Hawaii man arrested for trapping elderly woman in her car for days: Police
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(HONOLULU) — A Hawaii man was arrested for allegedly trapping an elderly woman in her car for several days and later forcing her to withdraw money from her bank account, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
On March 30, officials received reports of a kidnapping incident occurring in the Kailua and Kaneohe area, police said.
The suspect, a 22-year-old male, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly restraining a 78-year-old woman from leaving her vehicle for about three or four days, police said in a statement.
The woman was then brought to a bank by the suspect and “instructed to withdraw money from her account,” police said.
She was able to inform the employees at the bank, “who in turn contacted the police and informed the police of the situation,” officials said.
The suspect was “positively identified and arrested for kidnapping and robbery,” police said.
On Saturday, the suspect was charged with first-degree robbery, with a bail set to $30,000, police said.
The name of the suspect was not released by police.
(SENECA, Kan.) — A man has been arrested in the murder of a Catholic priest, who was shot Thursday outside the residence at his church in the small town of Seneca, Kansas.
Gary Hermesch, 66, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder.
A 911 call was made at around 3 p.m. on Thursday to report shots fired at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Deputies arrived on the scene to find Father Arul Carasala, 57, outside the church residence, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the KBI.
Carasala twas transported to the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital, but died due to his injuries, according to the KBI.
Kansas Highway Patrol troopers responded and helped secure the scene. Shortly after, deputies from the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Seneca Police Department took Hermesch into custody, the KBI said.
He was booked into the Nemaha County Jail but has not yet been formally charged, authorities said.
Kansas City Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann said he was “heartbroken” by the news of Carasala’s death.
“This senseless act of violence has left us grieving the loss of a beloved priest, leader, and friend. Fr. Carasala was a devoted and zealous pastor who faithfully served our Archdiocese for over twenty years, including as dean of the Nemaha-Marshall region,” Naumann said in a statement on Facebook.
“We are in shock and disbelief. Please allow our parish community to process. We will release official information as it becomes available,” Saints Peter and Paul Parish said in a statement on Facebook.
Carasala was ordained in March 1994 in his home Diocese of Cuddapah, India, according to the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas.
“He ministered at Sts. Peter and Paul for nearly 14 years and also served as dean of the Nemaha-Marshall deanery. His deep faith, pastoral care, and generous spirit touched the lives of so many,” the archdiocese said in a statement on Facebook.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City saw fewer shootings in the first three months of the year than in any previous quarter since the NYPD began keeping statistics, the police commissioner announced Thursday.
“Crime and violence reductions are historic,” NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press briefing.
Shootings dropped 23% citywide in the first quarter, she said.
“This is lives saved,” Tisch said.
The first quarter of the year also saw the second-fewest murders of any quarter in recorded history in the city, Tisch said.
All crimes except rape went down in the first quarter of 2025, the commissioner said. Rape increased by 21% in the first quarter, Tisch said, while noting the increase was due in part to changes to the law last year that “rightfully redefined and broadened what constitutes rape in New York state.”
There was a slight uptick in grand larceny auto in March, due to a rash of car thefts specifically targeting Hondas, Tisch said. Nearly a third of all cars stolen in the city are Hondas because the thieves are able to easily clone Honda key fobs, police said.
“We continue to urge Honda, for their customers’ sake, to fix this vulnerability now,” Tisch said.
Subway crime dropped to levels not seen since before the pandemic, when transit crime spiked. Major crime in the subways decreased more than 18% in the first three months of the year, Tisch said.
The commissioner credited enforcement of rules like taking up more than one seat.
“They will correct the condition,” Tisch said. “This is about restoring safety and order.”
The latest statistics come as the Trump administration has claimed crime in the subway system is “rampant.”
In response to the state’s request for more federal funds for the transit system last month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the administration would “hold NYC leaders accountable for not keeping commuters safe.”
Duffy has also threatened to pull federal funding from the city’s transit system if it doesn’t address crime.
“The trend of violent crime, homelessness, and other threats to public safety on one of our nation’s most prominent metro systems is unacceptable. After years of soft-on-crime policies, our Department is stepping in to restore order,” Duffy said in a statement on March 18 — two months after Gov. Kathy Hochul had already announced a plan to increase of police officers in the transit system.
(EDGEWATER, Fla.) — A woman called 911 to report a toddler left alone in a vehicle outside a Florida bar before the mother of the child and her boyfriend were arrested for child neglect, according to newly released audio.
The Edgewater Police Department released the audio of the 911 call along with the body camera footage Monday of what they had called a “disgusting” incident.
The child’s mother, 35-year-old Kristina Vitucci, and her boyfriend, 39-year-old Joshua Harris, were both arrested after Vitucci’s 2-year-old daughter was left in an unlocked vehicle while they sat inside an Edgewater bar drinking for nearly two hours on Jan. 28, according to police.
“I don’t know that there’s an actual emergency, but there’s a baby out here in a car by itself,” the 911 caller can be heard telling the dispatcher.
“I just don’t want anybody to get mad at me. But I just, you know, this is wrong,” the caller said.
“Yeah, I agree,” the dispatcher said.
An officer responded at approximately 8:15 p.m. and reported that the child had been crying in the vehicle and it was unknown where her parent was, according to the body camera footage.
Upon arriving at the vehicle a few minutes later, Harris told officers that he owned the car and that the child’s mother was inside the bar, the body camera footage shows.
When Vitucci subsequently came outside of the bar to the parking lot, an officer told her, “You’ve got an idea of why we’re here,” the footage shows.
“Yeah, she said.
The officer told Vitucci her daughter was fine and to stay with him, as police continued to question the couple about the incident.
They were both arrested for child neglect, a third-degree felony.
Vitucci is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 18 and Harris on Feb. 25, court records show.
ABC News has reached out to their public defenders for comment.
