2 charged in connection with alleged explosive device at MacDill Air Force Base: FBI
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has announced charges against a brother and sister in connection with an alleged improvised explosive device that was found near the visitors center at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida last week.
Alen Zheng was charged by indictment with one count of attempted damage of government property by fire or explosion, one count of unlawful making of a destructive device and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Ann Mary Zheng was also indicted on charges alleging that she was an accessory after the fact and tampered with evidence by attempting to destroy, mutilate and conceal a 2010 black Mercedes GLK 350.
“A brother and sister have now been indicted,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X on Thursday. “One is in custody for accessory and evidence tampering and the primary suspect is charged with explosives offenses and is currently in China.”
A possible IED was discovered outside the visitor’s center at MacDill AFB on March 16, though it is unclear when the device was placed. Court records indicate that March 10 is a date associated with the siblings’ alleged conduct.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Community members pay respects at a “Memorial Garden” filled with flowers, photos and mementos outside the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue on July 14, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. (John Normile/Getty Images)
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Nearly four years after 10 Black people were gunned down in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, the victims’ families have reached a settlement with the firearms accessory company listed as a defendant in the case.
The Georgia-based manufacturer Mean Arms has agreed to pay $1.75 to settle a lawsuit filed in 2023, accusing the company of providing online instructions on how to remove a locking device it manufactured for AR-15-style rifles to turn the guns into assault weapons, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced.
“Today, justice looks like accountability, and we have ensured that this device will never be sold in our state again,” James, who filed the lawsuit along with the group Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Law Center, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mean Arms did not immediately respond to a request from ABC News for comment on the settlement. The company agreed to the settlement “without admitting or denying any allegations, claims, or assertions in the complaints filed in this action,” according to court papers filed in New York Supreme Court in Buffalo.
On May 14, 2022, the gunman, Payton Gendron, a self-professed white supremacist, opened fire with a Bushmaster XM-15 rifle in a Tops supermarket on Buffalo’s East Side neighborhood, killing 10 Black shoppers and injuring three other people.
According to the lawsuit, Gendron followed step-by-step instructions provided by Mean Arms to remove a device sold attached to the weapon called an MA Lock, which prevented the rifle from accepting magazines with more than 10 rounds. New York law bans the possession of assault weapons with high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
The removal of the lock allowed Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, to attach a 30-round magazine and convert the gun into an illegal assault weapon that he used in the attack, according to the lawsuit.
“With a pistol grip and the high-capacity magazines, he did not have to stop to reload his weapon, and when he did reload, he could do so quickly. As a result, he was able to kill 10 people and injure three others,” according to James’ statement.
As part of the settlement, Mean Arms agreed to permanently stop selling the MA Lock in New York and, according to James, remove any statements that claim the MA Lock is legal in New York and state on all packaging that the device cannot be sold or resold in New York.
“This has not been an easy fight and no amount of money will ever make up for the loss of our loved ones, but through this courageous action and in this instance, justice has prevailed and this settlement will provide additional fuel for the fight ahead,” said Garnell Whitfield, the former Buffalo fire chief whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the massacre.
Gendron pleaded guilty in November 2022 to 15 state charges, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate, murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gendron is scheduled to face a federal trial this coming summer, in which he could get the death penalty if convicted.
“We will never forget and stop fighting for our 10 neighbors who were senselessly taken away from us in a tragic, racist act of terror,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “As we continue to help the families and community heal, I’m grateful to the Attorney General for her partnership in seeking justice for those impacted and working to keep New Yorkers safe by ensuring our nation-leading gun laws are being followed.”
The FBI and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office are looking for missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard. FBI
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) — Ashlee Buzzard, the mom of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, has been taken into custody in connection with the investigation into her missing daughter, sources told ABC News.
Multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News that Melodee’s body was found in early December in Utah in an area where Melodee and Ashlee Buzzard traveled in October. Law enforcement believes Melodee was killed, and that she was likely dead in October, before she was known to be missing, sources said.
Ashlee Buzzard was taken into custody following DNA results from the recovered remains, sources said.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has not yet commented and only said it will share “major developments” in Melodee’s case at a news conference on Tuesday.
The investigation into Melodee’s disappearance was sparked on Oct. 14 when a school district administrator reported her “extended absence” to authorities, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities determined Melodee and Ashlee Buzzard left their Lompoc, California, home on Oct. 7 for a three-day road trip that took them to the Nebraska area, the sheriff’s office said.
Melodee was last seen alive on Oct. 9 near the Colorado-Utah border, according to authorities.
Ashlee Buzzard returned home to Lompoc on Oct. 10 with the car she and Melodee had rented on Oct. 7 — but Melodee was not with her, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities have claimed Ashlee Buzzard wore wigs and swapped license plates during the trip, and they said Ashlee Buzzard didn’t cooperate with the search for Melodee.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Brian Walshe during the murder trial of Ana Walshe on December 9, 2025. Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
(DEDHAM, Mass.) — Brian Walshe, a Massachusetts man accused of killing and dismembering his wife, the mother of their three children, has been found guilty of first-degree murder.
His wife, Ana Walshe, went missing on Jan. 1, 2023, at the age of 39. Brian Walshe pleaded guilty last month, ahead of the trial, to lying to police following her disappearance and improperly disposing of her body, though he denies he killed his wife and has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Ana Walshe’s body has not been found.
After deliberating for nearly four hours following closing arguments on Friday without reaching a verdict, jurors resumed deliberations Monday morning for another approximately two hours. Brian Walshe remained stoic as the guilty verdict was read.
His sentencing has been scheduled for Wednesday. He faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Judge Diane Freniere informed the jury on Friday they could choose to convict on second-degree murder or the first-degree murder charge the prosecution has argued for, which includes the element of premeditation.
During opening statements in the Dedham trial, defense attorneys said Brian Walshe did not kill his wife but found her dead in bed on New Year’s Day in 2023 — calling her death sudden and unexplained — and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance.
Prosecutors alleged Brian Walshe premeditatedly murdered and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her remains in dumpsters. The internet history on his devices on Jan. 1, 2023, included searches such as “best way to dispose of a body,” “how long for someone to be missing to inherit,” and “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder,” prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Larry Tipton argued during closing arguments the Commonwealth hadn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Brian Walshe — whom he described as a “loving father and loving husband” — killed his wife or there was any motive to do so.
Tipton conceded there’s evidence Brian Walshe lied and disposed of a body, but argued there was nothing proving he planned to harm his wife. He claimed the internet search on murder came six hours after his wife died and “upsetting” searches about dismemberment and “cleaning up” do not point to a plan but rather his “disbelief.”
Commonwealth prosecutor Anne Yas, meanwhile, argued during closing arguments that Ana Walshe didn’t die of natural causes — but instead Brian Walshe killed her and then disposed of her body to hide the evidence in a “methodical” plan.
“The defendant did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and to know how she died, so the defendant bought cutting tools at Lowe’s and Home Depot and he cut up Ana’s body — the woman that he claimed to love — and he threw her into dumpsters,” she said.
Yas said their marriage was in “crisis,” and they had been having arguments about Ana Walshe being away from the family due to her job in Washington, D.C. She also claimed Brian Walshe knew his wife was having an affair, which the defense has denied.
The defense rested on Thursday without calling any witnesses. Freniere noted in court on Thursday that it appeared Brian Walshe would testify in his defense, based on the defense’s opening statement. Though he ultimately waived his right.
Evidence presented during the two-week trial included surveillance footage of a man believed to be Brian Walshe buying tools and other supplies at a Lowe’s on Jan. 1, 2023. A receipt showed that items, including a hacksaw, utility knife, hammer, snips, Tyvek suit, shoeguards, rags and cleaning supplies, totaling $462 were purchased with cash.
Additional surveillance footage presented in court showed someone throwing out trash bags at dumpsters on multiple days in early January 2023.
Several blood-stained items recovered from dumpsters by investigators — including a hacksaw, a piece of rug, a towel and hairs — and an unknown tissue were linked to Ana Walshe through DNA testing, a forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory testified during the trial.
Blood was also found in the basement of the family’s rental home in Cohasset, another forensic scientist with the crime lab testified.
Ana Walshe was reported missing by her employer on Jan. 4, 2023. Brian Walshe told police at the time that she had a “work emergency” at her job in D.C. and left their Cohasset home on New Year’s Day, according to audio of his interview played in court.
At the time, Brian Walshe and their three children were living in Massachusetts while he was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings.
Jurors heard testimony, including from a D.C. man with whom Ana Walshe was having an affair, that the mother of three was upset about being away from her young children so much — who were 2, 4 and 6 at the time — and there was stress in the marriage. The defense maintained the couple were happy.
