U.S.! Myrtle Beach woman ignited South Carolina wildfire that scorched 2K acres, 1989 Framingham rapes suspect arrested after LA police chase appears in court, the disappearance of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konank in the Dominican Republican, Woman killed in shooting at Mansion Live night club, Phoenixville Pennsylvania homicide still open 71 years later, El Paso deputies recover stolen flatbed trailer, arrest four suspects after anonymous tip, Text messages give insights to what was said and observed prior to four fatal stabbings in Idaho, South Carolina kills death-row prisoner in state’s first firing squad execution, Slender Man stabber’s conditional release approved by judge despite new concerns from psychiatric hospital, Jack Minh Terry who had previously been identified as a person of interest in connection with the murder of Menghan “Emily King” Zhuang was arrested, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced the arrests of seven men on Tuesday for money laundering and conspiracy charges for an organized scheme to sell supplies to various plumbing and home improvement businesses in Queens and Brooklyn, Austin police arrest 9 in month-long operation targeting vehicle break-ins at parks, Rodney Stevenson appears for sentencing in front of Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John McBain on Wednesday, Homicide detectives alongside family and friends of a 14-year-old girl strangled to death in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles more than 19 years ago pleaded with the public Tuesday for help solving her murder Emmery Munoz’s body was found in the loading dock area of a business located on the 1500 block of Mirasol Street on Jan. 25 2006, Chicago police warn of 4th recent sexual assault in Logan Square, Abducted boy featured in Netflix ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ found safe 7 years after capture, Man arrested for dozens of vehicle break-ins, Murder investigation continues 30 years after woman’s body found, Texas man swallowed $700K in Tiffany earrings during alleged jewelry heist in Orlando, Supreme Court refuses to impose death sentence for Utahn convicted of cover-up murder, Couple arrested after allegedly throwing coffee at airline employees forcing way onto Cancun flight, Mecklenburg County Mugshots March 3rd, Man pleads guilty to murder and attempted murder in shooting at suburban Chicago July 4 parade, Man arrested for robbing Jersey Mike’s Sub shop at knifepoint, Suspect in gruesome killing of 64-year-old with extension cord on her Queens porch ‘hears voices’, 88-year-old man accused of fatally shooting 87-year-old wife in Chantilly, Accused daycare drop-off thief fails to score PS5, Gillett man sentenced for trying to cash fake checks, Man charged in NW Side shooting that left 40-year-old critically injured 2025.3.1-3.10

Stephen Paul Gale is accused of raping two women at gunpoint in a women’s clothing store in Framingham more than 30 years ago

A man accused in a pair of sexual assaults in the Massachusetts area more than 30 years ago appeared in court Monday, months after his arrest in August after leading a police chase in Los Angeles.

It took decades for Stephen Paul Gale to be identified as the attacker in a 1989 Framingham store hold-up, in which two workers were sexually assaulted, several more months for him to be arrested and even more for him to be returned to Massachusetts — he’d been in and out of the hospital with health issues, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference ahead of Gale’s arraignment.

“This is a day that has been much awaited,” Ryan said.

Gale was ordered held without bail on charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping and armed robbery during a hearing in Middlesex Superior Court.

He was dramatically arrested at the end of a police chase outside a medical plaza in Los Angeles’ Westwood neighborhood on Aug. 8. Patrol cars had followed the vehicle as it circled a neighborhood for nearly an hour, then got on the popular I-405 highway and plowing through spike strips.

The driver surrendered while news helicopters circled ahead, capturing the arrest. Prosecutors had noted at the time that Gale was entitled to a rendition hearing before being returned to Massachusetts.

Ryan shared more details about the investigation, including that Gale had been living on a yacht worth up to $1 million in California, and his departure from it sparked the 82-minute, 40-mile police chase that led to his arrest.

During the chase, someone reached out to Ryan’s office to say she recognized the man as someone else who’d be in charge of managing a trust she was involved in. Gale also allegedly threw a package out of his SUV during the chase that police found — it had money, a cellphone and an insurance card in an alias.

“The defendant was very adept at setting up various kinds of companies,” Ryan said, and “very skilled at making connections with people, gaining their trust.”

In Massachusetts, Gale is accused of raping two women at gunpoint in a women’s clothing store in Framingham more than 30 years ago.

He was identified through forensic genealogy as the person who held up the Hit or Miss store as it was opening on Dec. 27, 1989, the district attorney said in May.

Prior to his arrest in Los Angeles, Gale was indicted on four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one of armed robbery and was wanted for arrest. Investigators have also said they were looking into whether other incidents in the Greater Boston area in 1989 were tied to the crimes Gale is accused of.

“You think about the lives that have been lived by the two women affected by this incident … we do not stop working on these cases, they are never closed, and we do not forget what people came into this county and did,” Ryan said at a news conference in May, standing in front of police renderings and a driver’s license photo of Gale.

The 22-year-old was last seen walking home from a dance on March 3, 1954. Her body was found three days later.

In 1954, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was a quiet gem of the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area — a quaint town about 30 miles northwest of the heart of the city.

Bill Gore was 13 at the time and lived in Philadelphia. “Taking the train to Phoenixville was like going to the country,” he told Dateline. Home to a large population of Eastern European immigrants and their descendants — like Bill’s family — the town centered around Phoenixville Iron Works which provided work to many of the residents. “For the most part the town was self-sufficient,” Bill said.

It was not the kind of place where violent crime happened.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the murder of 22-year-old Marguerite Keota on March 3, 1954, garnered so much attention. “This was splashed, of course, across the Philadelphia newspaper,” Bill said. “Murders like this didn’t happen.”

But it did happen. It happened to Bill Gore’s aunt.

Meet Marguerite Keota
The youngest of seven siblings, Marguerite was a beacon of light in her family — a kind, well-adjusted young woman with a soft disposition, according to her nephew. “She was always looked upon as being the baby,” Bill said. “All of her sisters and her brother were very close to her.”

Bill is the oldest child of his generation and only nine years younger than his aunt Marguerite. “I remember vividly, many times, climbing up on — going out the back window roof of the bathroom,” he said. “We would sun ourselves on the back roof of the house.”

He also remembers spending time with her in his grandparents’ vegetable garden. “They had a big cherry tree. I used to climb up the cherry tree to pick cherries and come down with them,” he said. His grandmother had a machine that separated the seeds from the cherries. “Marguerite would work that and I would be throwing the cherries in.”

Bill is one of the few people left on earth who remembers Marguerite Keota. And one of the few who remembers how her murder changed his family forever.

After the Dance
March 2, 1954.

Around 8:00 p.m., Marguerite and a few friends went to a dance just outside Phoenixville.

Detective Sergeant Patrick Mark of the Phoenixville Police Department, who has reviewed the reports from the investigation, says the group left around 9:40 p.m. to go to another dance, this one at the Polish American Citizens Club on the north side of town. “They were there till about 12:00 in the morning on the — into the third of March, 1954,” he told Dateline.

Marguerite and a friend named Julia left the dance together. They walked for about half an hour until they separated at the corner of Gay St. and Morgan St. to continue to their respective homes.

According to a witness statement Julia gave to Phoenixville PD, Marguerite said something to her before they separated: “If you don’t see me in the morning, look for me in Burns Alley.” Burns Alley was behind Marguerite’s parents’ house, according to Bill, who says the family didn’t know why Marguerite would say that. “The report indicates that this was all in kidding,” Mark told Dateline. “But I don’t know, you know, why somebody would say that. Um, certainly — certainly, you know, is suspicious.”

The detective sergeant says Marguerite and Julia went their separate ways around 12:40 a.m. Based on her assumed route, Marguerite would have been on Washington Avenue — about two blocks from home — approximately five minutes later.

“Residents at 361 Washington Avenue stated they heard a terrible shrill screaming at 12:45 a.m. They heard a scramble in the alleyway,” Mark said. “Then the residents reported they saw a man carrying a woman under his arms towards Lincoln Avenue, and then that person went north down on Lincoln Avenue.”

According to Mark, a separate witness reported seeing and hearing the same thing from across the street. He says the police report does not explicitly note that the woman was unconscious when she was being carried, but the witnesses “don’t indicate that she’s doing anything like screaming or kicking at the time.”

The second witness reported seeing something else, as well. “In a few minutes, a car came up Lincoln Avenue and turned right on Washington Avenue and stops across from the alleyway where [the man carrying the woman] came out,” Mark said. “He walked into the alleyway and picked something up, and returned to the car again and drove west on Washington Avenue.”

The witness who saw the man drive away was unable to see if anybody else was in the car.

Phoenixville PD believes the woman and man witnesses described seeing that early morning were Marguerite and her abductor, although they have never been able to confirm it.

A Horrific Discovery
“I remember she didn’t come home that day — that morning,” of March 3, Marguerite’s nephew Bill Gore told Dateline.

The family reported her missing that day. “It was hell,” Bill remembered.

His mother headed to Phoenixville from their home in Philadelphia to help with the search as soon as she heard the news. Phoenixville PD also organized searches. “For three days, they searched,” Bill said.

On March 6, three volunteer searchers made the discovery, according to Mark.

Marguerite Keota’s body was found in a cesspool under an outhouse behind an abandoned schoolhouse in Schuylkill Township, Pennsylvania — less than three miles from where she was last seen.

“The building portion of [the outhouse] was still standing, and then they looked in, um, inside of the hole and saw the body,” Det. Sgt. Mark told Dateline. “And then [police] dismantled the outhouse to get to the body.”

Mark says Marguerite had been stabbed three times on the left side of her chest, leaving a “massive hemothorax” on her left side. The weapon was never recovered, but it was determined to be a “straight, dagger-like blade with a double sharp edge,” Mark said.

There was also “material found in the bronchial tree,” from the cesspool, which would indicate that Marguerite was likely still alive when she was put there. She also had superficial abrasions on the left side of her neck and the right side of her face. She had not been sexually assaulted.

Based on where Marguerite was likely abducted and subsequently found, authorities believe the killer was familiar with Phoenixville and the surrounding area. “One of the original investigators indicated that, you know, that for somebody to know — somebody to be familiar with that area of Washington Avenue, and somebody to be familiar with that schoolhouse, that they would have to be local,” Mark explained.

The active investigation of the case lasted for more than a decade. “There’s probably a thousand pages of reports,” Mark said. “They developed a lot of suspects. They eliminated a lot of suspects.” Authorities interviewed people around the country. “Phoenixville had a lot of people coming and going,” he said. In addition to Phoenixville Iron Works, there was a military hospital in town at that time. “So they spent a lot of time tracking down potential leads.”

Nothing has led to Marguerite’s killer.

Of course, 71 years means the killer is likely dead. But maybe the next generation has the clue that will crack the case hidden somewhere in an attic or passed down in family lore.

Marguerite’s siblings have all since died, as well. “My mother had a breakdown — a nervous breakdown after that,” Bill Gore told Dateline. “She always talked about Marguerite — always said, ‘I wanna know who killed her. I just wanna know it.’” She died in 1998. “My mother was saying, ‘Nobody has done anything and I’m ready to die. I don’t know what happened. I want somebody to tell me something,’” he said.

Bill says the remaining descendants of the family would like to get the closure the older generation was never able to. “We would like just to know that — who it was that did it,” he said. “If we knew who did it, we’d probably know why.”

Detective Sergeant Mark says Marguerite’s homicide is an open case and asks anyone with information to contact the Phoenixville Police Department Detective Division at 610-933-1180 ext. 815.

MOSCOW, Idaho — On the night four Idaho college students were stabbed to death in a shared off-campus home, two of the victims’ surviving roommates were frantically trying to reach their friends, according to excerpted text messages included in court documents that became available on Thursday.

The filings in the case against suspect Bryan Kohberger also shed new light on the timeline of events that transpired on Nov. 13, 2022, in an off-campus student residence near the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

The court documents — which were filed by prosecutors last month, but posted to the docket Thursday — showed that the four victims, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin and Madison Mogen, were believed to arrive at the house on King Road address at approximately 1:45 a.m.

One of the two survivors, who were roommates, is shown to have messaged an Uber driver to take them from a bar to the house at 2:10 a.m. At that time, the other surviving roommate was shown to be awake and texting.

At 4 a.m. Kernodle received a DoorDash order, according to prosecutors, and one surviving roommate said that she thought she heard Goncalves playing with her dog.

“A short time” after, the roommate said “she heard someone she thought was Goncalves say something to the effect of ‘there’s someone here,’” prosecutors previously said.

At 4:17 a.m. a security camera less than 50 feet from Kernodle’s room picked up sounds of a barking dog and “distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud,” according to prosecutors’ earlier court documents.

Just before 4:30 a.m. both roommates were texting back and forth, according to filed transcripts, and they appeared to grow frightened as their calls and texts to the four victims went unanswered.

“No one is answering,” the roommate identified in the documents as “D.M.” texted “B.F.” between 4:22 a.m. and 4:24 a.m. “I’m rlly confused rn.”

“Kaylee,” D.M. texted Goncalves. “What’s going on.” And then to B.F. they said, “I’m freaking out rn.”

D.M. makes reference to someone in “like a ski mask almost” to B.F., who responds, “Stfu.”

“I’m not kidding,” D.M says, adding that they are “so freaked out.”

“Come to my room,” B.F. says. “Run.”

While the chilling exchanges don’t explain the whole story, they offer a first glimpse at what was being said in the King Road home where the killings had, according to prosecutors, just occurred.

Prosecutors leading the case against Kohberger have asked the court to admit the exchanges, saying they “present sense impressions and excited utterances” as they describe in-the-moment reactions to what was happening.

The roommate said “she looked out of her bedroom but did not see anything when she heard the comment about someone being in the house,” earlier pretrial documents said. “She opened her door a second time when she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodle’s room.”

She “then said she heard a male voice say something to the effect of ‘It’s OK, I’m going to help you,’” according to the previously filed documents.

The roommate said she opened her door again and saw a man in black clothes and a mask walking past her, according to an affidavit. She stood “frozen” and in “shock” as he walked toward the house’s sliding glass door, the affidavit said.

The roommate said she didn’t recognize the man, the affidavit showed. She described him as at least 5-foot-10, and “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” according to the affidavit.

Both surviving roommates are expected to testify at the upcoming capital murder trial, prosecutors said in the latest unsealed court documents.

Included in the new filings is also a redacted transcript of the 911 call placed at 11:58 a.m. — nearly seven hours after the intruder was spotted — after the “unresponsive body” of Kernodle was discovered.

The emergency call was placed after a flurry of texts to the victims’ phones, a text exchange between one of the surviving roommates and her father, and another call placed to number whose owner was not identified in the filings.

They also stated that the two surviving roommates were told by someone else at the scene to call emergency dispatch, which they did.

“Um, one of our — one of the roommates who’s passed out and she was drunk last night and she’s not waking up,” one of them tells dispatch, per the transcript.

“Oh, and they saw some man in their house last night,” they added.

The command for an “all ambulance” response was given to respond, and the phone was being passed around among several people on scene, the transcript indicated.

“Is she breathing?” Dispatch asked, and was told, “No.”

“I think we have a homicide,” someone on the scene said.

Kohberger was arrested as a suspect in the four stabbing deaths in December of 2022, after a six-week manhunt, and he was indicted in May 2023.

He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment, he declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty in Idaho.

His trial is set to begin in August.

Brad Sigmon, convicted in a double murder in 2002, opted to die by a method that is rarely used. Utah carried out the last firing squad execution in 2010.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina man convicted in a double murder in 2002 died Friday by firing squad, a rarely used execution method never before carried out by the state.

Brad Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. at Broad River Correctional Institution, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections told reporters.

He was the oldest inmate executed by the state.

The spokeswoman, Chrysti Shain, said the three-person squad opened fire at 6:05 p.m. using .308 Winchester rifles.

Media witnesses said Sigmon, outfitted in a black jumpsuit, was strapped into a chair with his ankles shackled and what appeared to be a strap over his head. He had a rectangle with a bullseye placed on his heart and a hood over his head before gunshots rang out at 6:05 p.m., they said.

Afterward, the witnesses described seeing an oval-shaped stain on Sigmon’s chest.

In a final statement read before his death, Sigmon said he wanted his “closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”

“An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty,” the statement said. “At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law but now live under the New Testament.

His lawyer, Gerald “Bo” King, said in a statement that Sigmon’s death was “horrifying and violent.”

“He chose the firing squad knowing that three bullets would shatter his bones and destroy his heart,” King said. “But that was the only choice he had, after the state’s three executions by lethal injection inflicted prolonged and potentially torturous deaths on men he loved like brothers.”

Minutes before his death, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he had reviewed Sigmon’s application for clemency and denied the request. The U.S. Supreme Court had earlier denied an application for a stay of execution.

Roughly 30 protesters were outside the prison, including the brother of the last prisoner executed by firing squad in the United States. Ronnie Lee Gardner’s brother Randy has become a fervent anti-death penalty activist since his brother’s 2010 death in Utah.

McMaster, a Republican, signed a bill in 2021 that legalized the firing squad and requires condemned inmates to choose it, lethal injection or the state’s primary execution method of electrocution. His office declined to comment.

Sigmon chose a firing squad after concerns were raised about previous lethal injection executions in South Carolina. Inmates required twice the dose of pentobarbital, and one inmate “died with his lungs massively swollen with blood and fluid,” akin to “drowning,” according to an autopsy report cited in court documents filed by the defense last month.

State prosecutors responded that Sigmon “waived any argument about lethal injection” since he chose to die by firing squad.

King said Sigmon has admitted his guilt and “accepted that he deserves punishment” but added that “he’s been asked to make this choice as to how he’s going to die” with only basic knowledge of each protocol.

South Carolina restarted executions in September after a 13-year pause caused by the state’s inability to procure lethal injection drugs. A shield law allows officials to publicly withhold details surrounding where the state sources its current supply of pentobarbital.

Richard “Dick” Harpootlian, a former prosecutor who handled death penalty cases, introduced the firing squad proposal when he served in the state Legislature in 2021. He said he “wrestled” with pushing for the method but found it “less barbaric” than the electric chair.

“I don’t relish the idea of somebody being shot to death, but if they’re going to die, this is an alternative,” Harpootlian said.

Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School who studies the death penalty, said execution by firing squad remains one of the “least inhumane” options compared to other methods, including lethal injection and nitrogen gas, given how quickly someone can die after being shot in the heart.

Its return hearkens back to other periods in American history when firing squads were more common, such as the colonial era and the Civil War, when it was used against deserters.

“Even though [a firing squad] was used in our very first execution in 1608, we’ve never had this many states adopt statutorily the firing squad until now,” Denno said, adding that a bill in Idaho would make it the primary execution method.

Witnesses to Utah’s last firing squad execution recently recalled to NBC News the sound of rapid gunfire in the chamber and how the inmate, Ronnie Lee Gardner, appeared to flinch and move his arm after being shot. A Corrections Department spokeswoman said the agency offers mental health support for staff taking part in executions.

Sigmon was found guilty in the beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend’s parents, William David Larke, 62, and Gladys Gwendolyn Larke, 59. Prosecutors say Sigmon used a baseball bat to attack the couple in their Greenville County home, and then abducted his ex-girlfriend, who managed to escape from his car. Sigmon fled and was captured in Tennessee after a multiday manhunt.

In his request for his execution to be halted, his defense lawyers said the jury at his trial was not told about his history of mental illness, including bipolar disorder, and his “traumatic and abusive childhood,” underscoring claims of ineffective legal counsel.

The South Carolina Supreme Court had previously rejected Sigmon’s request to stop his execution and did so again Tuesday, finding that such mitigating evidence “would not have influenced the jury’s appraisal of Sigmon’s culpability.”

Judge upholds ‘Slender Man’ attacker’s release from mental health facility
Morgan Geyser, now 22, who has spent seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, was cleared for release into a group home earlier this year.

A judge denied a motion to stop the release of a Wisconsin woman from a mental health facility more than a decade after she conspired to stab a classmate to please the fictional horror character “Slender Man.”

Morgan Geyser, 22, was 12 years old when she and Anissa Weier lured classmate Payton Leutner to a park for the violent attack in May 2014, convinced it would keep the fictional boogeyman from harming their families. She has spent seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and was cleared for release into a group home earlier this year.

Three medical experts testified in January that Geyser was no longer a threat to the public following considerable progress. Her treatment would continue while she was under supervision of the group home.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ruled that Geyser’s release would continue as planned.

Bohren said that under the conditional release, Geyser will still be placed under “substantial supervision,” which he said is “in many ways more strict from the rules and restrictions on the person than they would be when she was in the institution from the standpoint of freedom within the confines of the institution.”

Bohren said that “there is no reason to stop the process on conditional release” and that authorities would “go forward with the conditional release program.”

The judge said that the state did not meet its burden of proof to block the release and that he weighed testimony from Geyser’s doctors who knew her. He said that what they saw in the state’s petition to block her release did not change their views about her.

Bohren said the testimony of a therapist who worked at the institution where Geyser stayed “satisfied” him.

Geyser allowed her therapist to testify about their confidential conversations. The therapist said that she had no concerns about Geyser’s attitude in therapy, describing Geyser as being extremely open when she was undergoing therapy, and that she did not have any concerns about Geyser’s behavior.

Bohren also said he saw “no hidden agenda” or evidence of lying or deception on Geyser’s part. He said that he was satisfied with her communication with others in the institution and that it was “truthful and accurate,” and he said she responded well to questions.

The motion to stop Geyser’s release focused on two points of contention: a book that included dark themes that Geyser read and her sending a man artwork of a violent nature while she was under care at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Prosecutor Abbey Nickolie told the judge that the man had been “sexually aroused” by Geyser’s crime.

Anthony Cotton, her attorney, told the judge that Geyser willfully disclosed both the book and the contact with the man to the team determining her conditional release. He also said Geyser asked for a no-contact order with the man.

Bohren addressed the book in court Thursday and noted that the sole testimony about the nature of the book was from a doctor who called it “humorous” but said he does not know the accuracy of the doctor’s assertion.

“He basically put the book in context,” Bohren said. “Nobody challenged that context.”

Regarding the man, Bohren said it appeared Geyser stopped contact with him once she realized what he was doing.

He said, “There’s nothing in the record that shows that she did anything to encourage the person besides sending him some pictures.”

“I don’t find that in and of itself a reason to find she’s at risk for herself or at risk to harm the community in a conditional release plan,” he said. Just because she participated in the contact “doesn’t mean she encouraged it.”

Police said Geyser and Weier lured Leutner to the woods and stabbed her 19 times. Geyser repeatedly stabbed Leutner as Weier egged her on, prosecutors have said.

Leutner’s parents said their daughter mustered the strength to crawl out of the woods because she “wanted to live.”

Geyser was mentally ill in the aftermath of the stabbing, and in 2017 she agreed to plead guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide. She was sentenced to a maximum of 40 years at a mental hospital.

Weier, who did not stab Leutner, was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital but was released in 2021 after just four years at Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

A hearing is set for 10:30 a.m. ET March 21 to go over Geyser’s conditional release plan.

—

Slender Man stabber’s conditional release approved by judge despite new concerns from psychiatric hospital
Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old in 2014 when they lured classmate Payton Leutner to a Wisconsin park and stabbed her 19 times in the name of Slender Man

A Wisconsin woman who stabbed her classmate to please the fictional horror character Slender Man over a decade ago will be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge has ruled.

Morgan Geyser, 22, has been at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for nearly seven years after being convicted in the 2014 stabbing attack of Payton Leutner.

Geyser was sentenced to 40 years but was granted release in January. However, the ruling hit a last-minute roadblock after the staff at the institution filed a petition last week asking the judge to revoke the release due to new concerns, which included Geyser’s reading material and her contact with an older man with unnatural interest in the crime.

At the hearing on Thursday, several staff members testified on behalf of the state, revealing that Geyser was in possession of a book described by the program supervisor as a “dark novel that revolves around murder and the selling of body parts on the black market along with sexual sadism.”

One of her therapists, Lisa Portmann, along with Dr. Kenneth Robbins, who had previously testified in the case, both told the court that despite new concerns raised in the petition, they believe Geyser is not a danger to herself or to others and should still be conditionally released.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren denied the petition filed by the institution and approved Geyser’s release, saying in court that the state had not met the burden of clear and convincing evidence that she needed to stay in the mental health facility.

Geyser and her classmate Anissa Weier were 12 in 2014 when they lured Payton Leutner, who was also 12, to a Waukesha park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.

The girls later told investigators they wanted to earn the right to be servants of the fictional Slender Man and that they feared he would harm their families if they didn’t carry out the attack.

A plan for Geyser’s release will be discussed at a hearing on March 21.

The Slender Man stabbing

The plan to kill Payton Leutner in 2014 was fueled by the girls’ desire to please Slender Man.

According to a criminal complaint, the plan was initially supposed to be carried out on May 30, 2014, the night of Geyser’s sleepover to celebrate her 12th birthday.

But then they changed the plan and decided to kill her the next morning at a nearby park in Waukesha. Once at the park, Weier suggested they go for a walk to play hide-and-seek in nearby woods, she told investigators.

The girls then forced Leutner to lie down on the ground and with a kitchen knife Geyser had brought from her home, she began to repeatedly stab her while Weier egged her on.

Leutner suffered 19 stab wounds and barely survived, according to medical staff who treated her.

She was left for dead but then crawled onto a bike path and was found by a passerby. Police captured Geyser and Weier later that day as they were walking on Interstate 94 in Waukesha.

Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a deal with prosecutors and a judge sent her to the psychiatric institute after determining she had a mental illness. She was diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia after being taken into custody, according to Rolling Stone.

Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide and was also sent to the psychiatric facility after a jury found she was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the attack.

In December 2017, Weier received the maximum 25 years in a mental health facility after pleading guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree intentional homicide.

In February 2018, Geyser received 40 years in a mental hospital after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide. In 2021, Weier was granted a conditional release to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.

After the attack, Leutner underwent 25 surgeries to repair her heart, liver, stomach, and pancreas after the attack, her mother Stacie Leutner told ABC Action News.

But her emotional trauma was just as scarring, as she later revealed that she slept with scissors under her pillow for protection.

Who is Slender Man?
Slender Man is a fictional supernatural character, typically depicted as a spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face, that originated as a “creepypasta” – or horror – internet meme created in 2009 by Something Awful forum user Eric Knudsen under his username “Victor Surge.”

When Geyser and Weier discovered Slender Man on Creepypasta Wiki, they apparently believed he was real and decided to become what they called “proxies” of the character, thereby proving their dedication to him and his existence to skeptics, according to the criminal complaint.

But to fully prove their dedication, the girls believed they had to kill someone. They decided that person would be their friend Payton.

The stabbing sparked a fear of Slender Man in parents across the nation.

Russell Jack, who was the police chief of Waukesha at the time, warned that the incident “should be a wake-up call for all parents” and that “the internet is full of dark and wicked things.”

Seven men were arrested on money laundering and conspiracy charges for an organized scheme to sell supplies to various plumbing and home improvement businesses in Queens and Brooklyn.

The organized ring purchased supplies using fraudulently obtained gift cards from The Home Depot and Lowe’s home improvement stores.

More than $3 million of the gift certificates were redeemed at retail stores in Nassau County, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly who spoke about the arrests at the March 5 news conference. She declined to share the exact number of stores impacted in Nassau.

“Video surveillance, camera footage and transaction records obtained through this investigation put these defendants at dozens of Home Depot and Lowe’s stores in New York,” Donnelly said. She added that the operation worked like a “well-oiled machine”

The seven men accused: Jie Lin, 32, Sky Lin, 36, Lifa Wang, 49, and Lixi Wang, 40, all from Flushing. Hai Tao Liu, 38, of Staten Island, and Jia Bin Chen, 39 and Yu Lin, 35, both from Fresh Meadows. All face up to 5 to 15 years in prison if convicted. Sky Lin was identified as the alleged ringleader of the scheme, according to Donnelly.

The district attorney’s Office, together with the Nassau County Police Department and Home Depot and Lowe’s investigators, conducted a 15-month long investigation into the alleged operation. The investigation uncovered roughly $20 million using gift cards from the home improvement stores between Jan. 3, 2023, and March 4 of this year.

Donnelly said that the seven men allegedly used stolen funds, obtained through a computer scam that targeted more than 1,800 victims in 45 states, to buy copper pipes, electrical wire and other equipment for resale to local home improvement businesses in New York City.

The men allegedly stored the merchandise in several buildings in Bayside, Brooklyn, Fresh Meadows and Flushing. As the investigation continued, a complex computer-based scam was uncovered, Donnelly said. The deception used spyware pop-ups and scam messages targeted victims across the country according to the charges.

The scam allegedly swindled victims to believe that their computer, identities, financial information, or other data had been compromised and instructed them to call a phone number.

When victims called the number, Donnelly said that they were told to buy Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards to offset charges or to assist in a law enforcement investigation. After the arrests, police recovered enough products to fill a dozen boxes trucks, $100,000 in cash, and found several vans with merchandise inside.

In total, the seven men were allegedly involved in more than 6,000 transactions on more than 400 different dates at more than 80 Home Depot or Lowe’s locations in the state. Donnelly confirmed the office is continuing to investigate the alleged computer scam.

County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder praised the cooperation between NCPD and the district attorney’s office during the investigation into the alleged scheme. He also criticized cashless bail, a system where individuals arrested for certain crimes, particularly non-violent offenses, are released before trial without bail.

“What angers me is that we have thousands of victims that are out, defrauded by these individuals,” Ryder said. “Six of the seven walked out yesterday with an ankle bracelet because of cashless bail.”

New York’s 2020 bail reform law eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies. Ryder said that, “If we are going to be able to prosecute these people we should keep there where they belong, and that’s jail.”

There are at least five more suspects being sought. Looking to the future, Donnelly said that “together, we will continue to break up these organizations, protect our communities, and ensure that businesses thrive in Nassau County.”

The Los Angeles teen, who was 14 years old when found dead, would have turned 34 Wednesday.

On a chilly, cloudy winter morning in 2006, the body of a teenager was discovered on the loading dock of an abandoned warehouse in an industrial neighborhood in Boyle Heights.

The deceased teen was later identified as Emmery Munoz, a City Terrace resident and a student at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School. The then-14-year-old was remembered as bright and ambitious with dreams of becoming a nurse.

Nearly two decades after her death by strangulation, detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department are making renewed effort to find her killer.

“She was robbed of a quinceañera, a prom, a graduation, the career she so passionately dreamed of, and so much more,” Crystal Munoz, Emmery’s younger sister, said in a news conference with LAPD detectives Wednesday, pleading for anyone with information to come forward.

“Our family still has the strongest desire for closure today as we did when she was first taken from us. Time does not discredit the justice that she is entitled to,” the sister, who was only 6 years old when Emmery was murdered, implored.

The news conference also aimed to show the detectives never gave up on finding the teen’s killer as well as to remember Emmery, who would have celebrated her 34th birthday on Wednesday.
Despite the detectives’ commitment, there are still no suspects and no solid leads to track down the murderer.

As people’s memory fades after 19 years, there was limited video footage, cellphone records and tracking devices back then.

“People move, people grow up and live their lives,” Det. John Meneses said, adding some evidence was collected on the morning of Jan. 25, 2006 when Emmery’s body was discovered although they did not elaborate.

Meneses said Emmery may have known the perpetrators while investigators are open to any possibility.

“We’re hoping that those people who were once young kids are now adults, and they have families of their own, and they understand the need to come forward with that information that we’re seeking,” Meneses said.

Abdul Aziz Khan was reportedly kidnapped in 2017 out of Atlanta, Georgia by his non-custodial mother

A trespass call led to the discovery and rescue of a young boy who was the subject of a high-profile kidnapping case and featured on Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Officials from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado announced that Abdul Aziz Khan, now 14, had been recovered, and two people were arrested in connection to his disappearance over seven years ago.

“We’re overwhelmed with joy that Aziz has finally been found. We want to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years,” the family of Aziz shared in a statement with the agency.

“Now, as we navigate the next steps, we ask for privacy so that we can move forward as a family and heal together.”

Aziz was reportedly kidnapped in 2017 out of Atlanta, Georgia by his non-custodial mother, 40-year-old Rabia Khalid.

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) police said Khalid failed to show up for a custody hearing on Nov. 27, 2017 in Atlanta. The U.S. Marshals Service said she packed her bags and fled with Aziz and her new husband, identified as 42-year-old Elliot Blake Bourgeois.

According to Abdul, Aziz’s father, Khalid made it increasingly difficult over time for him to see Aziz after she moved from New Orleans to Atlanta for a new job. This sparked a new, bitter custody battle between Abdul and Khalid that went on for several years.

Abdul told NCMEC that he made sure he and Aziz spent as much time together as possible despite the over 400 miles of distance that separated them. “I made my whole work schedule around Aziz,” said Abdul. “I’d visit him every other weekend and I would bring him to New Orleans so he could be with his family.”

The center added that it was “clear that Khalid was going to lose custody of Aziz.”

During a press conference on Wednesday, the U.S. Marshal Service said it searched for Khalid and Aziz across 11 different states.

But a break in the case didn’t come until Feb. 23, when deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a vacant home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado for reports of a burglary in process.

When deputies arrived at the home, they found two adults near the property and located two children in a vehicle parked in the driveway of the home.

Officials said the couple claimed to be associated with the realtor, but their story quickly began to unravel after their identities were uncovered.

The woman was identified as Khalid, who had an active warrant for kidnapping, while the man was identified as Bourgeois.

“Our deputies responded to what initially seemed like a routine trespass call, but through sharp attention to detail and tenacity, they uncovered the truth. Their ability to recognize the discrepancies in the suspects’ story and to follow the leads, even when the situation seemed unclear, ultimately led to the safe recovery of a child who had been missing for seven long years,” said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.

Aziz’s story also made national headlines and was covered by Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Officials said Khalid and Bourgeois face charges including Second Degree Kidnapping, Forgery, Identity Theft, Providing False Information to Authorities and Trespassing.

Their bonds were set at $1 million each and a preliminary hearing is set for March 27.

Aziz, along with another child whose identity was not released, was placed into protective custody.

Weekly said he had the “privilege” of meeting the victim’s family and said “there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”

“This family has a long road ahead of them. But our team is there for them. We will walk with them step by step as they navigate this journey. We hope they find healing and hope in the days, weeks, months, and even years ahead of them,” Weekly said.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the work done by our team; this case highlights the commitment of our officers to seek justice and protect the most vulnerable. It’s a reminder of the incredible difference our work makes in the lives of those we serve. This reminds us all of why we do this work.”

Officials said that the investigation is still ongoing, and authorities are continuing to gather information to fully resolve this case.

“This significant development follows a lengthy seven-year search,” U.S. Marshal Enix Smith III for the Eastern District of Louisiana said in a statement. “I extend my sincere gratitude to all involved in the recovery effort, especially the authorities in Douglas County, Colorado for their swift and effective actions. Also, we would like to thank NCMEC, Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, and Crimestoppers GNO for directing the public’s attention to this matter.”

John Bischoff III, Vice President Missing Children Division for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) also shared a statement of his gratitude for Khan’s safe return and the work of the law enforcement agencies.

“The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has worked closely with law enforcement and Aziz’s family since his disappearance, always believing he could be found,” Bischoff said.

“In family abduction cases, it can be difficult to garner public attention, but we knew that national media coverage was crucial—Aziz could have been anywhere. Thanks to the deputies’ keen instincts and the attention of both law enforcement and the public, Aziz is now safe. We know family reunifications can be challenging. As Aziz and his family reconnect and heal, NCMEC will continue to support them.”

Police say he had multiple sets of car keys in a bag

SHELTON, CT – Police in Shelton arrested a man for vehicle break-ins and a stolen weapon.

Jostyne Morales-Ortiz, 27, of Bridgeport, was arrested on Monday.
Police said they received reports of about 25 vehicle break-ins over a period of several days.

They said in one case, a gun was reported stolen.

The break-ins happened in downtown Shelton and the Bridgeport Avenue corridor.

They said they eventually developed a suspect in the case.

An officer patrolling a downtown area on Monday spotted the suspect in a parking lot on Cornell Street.

However, the suspect fled in a vehicle at a high rate of speed. Police said he nearly hit the officer’s vehicle in the process.

Police said they learned that the vehicle had been stolen.

The driver eventually crashed on Howe Avenue.

The suspect got out of the vehicle and fled, but was was apprehended.

A flash light, ski mas, and multiple sets of car keys were found in his bag. The gun was also found.

Morales-Ortiz was charged with interfering with an officer, second-degree criminal trover, criminal possession of a firearm, larceny of motor vehicle, theft of firearm, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, and first-degree reckless endangerment.

He was additionally charged with violation of a protective order and several motor vehicle offenses.

Police said Morales-Ortiz also had a warrant for first-degree failure to appear and two warrants for violation of probation, which were served.

Tuesday, he was arraigned in Derby Superior Court.

Shelton detectives said they were still following up the incidents. There may be additional charges and arrests.

The Brief
Jaythan Gilder was arrested for allegedly stealing $769,500 worth of jewelry from Tiffany & Co. at the Mall at Millenia, fleeing the scene before being tracked and stopped by Florida Highway Patrol.
Authorities say Gilder, who has a history of similar crimes, attempted to swallow the stolen earrings during his arrest and now faces charges of robbery with a mask and first-degree grand theft.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Texas man who claimed to represent an Orlando Magic player interested in purchasing nearly $1 million in jewelry from Tiffany & Co. allegedly swiped two pairs of earrings. He then allegedly ate the earrings – worth more than $700,000, officials said.

Law enforcement took a scan of the man’s stomach, which showed a bright, shiny “foreign object” in his stomach, believed to be the stolen earrings, according to the affidavit.

Texas man pretended to represent Orlando Magic player

The backstory: According to the Orlando Police Department (OPD), Jaythan Lawrence Gilder, 32, was caught on camera snatching two pairs of diamond earrings from the Tiffany & Co. at the Mall of Millenia on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

A man, later identified as Gilder, walked into the store without an appointment and claimed to be representing an unknown Orlando Magic player, according to the arrest affidavit.

Gilder was eventually taken to a VIP room where he was shown several pieces of jewelry:
4.86 carat diamond solitaire earrings ($160,000)
8.19 carat solitaire earrings ($609,500)
5.61 carat diamond solitaire ring ($587,0000)

During the interaction, Gilder is seen on surveillance video grabbing the jewelry from the counter and attempting to leave the room. He struggled with the sliding glass door – and forced them open. The employees who were in the room tried to grab the jewelry out of his hand, but Gilder grabbed and pushed the employee’s arm, the report said.

According to an arrest affidavit, the employee was injured trying to stop gilder from leaving the store. Gilder was able to get out and make it to a car.

How police tracked and found the alleged suspect

According to the arrest affidavit, police reviewed surveillance video at the mall to locate the suspect’s vehicle. They can track him using public safety cameras and his apparent movements in the days before.

Police located Gilder’s vehicle on Interstate 10 in the Florida Panhandle, appearing to be headed towards Texas. Florida Highway Patrol conducted a traffic stop. FHP said he resisted their efforts and was arrested on related charges.

The X-Ray

According to the arrest report, Gilder swallowed several objects as he was being arrested in Washington County. Once at the jail, officials conducted a live scan and notified “foreign objects” in his stomach.

Officials believed those were the missing earrings from the Tiffany & Co. store in Orlando. Officilals are now waiting for those objects to be “passed through” his system.

An X-Ray showed items believed to be the stolen merchandise inside Gilder’s stomach. The earrings have a combined weight of 13.05 carats, worth $769,500.

Officials: 48 failures to appear

Authorities found Tiffany & Co. earring forms, price tags, receipts, and a cell phone in his vehicle, according to the arrest report. A check of his history, according to authorities, showed 48 failure to appear warrants out of the state of Colorado. It was not immediately clear what case those were related to.

Dig deeper: Same alleged heist in 2022?

From swipes to smash-and-grabs, records show Gilder has been arrested multiple times for theft. His arrest records span back at least 13 years. Rings to Rolexes, court records show his target always appears to be expensive jewelry.

In 2022, Gilder was busted after stealing from another Tiffany’s store, this one in the Houston area. Forensics detectives out of Montgomery County tied him to the crime using DNA evidence from a single hair left at the scene. Per the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the hair came from Gilder’s beard. It was found after he dropped a mask he had allegedly worn during the heist.

In a pawn shop theft from 2014, Gilder’s blood was recovered at the scene, after he used a pickaxe to break into a jewelry case.

In 2023, documents show Gilder was sentenced to two years in a Texas jail – with 192 days credit.

The charges

He was booked into jail on two charges:
Robbery with a mask
Grand theft

What’s next: As for the earrings, while in jail, Gilder reportedly asked if he would be charged for what was inside his stomach. He also told officers he “should have thrown them out the window.”

Once Gilder passes the items seen in the X-Ray, detectives will be able to confirm if they are in fact the stolen earrings.

Officials said Rafael Seirafe-Novaes, 40, and Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia, 29, became irate when they were denied boarding after arriving late

A Florida couple had their destination detoured to jail instead of paradise after they allegedly assaulted airport employees who denied them boarding access after they arrived late for their flight to Cancún.

The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office confirmed to WSVN that Rafael Seirafe-Novaes, 40, and Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia, 29, were arrested for the alleged March 2 assault.

Shocking video captured the entire altercation that unfolded when the couple were denied boarding around 8:35 a.m. at Miami International Airport when they arrived late for their American Airlines flight to Cancún and attempted to force their way onto the flight.

Both suspects ignored no trespassing signs and verbal commands from a ticket agent before busting through staff onto the restricted jet bridge, authorities said.

Seirafe-Novaes allegedly pushed two victims, while Rapoport De Campos Maia is accused of pushing the victims and throwing coffee at them, according to the arrest report obtained by WSVN.

Video shows Seirafe-Novaes eventually being escorted in handcuffs to a police car on the tarmac.

A spokesperson for American Airlines confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital and said the airline is working closely with police in their investigation.

“Prior to boarding American Airlines Flight 2494 from Miami (MIA) to Cancún (CUN), law enforcement responded to the gate for two disruptive customers,” a statement from American said.

“Acts of violence are not tolerated by American Airlines, and we are committed to working closely with law enforcement in their investigation.”

It was not known if the couple would be banned from future American Airlines flights.

The flight was delayed due to the incident but arrived at its destination without the couple nearly half an hour after its expected arrival in Cancún.

Seirafe-Novaes was charged with resisting an officer without violence and trespassing, while Maia was charged with two counts of battery and trespassing.

The couple posted bond for their release Monday.

According to the Department of Justice, committing acts of intentional violence in an international airport is a federal crime and those found guilty can face up to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

After the Utah Supreme Court overturned Douglas Lovell’s death penalty sentence last year, state lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to reimpose the ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the Utah Attorney General’s Office asking it to sentence Douglas Lovell to death — again.

The nine justices did not comment on their Monday denial of the state’s request.

Lovell has fought a protracted legal battle since he first pleaded guilty to the 1985 murder of Joyce Yost to prevent her from testifying against him for raping and kidnapping her.

“Our deepest sympathies today are with the family of Joyce Yost. For 40 years, Joyce’s family has sought justice after Douglas Lovell raped her, and later murdered her to prevent her from testifying,” Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed the Yost family will have to go through yet another sentencing trial and we remain committed to seeking justice for Joyce.”

Lovell was first sentenced to death in 1993 after pleading guilty, but the Utah Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2011 after determining he had not been properly advised of his trial rights. He was convicted of Yost’s murder in a 2015 jury trial and sentenced to death for a second time.

However, during that trial, Lovell’s then-attorneys failed to object to testimony from bishops of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on doctrine and Lovell’s standing in the Utah-based religion.

Then, last year, the Utah Supreme Court ruled the questioning over Lovell’s status in the church may have prejudiced members of the jury and invited them to determine his sentence based on religious standards, not the facts presented. The state’s highest court decided unanimously to vacate Lovell’s second death sentence and asked for a new sentencing.

The Utah justices also affirmed Lovell’s murder conviction in their opinion.

On Monday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court said that ruling should hold and declined to take up Utah’s appeal to reinstate Lovell’s death sentence.

The case now moves back to Utah’s 2nd District Court for a new sentencing trial.

WAUKEGAN, Ill (AP) — An Illinois man pleaded guilty Monday to killing seven people and injuring dozens more when he opened fire on a 2022 Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb, a stunning development moments before opening statements in his trial on murder and attempted murder charges.

Appearing in a Lake County circuit courtroom, Robert E. Crimo III, 24, withdrew his earlier not-guilty plea in the Highland Park shooting.

Prosecutors initially charged him with 21 counts of first-degree murder — three counts for each person killed — as well as 48 counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors dropped 48 less serious counts of aggravated battery before jury selection last week.

On Monday, Judge Victoria Rossetti read the charges to Crimo and asked questions to be sure he understood before accepting the plea. He was sitting next to his lawyers wearing a dark suit.

“Is that what you went over with your attorneys?” Rossetti asked.

“Yes,” Crimo replied.

He gave mostly one-word answers to her follow-up questions. His mother, Denise Pesina, had a brief outburst at the news and the judge gave her a warning.

“We’re going to move forward,” the judge said to her. “You are not a party to this proceeding. If you would like to stay in the courtroom please have a seat and be quiet.”

She was allowed to stay.

The judge said with the plea change, there would be no trial or further motions. Jurors were never even let into the courtroom.

The legal proceedings have moved slowly, partly due to Crimo’s unpredictable behavior. Last year, Crimo was expected to accept a plea deal and give victims and relatives a chance to address him publicly, but changed his mind at the last minute, shocking even his attorneys.

He also fired his public defenders and said he would represent himself. Then he abruptly reversed himself. As potential jurors were questioned last week, he sporadically appeared in court, at times refusing to leave his jail cell.

“He has knowingly and voluntarily waived those rights and pleaded guilty,” Rossetti said Monday.

Prosecutors read the names of all those killed in the shooting and of those injured, with the judge stopping to ask questions to make sure Crimo understood. They went over the substantial evidence, including DNA samples and a video-taped confession to police.

“Our community may never heal from the defendant’s calculated and heinous actions that destroyed so many lives,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told reporters after court. “He received nothing in exchange for his plea. We were 1000% ready to go to trial and prove him guilty to the jury. We have been working for years to prepare our evidence.”

Sentencing will come April 23, but Crimo is certain to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Each count of first-degree murder carries a maximum natural life prison sentence. Prosecutors said survivors would get the chance to address Crimo at the sentencing.

Crimo didn’t further address the court before leaving the courtroom.

His public defenders did not address reporters after the hearing.

Security was tight at the courthouse, with bag checks and observers required to lock up their phones.

The change of plea shocked those gathered in the courtroom, including survivors and their families.

Ashbey Beasley, who attended the 2022 parade with her son, said it was a huge relief. She said they had to run for their lives and even though they weren’t injured, they have had to heal. Seeing Crimo at hearings has added to their trauma.

“Every single time I see him, it’s stressful. It’s upsetting for everyone in our community,” she told reporters after court. “We all just wanted this to be over.”

A spokeswoman for a law firm representing dozens of survivors in a lawsuit said they were ready to “pursue civil justice.” Survivors and their families have filed multiple lawsuits, including against the maker of the semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting and against authorities they accuse of negligence.

“They have all gone home to process,” said Jennifer McGuffin with Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin LLC. “They each expressed an individual and a collective sense of relief, but today was a very emotional event and they are asking for some time and space to come to terms with what happened.

The trial was expected to last about a month.

Dozens of people were wounded in the shooting in the suburb about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Chicago. The wounded ranged in age from their 80s down to an 8-year-old boy who was left partially paralyzed.

Witnesses described confusion as the shots began, followed by panic as families fled the downtown parade route, leaving behind lawn chairs and strollers to find safety inside nearby businesses or homes.

Authorities said Crimo perched on a roof and fired into crowds.

His father, Robert Crimo Jr., a onetime mayoral candidate, was charged in connection with how his son obtained a gun license. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct and served less than two months in jail.

Residents in the wealthy Highland Park community of roughly 30,000 set along Lake Michigan have mourned the losses deeply. Some potential jurors were excused because of their connections to the case.

City leaders canceled the usual parade in 2023, opting for a “community walk.” The parade was reinstated last year on a different route and with a memorial for the victims.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering called the plea change an important step towards justice.

“Our thoughts and hearts remain with the families whose loved ones were senselessly taken,” she told reporters Monday.

The victims killed in the shooting included Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.

A man charged with the gruesome killing of a former coworker on her Queens porch “hears voices” and has hallucinations, his lawyer said Saturday.

Francisco Sevilla, 40, allegedly struck Juliet Kashidas-Singh, 64, “repeatedly about the head and body” and then “dragged her body using a cord that was tied around her neck” at 103rd Avenue near 105th Street in Ozone Park, Queens, on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint.

Sevilla, who weighs 350 pounds and stands 5-foot-3, “hears voices” and has hallucinations, his defense attorney David Strachan said, as he asked for a psychiatric evaluation of his client.

Sevilla pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, court records show.

He told investigators he was “under the influence” and doesn’t remember anything, according to sources.

Kashidas-Singh, a breast cancer survivor, and Sevilla worked in construction together and were fighting over $300 that she apparently owed him, sources said.

Sevilla, who was arrested hours after the murder with his hands still drenched in blood, was sent to Rikers Island correctional facility without bail, according to records.

Sevilla is a Mexican national who has been in the US for two years, sources said. It’s not known if he entered the country legally.