Police seeking mother of 2-year-old girl who died from suspected fentanyl exposure
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images/STOCK
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — Police in Portland, Oregon, said they’re seeking the mother of a 2-year-old girl who died from a suspected fentanyl exposure last month, and who is also wanted for “several violent crimes.”
Police said they have been unable to locate Mary Jacobo, 26, for over three weeks since the death of her toddler. The girl went into cardiac arrest on Sept. 12 and was transported from her home by ambulance to a local hospital, where she died, police said.
The cause and manner of death have not yet been confirmed, but “based on evidence discovered at the child’s home, and conversations with hospital staff, fentanyl is believed to be a contributing factor,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a press release.
The name of the deceased girl was not released by police.
Following the girl’s death, police said they were looking to speak with Jacobo, whom they said left the home “as this incident was initially unfolding.”
Jacobo has not been located in the weeks since, despite “significant investigatory efforts,” police said Friday.
Since the death of her child, Jacobo is suspected of having committed an armed carjacking and other unspecified crimes, police said.
Jacobo also has multiple warrants for her arrest, police said. However, police are not sharing details on the charges in the warrants because Jacobo isn’t yet in custody and the cases may be confidential, Portland Police Sgt. Kevin Allen told ABC News.
Police asked for the public’s assistance in locating Jacobo, warning that she is considered armed and dangerous.
Police described Jacobo as 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 135 pounds, with hazel eyes. She has brown hair that may have been recently dyed blonde, police said. She also has tattoos on the front of her neck, her chest and on her left hand.
Anyone with information on Jacobo’s whereabouts is urged to call 911, police said.
Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for United Justice Coalition
(DALLAS) — Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger became eligible for parole over the weekend, five years after being convicted of murder in the fatal 2018 shooting of Botham Jean. Jean’s family is calling for the parole board to reject early release for Guyger and to ensure that she serves her full 10-year sentence.
“We have to deal with that sentence for the rest of our lives. So for the person responsible for taking Botham away from us just unjustly and senselessly, the logical thing to do is to have her serve her full sentence,” Allisa Charles-Findley, Jean’s sister, told ABC News in an interview on Monday. “And 10 years, to me, it’s a light sentence for murder.”
Guyger fatally shot 26-year-old Jean on Sept. 6, 2018 while he was eating ice-cream in his Dallas, Texas, home after mistakenly entering his apartment believing it was her own. She was convicted of murder on Oct. 1, 2019, after a jury unanimously rejected Guyger’s self-defense claims in the fatal shooting.
Charles-Findley and her family, including her mother and brother Brandt, who publicly forgave Guyger in an extraordinary moment during her sentencing hearing in 2019, all want to see Guyger serve her full sentence and are planning to share their thoughts in interviews with the parole board next week, she told ABC News.
“Brandt’s forgiveness of Amber Guyger does not mean that she does not get to be punished for her crime,” Charles-Findley said. “Forgiveness doesn’t supersede punishment, so whether he forgave her or not, that has no bearing on her serving her full sentence for committing that crime.”
The date for Guyger’s parole hearing hasn’t been set, and her attorney didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Death of an innocent man: Timeline of wrong-apartment murder trial of Amber Guyger
Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Oct. 2, 2019 and became eligible for parole on Sunday — the day that would have been Jean’s 33rd birthday.
With Guyger ‘s parole eligibility, Charles-Findley said that her brother’s birthday this year was a “very difficult day” for the family as they honored his memory.
“Botham was a praise leader at church, so every single song just reminded me of him. I could hear him singing it,” she said. “So yesterday was hard. We spent it together at church. But after that, I just needed time alone and, like the past six years, I’ve spent Botham’s birthday just crying in bed.”
Guyger, who was fired from her job as a Dallas police officer in the wake of the shooting, was initially facing a maximum sentence of up to 99 years in prison in this case.
Her sentence initially disappointed Jean’s family, with some of them breaking down in tears and shaking their heads after it was announced.
“Ten years was a bitter pill to swallow, but eventually I accepted it,” Charles-Findley told ABC News. “So now, five years later, to have to deal with her being eligible for early release … it feels like just going through this whole trial all over again, because every single minute I have this pit in my stomach just wondering if she will be let go early, and how, how am I now supposed to accept it?”
Amber Guyger convicted of murder in wrong-apartment killing of innocent man
While delivering her victim impact statement ahead of Guyger’s October 2019 sentencing hearing, Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, said she has struggled to work or sleep and her family’s lives had not been the same since her middle child was killed.
“I have to keep the family together because everybody’s in pain,” she said.
Meanwhile, Guyger’s mother, Karen Guyger, said that her daughter hasn’t been the same since the shooting and she “wanted to take [Jean’s] place. She’d always tell me she wished she could have taken his place. She feels very bad about it.”
Jean’s then-18-year-old brother took the witness stand and spoke to Guyger.
“I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you,” Brandt Jean said.
Brandt Jean, who opened up about why he chose to forgive his brother’s killer in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” on Oct. 4, 2019, then asked the judge if he could give Guyger a hug — a request that the judge granted.
“This is what you have to do to set yourself free,” Brandt Jean told “GMA.” “I didn’t really plan on living the rest of my life hating this woman.”
Extraordinary act of mercy: Brother of Botham Jean hugs and forgives Amber Guyger after 10-year sentence imposed
Charles-Findley said that while her brother forgave Guyger because it was “necessary for him to be relieved of the burden,” she is “not there yet.”
“I haven’t started to process forgiving Amber Guyger. I know for me, my reasoning is, I don’t believe her story. I don’t believe she has been honest with the events that took place that night,” she said.
Charles-Findley has petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice to look into this case as she seeks “full accountability,” she noted.
“As his big sister, I will not stop until I just try my hardest to get full accountability for him because he deserves it. He did nothing wrong. Eating ice cream in your apartment, watching football is not a crime, no matter the color of your skin,” she said.The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
After her conviction, Guyger’s attorney filed multiple appeals, but they were rejected by the Court of Criminal Appeals — Texas’s highest court — in 2022, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.
Unless she is released on parole, court records indicated that Guyger has a projected release date of Sept. 29, 2029.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
In this screen grab from a video, a drone is shown near Bedminster, New Jersey, on Dec. 3, 2024. Obtained by ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The Pentagon shot down a congressman’s claim that an Iranian “mothership” is behind large drones spotted over New Jersey in recent weeks, while officials in the state are demanding a stronger federal response and transparency in connection with the mysterious, unexplained sightings.
Since mid-November, large drones of uncertain origin have been repeatedly spotted in the sky at night over central and northern New Jersey, including near a military installation.
State and local officials convened at a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning at the New Jersey State Police headquarters with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security to address the matter, according to several officials in attendance.
It remains unclear who is operating the drones, according to a DHS handout released by Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, who attended the meeting.
“At this time, according to the FBI, there are no known specific or credible threats related to these sightings,” the handout stated.
There have been reports ranging from four to 180 sightings per night, according to New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, who attended the meeting. The drones “operate in a coordinated manner” and have not been identified as hobbyist drones or ones related to DHS, she said.
Several officials said following the meeting that they were not assuaged by the DHS response.
Ghassali said it has only “heightened my apprehensions regarding the federal government’s approach to this critical issue.”
“The message conveyed was that there is no credible threat, yet they are flying over critical infrastructure, and their point of origin and destination remain unidentified,” he said in a statement. “They will eventually find out but for now, we don’t know anything else.”
New Jersey state Sen. Holly Schepisi called the DHS response “abysmal.”
“[It] actually made me feel less confident in our federal government’s reaction to this issue rather than more,” she said in a statement. “For the federal government to not dedicate every defense resource needed to identify the origin and purpose of these drones in the most densely populated state in the nation is inexplicable and completely unacceptable.”
Fantasia said “we know nothing” and to “state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment.”
Following the meeting, New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick urged the Department of Defense to investigate and reiterated his call for a limited state of emergency in the state.
“The Department of Defense must investigate and until that occurs we must shut down the airspace to drones. That would require a limited state of emergency and FAA cooperation,” he said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the FBI, which is the leading agency investigating the sightings, said it is “doing all we can [to] figure out what’s going on.”
“The public can continue to call our 800 line, or submit a tip online, we are acting on every substantive lead that we get,” the FBI spokesperson said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed flight restrictions over Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Somerset County in response to the drone activity.
“Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a key priority for the FAA,” the agency said in a statement earlier this month. “We look into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigate when appropriate.”
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew criticized the FAA for its inability to locate the drones during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s hearing earlier Wednesday.
“We have a serious problem with our aerospace. The recent sightings of unidentified drones in the state of New Jersey, my home state, is justifiably causing tremendous public concern,” he said.
Van Drew said the drones are “large” and “sophisticated” and alleged the presence of an “Iranian mothership” responsible for them, though he did not provide evidence to support his claims.
“I’ve learned, for real, that there is circumstantial evidence that there’s an Iranian mothership off the East Coast of the United States, and that’s launching these drone incursions,” he said.
He said he is concerned at this time with identifying his sources but said they are “individuals who are reputable, individuals who speak with authority.”
The Pentagon shot down Van Drew’s claim.
“There is not any truth to that — there is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday.
Singh said there is no evidence the drone activity is coming from any foreign entity or is the work of an adversary.
“We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening,” she said, adding, “At no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.”
Van Drew doubled down in an interview with ABC News following the Pentagon’s briefing, saying there is a “real possibility that it is a foreign entity.” He said his “well-placed” sources believe there is a possibility the drones are Iranian, and that there could be a mothership hundreds of miles off the U.S. coast.
“They say to us there’s nothing to fear, but we have no idea who it is, where it comes from, what it’s about and what it can do,” he said.
Van Drew proposed that flight restrictions be placed over the New Jersey airspace “and an order be given to neutralize any drone aircraft in violation of those restrictions” in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
“In neutralizing these drones we must ensure the safety of people on ground and should also attempt to keep the drones intact so that we may study their capabilities,” he wrote.
New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith has called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to help identify and address the widespread drone activity over the state.
“As you no doubt are also aware, there have been numerous instances of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flying over New Jersey, including in close proximity to sensitive sites and critical infrastructure, to include military installations located in my district,” he stated in a letter to Lloyd on Tuesday.
He noted that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) possesses the capability to identify and take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems.
“I urgently request all capabilities possessed by the Department of Defense, especially those in use by JBMDL to be immediately deployed to identify and address the potential threats posed by UAS over the state of New Jersey,” he said.
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Smith said an officer saw “50 drones” coming in off the ocean earlier this week in Ocean County. He has also said that a U.S. Coast Guard commanding officer stationed in Barnegat Light reported that “between 12 and 30” drones were following a USCG motor lifeboat over the weekend.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has called for greater transparency from federal authorities on the unexplained drone activity in a letter on Tuesday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“I recognize the need to maintain operational security of ongoing investigations and that this situation requires complex interagency coordination. However, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state — from constituents and local officials alike — despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety,” he stated in the letter. “As such, I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread.”
The public should be “immediately briefed” by federal agencies, including the FBI, FAA and DHS, on what they know, New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer said.
“I think people have a right to know what’s going on,” he told ABC News Live anchor Kayna Whitworth on Wednesday.
Gottheimer, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, noted he is “not concerned there’s any imminent threats to security” in New Jersey or D.C. based on the briefings he’s had.
“That said, you can’t just fly drones anywhere,” he said. “This can’t just be game on. We need to know who these drones belong to, where they’re coming from. And if they’re not welcome, we’ve got to take them out.”
Police in Warren County, New Jersey, have also expressed frustration at the “lack of transparency” over the drone activity.
“We are shocked by the lack of response or update from Federal and State officials,” Chief Scott D. Robb, president of the Warren County Police Chief’s Association, said in a statement Wednesday. “We do not agree with their response that there is no known threat to the public at this time. It is our stance that just the unidentified drone flying over us is a threat in itself.”
DHS said in its handout on the New Jersey drones that there have been other drone sightings “of this type” both nationally and internationally.
Biden has been briefed on the drones and is “closely tracking the activity” and “coordinating closely” with DHS and the FBI to continue investigating these incidents, the White House said Tuesday.
“This is something that DHS and FBI are tracking very, very closely,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is also monitoring reports of “unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey,” a spokesperson said.
“Local law enforcement and the FBI are currently investigating,” the spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that at this time NORTHCOM has not been requested to assist with the events but is prepared to respond “when asked or should the situation escalate to threaten any DoD installations.”
ABC News’ Jay O’Brien, Alexandra Faul, Ayesha Ali and Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.
