Best friends die in Florida after sand hole traps them underground: Sheriff
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(INVERNESS, Fla.) — Two teenagers, whose relatives said were best friends, have died after a sand hole they were digging at a Florida park collapsed and buried them for more than an hour, authorities said.
The incident occurred at Sportsman Park in Inverness, Florida, according to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our hearts are with both families as they grieve the tremendous loss of their sons. We hope the community will continue to respect their privacy and unite in remembering and celebrating both boys,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The two 14-year-olds were identified on Wednesday as George Watts and Derrick Hubbard, the Florida District 8 and District 5 Medical Examiners’ offices told ABC News.
The boys were playing in the park on Sunday when a five-foot-deep sand hole they were digging collapsed, trapping them, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said the emergency was reported about 12:44 p.m. local time.
“The caller reported that two 14-year-old children were lost in the park, and there was a large hole; the caller thought the children were trapped inside the hole,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel raced to the park and attempted to rescue the boys after one of their parents pinged their child’s cellphone and pinpointed their whereabouts underground, according to the sheriff’s office.
Rescuers pulled both boys from the sand hole around 1:15 p.m. and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They were taken by ambulance to HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in Inverness.
One of the boys, Derrick Hubbard, was pronounced dead on Sunday, authorities said. The sheriff’s office said George Watts was pronounced dead at the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
“In a tragic accident, we lost our oldest son, George Watts, and his best friend, Derrick Hubbard,” Watts’ mother, Jasmine Watts, wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to raise money to cover the boys’ funeral expenses. “These two boys shared a bond that went beyond friendship — they were inseparable, full of life, curiosity, and dreams for the future.”
The boys were students at Inverness Middle School, the school said in a statement.
“This situation has deeply affected many within our school and district community,” the school said in a statement, adding that counselors, social workers and psychologists were made available to students this week “as we navigate this difficult time together.”
Nick Reiner attends AOL Build Speaker Series at AOL Studios In New York on May 4, 2016 in New York City. (Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic)
(LOS ANGELES) — Nick Reiner did not enter plea when he returned to court on Wednesday for the alleged murders of his parents, renowned director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner.
The 32-year-old, who faces two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders, sat behind the glass, wearing a dark jumpsuit and sporting a buzz cut.
Nick Reiner’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson — who helped defend Karen Read in Massachusetts — withdrew from the case during Wednesday’s court appearance. Jackson is under a protective order to not talk about the case.
When asked if he agreed to delay the arraignment again, Nick Reiner said, “Uh, yeah, I agree.”
Nick Reiner is now assigned a public defender, Kimberly Green. He will return to court on Feb. 23 and remains in jail on no bail.
A Reiner family spokesperson said, “They have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
On Dec. 17, Nick Reiner made a brief first court appearance and waived the right to a speedy arraignment.
Since his last appearance, sources told ABC News that law enforcement and defense attorneys had been working to piece together Nick Reiner’s psychiatric and substance abuse history.
Nick Reiner has a documented history of addiction and substance abuse treatment, and friends have told investigators that his mental health had been deteriorating prior to the murders.
Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on Dec. 14.
The night before the murders, Nick Reiner — who had been living on his parents’ property — got into an argument with Rob Reiner at a holiday party, and was seen acting strangely, sources told ABC News.
Nick Reiner was taken into custody in downtown Los Angeles hours after the bodies were discovered.
Rob and Michele Reiners’ other children, Jake and Romy Reiner, said in a statement last month, “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing.”
“The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” they said.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life,” Jake and Romy Reiner said. “We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
Cancer patient Ofelia Torres holds up her baby photos, some of the include her father Ruben Torres-Maldonado. He will be released from immigration detention as early as Thursday. (ABC News)
(CHICAGO) — Chicago immigration judge Eva Saltzman on Thursday set a $2,000 bond for Ruben Torres-Maldonado, whose 16-year-old daughter Ofelia Torres is battling stage 4 cancer. Torres-Maldonado will be released from immigration detention as early as Thursday.
During the hearing, the judge not only ruled for him to be released, but also said he is now eligible to apply for a cancellation of removal based on the hardship his family would endure if he’s forced to leave the country. If his application is denied, he could still face deportation.
Despite the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) earlier claiming Torres-Maldonado was a “criminal illegal alien” who has a history of driving offenses, Saltzman said she had no reason to believe that he posed a risk to the public.
“I see that you have very strong family ties and community ties in the United States and that you’ve hired an attorney which shows me that you take these proceedings very seriously,” the judge said. “And I see nothing in the record that would indicate to me that you pose a danger to the community.”
Torres-Maldonado also noted during the hearing that he has a valid license and insurance.
“I wish you much luck in the future, and I wish your daughter a full recovery,” the judge said.
DHS didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment about the judge’s order.
In an interview with ABC News last week, 16-year-old Ofelia Torres recalled receiving a strange phone call on Oct. 18. She said her mom had just put on sterile gloves and was helping to drain the ascites — a buildup of fluid — in her abdomen when it came.
“The first call that came through was Walgreens, and so we just declined the call. It was probably just my medication,” Torres said. “Another call came through and it said prison slash jail and I was like ‘Why is the prison calling me?’ But in my head, I kind of knew, I think they got my dad.”
Since learning that federal immigration agents arrested Torres-Maldonado at a Home Depot in Niles, Illinois, on Oct. 18, Ofelia has made it her mission to continue fighting her stage 4 cancer diagnosis and her father’s possible deportation too.
ABC News interviewed the teen at her home in Chicago last week as part of a “Nightline” story on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement mission in the state. Dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” by the administration, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) campaign targeting undocumented people in Chicago and greater Illinois.
Torres-Maldonado is one of more than 2,800 undocumented immigrants that the Trump administration says it has apprehended in the Chicago area since they announced the operation in early September.
At a recent press conference, attorney Kalman Resnick, who is representing Torres-Maldonado, said federal agents surrounded his client’s vehicle, smashed the window of his truck and “dragged” him into a vehicle at gunpoint.
ICE is under the supervision of the DHS. In a statement sent to ABC News before the hearing, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin alleged that Torres-Maldonado backed into a government vehicle while attempting to flee.
“His criminal history shows he has a history of habitual driving offenses and has been charged multiple
times with driving without insurance, driving without a valid license, and speeding,” McLaughlin said.
Torres denied the government’s claims that her father is a criminal.
“I’ve gotten a parking ticket, am I a criminal?” she said. “Sometimes we break a law without even knowing, does that make us criminal? I don’t know.”
Torres was diagnosed with metastatic aviolar rhabdomyosarcoma — an aggressive form of cancer — last December. The teen said she tried to keep her diagnosis private for several months, but told ABC News she is speaking out to defend her father. She said Torres-Maldonado instilled in her a sense of gratitude for the country they call home.
“I need the world to know my dad’s story and if that means letting the world know I have cancer, so be it. I don’t care,” she said. “I need my dad.”
The immigration crackdown in Chicago has come under scrutiny from advocates and legal experts including Mark Fleming, associate director of Federal Litigation for the National Immigrant Justice Center, who told ABC News that many of the arrests and detainments have been unlawful.
So far, the human rights organization National Immigrant Justice Center has presented over 800 cases that they claim were unlawful under a consent decree — a court-ordered agreement between parties that resolves a dispute — limiting DHS’ ability to hold someone who entered into the country unlawfully without a bond hearing.
Fleming told ABC News the organization has 280 more cases that his legal team will soon present before a judge.
“It’s truly unprecedented. We are lead counsel in a class action lawsuit that has a consent decree that dictates when and how DHS, Department of Homeland Security, whether it’s Border Patrol or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, can stop and arrest people without warrants,” Fleming said.
“Regardless of what you feel about immigration or the levels of immigration or the level of enforcement — those are fair debates for us to have. What is deeply troubling here is the lawlessness, the violence, the cruelty, the carelessness with which they are doing this operation,” he later added.
Torres said despite how her father was treated, she has “nothing but love” for the federal agents who arrested her father.
“That’s all I have for everyone in this world. Love in my heart,” she said. “To the ICE agents who smashed my dad’s window, to the ICE agent who pointed a gun at my dad, I’m not mad at you … I just want you to know that that was not the right thing to do.”
– ABC News’ Ashley Schwartz Lavares, Jessica Hopper, Sally Hawkins, John Kapetaneas and WLS’s Tom Jones contributed to this report.
Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer, and wife Susan announce the donation of $50 million over 10 years to the University of Texas at Austin for the creation of a new Dell Medical School. (Robert Daemmrich/Corbis via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — In a major philanthropic move, billionaires Michael and Susan Dell are donating $6.25 billion dollars to deposit $250 into savings accounts for up to 25 million American children.
The announcement from the Dells, which was confirmed by a White House official, gives the funds to Invest America, which sets up a tax-advantaged investment account for American children starting at birth.
The so-called Trump Accounts are a key piece of President Trump’s signature tax and spending legislation, which passed earlier this year.
Under that law, the Treasury Department will give $1,000 to the accounts for children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. Those accounts become the property of a child’s guardian and “will track a stock index and allow for additional private contributions of up to $5,000 per year,” according to the White House.
The donations from the Dells will supplement that federal funding, expanding the number of children who will qualify for accounts.
The more than $6 billion in funds from the Dells will go to “most children age 10 and under who were born prior to the qualifying date for the federal newborn contribution,” though Tuesday’s announcement adds that some children older than 10 may also be eligible if there is funding left over after the initial sign-ups.
There are still logistical questions about the donations, but the website for Invest America says sign-ups for the accounts are expected to open July 4, 2026.
“We’ve seen what happens when a child gets even a small financial head start – their world expands,” Michael Dell said in a video announcing the news.
Trump celebrated the move Tuesday morning, posting a link to a new article about the announcement and calling the Dells “TWO GREAT PEOPLE.”
“I LOVE DELL!!!,” Trump added in the social media post.
A White House official confirmed that Dell will join Trump at the White House Tuesday for the 2 p.m. announcement. White House spokesperson Kush Desai called the accounts “revolutionary investment by the federal government into the next generation of American children” in a statement about the donation.
“It’s also President Trump’s call to action for American businesses and philanthropists to do their part, too – Michael and Susan Dell’s $6 billion investment into America’s children is the first of many announcements to come for America’s children,” Desai added.
In June, Michael Dell attended a roundtable at the White House and spoke alongside Trump about how access to the savings accounts for American children will be a “simple yet powerful way to transform lives.”
