(MORRIS COUNTY, NJ) — Drivers riding on Interstate 80 spotted an unexpected present the morning after last Christmas — a sinkhole just feet away from where cars were passing by in suburban New Jersey.
“Look at how far it goes under there,” a man says in police video footage obtained by ABC News on Friday. “They may have to shut the whole [expletive] road down.”
It was a prediction that turned out to be true.
Ever since the sinkhole was spotted along one of the busiest highways in the Northeast on Dec. 26, 2024, parts of I-80 have been closed to drivers on and off.
The closures have angered local business owners and caused congestion on detour routes that frequently paralyzes the streets of Wharton along with surrounding communities in Morris County.
The formation of the sinkhole was quickly linked to the region’s mining heritage, with the collapse of an abandoned mineshaft under I-80 identified as the cause. Additional sinkholes have popped up in the time since December’s collapse.
The video footage, which was recorded by a New Jersey State Police trooper and released in response to a request filed by ABC News under New Jersey state law, shows two drivers standing steps from the sinkhole in shock.
“We just went by and were like, ‘holy [expletive],’” one man tells the trooper while steam appears to be rising from the sinkhole in front of them.
“I’ve never seen nothing like this,” another man says.
Within a few minutes, troopers shut down two of the eastbound lines of the highway.
“The entire shoulder seems to have collapsed,” a trooper says over his police radio.
This stretch of I-80 is frequently used by both local commuters along with long-distance drivers traveling between the New York metropolitan area and Pennsylvania, Upstate New York or the Midwest.
Commuters impacted by detours were encouraged to ride New Jersey Transit trains since the agency has a station in Mount Arlington, west of the area where the sinkholes formed, but rail service is currently suspended due to a strike by engineers.
In a press release issued Friday, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced that two eastbound lanes on I-80 may reopen as soon as May 21, with the entire highway slated to reopen by June 25.
(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Robert Crimo III, the gunman who killed seven people and injured dozens in a mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 4, 2022, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday.
Crimo was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences, Judge Victoria A. Rossetti announced on Thursday.
“This court hopes this sentence hopes brings a sense of justice and an end to the continued horror,” Rossetti said.
The sentencing hearing, which began Wednesday, finished Thursday morning after the court heard from multiple survivors and relatives of those killed in the shooting at the Independence Day parade.
Crimo decided to not appear in court on Wednesday or Thursday. The shooter’s parents, who have attended most court proceedings, were also not present.
The victims, who expected to address Crimo at the sentencing hearing, still shared the impact Crimo’s attack had on their lives.
Leah Sundheim, daughter of victim Jacqueline Sundheim, said Crimo “threw the balance of this world off” by killing her mother.
“I hope you wake in the middle of the night, gasping air you don’t deserve,” Sundheim said in court on Wednesday.
Sundheim also read a statement on behalf of her father, Bruce Sundheim, who said their family’s lives have been destroyed by Crimo’s “violent tantrum.”
Marcia Moran, whose husband was shot by Crimo, said she has been in therapy for over two years due to the emotional trauma. Her family has since moved out of Highland Park and is now living in Tennessee.
“The shooter doesn’t get to take anything more from me,” Moran said in court via Zoom.
In March, Crimo pleaded guilty to 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts for each person killed, and dozens of attempted murder charges.
Survivor Ashbey Beasley, who fled the parade with her son when the gunfire broke out, said in March the plea brought an “immense amount of relief.”
“Every single time I see [Crimo], it’s stressful,” she told reporters back in March. “I think it’s upsetting for everyone…Just knowing that his plea has been entered and we will not have to see him again is what we all need.”
Crimo appeared ready to accept a guilty plea last June during a hearing, only to reject the deal in front of devastated members of the victims’ families. He was expected to plead guilty to seven counts of murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm at the hearing at the time, according to the AP.
“We have Fourth of July coming up and it will be two years,” Sundheim said at a news conference at the time. “All I wanted was to be able to fully grieve my mom without the looming trial, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And instead, we were yet again shown [Crimo’s] complete and blatant disregard for humans.”
Crimo told police he wore women’s clothing during the shooting and used makeup to hide his facial tattoos and blend in with the crowd during the chaos, prosecutors said. Crimo was apprehended hours later and prosecutors said he confessed to the shooting.
Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., pleaded guilty last year to reckless conduct, admitting to signing the Firearm Owner’s Identification card for his son to apply for gun ownership.
The younger Crimo was 19 at the time and too young to get a FOID card on his own. Illinois at the time required people ages 18, 19 or 20 to have parent or guardian authorization.
(NEW YORK) — A former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs concluded three days on the witness stand, with attorneys for the music mogul grilling her so intensely that a prosecutor asked the judge to stop the cross-examination, calling it “humiliating” and “harassing.”
The witness, testifying under the pseudonym “Mia,” told jurors last week that Combs tormented and sexually assaulted her during her time working as his personal assistant.
Defense attorneys tried to assail her credibility over her last two days appearing on the stand, pressing her about dozens of text messages and social media posts she authored about Combs that were playful, respectful and even adoring.
Combs’ lawyers argued Mia misrepresented how Combs treated her and fabricated part of her story. Mia largely stood by her testimony, telling jurors that she was “brainwashed” by Combs and explained that she now wants to speak truthfully about the years of harassment and abuse she endured.
“It’s the worst thing I ever had to talk about in my life,” Mia told the jury about her reluctance to talk about how Combs sexually assaulted her.
Mia’s testimony marked the beginning of the fourth week of testimony in Combs’ sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial. Prosecutors charge that Combs used his wealth and influence to run a criminal enterprise that served to protect his reputation and coerce women into sex.
If convicted on all counts, the music mogul could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argue that, while he might have been violent towards romantic partners and abused illicit drugs, he did not commit the crimes alleged by the Department of Justice.
Defense attorneys stress Mia’s loving messages to Combs
Continuing his cross-examination from last week, defense attorney Brian Steel returned to Mia’s social media posts and text messages to challenge the woman and the version of events she shared with the jury.
“Life is f—— insane and supposedly it all happens for a reason in order to elevate us in our human experience, but it’s rough,” Mia wrote Combs in 2020, more than three years after she stopped working for him. “I love you with all of my heart and I’m here for you forever.”
Steel also showed the jury other text messages from the 2019-2022 time frame in which Mia expressed love and admiration to Combs.
“Hey. Saw our doc on Netflix top 10. Congrats I miss you,” read one text from July 2022.
Combs responded, “Love, love, love, love.” Mia wrote back, “And I love, love, love you.”
“Everything is positive and loving from you to Mr. Combs, would you agree with that?” Steel asked.
“Yes, of course,” Mia answered. She quickly explained to the jury she was still “brainwashed” by Combs from her years working for him.
Once the lengthy and contentious cross-examination of Mia concluded, federal prosecutors tried to minimize any damage that might have been done to her credibility.
“Did you post on social media as part of your job?” prosecutor Madison Smyser asked on re-direct examination.
“Yes,” Mia answered, adding that posting about Ciroc, Diddy Door, the Bad Boy reunion, and Combs himself were part of her job. She described her Instagram posts “like the highlight reel” of Combs and not meant for posts about the downside of working for him.
“Is that why you didn’t post about Mr. Combs slamming Cassie’s head into a bed frame?” Smyser asked. “Yes,” Mia answered.
“Is that why you didn’t post about Mr. Combs throwing a computer at your head?” Smyser asked. “Yes,” Mia answered.
“Is that why you didn’t post about Mr. Combs sexually assaulting you?” Smyser asked. “Yes,” Mia answered.
Steel tries to cast doubt on Mia by asking why she didn’t document abuse Throughout his searing cross-examination, defense attorney Steel tried to poke holes in Mia’s testimony by highlighting how she did not document the abuse she said she suffered from Combs, even as she documented the upside.
“Do you have any recording of Mr. Combs berating you?” asked Steel, who highlighted that part of Mia’s job was to carry a small camera to document Combs’ life. “No, I would not have been allowed to record that,” Mia responded.
“Because it’s not true, is it, Mia” Steel accused. “Your statements that you were the victim at the hands of Mr. Combs of brutality isn’t true?”
Mia fired back, testifying, “Everything I’ve said in this courtroom is true.”
Steel also questioned Mia’s account of escaping Combs with Ventura in Turks and Caicos by paddleboarding out to sea. Steel asked whether there were any text messages, emails or photographs documenting those allegations.
“Was that just made up by you?” Steel pointedly asked. “No,” Mia testified.
Steel’s next question — “How is it that all these events have no photograph or text message or email from you?” — was stopped by the judge after an objection.
At one point, prosecutors asked the judge overseeing the case to intervene, arguing the “humiliating” cross-examination borders on harassment and could deter other crime victims from coming forward in other cases.
“Eyes are on this trial. Victims in other cases are going to see how victims are treated,” Comey said in a clear nod to the global headlines being created by the Combs trial. “Our concern is that if this victim is not protected from further harassment, it will deter other victims in other cases.”
Judge Arun Subramanian said he heard no yelling and saw no improper treatment, but he did caution Steel about the form of his questions.
Steel suggests Mia fabricated her story after Ventura’s lawsuit
Steel suggested Mia timed her disclosure of alleged sexual assault by Combs with the filing of a civil lawsuit by the singer Cassie Ventura, Combs’ former longtime girlfriend. Ventura is the prosecution’s star witness, and she has alleged that Combs abused her for a decade. Her lawsuit, the starting point for the federal investigation that culminated with the current prosecution, was settled after a day for $20 million, Ventura testified. There was no admission of wrongdoing.
Steel questioned why Mia did not tell federal prosecutors about her claim that Combs sexually assaulted her until June 2024, six months after she began meeting with the authorities and seven months after Ventura’s civil lawsuit. The defense emphasized to the jury that Mia met with federal prosecutors a total of 28 times.
“Do you remember the first time you ever made a claim Mr. Combs ever sexually assaulted you was on June 18, 2024?” Steel asked.
“I don’t remember the dates, but I do remember that horrible conversation,” Mia answered.
On redirect examination, Smyser asked Mia to clarify why she met so often with federal prosecutors. “I met with the government so much in order to understand my story and because I was so terrified and I was learning at the same time,” she testified, and, using Combs’ earlier street name, said she was “terrified of Puff.” She said she has never been able to talk about her claim that Combs sexually assaulted her without looking down.
“It’s the worst thing I ever had to talk about in my life,” she explained.
Latest witness tells jury about damage to Combs’ hotel room
Prosecutors concluded the day by calling Susan Oken, manager of the Beverly Hills Hotel, to testify about the times when Combs was a guest of her establishment.
She said Combs checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel under aliases like “Frank Black” or “Phillip Pines” and Cassie Ventura was listed under Combs’ profile as a guest.
Oken testified that Combs once incurred an extra $300 charge to clean the drapes and another $500 charge to clean “oil damage.” Oken said the charge reflected something “beyond the scope of what we’d normally clean.” The prosecution’s questioning was a callback to earlier testimony about the so-called “freak-off” orgies that Combs would allegedly host and, according to testimony, featured gallons of baby oil.
Court is set to resume on Tuesday with Eddie Garcia, an employee of the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, CA., the scene of Combs’ caught-on-camera attack on Ventura that has created perhaps the most enduring images to come from the high-profile criminal trial.
