Woman killed by patio umbrella while dining at South Carolina restaurant: Coroner
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images
(LAKE MARION, S.C.) — A woman died after being struck by a patio umbrella during strong winds at a lakeside South Carolina restaurant over Memorial Day weekend, officials said.
The incident occurred Saturday evening at a restaurant along Lake Marion in Summerton, authorities said.
The woman and her husband were dining on the restaurant’s patio “when a sudden strong wind blew an umbrella from a table,” striking the woman in the head and neck area, the Clarendon County Coroner’s Office said in a statement.
First responders found the woman unresponsive with lacerations to her head and neck area, and she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the coroner’s office.
The victim is a woman from Huger, South Carolina, the coroner’s office said. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
The restaurant, Driftwood Grill Home of the Lazy Gator, confirmed the incident occurred at its restaurant during a “sudden severe weather event at Lake Marion.”
“This has deeply affected many people in our community, including guests, staff, first responders, and everyone involved,” the restaurant said in a statement Sunday on social media. “Out of respect for the family and those impacted, we ask for continued prayers, compassion, and privacy during this incredibly difficult time.”
The restaurant said it held a support session on Monday with authorities, chaplains and others for those impacted by the “tragic” incident.
“This has impacted many people — including staff members, guests, first responders, families, and community members — and we are grateful for the continued support, prayers, understanding, and encouragement being shown throughout the area,” the statement said.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
Kouri Richins is seen in a Summit County Sheriff’s Office booking photo. (Summit County Sheriff’s Office)
(UTAH) — Kouri Richins, a Utah woman convicted of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl, was sentenced to life without parole for murder on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old mother of three, who self-published a children’s book on grieving following her husband’s death in 2022, was found guilty on all counts in March following a weekslong trial. The Summit County jury reached a verdict after about three hours of deliberations.
She faced either 25 years to life in prison or life without parole.
Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in bed on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined that he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document.
Kouri Richins was found guilty of aggravated murder, with prosecutors saying she spiked his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl that she purchased illicitly after asking two people for the “Michael Jackson drug.”
She was also found guilty of attempted aggravated murder, with prosecutors saying she gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine’s Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.
She was additionally found guilty of insurance fraud for taking out a $100,000 insurance policy on her husband’s life with his forged signature and for submitting a claim following his death.
Kouri Richins addresses court
Kouri Richins, who did not testify during her trial, addressed the court prior to her sentencing in what the defense said would be an “unusually long” allocution.
She spoke directly to her three children, referring to them as her “sweet baby boys,” saying she has been unable to contact them since early 2024 so “will use any opportunity I can to get a message to you — even if that means sharing it publicly to the world, fully restrained in my jail clothes, in one of the most horrible situations possible.”
“I don’t care, and I’m not embarrassed or ashamed by any of it,” she continued.
While surrounded by her attorneys at the podium in lime-green jail clothing and handcuffs during her nearly 40-minute remarks, she said her children are her reason for living and “I am so sorry for even one second you thought that I did for even one second you thought that I didn’t love you.”
“I know that today you don’t want to speak to me, have a relationship with me,” she said. “You may think you hate me, and that’s okay. I will never be angry at you for your feelings. When the day comes that you’re ready, I will be here for you, waiting for you, and loving you.”
She told them she is “not perfect.”
“I have succeeded and I have failed as a person, as a wife, as a parent — we all do,” she said.
Regarding her and her husband, she said, “We failed at some things, we never failed at loving you boys.”
She got emotional, telling them that they will always have their brothers.
“You have each other’s back,” she said.
Kouri Richins repeatedly told them to “be like their dad” and serve their community, be generous, love the outdoors and be a “noble son.”
“Be the friend everyone wants to be friends with, the dad that everyone wishes they had,” she said.
She said she may never see them again and apologized for them being in the middle of “absolute chaos.”
“I’m sorry that eight people from a jury who have never met you or me or our family have the right to determine our future, and they did that in less than three hours,” she said on her conviction.
She said she’s “broken” without her children and husband, and that the thought that she murdered their dad is an “absolute lie.”
“The thought of that is still as absurd today as it was four years ago,” she said.
“I would have never taken him from you, from us,” she continued.
She said she will appeal her conviction and fight the charges “no matter how long it takes.”
“I will not be blamed for something I did not do,” she said. “I need you boys to know the truth, and because of that, I will never quit the truth and coming home to you.”
Calls for life without parole
Prosecutors asked Judge Richard Mrazik to hand down a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, saying she “murdered Eric in the presence of their children, using poison, and for money.”
“Such a person should never again lurk among the rest of us,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. “Her children should never worry that they may one day encounter her.”
The memo included statements from the couple’s three boys, who were 9, 7 and 5 years old when their father was murdered.
The eldest son, identified by his initials as C.R., wanted the court to know that “my dad was a good person and very thoughtful and kind and helped whoever needed help,” the filing stated.
Prosecutors said that the Utah Division of Child and Family Services supported a finding of emotional and physical abuse by Kouri Richins against C.R. following the death.
“I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us,” the filing stated. “I miss my dad, but I do not miss how my life used to be, I don’t miss Kouri, I will tell you that.”
The middle child, A.R., was a “material witness” to the murder, according to prosecutors, as Kouri Richins told police that she had gone into his room before returning to bed and finding her husband dead. Had he taken the stand during the trial, “A.R. would have testified at trial that the Defendant did not sleep in his room with him the night she murdered his father,” prosecutors stated.
A.R. said he doesn’t want his mother out of jail “because I will not feel safe,” the filing stated. The youngest son, W.R., also said he would feel “so scared” if his mother ever got out, and that she “makes me feel hateful and ashamed.”
The statements were read on their behalf by advocates during the sentencing hearing.
Defense attorney Wendy Lewis asked that the court not consider the state’s sentencing memo, arguing during the hearing that it contained “unsworn allegations untested by cross-examination” and was a “not-so-subtle attempt” to make public evidence that they held back or were unable to present in court because Kouri Richins did not testify.
Lewis disputed several points in the memo, saying that the Utah Division of Child and Family Services made an initial finding of emotional and physical abuse based on reports, sending the case to juvenile court, which she said found “no fault” — “in other words, that the children needed intervention, but due to no fault of Kouri Richins.”
Lewis also said that upon Kouri Richins’ arrest a year after the death, A.R.’s statements to police at the time were consistent with hers, that “Kouri had gone to sleep in his room” that night.
Judge Mrazik ultimately denied the defense’s request to strike portions of the state’s sentencing memo.
‘Permanent trauma’
The three boys are now in the care of one of Eric Richins’ sisters, Katie Richins-Benson, and her husband, according to the filing.
Richins-Benson urged the court to hand down a sentence that guarantees Kouri Richins will remain in prison for the rest of her life for the “permanent trauma” she’s inflicted on the children.
“The mere thought that someone who has so little regard for human life or decency might one day walk free is horrifying,” she said while delivering a victim impact statement in court on Wednesday. “I worry about the safety of Eric’s boys, my daughters, my sister and myself. There is nothing Kouri will not do and no one she will not hurt to achieve her own selfish ends.”
Several other family members delivered emotional victim impact statements during the hearing, held on what would have been Eric Richins’ 44th birthday, while also asking for the maximum sentence possible.
In addition to the maximum sentence, prosecutors asked that Kouri Richins be ordered to pay restitution to two insurance companies totaling more than $1.3 million.
Defense says she’s not a ‘monster’
Defense attorney Kathryn Nester argued during the sentencing hearing that Kouri Richins is not the “monster” portrayed by the prosecution, while asking the judge to consider conduct displayed over the course of her life.
Nester described Kouri Richins as a “human being, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a person that has made mistakes,” but also a person who has “completed acts of kindness and love and care toward others, a person who’s contributed to her community, a person who even in the darkest time of her life, reached out to help others who were incarcerated alongside her, a person who unselfishly tried to ease the pain her family and friends experienced as a result of this case.”
Defense attorney Wendy Lewis read in court a letter written by Kouri Richins’ mother, during which she asked the court to hand down a sentence that reflects accountability but also “allows the possibility of a future.”
Her mother also called the conviction a “profound injustice.”
“I do not believe Kouri is capable of committing a murder,” she wrote.
Other letters by family members and friends in support of Kouri Richins were read on their behalf or delivered in court. She could be seen crying as her brother addressed the court.
“I miss your family, I miss our family,” her brother, Ronnie Darden, told the court. “We don’t, with 100% certainty, know what happened to Eric, no one does, but we do know, with 100% certainty, that it wasn’t caused by you.”
Lewis asked for a sentence of 25 years to life, saying, “When you put aside all of the media, all of the interest, and you look at the crime she is convicted of, this is an appropriate sentence.”
“A sentence of 25 to life is not a sentence that guarantees the release of Kouri Richins,” Lewis continued. “It is not saying that she even should be released. What it is saying is that the decision whether she should be released is a decision for someone else to make on another day — a day that will be at the minimum 25 to 30 years in the future, a future that could look very different than today.”
Prosecutors argued that Kouri Richins was having an affair and wanted a “fresh start” and to leave her husband — but didn’t want to leave his money. They said she was in “financial desperation” due to her house flipping business’ debts and needed a significant influx of cash immediately.
According to prosecutors, she believed she would have financially benefited from her husband’s death — without realizing that his assets were in a trust overseen by one of his sisters, Katie Richins-Benson.
The defense, meanwhile, said the case was “sloppy” and “driven by bias” and argued that the state failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense called no witnesses.
Kouri Richins also faces more than two dozen charges in a separate case filed last year, including allegations that she committed mortgage fraud in 2021. The charging document alleges she submitted falsified bank statements in support of mortgage loan applications for her realty business, committed money laundering and issued bad checks.
The charges in the case also allege she murdered her husband for financial gain as she “stood on the precipice of total financial collapse.”
Federal authorities say this explosive device was found at a TSA checkpoint at the Sacramento International Airport on May 30, 2026. (TSA)
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A man was arrested and faces a federal charge after an explosive device was allegedly found in his carry-on bag at a California airport, federal authorities said.
Kimani Osayande Jones, 49, was detained at the Sacramento International Airport on Saturday after attempting to go through a security checkpoint, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Jones was “wearing a scarf covering his face and latex gloves on his hands” at the time, TSA said in a press release on Wednesday.
In his carry-on bag, he had an M-type explosive device — meaning an improvised explosive — and a “torch lighter capable of lighting the explosive,” TSA said.
His carry-on bag also contained a knife, scissors, scissor blades, an aerosol can and zip ties, according to an affidavit in support of the complaint.
He was traveling with five cellphones, one of which had a 15-minute timer ready to start and another with a message from an unidentified number on the screen stating, “we will be awaiting your call,” according to the affidavit.
Bomb technicians safely removed the device, and upon further examination, its powder and fuse were found to be “viable and energetic,” TSA said. If it had detonated mid-air near a window on a plane, the device had the “potential to damage the aircraft and cause a possible loss of cabin pressure,” the agency said.
Jones, of Sacramento, has been federally charged with unlawful possession of explosive material at an airport. If convicted, he faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
He is being held without bail at the Sacramento County Jail on a federal hold, online jail records show. Online court records do not list any future court dates or any attorney information for him.
Jones’ luggage was also screened at the airport prior to being loaded onto an American Airlines flight headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, and did not trigger anything suspicious, according to the affidavit. Upon arrival in Charlotte, a search of his bag and an inspection of all luggage from the plane using specialized canines found nothing concerning, it said.
According to the affidavit, local authorities had prior contact with Jones, who “had a history of being paranoid.” A man believed to be Jones had previously reached out to the FBI tip line 13 times this year, including the day of his arrest, to report that he was being threatened and intimidated, according to the filing.
Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates stops to speak to the media as he arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee probing the government’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein that Gates “never victimized anyone” and that meeting with Epstein “was a grave error in judgment,” according to his prepared opening remarks.
Gates is facing questions Wednesday about his relationship with the late financier, marking one of the most high-profile interviews conducted by the Oversight Committee since it began probing the government’s handling of its investigations into the notorious sex offender.
“I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone,” Gates testified in his closed-door appearance, according to a copy of his prepared opening statement.
Gates said that Epstein sought to “foster a personal relationship” with him, but said his focus remained on using Epstein to recruit new donors for Gates’ global health initiative.
“My interactions with Epstein began with a limited number of preliminary meetings — three in 2011 and two in 2012 — during which I talked about the goals of my work,” Gates said, according to his statement. “We began more extensive conversations in 2013 and 2014. The discussions focused on identifying potential giving structures, such as donor-advised funds, and how to enroll individuals he claimed were interested in making significant contributions.”
Gates said he can “recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues” but added he “did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” per the statement.
He also told the committee that he Epstein learned “sensitive information about my personal life” — including that he had been unfaithful in his marriage to Melinda Gates.
“These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates said, according to the statement. “As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”
In brief remarks to reporters on his way in Wednesday morning, Gates said, “I’ll start with an opening statement in the hearing room. I hope my testimony is helpful to the work, important work of the committee to find justice for the victims.”
Gates’ association with the late financier has roiled his nonprofit and reshaped the public perception of the tech billionaire who was once the world’s richest man.
“I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him,” Gates said in February.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) first reached out to Gates in March to schedule the behind-closed-doors interview, writing in a letter that the tech billionaire might “have information that will assist in its investigation.” In recent weeks, the Committee has conducted similar transcribed interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff.
“Gates welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee,” a spokesperson for Gates said in March. “While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work.”
Gates’ relationship with Epstein faced a new wave of scrutiny earlier this year when the Department of Justice’s release of Epstein files included correspondence between the two men, as well as cryptic notes drafted by Epstein that hinted at Gates’ extramarital affairs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates apologized to the staff of his nonprofit during a town hall in February and acknowledged that he had affairs with two Russian women that Epstein later discovered. A spokesperson for Gates in a 2023 statement said that Epstein “tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates.”
“In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told ABC News.
Melinda French Gates — who previously said her 2021 divorce from Bill Gates was driven in part by his association with Epstein — said earlier this year that the documents brought back memories of “some very, very painful times” in their marriage.
“Whatever questions remain there … those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband,” she said on NPR’s Wild Card podcast about what she described as a societal “reckoning” over the Epstein files. “They need to answer to those things, not me.”
Members of the Oversight Committee have expressed a desire to learn whether Epstein used his sex trafficking network to lure in wealthy and influential men to blackmail — allegations that the DOJ and FBI said they found “no credible evidence” of last year.
Neither of the women who Gates acknowledged having affairs with — a Russian bridge player and nuclear physicist — were said to have been introduced to Gates by Epstein, though a spokesperson later said that Epstein sought to “leverage” his knowledge of one of his past relationships to “threaten” Gates.
The interview is also likely to touch on how Epstein was able to ingratiate himself with Gates just three years after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. Gates has previously said he was aware of an “18-month thing” that limited Epstein’s travel, and he regrets not further investigating Epstein’s background.
According to documents released earlier this year by the Department of Justice, Gates first met Epstein in 2011.
“I won’t have time to do another meeting and I won’t be able to do the dinner with Jeff Epstein,” Gates wrote in a 2010 email to Boris Nikolic, his former science advisor. “I was looking forward to the dinner.”
Gates later said he hoped he could leverage Epstein’s relationships with “very rich people” to support his global health philanthropic efforts.
“The focus was always: he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end,” Gates told 9News Australia in February.
According to documents released by the DOJ, both men continued to communicate for at least three years, with Epstein at one point urging Gates to use a specific philanthropic vehicle known as a “donor advised fund” to make charitable contributions. At the time, Epstein compared donor advised funds to “cloud computing for the giving world.”
“It is a good analogy,” Gates wrote in a February 2014 email. “It is clearer to me now than before and it could be a great thing.”
But by December 2014, Gates appeared to cool on Epstein’s proposal, suggesting in an email that the plan was not viable for him.
“In terms of the DAF I don’t think we have any people at this point who will move to do something soon,” Gates wrote. “It is a good idea, but it won’t come together with 4-6 partners anytime soon.”
In a statement earlier this year, the Gates Foundation said it did not move forward with Epstein’s fund and never transferred any funds to the disgraced financier.
“On the basis of Epstein’s claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, a small number of foundation employees interacted with Epstein to try to secure this potential funding. Ultimately, the foundation did not pursue any collaboration with Epstein and no fund was ever created,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said in February.
By March, the Gates Foundation commissioned an external review to assess its past engagement with Epstein as well as its policies for vetting philanthropic partnerships. Foundation officials said in a statement they expected to get an update about that review later this summer.
