Postal worker killed in Harlem deli after ‘verbal dispute,’ say police
WABC
(NEW YORK) — An on-duty United States Postal Service (USPS) worker was stabbed and killed inside of a deli in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City on Thursday afternoon after a “verbal dispute,” according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Officers responded to the deli at 168 Lenox Avenue and found the victim, whom they identified as 36-year-old Ray Hodges, with multiple stab wounds to his stomach, torso, arms, back and neck.
Hodges was taken to a local hospital and later pronounced dead, according to the NYPD.
The NYPD did not specify the nature of the verbal dispute in response to an ABC News request for comment.
Jaia Cruz, 24, was later taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder, according to police.
“The Postal Inspection Service can confirm that on January 2, 2025, a United States Postal Service letter carrier, assigned to Manhattan, was the victim of a homicide. The suspect was apprehended and is currently in custody,” the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) said in a statement. The USPIS statement did not confirm the identity of the victim.
“USPIS takes matters involving the safety and wellbeing of postal service employees as a top priority. We are working diligently with the New York City Police Department on this investigation,” the USPIS statement continued.
The USPIS statement also urged anyone with additional information about the attack to contact them at 1-877-876-2455.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres it purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used in a mass deportation operation.
In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, Buckingham said she’s offering the land “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”
The Texas General Land Office purchased the plot of land from a farmer in October to facilitate Texas’ efforts to build a wall.
“My office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the United States Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history,” Buckingham wrote in the letter, dated Tuesday.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told ABC News Live on Monday that she would not use state police or the National Guard to help with mass deportation.
“We will not be participating in misguided efforts that harm our communities,” she said.
Trump on Monday confirmed he would declare a national emergency to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, and pledged to get started on the mass deportations as soon as he enters office.
A spokeswoman for the Trump transition team said the president-elect will “marshal every lever of power” to launch his mass deportation plans.
“Local and state officials on the frontlines of the Harris-Biden border invasion have been suffering for four years and are eager for President Trump to return to the Oval Office. On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history,” Karoline Leavitt said.
In an interview with Fox News, which first reported the news of the Texas General Land Office’s offer, Buckingham reiterated she is “100% on board” with the incoming administration’s promise to deport criminals.
The plot of land is in Starr County, about 35 miles west of McAllen, Texas.
“Now it’s essentially farmland, so it’s flat, it’s easy to build on. We can very easily put a detention center on there — a holding place as we get these criminals out of our country,” she told Fox News.
(NEW YORK) — The Gulf Coast is digging out from a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm that struck from Texas to Florida, closing airports, crippling roadways and leaving freezing temperatures in its wake.
At least 10 deaths have been attributed to the storm and accompanying cold blast.
In Dale County, Alabama, one person was killed in a house fire after leaving their stove on to keep them warm and a second person was killed in a car accident, according to the local corner.
One person died from hypothermia in Georgia and two people died in the cold in Austin, Texas, officials said.
Southwest of San Antonio, five people died when a tractor-trailer collided with other vehicles on an icy road, the Texas Department of Safety said.
This storm brought more snow to some cities than any other storm in at least the last 130 years.
Florida saw its most snow on record, with 9.8 inches of snow recorded in Milton, northeast of Pensacola.
Pensacola also saw an all-time record for the city with 8.9 inches.
Texas experienced its first-ever blizzard warning. Beaumont, Texas, recorded 5.2 inches of snow — an all-time record. Mobile, Alabama, saw an all-time record high of 7.5 inches.
In Louisiana, Baton Rouge saw 7.6 inches.
New Orleans recorded 8 inches, marking the most snow in the city since 1895.
And the danger isn’t over. An extreme cold warning is in effect Thursday morning from Mississippi to the Florida Panhandle, with temperatures dropping as low as 12 degrees in parts of the Gulf Coast.
For Louisiana, this is the coldest it’s been in over 100 years, state climatologist Jay Grymes said.
While snow has melted in many areas, the freeze remains a serious threat. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Joe Donahue is urging “everyone to avoid unnecessary travel.”
Many of the areas hit hard by the storm will thaw soon; temperatures are expected to climb to the 50s and 60s by Sunday.
Marissa Kay Carmichael is pictured in an undated photo provided by the Greensboro Police Department. Greensboro Police Department
(GREENSBORO, N.C.) — Police in Greensboro, North Carolina, are urging the community to share any information related to the case of Marissa Carmichael, a Black mother of five who vanished one year ago on Jan. 14, 2024, from an Exxon gas station shortly after making a distressed call to 911.
“We appreciate your interest in the Marissa Carmichael case and for keeping it in front of your viewers and our community,” a spokesperson for the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) told ABC News on Tuesday evening. “While there is no public update at this time, this remains an active investigation and we encourage anyone with information to please contact Crime Stoppers to share tips anonymously.”
Carmichael’s mother, Sara Carmichael, told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday that the family, including Marissa’s five children, are distraught as they await updates from detectives working the case.
“Every day I wake up and it’s like, here, you know, it’s just the day where I might find out some news,” Sara Carmichael said. “Is this the day where, you know, there may be some answers for me, for her kids? It just sometimes – this does not seem real. It still just doesn’t seem real.”
Sara Carmichael, who spoke with ABC News in February 2024, along with Marissa’s sister Emma Villegas, as the search for her daughter hit the one-month mark, said that Tuesday was a “hard day” for the family since it marked one year since anyone had seen or talked with Marissa.
“It’s just been a real rough day and I’m just hoping things will come to the light soon with the new detectives they have working on the case,” Sara Carmichael said, adding that she has suffered from anxiety, depression, insomnia and experienced frequent panic attacks since her daughter’s disappearance.
“It’s like a constant state of panic, of worry, of, you know, not sleeping, always wondering what, what could she be going through? You know, is she still alive?” she said.
According to police, Carmichael was last seen at 3:46 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 14, at the Exxon gas station on 809 East Market St. in Greensboro and made a distressed call to 911 just before she vanished.
In the 911 call – the audio of which was obtained by ABC News — Carmichael appeared distressed and was asking for help finding a ride home. According to an incident report obtained by ABC News, when police arrived at the gas station, Carmichael wasn’t there.
During the 2-minute call, Carmichael, whose name is bleeped out when she identifies herself, tells the 911 dispatcher that a man had asked her to pick up some things at the gas station but drove off while she was inside and that she has no way of getting home. Police have confirmed that the call is from Marissa.
“I don’t know where I am in Greensboro … he took off with my phone. I have no clue where I’m at. I have no numbers,” Carmichael tells the dispatcher.
Sara Carmichael said that the family last saw Marissa on Saturday, Jan. 13, and were with her all day, but since Jan. 14, her daughter – an avid social media user – has not been active on her accounts and her phone has been turned off, going straight to voicemail.
According to Carmichael, on the night before her disappearance, Marissa told her sister Emma that she was going to the club and asked her not to tell her mother because she didn’t want her to worry.
Sara Carmichael said after talking to her daughter’s friends, she learned that Marissa went to One17 SofaBar & Lounge, and then later went to an Airbnb for an after party, then was dropped off at the Exxon station.
“When I woke up around lunchtime, Sunday [Jan. 14], and she wasn’t home, and then I found out she didn’t go to work, and that’s just not like her at all,” she said when asked what prompted her to report her daughter missing. “She’s always in touch with me. So, I had a feeling.”
Later that day, Sara Carmichael filed a missing person’s report – a copy of which was obtained by ABC News.
Police told ABC News in February 2024 that they are “increasingly concerned” for Marissa Carmichael’s “welfare” and over the past year have shared multiple advisories asking the community to come forward with any tips about her whereabouts.
The mother of five, who was 25 years old as the time of her disappearance, is described by police as a 5 feet, 4 inches tall, biracial female weighing approximately 260 pounds, with long black and blonde braids.
She also has a heart tattoo on her face and a butterfly near her eye and was wearing a white Tweety Bird T-shirt, blue jeans, and yellow sneakers when she was last seen, police said, sharing a surveillance photo with ABC News of Carmichael at the Exxon gas station on the night she was last seen.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding Marissa Carmichael’s whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.
