Body found in suitcase outside Long Island apartment building
(HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y.) — Police are investigating after human remains were found inside a suitcase Tuesday on Long Island.
Officers responded to a 911 call Tuesday morning reporting “suspicious activity” in a wooded area near an apartment building in Huntington Station, New York, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
“Upon arriving, police found a person deceased in a suitcase next to the building,” police said in a press release.
The victim’s identity and cause of death is not yet known.
The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy, police said.
Police are requesting anyone with information concerning the incident to contact them.
A resident at the apartment complex told New York ABC station WABC she had heard the sounds of a woman screaming at about 3 a.m. on Sunday.
Another person living in the area said she saw police respond to the incident.
“The police came and lifted it and saw it was a body,” the individual said. “The smell was rancid. Potent.”
(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) — A murder suspect who has evaded authorities for several months was finally captured by U.S. Marshals after he fell through the ceiling from the attic space where he was hiding, authorities said.
Deario Wilkerson, 20, has been wanted since May 9 when an arrest warrant for first degree murder and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon was issued for him in regard to the April 2 shooting death of Troy Cunningham, who was found shot to death on the 1500 block of N. Merton Street in Memphis, Tennessee, according to a statement from the U.S. Marshals published on Monday.
The case was subsequently adopted for a fugitive investigation by the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force (TRVFTF) in Memphis, authorities said.
“On August 26th, the TRVFTF tracked Wilkerson to a residence in the 1400 block of N. Merton in Memphis. Deputy marshals, with the assistance of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department’s Fugitive Apprehension Teams, surrounded the home,” read the U.S. Marshals statement detailing the incident. “Wilkerson attempted to hide in the attic as the USMS searched the residence; however, he fell through the ceiling.”
The U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force is a “multi-agency task force within Western Tennessee. The TRVFTF has offices in Memphis and Jackson, and its membership is composed of Deputy U.S. Marshals, Shelby, Fayette, and Tipton County Sheriff’s Deputies, Memphis and Jackson Police Officers, Tennessee Department of Correction Special Agents, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Since 2021, the TRVFTF has captured over 2,600 violent fugitives and sexual predators.”
Wilkerson was not injured from the fall and was taken into custody without further incident.
(NEW YORK) — A female student at Texas’ Rice University was shot and killed on Monday by a man authorities said she had been in a “dating relationship” with.
University police responded to a request for a welfare check around 4:30 p.m. local time and found the student, who was identified as Andrea Rodriguez Avila, deceased in her room. Police also discovered an “unidentified male with a self-inflicted … gunshot wound, who was not a member of the Rice community,” school president Reginald DesRoches told the media.
Chief of Police for Rice, Clemente Rodriguez, confirmed police found a note “written by the suspect” at the scene, leading to their belief that the male shot Avila.
“In general terms, it was a lot about their relationship, and then obviously they were having a troubled relationship at this time,” he said of the note, adding that officials believe it was a “dating relationship.”
DesRoches said the “Rice campus is safe, and there is no immediate threat” to the community.
“And tonight, we will wrap our arms around our students,” he added.