The DOJ alleged the stepbrother “sexually assaulted and intentionally killed” Kepner. The Florida high school senior died from “mechanical asphyxiation,” officials said.
The boy was initially charged as a juvenile, prosecutors said. He’s now been indicted as an adult by a federal grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.
Kepner’s family said in a statement last year that the 18-year-old “loved being around people” and “drew you in with her smile and the way she carried herself.”
She was set to graduate from high school this May and was interested in joining the military, her family said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LOS ANGELES) — Widespread elevated fire weather danger is expected to continue across parts of the Rockies and Great Plains on Sunday, as the Southwest is forecast to see another day of record-shattering March heat wave temperatures.
Wind gusts across the Plains are forecast on Sunday to reach 30 to 60 mph. Combined with very low humidity and dry fuels, conditions could be conducive for rapid wildfire growth and spread.
The National Weather Service has issued red flag fire-danger warnings for much of the Rockies.
While not currently on alert, parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast will also see dry and breezy conditions on Sunday, with dry fuels contributing to an increased fire threat.
Meanwhile, the Southwest will continue to bake as a record-shattering March heat wave continues on Sunday, a day after several record-high temperature marks were matched or exceeded.
At least 18 cities across California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada and Utah either broke or tied daily records on Saturday, including Yuma, Ariz., which hit a new daily record of 102 degrees; Death Valley, Calif., which reached 100; Phoenix, which saw temperatures soar to 96; and Las Vegas, which hit 92.
Relief from the Southwest heat wave is expected to come later this week, but not before another day of record-breaking temperatures.
Daily record highs are possible on Sunday and Monday in Las Vegas and Phoenix, with some daily record highs possibly being challenged in the Great Plains on Monday.
As the workweek progresses, a pattern change will bring warmer than normal temperatures and messy weather for the eastern half of the nation.
Overnight Monday and into Tuesday, a weak system is forecast to pass from the Upper Midwest through the Great Lakes, bringing showers and thunderstorms, some of which could be strong enough to produce gusty winds, isolated small hail, and spotty flooding.
By late Tuesday and into Wednesday, the system will continue to pass through the Great Lakes and eventually into the Northeast, spreading scattered showers and rain into the Northeast.
More messy weather is forecast through Wednesday and Thursday across the eastern half of the nation, mainly with scattered showers and some thunderstorms.
As April arrives on Wednesday, the weather pattern will start to change, likely bringing warmer-than-normal temperatures for the eastern half of the country. The West could also experience warmer-than-normal temperatures returning as April progresses.
What’s likely to remain consistent across the West is drier-than-normal weather, adding to an ongoing drought and record-low snowpack across the West.
Bitter Cold – Tuesday AM Wind Chills Map. ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A major arctic blast is stretching from the Midwest to the Northeast, bringing dangerously cold weather to 43 million people.
On Monday morning, the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — plunged to minus 30 degrees in Minneapolis; minus 27 degrees in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; minus 22 degrees in Chicago; and minus 22 degrees in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The brutal Midwest wind chill continued on Tuesday morning, hitting minus 13 degrees in Chicago; minus 23 in Green Bay; and minus 12 in Cleveland.
The freeze hit the Northeast on Tuesday morning, with the wind chill dropping to minus 11 degrees in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 7 degrees in Washington, D.C.; and 5 degrees in New York City.
The Arctic blast is also bringing heavy lake effect snow to the Midwest and Northeast. The heaviest lake effect snow is expected in western Michigan and western and upstate New York where, 6 to 12 inches of snow is forecast.
Click here for what you need to know to stay safe in the cold.
(LAS VEGAS) — Multiple people who spent time inside a Las Vegas residence that houses a possible illegal biological lab fell ill, the property’s former cleaning employee told police, according to newly released court documents.
The former cleaning employee, who went by the pseudonym “Kelly,” tipped off authorities to the alleged operation early last month, according to an arrest report for the residence’s property manager filed with the Las Vegas Justice Court following a weekend raid at the home.
Kelly said she had been hired by the property manager, Ori Solomon, to clean the home, which was rented out by the room via websites, including Airbnb, according to the report.
Solomon, also known as Ori Salomon, was arrested over the weekend and faces both state and federal charges, including felony disposal/discharge of hazardous waste in an unauthorized manner and allegedly violating his visa by possessing firearms.
Kelly told police that while working at the house in April 2025, she entered the garage, which was usually locked, and found an assortment of “refrigerators/freezers, glass beakers with reddish liquid inside,” a biological safety cabinet and what she believed to be a centrifuge, according to Solomon’s arrest report.
She said the garage smelled “like a hospital (not like a clean hospital but more of a foul stale stagnant air smell),” the report said.
Kelly said she and Solomon’s handyman both got “‘deathly ill’ after going into the garage,” the report said. “Approximately five days after entering the garage, she was left with breathing issues, fatigue, ‘could not get out of bed,’ and muscle aches.”
The handyman had the “same symptoms,” and he “believed entering the garage was the reason that they both were sick,” the report said. Kelly said Solomon’s own wife also got sick after going into the garage, according to the report.
“Kelly said a lot of people who have lived inside the house have gotten sick. One female ended up in the hospital with severe respiratory issues,” the report said. “Kelly also noted when she was cleaning the house there would be many dead crickets found in the master bedroom,” which was “super uncommon as she had lived in Las Vegas for numerous years and never seen anything like that before.”
Police and FBI agents spent Saturday and Sunday removing equipment and materials from the garage and then transported the substances to a secure lab on the East Coast for testing, the results of which have not yet been released. Authorities have said they believe the Vegas property “is being used to house the biolab equipment” as well as potential viruses and “biological substances,” the police report said.
She told police that the refrigerators that she saw in the garage “were not medical grade ones but ones you would find in a normal home,” the report said.
The report noted that the description matches the “same type of fridge used” in a previous case in Reedley, California. Officials there said an illegal bio lab was discovered in a warehouse that allegedly had unauthorized biological agents, including samples of possible infectious diseases, along with misbranded medical devices and test kits. The alleged operator, a Chinese national, was arrested in 2023 and remains in federal custody awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty to his charges.
The report also alleges that Solomon had “direct knowledge of the biolab being owned and operated by” the Reedley bio lab’s operator — and that the pair had been in “constant communication” since his 2023 arrest.
While incarcerated, that previous operator had more than 460 calls with Solomon in the past year alone, the report said. Solomon “is known to execute the business dealings for” the prior operator — and then would transfer funds to the prior operator’s wife and business partner, who had absconded federal indictment in China, according to the report.
Kelly told police she believes Solomon is still in contact with the prior operator because the federal inmate “calls him every day to check on the residences,” the report said.
Kelly allegedly added that if investigators “contacted Ori, he would have the lab moved out of the garage immediately.”
Police said in the report that they believe the property is “being used to house the biolab equipment, viruses, and biological substances.” Four bottles of hydrochloric acid were also found in an “apparently abandoned and open box, stored haphazardly on an open shelf, according to the report.
Hydrochloric acid can “cause substantial permanent injuries to the human body if exposed to the skin, inhaled or ingested,” the report said, alleging that the bottles were not secure or stored “in a way to avoid inadvertent exposure or ingestion.”
“As a result, the failure to properly dispose of these chemicals imperiled the lives of anyone in or near the garage,” the report said. “Moreover, hydrochloric acid is known to be volatile if airborne and can cause respiratory injury if inhaled” — particularly concerning, the report said, since the house was “additionally being used as a short term rental property with multiple occupants, including an elderly male living mere yards away from the entry to that garage.”
Three people who rented a room in the house were safely removed from the residence and are not involved in the investigation at this time, authorities previously said.
