Manhunt underway for 2 murder suspects who escaped Georgia jail
In these images released by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, Kentravious Holmes, 21, and Rickey Martin, 20, are shown. The two inmates escaped custody from the Sumter County Jail. Sumter County Sheriff’s Office
(SUMTER COUNTY, Ga.) — Authorities are continuing the search for two murder suspects who escaped from a Georgia jail on Sunday.
Rickey Martin, 20, and Kentravious Holmes, 21, escaped Sumter County Jail at around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The two inmates were also in custody on charges including aggravated assault and aggravated battery, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Martin is 5 foot 4 inches and weighs 120 pounds. He is a Black male with un-twisted dreads, according to the sheriff’s office.
Holmes is 5 foot 8 inches in height and weighs 155 pounds. Holmes is a Black male with un-twisted dreads and multiple tattoos on his face and neck, including a “$” sign, a broken heart and “Baby Kay” over his right eye, according to the sheriff’s office.
Anyone who sees either individual or has any information on their whereabouts, is asked to call 911 or the Sheriff’s Office directly at 229-924-4094.
Entrance to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The United States has paused all pending immigration applications from 19 “countries of concern,” meaning that even applicants with pending green card applications will be subject to a pause and review, following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
A memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services posted on Tuesday says that anyone from a country on the administration’s new travel ban list who is in the United States would have their application for asylum or other benefits, including a green card, paused.
“The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” said a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. “We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake. The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern.”
The 19 travel ban countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The pause is in effect until USCIS issues guidance on additional vetting of these nationals, according to a source, who has reviewed the internal USCIS documents.
ABC News previously reported that some swearing-in ceremonies for people from the travel ban list had been abruptly canceled.
Rosanna Berardi, an immigration attorney, told ABC News that USCIS first issued the policy on Nov. 27, a day after two National Guard members were attacked near the White House by a suspect who authorities say entered the U.S. from Afghanistan in 2021. The policy has since been updated and expanded upon, Berardi said.
“USCIS updated its Policy Manual to require officers to apply these ‘country-specific factors’ when deciding green card applications, extensions or changes of status, waivers, and certain work authorization requests,” Berardi said. “What’s less formal are the reported pauses on certain adjudications for nationals of the 19 listed countries. Those appear to come from internal operational directives, not published policy, and they raise serious legal questions about transparency, statutory authority, and the reach of the travel ban proclamation beyond the entry context.”
“We are awaiting formal guidance,” the attorney said.
Berardi said that, taken together, the moves mean “slower processing, more scrutiny, and more uncertainty for affected applicants while litigation challenges are almost certain to follow.”
The family of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was reported dead while aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship on Saturday, says they will remember her as a happy, bubbly, straight-A student with a bright future ahead. (Kepner family)
(BREVARD COUNTY, Fla.) — Weeks after 18-year-old Anna Kepner mysteriously died on a cruise ship and her stepbrother was named a “suspect” by his parents in a court filing, the stepbrother’s mom appeared at a hearing, fighting to retain custody of her younger child.
Kepner died on the Carnival Horizon in November while on a Caribbean vacation with her grandparents, father, stepmother, siblings and stepsiblings.
A copy of the death certificate provided to ABC News by Kepner’s family showed the Florida high school cheerleader “was mechanically asphyxiated by other person(s).” An autopsy report has not been released and authorities have not announced whether they believe Kepner’s death was in fact a homicide.
The FBI and medical examiner’s office haven’t commented on the case.
The stepbrother’s parents, Thomas Hudson and Shauntel Hudson, are fighting over custody, and have in court documents referred to the stepbrother — who is a minor — as a suspect in Kepner’s death.
At a hearing in Brevard County, Florida, on Friday, the judge didn’t find that the Hudsons’ youngest child is in imminent danger of harm by continuing to live with Shauntel Hudson and her husband, Chris Kepner, who is Anna Kepner’s father.
The “suspect” stepbrother has been living with Shauntel Hudson’s relatives since the family returned from the cruise.
Shauntel Hudson’s attorney said she didn’t know how long he would remain with relatives, given that the family isn’t sure what the outcome will be of the FBI’s investigation into Anna Kepner’s death. Shauntel Hudson said she’s been informed it’s possible investigators could charge her son with a crime as officials await results from toxicology tests.
Her attorney also informed the court they’re waiting on “psychological and psychiatric testing.”
The booking photo for William Stevenson. (New Castle County Police)
(NEW CASTLE COUNTY, Del.) — Former first lady Jill Biden’s ex-husband has been charged with murdering his wife following an “extensive weeks-long investigation,” police in Delaware announced on Tuesday.
Police officers responding to a “reported domestic dispute” at a home in the Wilmington community of Oak Hill on Dec. 28 found Linda Stevenson, 64, unresponsive on the living room floor, according to police. Her husband, William “Bill” Stevenson, had called 911, police said at the time.
A grand jury in New Castle County on Monday indicted Stevenson, 77, with first-degree murder in connection with his wife’s death, according to police.
The indictment alleges he “did intentionally cause the death” of his wife.
Detectives took Stevenson into custody at his home without incident, police said. He has since been arraigned and is being held in the Howard Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington after failing to post $500,000 bail, police said.
It is unclear if Stevenson has an attorney.
Officers responded to the Stevensons’ home after 11 p.m. on Dec. 28 and attempted lifesaving measures, but Linda Stevenson was later pronounced dead, police said.
Detectives from the New Castle County Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit responded to the scene to assume the investigation, officials said.
No additional details, including the cause of death, have been released.
Linda Stevenson ran a bookkeeping business and was “deeply family-oriented,” according to her obituary, which did not mention her husband.
Bill Stevenson founded a popular bar and music hall in the early 1970s in Newark, Delaware. He is the former husband of Jill Biden, the Delaware Department of Justice confirmed to ABC News. The two were married for five years before divorcing in 1975.
Jill Biden married former President Joe Biden two years later, in 1977.
