List of All Articles with Tag 'us crime news'

The father of a missing Wisconsin 13-year-old said he believes his son was possibly coerced to leave his family home by another individual. James Yoblonski, 13, reportedly took his family's van and left his home in Reedsburg on 12 June, according to Sauk County deputies. The teen may have also taken his father's handgun with him. "It's not like him to do anything like this," William Yoblonski, the boy's father, told Fox News Digital. "I mean, he's never driven my vehicle on the streets or anything. He's moved my van around my shop a couple times. That was it." Security footage caught the teen leaving his home around midnight and walking across the street to where the family's van was parked, and sat inside for an hour before leaving, his father explained. Police eventually found the van by tracking his father's cellphone — which the teen also took — at the western edge of Devil's Lake State Park later that day. They found a makeshift campsite at the park they believed the boy built. Later probes into the teen's search history found he had looked up information about teens crossing state lines and boarding airplanes. Mr Yoblonski doubts that his son spent an evening at the makeshift campsite because police dogs did not pick up his scent in the area. He believes he left the area with another individual. "I think he left with somebody. I think he sat there and waited for a horn to honk and came out and got in the car with somebody," the father said. He theorises that his son met someone online or in person who may have coerced or influenced his son to leave home. James reportedly posted a video to Snapchat from his father's home shortly before his disappearance. "'I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be back for school. I don't want to hurt anybody, but I might,'" Mr Yoblonski said, paraphrasing his son's comments in the video. He believes someone else was holding the phone and recording his son in the video. Though Mr Williams has not been named as an official suspect in his son's disappearance, he knows that some members of the public are likely eyeing him as a possible culprit. He recently took and passed a polygraph test administered by the Sauk County sheriff's office, which he said he hoped would return the focus of the case to his missing son. Mr Williams has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his son. "I just want my son back. That's why I put up a $10,000 reward. If I could afford to go more than that … but I just don't have that kind of money. Like I said, I'm a single father," he said. Mr Williams has expressed some frustration with the lack of answers coming from the sheriff's office. Since then, the FBI has joined the search for the missing teen. Read More Father of teen missing for nearly two months speaks out after polygraph test Body pulled from river after 10-day search for missing man as three arrested for ‘murder’ Maryland sheriff calls out ‘heinous coward’ who killed mother-of-five Rachel Morin

Two suspects who were involved in the Montgomery riverboat brawl have finally turned themselves in. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, surrendered to the Montgomery Police Department, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, days after they were allegedly involved in a massive fight on a dock last weekend. Mr Todd and Mr Shipman are among three men facing one count of assault in the third degree, which is a misdemeanour, in connection with the incident. The fight began on Saturday when a deckhand on the Harriott II riverboat, Damian Pickett, confronted the owners of a pontoon boat so that the ship could dock. Viral video captured the owners, who are white, punching Mr Pickett, who is Black, before an all-out brawl ensued - largely along racial lines. On Tuesday, Police Chief Darryl Allen identified the three suspects, adding that one of them had already turned themselves in—that person appears to be Richard Roberts, 48. Police said they are seeking yet another man for further interviews: Reggie Gray. The police chief described him as “wielding that folding chair” in videos, as he picked up a chair and hit people over the head with it. A spokesperson for the Montgomery Police told The Independent on Thursday that Mr Gray has not yet been in contact with the police, but assured that the authorities will “certainly” find him. All three of the men are white, and all three were members of the pontoon boat, which was reportedly blocking the Harriott II—which was carrying 227 passengers—from docking. So the captain’s deckhand, Mr Pickett, was taken from the riverboat to the dock to try to reason with the members of the pontoon boat, asking them to move. They did not take it well. The next part went viral - as the owner of the pontoon boat started attacking Mr Pickett. On Wednesday, the captain of the Harriott II, Capt Jim Kittrell, said he believed the attack was driven by race. “The white guys that attacked my deckhand—and he was a senior deckhand first mate—I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” he said. The brawl grew from there. However, he conceded that after the initial exchange, the fight did not appear to be “Black and white.” “It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate,” the captain said. “They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared. When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.” Chief Albert explicitly said that the people aboard the pontoon boat were not local to Montgomery. “This is not indicative of who we are as a city. We are much better than that,” he said. Read More Alabama dockside brawl was racially motivated, riverboat captain says Riverfront brawl brings unwelcome attention to historic civil rights city in Alabama

Maryland detectives investigating the homicide of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin have said they do not have a solid suspect yet in the case and warned members of the community to be vigilant. "Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, ‘yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event’," Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler told WBALTV. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend reported her missing. Then on Sunday afternoon, a Maryland father discovered a woman’s body in a tunnel off the trail which was later confirmed to be Morin. Mr Gahler announced that Morin’s case is now a homicide investigation at a press conference that evening. Rebekah Morin, the deceased’s sister, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Thursday morning, it has raised almost $41,000. Read More Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she ‘did not go willingly’ Rachel Morin’s boyfriend says he ‘would never do anything to her’ as homicide probe launched Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail

The death of a three-month-old is under investigation after the baby was left inside a car in Houston during an unrelenting heat wave as temperatures soared into the triple digits. Houston police responded to the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) around 3.25pm on Tuesday. The mother, whose name has not been released, was visiting the outpatient mental health facility with her four-year-old child. She found her baby boy unresponsive inside the hot car when she was leaving, Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir said during a news conference. Mr Bashir did not say how long the baby had been in the vehicle on the sweltering Houston day or if the windows had been rolled down, but gave a stern warning that a child should never be left in a car unattended. “Houston gets very hot,” Mr Bashir said. “Under no circumstances you should leave a child in the car, not even for a moment. Don’t think the AC is going to work out fine or if you roll down the window that’s going to be fine.” The high temperature in Houston on Tuesday reached a staggering 101 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. “From time to time, we have incidents like this, which should never happen. Especially during the summertime," Mr Bashir added. “You should never leave a child unattended, and there should be zero child infant deaths in the city. In my opinion, that’s avoidable.” The baby’s cause of death is still being determined by the medical examiner’s office. No charges have been filed and the baby’s parents are cooperating with the investigation. “I give my condolences to the parents, the mom and dad, and I also want to thank the staff here and the nurses, HFD who provided CPR and did everything they could to save this child," Mr Bashir said. This is the 16th child reported to die this year in a hot vehicle, according to the National Safety Council. On average, 38 children under the age of 15 die each year from heat stroke after being left in a vehicle, according to the website. Nearly every state has had at least one death since 1998. In both 2018 and 2019 a record number of 53 children died after being left in a hot vehicle. Read More Texas mother exonerated 20 years after death of child who ate paper towels

A man was shot and killed in Utah on Wednesday as the FBI attempted to serve a search warrant in the city of Provo. Law enforcement sources told CBS News the individual who was killed allegedly posted threats online against President Biden, his family, and Barack Obama. "The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s inspection division," the agency said in a statement. The deceased has been identified as Craig Robertson, according to a federal complaint obtained by ABC News. President Biden lands in Utah on Wednesday afternoon as part of a tour of southwestern states. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

Disgraced ex-NFL star Henry Rugs has been sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for a fiery DUI crash that killed a woman and her dog in Las Vegas. The former Raiders wide receiver was speeding down a road in the city at up to 156mph when he smashed his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray into the back of 23-year-old Tina Tintor’s SUV in November 2021. Tintor’s vehicle was consumed by flames and she was trapped inside with her pet and died from injuries caused by the fire and the crash.

The Maryland man who found the body of 37-year-old Rachel Morin said “he had a feeling” about the tunnels where she was found dead off the Ma and Pa Trail. Michael Gabriszeski, 49, told local news outlet WMAR-2 News that he joined the search for Morin after hearing about her disappearance from his daughter who was friends with Morin. Morin, a mother of five, went missing on Saturday after going for a jog on the trail. The following day, her body was located off the trail by Mr Gabriszeski. Mr Gabriszeski said he told police to search tunnels that exist around the Ma and Pa Trail because he had a bad feeling about them. “I kept telling them to search the tunnels because I had a feeling about those tunnels,” Mr Gabriszeski said. “I walked forward to search the one tunnel, and they searched the one, and that’s where they found her.” Mr Gabriszeski reported Morin’s body to the police around 1.30pm on Sunday. The Bel Air mother was found in a tunnel off of a trail. Morin initially left her home around 6pm on Saturday to go for a jog. When she failed to return five hours later, her boyfriend called the police to report her missing. An extensive search was conducted with authorities searching the trail and surrounding areas. The Harford County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet disclosed Morin’s manner of death but authorities in the Sheriff’s Office say foul play is suspected. A homicide investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information pertaining to Morin or with photos and videos taken the day of her disappearance should contact the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. Mr Gabriszeski said he hopes locating Morin’s body can result in a “a final resting place” so “that door can be finally closed” for the Morin family. “[I hope] they can get the investigation on and, hopefully, catch the person who did this trifling act,” Mr Gabriszeski said. He added that whoever is responsible for Morin’s death should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Bel Air is a community of roughly 10,000 people and has a low crime rate. Harford County sheriff Jeffery Gahler said the death of Morin has shocked the county. “We are a county that enjoys very low crime,” Mr Gahler told Fox News Digital. ”Our community is rightly very concerned,” Mr Gahler said. Authorities have no suspects at the moment and said it could be anyone who committed a random act of violence to a more planned attack or somebody that Morin knew. Read More Rachel Morin - update: Man who found body speaks out as sheriff confirms Bel Air homicide Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she ‘did not go willingly’ Rachel Morin’s boyfriend says he ‘would never do anything to her’ as homicide probe launched Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail

A teenager was arrested Tuesday on assault charges after allegedly verbally harassing an Asian family on the subway and then assaulting another passenger. Because the arrested girl is 16 years old, her name was not released. She turned herself into the NYPD on Tuesday morning at about 9.45am, according to the New York Post. A video of the incident shows the teenager attacking both 51-year-old Susan Young, a Nevada mom sitting with her 11-year-old twins, as well as Joanna Lin, who filmed the encounter. The teen was charged with two counts of assault Tuesday, and although police were reportedly considering hate crime charges, she wasn’t charged with any; both Ms Young and Ms Lin told the Post that they do not think the girl harassed them because of their race. “One of the girls stood up and went to Joanna and just punched her. I mean, punch, punch, punch, like repeatedly. I saw at least three, maybe two or three,” Ms Young told The Post, prompting her to stand up from her seat. That’s when another girl approached the Nevada mom, and because she was screaming at her, Ms Young pushed the girl away to try to get to Ms Lin. Then, the 16-year-old turned her attention to the mom, Ms Young explained to the outlet. “Well, as soon as I made contact and pushed her shoulders away, they all came after me. I backed up, but the girl in the white t-shirt came slugging at me… She grabbed my hair, I grabbed her hair, and I basically just grabbed onto her hair to shield my face because she was swinging,” Ms Young recalled. The bystander gave her thoughts on the teen’s arrest to The Post. “I am relieved that she made the decision to turn herself in. In a perfect world, I would love if she can issue an apology to myself and Sue Young, and promise to never ever do this again,” Ms Lin told the publication. “I also hope she gets therapy, counseling, and mentorship needed to move up from here.” According to the police department, the assault took place at around 8pm on August 3 on an F train at West Fourth Street-Washington Square station. It is not clear from the video how the confrontation began. From there, however, things allegedly escalated. The video shows one of the women who had allegedly been hurling abuse at the Asian family run towards the camera, at which point it cuts out. In one of the captions for the video, Ms Lin wrote that “This ferocious one runs over to hit me. I put down my phone to cover my head and took the blow (ow).” According to an NYPD tweet, which identified the victim in the case only as a 51-year-old woman, the assailant “made an anti-ethnic remark, pulled her by the hair & punched her.” The victim has since identified herself as Sue Young — a 51-year-old from Reno, Nevada who was visting New York on vacation with her family. The altercation continued as the subway sped towards its next stop, where the passengers got off the train and Ms Lin reportedly helped the family file a police report. Video of the attack, which quickly went viral, sparked outrage in New York. The attack comes more than three years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in the city and around the country that left some AAPI community members fearful for their safety in public. The NYPD formed an Asian Hate Crime Task Force in 2020, though it’s unclear whether that task force is involved directly in any way in the investigation into the attack. Ms Young, for her part, told NBC that she does not believe the people who verbally harrassed her and her family members were motivated by racial hatred and warned about the limited effectiveness of a carceral response. “These are very young girls,” Ms Young told NBC News. “Somebody or something or some circumstance has made a big impression on them — whether it’s historical pressure, societal pressure, social pressure. Using law enforcement to curtail this, I’m not sure if that’s going to fix the problem. It just seems like it’s a more underlying issue that we, as a society and as a community, need to hold everybody accountable, not just law enforcement.” Read More Senior Japanese diplomat attacked by US woman in anti-Asian hate crime, court records say Uproar as California students sent racist cards during Black History Month

Authorities in Maryland have confirmed that the body found along a hiking trail in Bel Air is that of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, reported her missing. On Sunday morning, Morin’s vehicle was found in the parking lot at the entrance to the popular walking route. Hours later, a member of the public discovered a woman’s body close to the trail. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced that Morin’s case is now a homicide investigation, in a press conference on Sunday night. Rebekah Morin, the sister of Morin, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Tuesday, it has raised over $35K. The sheriff said that police currently have no suspects on their radar and, as a result, are unable to tell the public that there is no ongoing danger. Read More Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she ‘did not go willingly’ Rachel Morin’s boyfriend says he ‘would never do anything to her’ as homicide probe launched Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail

O’Shae Sibley had been out celebrating a friend’s birthday when the group stopped at a Mobil gas station in Coney Island in Brooklyn on 29 July. On a steamy Saturday night, the 28-year-old professional dancer took off his shirt and was “voguing” — a dance form popularised by the LGBT+ community — to Beyoncé’s Renaissance album with a friend on the station forecourt. Just after 11pm, a separate group of young men allegedly began hurling homophobic insults saying that they didn’t like “gay dancing” in their neighbourhood, according to eyewitnesses. Sibley confronted the men, surveillance footage recovered from the gas station shows. After briefly separating, the clash turned violent, and Sibley was stabbed in the heart during a scuffle. His friends tried to apply pressure to the wound, and police arrived at 11.15pm to find Sibley bleeding heavily on a sidewalk. He was taken to Maimonides Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after. A 17-year-old suspect who allegedly fled the scene was later identified as Dmitriy Popov. Mr Popov was arrested on Friday 4 August and has been arraigned as an adult on murder and hate crime charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Eyewitnesses told the NYPD that Mr Popov had told the voguing group that their dancing offended him as a Muslim. Mr Popov’s lawyer Mark Pollard told The Independent in an interview that his client was a “good Christian boy” who regularly attended church. “I have no idea where that came from. I just know he’s not Muslim. It’s very strange,” Mr Pollard told The Independent. The killing attracted national attention due to its alleged homophobic nature, as attacks on the LGBT+ community are increasing. Beyoncé, who was performing nearby at New York’s MetLife stadium on the night Sibley was killed, paid tribute to the dancer, choreographer and model, who family say was cut down “in his prime”. A funeral for Sibley is being held in his home city of Philadelphia on Tuesday 8 August. What happened? Otis Pena, who was with Sibley when he was killed, said in an emotional Facebook video posted on the night of the stabbing that a group of friends were celebrating his birthday when they had stopped a few blocks from his home to fill up their car. He said he and Sibley were “just pumping gas and listening to [Beyoncé’s album] Renaissance and having a good time”. Mr Pena said that as the confrontation ensued, he saw Sibley wobbling on his feet after being stabbed, and rushed over to try to administer care. “I’m trying to put pressure on the wound, and there’s blood squirting everywhere… I’m covered in his blood,” Mr Pena said through tears. “They killed my brother right in front of me.” “O’Shae was just trying to tell people ‘we may be gay’ and they stabbed him right in the heart,” he continued, breaking down. “They murdered him because he was gay, because he stood up for his friends. All because he wanted people to know that we are gay.” The duo had been close friends for 15 years, he said, and had always had each other’s backs. “O’Shae was the salt to my pepper, the peanut butter to my jelly, and y’all killed him. Y’all killed my bro. O’Shae was a beacon of light that influenced everybody.” An NYPD spokesperson said in a statement they responded to a 911 call at the Mobil station at 11.14pm on 29 July. “Upon arrival, officers observed a 28-year-old male with a stab wound to the torso. EMS responded and removed the victim to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased,” the spokesperson said. Who was O’Shae Sibley? Sibley grew up in North Philadelphia and was one of nine siblings. The youngster had been teased from a young age for his love of dancing, and found refuge at the Philadelphia Dance Company, known as Philadanco, as a 13-year-old, founder Joan Myers Brown told the Philadelphia Inquirer. After starting out dancing hip hop and other modern dances, he learned ballet and classical forms at the company’s apprentice programme D/2, she said. Ms Brown told the Inquirer that opportunities were limited for young, Black dancers in Philadelphia, and Sibley moved to New York about three years ago. “I just want to be famous,” Ms Brown recalls the young dancer telling her. She introduced him to another former Philadanco student Iquail Shaheed, a dance professor who teaches at the Alvin Ailey School in New York. Sibley joined the school’s dance company Ailey Extension, where he was “cherished” by his fellow students, the group wrote in a Facebook tribute. Sibley had been auditioning for Broadway shows, and had also worked as a choreographer and model, according to Ms Brown. He was also a popular member of the ballroom dancing community, friends said. They kept in touch via weekly calls and texts, and Sibley would tell her about his latest auditions, she told the Inquirer. Tondra Sibley, the victim’s aunt, told the New York Times his death was a “senseless crime”. “O’Shae has always been a peacemaker. All he wanted to do was dance,” she said. In an email shared with the Inquirer, Mr Shaheed wrote that Sibley was killed “just because he was Black, gay and dancing”. Sibley had “wanted to make a life for himself in and through dance. Yet, his young life was snuffed out by bigotry and hatred,” Mr Shaheed wrote. He was living in an apartment in Strauss St, Brownsville, in Brooklyn, at the time of his death. Beckenbaur Hamilton, a neighbour and friend, told NBC 4 New York that he had texted Sibley on the morning he was killed out of concern for his safety. He described their neighborhood as “very homophobic.” “We have to live stifled,” he said. “We live here in a community where we have to pretend to be somebody else.” Sibley’s father Jake Kelly wrote on a GoFundme page that his son’s life had been cut “in his prime” because of his sexuality. “O'Shae not only was the glue to this family, he was a great dancer and performer for the majority of his life. His spirit lit up every room he stepped in,” Mr Kelly wrote. Philadanco has also set up a fundraising page to raise funds for Sibley’s family. Suspect arrested Dmitriy Popov, 17, allegedly went on the run for a week after the killing, before surrendering to detectives on Friday. Mr Popov has been arraigned as an adult on murder and hate crime charges and ordered to be held without bail during a court appearance on Monday 7 August. He had reportedly claimed he was Muslim during the deadly confrontation with Sibley and his friends over their shirtless “voguing” dance moves. Court records obtained by the New York Daily News allege Mr Popov said: “Stop dancing here... we are Muslim. Get that gay s*** out of here.” Mr Pollard told The Independent that his client denied making any racist or homophobic statements. “I have met his family, he has Black family members. I’ve met his friends, he has Black friends. He denies hate being a part of anything regarding this.” Mr Popov’s grandmother said outside court that he acted in self-defence, while his mother read a statement expressing sympathy for the Sibley family. “My heart goes out to the family of Mr Sibley,” she said, according to the Daily News. She said her son was a “good boy” and regular churchgoer. ‘Gay joy is not a crime’ There was anger, grief and despair among Sibley’s friends and fellow students in tributes posted to social media. Beyoncé paid tribute to the dancer in a statement on her website, writing simply: “Rest in power O’Shae Sibley.” In a statement to Advocate, LGBT+ advocacy non-profit GLAAD said the shocking murder followed a “disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the US”. “This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves. Politicians spewing lies and proposing policies filled with disinformation, and media repeating their false and dangerous rhetoric unchallenged, are creating an incredibly hostile environment that endangers all LGBT+ people and all queer people of colour.” Sibley’s dance studio, the Ailey Extension, said in a statement that he was a “cherished and devoted student”. “He had incredible energy in the studio and was loved by instructors and fellow classmates.” New York state senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he was “heartbroken and enraged” to learn about Sibley’s death in a post on social media. “Despite homophobes’ best efforts, gay joy is not a crime. Hate-fueled attacks are,” the senator tweeted. A memorial for Sibley is being held at the LGBT Community Center on West 13th St on Saturday 5 August. What is voguing? Voguing is a modern style of house dancing that evolved from the Harlem ballroom dance scene, and was predominantly performed by LGBT+ Black and hispanic men as an imitation of fashion models. Voguing was named after the fashion bible Vogue, and is characterised by exaggerated poses, angular movements and fluid transitions. It first gained mainstream attention after the release of Madonna’s Vogue 1990 music video and the documentary Paris Is Burning. The film focused on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, and won a Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. Willi Ninja, the “Godfather of voguing”, was honoured by Google with a “doodle” logo on its homepage on 9 June, which featured several performers recreating his iconic dancing style. Read More Teen accused of stabbing O’Shae Sibley in homophobic attack is a ‘good Christian boy’, lawyer says Beyoncé honours dancer who was fatally stabbed while dancing to her music: ‘Rest in power’ Gay man is fatally stabbed while dancing to Beyoncé at Brooklyn gas station Teen suspect charged with murder as a hate crime in O’Shae Sibley stabbing at Brooklyn gas station

A teenager accused of fatally stabbing Black dancer O’Shae Sibley in an alleged racist and homophobic attack was described by his lawyer as a “good Christian boy”. Dmitriy Popov, 17, had reportedly claimed he was Muslim during a deadly confrontation with Sibley and his friends over their shirtless “voguing” dance moves at a Mobil gas station in Brooklyn on 29 July. Mr Popov has been arraigned as an adult on murder and hate crime charges and ordered to be held without bail after allegedly going on the run for a week after the killing. Mr Popov’s lawyer Mark Pollard told The Independent in an interview on Tuesday that his client was a “good Christian boy” who regularly attended church. “I have no idea where that came from. I just know he’s not Muslim. It’s very strange,” Mr Pollard told The Independent. According to the NYPD, Sibley, 28, and a group of friends had pulled in to the Coney Island gas station’s forecourt at about 11pm on 29 July and began “voguing” to Beyoncé’s Renaissance album. Mr Popov and his friends were captured on surveillance coming out of the station’s convenience store and demanded the men stop dancing because it offended their faith, NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny told a press conference on Saturday. “As the group began to yell at Mr Sibley and his friends, they began to call them derogatory names and used homophobic slurs against him,” NYPD Assistant Chief Joe Kenny said at a press conference Saturday. “They also made anti-Black statements, all while demanding that they simply stop dancing.” Court records obtained by the New York Daily News allege Mr Popov said: “Stop dancing here... we are Muslim. Get that gay s*** out of here.” As the confrontation continued, Sibley followed Mr Popov around the back of an SUV and was allegedly stabbed once in the chest. He died in hospital a short time later. At a court appearance on Monday, Assistant District Attorney Sarah Jafari said that Mr Popov had shaved his hair and turned off his phone in an attempt to evade capture, the Daily News reported. He surrendered to detectives on Friday and has pleaded not guilty. Mr Pollard told The Independent that his client denied making any racist or homophobic statements. “I have met his family, he has Black family members. I’ve met his friends, he has Black friends. He denies hate being a part of anything regarding this.” Mr Popov’s grandmother said outside court that he acted in self-defence, while his mother read a statement expressing sympathy for the Sibley family. “My heart goes out to the family of Mr Sibley,” she said, according to the Daily News. She said her son was a “good boy” and regular churchgoer. A funeral for Sibley is due to be held in his home city of Philadelphia on Tuesday. Sibley attended the Philanco dance academy in the city before moving to New York about three years ago to further his dream of becoming a professional dancer. Friends and LGBT+ community members gathered at events across New York over the weekend to mark Sibley’s death. Voguing is a form of house dancing that emerged from the ballroom scene in Harlem, and has been popularised by the LGBT+ community. Read More Teen suspect charged with murder as a hate crime in O’Shae Sibley stabbing at Brooklyn gas station O’Shae Sibley was stabbed to death for the crime of being ‘Black, gay and dancing’ A dancer is fatally stabbed after a confrontation in New York, prompting a tribute from Beyoncé

Rex Heuermann’s two adult children are now living in a “surreal, waking horror show” following his shock arrest for the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings, according to their attorney. Victoria Heuermann, 26, and Christopher Sheridan, 33, still lived at home with their parents when investigators arrested their 59-year-old father on suspicion of at least three murders that rocked Long Island over a decade ago. Mr Heuermann, a professional architect, was charged with the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Costello last month. He is also the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes – who was last seen alive in early June 2007 in New York City and who, together with the three other women, is known as the “Gilgo Four”. All four women worked as sex workers and disappeared after going to meet a client. Their remains were found in December 2010 within one-quarter mile of each other, bound by belts or tape and some wrapped in burlap – all dumped along Gilgo Beach. They were among 11 victims found in the area – some of whom are yet to be identified – which sparked fears of one or more serial killers on the loose. Mr Heuermann has claimed his innocence of the murders which investigators believe may have taken place inside the one-storey home in Massapequa Park that he shared with his wife of two decades Asa Ellerup, their daughter Victoria and his stepson Christopher. Since his arrest, search teams have combed every inch of the family home looking for clues about the killings or any potential trophies taken from the victims by the accused serial killer. Victoria, who worked at her father’s Manhattan-based architecture firm up until his arrest, and Christopher, who has developmental disabilities, have now been left to deal with the aftermath of their father’s alleged actions and the fallout from the high-profile case. Their attorney Vess Mitev, of Mitev Law Firm, told Fox News Digital that the siblings have found themselves thrust into the “developing legal case of the century” and are trying to claw back “some basic sense of normalcy”. “They’re constantly... having to reevaluate what is happening to them, almost in real-time,” he said. Mr Mitev said that a major concern for them is the state that their home was left in following a 12-day search by authorities. Images of the aftermath show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere inside the property. “Obviously, the deplorable conditions that their house was left in – torn apart from the floorboards to the shingles, basically, is their paramount concern,” he said. “[They’re] trying to regain some basic sense of normalcy, which is completely impossible at this point. “They’re living in a surreal, waking horror show.” Mr Mitev said that the two children had hired his services to protect their own “rights and liberties” as their role in their father’s murder case “has yet to be determined”. “Their rights and liberties have to be protected. And that investigation … is now heating up with the DA handing over troves of documents last week, and ... the leads the DA may be pursuing, whatever they may be, at some point may intertwine … with the rights and remedies that my clients have and enjoy under the Constitution and under the laws of New York,” he said. At this point, they want to hold onto “whatever minimum degree” of privacy they can, he said – adding that this is something that has been “completely eroded under the harsh glare of the spotlight”. The comments on behalf of Victoria and Christopher come after their mother broke her silence in her first interview last week where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror. “I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering ... anxiety,” she told The New York Post. “My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.” Ms Ellerup filed for divorce just days after his arrest but her attorney has confirmed that she has had some contact with her husband. She found support from a somewhat unlikely source as Melissa Moore – the daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer – launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her “start her new life”. “Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she wrote in the GoFundMe, which had topped $38,000 as of Tuesday morning. Ms Ellerup, Victoria and Christopher were all out of town at the time of the three murders and investigators are allegedly probing whether Mr Heuermann brought the victims to the family home. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said that a “massive amount of evidence” had been recovered from the property as part of the investigation. Court records show that Mr Heuermann was linked to the “Gilgo Four” murders through a tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, “sadistic” online searches, phone calls taunting victims’ families, his wife’s hair found on the victims’ bodies – and a pizza crust. The first piece of the puzzle came when a witness in the Amber Costello case revealed details about a vehicle that a client was driving when she was last seen alive. Costello was seen alive on the evening of 2 September 2010 when she left her home in West Babylon. A witness said she had gone to meet a client who was driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche. Last year, a registration search showed that local man Mr Heuermann owned a first-generation model of the truck at the time of Costello’s disappearance. He also matched the witness’ description of the man believed to be the killer: a large, white “ogre”-like male in his mid-40s, around 6’4’ to 6’6” tall, with “dark bushy hair,” and “big oval style 1970’s type eyeglasses”. The discovery of the car led investigators to home in on Mr Heuermann, including executing 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence to determine his potential involvement in the killings. Among this was Mr Heuermann’s alleged use of burner phones, with prosecutors saying that he used burner phones to contact the three women and arrange to meet them at the time when they went missing. He also allegedly took two of the victims’ cellphones – and used one to make taunting phone calls to one of their families where he boasted about her murder, court documents state. Mr Heuermann’s DNA was found on one of the victims, while his wife’s hair was found on three of the four women he is connected to. His arrest comes after the horrific serial killer case has captured the nation’s attention for more than a decade. The Gilgo Beach murders had long stumped law enforcement officials in Suffolk County who believed it could be the work of one or more serial killers who targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies along the remote beaches on Ocean Parkway. The case began in May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot near Gilgo Beach. She called 911 for help saying she feared for her life and was never seen alive again. During a search for Gilbert in dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered the remains of another woman. Within a matter of days, the remains of three more victims were found close by. By spring 2011, the remains of a total of 10 victims had been found including eight women, a man, and a toddler. Police have long thought that it could be the work of one or more serial killers. Gilbert’s body was then found in December 2011. Her cause of death is widely contested with authorities long claiming that it is not connected to the serial killer or killers but that she died from accidental drowning as she fled from the client’s home. However, an independent autopsy commissioned by her family ruled that she died by strangulation and her mother believes she was murdered. Like Gilbert, most of the victims targeted were sex workers, while some are yet to be identified. Read More Gilgo Beach murders victim Karen Vergata’s final phone call revealed More families await answers in Gilgo Beach killings – and the names of other victims How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard