Denver airport fatal collision was a suicide, man identified, officials say

(CLEVELAND) — A 28-year-old woman has been arrested days after the bodies of two girls were found in suitcases in a field in Cleveland, police announced Thursday.

The Cleveland Division of Police did not say what charges the suspect was arrested on in connection with the suspected homicides, noting that the woman is expected to be formally charged later Thursday. Her name will be released at that point, police said.

Detectives began investigating the deaths on Monday, following the “horrific” discovery, according to Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd.

An individual spotted one of the bodies inside a suitcase while walking a dog in a residential neighborhood on Monday evening and reported it to police, according to Todd.

Responding officers located a second body in another suitcase nearby, Todd said. Both suitcases were in a shallow grave in a field near a school, she said.

One of the girls is suspected to have been between the ages of 8 1/2 and 13, and the second between 10 1/2 and 14, Todd said. They have been determined to be half-siblings, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday.

It was unclear how long the girls had been at the location, just that “it was some time,” and that there were no clear indicators of the cause of death, Todd told reporters Tuesday.

“This is a traumatic event for our officers, for the community,” Todd said.

The cause and manner of death have not yet been determined, and the medical examiner’s office is continuing to work to officially identify the children, police said Thursday.

The investigation led detectives to execute a search warrant at a residence located within a block of the field on Wednesday, where they “recovered substantial evidence related to the case,” the Cleveland Division of Police said.

A person of interest was detained on Wednesday, with Cleveland Police Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz telling reporters it was a “significant break” in the case.

Todd said in a statement Thursday that “careful and methodical work” in the case “allowed our detectives to develop the evidence needed to make quick identification of a person of interest, ultimately resulting in an arrest.”

A child located inside the searched home has been taken into custody by the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, police said. The child appeared to be in good health, police said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah) — When Laura, the foreperson in Kouri Richins’ murder trial, first saw the mother accused of murdering her husband, she didn’t think much of her.

“She was kind of nondescript,” she told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview. “She didn’t really show that much emotion. I was trying to get some vibe from her and it was very hard to pick up any kind of vibe.”

The foreperson was one of eight jurors in Summit County, Utah, who convicted Richins this week of murdering her husband, Eric, with a fatal dose of fentanyl in March 2022. 

Richins, 35, who after her husband’s death self-published a children’s book on grieving, was found guilty on all five counts, including aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.

“There was never a not guilty check with anything, with any element, nothing,” the foreperson, Laura, who was juror No. 2, told ABC News of the 3-hour jury deliberations on Monday. 

“Even though it was just three hours, I felt like we came into that deliberation fully loaded,” she said, adding, “To evaluate the case and to look at the evidence we had to zoom in on these little bits of evidence and kind of ignore all the fluff and ignore the drama.”

Richins in 2023 self-published her children’s book, which she said was intended to help her sons with their loss. 

A month prior to her arrest in May 2023, the mom of three young sons appeared on a “Good Things Utah” segment on Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX to promote the book. In the segment, Kouri Richins said her husband of nine years died “unexpectedly” and that his death “completely took us all by shock.

The jurors were shocked when they were told about the book in the final days of testimony at the trial, Laura told ABC News. 

“Everyone just felt like they’re hit with a truck,” she said. “We’re like, what? What the hell is this? It was so odd and so strange.”

Richins did not testify during the three-week trial and the defense called no witnesses. 

The prosecution alleged she was having an affair, was deep in debt and was desperate to inherit her husband’s estate and life insurance.

The jury found her guilty of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, along with three other counts. Two were for insurance fraud connected to life-insurance policies and a third was for forgery, for forging her husband’s signature on documents. 

Sentencing is scheduled for May 13 and Richins could receive 25 years to life. 

“People were really sad, because they did not want to find her guilty,” Laura told ABC News of her fellow jurors. “They were really hoping that she was innocent. And we couldn’t come to that conclusion, and it was really heartbreaking.”

She added, “This devastating reality that this family was torn apart and these poor kids will really basically never have a dad or mom.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Admitted Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killer Rex Heuermann was linked to one of his victims, Megan Waterman, by the distinct pattern on a Bounty paper towel, according to the district attorney.

In court on Wednesday, Heuermann changed his plea to guilty and admitted to the murders of eight women: Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Karen Vergata.

Prosecutors said the New York City architect targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach from 1993 to 2010.

“This was his obsession,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told ABC News. “With his internet searches and his thought process, this was what was driving him.”

A piece of evidence that would’ve been presented had the case gone to trial is a rolled up Bounty paper towel recovered from Waterman’s mouth, Tierney said.

Waterman, 22, went missing in June 2010 and her remains were found in December 2010 in Gilgo Beach, according to Suffolk County police.

The paper towel had a particular pattern that Bounty created specifically for the box store BJ’s Wholesale Club, and that pattern was only in circulation in 2010, Tierney said.

When searching Heuermann’s home, investigators found a BJ’s receipt for Bounty paper towels, and “the SKU [stock-keeping unit] number was for a Bounty paper towel with that same pattern,” Tierney said.

“And so we were able to show that this Bounty paper towel was purchased by the defendant,” Tierney said. “And inside his desk drawer was a square of that same paper towel that matched perfectly and that he had kept in his office since 2010.”

That paper towel square was a “memento” for Heuermann, Tierney said, adding that prosecutors “would have utilized [that] at trial to link him to the commission of that particular murder.”

Heuermann was arrested in 2023 and initially pleaded not guilty to killing seven women. He was set to go to trial in September.

On Wednesday, Heuermann agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, prosecutors said. His sentencing is set for June 17.

Tierney said, from his “outside observation” as a prosecutor, Heuermann, 62, wanted to change his plea because “I think he was done.”

“He wanted this to come to a conclusion — that’s just my impression,” he said.

Waterman’s daughter, Liliana Waterman, told reporters on Wednesday that she accepts the guilty plea and is “very, very thankful.”

Part of the plea arrangement requires Heuermann to cooperate with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

“I think it’s very important,” Tierney said.

“This is clinical,” he said. “So I think they’re going to, hopefully, gain insight into him, his motivations, you know, what created this need or desire in him. And hopefully we’ll gain insight, you know, for cases going forward.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.