4 murders of homeless people including ex-NFL player may be connected: Police
In this screen grab from a video, law enforcement vehicles are shown at a homeless encampment in Los Angeles, where former NFL player Kevin Johnson was found dead, Jan. 23, 2026. (KABC)
(LOS ANGELES) — Investigators are working to determine whether four murders of homeless people in Los Angeles that occurred between October and January are connected, officials said.
The killings occurred in the same general location, the 1300 block of East 120th Street in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau.
Among the killings was that of former NFL player Kevin Johnson, whom investigators said was found dead on Jan. 21 at a homeless encampment area, as reported by local ABC News station KABC. Johnson, 55, suffered from a blunt force trauma and stab wounds, they said. All four victims lived in homeless encampments, according to officials.
All four murders remain under active investigation.
The string of murders in the Compton Creek area began on Oct. 5, 2025, when a woman, identified as 52-year-old Michelle Steele, was shot in the head, sources close to the investigation told KABC. She died in the hospital on Nov. 12, 2025, they said.
Three weeks later, on Dec. 4, a homeless man identified as 52-year-old Octavio Arias was murdered in the same area, KABC reported. Arias died from head and neck trauma, according to L.A. County Medical Examiner records.
The fourth victim, following the murder of Johnson, was identified as Mauro Alfaro, also in his 50s. Alfaro was killed on Jan. 26, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma, sources told KABC.
Investigators are now looking into the possibility that all four murders were done by the same killer, KABC reported. A suspect has not been identified, sources inside the L.A. County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau told KABC.
Detectives are still trying to determine motives in the killings and trying to figure out if the suspect is someone who is upset with homeless people being in that area, or if drugs or gangs may be involved, sources told KABC. There is no concrete evidence linking the cases together, according to sources.
Johnson played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders from 1995 to 1997, according to KABC.
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(TUCSON, Ariz.) — ABC News has confirmed that law enforcement will imminently release an image of a potential suspect in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.
Guthrie was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday, Feb. 1, according to authorities. A Monday ransom deadline by persons claiming to be Guthrie’s abductors passed as the search for her continues.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
A child is seen playing a game on the Roblox platform on November 19, 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A group of 800 parents — including those who have already filed suit and those who have retained lawyers with the intent to sue –sent a letter to the board of directors of Roblox demanding the gaming company stop attempts to keep lawsuits out of the public eye.
Roblox, launched in 2006, has been at the center of recent controversy, with some parents alleging that the platform has been used to help facilitate child sexual exploitation and grooming.
The company is facing over 100 lawsuits that were recently consolidated, with one law firm telling ABC News that it is investigating thousands of child sexual exploitation and abuse claims.
Roblox had nearly 83 million average daily active users in 2024, according to its financial reports. It reported $3.6 billion in revenue that year.
Pat Huyett, one of the attorneys representing families in the lawsuits, said Roblox’s legal strategy has been to file motions to compel arbitration — a private, out-of-court process where claims are settled confidentially by a third party.
“They are confidential, they’re secretive,” Huyett said. “Anything that happens in those arbitration proceedings does not become public, so Roblox’s conduct can’t be scrutinized by the public.”
In the letter sent Sunday night, the parents asked the board to “stop the improper and shameful attempts to force these vulnerable, sexually abused and exploited children into secret arbitration proceedings.”
The letter includes signatures from parents in Washington, California, Florida and Texas who allege their children were targeted by predators.
“These children deserve their day in court,” the parents wrote.
The company has consistently responded to the lawsuits and allegations by stating that protecting children is a priority and announcing investments in safety measures, including artificial intelligence age verification.
According to Roblox, inappropriate content is against the rules and standards of the game. The company says it uses thousands of human moderators and artificial intelligence tools to police content.
“We are deeply troubled by any allegations about harms to children online and are committed to setting the industry standard for safety,” a spokesperson for Roblox previously told ABC News. “To protect our users, we have rigorous, industry-leading policies, including limiting chat for younger users and employing advanced filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. Roblox also does not allow users to share images or videos. We also collaborate closely with law enforcement.”
A separate group of 150 parents sent a similar letter to Discord, a communication platform that families allege predators use to communicate with minors after meeting them on Roblox.
Roblox and Discord did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Discord previously told ABC News the company is “committed to safety” and said it requires all users to be 13 to use their platform.
“We maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet,” the spokesperson previously said.
The letter from the parents contains accounts from parents about their children’s experience, including a Washington state teenager allegedly coerced into sending explicit images and a minor in California who was allegedly groomed on the platform and later died by suicide.
Families from Florida and Texas also described experiences involving extortion, self-harm and physical assault.
The push from parents follows a ruling from a judge in November that rejected Roblox’s attempt to force a child exploitation case into arbitration. In the order, the California judge cited the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA), which prohibits forced arbitration in cases of sexual abuse. Roblox has appealed the order.
In the letter sent on Sunday, the parents argued that while Roblox claims to prioritize “community before company,” it is simultaneously “attempting to silence abused and exploited children in secret arbitration.”
“By trying to force sexually abused and exploited children to tell their stories only in private, confidential proceedings, Roblox seeks to protect predators and itself, not its users,” the letter states.
Huyett told ABC News, “The families really just want to heal … but on the other hand, they want accountability.”
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 06, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — As soon as Wednesday afternoon, a Texas jury will begin deliberating whether a law enforcement officer should be held criminally responsible for failing to act in the face of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
At issue is whether Gonzales — one of the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022 — ignored his training and endangered dozens of students when he responded to the shooting.
Nineteen students and two teachers died, with police officers waiting 77 minutes to confront the gunman. While the shooting response has been the subject of hearings and investigations, the case against Gonzales marks the first criminal trial related to the shooting and the delayed police response.
Prosecution’s closing argument
The jury has an opportunity to “set the bar” for how officers should respond to school shootings, prosecutor Bill Turner said on Wednesday.
“If it’s appropriate to stand outside hearing [hundreds of] shots while children are being slaughtered, that is your decision to tell the state of Texas,” Turner said.
While teachers and students were sheltering in their classrooms — doing exactly what their training taught them to do in an active shooter scenario — the police officer trained to help them failed to act, Turner said. Turner argued that each gunshot fired at Robb Elementary was “notice to Adrian Gonzalez to advance toward the gunfire,” but he failed to follow his training and act in the crucial first minutes of the shooting.
“If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while the child is in imminent danger,” Turner said.
Turner pointed jurors to the testimony of teaching aide Melodye Flores, a key prosecution witness who said she pleaded with Gonzales to intervene. Turner argued that the warning from Flores and the clear sound of gunfire should have triggered Gonzales to act.
“The training is, you hear shots, you go to the gunfire. He heard shots, and Melodye Flores was pointing where to go to the gunfire. There’s nothing complicated about that,” Turner said.
Defense’s closing argument
Convicting Gonzales will send a clear message to officers who respond to this country’s next mass shooting, defense attorney Jason Goss said.
“What you tell police officers is, ‘Don’t go in. Don’t react. Don’t respond,'” Goss warned jurors. “We cannot have law enforcement feel that way.”
Goss argued that prosecutors tried to “massage the facts” of the case and “twist them all into a pretzel” to argue Gonzales failed to act. According to Goss, Gonzales did the best he could with the information he had when he arrived at Robb Elementary. While other officers arrived within the same timeframe, only Gonzales is being penalized for attempting to take action that day, he argued.
Goss attempted to empathize with the jurors and the families of victims, arguing he understood the desire for criminal accountability. But he reminded jurors, “The monster who hurt those kids is dead.”
But convicting Gonzales, Goss argued, would do “an injustice” for the victims of the shooting.
“You do not honor their memory by doing an injustice in their name,” he said.
What is he charged with?
Gonzales was charged with 29 felony counts of abandoning/endangering children — one count for each of the 19 students who died in the shooting and the 10 children who survived in classroom 112.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and Gonzales could spend the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted. While juries in Texas sometimes determine criminal sentences, Gonzales has opted to be sentenced by Judge Sid Harle if he is convicted.
What happened to the police chief’s case?
Along with Gonzales, prosecutors also charged former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was the scene commander during the Robb shooting. His case has been indefinitely delayed due to a pending civil lawsuit involving the tactical unit that ultimately breached the classroom and killed the shooter.
Are there any comparable cases?
According to Phil Stinson — a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who maintains a database of police officers who have been arrested — the case against Gonzales is uncommon but not unprecedented.
Prosecutors in Florida attempted to similarly charge a law enforcement officer for his response to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen were killed when a gunman opened fire that day, Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland.
A jury in 2023 acquitted Scot Peterson, the former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, after he was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction following the shooting.
