30 June 2023.

The unveiling of the CIA documents has been delayed for years. In 1992, Congress ordered their full release by October 2017, but the deadline was pushed back by presidential decrees from both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Such postponements have allowed conspiracy theories to flourish. Some of the most instantly intriguing material in the newly-released stash concerns the proliferation of conspiracy theories and misinformation around the assassination. Over the years there have been umpteen lurid suggestions of who was responsible, ranging from the Cubans, the Soviet Union and the Mafia to the Teamsters union boss Jimmy Hoffa – and the CIA itself.

A file marked “secret” from September 1964 gives clues as to how lurid stories spread quickly in the months after Kennedy died. CIA agents in Stockholm reported back to HQ on their quizzing of an unnamed subject who had been reported in the Swedish newspapers to have said that he had lived in Cuba for many years and had advance knowledge of the assassination.

The agents wrote: “When asked whether he had foretold assassination of Kennedy, he denied quote ascribed to him and said could not recall any similar statements. Said he knew nothing of assassination before it happened … Appeared slightly embarrassed as if ashamed of statements he made while drunk.”

A separate document also from September 1964 described a meeting between a Soviet diplomat in Helsinki, Felix Karasev, and US officials. The encounter began with the US-Soviet officials waging a couple of bets on the Olympics which were to be held the following month in Tokyo.

“Will necessitate two drinking parties,” the official memo drily noted.

Talk then turned to the Oswald case. The US officials suggested to Karasev that maybe there was Soviet involvement behind Oswald’s actions, and he replied: “This would have been possible if Oswald had been in China, but not in the Soviet Union.”

Karasev then counter-attacked that “he could not help but believe that Ruby was tool of ‘reactionary forces’”, and that it would have been impossible for him to shoot Oswald “without assistance of some US officials”. The Americans “tried debunk this impression, but Karasev held to his views”.

The new files also record conspiracy theories swirling years after the Warren commission. A secret document from March 1978 refers to an article in the Guardian reporting on a BBC documentary.

The film explored the possibility that the assassination was a spinoff from a CIA/mafia plot to murder Cuba’s Fidel Castro. It claimed links between Oswald, the CIA and the Soviet KGB.

The US officials who wrote the memo warned that the documentary had been “presented in prestigious [BBC current affairs program] ‘Panorama’ slot which has wide and large audience. Will have considerable impact on viewers.”

Fast forward to today, and the “who killed JFK?” industry remains in robust health. Hours after Biden released the new files, Tucker Carlson, Fox News’s conspiracy theorist-in-chief, began his primetime show by telling his 3 million viewers that the CIA did it.

Carlson had talked to an “unnamed source” with direct knowledge of the JFK files the CIA was still hiding. The informed view of the “source” was that “the CIA was involved in the Kennedy assassination. It’s a whole different country from what we thought it was. It’s all fake.”

Lest anyone had any doubts, Carlson emphasised the credibility of the “source”. “This is not a ‘conspiracy theorist’ we spoke to. Not even close,” he said. cited

The Secret Service may have been ‘impaired’ the day JFK was assassinated

Some of the Secret Service members in charge of protecting President John F. Kennedy might have been impaired the day he was killed. That’s what author Susan Cheever says in her new book “Drinking in America: Our Secret History.” Following is a transcript of the video.

Susan Cheever: The Secret Service men who were guarding the presidential motorcade, who are in the follow-up car to JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy during the Dallas motorcade in 1963, had been out drinking until 2, 3, 4, 5 in the morning. So those guys who were responsible for saving the lives of JFK and Jacqueline were clearly impaired.

What happened was the night before they were all in Fort Worth with the president. They hadn’t gotten anything to eat all day. So after the president and first lady went to bed seven of the Secret Service men went out looking for food. And first they went to the Fort Worth Press Club where they had heard there would be some food, but there wasn’t any. So they had a beer, a couple scotches. whatever, and then some of them went back to the hotel and a few of them went on to another club called the Cellar Coffee House.

Which Chief Justice Earl Warren was furious about this when he found out. And in the Warren Commission report there is Chief Justice Earl Warren exploding about this and he calls the Cellar Coffee House some hippie joint, right.

So some of them stayed at the Cellar Coffee House until 5 in the morning for a 8:48 call. So you know, if you’re up until 5 in the morning, if you’ve had anything to drink, you’re not your best self at noon or 1230 the next day. cited 

Dirty Cops Expose

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The body of a California Highway Patrol captain was found just days after a man was arrested in the shooting death of her husband in Kentucky, investigators said.

Julie V. Harding, 49, a commander with the highway patrol, was found dead Saturday at a home in Celina, Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A statement from TBI did not say how she died, but authorities believe no foul play was involved.

Police have not said whether there is a connection between Julie Harding’s death and the fatal shooting of her husband, Michael Harding, who was living in Celina, Tennessee, and went missing in September.

Michael Harding’s body was found Sept. 26 in a home in Burkesville, Kentucky, near the Tennessee line. Michael Harding, 53, had been shot to death, according to Kentucky State Police.

An investigation by state troopers in Kentucky along with the FBI and Tennessee authorities led to the arrest of 60-year-old Thomas O’Donnell, of Napa, California, on Dec. 8. O’Donnell was charged with murder in Michael Harding’s death, Kentucky State Police said.

SEE ALSO: 3 gang members arrested in Oakland highway shooting death of toddler Jasper Wu

O’Donnell was arrested at the Sacramento airport, according to online booking records of the Sacramento County Sheriff. He is in jail in California and awaiting extradition to Kentucky to face the murder charge, Kentucky State Police said.

READ MORE: Oakland police investigate early morning homicide

Julie Harding was arrested for trespassing at a home in Tennessee two days before her body was found, according to media reports. She was jailed and released.

The California Highway Patrol said in a statement that Harding was on leave at the time of her death. She has worked at the department since 1999 and had been commander of the Yuba Sutter area office since 2018.

An autopsy is being performed on Julie Harding’s body in Nashville.

Social media star was killed while on a road trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie, who was later found dead in Florida after a weeks-long manhunt

Gabby Petito, 22, an aspiring social media star who went missing in August 2021 during a “dream” cross-country road trip from New York to Oregon with her fiancé, was strangled to death, and her body found in a Wyoming national park.

More than a month later, skeletal human remains found inside the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida were confirmed to be those of her fiancé Brian Laundrie.

Autopsy results showed Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and a notebook found alongside the remains contained a note claiming responsibility for the murder.

Family members and police had conducted a nationwide search for the missing “van life” blogger after her mother, Nicole Schmidt, reported her missing on 11 September 2021, ten days after Laundrie had returned home to North Port, Florida, in the couple’s white Ford transit van without her and declined to co-operate with inquiries from Petito’s family.

Gabby Petito, from Blue Point, Long Island, was last seen on 27 August 2021 at a Whole Foods store in Wyoming with Laundrie, her partner of two and a half years.

The couple had been documenting their travel experiences as “van lifers” since setting out from New York on 2 July 2021 via a YouTube channel called Nomadic Statik. Petito would regularly FaceTime her mother from the road, causing Ms Schmidt to grow concerned when she failed to hear from her daughter for several days.

On 15 September 2021, North Port Police in Florida revealed that Laundrie was a “person of interest” in the case.

Two days earlier, Laundrie himself went missing, although his family did not report his absence to the police for several days. He was believed to have headed to the nearby Carlton Reserve with just a backpack, prompting an intense manhunt in the area.

That same day, the FBI removed Laundrie’s parents from their home and began investigating the house as a crime scene.

While law enforcement was searching for Laundrie in Florida on 19 September 2021, investigators announced they had located a body believed to be that of Petito in the eastern portion of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The discovery was aided by another travel YouTuber who spotted Petito’s van in a video they had been editing.

On 20 October 2021, human remains were found in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, connected to the Carlton Reserve, close to where personal belongings of Laundrie’s were found earlier in the day. The skeletal remains were confirmed to belong to Laundrie a day later.

Since then, Petito’s family have filed wrongful death lawsuits against both the Laundrie family and the Moab Police Department in Utah.

On 17 November, the Petito’s were awarded $3m in a wrongful death lawsuit taken against Brian Laundrie.

Here is everything we know about the case.

Last contact

According to Ms Schmidt, Gabby Petito would FaceTime with her about three times a week.

But after the pair spoke on 25 August 2021, Ms Schmidt received several worrying text messages over the following few days but was not convinced that they were actually written by her daughter.

Those text messages sent by Petito to her mother in the days before her disappearance indicated a growing strain between her and Laundrie, a police search warrant later revealed.

Ms Schmidt’s suspicions were further raised when she received a final “odd text” in which Petito mentioned her grandfather by his first name “Stan” on 27 August 2021, the warrant stated.

“Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls,” the message said, according to the warrant.

Ms Schmidt said the text was concerning because her daughter never called her grandfather by his first name.

“The mother was concerned something was wrong with her daughter,” the warrant said, and provided “probable cause” that a felony crime had been committed.

Prior to the last communication, Petito was believed to have been in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Petito’s mother told Fox News the pair were heading for Yellowstone National Park next but Petito never arrived.

“The first couple of days when I wasn’t getting responses, I believed she was in a place with no service. It was like day eight and nine that I really became concerned,” Ms Schmidt said.

Ms Schmidt now believes the final text message she received from her daughter claiming she was in Yosemite was fake.

The text message sent from her daughter’s phone on 30 August 2021 said: “No service in Yosemite”. Her phone was switched off on 31 August or 1 September.

Yosemite, in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, is 800 miles from her last known location in Wyoming.

Ms Schmidt said she texted Brian and his mother Roberta Laundrie on 10 September 2021 but had received no response.

Petito was reported missing to the Suffolk County Police Department, New York, by her family on 11 September around 6.55pm.

Laundrie had returned to his Florida home on 1 September 2021 without his fiancee. Police subsequently seized the couple’s 2012 Ford Transit van on the day she was reported missing and said the circumstances of her disappearance “appeared odd”.

Brian Laundrie named ‘person of interest’ and vanishes

On 15 September 2021, North Port Police named Brian Laundrie as a “person of interest” in the case.

“As a father, I can imagine the pain and suffering Gabby’s family is going through,” North Port Police chief Todd Garrison said in a press release.

“The lack of information from Brian is hindering this investigation. The answers will eventually come out.”

Two days earlier, on 13 September, Laundrie left home, reportedly telling his parents he was going for a hike in the nearby Carlton Reserve. He has not been seen since.

Crucially, his parents did not inform investigators he had left the house and was missing until three days later on 17 September and initially misstated the day of his departure as 14 September, before revising their statement.

A major search got underway in the swampy 25,000-acre wilderness on 18 September, as police said it was possible he could survive there hiding out “for months”.

It was later revealed his parents went camping with Brian in Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County between 6 and 8 September, days before Petito was reported missing on 11 September.

North Port Police scaled back its search for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve, saying it had “exhausted all avenues” for finding him man in the dense swampland. Days later, divers returned to the area for a new round of searching

The same day, FBI and North Port Police executed a search warrant at the Laundrie family home in North Port, as hundreds of onlookers and members of the media were gathered outside.

They removed parents Chris and Roberta and placed them in a police vehicle in the driveway as they conducted a six-hour search of the house.

A search warrant revealed they were particularly interested in examining devices including phones, computers and external hard drives for any clues as to Laundrie’s whereabouts or involvement in his girlfriend’s death.

Internet browsing history, text messages and other data stored on those devices was of particular focus, the warrant said.

North Port Police, the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies resumed their search of the alligator and snake-infested Carlton Reserve on 21 September 2021.

Meanwhile, authorities in Alabama received reports of several sightings of Laundrie in the state, 600 miles from North Port over the same weekend.

Eventually former reality tv star Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, joined the manhunt, bringing another layer of spectacle to the ongoing search.

Mr Chapman donated $10,000 to the reward fund for locating Laundrie, uncovered what he believed to be a “primitive” campsite and also turned reporters onto the Laundrie family trip to Fort DeSoto, but eventually left the search after suffering an injury to his ankle.

The search for Laundrie continued into October. The FBI took over the case from the North Port Police, and almost immediately began scaling the swamp searches for Laundrie back. After several days of truncated search efforts, a decision was made to once again surge into the swamp to look for Laundrie. Chris Laundrie joined the police for a day, driving with them into the Carlton Reserve to point out his son’s favored spaces.

No evidence of Laundrie was ever found anywhere in the Carlton Reserve. However, on 20 October, police found Laundrie’s belongings and later recovered human remains close to where his belongings were found, in Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. The identity of the remains was confirmed to be his using Laundrie’s dental records.

The ‘domestic incident’ and an eerie connection to a double homicide

With the investigation underway and whipping up international media interest, police in the small Utah town of Moab City revealed they had responded to reports of a domestic violence incident involving the couple some five weeks earlier.

A bystander had called 911 at about 4.45pm on 12 August 2021 to say he “feared the worst” after witnessing the couple come to blows in their van.

“I’m right on the corner of Main St by Moonflower… I’d like to report a domestic dispute,” the caller said in the 49-second audio recording, which was released on 20 September.

“The gentleman was slapping the girl… They ran up and down the sidewalk, he proceeded to hit her and then they drove off.”

The incident happened outside the Moonflower Community Cooperative, where newlywed Kylen Schulte worked.

The bodies of Schulte, 24, and her wife Crystal Turner, 38, were found days later in a nearby camping ground, with multiple gunshot wounds. The double homicide remains unsolved and the Grand County Sheriff’s Office said the two incidents were not connected, although for a moment it was feared they could be.

Police in Utah also released body camera footage of the incident showing officers separating Petito and Laundrie.

Attending officer Daniel Robbins said the couple appeared to have been going through a “mental health crisis”, according to a police incident report obtained by The Independent.

The officer reported that the couple both suffered from a mental illness that caused them to argue more and they had not been taking medication during their cross-country trip in their converted Ford van.

“That time spent created emotional strain between them and increased the number of arguments,” Mr Robbins wrote.

Mr Robbins wrote that Laundrie had tried to lock his girlfriend out of the van, but she managed to get in through the driver’s door.

“He got into their van and Gabrielle had gone into a manic state. Brian said Gabrielle, thinking he was going to leave her in Moab without a ride, went to slap him,” Mr Robbins wrote.

“As Gabrielle started to swing, Brian pushed her away to avoid the slap.”

According to the statement, Petito was off balance but still caught Laundrie’s face and right arm, leaving visible scratches.

Mr Robbins said he did not believe the incident “escalated to the level of a domestic assault”.

He decided to separate the couple for the night so they could “reset their mental states”.

Even though the couple wanted to remain together, police arranged for Laundrie to spend the night at a hotel through Seekhaven, a family crisis centre in Moab.

Petito remained in the van for the evening.

“I instructed both Brian and Gabrielle to take advantage of this time apart to relax their emotions and regain control of their anxiety.”

Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner were last seen at a bar in Moab on 13 August 2021 and their bodies were found five days later at a campsite in the South Mesa area of the La Sal Mountains.

After the Moonflower Co-op connection emerged, Maggie Keating, the store’s marketing and community outreach coordinator told The Independent the connection to another high-profile case was troubling.

“It’s a bit overwhelming,” she said. “We’re definitely still grieving the loss. It’s only been a month and we’ve had to keep trucking along and then this brings it back to the forefront of our minds.”

There is no evidence to connect the two incidents, but the timing and proximity to each other has prompted further unease in the town.

Seeking answers

North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor told The Independent Laundrie’s parents had refused to allow officers to speak to him and had given them contact information for the family’s attorney, Steve Bertolino.

Asked if police found anything suspicious in the family’s actions, Mr Taylor said: “There’s common sense at play.”

“We don’t even have any evidence that a crime has been committed, other than concern and things not adding up that would leave you to potentially assume that,” he added.

“It’s possible that something very bad has happened here, she hasn’t been seen for weeks and now he’s back here with the vehicle and we’ve been told to speak to the family attorney.”

Later that day, Mr Bertolino issued a statement saying they hoped the search for Ms Petito would be successful.

“This is an extremely difficult time for both the Petito family and the Laundrie family,” the statement said.

“I understand that a search has been organised for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

“On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family.

“On the advice of counsel the Laundrie family is remaining in the background at this juncture and will have no further comment.”

Both Petito’s father, Joe Petito, and mother, Ms Schmidt, were angered by the Laundrie family statement.

Appearing on Fox News, Gabby’s father Joe Petito said: “I’m sorry. That’s not a statement.

“Forget Brian, Brian’s home safe. His parents, yeah it’s hard for them. Bulls***.

“You know what? My daughter is not here. Our daughter is not here. We don’t even know where she is, what state she’s in.”

Later that day, Ms Schmidt also blasted her daughter’s boyfriend.

“Brian claims he wants to sit in the background while we search for Gabby in the wilderness of the Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks,” she wrote in a statement released through her lawyer, Richard Stafford.

“Brian left Gabby in the wilderness with grizzly bears and wolves while he sits in the comfort of his home. In his home!

“Brian, how could you do this to Gabby?” Ms Schmidt asked, adding his silence was “reprehensible”.

Ms Schmidt implored Laundrie to come forward with what he knew.

“Brian, whatever happened in Wyoming, happened. The only thing you can control is what you do now. Tell us where Gabby is.”

‘At the point that their desperation is turning to anger’

Petito’s parents continued to increase the pressure on the Laundrie family, releasing an open letter to Brian’s parents, Chris and Roberta Laundrie, begging them to tell the police what they know.

The open letter, signed by Jim and Nicole Schmidt, Petito’s stepfather and mother, and Joe and Tara Petito, her father and stepmother, was read out to a press conference by Mr Stafford.

The full text read: “We are writing this letter to ask you to help find our beautiful daughter. We understand you are going through a difficult time and your instinct to protect your son is strong.

“We ask you to put yourselves in our shoes We haven’t been able to sleep or eat and out live are falling apart.

“We believe you know the location of where Brian left Gabby. We beg you to tell us. As a parent, how could you let us go through this pain and not help us. As a parent how could you put Gabby’s younger brothers and sisters through this.

“Gabby lived with you for over a year. she was going to be your daughter-in-law. How can you keep her location hidden?

“You were both at Jim and Nicole’s house. You were both so happy that Brian and Gabby got engaged and were planning to spend their lives together.

“Please, if you or your family has any decency left, please tell us where Gabby is located. Tell us if we are even looking in the right place.

“All we want is Gaby to come home. Please help us make that happen.”

After reading the letter, Mr Stafford told media the parents were “at the point that their desperation is turning to anger”.

“They know that the Laundries know where their daughter is. That’s infuriating.”

‘Finding her is all that matters’

As media and public interest in Petito’s disappearance grew, her family harnessed that attention to repeatedly call for help in finding their daughter.

Ms Schmidt told a press conference on 13 September: “As a mom, I had concerns about a daughter going on a road trip in general. But I felt safe… They had a plan, an itinerary, and we were excited for them.”

Addressing Petito directly, her father said: “Gabby, we just want you to come home. Call us. Let us know you’re OK. Come home, please.”

Using social media, the family continued to share updates and photographs of Petito, with Joe Petito telling another press conference: “Finding her is all that matters.”

But looming over their activities was the continuing silence of one person: Brian Laundrie.

The Petito camp’s pressure campaign may have had some effect as North Port Police were called to the Laundrie residence on the night of 17 September and were informed by Mr Laundrie’s parents that he had left the family house earlier that week, heading for the Carlton Reserve, and had not been seen since.

As the police hunted for Laundrie in Florida, the search for Petito began to hone in on an area where their Ford Transit van had been spotted in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

YouTuber Jen Bethune was driving through the Spread Creek Campground on 27 August 2021, recording from a dashcam as she went.

It was only after Petito was declared missing that she realised the significance of the white van parked on the side of the road and picked out by her camera as she passed.

Once her video evidence was relayed to investigators searching for Petito, they concentrated their efforts in the area.

Body found

On 19 September 2021, the FBI announced a body had been found in the area they were searching in the Grand Teton National Park.

Police subsequently held a press conference and announced that the body matched the description of Petito. Her family were informed of the development and social media was inundated with messages of condolence.

On 21 September, Petito family attorney Richard Stafford confirmed the body was indeed Gabby’s in a text message to The Independent.

The Teton County coroner, Dr Brent Blue, confirmed Petito’s death had been a homicide by strangulation.

Arrest warrant

On 23 September 2021, the FBI revealed a warrant had been issued for Laundrie’s arrest by a federal court a day earlier, relating to his “activities following the death of Gabrielle Petito”.

Specifically, Laundrie was charged with fraudulently using someone else’s debit card from 30 August to 1 September, spending or withdrawing $1,000 or more.

Laundrie family lawyer Steven Bertolino told Fox News the warrant was unrelated to Ms Petito’s death itself, saying: “It is my understanding the arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie is related to activities occurring after the death of Gabby Petito and not related to her actual demise.”

On 2 October 2021, David Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County in Florida, claimed more serious criminal charges against Laundrie would be “extremely likely” if he was found alive.

Defending his office for not filing charges against Laundrie, he said “prosecutors have a higher burden to prove cases beyond any reasonable doubt”.

Asked by News Nation Now why Laundrie hadn’t been charged with a more serious crime at that point in the disappearance and death of the YouTuber, Mr Aronberg added: “I think that’s coming.”

Social media under scrutiny

Prior to setting out on their road trip on 2 July 2021, Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie had saved up money and quit their jobs to travel across the US as part of a growing neo-hippie movement of “van lifers”, who eschew a convential lifestyle in search of freedom and adventure.

Their Instagram accounts documented parts of their trip, with the first post appearing on the day of their departure. They posted about Kansas’ Monument Rocks, Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park in Utah and Canyonlands National Park as their journey progressed.

“Downsizing our life to fit into this itty bitty van was the best decision we’ve ever made,” Laundrie wrote on Instagram that month. “Sacrificing space to wake up in nature every day has been no sacrifice at all.”

It was these posts that inspired enormous interest in the case and were seized on by an army of online sleuths who joined the effort to help locate Petito when she was first declared missing.

They pored over her Instagram posts, searching for any inconsistencies, clues or possible causes for concern.

She last posted a photo on her Instagram account on 26 August, a picture of herself in front of a butterfly mural with a small knitted pumpkin in her hand and the caption “happy halloween”.

Her previous post, on 19 August, showed the view of a park from inside her van.

Unlike her usual posts, neither of these two featured a location tag.

Some Instagram users pointed out that this was not her usual style and that her hair appeared to have been freshly dyed in the photo.

Laundrie’s social media accounts have also been attracting significant attention.

A Pinterest page suspected of being Laundrie’s purported to offer new clues into his state of mind in the weeks before his girlfriend’s disappearance.

One image shared widely shows a sketch of ghostly figures, a gravestone and text scattered throughout which reads “let her go, let her go, God bless her, wherever she may be”. It is taken from the 1933 Betty Boop cartoon Snow White, in which Cab Calloway sings “St James Infirmary Blues”, whose lyrics the post contains.

In a separate post, text at the bottom of an image reads: “Don’t try to find me,” and “I have finally escaped my ‘master’s’ wicked clutches. To the others I say: JOIN ME. Bite the hand that feeds you. Vive La Liberte.”

Another folder entitled “Life Goals” shared by Laundrie, was co-authored by his mother and Petito, who appeared to be using it to make plans for the couple’s wedding.

On Instagram, Brian Laundrie generally presented himself as an outdoorsman, a devoted boyfriend and an artist with conspiratorial leanings.

Brian Laundrie’s remains found

Police found partial human remains inside the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park on 20 October 2021 near where items belonging to Brian Laundrie, including his backpack and notebook, were found earlier in the day. Mr Laundrie’s parents visited the park to examine the items. The Sarasota medical examiner was called to the scene, as were human remains detecting dogs.

A large tent was erected at the park where the clothes were found. The clothes were found shortly after Laundrie’s parents joined law enforcement to search the park on Wednesday morning.

The FBI later made a statement explaining that the findings were in an area that had previously been underwater and said: “The team will be on the scene for several days,” adding that law enforcement were working “diligently” to confirm the identity of the remains.

A day later the remains were confirmed to be his.

Laundrie’s parents, who have been under fire throughout the case for perceived lack of cooperation, released a statement via their lawyer, sayin“Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that the remains found yesterday in the reserve are indeed Brian’s,” said Mr Bertolino in a statement.

On 24 June 2022, a confession note found alongside Laundrie’s body was released in which he explained why he had killed Ms Petito.

Laundrie, 23, admitted killing Ms Petito, 22, and perversely claimed he thought her death was “merciful”.

“I ended her life,” Laundrie wrote in a notebook recovered by the FBI from the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park alongside Laundrie’s body on 20 October 2021.

“I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made.

“I panicked. I was in shock. But from the moment I decided I took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”

Laundrie claimed in the confession note that Ms Petito had been injured after falling into a creek prior to her death.

“I found her breathing heavily gasping my name, she was freezing cold,” he wrote.

“I carried her as far as I could down the stream towards the car, stumbling exhausted in shock, when my knees buckled and knew I couldn’t safely carry her. I started a fire and spooned her as close to the heat, she was so thin, had already been freezing too long. I couldn’t at the time realize that I should’ve started a fire first but I wanted her out of the cold back to the car.”

Laundrie wrote that his girlfriend’s feet and wrists hurt, and she was violently shaking from the cold.

He claimed she was “gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain”.

“I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injurys (sic). Only that she was in extreme pain.”

Laundrie said he decided he “couldn’t go on” after strangling his girlfriend of nearly three years.

“From the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.”

Brian Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

In March 2022, Petito’s parents filed a civil lawsuit claiming the the Laundries knew their son had killed their daughter, an aspiring vlogger, before she had been reported missing.

In the suit, Petito’s parents also accuse Chris and Roberta Laundrie of planning to help Brian leave the country.

In an amendment filed in April, the Petito family alleged that, not only did the Laundries know their 23-year-old son had murdered his girlfriend, but they knew the location of her remains.

The Laundries are seeking to have the case dismissed, and a hearing was held on 22 June in the Sarasota County Circuit Court in Venice, Florida.

Petito attorney Pat Reilly honed in on a statement issued by Mr Bertolino on 16 September that said “it is our hope that the search for Ms Petito is successful”.

Mr Reilly claimed the Laundries had deliberately put out a false statement when they knew she was not alive.

“That’s callous, it’s shameful, it’s outrageous,” he said, adding that the only reason Mr Bertolino was not a defendant in the civil case was because he’s not a resident of Florida.

In November, the Petitos were awarded $3m from the wrongful death lawsuit.

In a statement to The Independent, the Petito’s attorney Patrick Reilly said no amount of money could compensate the family for their heartbreak.

Mr Reilly said he was unsure if the family would receive the full $3m figure, and that any money received from the judgment would go towards the Gabby Petito Foundation.

Nichole Schmidt has also filed a separate wrongful death claim against Laundrie’s estate.

Ms Schmidt states in the suit that Laundrie intentionally killed her 22-year-old daughter, causing her and her ex-husband Joseph Petito to incur funeral and burial expenses, and suffer “a loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort”.

Ms Schmidt is seeking a trial by jury and a judgment for compensatory damages of $30,000 in the suit.

Petito’s parents filed a $50m wrongful death lawsuit against Moab police on 3 November 2022, alleging officer’s misconduct may have led to their daughter’s murder.

The court filing accuses Moab City Police Department of failing to follow the law and protect Petito when they pulled her and Laundrie over for a suspected domestic violence incident last August weeks before her she was killed.

In a statement, family attorney James McConkie said: “The purpose of the lawsuit is to honour Gabby’s legacy by demanding accountability and working toward systemic changes to protect victims of domestic abuse and violence and prevent such tragedies in the future.”

The suit alleges that one of the Moab police officers who questioned Petito on 12 August last year was “fundamentally biased” against her, and failed to accurately consider the danger she was in.

The Petito’s lawyers say they have evidence that officer Eric Pratt had threatened to kill a woman when their relationship ended The Salt Lake City Tribune reported.

Abraham Shakespeare’s financial advisor told relatives that the pressures of wealth drove him into isolation.

A Florida man hit the jackpot after winning millions on a lottery ticket, but had his luck run out when he mysteriously disappeared?

Abraham Shakespeare’s rags-to-riches story begins in his hometown of Plant City, a rural community known for its vast strawberry fields and orange groves. He didn’t have much growing up in the hardscrabble town and worked in the fields to support his family.

“I think he wished and hoped and prayed that he would win the lottery, but Abraham wasn’t a real fortunate person,” Abraham’s friend, Greg Smith, told “Buried in The Backyard,” airing Thursdays at 8/7c on Oxygen. “He left school to go to work to see what he could do about helping his family.”

But on Nov. 15, 2006, Abraham and a friend, Michael Ford, stopped at a local convenience store. Abraham handed Ford a few dollars and asked him to buy two lottery tickets. That night, he won $31 million.

Abraham agreed to a payout of $16.9 million and shared his generosity by purchasing homes for his cousins. He also helped his friend Greg Smith, a local barber, pay for a business loan worth $87,000. Smith agreed to pay Abraham in installments to pay off his debts.

“He bought a home in north Lakeland, which was a home he dreamed of,” said David Clark of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department. “It was a small mansion.”

But Abraham, an uneducated man who struggled just to read and write, seemed to be in over his head.

“It was scary because he didn’t know how to manage his money. He had his entourage around him, but half those people, he didn’t know,” Abraham’s cousin Tammy Edom told producers. “They knew he couldn’t read. They knew he couldn’t write. They knew he couldn’t sign nothing but his name.”

“He was their cash cow,” said his cousin, Cedric Edom. “And they milked him daily.”

Less than two years after striking it rich, Abraham was down to his last $2 million. But Lady Luck entered his life when a mutual friend introduced him to Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore. She offered to write a book and tell Abraham’s story, but as the pair fleshed out the details, she realized he was quickly falling into financial ruin.

Abraham allowed Dee Dee to step in and fill in the role as his financial advisor. She suggested that he not leave the house to avoid those wanting a piece of his wealth. He isolated himself in his large home.

When loved ones couldn’t get in touch with Abraham after a few weeks, Dee Dee Moore, the only person in close contact with him, assured them that Abraham needed to get away. She also maintained that Abraham was sending her text messages, insisting he was fine.

Abraham’s family didn’t think it was entirely implausible.

“He did mention wanting to leave town,” said Cedric Edom. “We wanted to help him because everybody else’s dream, he was trying to fill, and he never had time for himself.”

But after seven months of no contact, Edom reported Abraham missing to the police.

Abraham’s mother told authorities she’d received text messages from her son, which rang peculiar to her, as he couldn’t read or write.

“This was more than a missing persons case,” said Clark. “This was a missing persons case involving a 30-plus-million dollar lottery winner.”

Investigators looked at the long list of people who owed him money. The suspects were plenty, but there was no evidence, and no leads for authorities to determine foul play in Abraham’s disappearance. They looked to Dee Dee Moore, the last person in touch with Abraham. Moore readily shared texts from Abraham, indicating he left on his own volition.

Investigators thought they hit pay dirt when they discovered Michael Ford, the man who took Abraham’s money to purchase the lottery tickets, sued Abraham. Ford asserted that the winnings belong to him and that Abraham stole them from him. In court, a judge ruled that Abraham was the rightful owner of the tickets. But was Ford’s courtroom defeat motive for Abraham’s disappearance?

Ford denied any involvement, and authorities determined Ford was in Georgia at the time of Abraham’s disappearance.

At Christmastime in 2009, Abraham’s mother received a phone call from a private number. On the line was a man claiming to be Abraham. But mother’s intuition told her that the caller wasn’t her son. She reported it to detectives, who traced the call.

The call came from Greg Smith, the barber who accepted the $87,000 loan from Abraham.

Investigators tracked the phone to a busy shopping mall parking lot. While waiting to find Smith amidst hundreds of cars, they were surprised to see another familiar face pull in: Dee Dee Moore. They followed Moore as she pulled her car alongside Smith’s. Moore got into Smith’s car and handed him a wad of cash.

Authorities tailed Smith and pulled him over. Smith cooperated, claiming Moore paid him to make the phone call to Abraham’s mother.

“I said, ‘Listen. I made that telephone call,’” said Smith. “’A lady paid me $5,000 to call and say I was Abraham Shakespeare.’”

“When we told Greg that something was going on with Abraham, he did genuinely seem surprised,” said Clark.

Authorities released Smith, but why would Moore stage a phony phone call? Red flags caught investigators’ attention when they dug into her background. Moore’s history contained accusations of fraud, theft, and arson. She was also arrested for insurance fraud after lying about a couple of men who allegedly attempted to rape her and steal her car.

Authorities decided to bring Smith back in, requesting that he wear a wire and meet with Moore.

“I said, ‘Serious, man? I ain’t trying to chase that woman,’” said Smith. “But when authorities told me he’s a missing man, I believed that. So I said, ‘I’ll tell you what. What do you need me to do to help you out?’”

Smith placed the wire in an empty energy drink can and drove to the gas station to meet with Moore. Moore told Smith that she was being blamed for Abraham’s disappearance but would pay for someone to take the rap for it.

It was enough for investigators to attain a subpoena for her phone records. Upon examination, they found that after Abraham disappeared, the only calls and texts from Abraham’s phone were made to Moore. Compared with Abraham’s phone records, Moore’s cell phone pinged from the same cellular towers as Abraham’s.

Under the guidance of detectives, Smith called Moore and said he had a solution to her problem. Smith brought a man he claimed was his cousin to another meeting with Moore. The cousin, however, was an undercover cop.

“In that conversation, she finally admits that she believes Abraham is dead,” said Clark. “And that somebody shot him.”

The undercover cop said he’d go to prison for Abraham’s disappearance if Moore paid him $50,000 and provided the location of his body, claiming he needed his story to sound credible to detectives. Moore claimed Abraham was shot and that she knew where he was.

Later that evening, Moore requested to meet with Smith alone at a gas station. From there, she drove Smith from Lakeland to Plant City, where she’d purchased a house. She led him to a large cement slab in her backyard and said, “Tell your boy to dig six feet down, and you’ll find Abraham’s body.”

She also handed Smith the murder weapon, maintaining she got the gun from the unknown person who shot and killed Abraham.

On Jan. 25, 2010, authorities found the remains of Abraham Shakespeare exactly where Moore said they were.

“When we found out Abraham was buried under a slab in the backyard, it’s just devastating,” said Tammy Edom. “I couldn’t take it.”

Authorities found Dee Dee Moore at Abraham’s Lakeland mansion, which she claimed she’d purchased from him, and brought her in for questioning. In a videotaped interrogation on Feb. 2, 2010, Moore denied killing Abraham and stated that drug dealers killed him.

Unless she confessed, detectives had no proof she pulled the trigger. Looking further into her history, investigators visited her ex-husband. He said that on the night of Abraham’s murder, Moore had him use a machine to dig a hole in her backyard and fill it in after sundown. The ex-husband claimed he had no idea there was a body at the bottom. Authorities determined the man, who had never before met Abraham, was not involved in his murder.

Circling back to Moore, she claimed she was a victim when men stormed into Abraham’s home and killed him. She was allegedly forced to cover up the crime.

“A guy come in and shot him. Took everything we had in the safe for cash and left with it,” Moore told detectives in the taped interview. “They put a gun in my mouth. I peed my pants. I was scared.”

She provided a name to detectives, but it turned out to be a dead end. As her story came apart, prosecutors charged her with murder.

At trial, it was revealed that Moore spent Abraham’s money on lavish gifts, including a $70,000 Corvette for her boyfriend, a $30,000 truck for herself, Rolex watches, and diamond rings.

By the time Abraham’s body was found, he had only $10,000 left to his name.

In 2012, a jury found Dee Dee Moore guilty of first-degree murder. A judge sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“For her to kill him, it was just like, ‘Why?’” said Tammy Edom. “’He would have bought you anything. He woulda gave you what you wanted.’ To me, that was senseless.”

Dee Dee Moore remains incarcerated at the Lowe Correctional Facility in Ocala, Florida.

Florida woman who murdered generous $30m lottery winner after worming her way into his life to get her hands on his last $1m says she BACKS new bill that would keep identities of big winners private for 90 days

• Dorice Donegan ‘Dee Dee’ Moore, 49, is serving life sentence for killing Florida lottery winner Abraham Lee Shakespeare in 2009
• Shakespeare, a truck driver, won $30million jackpot in 2006, but by the time Moore wormed her way into his life, he had given away most of his money 
• Moore used Shakespeare’s last million to buy luxury vehicles and a vacation, before he was shot dead and buried under concrete slab
• Now, Moore, who maintains her innocence, is speaking out in support of new bill that would keep names of lottery winners secret for 90 days 
• That time has been proposed as sufficient to give winners the opportunity to notify family, hire security and make investments in private  
• Speaking from prison, Moore said identifying winners ‘puts a target on them,’ and she believes 90 days is not long enough 
• Bill passed both Florida House and Senate, and it now awaits Gov Ron DeSantis’ signature

A Florida woman who is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering a $30million lottery winner more than a decade ago has emerged as an unlikely supporter of a new bill that would keep the names of jackpot winners a secret for 90 days.

In a telephone interview from behind bars, Dorice Donegan ‘Dee Dee’ Moore, 49, of Tampa argued that publicly identifying winners and sharing details about their windfall ‘puts a target on them.’

In December 2012, a jury found Moore guilty of first-degree murder in the 2009 shooting death of Abraham Lee Shakespeare, 42.

Moore has maintained her innocence and has repeatedly appealed her conviction, which was upheld twice – in 2015 and 2019.  And now she is speaking out in favor of the new proposal, even arguing that 90 days proposed is not enough.

Florida lawmakers say giving winners three months should afford them sufficient time to hire security, tell their loved ones about the win, and seek investment advice in peace.

She said she intends to continue her legal battle to clear her name.

The bill awaiting Gov Ron DeSantis’ signature would withhold the names of people who win $250,000 or more in the state lottery for 90 days, unless the winner wants to be publicly identified.

The state House passed the bill 114-1 and the Senate passed it 37-1 last month. DeSantis, a Republican, was expected to sign it into law as early as this month.

During House hearings, Rep. Tracie Davis, a Democrat from Jacksonville, cited news coverage of lottery winners from Florida and Georgia who were killed after claiming their prizes.

‘At some point in our lives, we all dream of winning the lottery,’ said Davis, the bill’s sponsor. ‘Unfortunately for some people, that dream of winning the lottery, sometimes those dreams become a nightmare.’

Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said delaying disclosure of a winner’s identity would give the winner time to put security measures in place in order to protect them from scams, harassment, or worse. She sponsored a version of the bill in the Senate.

In Georgia, Craigory Burch, 20, was shot to death in a home invasion in 2016 in front of his girlfriend and one of their children, months after he won $400,000. Georgia is now among 10 states that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.

In the Florida case, Moore – described as a ‘pathological liar’ by police – said she met Shakespeare, a truck driver, under the pretense of writing a book about him after he won $30million in a lottery in 2006.

She later convinced him to let her help manage financially what remained of his lottery winnings – Moore said at that point he had only about $1million left.

Shakespeare spent much of his winnings paying off mortgages of family and friends and giving money to people who asked him for help, according to trial testimony.

Prosecutors said Moore withdrew $1million from Shakespeare’s bank accounts, spending the money on a Hummer, Corvette, a truck and a vacation.

 

A jury convicted Moore of first-degree murder in 2012 for Shakespeare’s shooting death

Shakespeare was shot dead in April 2009. His body was found 10 months later under a concrete slab behind a home detectives say was owned by Moore’s ex-boyfriend in Hillsborough County.

Moore led police to the burial site after a sting operation, during which an undercover officer recorded her admitting that she knew the location of Shakespeare’s body.

In her latest interview from Lowell Correctional Institution, Moore said keeping lottery winners’ names secret even for 90 days wasn’t long enough. She said details about whether a winner chose a lump-sum payout or payments over time also should not be disclosed.

‘I don’t feel that’s enough time,’ she said. ‘You’ve got to understand, this person has to change their whole life around.’

She said a lottery winner would need at least six months of privacy.

‘Ninety days is nothing, you see how quick time flies,’ said Moore, who has been in a state prison for nearly 3,400 days.

Moore wrote in a letter to the court in 2019 that she regretted not being truthful during her trial, but she continued to maintain that she did not shoot Shakespeare. ‘I really did not kill him,’ she wrote.

Under Florida’s existing law, the lottery agency immediately releases the name of winners, city of residence, game, date won and amount won to anyone who requests it.

It does not disclose the winner’s home address or phone numbers, although such information can usually be discovered elsewhere, such as property records or voter registration files, which remain publicly accessible.

The bill in Florida still would allow for names and details about lottery winners to be disclosed to state agencies that might be owed a debt, courts to collect child support, government auditors or legislative leaders. Insiders who illegally disclose names of lottery winners before they would be allowed could be charged with a felony. Lawmakers would be required to re-approve the bill in 2027.

Only two state lawmakers – one in the House and another in the Senate – voted against the measure.

‘People want to know who won the lottery – a government-run, taxpayer-funded program,’ Rep Anthony Sabatini, a Republican, said.

‘LOTTERY CURSE’ REVEALED: WINNERS SHOT, STABBED, HIT BY CAR OR SQUANDERED JACKPOT    Targeted by a con-woman, murdered and buried under concrete  In 2006, Florida man Abraham Shakespeare, 42, won $17million. He was killed three years later by DeeDee Moore, a woman who had targeted him for the money. DeeDee had managed to take almost $2million from Shakespeare by the time she orchestrated his killing. She and her boyfriend buried him beneath a concrete slab in a wooded area afterwards. He was missing for several months before she eventually admitted where his body was. Shot in the head by sister-in-law who wanted the winnings In 1996, 39-year-old Jeffrey Dampier won $20million in Illinois. He lived happily for years to come, spending the money on his family, but was murdered in 2005 by his sister-in-law and her husband. He was married when he won the lottery in 1996 and when he and his first wife separated, they decided to split what remained of the winnings in half. He later moved to Florida and remarried, to Crystal Jackson. While living in Tampa, he embarked on an affair with his wife’s sister Vanessa. Vanessa and her husband Nathaniel lured him the apartment which he paid for them to live in on July 26, 2005, and shot him in the back of the head. It’s not clear why they thought they would inherit his money. His widow Crystal said in 2015 that she would never ‘go near’ the lottery, telling WFLA: ‘It’s a curse.’ Stabbed to death by ex-boyfriend  Doris Murray, 42, won $5million in 2007. The woman from Dublin, Georgia, wanted to use the money on a trust fund for her grandchildren but she was stabbed to death a year after claiming her prize. Derrick Lorenzo Stanley, her ex-boyfriend- was charged with killing her. She wanted her prize in $172,000, yearly installments to be paid over 20 years. It is now paid to whoever was in her will. At the time of her death, police said she and Stanley had gotten into a fight and she tried to end the relationship. Neighbors called the police when they saw him leaving her modest apartment block with blood on her face. Hit by a car on the way home from celebrating her win  In 2010, in Sandusky, Ohio, 47-year-old winner Deborah McDonald was on her way home from a bar where she had been celebrating her $5,000 windfall when she was hit by a car. Her death is believed to have been an accident. She had just won the more modest sum on the Ohio Lottery’s Cash Explosion. It was a pre-taped show which aired several days after her murder. After claiming her winnings at the television studio, McDonald took her friends and family out for dinner and drinks. She also bought her and her husband wedding rings which they could never afford before. Stalked by strangers asking for handouts until he killed himself  Billie Bob Harrell won $31million in the Texan lottery in 1997. A Home Depot worker with a wife and three children to support, he was eager for a taste of the high life and quit his job not long after claiming his prize. Harrell also donated generously to charities and bought friends and relatives cars and homes. One year, he bought more than 400 turkeys for needy families to enjoy on Thanksgiving. His reputation for generosity caught up with him and he and his family had to move to avoid strangers coming to their home to ask for money. He also had to change his phone number to escape the requests. Impatient to get his hands on all his winnings, he took a bad deal from a company which pays out lump sums in exchange for all of lottery winners’ future installments. It meant he actually got less than he would have done had he waited for the yearly payments. Harrell and his wife divorced and in May 1999, just two years after he won, he shot himself. He was 47. Robbed, turned to booze and forced to mourn drug deaths of his daughter and granddaughter before house went up in flames Jack Whittaker has the worst pattern of luck of any lottery winner. In 2002, the West Virginia businessman won $315million but his life soon descended into tragedy. A year later, thieves broke into his car and stole $545,000 which he carried in it in a suitcase. They stole another $200,000 the following year. In 2005, Whittaker’s granddaughter Brandi was found dead, wrapped in plastic with drugs in her system. Her own boyfriend had died of a drug overdose months earlier. The official cause of her death is not known. Two years later, her mother – Whittaker’s daughter Ginger – died of a drug overdose. By the time of her death, he said his bank accounts were empty. He blamed his relatives deaths’ on the winning ticket, assuming that they bought the drugs which killed them with his money. ‘My granddaughter is dead because of the money. She was the shining star of my life, and she was what it was all about for me. ‘You know, my wife said she wished that she had torn the ticket up. Well, I wish that we tore the ticket up too,’ he told ABC’s 20/20. Squandered money on gambling and now lives in a trailer park Evelyn Basehore, now 64, won $3.9million in 1985 and won an additional $1.4million the following year in New Jersey. The woman had a crippling gambling habit and gave much of her money away to friends who were equally addicted. By the 2000, the only home she could afford was in a trailer park. ‘Winning the lottery isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Everybody wanted my money. Everybody had their hand out,’ she told Bankrate in 2012. She added: ‘I won the American dream, but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It’s called rock bottom. ‘I never learned one simple word in the English language: “no.” ‘I wish I had the chance to do it all over again. Most times, I wish I didn’t play. But I do play it still once in a while,’ she added. Donated millions to colleges and the Clintons then filed for bankruptcy  Janite Lee won $18million in 1993 in St Louis, Missouri. She donated much of her fortune to the University of Washington and the school used to build a new library. But just eight years after collecting her prize, she filed for bankruptcy in 2001. Lee was in her 50s when she won. She and her husband had emigrated from South Korea to the United States with his three children in the 1970s. Among her causes was Bill Clinton who she gave a fundraiser for in 1997. Later, she was on a list of prominent donors who gave to the Democratic National Committee.

By AP source

Woman who murdered a $30 million lottery winner backs a bill to shield jackpot winners’ identities

 By Isabella Leandri – WUFT

In a telephone interview from behind bars, Dorice Donegan “Dee Dee” Moore, 49, said publicly identifying recipients and details about big lottery payouts puts their lives at risk. She was convicted in the murder of Abraham Lee Shakespeare in Plant City in 2009.

A bill awaiting the governor’s signature that would temporarily keep secret the names of lottery winners in Florida has at least one unexpected supporter: the woman in prison for murdering the winner of a $30 million lottery payout.

In a telephone interview from behind bars, Dorice Donegan “Dee Dee” Moore, 49, of Tampa said publicly identifying recipients and details about big lottery payouts puts their lives at risk.

“It puts a target on them,” Moore said. She is serving a life term at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala.

A jury convicted Moore in December 2012 of first-degree murder in the 2009 shooting death of Abraham Lee Shakespeare, 42. Florida appeals courts upheld her conviction in 2015 and again in 2019, calling her own continuing claims of innocence “confusing, conclusory and vague.” She said she intends to continue her legal appeals.

The bill in Florida’s Legislature would keep secret for 90 days the names of lottery winners of $250,000 or more unless the winner wants to be publicly identified. The House passed it 114-1 and the Senate passed it 37-1 last month. Gov. Ron DeSantis was expected to sign it into law as early as this month.

During House hearings, Rep. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, cited news coverage of lottery winners from Florida and Georgia who were killed after claiming their prizes.

“At some point in our lives, we all dream of winning the lottery,” said Davis, the bill’s sponsor. “Unfortunately for some people, that dream of winning the lottery, sometimes those dreams become a nightmare.”

Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said delaying disclosure of a winner’s identity would give the winner time to put security measures in place. She sponsored a version of the bill in the Senate.

“Some winners endure all types of scams, harassment and even loss of life,” Polsky said. “The reason behind the 90 days is to give lottery winners sufficient time to plan responsibly, by notifying family, obtaining financial advice and even getting funds into investments.”

In Georgia, Craigory Burch, 20, was shot to death in a home invasion in 2016 in front of his girlfriend and one of their children, months after he won $400,000. Georgia is now among 10 states that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous.

In the Florida case, Moore said she met Shakespeare under the pretense of writing a book about him. She later convinced him to let her help manage financially what remained of his lottery winnings – Moore said at that point he had only about $1 million left. Shakespeare spent much of his winnings paying off mortgages of family and friends and giving money to people who asked him for help, according to trial testimony.

Prosecutors said Moore withdrew $1 million from Shakespeare’s bank accounts, spending the money on a Hummer, Corvette, a truck and a vacation. Shakespeare, shot twice in the chest, was found buried under a concrete slab in the back yard of a home Moore had purchased. By the time of his death, the sheriff said all $30 million had been spent.

In her interview from prison, Moore said keeping lottery winners’ names secret even for 90 days wasn’t long enough. She said details about whether a winner chose a lump-sum payout or payments over time also should not be disclosed.

“I don’t feel that’s enough time,” she said. “You’ve got to understand, this person has to change their whole life around.”

She said a lottery winner would need at least six months of privacy.

“Ninety days is nothing, you see how quick time flies,” said Moore, who has been in a state prison for nearly 3,400 days.

Moore wrote in a letter to the court in 2019 that she regretted not being truthful during her trial, but she continued to maintain that she did not shoot Shakespeare. “I really did not kill him,” she wrote.

Under Florida’s existing law, the lottery agency immediately releases the name of winners, city of residence, game, date won and amount won to anyone who requests it. It does not disclose the winner’s home address or phone numbers, although such information can usually be discovered elsewhere, such as property records or voter registration files, which remain publicly accessible.

The bill in Florida still would allow for names and details about lottery winners to be disclosed to state agencies that might be owed a debt, courts to collect child support, government auditors or legislative leaders. Insiders who illegally disclose names of lottery winners before they would be allowed could be charged with a felony. Lawmakers would be required to re-approve the bill in 2027.

In the Senate, only Sen. Ray Rodrigues, R-Fort Myers, voted against the measure. In the House, Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Clermont, was the only lawmaker who voted against it.

“People want to know who won the lottery – a government-run, taxpayer-funded program,” Sabatini said.

The bill exempts names of lottery winners from disclosure for 90 days under Florida’s public records law.

The law is considered among the nation’s most powerful tools for government transparency, but lawmakers over the years have added more than 1,000 categories of government information that are off limits under it.

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