Backpacks containing $1.1 million of cocaine discovered in the wilderness near Canadian border
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents assigned to a region near the Canadian border in Washington found two backpacks left out in the woods containing an estimated $1.1 million of cocaine, officials said. Image via U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents assigned to a region near the Canadian border in Washington found two backpacks left out in the woods containing an estimated $1.1 million of cocaine, officials said.
The incident occurred when agents on patrol in the Blaine Sector of Washington, approximately 110 miles north of Seattle, discovered two black backpacks weighing 78 pounds lying on the ground in a wooded area near the border in Lynden, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released on Monday.
When the agents looked inside, they found “30 brick-like packages containing a white powdery substance,” officials said. The substance was later tested and determined to be cocaine.
“Thanks to the vigilance of Blaine Sector Border Patrol agents these dangerous narcotics were prevented from reaching our communities,” said Chief Patrol Agent Rosario “Pete” Vasquez. “Our agents work tirelessly day in and day out to protect this nation, and this seizure highlights that crucial commitment.”
The narcotics were immediately turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, officials said.
Authorities did not reveal how the bags got there, who they might belong to or if any arrests have been made in connection to the case.
(LOS ANGELES) — The wildfires burning across the Los Angeles area have ravaged thousands of structures, with the Eaton Fire destroying generations of homes in Altadena. One woman’s house was the only one on her block to survive.
Debbie Slavin told ABC News on Monday about how her house avoided catching fire when the first six houses on her block were burned to the ground.
“When the fire burned the fence, it also burst the pressurized water pipe,” Slavin said. “I honestly believe that’s what put the fire out on that fence.”
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst fires have burned over 38,000 acres. More than 12,000 structures, including homes and places of worship, have been destroyed, and officials expect further damage in the coming days.
The Eaton Fire has burned over 14,000 acres.
When Slavin returned to her neighborhood in Altadena to see Eaton’s damage, she got emotional.
“I got a call from my neighbor down the street whose also, house has survived, and he basically shared with me that there was still smoldering on my front lawn and that he was going to go ahead and, and spray it,” Slavin said. “And when I got there, it also was still smoldering, so I went ahead and also put more water on it.”
Altadena is a community in which many families have made their homes for decades. According to Slavin, the community members were close and organized gatherings.
Slavin, who still can’t get back to her home, mentioned that one of her neighbors had even gone to check on her house while she was away to ensure it was still locked. She cherishes the trust and care that neighbors have for one another, and feels emotional seeing her friends’ homes getting destroyed while hers remains safe.
“I don’t know what it’s going to look like in the future,” Slavin said about her community. “And that’s also what’s so heartbreaking. I’ve had some great friends lose their homes. And you have to ask yourself why my home and why not the ones across the street.”
(CALIFORNIA) — A cousin of the Menendez brothers said she’s “thrilled” that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is addressing the brothers’ request for clemency and ordering the parole board to investigate further.
“I certainly gasped in relief,” cousin Anamaria Baralt, one of at least 20 relatives in support of the brothers’ release, told ABC News at a virtual news conference Thursday. “This is huge.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents — have “cautious optimism” they’ll be released, Baralt said.
“They are the first life without parole prisoners on this path,” added another cousin, Tamara Goodell. “So when we look at any advancements … it’s definitely with hope, but also understanding that there are no promises.”
“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said Wednesday on his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis. But this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case, as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”
Baralt called Newsom’s decision a “positive step forward” and said she’s confident the parole board will determine Lyle and Erik Menendez are not a risk to public safety.
“We have seen their rehabilitation over the last three decades,” Baralt said.
She said the parole board’s investigation will find: the brothers’ repeated and sincere remorse; their work to improve prison culture and run several programs to help inmates reenter society; and how they’ve spent most of their lives in prison but still built meaningful lives helping others. The board will also consider their age at the time of the crime and their lack of criminal history outside of “making a horrific decision” as a direct result of the abuse they endured, Baralt said.
“We understand that this is not without professional risk for him,” Baralt said of Newsom.
Lyle and Erik Menendez filed the petition in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father Jose Menendez; and allegations from a former boy band member, Roy Rossello, who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman argued the letter failed the credibility test, saying if it existed, the defense would have used it at the brothers’ trials in the 1990s.
Hochman said Rossello’s allegation failed the admissibility test, because the brothers didn’t know about his claims until recent years, so it couldn’t have influenced their state of mind during the crime and “play a role in self-defense or premeditated murder.”
After Hochman’s announcement, Erik Menendez said to the family, “We need you strong,” Goodell recalled. “They both really mirrored our frustration, but they also said, ‘Let it go. We need to focus on moving forward.’ And so that is our focus.”
Baralt stands by the new evidence.
The letter to Cano, while received in December 1988, was not discovered until recent years, according to the brothers’ attorney.
Baralt stressed that Cano was 14 or 15 at the time Erik Menendez sent him that letter.
“It’s only natural for a teenage boy to not realize he is sitting on critical evidence. Andy wasn’t a lawyer. He wasn’t even an adult,” she said. “To pose the question now, decades later, after he passed, of why wasn’t the letter submitted back then? It’s like asking a teenager who got in a fender bender why didn’t you call the police to file a report — because a teenager doesn’t know any better. He didn’t realize how vital that letter would be to the case.”
And as for Rossello’s admission in 2023, Baralt stressed that it’s common for abuse victims to not disclose for years.
“Roy coming out to share his story in his own time is new evidence” that should be considered admissible, she said.
Baralt said Hochman’s decision “felt extra hurtful, because it was only a few weeks ago that dozens of [relatives] sat in his office and described the horror of being in this victim family, with 35 years of being retraumatized.”
“We have become victims in this process,” she said. “We have been laughed at, ridiculed and forced to relive the pain over and over again.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez. The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors alleged they killed for money.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman.
Hochman, who came into office on Dec. 3, has yet to announce if he is in support of or against resentencing for the brothers. He’s expected to decide in the coming weeks.
A hearing regarding the resentencing case is set for March 20 and 21.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 19, according to the civil liberties groups behind the legal challenge to the order.
Trump’s order aimed to withhold federal funding to medical institutions that provide such care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries — calling on the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to “take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” The executive order does not appear to restrict these procedures for non-transgender people under 19.
Transgender young adults and families with transgender youth filed a legal challenge in early February against the order.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
