(NEW YORK) — Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is due back in court Tuesday when his attorney will attempt to convince a judge to invalidate certain DNA evidence that’s never been used in New York state courts.
Heuermann, who was arrested in July 2023, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of seven women whose remains were found discarded on Long Island between 1993 and 2011.
His attorneys have urged the judge to preclude evidence pertaining to nuclear DNA results obtained from hairs recovered from six victims: Maureen Brainard Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack.
The DNA match resulted from a technique known as whole genome sequencing, which hasn’t been subject to an admissibility hearing in any New York court.
Prosecutors consented to Tuesday’s hearing but have argued the defense motion to dismiss the evidence should be denied because the technique is “generally accepted in the scientific community” and is based on technology “relied upon in a wide variety of scientific and forensic settings.”
Defense attorney Michael Brown has said the California lab where the DNA testing was done is a for-profit business that is not accredited in New York.
Prosecutors have expressed confidence the DNA evidence would be admissible.
“For over thirty years, New York State courts have continuously adapted to embrace advancements in DNA technology,” assistant district attorney Andrew Lee said. “The advancement of forensic science and nuclear DNA analysis involving Whole Genome Sequencing has allowed law enforcement to now link genetic profiles consistent with the defendant, and/or individuals who have resided with him, to six of the seven victims through hairs found at the crime scene and/or on the victims. The People intend to introduce such evidence of defendant’s guilt at trial, which will aid the jury in its determination.”
In addition to DNA, prosecutors are also relying on evidence recovered on some of the 350 electronic devices seized from Heuermann that they’ve said include his “significant collection of violent, bondage and torture pornography” dating back to at least 1994. This online collection included images of mutilation and tying up women with ropes, two things prosecutors said are consistent with injuries inflicted on Mack and how she was bound.
(LONDON) — Dozens of officials in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s humanitarian aid bureau received termination notices over the weekend, despite prior assurances from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the agency’s “core lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and substance assistance” would be preserved.
Beginning late Friday night, several now-former employees at the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance received termination letters from personnel officers at USAID, according to copies of those letters obtained by ABC News.
BHA is the government’s lead federal agency for international emergency disaster relief, working closely with the military to provide humanitarian aid in the wake of earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes and other global natural disasters.
Serena Simeoli, a Humanitarian Aid Adviser to the Military at BHA, told ABC News that she received a termination letter on Friday night, but that it was not addressed to her and did not include her name or contract number — so she remains “confused” about what to do.
Simeoli said her small team of some 60 employees had assisted during “sudden-onset disasters, complex emergencies,” including the earthquakes in Haiti and Syria, typhoons in the Philippines, hurricanes in the Caribbean, and the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Without BHA, “it is going to be very challenging” for the U.S. to play a meaningful role in global emergency relief, “and I think I’m a little scared to think how it might go without us,” Simeoli said.
“The work that we do it matters, and we won’t know how much it matters until we’re presented with another catastrophic disaster,” she warned.
“I’ve devoted so much of my life to this organization … I would work around the clock because I believed in what we were doing,” Simeoli said. “It’s pretty painful to see and to be a part of what’s been happening.”
Another former BHA official said some colleagues reported receiving multiple termination notices, including some during the overnight hours this weekend.
That official, a former Marine, said that during his tenure with USAID he had responded to some of the world’s most challenging natural disasters .
“It makes me seriously question why I dedicated my entire adult life to carrying water in the most dangerous places in the world for our government and its people,” said the person, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation.
Rubio wrote in a late January memo that he would grant an emergency waiver to allow USAID’s humanitarian missions to continue — but noted that the “resumption is temporary in nature.”
A State Department representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Photo by Chris Melzer/picture alliance via Getty Images
(CENTENNIAL, Colo.) — Colorado pet store suffered its second robbery this month on Friday as thieves faked a medical emergency in order to steal two puppies, according to the owner of the store.
Perfect Pets, located in Centennial, Colorado, has been the target of multiple puppy thefts, with the latest occurring on Friday at approximately 2 p.m., said owner Jens Larsen.
Larsen told ABC News three gentlemen walked into the store, looking “sketchy,” and one of them appeared to be on drugs and “talking belligerent to employees.”
The man suddenly fell to the ground, with other customers and store employees quickly rushing to his side, shown in video surveillance footage.
Larsen said it “looked like he was having a seizure” and an employee began to call 911.
As the other people crowded around the man, Larsen said another man walked toward the back of the store, opened a case of puppies and grabbed two male English bulldogs.
An employee spotted the thief with the two puppies and workers tried to block him from leaving, even tackling his leg before one worker was kicked in the face, Larsen said.
The criminal tripped and fell to the ground, dropping the puppies, but he was able to scoop them up and run away, Larsen told ABC News.
Multiple people chased after him, but were unsuccessful in catching the culprit, Larsen said. The suspect was able to escape in a gold Cadillac Escalade, Larsen said.
“The guy doesn’t care,” Larsen said. “He’s not stealing merchandise, he is stealing living animals and doesn’t seem to really care for their well-being.”
A suspect has been arrested for the theft, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News. More details were expected to be released on the theft Monday, law enforcement said.
In the previous theft, Larsen said a woman stole a puppy from the store and hid the pet in a baby stroller on Feb. 12. Another woman then grabbed a puppy and ran out the door moments later. The individuals, who were caught on security camera footage, have still not been caught, Larsen said.
Resale opportunities for the dogs appears to be the motive for these incidents, Larsen said.
Bulldogs, especially French bulldogs, are a common targets for thieves. French bulldog puppies can go for anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000, Tom Sharp, the CEO of American Kennel Club Reunite, told “Nightline” last year.
Larsen said Perfect Pets is offering a $1,000 reward for the return of each dog.
(NEW YORK) — A U.S. appeals court has upheld the conviction of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving more than 11 years in prison for defrauding investors with false claims about her company’s blood-testing technology.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the fraud convictions, sentences and $452 million restitution order for Holmes and her second in command, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(ATLANTA) — Delta passengers were forced to evacuated via slides at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday after haze or smoke was observed in the plane, according to the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Delta Flight 876 was en route from Atlanta to Columbia, South Carolina, on Monday morning when “haze inside the aircraft was observed,” a Delta spokesperson said. The FAA said “the crew reported possible smoke in the flightdeck.”
The Boeing 717 aircraft — which had 94 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants on board — returned to Atlanta and landed safely, according to Delta and the FAA.
Atlanta Fire Rescue helped passengers deplane, according to the airport.
“There is a moderate impact to operations at this time,” according to the airport.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologize to our customers for the experience,” a Delta spokesperson said.
An undated photo of 4-year-old Chosen Morris who died after accidentally shooting himself in Davenport, Florida. Davenport Police Department
(DAVENPORT, Fla.) — A 4-year-old boy named Chosen Morris has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a handgun he found in his parents’ car, according to authorities in Florida.
The “tragic accident” unfolded Friday evening as the Morris family prepared to go out for pizza, the Davenport Police Department said.
Chosen’s dad, Robert Morris, was in the bathroom getting ready and his mom, Quinta Morris, was on the computer in her bedroom, police said.
Quinta Morris said she heard a “pop” and assumed her children broke something, according to police. She went to the living room to talk to them, but only her 7-year-old and 11-year-old were there, police said.
Quinta Morris started looking for Chosen and noticed the door to the garage was open, police said. In the garage, she found Chosen in the driver’s seat of the car with a gunshot wound to his head, police said.
Chosen’s parents rushed him to the hospital where he died on Saturday afternoon, police said.
Authorities believe Chosen was excited about the outing and went to the car to wait for his family, and then found the handgun under the driver’s seat, police said. Robert Morris owns the Smith & Wesson M&P .40 caliber gun, police said.
“This is a tragic accident,” Davenport Police Chief Steve Parker said in a statement. “As a father and grandfather, I can’t imagine what Mr. and Mrs. Morris are going through right now. Our prayers are certainly with the Morris family as they endure this heartbreaking tragedy.”
“It is important that gun owners know where their firearms are at all times, and when not in possession of their firearm, ensure it is properly secured with some type of lock, whether it is a trigger lock or stored in a locked cabinet or box,” Parker told ABC News via email.
There were at least 411 unintentional shootings by children in 2023, marking the worst year on record since Everytown’s tracking started in 2015. There were at least 360 unintentional shootings by children last year, causing 136 fatalities, according to Everytown.
There have been at least 21 unintentional shootings so far this year, resulting in 11 deaths, Everytown said.
(WASHINGTON) — As the Trump administration continues to vet potential candidates for top posts within the Justice Department, a powerful White House intermediary has been pushing to hire candidates that exhibit what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump, and his efforts sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The White House intermediary, Paul Ingrassia, complained directly to Trump about Mizelle, the Justice Department’s chief of staff, and suggested to the president that Mizelle is hurting Trump’s political agenda, sources said. But Ingrassia has since been reassigned to work with the Department of Homeland Security, a White House official familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Trump was reelected in November after promising to rid the Justice Department of what he alleged was political bias tainting federal law enforcement. Bondi has echoed that rhetoric, issuing a directive within hours of taking office to establish a “Weaponization Working Group” that she said would review all of the “politicized” investigations previously targeting Trump.
According to Ingrassia’s LinkedIn page, he became “President Trump’s White House Liaison for DOJ” in January. In private, to White House colleagues, he described himself as Trump’s “eyes and ears” at the Justice Department, with significant authority to help interview and select candidates for senior and lower-level positions, sources said.
Soon after the White House announced Ingrassia’s appointment, Ingrassia began occupying an office on the fifth floor of the Justice Department, in an area typically reserved for the most senior staff in the attorney general’s office, according to sources.
But in the wake of Ingrassia’s growing clashes with Mizelle, Mizelle took steps to have Ingrassia removed from the Justice Department and assigned to another agency — a move that irritated some senior White House officials, sources said. Ingrassia complained to associates earlier this month that he had been locked out of his Justice Department devices, said sources.
He is now serving as a liaison to DHS, helping with staffing there, the White House official told ABC News. Ingrassia did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News, but another White House official said ABC News’ reporting on this matter is “riddled with falsehoods,” without indicating specifically what information they believe is false.
“Everyone is working as one unified team to staff the DOJ with patriots who are committed to Making America Safe Again,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement.
Infighting became almost commonplace during Trump’s first term, with one former Trump aide even titling his 2019 memoir about that administration, “Team of Vipers.”
Recently, Ingrassia told colleagues that finding candidates for Justice Department roles who are loyal to Trump is a top priority for him, and he privately claimed that even rank-and-file career prosecutors within the department are corrupt, sources told ABC News.
Ingrassia insisted to colleagues that anyone who worked under the Biden administration’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, or under attorney general Bill Barr during Trump’s first administration, should be presumed as unqualified to work for Trump’s new administration, sources said.
If taken literally and broadly, that could implicate nearly every current employee of the Justice Department.
Sources said Mizelle resisted Ingrassia’s hard-line approach, leading Ingrassia to accuse Mizelle of disrespecting him and improperly making unilateral personnel decisions, sources said.
Among the candidates that sources said Ingrassia has been trying to place within the Justice Department is attorney John Pierce, who represented many of the defendants who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Trump’s recent executive order related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Ingrassia pushed for Pierce to take over the office within the Justice Department that helps the White House vet pardon requests, the sources said.
In his first several weeks as Justice Department’s chief of staff, Mizelle himself has played a public role in promoting the Trump administration’s agenda. When Bondi held her first press conference two weeks ago to announce a civil lawsuit against state leaders in New York for their immigration policies that she said value “illegal aliens over American citizens,” Mizelle stood on stage behind her and helped answer a question from a reporter.
On Friday, Mizelle filed a publicly-released complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, accusing a federal judge of “hostile and egregious misconduct” in his handling of a case challenging Trump’s recent efforts to limit or ban transgender service members. The judge has not yet responded to the complaint.
Ingrassia, before joining the Trump administration last month, led communications efforts for a nonprofit legal organization that promotes itself as “the answer to the useless and radically leftist American Civil Liberties Union,” and he was a writer for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit.
Trump was known to repost some of Ingrassia’s pro-Trump stories on social media, sources said.
Ingrassia graduated from Cornell Law School in May 2022, less than three years ago, according to his LinkedIn page. For several months in 2023, he worked as a law clerk and summer associate at the New York-based McBride Law Firm, which online promotes its work fighting “the Department of Justice’s malicious prosecution and horrific treatment of January 6th Detainees.”
Between 2021 and 2023, Ingrassia also worked for the law firm led by New York attorney Marc Kasowitz, who was previously a longtime personal attorney for Trump and represented him in the government’s investigations of alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.
In January, after becoming the White House liaison to the Justice Department, he wrote on social media that the Trump administration has “a mandate from the American people [to] rebuild trust and confidence in our justice system by realigning it with its Constitutional prerogative.”
“The era of WEAPONIZED JUSTICE ends TODAY,” he wrote. “GOD BLESS AMERICA AND MAGA.”
During her confirmation hearing, Bondi assured senators that she would “not politicize” her office.
“I will not target people simply because of their political affiliation. Justice will be administered evenhandedly throughout this country,” she vowed.
(NEW YORK) — A series of storm systems fueled by an atmospheric river brought flash flooding to the Pacific Northwest this weekend — and more rain is on the way.
The new system will bring more heavy rain, snow, gusty winds and the threat of avalanches to the Northwest and northern Rockies on Monday and Tuesday.
Damaging winds reaching 60 to 80 mph are possible from the Washington and Oregon coast all the way inland to Montana.
The Spokane area in eastern Washington was inundated with 3 to 6 inches of rain this weekend, washing out roads. Now, the additional heavy rain could cause flooding in western Washington and Oregon on Monday.
In the northern Rockies, a flood watch has been issued for Montana and Idaho due to the snow melt and rain.
In the highest elevations of the northern Rockies, an avalanche warning has been issued after the rain and snow caused the snowpack to become unstable.
These storms are also bringing huge waves up to 34 feet to the West Coast.
(WASHINGTON) — In the weeks since President Donald Trump has assumed office, more than 200,000 federal workers at more than a dozen agencies have had their roles eliminated.
The mass culling stems in large part from efforts by Elon Musk and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, which has sought to dismantle large swaths of the federal government.
Many of those fired have been classified as probationary employees, a status unrelated to job performance. While probationary employees can be recent hires — typically having served in their roles for under one or two years — the status can also apply to long-serving government employees who’ve changed roles or agencies.
In addition to those who’ve been fired, 75,000 federal workers have accepted buyouts.
Here are the agencies where workers are facing termination:
Department of Education
Dozens of “probationary employees” were let go from the Department of Education on Feb. 12, according to two sources familiar with the firings.
Dismantling the Department of Education was one of Trump’s key campaign promises. He has slammed the department as a “con job” that should be “closed immediately,” and has directed Musk to investigate the agency.
The Department of Education is the smallest cabinet-level agency with 4,400 employees. Another 1,400 employees work in the agency’s office of Federal Student Aid.
Department of Homeland Security
More than 400 employees at the Department of Homeland Security have had their positions eliminated, officials said. About half of the cuts were in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which saw over 200 dismissed.
The firings at FEMA came after Musk slammed federal spending on what he misleadingly called “luxury hotels” for undocumented immigrants.
In addition to the cuts at FEMA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) lost 130 staffers, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and DHS Science and Technology had smaller degrees of cuts.
Additionally, 12 Coast Guard members who work on diversity, equity and inclusion were affected by the reduction in force, with an offer to support border security efforts at the southwestern border.
Department of Energy
Roughly 2,000 people have been fired from the Department of Energy, including at the National Nuclear Security Administration.
One of the terminated employees, Krzan Matta, told ABC News the firings were conducted in a “haphazard” and “arbitrary” manner.
“There’s no consideration for the mission. There’s no consideration for whether or not this position is critical,” he said.
United States Agency for International Development
As part of Trump and Musk’s stated objective of shuttering the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), more than 10,000 staffers have been placed on leave, multiple sources told ABC News.
Roughly 600 USAID workers remain in their roles.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has also been targeted by Trump and Musk, who have said they plan to gut the 1,700-employee consumer watchdog agency.
On Feb. 14, government lawyers representing the agency’s acting director reached an agreement to temporarily hold off on firing CFPB workers while a lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the agency makes its way through court.
Department of Veterans Affairs
More than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been dismissed from their roles, the agency said on Feb. 13.
In a statement, the department said the cuts were part of the “government-wide Trump Administration effort to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American People.”
Department of Agriculture
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also faced significant cuts — including to the U.S. Forest Service, which manages wildfire response and prevention.
Among those who lost their jobs was Carly Arata, who told ABC News she had been a probationary employee at the Natural Resources Conservation Service since September, but worked as a contractor in the role for a year before that.
Arata developed conservation plans for farmers in Georgia and helped them get federal funding.
“These poor farmers. … It’s like I abandoned them, and that’s not the case at all,” Arata said. “They were amazing and cared so much about their land, and I wanted to help them preserve that.”
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fired 388 probationary employees, the agency confirmed on Feb. 20.
Another 171 staffers are now on administrative leave from the EPA teams responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental justice.
Department of Health and Human Services
The Department of Health and Human Services has also lost thousands of employees, including at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the Associated Press.
About 700 workers were fired from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), multiple sources told ABC News.
At least 16 of the CDC cuts were to members of the World Trade Center Health Program, which critics said could put the health of 9/11 first responders at risk.
Department of the Interior
About 2,300 people have been fired from the Department of the Interior, according to Reuters.
Approximately 800 of those terminations were reportedly from the Bureau of Land Management.
Another 1,000 workers were fired from the National Park Service, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Office of Personnel Management
The Office of Personnel Management — which serves as the federal government’s HR agency, and has been overseeing the mass reductions process — has also faced cuts of its own staff.
About 200 probationary employees were told they were being fired in a prerecorded message that instructed them to “gather your personal belongings and exit the premises,” according to an audio recording of the call obtained by ABC News.
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration has also had its staff reduced, with Reuters reporting more than 100 people were laid off.
Small Business Administration
About 720 employees at the Small Business Administration have lost their jobs, Politico reported, reducing its headcount by about 20%.
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service began laying off more than 6,000 new and newly-promoted employees across the country on Feb. 20, sources familiar with the planning told ABC News.
These layoffs, impacting roughly 6-7% of the agency’s 100,000-person workforce, began midday on Feb. 20 primarily outside the DC area, with thousands of employees facing layoffs at offices in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, New York and other states, sources told ABC News.
Department of Defense
The Pentagon announced on Feb. 21 that it will “release” some 5,400 civilian probationary workers beginning the following week and freeze hiring in the first wave of what could amount to more than 70,000 fired.
“We expect approximately 5,400 probationary workers will be released beginning next week as part of this initial effort, after which we will implement a hiring freeze while we conduct a further analysis of our personnel needs, complying as always with all applicable laws,” Darin Selnick, acting secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement on Feb. 21.
The statement said 5-8% of the Department of Defense’s civilian workforce will be cut in total, which would amount to 43,900 to 70,240 individuals removed. This upper bound is higher than the total number of the department’s probationary employees, which is roughly 55,000 worldwide, implying the cuts could reach deeper than the probationary workforce.
(WASHINGTON) — A member of the DOGE team assigned to work at the IRS will not be granted broad access to Americans’ personal tax information, according to an agreement obtained by ABC News that heads off a request that had sparked concern within the IRS.
As ABC News previously reported, DOGE had sought broad access to an IRS system that contains the personal tax information of millions of Americans, a move that would have given them visibility into personal information including taxpayer names and addresses, social security numbers, details on how much individuals earn and owe, property information, and even details related to child custody agreements.
The terms of the DOGE employee’s temporary assignment at the IRS was laid out in a five-page memorandum of agreement between the Office of Personnel Management and the Internal Revenue Service. The memo states that the DOGE employee, Gavin Kliger, will be assigned to the IRS for a term of 120 days with the possibility of an additional 120-day extension.
In bold letters, the agreement states that “it is not the intention of this assignment for the Detailee to be provided or gain access to returns or return information … including any personally identifiable information associated with such taxpayer records.”
Instead, any information viewed will remain anonymous, the agreement said.
“Should access to IRS systems that contain returns or return information become necessary as part of the Detailee’s duties under this agreement, that access shall only be provided if it is anonymized in a manner that cannot be associated with, directly or indirectly, any taxpayer,” the agreement states.
Kliger has a host of duties while at the IRS, according to the memo. They include “surveying IRS software,” “identifying opportunities to modernize IRS technology and software,” and “implementing safeguards to prevent fraud.”
Kliger, who is technically an employee of the Office of Personnel Management, is also working across other agencies including OPM, USAID, and the State Department, sources told ABC News.
An IRS spokesperson did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. A spokesperson for OPM declined to comment.
