Missing woman found dead in suitcase, ex-boyfriend in custody
WABC
(NEW YORK) — A woman’s ex-boyfriend is in police custody after she was found dead in a suitcase on Thursday in Yonkers, New York, law enforcement sources said.
Pamela Alcantara, 26, was found dead in a marshy area by the side of Saw Mill River Parkway after going missing over the weekend, according to law enforcement sources.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, the NYPD said.
While her 46-year-old ex-boyfriend remains in custody, no one has been charged yet in her death. He is not cooperating with police, sources said.
The couple had been dating for three years before she recently broke it off, her family told New York ABC station WABC.
Alcantara lived with the man in her Bronx apartment. Detectives were looking to talk to him this week in connection to her disappearance, according to sources.
Her ex-boyfriend’s license plate pinged near the location the body was found at 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, according to WABC.
The NYPD searched an area along the roadway where his vehicle stopped and a drone spotted the red suitcase containing her body in the water, according to law enforcement sources.
The man was taken into custody soon after. He initially told detectives Alcantara left her apartment in a hurry, wearing pajamas and carrying the red suitcase, sources sad. Evidence recovered by detectives later revealed that was not accurate, and he requested a lawyer, according to sources.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death, according to the NYPD.Alcantara was reported missing on Sunday after she did not show up to church. The circumstances surrounding her death remain under investigation, according to law enforcement sources.
Alcantara was last seen on surveillance video early Sunday at her residence, according to the NYPD.
ABC News’ CeFaan Kim, Mark Crudele and Omar Rodriguez contributed to this report.
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is appealing her dismissal, nearly a week after Mayor Karen Bass removed her from the top post in the wake of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires.
Crowley sent a letter to the Los Angeles City Council on Thursday, informing them she is proceeding with an appeal of Bass’ removal of her as fire chief.
According to the Los Angeles City Charter, the appeal would require the approval of two-thirds of the 15 city council members to overturn the firing.
In response, a spokesperson for Bass’ office said in a statement, “Former Chief Crowley has the right to appeal her dismissal.”
Bass removed Crowley from her position on Friday, saying firefighters were sent home instead of being used when the deadly fires broke out last month.
“We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch,” Bass said in a statement. “Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal.”
Ronnie Villanueva, a retired LA Fire chief deputy of emergency operations, was appointed interim chief.
Crowley exercised her civil service rights to stay with the department at a lower rank with duties to be assigned by the new interim chief, according to the mayor’s office.
The former chief said it was an “absolute honor to represent and lead the men and women of one of the greatest fire departments in the world.”
“I am extremely proud of the work, sacrifice and dedication of our LAFD members, both sworn and civilian,” she said in a statement on Saturday.
Crowley’s dismissal as chief was met with criticism by Freddy Escobar, the president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City.
“Chief Crowley is a strong leader who has the respect of our firefighters and wasn’t afraid to tell the truth,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “She’s being made a scapegoat from a devastating fire without the benefit of a full investigation into what actually happened.”
Bass has faced tremendous pressure and questions surrounding her decision to attend an event in Ghana when the fires broke out on Jan. 7, despite days of warnings about the unprecedented weather event that drove the fires.
Crowley openly criticized Bass in a local TV interview on Jan. 10, saying Bass had failed the city, citing funding and staffing of the fire department.
Bass said she has not cut the fire department budget while in office.
At least 29 people died as multiple wildfires — fueled by severe drought conditions and strong winds — raged across Southern California in January.
The largest of the fires in Los Angeles County — the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood — began on Jan. 7 and spread to 23,707 acres. The fire remained active for 44 days. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The second largest of the fires — the Eaton Fire, north of Pasadena — also began on Jan. 7 and spread to 14,021 acres. It remained active for 44 days and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne, Nadine El-Bawab and Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has issued an executive order to rebuild homes and businesses that the city lost in the ongoing LA County fires that overall have so far burned more than 40,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,000 structures
The executive order calls for city agencies to expedite temporary occupancy approvals for 1,400 housing units that are near completion, and the establishment of a “Debris Removal Task Force” and “Watershed Hazards Task Force” to respectively develop plans for debris removal and mitigate the risks and dangers of post-fire flash floods, mudslides and debris flows.
The order also calls for city agencies to collectively expedite the building permit review process, calling for reviews to be done in 30 days following the submission of an application. Inspections by the Department of Building and Safety are to be conducted in two business days of a submitted request, according to the order.
For structures being rebuilt, city agencies will be required to process necessary clearances and releases related to building permit applications and certificates of occupancy within five business days, the order states.
The order notes that eligible rebuilds under these requirements must be rebuilt at the same location where they previously existed, used for the same use as the previous structure and are not to exceed 110% of the floor area, height, and bulk of the previous structure.
“This unprecedented natural disaster warrants an unprecedented response that will expedite the rebuilding of homes, businesses and communities,” Bass said in a statement. “This order is the first step in clearing away red tape and bureaucracy to organize around urgency, common sense and compassion. We will do everything we can to get Angelenos back home.”
Bass received criticism for being away from the city on a planned diplomatic trip to Ghana when the Palisades Fire first erupted and has been hit by critics for her leadership, particularly from her 2022 Republican mayoral opponent Rick Caruso who claimed Bass was “abandoning her post” during the tragedy in an interview with Politico.
Bass, who posted a warning about the windstorm on social media ahead of the wildfires, told reporters Wednesday, Jan. 8, the day after the fire started, that she took the “fastest route back, which included being on a military plane.”
The wildfires have been predicted by financial analysts to “be the costliest wildfire event in California history,” with Goldman Sachs estimating total losses at $40 billion.
With families displaced across the county, the wildfires have put pressure on communities already facing housing crises. California, and specifically Los Angeles County, has some of the highest rent and home costs in the country, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, with mid-tier homes priced more than twice as high as an average mid-tier home in the United States.
According to Apartments.com, renters also face challenges: the average rent in Los Angeles is 39% higher than the national average rent, the real estate research organization states.
According to the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development, the availability of housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in the area led to a decline in homelessness for the first time in 7 years.
Los Angeles County’s point-in-time estimate of homelessness declined by 0.27%, while the city estimated a decline of 2.2%. The unsheltered homeless population decreased by larger margins, with the county decreasing it by 5.1% and the city decreasing it by 10.4%.
Addressing homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in the region was a key piece of Bass’ campaign, though not without controversy and hurdles.
In December 2022, Bass declared a state of emergency concerning homelessness on her first day in office.
Bass’ Executive Directive 1, aimed at expediting thousands of affordable housing projects, was also criticized by some residents for targeting areas with rent-controlled apartments that had tenants in place who would be displaced by demolition and construction or for potentially impacting wealthier, designated historic districts.
Bass’ latest order does not note how it may impact the creation of these affordable housing projects.
Since the start of her tenure, she founded Inside Safe, a program to house homeless residents in local hotels and motels. According to local reports, the program faced pushback from hotel and motel owners tasked with housing the participants and was criticized for the poor living conditions faced by those being sheltered.
The program’s website states it has placed more than 3,600 people in temporary housing and more than 700 in permanent housing so far.
Overall, Bass’ office states it has moved 23,000 homeless residents into temporary housing and doubled the number of residents it has moved into permanent housing.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(NEW ORLEANS) — The man suspected of plowing a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s, killing 14 people and injuring 35 others, pledged his support to ISIS, the FBI said Thursday.
The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an Army veteran and U.S.-born citizen who lived in Houston, also died in the early Wednesday attack.
After barreling through the crowd over a three-block stretch, the 42-year-old Jabbar allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, officials said. Officers returned fire, killing him, police said. Two police officers were injured, authorities said.
Jabbar is believed to have acted alone, authorities said Thursday, calling the attack a premeditated “act of terrorism.”
Jabbar drove from Houston to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve and posted several videos online “proclaiming his support for ISIS,” and mentioning he joined ISIS before this summer, Christopher Raia of the FBI said Thursday.
“There were five videos posted on Jabbar’s Facebook account, which are time stamped beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m.,” Raia said. “In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers.'”
An ISIS flag was recovered from the back of the truck, Raia said.
Surveillance footage showed Jabbar placing two improvised explosive devices in coolers in the Bourbon Street area, Raia said. Those were the only devices recovered and both were rendered safe, he said.
Jabbar’s half-brother, 24-year-old Abdur Jabbar, told ABC News on Thursday that he’s still in shock over the carnage in New Orleans.
He described Shamsud-Din Jabbar as loving, humble and “one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet — would not hurt a fly.”
He also said his brother was “isolated.”
Abdur Jabbar said his brother’s actions “do not represent the Muslim faith,” and he said he wants people to know his “brother is a human being, even after this.”
Shamsud-Din Jabbar had a checkered marital history punctuated by multiple divorces and financial difficulty, according to court records reviewed by ABC News.
In a YouTube video posted in 2020, he said he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and spent a decade working in the U.S. military before becoming a realtor in the Houston area. His years in the military were spent working as a human resources and IT specialist, he said in the video, which has since been removed from YouTube.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar worked for Deloitte, serving in a staff-level role since 2021, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed to ABC News.
“Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar served in human resources and information technology roles in the Army from 2007 to 2015, during which he deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, an Army spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. He continued as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, the spokesperson said. His listed jobs were not direct combat roles.
He is believed to have been discharged honorably from the Army, though investigators are still looking into his military record, the FBI said.
The truck used in the attack, a Ford F-150 Lightning, was rented through the Turo app — a car-sharing company, according to Rodrigo Diaz, the owner of the truck.
Diaz told ABC News he rented the truck to an individual through the app and is currently talking to the FBI.
Diaz’s wife, Dora Diaz, told ABC News that she and her husband are devastated by the incident.
“We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals,” a Turo spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.
ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.
