Man in ‘intimate relationship’ with Detroit neurosurgeon charged in his murder: Prosecutor
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(DETROIT) — A man in an “intimate relationship” with a Michigan neurosurgeon has been charged in the doctor’s slaying, authorities announced Wednesday.
Dr. Devon Hoover, 53, was found shot dead in his Detroit home on April 23, 2023, prosecutors said. He was shot twice in the head and his body was found in the third-floor attic crawl space, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
“He was only wearing socks. He was wrapped in a blood-soaked carpet,” Worthy said.
Police found the doctor when they responded to his home for a well-being check requested by the family after Hoover failed to show up to visit his dying mother in Indiana, Worthy said.
Cellphone analysis revealed Hoover had about 4,000 text messages with a man named Desmond Burks, with whom Hoover had an “intimate relationship,” Worthy said at a news conference Wednesday.
“On occasion, Desmond Burks would charge Dr. Hoover for these sexual services,” Worthy said.
The day of the murder, the doctor’s phone traveled from his home to the area of Burks’ home, then back to his own home, and then back again to the area of Burks’ home, Worthy said.
After the murder, Hoover’s phone, wallet and two designer watches worth $6,000 and $7,500 were missing from his home, and multiple fraudulent financial transactions were made from the doctor’s bank accounts, Worthy said. Hoover bought one of those watches one day before he was killed, she said.
“Physical evidence was discovered directly linking Dr. Hoover’s property to Desmond Burks on the date of the homicide,” Worthy said.
Burks, 34, faces charges including first-degree premeditated murder and possession of a firearm by a felon, Worthy said. He was also charged with larceny of over $20,000. Burks will be arraigned on Thursday, she said.
Burks also faces a second-degree murder charge in connection with an unrelated case — a deadly road range incident, Worthy said. In May, a man’s car bumped into the back of Burks’ car, and after a verbal altercation, Burks allegedly punched the man and left him lying in the street, she said.
(ATLANTA) — Two workers were killed and one was seriously injured in what officials termed a “possible explosion” at Delta Air Lines’ Atlanta Technical Operations Maintenance facility at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to Delta TechOps and first responders.
Delta TechOps said the Tuesday morning accident took place at its wheel and brake shop.
Responders to the “possible explosion” found “three Delta employees on the floor,” and the medics said they tried to control “major bleeding,” according to the Atlanta Fire and Rescue Department’s incident report.
An employee reported hearing an explosion and seeing workers fleeing, the incident report said.
“I realized they were running to get help. I walked toward where the explosion occurred and saw a body lying face down, not moving, with blood all around,” the worker told officials, according to the incident report.
Delta said the accident involved a tire and components within the tire. The wheel was not attached to an airplane or near an airplane at the time of the accident, according to Delta.
The incident had no impact on airport operations, according to airport officials.
Delta said it’s “working with local authorities and conducting a full investigation to determine what happened.”
The airline added it’s “heartbroken” and “grateful for the quick action of first responders and medical teams on site.”
The workers killed in the incident were identified as Mirko Marweg, 58, and Luis Aldarondo, 37, according to the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office,
“We are extending our full support to their families at this difficult time and conducting an investigation to determine what happened,” John Laughter, executive vice president, chief of operations and president of Delta TechOps, said in a statement. “This news is heartbreaking for all of us. [Employee assistance program] resources will be onsite at the [Atlanta Technical Operations Maintenance facility] to support our teams as long as needed.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said, “I offer my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased Delta employees. My thoughts are also with those who were injured, and I hope for their swift and full recovery.”
Atlanta airport officials also offered their condolences.
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein was rushed from Rikers Island, where he is being held, to Bellevue Hospital for emergency heart surgery after experiencing chest pains, his representatives told ABC News.
“Mr. Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital last night due to several medical conditions,” Weinstein representatives Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said in a statement. “We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today however cannot comment any further than that.”
They continued, “As we have extensively stated before, Mr. Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment. We are grateful to the executive team at the New York City Department of Correction and Rikers Island for acting swiftly in taking him to Bellevue Hospital.”
The emergency comes as Weinstein, 72, is due in court this week in New York, where prosecutors had been presenting evidence to a grand jury as they work to secure a new indictment against Weinstein on sex crimes charges.
Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing and has said his sexual encounters with women were consensual.
Weinstein has appeared in court recently in a wheelchair and has asked to stay in custody at Rikers, where he has been undergoing medical care.
In a shocking move this April, the New York Court of Appeals, in a scathing 4-3 opinion, overturned Weinstein’s conviction on sex crimes against three women, finding the trial judge “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes.”
The court said that testimony “served no material non-propensity purpose” and “portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light.”
However, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has since presented evidence to a grand jury that could return a new indictment against Weinstein over an alleged sexual assault that occurred sometime in a four-month time period between late 2005 and mid-2006 in a lower Manhattan residential building, according to a transcript of an unannounced court hearing last week.
Prosecutors also indicated during a hearing on Sept. 3 that they were aware of two other potential offenses: a sexual assault in May 2016 in a hotel in Tribeca and a potential sexual assault that occurred at the Tribeca Grand hotel.
This isn’t the first time Weinstein has been rushed to a hospital recently. In July, he was transferred to Bellevue after testing positive for COVID-19 and double pneumonia, according to his Rothfeld.
(WASHINGTON) — A one-time aide to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro left a woman “weeping and in shock” after threatening her on a phone call in 2018, according to an email the woman sent to state lawmakers in 2023, five years after the alleged conversation.
The former aide, Mike Vereb, allegedly invoked Shapiro’s name on the call, telling the woman that “by the time he and Josh were done with me, I would be worse than nothing,” said the woman, who requested that her name not be published, in an interview with ABC News.
“You are going to continue to be nothing by the time Josh and I get done with you,” the woman quoted Vereb as saying, telling ABC News that she was left “shaken” by the way in which Vereb “freely” referenced others in power.
“Obviously part of what left me shaken was not just Mr. Vereb’s aggressive and unrelenting tone, but how freely he made it seem he was speaking beyond himself,” she said.
News of the alleged 2018 incident, which has not been previously reported, comes as Shapiro emerges as a leading contender to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket.
There is no evidence that Shapiro, who was at the time Pennsylvania’s state attorney general, was aware of Vereb’s allegedly threatening call.
The 2018 incident marks the second allegation of wrongdoing against Vereb — who was once one of Shapiro’s closest aides. After bringing him to the governor’s office in early 2023, the Shapiro administration settled an unrelated sexual harassment complaint against Vereb last September for nearly $300,000, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Weeks later, Vereb resigned.
Critics say the allegations against Vereb raise questions about whether Shapiro should have known about his alleged behavior and worked harder to prevent it.
Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro, claimed the then-attorney general was not made aware of the woman’s complaint at the time and more broadly condemned Vereb’s alleged behavior.
“This incident occurred 6 years ago and was not reported to agency leadership at the time,” Bonder said in a statement to ABC News. “This alleged behavior would be completely inappropriate and would not be tolerated — and any use of the Governor’s name in this manner is unacceptable.”
Vereb declined to comment for this story.
In the fall of 2023, within weeks of Vereb’s resignation, the woman transmitted an email recounting her experience to one of Shapiro’s deputy chiefs of staff and a group of state legislators, both Republicans and Democrats.
“[Vereb] confronted and threatened me that evening leaving me weeping and in shock standing alone in a parking lot,” she wrote of the phone call in the October 2023 email, which was obtained by ABC News. “Then and now I was struck by how he seemed so at ease in threatening me.”
She wrote that she had raised the incident at the time in 2018, including to a member of Shapiro’s office who “compassionately listened” but later passed away without getting back to her. It is not clear what the employee did with the information before she passed away.
In her 2023 email, the woman — a self-identified independent who was once a registered Republican — hinted at the use of the governor’s name: She wrote that Vereb was “naming a handful of folks with some power in Harrisburg” and made “some implication of the OAG” — an apparent reference to the Office of the Attorney General.
The woman, who runs an independent nonprofit advocacy group for abused children, wrote she received the phone call from Vereb in 2018 in the course of a policy dispute between her organization and the attorney general’s office.
As attorney general, Shapiro supported a change to Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law in the wake of his office’s high-profile investigation into child abuse within the state’s Catholic church. The woman’s organization had pushed back on elements of the pending legislation — citing potential “unintended consequences,” she wrote — which the woman said precipitated the call from Vereb.
The woman wrote in the email that she felt compelled to come forward again and write the email after news broke that Shapiro’s administration had reached a settlement with an employee who accused Vereb of sexual harassment and retaliation, writing that “the recounting of how she felt intimidated and retaliated against resonated with me.”
Of the $300,000 sexual harassment settlement Shapiro’s administration brokered, a spokesperson said that “Shapiro and his Administration take every allegation of discrimination and harassment extremely seriously and have robust procedures in place to thoroughly investigate all reports,” but “in order to protect the privacy of every current and former Commonwealth employee involved, the Administration does not comment further on specific personnel matters.”
State Rep. Abby Major, one of the Republicans who received the woman’s 2023 email, told ABC News on Wednesday she had previously known the woman through legislative work and was “proud” of her for coming forward last year — suggesting that even if Shapiro was unaware of this specific incident, he bears responsibility for what she said were Vereb’s well-known antics.
“[Vereb and Shapiro] have a history of Mike being his enforcer — they play good cop, bad cop,” Major said. “Mike [was] out doing Josh’s dirty work so Josh can be the guy that everybody loves.”
Erin McClelland, a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Treasurer, appeared to criticize Shapiro’s handling of the sexual harassment allegation on X last week.
“I want a VP pick that’s secure enough to be second under a woman, is content to be VP & won’t undermine the President to maneuver his own election & doesn’t sweep sexual harassment under the rug,” she wrote.
Other Democrats in the state have defended Shapiro’s ability to work with women and his handling of the sexual harassment settlement, which precipitated Vereb’s resignation.
“We know that Josh Shapiro would be an incredible pick [as the vice presidential nominee] — I hope that he is highly considered,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democrat, said this week. “But obviously, Vice President Harris knows what she’s doing.”
