Man accused in brother’s murder escapes from jail in Tennessee: Authorities
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is searching for Joshua Wayne Metcalf, 48, who escaped from jail in Hancock County, Tennessee. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation_
(NEW YORK) — Authorities in Tennessee said they’re searching for a murder suspect who escaped from a county jail.
Joshua Wayne Metcalf, 48, is wanted for escaping from the Hancock County Jail in northeast Tennessee, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said on Thursday.
Metcalf was arrested for second-degree murder in the death of his brother, Jared Metcalf, in January 2024, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said, and now he’s been added to the TBI’s Most Wanted List.
A local school district, Hancock County Schools, said its buildings will be closed and students will have remote learning on Friday due to the escape.
A $2,500 reward is being offered for information leading to Metcalf’s arrest, the TBI said. Anyone with information is asked to call the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND or the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department at 423-733-2250.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
Police did not name the suspect, but said the 31-year-old man surrendered to the Bellevue Police Department on Wednesday and has been booked into the King County Jail for investigation of murder.
The 19-year-old female victim was found stabbed to death in a laundry room in a housing building on campus Sunday night, police said.
UW President Robert J. Jones offered his condolences in a statement on Monday, saying, “There are no words that can express the profound loss of a student.”
Although police did not release a motive, Jones said, “I want to recognize that when violence affects a trans person it can be especially worrying to our LGBTQIA+ community members.”
“Our Division of Student Life is reaching out to students affected and providing support and resources to help them through this very difficult ordeal,” Jones said.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in a photo released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
(NEW YORK) — The House Oversight Committee is conducting a closed-door interview Tuesday with a woman so ubiquitous in Jeffrey Epstein’s life that a search for her name in the Justice Department’s Epstein files returns more than 160,000 results.
Lesley Groff worked as an executive secretary to Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, and was once described by her boss as an “extension of my brain.”
Among her job requirements were scheduling Epstein’s frequent meetings with celebrities, scientists and politicians, booking Epstein’s daily massage appointments when he was in New York, and arranging travel for women linked to Epstein. She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein’s controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007.
According to federal prosecutors, “numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused.”
Groff is appearing as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators, which to date has included interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Sarah Kellen, and a prison guard who was on duty the night Epstein died in his jail cell.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on his way in Tuesday morning that he believes Groff has “information that is very valuable to our investigation.”
“Hopefully, we’ll learn more today,” Comer said.
The chairman reiterated that the committee is conducting “the most thorough investigation ever of Epstein.”
“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the truth to the American people. If there’s an opportunity for accountability, we sure want to see that happen,” he said.
Groff did not speak to reporters upon her arrival.
Last September at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda specifically called out Groff, alleging that Groff had called her so many times to go to Epstein’s place for a massage that she dropped out of high school before the ninth grade.
Lacerda — who was one of the key witnesses that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment for child sex trafficking — told ABC News in an interview this week that Groff was the conduit to Epstein.
“Anything that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein, ” Lacerda told ABC News in an interview, “had to go through Lesley Groff.”
Through her attorneys, Groff has denied any knowledge of, or participation in, Epstein’s crimes.
Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Groff, declined comment in advance of her appearance on Capitol Hill. He previously told ABC News that Groff “never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18, and had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever.”
“Ms. Groff, a parent herself, is incredibly shocked and deeply upset about the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein,” Bachner said.
After Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Bachner informed the government, just four days after Epstein’s arrest, that his client “would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination” if called to appear before a grand jury.
Groff, now 59, eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that “making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make” for Epstein, and said that scheduling massages was “around 1%” of her job.
Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001, told the FBI she was immediately struck by Epstein’s lifestyle and the company he kept, describing it as “pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, et cetera.”
“Groff felt, ‘Wow,'” according to an FBI account of her interview.
Groff was initially paid a salary of $60,000 a year, but saw it doubled to $120,000 by Epstein four years later, DOJ records show.
The New York Times reported in 2005 that Epstein bought Groff a new Mercedes and paid for a nanny to ensure she would keep working for him.
“There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein said of Groff, according to the newspaper’s account.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”
When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Federal prosecutors in 2021 informed Groff that she would not be charged, according to a statement from her attorneys.
“After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff,” the statement said.
Lacerda said she hopes the congressional investigators press Groff for answers.
“I just think that she should be honest about it so that we can have some accountability here,” she said.
Oversight Committee member Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said he’s heading into the interview with Groff already skeptical of her denials.
“She will argue that she didn’t know anything, but I find that to be hard to believe,” he said. “I think at best she was blissfully trying to be ignorant, but probably wasn’t.”
The Philadelphia Police Department is searching for the two suspects wanted in the murder of 22-year-old William “Billy” Schmidt on June 6, 2026. (Philadelphia Police Department)
(PHILADELPHIA) — One of the teen suspects in the fatal shooting of a Penn State University student was arrested in Colorado after the Philadelphia Police Department said it had obtained arrest warrants for two 16-year-old boys.
Azzubair Outen-Fleming was arrested in Colorado Springs at a distant relative’s home, the U.S. Marshals Service of Philadelphia said in a social media post.
Outen-Fleming and Kaiseem Smith are wanted for murder and related offenses for the June 6 slaying of 22-year-old William “Billy” Schmidt, police announced on Tuesday.
Billy Schmidt had been watching the NBA Finals with his friends at a bar and was walking home when he was shot in the chest in an apparent robbery, according to police and his family.
Schmidt was studying digital journalism and media at Penn State World Campus, the university said.
He was set to graduate in December and hoped to work in sports broadcasting, his sister, Anna Schmidt, told ABC News.
She said her brother “was one of the nicest, most genuine and honestly, goofiest, people there is.”
Outen-Fleming was arrested by the U.S. Marshals’ Colorado Violent Offender Task Force, officials said.
“He was arrested at a distant relatives home after attempting to deny his identity,” the U.S. Marshals of Philadelphia said. “He is housed at the Zebulon Pike Youth Center waiting extradition back to” Philadelphia.
Police ask anyone with information on the suspects’ whereabouts to call the department’s tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477).
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
