20-year-old woman found dead in Grand Canyon following multiday search: NPS
(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — A 20-year-old woman was found dead following a multiday search in the Grand Canyon, marking the third reported death in the national park within a week, the National Park Service said.
The body of Leticia A. Castillo, 20, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was located by park personnel below Twin Overlooks on Tuesday, NPS said.
“Park rangers recovered the body which was located approximately 150 ft. below the rim,” the NPS said in a press release Thursday.
Her body was transported to the rim and transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Castillo is believed to have entered the Grand Canyon on or around Aug. 3, according to NPS.
The NPS and the Coconino County medical examiner are investigating the incident.
No additional details have been released.
The incident marked the third recovery for a death in the Grand Canyon since July 31, park officials said.
A 20-year-old man accidentally fell 400 feet to his death from a scenic overlook at the Grand Canyon on July 31, officials said.
A man also died after attempting a BASE jump in the Grand Canyon on Aug. 1, officials said.
BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span and earth. The recreational sport, which involves jumping from a fixed object and using a parachute to descend to the ground, is prohibited in all areas of Grand Canyon National Park, the NPS said.
“Despite facing inclement weather and hazardous terrain, the team has undertaken significant risks to complete these missions,” NPS said of the three recoveries.
(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for the voting machine company Smartmatic and the cable channel Newsmax argued at a hearing Monday over evidence and witnesses expected to be presented when Smartmatic’s defamation case against the news channel goes to trial later this month.
Smartmatic has accused Newsmax of publishing dozens of false reports claiming that Smartmatic helped rig the 2020 election. Newsmax has argued, in part, that they were reporting on newsworthy claims of fraud.
Howard Cooper, an attorney for Newsmax, argued at Monday’s hearing that the news channel should be able to introduce videos of broadcast segments that he says rebut Smartmatic’s argument that “Newsmax took this position of election fraud [and] not calling the election” for winner Joe Biden.
“One of the ways that we can rebut that theory is by showing shows that were contrary to President Trump’s position,” Cooper said of former President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed there had been massive election fraud.
The two sides also argued over the inclusion of witnesses who would testify about whether Newsmax, in the course of its reporting, reached out to Smartmatic — or instead only reached out to Dominion, another voting machine company that was falsely accused of wrongdoing.
Dominion, in a separate case last year, reached a $787 million settlement with Fox News in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.
Newsmax officials have said under oath that the company contacted or attempted to contact Smartmatic during its coverage of the election and its aftermath.
“We’re not disputing that Dominion and Smartmatic are not the same,” said an attorney for Newsmax. “Some of these Newsmax personnel did get to contact Dominion. It is relevant to the case. It’s relevant to their state of mind.”
“I’d love for you to make that argument if I’m on the other side,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said in response. “Here is the executive producer of this show, and he doesn’t know the difference between Exxon and Chevron.”
After a lengthy argument about other types of evidence the parties would like to introduce at the trial, the judge reviewed the potential witness list and emphasized the need for clear and concise jury instructions.
At one point during the hearing, an attorney for Newsmax requested permission to depose Smartmatic’s damages expert, arguing that the expert’s “reports and charts” on the damages have changed frequently.
“I would only add they were looking for somewhere, and we don’t know yet, between $400 and $600 million in this case,” an attorney for Newsmax said, criticizing “the idea that we would go to a trial without having a full opportunity to do an up-to-date examination of their damages expert.”
An attorney for Smartmatic pushed back, saying that Newsmax attorneys have previously deposed the expert and that “none of the information has changed.”
Judge Davis said he would rule soon on each of the motions.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 30 in Delaware.
(NEW YORK) — Human bones were found in a Brooklyn park along the shore of the East River for the second time in a week, according to the New York Police Department.
Police responded to a 911 report of a body found at Jane’s Carousel early Wednesday, and determined the civilian discovered skeletal remains on the rocks along the shore, the NYPD said.
The discovery came two days after police responded to another report of a found body part near the same location. A New York City Parks enforcement officer discovered skeletal remains on the beach, the NYPD said.
A femur and a couple of smaller bones were found Wednesday, according to New York ABC station WABC.
The medical examiner is investigating the remains found on both days, according to the NYPD.
(NEW YORK) — The estate of a Titanic researcher who was among the five people killed when the Titan submersible catastrophically imploded while on a deep-dive voyage to the site of the famous shipwreck last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking more than $50 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed by the estate of French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, accused OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who also died in the implosion, and others of gross negligence by designing, building and operating Titan “in almost every way, in a manner outside the norms of the diving community and industry, driven by Rush’s apparent obsession with being remembered for innovation alongside such luminaries as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk” and to cultivate an image as a “maverick genius” of the deep-sea diving world.
The lawsuit also alleged crew members aboard the doomed vessel knew they would die before the June 2023 implosion and experienced “terror and mental anguish.”
“While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan’s crew would have realized exactly what was happening,” the lawsuit stated. “The carbon-fiber hull was cracking under extreme pressure — prompting the pilot to release weight and attempt to abort. Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.”
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Washington state, where OceanGate is based. The submersible company suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion.
An OceanGate spokesperson had no comment.
Nargeolet’s estate relied in part on public reporting about the questions experts raised concerning Titan’s safety prior to its fateful final dive, including warnings the vessel was not built to hold up over time to the challenges of deep-sea expeditions.
“Decedent Nargeolet knew that the Titan was different from other submersibles in that it was constructed from carbon fiber and used other unusual materials and components. However, Nargeolet was not an engineer, a submersible designer, or a physicist” and, the lawsuit claimed, appeared to have the “false impression about the safety and seaworthiness of the vessel” based on Rush’s word.
“Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death — and the deaths of the other Titan crew members — was wrongful,” the lawsuit stated.
Nargeolet, known as “Mr. Titanic,” was the director of underwater research at RMS Titanic, which owns the salvage rights. The adventurer had participated in 37 dives to the wreckage of the Titanic, including the first expedition in 1987 shortly after the ship’s location was discovered.
In addition to Nargeolet and Rush, those killed on the vessel included British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
The attorneys representing Nargeolet’s estate said this was the first lawsuit filed in connection with the Titan implosion.
“We are hopeful that through this lawsuit we can get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen,” Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys in the case, said in a statement.
The U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to conduct a formal hearing starting Sept. 16 in South Carolina for the Marine Board of Investigation to consider evidence related to the loss of the Titan.
In June, the Coast Guard said the investigation into the implosion was taking longer than anticipated, calling it a “complex and ongoing effort.”