Arrest made in alleged murder of female soldier on Army base
U.S. Army Fort Leonard Wood/Facebook
(WASHINGTON) — An Army specialist has been charged with the murder of a fellow soldier whose body was found on an Army base last week.
Spc. Wooster Rancy, 21, is accused in the murder of Sarah Roque, a 23-year-old sergeant, officials said Thursday.
Last week, Roque was found dead in a dumpster at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
Rancy also faces obstruction of justice charges, officials said. He is currently in pretrial confinement ahead of a preliminary hearing.
A combat engineer, Rancy is originally from Miami and joined the Army in 2022, officials said.
It is not yet clear what led to Rancy’s arrest or the motive in the killing.
Roque, of Ligonier, Indiana, was reported missing after she failed to report for duty last week.
In a press conference after her body was found, Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck said her death was being investigated as a homicide.
“As a commander and a leader, this is a tragedy,” Beck said. “This is something that we never want to happen, we never want for the family to have to endure, or for the unit to have to endure.”
Roque served as a mine dog handler, officials said. Since she enlisted in 2020, she was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
“Sarah not only served our country bravely and honorably as a soldier, she was also a daughter, a sister and a friend to many,” Beck said.
In this June 25, 2024, file photo, Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are assembled at the Boeing Renton Factory in Renton, Washington. — Jennifer Buchanan/POOL via AFP via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — Tens of thousands of Boeing workers have voted to strike after rejecting the proposed contract from the embattled aerospace company — a move with far-reaching implications for the U.S. economy.
Boeing had reached a tentative agreement earlier this week with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM, the union representing 33,000 workers at Boeing plants in Washington State, Oregon and California.
However, union members rejected the contract agreement on Thursday night with a vote of 94.6%. IAM’s members will strike at midnight on Friday after 96% voted for the action.
“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members,” Boeing said in a statement following the strike vote. “We remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and the union, and we are ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.”
A work stoppage would weaken Boeing as it struggles to recover from a years-long stretch of scandals and setbacks, hamstringing the nation’s largest exporter, experts told ABC News. But, they added, workers are frustrated with what they perceive as inadequate compensation and a sense they must sacrifice to make up for the company’s mismanagement.
Here’s what to know about what’s behind the strike and its implications for the U.S. economy:
Why are Boeing workers preparing to strike?
Neither Boeing nor the IAM wants a strike. The workers might carry one out anyway.
The tentative agreement struck this week delivers a 25% raise over the four-year duration of the contract, as well as worker gains on healthcare costs and retirement benefits. The union had sought a 40% pay increase over the life of the deal.
The agreement also features a commitment from Boeing to build its next commercial plane with union labor in Washington state.
Boeing touted the strength of its offer earlier this week. “Simply put, this is the best contract we’ve ever presented,” Stephanie Pope, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, wrote in a letter to union members obtained by ABC News.
The union echoed support for the agreement, urging workers to ratify the deal.
“We have achieved everything we could in bargaining, short of a strike. We recommended acceptance because we can’t guarantee we can achieve more in a strike,” IAM District 571 President Jon Holden, who leads the union local involved in negotiations, told members in a public letter.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, a Boeing spokesperson pointed to a letter sent to union members by CEO Kelly Ortberg.
“I hope you will choose the bright future ahead, but I also know there are employees considering another path — and it’s one where no one wins,” Ortberg said.
“For Boeing, it is no secret that our business is in a difficult period, in part due to our own mistakes in the past. Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together,” Ortberg added.
IAM declined to respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Still, the vote indicates that workers are ready to defy the company and the union. For years, West Coast Boeing workers have taken issue with their level of compensation, especially in light of strong company performance and a surge in the cost of living, experts said.
“There are years and years of pent-up frustration among Boeing workers,” Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis who studies labor, told ABC News. “This is an expression of being completely fed up.”
Union members also view themselves as being asked to make sacrifices made necessary by the company’s mismanagement, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.
In January, a door plug blew out of the company’s 737 Max 9 aircraft during an Alaska Airlines flight, prompting a federal investigation. The renewed scrutiny arrived roughly five years after Boeing 737 Max aircraft were grounded worldwide following a pair of crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a combined 346 people.
In 2021, after a two-year ban, Boeing 737 Max aircraft were permitted to fly.
Boeing is carrying nearly $60 billion in debt, Pope noted in her letter to union members. The company’s share price has plummeted almost 40% since the outset of 2024. Ortberg took over as CEO last month.
“The workers cannot and should not be expected to bear all of the burden of the changes needed at Boeing,” Harteveldt said.
“But I don’t think Boeing is asking them or expecting them to do that,” Harteveldt added. “Boeing has extended what appears to be a very generous offer with substantial wage increases.”
What’s at stake in a potential Boeing strike?
Boeing, which employs 145,000 U.S.-based workers, is a major U.S. firm with a sprawling network of suppliers, experts said.
The company estimates that it contributes nearly $80 billion to the U.S. economy each year, and indirectly accounts for 1.6 million jobs.
A prolonged strike would weaken production with the potential to slow output, diminish income and trigger layoffs, Harteveldt said.
“There’s a risk of a downward spiral,” Harteveldt said.
Such a strike would not impact flight activity or down planes, however, since the workers at issue take part in manufacturing new products. That stands in contrast with an averted railroad strike in 2022, which would have halted a sizable share of the nation’s cargo trains.
“This wouldn’t be as devastating,” Rosenfeld said.
Still, he added, a potential strike would hold implications for a signature U.S. firm.
“It would further damage an iconic company that has already had years of setbacks,” Rosenfeld said.
(LONGBOAT KEY, Fla.) — When Coast Guard pilot Lt. Ian Logan went out to search the waters off Longboat Key in the wake of Hurricane Milton roaring ashore on the western Florida coast, he didn’t expect to find anyone who needed help.
To all of their surprise, he and his crew found a man clinging to a cooler 30 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We thought it might’ve been a buoy,” Logan said. “I remember looking down and seeing the strobe and like seeing him holding on to the cooler. So once we pulled up in that 50-foot hover right next to the guy, we’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s on like a cooler that’s opened up and he’s just floating on it,’ which is insane.”
The man had gone out to his boat early Wednesday to make repairs after it became disabled earlier that week approximately 20 miles off John’s Pass, a barrier island west of St. Petersburg, according to the Coast Guard. As he was bringing the boat back to port, it got disabled again, the Coast Guard said.
The man contacted the Coast Guard, hoping for help. But weather conditions had already started to deteriorate as Milton approached Florida’s west coast, and the Coast Guard said it instructed him to put on a life jacket and “stay with the vessel’s emergency position indicating radio beacon.” The Coast Guard said it then lost contact with the man at 6:45 p.m. ET Wednesday.
By the time he was found, with his boat long gone, Logan said the man was essentially strapped to the cooler.
“I didn’t believe it at first. There are a lot of questions going through my head. So I paused for like, 10 seconds, as we’re making this turn, going to make our approach to the water,” Logan said. “And I’m like, ‘Are you sure?’ And the swimmer is like, ‘Yes, he’s waving his hands at us like, this is the guy.’ And I remember all of us are like, ‘My goodness, I can’t believe we’re so excited that we found this guy.’ Like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“I look back over my shoulder and he’s over my back right shoulder and I see this guy — hair looks like the ‘Castaway’ movie, where he’s covered in salt,” he said. “He’s got a life vest on, he’s soaked. And at that point, it really set in, like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we just found this guy.'”
Logan said the moment was one of the highlights of his career.
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
Footage of a vehicle explosion taken by a driver on I-96 in Webberville, Mich., Nov. 2, 2024. (Simon Schuster)
(LANSING, MI) — A semitractor-trailer crashed into backed-up traffic on a Michigan interstate, killing four people and injuring 17 others just before midnight on Saturday, police said.
Troopers with the Michigan State Police had been stationed on Interstate 96, controlling traffic as workers installed power lines across the road, the department said in a statement.
Prior to the crash, “numerous” cars had come to a halt in the expressway’s westbound lane near the intersection with M-52, police said. The work, which was being done by Consumers Energy, required the road to be completely shut down for a short period, police.
Those vehicles had just begun moving again when the truck crashed into them, police said.
“It appears the driver of the semi-truck did not see the backup and could not stop his vehicle in time,” police said. “The semi-truck was in the left lane of travel and struck numerous vehicles.”
The truck and more than a dozen other vehicles caught fire after the crash, police said.
“Seventeen vehicle occupants have been transported to UM Sparrow Hospital and McLaren Hospital in Lansing for serious injuries,” police said.
