80-year-old dies falling off boat on rapids trip in Grand Canyon
(GRAND CANYON VILLAGE, Ariz.) — An 80-year-old man died in Grand Canyon National Park over the weekend after his boat flipped in the Colorado River, marking the 13th person to die in the park this year.
The man was on a commercial rapids trip Sunday and fell into the water at Fossil Rapid, according to the National Park Service.
He fell in at around 3:40 p.m., according to officials, with an emergency being reported to the National Park Service via satellite phone.
The group said CPR was already in progress as park rangers responded to the emergency.
However, efforts by the group and park rangers, who were flown in by helicopter, were not able to resuscitate him.
The National Park Service and Coconino County medical examiner are investigating the incident. The victim was not identified by officials.
Several people have died in Grand Canyon National Park just in August alone. A 33-year-old woman, Chenoa Nickerson, was washed away in flash flooding was found on Sunday, the same day as the 80-year-old man died in the boating accident.
Three people died in the park on the last day of July and into the first week of August, including a 20-year-old man who fell off a scenic overlook on July 31, a BASE jumper who fell to his death on Aug. 1 and a 20-year-old female hiker who was found dead 150 feet below the rim after she entered on Aug. 3.
A park official told The Associated Press this week that about 10 to 15 people die in Grand Canyon National Park every year, with just 11 dying last year.
(NEW YORK) — One of the two men shot and injured in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has been released from the hospital, officials said.
David Dutch, 57, was discharged on Wednesday, Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh said.
Dutch was shot in the chest and liver and was initially in a medically induced coma after the shooting, according to the Marine Corps League of Pennsylvania.
Dutch is a former Marine who serves as commandant of his Marine Corps League detachment, the organization said.
“David and our entire family are especially grateful to all the first responders and medical professionals who saved his life, including the Life Flight and trauma surgical teams,” his family said in a statement last week. “We also offer our deepest condolences and prayers for the other victims of this tragic event and their families.”
The second man who was shot and injured, James Copenhaver, 74, remains in the hospital in serious but stable condition, according to Allegheny General Hospital.
“Jim would like to especially thank the first responders, medics, and hospital staff who have provided him with initial and continuing care,” his family said in a statement last week. “Additionally, Jim would like to express his thoughts and prayers for the other victims, their families, and President Trump. He prays for a safe and speedy recovery for them all.”
The man killed at the Trump rally, firefighter Corey Comperatore, died shielding his family from the gunfire, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said.
Comperatore, 50, leaves behind his wife and two daughters.
(NEW YORK) — Authorities in South Carolina said they believe they have found the body of an endangered Massachusetts man who went missing over a week ago while vacationing with his family on Hilton Head Island.
Stanley Kotowski, 60, had not been seen since leaving his family’s vacation rental in Sea Pines the morning of Aug. 16, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
The body of a man believed to be Kotowski was found under a home in Sea Pines on Monday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities responded to the home around 11:30 a.m. ET Monday “in connection to suspicious activity,” and the body was recovered about four hours later, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy on Tuesday to determine the manner of death and positively identify the body, the sheriff’s office said.
“We appreciate the assistance provided by other agencies, Sea Pines Security, and the community in the search for Mr. Kotowski,” the sheriff’s office said.
Kotowski was reported missing by his family about two hours after he was last seen, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Master Sergeant Daniel Allen. He was listed as endangered due to his mental state, the length of time he has been missing and because he was last seen on a Ring camera without any shoes on, Allen said.
According to the incident report, Jackie Kotowski told deputies that her husband “believes Sea Pines is a ‘set up’ and has a conspiracy that the people here are out to get him.” She also reported that he had made “several statements of people at this place ‘watching him,'” the incident report stated.
He had been struggling with anxiety before he went missing, his family told ABC Savannah, Georgia, affiliate WJCL-TV following his disappearance.
“He had really bad insomnia for about a month. This is like a brand-new thing,” his wife, Jackie Kotowski, told WJCL. “He doesn’t have dementia. His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse and he started to get a little paranoid, and he thought someone was chasing him.”
He had not taken any personal items, such as his phone or wallet, when he left the rental, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
(LOS ANGELES) — The 1986 cold case murder of a teen has been solved after a DNA match led investigators to a convicted serial killed on death row.
When presented with the DNA evidence, William Lester Suff, a 70-year-old convicted serial killer, admitted to stabbing 19-year-old Cathy Small multiple times in the chest and leaving her on a California road after an argument, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Lt. Patricia Thomas.
On Feb. 22, 1986, South Pasadena police responded to a report of a woman lying in the street. When officers arrived, they found the woman unresponsive in the middle of the street, wearing a nightgown and suffering from several stab wounds throughout her body, Thomas said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. She had no identification and was listed as Jane Doe No. 17, Thomas said. She was found to have died from multiple stab wounds and strangulation, Thomas said.
On Feb. 25, 1986, detectives received a call from a resident in the Lake Elsinore area who was concerned the victim was his roommate. After seeing her remains, the man identified the victim as Small, Thomas said.
The roommate told detectives Small was a prostitute and lived at his house for a few months. Small told her roommate a man named Bill was picking her up and giving her $50 to drive with him to Los Angeles.
He said never saw or heard from Small again, Thomas said.
The case remained unsolved despite detectives following up on numerous leads throughout the years, Thomas said.
On Oct. 11, 2019, detectives responded to the scene of a natural death across the street from where Small’s body was found.
The coroner’s investigator found several disturbing items in the house, including numerous photos of women who appeared to have been assaulted and held against their will and a newspaper article about the identification of Small after her murder, Thomas said.
While the dead man’s DNA did not match any crimes, it was through this search that investigators discovered none of the items of evidence from Small’s murder — including a sexual assault kit and the victim’s clothing — were ever tested for DNA, Thomas said.
The DNA evidence was finally tested in August 2020, more than 34 years after Small’s killing, which revealed the presence of two male donors, one of whom was identified as Suff and the other as an unknown male.
Suff is a notorious convicted serial killer — also known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer or the Lake Elsinore killer, Thomas said.
In July 1995, Suff was found guilty and sentenced to death for 12 homicides that occurred in the Riverside County from 1989 to 1991, Thomas said.
Suff would admit under questioning that he was living in Riverside County and working in Lake Elsinore at a computer repair shop in 1986. On the day of the murder, Small went into the repair shop and gave him her phone number.
He called her later that day and he picked her up, after which they got into an argument and he became enraged because she knocked his glasses off his face. He retrieved a knife he kept in the vehicle and stabbed her multiple times in the chest as she sat in the passenger seat, Thomas said.
At the time of her death, Small had two small children and a younger sister, Thomas said. Detectives said her sister was relieved that the killer was found, but Small’s mother had died years before he was identified.
“Cathy had a family who cared about her deeply. It is horrifying that her life was taken away so violently and in such a tragic way,” Kathryn Barger, a member of the LA County Board of Supervisors, said during a press conference. “Justice will be served for Cathy and her family.”