(NEW YORK) — Three people have died, and their bodies have been recovered after a small plane crash in Nebraska, authorities said.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office said that “a small plane was traveling along the Platte River south of Fremont when it crashed into the river” on Friday night.
“The three occupants of the plane have been recovered and are confirmed deceased,” authorities continued. “Those identities will not be released at this time pending next of kin notification.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have now taken over the investigation. The cause of the crash is currently unknown.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office has asked the community to avoid the area until further notice so that they may continue with their investigation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — A man was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Thursday for murdering a Texas college student in a random shooting in 2023.
Wes Smith, a 21-year-old junior at Texas Christian University, was shot multiple times outside a Fort Worth bar in September 2023, prosecutors said.
Matthew Purdy, 23, pleaded guilty to his murder during a hearing in Tarrant County on Thursday. A judge then sentenced him to 60 years, under the terms of a plea agreement.
Smith’s parents addressed the court during Thursday’s hearing.
“Your actions caused catastrophic, monumental mourning by thousands of people,” his father, Philip Smith, said while addressing the defendant, saying he believed Purdy has a “dark and ugly soul, if you have any soul at all.”
He remembered his son as a “beautiful human being” who had a great laugh and quick wit.
“He was a true leader of people,” Philip Smith said. “He was a gifted athlete. He was an honor student. He was a loved son. He was a cherished brother.”
His mother, Dorree Smith, remembered him as a “competitor to the core in a way that encouraged and brought out the best in everyone.”
“He thought being a mentor was so important, along with putting others before yourself and serving others however needed,” she said. “He wasn’t perfect, but he was striving for growth, building a foundation and leaving warmth and laughter in his wake.”
She said her son’s last evening was spent doing the two things he loved most — football and mentoring young athletes, while helping coach middle school students — before heading to a bar to meet up with friends.
He was helping women find safe rides home when he was shot, she said.
Addressing Purdy directly, she said, “You didn’t know Wes. You never met him. But in that moment, you made a devastating, evil choice. You decided you mattered more than he did. And you took Wes’ earthly life. And now Wes’ loss is not just a personal loss but a communal wound.”
The shooting occurred in Fort Worth’s West 7th entertainment district shortly after 1 a.m. local time on Sept. 1, 2023.
An officer patrolling the district heard gunshots and found Smith suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the affidavit. Smith was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The gunman hit another TCU student who was fleeing the scene in the back of the head with the gun, causing a laceration, according to the affidavit.
Purdy was arrested two blocks from the bar and admitted to shooting Smith three times for no discernible reason, according to the affidavit. He told police he didn’t shoot the other TCU student “because he ran out of bullets,” prosecutors said.
After being read his rights, Purdy agreed to provide a statement, in which he “admitted to approaching Wes, who he didn’t know and shooting him three times” in the stomach, shoulder and back of the head after he fell, the affidavit stated.
“Matthew could not provide a clear reason as to why he shot Wes,” the affidavit stated, noting that Purdy asked the victim if he knew his father, who was assaulted in the past in the area, before shooting him.
Purdy also pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault for pistol-whipping the other TCU student and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In a police interview, he said he didn’t shoot her because he ran out of bullets.
He was additionally sentenced on eight other felony charges, for a total of 206 years in prison. The sentences will run concurrently, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said.
His trial had been scheduled to start in July. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Barry Williams / New York Daily News via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Two men accused of torturing an Italian businessman in a luxe New York City townhouse to obtain his cryptocurrency have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault and coercion as prosecutors said there are other possible victims and even shared a photo that allegedly depicted the victim on fire.
John Woeltz and William Duplessie, both handcuffed and in jumpsuits, were arraigned in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday after a grand jury indicted them on a dozen charges.
Judge Gregory Carro ordered them to remain held without bail through their next court appearance on July 15.
A prosecutor, Sarah Kahn, shared graphic details of the alleged abuse during the hearing. She showed the judge a photo that she said depicted the alleged victim on fire and said the defendants would pour tequila on him, light him on fire and then put the fire out — sometimes by urinating on him.
Woeltz and Duplessie pistol-whipped the victim with a gun, cut him with a small chainsaw and used various other instruments as part of the torture, Kahn said.
She said prosecutors have had conversations with other, unnamed law enforcement agencies that indicated Woeltz and Duplessie have tortured people before. She did not elaborate.
The defense pushed back, saying there is video of the alleged victim “having the time of his life” and engaging in activity at odds with having been tortured.
The defense attorneys said they obtained a different video from an eyeglass store taken 36 hours before the alleged victim left the townhouse that purportedly shows him smoking a cigarette by himself on the street.
“The story that he is selling just doesn’t make sense,” defense attorney Sam Talkin, who represents Duplessie, told the judge.
Prosecutors have not seen the video and Kahn said, “Victims of abuse are not always going to act in a way that we expect people to do.”
Woeltz and Duplessie were arrested last month. The indictment, which was unsealed on Wednesday, alleges they held the man against his will “with intent to terrorize him” and assaulted him with a chainsaw, pistol and cattle prod.
Their attorneys have previously declined to comment on the case.
Prosecutors have said Woeltz and Duplessie lured the alleged victim — a 28-year-old man who is not identified in the indictment — to New York by allegedly threatening to have his family killed.
The man told police he arrived in New York on May 6 and went to Woeltz’s eight-bedroom SoHo townhouse, where he was allegedly tortured over his Bitcoin password, according to a complaint.
After more than two weeks, police said the man escaped from the townhouse on May 23 and ran to a traffic enforcement officer for help. Woeltz and Duplessie were subsequently arrested on charges including kidnapping, assault and unlawful imprisonment.
(NEW YORK) — The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season will likely experience above-average activity, the National Hurricane Center announced on Thursday.
Between 13 and 19 named storms are expected for the 2025 season, which starts on June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30, according to the NHC. Storms are named when become tropical storms or stronger.
Meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict between six and 10 hurricanes and between three and five major hurricanes, at Category 3 or higher.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
