Man arrested for murder in case of couple missing from nudist community
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(REDLANDS, Calif.) — Police have arrested a man in connection with the search for a couple missing from a nudist community in California.
Michael Sparks, 62, was arrested for murder late Thursday, days after the couple were reported missing, according to the Redlands Police Department. Police had been trying to locate Sparks on Thursday, breaching a home and conducting a search using remote video equipment to find him.
Sparks was not found at the home, but he was the same person who was being sought in the search, police said.
He has been booked murder at West Valley Detention Center.
Stephanie Menard, 73, and Daniel Menard, 79, were reported missing on Sunday, according to police. During a press briefing on Thursday, the Redlands Police Department said foul play was suspected after being tipped off by a source in the couple’s neighborhood.
The location of the couple and their dog remains unknown, police said.
The couple was last seen at their residence on Olive Dell Ranch — a family nudist resort — at around 10 a.m. local time on Saturday. Their unlocked vehicle was found down the road from the residence that day, according to police.
Stephanie Menard’s purse was found inside their residence along with both of their cellphones, according to police.
The couple’s dog, a white Shih Tzu named Cuddles, was also missing.
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(NEW YORK) — A nearly complete stegosaurus skeleton sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Wednesday for a record $44.6 million — the most ever paid for a fossil.
The dinosaur, nicknamed “Apex” — which lived between 146 and 161 million years ago in the Late Jurassic Period — was originally expected to sell for between $4 million and $6 million, according to the auction house.
Sotheby’s has said Apex is the “most complete and best-preserved Stegosaurus specimen of its size ever discovered.”
The skeleton was discovered on private land in Moffat County, Colorado — in northwestern Colorado and on the border with Utah and Wyoming — in May 2022 by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper, with excavation completed in 2023, according to Sotheby’s. The county is an area where many other dinosaur fossils have been discovered and is home to the Dinosaur National Monument.
Apex measures 11 feet tall and 27 feet long from nose to tail. The skeleton consists of 319 bones — 254 of which are fossils and the remainder being either 3D printed or sculpted. It’s unclear if Apex was male or female.
“Judging from the overall size and degree of the bone development it can be determined that the skeleton belonged to a large, robust adult individual, and evidence of arthritis, particularly notable in the fusion of the 4 sacral vertebrae, would indicate that it lived to an advanced age,” Sotheby’s wrote on its website. “The specimen shows no signs of combat related injuries, or evidence of post-mortem scavenging, and exhibits a number of interesting pathologies.”
Apex is not the first dinosaur to sell for millions. One of the largest and best-preserved skeletons of a Tyrannosaurs rex ever discovered — nicknamed “Sue” — sold at auction in 1997 for $8.4 million and is now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
Sue was the most expensive fossil ever sold until another mostly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, nicknamed “Stan”, was sold at auction in October 2020 for $31.8 million. Officials in Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism told National Geographic they have the dinosaur and that the skeleton will be displayed in a new natural history museum set to open in 2025.
Sotheby’s did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment on the sale of the fossil Wednesday.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus and is now recovering at home, a spokesperson said.
Fauci is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States, according to the CDC.
Mosquitoes typically become infected with the virus after feeding on infected birds and then spread it to humans and other animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases typically begin rising in July and are highest in August and September, CDC data shows.
Several health departments in the U.S. say they have detected West Nile virus in mosquito samples this year. At least 216 cases of West Nile virus have been detected in 33 states, the CDC reports in it’s latest figures.
The majority of people with the virus do not have symptoms, but about one in five will experience fever along with headaches, body aches, joint pain, diarrhea, vomiting or a rash. Most symptoms disappear but weakness and fatigue may last for weeks or months.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd shows the booking photo for Collin Griffith during a press briefing, Sept. 11, 2024. — Polk County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
(AUBURNDALE, Fla.) — A Florida teenager has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of his mother, less than two years after he was arrested for fatally shooting his father but never charged, authorities said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a Wednesday press briefing that the teen had previously allegedly threatened to kill his mother before Sunday’s “cold-blooded murder.”
The stabbing occurred after the teen, 17-year-old Collin Griffith, and his mother, 39-year-old Catherine Griffith, were seen having an altercation outside a mobile home in Auburndale, according to Judd.
“There were witnesses outside the mobile home that actually saw Collin drag his mother into the house by the hair on her head,” the sheriff said.
Griffith called 911 Sunday evening to report that his mother “fell on a knife” and was bleeding from the neck, Judd said. The teen reportedly said his mother had lunged at him with the knife when she fell on it during a prolonged fight inside the home, according to Judd.
The home belongs to the teen’s grandmother, who was not there at the time of the incident, Judd said.
When deputies arrived, the teen met them outside and was “calm, cool, collected – not upset,” Judd said. Griffith reportedly told them, “I know my rights, I want an attorney,” according to Judd.
A bloody kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade was found inside the home, the sheriff said.
During an autopsy conducted on Monday, the medical examiner determined that Catherine Griffith died from a deep knife wound to the neck that was inconsistent with an accidental injury, according to Judd.
“The medical examiner said it is not reasonable or plausible that she died the way that [her son] said she did,” Judd said.
Collin Griffith is in custody and has been charged with first-degree murder, Judd said, adding that they have asked the state attorney’s office to prosecute the teen as an adult.
The State Attorney’s Office 10th Judicial Circuit, which includes Polk County, told ABC News on Thursday they have no comment on the case at this time.
It is unknown if Griffith has an attorney. ABC News’ attempts to reach his grandmother were unsuccessful.
Judd said as investigators started to “peel back the layer of this onion,” the teen’s family told investigators that he had previously been physically or verbally confrontational with his mother.
Sheriff’s office reports out of Charlotte County in Florida, where Collin Griffith and his mother lived, showed that he had allegedly threatened to kill her in statements purportedly made in September 2023 and, most recently, in February, according to the charging affidavit for his mother’s murder.
Collin Griffith was also arrested by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office for domestic violence battery against his mother in November 2023, according to Judd.
“She was disciplining him and took his video game privileges away, so he beat up his mother,” Judd said. “He pushed her to the ground and he stomped on her.”
Days before the stabbing, Collin Griffith and his mother had an argument about chores and he went to his grandmother’s home, Judd said. Catherine Griffith went to the grandmother’s home on Sunday to bring him back to hers, and she and her son were seen arguing outside of the grandmother’s home around 4:30 p.m., fewer than two hours before the teen called 911 to report the stabbing incident, Judd said.
While investigating the stabbing, the sheriff’s office learned that authorities in Oklahoma also had arrested the teen last year in connection with the fatal shooting of his father, Charles Griffith, at their home in Lincoln County.
Collin Griffith told authorities that he shot his father in self-defense on Feb. 14, 2023, during an argument that turned physical, according to Adam Panter, the district attorney for Oklahoma’s 23rd District, which includes Lincoln County.
During a 911 call, the teen said he grabbed a rifle and shot his father twice after his father chased him into a bedroom while armed with a knife, according to the district attorney.
“At the start of his police interview, he requested an attorney and the interview was terminated, so the only version of events that we were able to obtain was what Collin said on the 911 call, which was consistent with the evidence we found at the scene,” Panter said in a statement to ABC News.
State police investigated forensic and digital evidence and no charges were ever filed against the teen in the case, Panter said.
“Ultimately, after evaluating all of the evidence and possible theories, it was determined that we could not rule out self-defense and as a result, declined to file any formal charges,” Panter said.
Both Panter and Judd said any relevant information obtained in the investigation into the mother’s death will be considered in connection with the shooting of the teen’s father.
“If any new evidence is obtained that is both relevant and credible to our investigation into the death of Collin Griffith’s father, we will certainly re-evaluate the case and make a new determination if necessary,” Panter told ABC News.
Following the Oklahoma shooting of his father, Collin Griffith came to Charlotte County in Florida in March 2023 to live with his mother, Judd said.
He was “being intensely watched” by the county’s sheriff’s office prior to the stabbing, Judd said. Griffith had been placed on active juvenile probation following his arrest in November 2023 for battery domestic violence in connection to his physical attack on his mother, according to an affidavit.
A spokesperson for the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News that its juvenile unit had been working with the teen and his family “in various ways to include connecting them with available resources.”
“I cannot expand any further on that as I am not privy to those interactions, and because he is a minor,” the spokesperson said.
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) had also been in contact with the family, including after the teen ran away from home in February following an argument with his mother, according to Judd.
A spokesperson for DCF, which investigates allegations of abuse, neglect or abandonment, said information regarding its investigations is confidential, per state law.
Judd said they are looking into Collin Griffith’s history and interactions with other agencies in Florida and Oklahoma as they investigate the case.
“My question is, was there anything else that could have been done?” he said
He noted that the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office did a “remarkable job keeping up” with Collin Griffith.
In addition to murder, Collin Griffith has been charged with kidnapping and violation of a no-contact order, the sheriff’s office said. The charges stem from his juvenile probation in Charlotte County for battery domestic violence, with conditions including that he have no contact with his mother, according to the affidavit.
