ICE detainee dies of ‘presumed suicide’ at Texas detention facility, agency says
An entrance to Fort Bliss is shown on June 25, 2018 in Fort Bliss, Texas. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(EL PASO, Texas) — An undocumented immigrant died while in custody at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas, federal authorities said.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, died of a “presumed suicide” on Jan. 14 at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent complex at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss base in El Paso, ICE said Sunday. The official cause of death remains under investigation, the agency said.
ICE said Diaz illegally entered the U.S. in March 2024 and an immigration judge ordered him removed in absentia in August 2025.
Diaz had been in federal custody since Jan. 6, when ICE said its officers “encountered” him in Minneapolis amid the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota. He was arrested for an immigration violation and ICE processed him as a final order of removal on Jan. 12, the agency said.
Two days later, security staff found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room, ICE said. He was pronounced dead following life-saving measures by on-site medical staff and El Paso emergency medical services personnel, according to ICE.
“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,” ICE said in a press release.
Diaz’s death is the second reported by ICE at the Camp East Montana detention facility this month.
On Jan. 3, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, of Cuba, was pronounced dead “after experiencing medical distress,” ICE said. His cause of death is under investigation, ICE said in a Jan. 9 press release.
The El Paso County medical examiner’s office said Tuesday that it does not have any record of Diaz, and the case and manner of death are pending for Lunas Campos.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
In an aerial view, Nancy Guthrie’s residence is seen on February 17, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Authorities said they’re looking into using genetic genealogy in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s mysterious abduction, and an expert says the cutting-edge technique could be the key.
While authorities may find Guthrie’s kidnapper through other avenues of investigation, “if they don’t, investigative genetic genealogy definitely will,” genetic genealogist CeCe Moore told ABC News.
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Feb. 1 by an unknown suspect.
The FBI ran DNA from a glove found during a roadside search through the national criminal database known as CODIS, but did not get a match to any of the roughly 22 million samples in the database, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said.
That glove — which was found about 2 miles from Nancy Guthrie’s house — also did not match DNA found at her property, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Moore, a former ABC News contributor, said, “I think we have to exercise a lot of caution in putting too much emphasis on” the glove.
“If it had had Nancy’s DNA, or had matched the DNA at the crime scene, obviously that would be different. But with it being found at such a distance, I always was a little hesitant to get too hopeful about that,” she said. “I think the DNA found at the home is far more compelling.”
While the DNA found at Nancy Guthrie’s property is still being analyzed, the sheriff’s department said on Tuesday that investigators are “looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches.”
Genetic genealogy takes the DNA of an unknown suspect left behind and identifies the suspect by tracing the family tree through his or her family members, who voluntarily submit their DNA to a genealogy database. Genetic genealogy has been used to solve hundreds of cases since it was first implemented in the 2018 arrest of the “Golden State Killer,” a cold case that had stumped California law enforcement for decades.
“Just like in the hundreds of cases where we’ve been able to identify a violent criminal that couldn’t be found any other way, genetic genealogy has the power to do so through reverse engineering this individual’s family tree based on his DNA alone,” Moore said. “When you have this person’s DNA, you have so much information about their family tree at your fingertips. And so you can piece that tree back together … you just have to spend the time to look at all that information and sort through it.”
“So genetic genealogy often steps in and is successful when all the other leads have been exhausted,” she said.
In the Guthrie case, investigators “were very smart to start [pursuing genetic genealogy] early, and not wait for all those other leads to be exhausted,” Moore said. “Because if he’s not identified any other way, investigative genetic genealogy will definitely be the key — it’s really just a matter of time.”
And when it comes to that timeframe, Moore said, there are two factors: “the population group from which the person of interest descends — and luck.”
“Sometimes you just get lucky and somebody has a close relative in these very small databases,” Moore said.
“If the population group is one that’s not well represented, then that can make it extremely difficult. If the person has deep roots in the United States and primarily Northwest European ancestry, they may be identified in a matter of minutes or hours, because that’s the population group that’s best represented, and it’s also the one that we have the most information about being here in the United States,” she said. “If someone’s born in another country, or even as far back as their great-grandparents were immigrants, there’s far less representation in the databases that we’re able to use, and it’s also more difficult to work with records outside of the U.S.”
In the Guthrie case, law enforcement sources told ABC News on Wednesday that the FBI has reached out to Mexican authorities. There’s no evidence Nancy Guthrie was taken to Mexico, but it’s an avenue investigators are exploring given Tucson’s proximity to the border, the sources said.
If the Guthrie suspect’s parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were born in Mexico, Moore said, “it will likely take longer.”
Moore said she predicts the genetic genealogy process in the Guthrie case “won’t take more than weeks, maybe months.”
“I have worked on cases for years. However, I don’t think this case will take that long because of the large amount of resources being dedicated to it. I would suspect the FBI genetic genealogy team would be brought in if it takes too long, and they have 200 agents,” she said.
Moore also noted that investigative genetic genealogy can be slowed due to law enforcement’s limited access to DNA profiles.
“There are over 50 million people who have taken direct-to-consumer DNA tests, but most of them are in the three largest databases, and those companies have barred law enforcement from using their databases for these purposes,” Moore said. Currently, law enforcement is limited to accessing three smaller databases, which combined have about 2 million DNA profiles, she said.
“I do expect that if [the Guthrie suspect] is not identified soon, then law enforcement very likely will serve a warrant on those bigger databases” to try to request access, she said.
Booking photograph of Colin Demarco (Arlington County Police Department)
(ARLINGTON, Va.) — A Maryland man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly showed up at the northern Virginia home of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, according to law enforcement sources.
Colin Demarco, 26, is also charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder, carrying a concealed weapon and wearing a mask in public to conceal identity.
In a statement an OMB spokesperson said, “We are grateful for the work of law enforcement in keeping Director Vought and his family safe.”
Demarco was arrested Jan. 16 in Maryland following a monthslong investigation, extradited to Virginia and is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Center, police said. His arrest was announced Thursday.
The charges date back to an alleged incident in August when police were dispatched last to an Arlington, Virginia, neighborhood for a report of a suspicious person.
“A witness reported observing a male suspect, who was wearing a surgical mask and rubber gloves, carrying a backpack and appeared to be concealing a firearm under his shirt, on the victim’s porch,” according to an Arlington County Police press release.
A criminal complaint filed in Arlington, Virginia, said Demarco was caught on a doorbell security camera with a mask on.
“Is anyone home,” he allegedly asked, saying he had an appointment, according to the complaint. The family was not home at the time.
Police say a neighbor them the man allegedly had the outline of a gun in his shirt.
The complaint said the U.S. Marshals Service identified Demarco and interviewed him in his home in Rockville, Maryland, four days later.
“Demarco stated the November 2024 election was the lowest point in his life for he feared for impending war and a fascist takeover,” the complaint stated. “He also allegedly “spoke of his admiration for Luigi Mansion [sic] and stated that Mangione was a ‘working class dream,’ and that Mangione had the ‘guts’ to do what others would not.”
Using search warrants, police said investigators recovered digital evidence that showed Demarco obtained Vought’s address, information about firearms and had posted online about soliciting murder within days of the Aug. 10 incident when allegedly he appeared at Vought’s home wearing a mask and gloves.
In this booking photo released by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Michael McKee is shown. (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The doctor who is accused of gunning down his ex-wife and her husband had allegedly told his ex “he could kill her at any time,” according to court documents.
McKee and Monique Tepe married in 2015 and divorced in 2017. According to court documents, Monique Tepe’s friends and family said Monique Tepe told them McKee “had been abusive, and had made numerous threats on her life during and after their marriage.”
One witness told detectives that Monique Tepe alleged McKee strangled her and “forced unwanted sex,” court documents said.
Another witness told detectives that “McKee had told Monique that he could kill her at any time and would find her and buy the house right next to her, that she will always be his wife,” documents said.
During the Dec. 30 homicides, McKee’s phone was left at his workplace — an Illinois hospital — and “showed no activity for approximately 17 hours,” according to court documents.
Police — who zeroed in on McKee after linking him to a car seen on surveillance video — said they also recovered video “of the same suspect” by the Tepes’ house weeks before the murders, on Dec. 6, according to court documents.
On Dec. 6, the Tepes were in Indiana at the Big Ten Championship game, and during that trip Monique Tepe allegedly told friends “she was upset about something involving her ex-husband,” according to court documents.
McKee is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. His defense attorney, Diane Menashe, entered not guilty pleas to all counts on his behalf during a court appearance last week. Menashe declined to comment to ABC News on Tuesday about the new allegations revealed in the court documents, saying she doesn’t comment on pending matters.
