Climber, 21, dies after sustaining ‘major injuries’ in fall off Devil’s Tower
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(NEW YORK) — A 21-year-old rock climber died after “sustaining major injuries” while climbing Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming, authorities said.
The fall occurred on Sunday shortly before 8 p.m. when Devils Tower Law Enforcement was informed that a rock climber, Stewart Phillip Porter, a 21-year-old from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was rappelling down the second pitch of El Cracko when he fell and sustained “major injuries” in a fall, according to a statement from the National Park Service released on Monday.
“Porter’s partner was stranded and later rescued from the wall of the Tower, with help from Devils Tower Lodge Climbing Guides and Buck Wild Climbing Guides,” officials said.
Over the 100 plus year climbing history at the Tower, there have only been seven climbing deaths, according to the National Park Service.
“While climbing fatalities at Devils Tower are infrequent, it is still inherently dangerous,” park officials said.
The National Park Service took the opportunity to remind the public of proper safety measures to take while climbing.
“Check the local weather forecast before climbing and observe changing weather conditions,” officials said. “Watch for animals (stinging insects, birds, rodents and reptiles all live on the Tower) … [and] Consult multiple sources for information on a route, as suggested gear varies between guidebooks.”
“The majority of climbing accidents and deaths on the Tower occur during the rappel. The National Park Service does not maintain anchors – inspect all anchors and back them up if necessary. Ensure you know the location of your rappel route before you begin,” officials said. “Start rappels over the nose of columns to prevent ropes from jamming in cracks. Avoid knocking loose rock onto climbers below. Many rappels require two ropes; know the distance of your planned rappel before beginning.”
Devils Tower expressed appreciation for Devils Tower Lodge, Buck Wild Climbing Guides, Hulett EMS and the Crook County Sheriff’s Office and monument staff who assisted in search and recovery efforts, and offer condolences to the family, park officials said.
(DELPHI, Ind.) — A pair of teenage girls who were on the Delphi, Indiana, hiking trail the same day two younger girls were murdered are speaking out about their recollections of the “bridge guy.”
Railly Voorhies testified Tuesday at Richard Allen’s murder trial that she was on the small-town trail on Feb. 13, 2017, with a friend and two sisters.
Voorhies, who was 16 at the time, said she passed a man near Freedom Bridge on her walk home.
When asked to describe the man, Voorhies said he was a Caucasian man with his face covered. She said he was overdressed for the weather, had on dark clothes, was wearing a hat and had his hands in his pockets.
The prosecution pulled up a photo of the “bridge guy” — the grainy image of the suspect walking on the bridge near where the girls were last seen — and Voorhies said, “That was the man I had waved at on the trail.”
During cross-examination, defense attorney Jennifer Auger noted that Voorhies gave a different description of the man when interviewed earlier. Voorhies first described the man as in his early 20s or 30s with a bigger build, brown eyes, dirty blonde curly hair, a square jaw and a wrinkly face. She also said he was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie, black boots and a black mask.
During redirect, prosecuting attorney Stacey Diener asked Voorhies if she had ever given a statement to police or asked to give a statement about estimating someone’s height or weight.
Voorhies said, “No. I was certain that was the man that I saw. I can say with confidence the person in the picture is the person I saw.”
Auger then asked Voorhies if the photo of the “bridge guy” influenced her memory, and Voorhies responded, “Possibly, yes.”
Breann Wilber, who was on the trail that day with Voorhies, testified that she also noticed the man who was overdressed for the warm weather.
She said the man was walking with a “purpose,” didn’t respond when Voorhies said hello and gave off “weird vibes.”
Wilber said that, when she saw the picture of the “bridge guy,” the “first thing I thought is — that is the person I saw on the trail.”
During cross-examination, Wilber was also pressed on how her description of the man she saw on the trail changed over the years.
Best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were walking along the trail when they were killed on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017.
Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat as they walked over the Monon High Bridge. After crossing the bridge, they saw a man behind them, and Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m., prosecutors said.
The man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls to go “down the hill,” prosecutors said. The girls complied, and then the video on Libby’s phone stopped recording, according to prosecutors.
The eighth graders’ bodies were discovered the next day.
Allen, a Delphi resident, was arrested in 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Voorhies noted in court that she was friends with Libby and Abby on Snapchat, while Wilber said she knew Libby’s older sister and was friends with Libby on Snapchat.
(NEW YORK) — The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who has accused former President Donald Trump of groping her in front of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 1990s is offering more details about what she claims she observed about Epstein’s relationship with the current presidential candidate and what she says Epstein told her.
“I would say that he talked about having just seen Donald or having just done something, I mean, every time we spoke,” Stacey Williams, who worked as a professional model in the 1990s, told ABC News in an interview.
Williams went public this week with an allegation that Trump groped her in front of Epstein after she said Epstein, who would later be known as a serial sex offender, brought her to Trump Tower in the early 1990s.
‘I felt so humiliated’
In her interview with ABC News, Williams said that during her several-month relationship with Epstein, who she said she met in 1992, Trump was among three people who Epstein talked to her about the most, with one of the other two being Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate who has since been sentenced to prison for 20 years for recruiting and grooming the underage girls who Epstein sexually abused.
The third person, Williams said, was Leslie Wexner, the billionaire retail magnate who once employed Epstein to manage his fortune.
“The people he spoke about the most were his boss, or whatever that person was, Les Wexner, hard to understand that role. And then Ghislaine, again, a little ambiguous weird relationship. And then Donald Trump,” Williams told ABC News. “Those are the people he spoke about the most.”
The details come after Williams first publicly discussed the alleged incident in detail on a public “Survivors for Kamala” Zoom call last Monday night in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. The group is not officially affiliated with Harris’ presidential campaign.
In a statement to ABC News, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt denied Williams’ allegations, stating in part, “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false.”
Asked about the claim that Epstein spoke frequently about Trump, a Trump campaign spokesperson said, “It is widely known that President Trump banned Jeffrey Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago Club when revelations about his sex trafficking became public.”
On the Zoom call, which ABC News obtained a video of, Williams, who first began speaking publicly about the alleged incident with Trump and Epstein in Facebook posts dating back to 2020, said she felt like the alleged groping incident was a “twisted game” between Trump and Epstein.
“I felt so humiliated and so sick to my stomach and was so upset, and as I absorbed what happened a few minutes later, I felt like that was some sort of sick bet or game between the two of them,” Williams said. “I was rolled in there like a piece of meat for some kind of challenge or twisted game, and I felt horrendous.”
“I figured it was time to share this and I’m ready to win this election,” Williams, a longtime Democrat who has been active in politics, said on the Zoom call. “The thought of that monster being back in the White House is my absolute worst nightmare.”
‘It was orchestrated’
Williams told ABC News the alleged encounter, when she was 24, lasted no more than ten minutes. “I was in shock and I was frozen,” Williams said.
“He just put his arms out and pulled me towards him and his hands on some part of my body the entire time,” Williams claimed in the interview. “His hands would touch the sides of my breasts, not the front, but the sides of my breasts, my waist, and then slid down to my butt and just kept kind of running up and down my body while the two of them were carrying on a conversation.”
Speaking with ABC News, Williams explained that shortly after the alleged incident, she began to suspect that the encounter with Trump and Epstein had been “orchestrated,” but went into denial about it because of the shame it made her feel.
“Now there’s no doubt in my mind it was orchestrated,” Williams said.
Not long after the alleged incident, Williams said Trump sent her a handwritten postcard featuring his Mar-a-Lago estate that read, “Stacey — Your home away from home. Love Donald.” A photo of the postcard was shared with ABC News.
Two friends confirmed to ABC News in interviews that Williams told them years ago about the alleged incident with the former president. Longtime friend Allison Gutwillinger told ABC News in an interview that in 2015 Williams invited her over to her home to tell her about the alleged incident after Trump had announced his run for office.
“I came over to her house. There was a postcard on the kitchen counter, with what looked like Mar-a-Lago on the cover. I turned it over, and there was a handwritten note signed ‘Love Donald,'” Gutwillinger said. “She then told me he groped her in Trump Tower.”
‘Not a fan of his’
Trump eventually distanced himself from Epstein, who in 2019 died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Authorities say that, in the early 2000s, Epstein sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in New York and Florida, among other locations.
In 2002, Trump told New York magazine, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.”
“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump said at the time.
Epstein was questioned about his relationship with Trump during a March 2010 deposition in a civil suit against Epstein filed by some of Epstein’s victims.
Epstein answered, “Yes, sir,” when asked if he had socialized with Trump. When asked if he “ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18” Epstein replied, “Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment right, sir.”
By the time Epstein was charged in 2019, then-President Trump told reporters at the White House he was “not a fan of his, that I can tell you” and that he hadn’t “spoken to him in 15 years.”
A year later, Trump wished Ghislaine Maxwell “well” after being asked by a reporter if the longtime Epstein associate should reveal the names of powerful people who were associated with the serial sex offender.
“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly.”
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls.
During Maxwell’s trial, flight logs released as evidence showed that Trump was listed as a passenger on Epstein’s private jets at least seven times: four times in 1993, once in 1994 and 1995, and a previously known time 1997.
At least 18 women have accused Trump of varying degrees of inappropriate behavior, including allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault. During Trump’s first run for the White House, a 2005 video surfaced where he discussed groping women, in which Trump can be heard telling former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, “When you’re a star they let you do it.”
“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women, I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump said, including “grab ’em by the p—-.”
Trump apologized at the time after the comments were made public, saying in a video, “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am,” adding, “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”
Trump has long vehemently denied all of the women’s accusations. In some cases, he and his team members have specifically denied individual accusations, but they have also repeatedly issued blanket denials against all the allegations, calling the women liars.
(NEW YORK) — Three major wildfires were raging across Southern California Tuesday, threatening thousands of homes as firefighters and the state National Guard were battling to bring the flames under control amid a triple-digit heatwave, officials said.
The Line Fire in San Bernardino County, the Airport Fire in Orange County and the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles County are all being fueled by extremely dry vegetation and spreading rapidly, officials said.
The Line Fire
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Line Fire was threatening 65,600 structures, including homes and commercial properties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (Cal Fire).
Fire crews achieved 5% containment on the blaze on Monday night as Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed the state National Guard to support the ongoing response to extinguish the blaze.
While evacuation orders were issued for 9,200 structures in the area, with another 56,400 structures under evacuation warnings, Cal Fire said no buildings have been destroyed or damaged.
“We’re pouring resources into this incident aggressively by deploying more air and ground support through the California National Guard,” Newsom said in a statement. “This is on top of nearly 2,000 firefighters, nearly 200 engines, and air assets we already have tackling this fire. California stands with these communities and has their backs.”
Newsom said the California National Guard will support the ongoing response to the Line Fire, the cause of which remains under investigation. Eighty troops split into four 20-person teams and one military police company have been sent to the fire scene to assist the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department with traffic control in evacuated areas.
National Guard troops are also helping firefighters battle the flames. Four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters for water bucket dropping operations and two C-130 aircraft with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems are among the resources deployed by the National Guard, Newsom said.
The fire, which ignited Sept. 5, is burning in steep and rugged terrain, making access difficult, Cal Fire said. Firefighters are working to build “control lines” to contain the blaze.
“Stronger winds are predicted Tuesday which could help fire spread and contribute to longer range spotting. Mid-week cooling may moderate fire activity and increase fuel moistures,” Cal Fire said.
The Airport Fire
Another major fire in Southern California broke out Monday afternoon in an unincorporated area of Orange County, prompting the evacuations of 1,427 homes, according to Cal Fire. The fast-moving Airport Fire in Trabuco Canyon in the hills southeast of Irvine had burned 9,333 acres by Tuesday afternoon, according to Cal Fire.
The fire was 0% contained Tuesday afternoon, according to Cal Fire.
Two firefighters battling the blaze were hospitalized with heat-related injuries and one civilian suffering from smoke inhalation was also treated at a hospital, Cal Fire said. The Fire was burning in the direction of the Cleveland National Forest.
At least four people, including a couple and their 3-year-old child who were hiking on a trail in the area, had to be airlifted to safety, officials said. A man and his cats were airlifted to safety from their home, officials said.
Several emergency communication towers on Santiago Peak in the fire zone, as well as towers operated by local broadcasting stations, were being threatened by the fire, officials said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no structures had been destroyed or damaged, according to Cal Fire.
The Airport Fire began around 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, sparked by county public works crews working on a fire prevention project by trying to move boulders to prevent public access — mostly by motorcyclists — to an area of the canyon with a lot of dry vegetation that could ignite easily, officials told ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
“The fire has been classified as unintentional,” said Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Chief TJ McGovern.
At least 1,000 firefighters were battling the blaze Tuesday.
The Bridge Fire
Elsewhere, the Bridge Fire, which started on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles Country, had burned 4,178 acres as of Tuesday afternoon. The fire north of Azusa in the Angeles National Forest was 0% contained.
Evacuation orders are in place for a mobile home park, campgrounds and a small river community.
