Detective says ‘a switch just flipped’ before he strangled wife: Police
(MESA, Ariz.) — An Arizona detective has been arrested and charged in his wife’s death after he allegedly strangled her and locked her body in their bedroom before fleeing the scene.
John Byrd, 47, has been arrested and charged with one count of second degree murder after he admitted to police that he strangled his wife to death, according to the Mesa Police Department in Arizona.
Byrd told police that he has had “some mental issues lately and has been very stressed about his home and work life,” according to a police booking report obtained by ABC News.
Byrd had a heated argument with his wife the morning her body was found and said that “during that argument ‘a switch just flipped’ in him and he put his hands around the victim’s neck and strangled her to death,” Byrd told police, according to the police report.
Byrd then told police that he left her body in their bedroom and locked the door so that the children would not see her. He told police that he knew what he had done was wrong, according to the report.
Byrd’s wife was found dead in their home after a woman reported her missing on Wednesday after she had not been seen or heard from for most of the day and failed to show up to a gym class they always attended together.
The woman who reported her missing had contacted the couple’s 11-year-old son by text and was told the boy and his siblings — ages 8 and 4 — had not seen their mother all day and her bedroom door was locked, according to police.
The woman also told police that the victim’s husband had left home at around noon Wednesday and had not returned, so she picked up the three children and took them to her home, police said.
When police arrived on the scene, Byrd’s employer was at the residence to pick up his work vehicle because Byrd was on medical leave from his job. Police gathered additional information before they entered the house to conduct a welfare check on the victim, police said.
The victim was found dead on her bedroom floor, with no major visible injuries seen on her body, according to police.
Byrd was not in the residence and police could not find or reach him by phone. No calls had been made from the residence to report that the woman had been injured.
Officers and detectives found Byrd driving a vehicle registered to the victim and he was detained. A search warrant was authored for the couple’s residence and physical evidence was collected from Byrd.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, where Byrd was employed, told ABC News it is “in the process of ending Byrd’s employment.”
The Pinal County Attorney’s Office will handle Byrd’s prosecution.
(NEW YORK) — A tropical disturbance near Cuba is taking aim at Florida and could strengthen into a tropical depression or tropical storm this weekend.
It has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical depression over the weekend and a 90% chance of developing into a tropical depression over the next seven days. If this strengthens to a named storm, it would be called Debby.
Regardless of how strong the potential storm will be, it’s forecast to bring up to 6 to 8 inches of rain to parts of Florida’s west coast as well as the Georgia and South Carolina coast.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 54 counties.
A tropical storm warning is in effect in Florida from East Cape Sable to Boca Grande, including Naples.
A tropical storm watch is in effect for parts of the Florida Keys, the southern coast of the Florida peninsula and the west coast of the Florida peninsula, including Tampa.
A storm surge watch has also been issued for parts of the west coast of the Florida peninsula.
The current forecast track calls for the system to become a tropical depression by Saturday morning as it moves across Cuba.
The outer bands will reach South Florida on Saturday morning and bring scattered thunderstorms, heavy downpours and gusty winds.
The storm will continue to strengthen as it closes in on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula and is forecast to come ashore Sunday or Sunday night. Flash flooding is a threat on Sunday.
By Monday morning, the storm will move into the Atlantic Ocean or near the Southeast coast, potentially bringing rain and wind to the Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina coastline. But this forecast could change.
Heavy rain will likely impact coastal areas of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina through Wednesday.
Atlantic hurricane season ramps up throughout August and typically peaks in September.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts an above-average hurricane season this year. NOAA scientists predict between 17 and 25 named storms, compared to an average of 14; between eight and 13 hurricanes, compared to an average of seven; and between four and seven major hurricanes, compared to an average of three.
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI continued to mishandle tips regarding sexual abuse against children even after the agency promised reforms in the wake of its botched handling of assault allegations against former USA Olympics gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, according to a Justice Department watchdog report released Thursday.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s findings were a result of an extensive audit undertaken in the 16 months after his office released its scathing 2021 report that detailed the FBI’s failures in acting on multiple credible abuse claims against Nassar by athletes under his care. While the report details how the FBI updated its policies and training to handle such tips in the wake of the Nassar report, it found multiple instances where bureau employees failed to properly act on the allegations.
Of nearly 4,000 child sexual abuse cases opened by the FBI between October 2021 and February 2023, the IG’s office reviewed 327 and found 42 cases where investigators had to flag it to the FBI for their “immediate attention,” according to the report.
For those 13% of the cases audited by the IG, the report said, investigators had concerns that varied from a lack of recent investigative activity or referrals to appropriate agencies, leads that were not properly followed up on and, in some instances, clear violations of FBI policy regarding handling sexual abuse claims.
In one specific instance identified in the report, FBI agents failed to follow up on an allegation involving abuse against a minor by a registered sex offender, which led to the offender victimizing at least one additional minor “for a period of approximately 15 months,” the report said.
“After we raised this incident to the FBI’s attention, the FBI took appropriate action, and the subject was indicted on federal charges,” Horowitz said in a taped video statement.
The report further found significant issues regarding FBI agents’ obligation to report allegations of sexual abuse against children to various entities immediately after they are received.
In 47% of incidents reviewed by the IG, they found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements to state and local law enforcement agencies, and in 50% of cases, they found no evidence that they reported the allegations to social services agencies, according to the report.
“Additionally, we found that FBI employees didn’t always comply with FBI policies put in place to protect victims,” the report said. “For example, in the incidents we reviewed, we found 40 percent of the active child sexual abuse allegations did not include evidence that the FBI responded within 24 hours.”
A central issue identified in the IG report was a surge in recent years of claims of child sexual abuse that have caused a strain on FBI resources.
One agent who spoke to the IG said they had been assigned approximately 60 such cases and that the risk of them “falling through the cracks” was in large part due to high agent workloads. But, according to the IG, FBI Headquarters denied requests from all but one of 15 field offices that requested an increase in the number of special agents dedicated to investigating child abuse threats in 2022, and further denied requests from seven of those field offices when they again appealed for help.
In a letter responding to the report released Thursday, the FBI said they “recognize further action is necessary to ensure our corrective measures have the full intended effect of improving the FBI’s handling of allegations of hands-on sex offenses.”
But the bureau also argued that “most of the incidents” flagged by the IG’s office appeared to reflect failures in documentation rather than clear failures in proper investigative actions being taken.
“Ensuring the safety and security of children is not just a priority for the FBI; it is a solemn duty that we are committed to fulfilling with the highest standards,” the FBI said in a statement. “The FBI’s efforts combating crimes against children are among the most critical and demanding undertakings we do. The FBI deeply values the trust the public places in us to protect the most vulnerable members of society. We are committed to maintaining the public’s trust by implementing the necessary improvements to ensure the important changes we made to our Violent Crimes Against Children program in 2018 and 2019 have the intended effect of promoting the highest level of compliance and effectiveness.”
Crimes against children are among the top priorities for the FBI, but the bureau continues to be challenged by an increasing number of sexual abuse tips and has previously failed to take necessary investigative measures, an FBI official acknowledged to reporters on Thursday.
“It’s staggering,” the official said, referring to the growing number of reports as an “overwhelming situation.”
“Any mistake or deficiency is unacceptable and the FBI recognizes that,” the official said.
Thursday’s report is likely to draw further criticism of the bureau and FBI Director Christopher Wray, who in the wake of the Nassar report issued a personal apology to the gymnasts abused by Nassar.
“I am sorry that so many people let you down over and over again and I am especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable,” Wray said in September 2021 congressional testimony. “It never should have happened, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement Thursday that he intends to hold a hearing with the FBI in the coming weeks.
“The FBI’s failures enabling Larry Nassar’s abuse of young victims continue to remain a stain on the Bureau,” Durbin said. “Today’s report shows that new policies implemented by the FBI to address these egregious failures are effectively being ignored, leading to similar abuses as seen in the Nassar investigation. It’s shameful that the FBI is continuing to fail victims.”
Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 in connection with crimes against several victims and was sentenced to 60 years behind bars for child pornography and other charges. He again pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years for multiple counts of sexual assault of minors.
(MAUI, Hawaii.) — Thursday marks one year since the start of the devastating wildfires in West Maui that left 100 people dead or missing, destroyed thousands of structures and parched the local landscape.
The historic town of Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was damaged beyond recognition in the weeklong series of fires. A community plagued by a housing crisis and power struggles with the tourism industry were among the issues tested in the aftermath of the wildfire.
There has been much progress in the year since the fires, and yet a lot remains to be done, according to community leaders who have witnessed the transformation in West Maui. The emotional scars are especially raw, and affordable housing within and surrounding the burn zone remains a central issue, Maui County council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez told ABC News.
Maui – and the Hawaiian Islands as a whole – have been facing a housing crisis that predates the wildfire tragedy. The destruction highlighted the state’s ongoing struggles with high housing costs, lack of affordable housing options, and low wages.
These are the major developments in West Maui in the year since the wildfires:
Reopening of tourism
West Maui reopened for tourism on Oct. 8, just two months after the outbreak of the wildfires. The decision was considered controversial, with business owners calling for economic relief and a return to normalcy and residents insisting they needed more time to heal and recover.
The initial reopening entailed that Lahaina would remain closed to the public, but the decision still sparked outrage from some members in the community, thousands of whom remained displaced and were taking up refuge at West Maui hotels, ABC News previously reported. Many had not yet been allowed back to the burn sites to survey the damage of their homes and feared that they would be kicked out of hotels to allow paying customers to stay in their place, community members told ABC News.
Tourism in West Maui opened before survivors of the fire were able to secure housing — exacerbating an affordable housing crisis that existed long before the fires, said Rawlins-Fernandez. Rent prices for vacation rentals rose astronomically as a result of the reopening, and at least 1,400 people have left Maui in the past year, she added.
Days before the reopening for tourism, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green stated that while he was sympathetic to those who were not ready for visitors to return, Maui and the state needed the money that the tourists bring. The number of visitors to Maui plummeted by 70% following the fires, The Associated Press reported in September.
“On October 8, 2023, we welcomed the return of visitors to West Maui to support Maui’s economy and keep our people employed so they can continue to live on Maui and recover,” Green said in an emailed statement to ABC News. “We continue to encourage respectful travel, supporting local businesses and participation in volunteer opportunities that mālama (give back to) Hawai‘i. With targeted efforts and campaigns showcasing Maui’s readiness to welcome visitors, we are committed to supporting the state and Maui’s economic recovery and hope to see continuous improvements over the upcoming months.”
In Maui, 70% of every dollar is generated directly or indirectly by the visitor industry, according to the Maui Economic Development Board.
But the community rallied, and locals groups continue to work tirelessly to find affordable housing for residents — a project that will undoubtedly be long-term, Rawlins-Fernandez said.
Reopening of key locations in West Maui
By December, some of the most iconic locations in West Maui began to reopen.
Places like Banyan Tree Park, the Lahaina public library and the opening of an elementary school marked positive milestones as the arduous cleanup and recovery process continued.
But just four months before, such swift progress may have seemed unthinkable.
When the fires broke out, Timothy Griffin, the County of Maui arborist who cares for the historic banyan tree, said he heard through “coconut wireless,” the island’s unofficial phone tree in which information spreads like wildfire, that the 150-year-old tree that often serves as the symbol of Lahaina had been destroyed to ash.
Drone footage that showed browned and curled leaves still attached to the tree proved the rumor mill very wrong, a good indicator that it wasn’t completely burned and charred, Griffin said.
“I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t a pile of ash,” he said.
The tree was protected by its surroundings. The fire stayed high, flashing over the top of the canopy toward the old courthouse on the other side of the park — the walls of which are made of thick concrete, preventing the fire from roaring back at a lower level and destroying the trunk, Griffin said.
The beloved tree was heavily damaged, but by September it started to show signs of growth.
The recovery that arborists expected to see in three months happened in three weeks, a stark sign that the famous banyan tree would survive and thrive, Griffin said. About 40% of the tree was lost, so the dead wood has been removed, and the tree will undergo a form of “reconstructive surgery” over the next 10 to 20 years to guide and prune the new growth to become a new canopy.
The reopening of Bayan Tree Park, well as the library and schools, can seem like hollow celebrations when Maui residents still don’t have a place to live, Rawlins-Fernandez said. But watching the children of West Maui rise up from the tragedy has brought the community the most hope and joy in the past year, he added.
Events like school plays and high school football games have provided the community with a forum for normalcy — especially in a time when students are still being bussed into their campuses from all over the island, where housing is more available, a stark reminder of the work left to be done, Rawlins-Fernandez said.
Cleanup ahead of schedule
Once the fires were contained, it became immediately clear that the environmental impact would last for years to come. Debris and toxic chemicals, much of it byproduct from coming into contact with the inferno, littered West Maui.
One year after the fire, cleanup efforts have surpassed what many federal, state and local agencies thought were possible during the time frame, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Eric Swenson told ABC News.
As a result of the fires, the power grid was destroyed; water service interrupted; entire neighborhoods destroyed; and a seemingly never-ending pile of debris to dispose of from a small island.
But the workers, many of whom live in West Maui, worked diligently. By late July, nearly all of the 1,399 homes in Lahaina had been removed, with dozens being built in Lahaina and Kula, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen told Hawaii News Now. Water is expected to be restored to Lahaina by August and wastewater by January, Bissen said, adding that all projects are ahead of schedule.
Swenson believes the participation by locals fueled the recovery efforts — power, water, sewer, debris and housing.
“There was an awful lot of people from the community who are invested in the success of this recovery operation, and that allowed us to go faster than probably any other recovery effort that we’ve undertaken,” he said.
Residential debris removal is expected to be done by January and commercial debris removal by February, Swenson said.
Strides being made on housing on Maui
The biggest long-term development in the year since the wildfires regarding Hawaii’s housing crisis may be a bill signed into law by Hawaii Gov. Josh Green that gives counties more authority to regulate short-term vacation rentals.
In West Maui, almost half of all dwellings were used solely as short-term vacation rentals to be rented out to tourists, according to state officials.
“We know the majority of STRs in Hawai’i are illegal, owned by non-residents, and contribute to skyrocketing housing costs,” Green said in a post on X at the time.
As Maui County also phases out short-term rentals, hundreds of families impacted by the wildfire continue to utilize rental assistance, mortgage assistance, and temporary housing backed by federal, state, and local agencies.
In April, a collaborative effort between the state, Maui County, Hawai’i Community Foundation, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and others announced 50 two-bedroom homes to be given to displaced families with donated furniture.
In June, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands awarded 52 turnkey homes — homes that don’t require major repairs or improvements — to Native Hawaiian residents in Waikapū, Maui, with prices between $509,800 to $699,000.
The department plans to award 137 turnkey homes total and 24 improved vacant lots in the region.
“The department will persistently seek out lands in areas we can establish secure and resilient communities for those we serve,” Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Kali Watson told ABC News. “The people of Maui have faced numerous challenges since the wildfires. We hope these homes will inspire and uplift a community recovering from a devastating tragedy.”
FEMA has also leased residential properties for more than 1,200 households who needed temporary housing for either 18 months or until February 2025.
The agency says it plans to complete Kilohana, a group housing site expected to contain 169 units for eligible survivors to use for temporary housing, by October 2024.
The news of longer term housing comes as the state concludes its Non-Congregate Sheltering program, which provided shelter and assistance to 7,796 individuals and 3,071 households displaced by the Lahaina wildfires,.
Community looks within for support
Emergency assistance programs from federal and state programs have continued to play a role in supporting affected residents in the months following the tragedy.
But now, residents say support from the community on Maui and beyond lending a helping hand has been a major source of stability.
One group called Help Maui Rise says it disperses 100% of donated funds directly to families without any administrative or processing fees.
“We would get messages from people just thanking us for $100 and it was really heartbreaking because it seems like so little … We realized that $100 could mean dinner, it could mean groceries, it could mean baby formula, it’s stuff that you just assume they have the money for,” Kenna Reed, co-founder of Help Maui Rise, told ABC News.
Maui residents who lost everything in the island’s wildfires say they have forgotten what normal life felt like before the tragedy. Community-born programs like Help Maui Rise have not only offered financial support but also emotional support, they say.
After the fires, Lahaina resident Dusty Renan says he stepped down from his role managing a company he had held for 18 years.
He told ABC News that the stress, anxiety and depression he faced in the months after losing his family’s apartment and all their belongings made the break a necessity for his health and family.
Accessing funding from larger organizations has proven difficult, he says, with Renan getting rejected or fighting through red tape to get assistance for his family. That’s when community-backed organizations stepped in.
“We made it through thanks to resources and people – it’s the people that really made a difference in all of this. And it was the people that kind of gave us hope and kind of helped us to move forward,” said Renan.
He added, “I just want Lahaina back, I want Lahaina to be strong.”
Zoe Chesson, a mother with two young children, told ABC News that her family stayed with friends and relatives immediately after the wildfires destroyed their home, but eventually had to move off Maui to the Island of Hawaii, or the Big Island, following the tragedy.
“Everything is starting completely from scratch,” Chesson told ABC News. “It’s been kind of a journey.”
Chesson, who lived in Lahaina all her life, said that the tight-knit community is unlike any other.
She recalled an experience when she had been grilling outside, and neighbors had seen the smoke and came to check on the family to make sure they didn’t have a fire.
“My husband and I looked at each other and we were like, we can never live anywhere else,” said Chesson.