Month: December 2024

The man accused of a string of serial killings in Gilgo Beach on Long Island, was charged with a seventh murder on Tuesday.

According to a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors charged the suspect, Rex Heuermann, in the November 2000 death of Valerie Mack, whose remains were found 24 years ago. Mack’s decapitated body in a wooded area of Manorville on Long Island on Nov. 19, 2000, with her remains bound with rope inside a black plastic bag which was wrapped with duct tape. Both of her hands had been severed from her body and one of her legs was cut off, according to a bail application that accompanied the new indictment. The rest of Mack’s remains were found more than a decade later, in April 2011, along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.

Heuermann, a New York architect, has been charged in the deaths of six other women, all suspected sex workers, whose remains were discovered in a remote spot along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and parts of eastern Long Island. Prosecutors said they linked Heuermann, 61, to Mack’s death in part through a mitochondrial DNA analysis of a female hair found on Mack’s body which matched the profiles of Heuermann’s wife and daughter. At the time of Mack’s murder, Heuermann’s daughter would have been between 3-4 years old. Heuermann was also linked to Mack’s death through evidence recovered on some of the 350 electronic devices they seized from him that include his “significant collection of violent, bondage and torture pornography” dating back to at least 1994.

Heuermann, 61, was charged with one count of second-degree murder in connection with Mack’s death; he appeared in court on Tuesday shackled in a suit and told the judge, “Your honor, I am not guilty of any of these charges.” In June, Heuermann entered not-guilty pleas in the deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. In July 2023, he was charged in the deaths of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman.

Judge Timothy Mazzei continued to hold Heuermann without bail. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference Tuesday that Mack’s parents “are very grateful for the small bit of closure.”

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Officials in Madison, Wisconsin are trying to determine why a 15-year-old girl allegedly opened fire at her school, Abundant Life Christian School, on Monday, killing a fellow student and teacher before taking her own life from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said on Tuesday were interviewing friends and family and examining the online presence of the shooter, identified by police as Natalie Rupnow, to determine what drove her to open fire in a classroom at her private Christian school.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said on Tuesday that investigators are looking into online posts and a possible manifesto that Rupnow, who also went by Samantha, may have left behind: “We have been made aware of a manifesto, if you want to call it that, or some type of letter that’s been posted by someone who alleged to be her friend.”  Barnes said they are also examining Rupnow’s cell phone and computer to see if there were any transmissions between her and someone else, and are looking into how the 15-year-old obtained a gun and whether her parents were negligent.

Barnes told ABC News on Tuesday that The suspect’s parents are cooperating with the investigation: “they were cooperative. Despite this tragedy, they still lost a child. They still lost a member of their family. It is certain that they have probably more questions than anyone because they knew her. They lived with her and so we wanted to get an account from them of what kind of child she was.”

Two students were hospitalized in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, while another three students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

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Per AP News, authorities in Ohio are launching a homicide investigation after three women were found dead inside a Columbus, Ohio, home on Saturday.

According to Sgt. James Fuqua, public information officer for Columbus Police. officers were called to a home on the city’s south side just before 4 p.m. Saturday for what a 911 caller fho found their friends in medical distress inside a home. Police found three women who were pronounced dead at the scene. Fuqua said the killings were considered homicides, but he did not have further details, including what led up to the killings: “We are working through the manner of death to determine what actually happened before we release any of that information. Unfortunately, this is a very complex scene with the amount of victims that we have. It’s going to take a little bit longer to make sure that we’re very careful in going through the scene meticulously so we do not miss any key piece of evidence.”

Fuqua added that no suspects had been taken into custody, and said investigators were interviewing witnesses and looking for video evidence. No drugs were found at the scene and officials are considering it an active homicide investigation and are working to confirm the manner of death.

In an update released on Sunday, CBS affiliate WBNS-TV reported that police said that all three women had been shot and killed — the identities of the women have not yet been released. Sgt. Fuqua said: “this time of year — anytime of the year it’s unfortunate when someone loses their life, but particularly this time of the year during the holidays it’s going to be very difficult for these victims’ families to come to the grips that these family members will no longer be in their lives.”

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During a Monday appearance at President-elect Donald Trump’s residence Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump and the CEO of Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, announced a $100 billion investment effort designed to spur artificial intelligence and related infrastructure projects.

Trump said in his joint appearance with the billionaire investor/founder of the Japanese tech-investing firm that the investment would create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and related infrastructure, with the money to be deployed before the end of Trump’s term. Son said: “My confidence level to the economy of the United States has tremendously increased with his victory. President Trump is a double down president. I’m going to have to double down.” (Per CNBC.). Trump called Son “one of the most accomplished business leaders of our time.”

Trump and Son announced a similar initiative in 2016 after Trump was elected president for the first time, with the Japanese firm agreeing to invest $50 billion in the U.S. with the aim to create 50,000 jobs.  Earlier this month, Amazon and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, each announced $1 million contributions to Trump’s inaugural fund, as have OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the AI startup Perplexity.

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