Investigators unsure if remains from fiery crash belong to missing South Korean family
Arizona officials are working to determine whether additional human remains discovered in the debris of a fatal pileup crash on Interstate 40 on March 13 are those of the South Korean family who went missing in the area at the time of the crash.
Jiyeon Lee, Taehee Kim and Junghee Kim have been missing for nearly two weeks after driving through a winter storm on their road trip between the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.
Investigators have confirmed that one of the vehicles in the collision, which involved multiple passenger vehicles that 'were rear-ended, pushing them into, and in some cases, underneath crashed tractor-trailers,' was a BMW SUV, an update from the Coconino County Sheriff's Office said on Monday. The family had been traveling in a BMW rental vehicle, the sheriff's office said.
The vehicle's GPS data showed the rental car was last on Interstate 40 westbound around 3:27 p.m., coinciding with the fatal pileup accident on the same interstate during a winter storm, according to a release from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The crash happened around 3:27 p.m. on westbound Interstate 40 near milepost 159.5 in Williams, Arizona, on a snow and ice-covered interstate. Some of the vehicles involved in the crash burned for more than 20 hours at 'extreme temperatures, resulting in extensive destruction,' DPS told CNN Saturday.
Initially, Arizona DPS reported that the accident involved 22 vehicles and 36 drivers and occupants, resulting in at least two fatalities and injuring 16 people. Over the weekend, highway patrol investigators announced they had discovered additional human remains.
The intensity and prolonged duration of the fire 'have posed significant challenges for identification efforts,' the sheriff's office noted on Monday, requiring 'meticulous examination' in the process of identifying the of additional remains found.
Bart Graves with Arizona DPS told CNN on Wednesday, that only 'small portions of human remains' had been located. 'Of these portions, we cannot even determine at this point in time if those remains are from the same body or different bodies,' he said.
'The Yavapai County Medical Examiner's Office is diligently working to ascertain whether identification is possible,' the sheriff's office said. 'We understand the urgency and the emotional toll this uncertainty places on the families and the public. We kindly ask for patience and understanding as our teams continue to work with care and precision to bring clarity to this heartbreaking situation.'
'At this point in time, though, we do not expect any updates in the near future as the analysis takes time,' Graves added.
The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles told CNN it would provide 'full support if the investigative authorities request cooperation regarding this matter.'
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Their names were on the alleged Minnesota gunman's hit list. Here's how lawmakers faced the 43-hour manhunt
The congresswoman was enjoying a quiet morning at home in the Minneapolis suburbs last Saturday when her doorbell rang. It was around 6 a.m., Kelly Morrison recalled. Far too early for visitors. But as she padded to the front door, Morrison noticed a police car in her driveway. 'Sorry to bother you so early,' the officers said, 'but we need you to know that there's a man going around impersonating a law enforcement officer, and we need you to stay in your house, shelter in place, and do not answer the door to anyone.' Stunned, Morrison asked for more details, she recalled to CNN. But the officers simply told her: 'There have been some concerning events' and they'd be patrolling her street 'more closely.' Morrison locked her front door and tried to go back to her quiet morning alone at home, she said. But her eyes kept drifting to the street. She did not yet know a fierce manhunt was underway for a gunman who, just hours earlier, had gravely injured a state senator and his wife at their nearby home, then assassinated another state lawmaker, Melissa Hortman, and her husband in theirs. Morrison also did not yet have a critical piece of information that would upend not only her quiet weekend but also her perception of life as a public servant and the state of America's democracy: Her name was on the gunman's alleged hit list, too. The attacks had begun just after 2 that morning when a man carrying a handgun and wearing the tactical vest and body armor of a police officer pounded on state Sen. John Hoffman's windowless, double-bolted front door. 'He arrived in a Black SUV with emergency lights turned on and with a license plate that read 'Police,'' Joseph Thompson, the acting US attorney for Minnesota, would later tell reporters. 'Sen. Hoffman had a security camera; I've seen the footage … and it is chilling,' he'd add. Authorities soon identified Vance Boelter, 57, as the man masquerading as a police officer and described in chilling detail how he 'stalked his victims like prey.' After wounding Hoffman and his wife, Boelter visited two other lawmakers' nearby homes, court documents later would assert: One was out of town; the other's life may have been spared by the timely intervention of a local police officer. Boelter then went to Hortman's home, killing her and her husband, Mark, authorities would posit, before firing at police and vanishing into a moonlit night. Investigators in what became the largest manhunt in Minnesota history soon found among Boelter's belongings apparent hit lists naming dozens more potential targets, most of them Democrats or figures with ties to the abortion rights movement, including Planned Parenthood, court documents would say. On a conference call later that morning with Democratic lawmakers, Morrison learned the tragic truth of what had happened to the Hoffmans and the Hortmans – her friends and colleagues – and prompted her early morning visit from local police. It wasn't long before the Minnesota Department of Public Safety also let her know she, too, was among those targeted. As an OB-GYN who had volunteered for Planned Parenthood, Morrison had been targeted with threats of violence in the past, she said. Still, this was 'unnerving, particularly when we lost Melissa and Mark in such a shocking and violent way.' The congresswoman immediately called her husband, John Willoughby, who was out of town, to tell him about the shootings. And that she could be a target. The former Army Ranger 'moved into protective mode,' Morrison recalled, and began making his way home. Even with local officers already stationed outside their house, the couple hired private security, she said. And Morrison put on the panic button Capitol Police previously had recommended she buy. Across town, another state House official, Rep. Esther Agbaje, was glued to her phone as texts and emails poured in with updates on the manhunt. She left her home and spent the day with her fiancé and his mom, she recalled to CNN. She was lying low, she told her friends and family, in an abundance of caution. Meanwhile, Morrison and her husband considered what to tell their grown children. 'There's all these different moments as a parent where you question what the right thing to do is,' the congresswoman recalled, 'but we knew we had to let them know.' Their daughters, traveling in Minnesota, wanted to come home; their son, who was out of state, stayed in constant contact. Then, Morrison made another call: to her own parents. 'I had been pretty calm,' she said, 'but when I heard my mom's voice, I definitely kind of lost it.' By Saturday evening, the tenor of Agbaje's weekend also had shifted – from mindful public servant attuned to the latest safety alerts to an unwitting role far closer than she'd imagined to the frightening storyline deeply underway. 'For most of the day,' the state representative said, 'I didn't know that I was a potential target.' Then, she, too, learned her name was on Boelter's list. Sunday arrived with no outward signs Boelter soon would be caught. And Agbaje had grown so distracted, she forgot it was Father's Day. 'I forgot to call my own Dad until, like, the middle of the afternoon,' she told CNN. 'I have a really good Dad. He was concerned about how I was doing.' Officers had warned Morrison it would be dangerous for her to go ahead with plans to celebrate the holiday with relatives. 'I FaceTime'd with my dad and my brother to wish them a happy Father's Day,' she said, 'and tell them how much I love them and how grateful I am for them.' Morrison and Agbaje also spent hours across the weekend reassuring their constituents as word of the attacks spread and reiterating a common message in the face of what seemed to be the latest wave in a rising tide of political violence afflicting the United States. We can't go on this way. 'This was the moment where I kind of feel like everything has changed in the United States,' Morrison said. 'This happened in my district, and these are my people. We have to decide together that this is not the path that we want to go down as a country.' But even fortified resolve could not quell the fear of lawmakers whom the suspected assassin had called out by name. On Sunday evening, the fact remained: Boelter was still on the run. Not, though, for much longer. Some 43 hours after the gunman barged through the Hoffmans' red front door, Boelter crawled out of a forest near his own home, about an hour's drive away. He was arrested and faces six federal charges, including two that could carry the death penalty, and four state charges, including two counts of second-degree murder. But for Morrison and Agbaje – along with untold others on the hit lists and people across Minneapolis and beyond – the conclusion of the police chase has yielded to another pursuit, one perhaps less riveting but, if possible, more heart-wrenching. 'I think now that the acuteness of the manhunt and the trauma from the weekend is subsiding, we're just (feeling) real grief and sitting with the loss,' Agbaje said. After decades of increasingly toxic political rhetoric and the dehumanization of lawmakers, many Americans have lost sight of our shared humanity, she continued. 'For those of us who want to keep this democracy, we have to remember that we solve our disagreements through discussion and debate; we can't devolve to guns and violence.' Though Hoffman has a long path to recovery, Agbaje looks forward to the day she again will work alongside the fierce advocate for health equity, especially for those with disabilities, she said. 'He's really funny,' Agbaje said, then paused, recognizing this kind of violence can change a person. 'I'm sure it'll be different, but I'm glad that he'll still be around,' she said of Hoffman. 'Whether you agree or disagree with them on policy issues, (lawmakers are) real people. They have families, they have people who care about them. At some point, we have to remember the humanity in each other.' Morrison and her colleagues gathered privately Wednesday night, she said, to mourn and honor Hortman, a public servant who dedicated herself and her career to the state and the people she loved. 'I think she'll go down as the most consequential speaker of the House in Minnesota's history,' Morrison said. 'It was never about Melissa; it was always about the work … the end goal was always to make life better for Minnesotans.' 'It's just hard to put into words what a devastating loss this is for our entire state.' The attacks of just a week ago fell exactly eight years after a gunman opened fire on lawmakers as they practiced for a congressional charity baseball game and critically wounded Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a Republican now leading the House majority. Morrison worries about the chilling effect political violence could have on future public servants, she said. But even so soon after facing her own imminent threat, Morrison is far from scared. 'I think it's important for people to remember that this is not just an attack on those individual legislators; this is an attack on democracy itself. It's an attack on Americans' ability to be represented well,' she said. 'I am not afraid of cowards like this man, and I would encourage people, if you've ever thought of running for office, to please continue pursuing it.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Trump Justice Department not expected to appoint outsider as special counsel, source says
The Justice Department is not expected to appoint an outsider to serve as special counsel to handle politically sensitive criminal investigations, but will likely deputize a US Attorney to handle such matters if the need arises, according to a source familiar with the strategy. On Friday, President Donald Trump once again called for a special prosecutor to investigate former President Joe Biden and aired unfounded claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 'A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin!' he wrote on Truth Social. The president has repeatedly called for a special counsel to investigate his predecessor over a number of issues. 'The whole purpose of the special counsel regime is to appoint a politically neutral outsider who can bring independence and credibility to a case,' said Elie Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst and author of a forthcoming book on the history of special counsels and independent prosecutions. 'To choose a Trump-appointed US Attorney will, at a minimum, create the appearance that that person is biased in favor of Trump and his political agenda.' The Justice Department is already investigating some of Biden's actions while in office as part of its 'Weaponization Working Group.' On her first day in office, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo establishing the group, which would focus on examining the state and federal investigations into Trump as well as the prosecutions related to the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and other right-wing priorities. Ed Martin, who failed to secure confirmation as US Attorney for Washington, DC, now oversees that effort, which has expanded to include subjects such as pardons issued by former President Joe Biden and other aspects of his administration. CNN previously reported that Martin sent a letter to the National Archives requesting information about White House operations under the Biden administration. He is also seeking information related to Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the code name for the investigation into links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. It is expected that if the department deems that if any of these matters need to be escalated to a full-blown criminal investigation – that work will be outsourced to a US Attorney. The administration currently does not have any Senate-confirmed US Attorneys, but they do have nominees working in offices across the country. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The special counsel role was created through federal regulation to be used when there are conflicts of interest for the Department handling an investigation and it 'would be in the public interest to appoint an outside special counsel.' There have been several notable special counsels in the past few years, including Robert Mueller who was appointed by then-deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate the Russian government's interference with the 2016 presidential election. Mueller had previously served as the FBI director from 2001 to 2013. Trump has repeated railed against special counsels. In Mueller's final report, Trump is quoted saying, 'Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels, it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won't be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.' Jack Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump for allegedly interfering with the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, and for his allegedly mishandling of classified documents. Smith had also previously served as a federal prosecutor and was working at The Hague at the time he was tapped for this position. In July 2024, Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw Trump's classified documents case, ruled that Smith's appointment was unconstitutional under the Appropriations Clause, which determines how the federal government is funded. Cannon also said that Smith was unlawfully appointed by Garland. 'For more than 18 months, Special Counsel Smith's investigation and prosecution has been financed by substantial funds drawn from the Treasury without statutory authorization, and to try to rewrite history at this point seems near impossible,' Cannon wrote when she dismissed the case. Smith appealed the controversial ruling, but after Trump was reelected, he withdrew both cases against the president-elect. The nature of special counsels has evolved over time – under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, Congress allowed for appointment of 'special prosecutors,' which later became known as 'independent counsels.' These individuals were appointed by specially selected three-judge panel and were outside-government appointees. Ultimately, the law expired in 1999 after much debate about the cost and scope of special prosecutors, especially after the Kenneth Starr-led investigation of President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. When the law expired, the Justice Department created a new regulation that allowed the Attorney General to appoint a 'special counsel' from outside the federal government. The Justice Department determined that special counsels would be appointed for investigations that would have too much conflict of interest to operate under normal agency guidelines.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Mystery man leaving jugs of urine in Oregon recycling bins now marking new territory, terrorized locals say
The notorious Portland Pisser is marking new territory. For nearly a year, a mysterious man has been leaving milk cartons and water jugs full of urine in the recycling bins of one neighborhood in Oregon's largest city. He wears a hood and comes by night, like Santa Claus' demented brother. Now, this pisser may be expanding his operation — and his attacks may be getting more brazen. Trish Bellingham from Beaverton, a suburb near the urine-soaked neighborhood, said she was working from home 'in broad daylight' last Friday when a mysterious figure pulled up to her house, stuck something in her recycling bin and casually drove off, she told KATU. 5 Jugs of urine left by a mysterious man in Portland. ALEX VAN DUYN 5 Jugs of urine near recycling bins — the vandal's favorite target. KATU 2 Advertisement 'I immediately came outside to see what he had put into my can … I lifted the lid and I found two bottles of urine,' she said. Bellingham knew what she was dealing with: The pisser's reputation is well known around town, and she immediately called the TV station to aid its, ahem, yellow journalism. It is unclear whether the new suspect is the original pisser or a mere copycat; Bellingham said he drove a white car, but previous footage — taken at night — seems to show him in a dark-colored vehicle. But Bellingham believed him to be the same man. 'It just seems like a very deranged, very sick individual that would come through in a neighborhood,' she told KATU. The attacks go back at least to last September, when northeast Portland resident Alex Van Duyn opened his own recycling bin to find a batch of six gallon-sized water bottles filled with urine. 5 Security camera footage shows the hooded man in action. KATU 2 Advertisement 5 Alex Van Duyn, whose bin was first attacked last September. KATU 2 5 Another view of the alleged urine-leaver. ALEX VAN DUYN The jugs kept coming, prompting Van Duyn to train a security camera on his curb in hopes of catching the scoundrel yellow-handed. He captured footage of a hooded man rolling up by night in what appeared to be a BMW, then slinking out to his trunk and emptying armloads of piss-filled bottles into the bins, according to KATU. Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! Eventually, Van Duyn decided he'd had enough and stopped putting out his recycling — but the slippery suspect simply moved on to a neighbor's recycling bin, and then on to another. Van Duyn and other neighbors have contacted local police about the matter, but for now, the Portland Pisser's rain of terror continues.
