Frezja Matisse Baker in a photo released by police. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — Missing North Carolina mother Frezja Matisse Baker was pronounced dead by police after she was found in a vehicle on Thursday, officials said. Authorities are investigating her death.
Baker was found unresponsive in her vehicle at around 9:35 a.m. before being pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Her cause of death has not yet been determined, police noted.
Baker was last seen just before 10 p.m. last Thursday, Dec. 4, driving her gray blue 2004 Honda Accord, authorities said.
Baker’s family members expressed concern for her well-being earlier this week and had been seeking information on her whereabouts, according to police.
“I just want my baby home, I just want her home, I just want her home, in good health and good, that’s all,” Baker’s mother, who requested anonymity, told WSOC.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-8477 (TIPS) and speak directly to a Homicide Unit detective — Detective Buhr is the lead detective assigned to this case. The public can also leave information anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or Charlotte Crime Stoppers.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Melissa, which is taking aim on the Caribbean, may strengthen to a hurricane in the next 24 to 48 hours.
The storm will stay away from the mainland United States. Instead, Melissa poses the biggest threat to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica, where days of heavy rain and severe winds could lead to life-threatening landslides.
Here’s the latest forecast:
Melissa is moving over water temperatures 4 to 5 degrees above average for this time of year, which will help it strengthen from a tropical storm into a hurricane.
Melissa is expected to approach Jamaica and the southwestern portion of Haiti later this week.
The storm is forecast to bring 5 to 10 inches of rain to the southern Dominican Republic, southern Haiti and eastern Jamaica through Saturday. Significant flash flooding and landslides are possible.
Across the northern Dominican Republic, northern Haiti and western Jamaica, 2 to 4 inches of rain are expected through Saturday.
Aruba and Puerto Rico could see less severe impacts from Melissa’s outer bands. One to 3 inches of rain is in the forecast and flooding is possible.
A hurricane watch is in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti, from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-Au-Prince, while a tropical storm watch has been issued in Jamaica.
The Atlantic hurricane season lasts until Nov. 30.
(NEW YORK) — A inmate in Louisiana is on the run after allegedly throwing a chemical substance at an officer and escaping from jail, according to the Berwick Police Department.
Cecil Michael Stratton, 46, fled from prison on Wednesday at approximately 10:12 p.m. local time while jailers were “securing inmates during lockdown procedures,” police said in a statement on Thursday.
During a “brief struggle” between Stratton and authorities, a chemical substance was hurled into an officer’s face, allowing for Stratton — and another inmate who has since been recaptured — to flee, police said.
As of Friday afternoon, the multi-agency manhunt continues for Stratton, police confirmed to ABC News.
“We are asking for the public’s assistance in reviewing any home or business surveillance cameras for suspicious activity that may have occurred in your area,” police said. “Even the smallest detail could be helpful to our investigation.”
Stratton, who is allegedly known to have “violent tendencies,” has previously escaped from a prison in North Louisiana, police said.
He is wanted for unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure, disarming a peace officer, battery of a police officer, aggravated battery and aggravated escape, police said.
Stratton’s criminal record includes a slew of previous charges, including theft, illegal possession of a stolen property, marijuana possession, attempted first-degree murder and resisting an officer, according to ABC Baton Rouge affiliate WBRZ.
The public is urged to use “extreme caution if Stratton is seen or located” and is discouraged from approaching the suspect, officials said.
Anyone with information on Stratton’s whereabouts should contact the Berwick Police Department at 985-384-7710, officials said.
According to an FBI affidavit, the building sustained “extensive” damage, rendering it “inoperable for an indefinite period of time.”
The suspect, identified by the FBI as Stephen Spencer Pittman, allegedly laughed about the attack, telling his father “he finally got them” and referring to the place of worship as the “synagogue of Satan,” according to the affidavit.
Pittman is charged with arson of property used in interstate commerce or used in an activity affecting interstate commerce, according to the criminal complaint.
The fire occurred around 3 a.m. on Saturday at the historic Beth Israel Congregation temple in Jackson, the same synagogue that was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan, officials said. The FBI said the building also houses the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL).
“The ISJL operates in interstate and foreign commerce as it provides services to Jewish communities” in 13 different states, including Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, according to the affidavit, and also “provides comprehensive religious school programs to 70 Jewish congregations and offers traveling rabbinical services,” most of which “are delivered in states outside the State of Mississippi.”
Pittman’s father contacted the FBI and “advised his son confessed to setting the building on fire,” according to the affidavit, and allegedly sent text messages to his father about the blaze, saying he was “due for a homerun” and “I did my research,” according to the affidavit.
Pittman allegedly admitted to stopping to purchase gasoline, taking his license plate off of his car, breaking a window at the synagogue, pouring the gasoline inside of the building and using a torch lighter to start the fire, according to the affidavit.
“Pittman was identified as a person of interest and ultimately confessed to lighting a fire inside the building due to the building’s Jewish ties,” according to the affidavit.
Security video from inside the building “showed the fire was started by an individual inside the building in the early morning hours of January 10, 2026,” according to the affidavit.
“A hooded individual can be seen walking in the interior of the building pouring contents from what appeared to be a gas container,” the affidavit also said.
