Tag: texas

‘It was a heinous act’: Police now believe missing pregnant teen and boyfriend were executed and dumped at location where bodies were found 

Police have revealed new details regarding Savanah Nicole Soto, the pregnant 18-year-old in Texas who was reported missing last week when she failed to show up at the hospital to be induced and was later found dead in a car alongside her 22-year-old boyfriend, Matthew Guerra.

San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus on Thursday gave a press conference during which he confirmed that Soto and Guerra’s bodies were both found inside the couple’s gray Kia sedan and both victims died from fatal gunshot wounds. Their unborn baby was also pronounced dead at the scene.

“Clearly, it was a heinous act,” McManus said. “It was unspeakable, the tragedy of it.”

Soto was last seen alive on Friday, Dec. 22 at the apartment complex where she and Guerra both lived. She had been scheduled to go to the hospital the following evening with her mother to be induced, but never made it to the appointment. Her family then reported her missing and a CLEAR alert was issued.

Soto and Guerra’s bodies were found in the vehicle located in the 5900 block of Danny Kaye Drive on Tuesday, with police saying that the car appeared to have been at that location for several days.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the cause of death for Guerra was a gunshot wound to the head. While authorities said that the manner of Guerra’s death has not been officially determined, McManus said that both deaths are being investigated as capital murder. He later clarified that investigators currently do not believe it was a murder-suicide, but noted that the possibility still “exists.”

In response to a question from a reporter, McManus further explained that investigators currently believe Soto and Guerra were killed at a different location and then driven to the area where their bodies were later discovered.

Keep reading

Alleged Hate Crime Victim in Texas Charged with Burning Down His Own House

A Texas man who claimed his house was sprayed with racist graffiti is now facing charges of burning down his own home. Two men, including a family member, reportedly died in the fire, and another person was seriously injured.

A San Jacinto County grand jury returned a true bill indictment against Waterwood resident Mario Roberson, Sheriff Greg Capers told Breitbart Texas on Tuesday. The grand jury charged Roberson with Felony Arson after an investigation by the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office into a June 10 fire that left two people dead and another seriously injured.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told Breitbart Texas that a warrant for Roberson’s arrest has not yet been issued. “We can’t do anything until we have a warrant for his arrest,” Capers explained. “The best thing Roberson can do would be to turn himself in.”

Roberson claimed earlier this year that his home was sprayed with graffiti that included racial slurs, KTRK ABC 13 reported.

Keep reading

Uvalde mass shooter’s ‘ex-girlfriend’, 19, is arrested for making sick threats against community – including planning to shoot up schools, bomb hospitals and kill public officials

The self-proclaimed ‘ex-girlfriend’ of Uvalde mass shooter Salvador Ramos has been arrested for making threats against the community – including planning to shoot up schools and bomb hospitals.

Victoria Gabriela Rodríguez-Morales, 19, is charged with 13 counts of making interstate threats between May and October 2023.

The sick taunts were aimed at schools, hospitals and law enforcement in the Texas town of Uvalde – the site of a devastating mass shooting by Ramos. 

Ramos, 18, shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022 and injured 17 before he was killed by police.

Many of Rodríguez-Morales’ alleged threats reference the shooting, including calling the victims ‘little losers’ who ‘deserved those bullets’ per an FBI indictment.

Keep reading

Texas Synagogue Arsonist Who Confessed to Crime in His Journal Sentenced For Hate Crime Charges

A Texas man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $470,000 in restitution for a hate crime and arson in which he set fire to the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31, 2021.

Franklin Sechriest, 19, of San Marcos, pleaded guilty to a hate crime and arson charges on April 7. Sechriest admitted that he targeted the synagogue because of his hatred of Jews, and journals recovered from the defendant were replete with virulent antisemitic statements and views. Sechriest also possessed several decals and stickers expressing antisemitic messages.

“This defendant is being held accountable for this depraved, antisemitic attack on Congregation Beth Israel, a community with a rich history and heritage that dates back to 1876,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This hate-filled act of violence against a house of worship was an attempt to sow fear in the Jewish community and was intended to intimidate its congregants. Attacks targeting Jewish people and arsons aimed at desecrating synagogues have no place in our society today, and the Justice Department will continue to aggressively prosecute antisemitic violence.”

“No one should have to fear that their daily lives will be inflicted by hate-fueled violence, or that their place of worship and community could become a target of hate,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas. “We stand firmly committed to those impacted by this arson, and my office will continue to combat criminal acts of hate while seeking justice for the victims.”

“Hate crimes have the power to devastate and terrorize entire communities. To target a place of worship, a space meant to be a sanctuary in every sense of the word, is one of the most heinous acts that can be committed,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson of the FBI San Antonio Field Office. “We remain dedicated to investigating hate crimes and will continue to work relentlessly to hold responsible those who would commit violent acts based on hate.”

Keep reading

Texas School District Removes Convicted Prostitute From Multiple Roles, Including Sex-Ed

The Godley, Texas, school district removed a woman appointed to assist with deciding things like age-appropriate material for sex education after learning she was a convicted prostitute.

FOX 4 in Dallas reported that the woman, identified as Ashley Ketcherside, also advertises online as an escort, with one site listing one of her personas as active last month.

While the idea of having a convicted prostitute work for a school district may have some scratching their heads, the issue raises concerns for others about background checks in the Godley Independent School District (ISD) and across the state.

“We had no idea what was going on in her personal life. She was always very friendly and personable,” Godley ISD School Board trustee Kayla Lain told the station.

Mary Lowe of the nonprofit group Families Engaged for Effective Education commented on Ketcherside being a convicted prostitute and working on a council that recommends “appropriate grade levels and methods for human sexuality instruction” within the district.

“I don’t see any community wanting that to be the standard for their school district,” she said.

Keep reading

Texas Journalist’s Home Repeatedly Visited by ‘Corrupt’ FBI for Exposing Possible Hamas Training Camp Near US-Mexico Border – FBI Demands In-Person Meeting to Disclose ‘Sources’ 

The sanctity of a free press and the protection of journalistic sources have come under direct fire in the Lone Star State, according to Sarah Fields, Director of Advocacy for the Texas Freedom Coalition and a reporter for The Publica, after exposing the possible existence of a Hamas training camp near the US-Mexico border.

Fields recently made public a harrowing account of ‘corrupt’ FBI agents arriving unannounced at her doorstep—not once, but twice—in a brazen attempt to intimidate and extract information about her confidential sources.

It began on October 17th when, according to Fields, FBI agents appeared at her doorstep while she was away. She recounts that the agents later contacted her, insisting on a private meeting at their local office to discuss her reporting—particularly stories related to war and the border. Fields, true to the ethos of journalistic integrity, refused.

“It became harassment after I didn’t show up to their private meeting,” said Fields.

Keep reading

Texas GOP city council candidate arrested for child porn just hours before election

A candidate for a Texas city council seat has been charged with two counts of child pornography — and he was arrested just hours before the election, Newsweek reported.

Brad Benson, who was running for Place #4 on the Granbury City Council, was arrested on Nov. 6. The Republican Party of Hood County withdrew its support for him shortly after.

“Crimes of this degree tear at the heart and soul of society, and we condemn them in the strongest terms,” an RPHC spokesperson said in a November 6 statement. “The Republican Party stands for the conservative, family values and the protection of children. These heinous acts are antithetical to what Republicans stand for.”

“The executive committee has conferred, spoken with law enforcement, confirmed more substantial information, and unanimously withdraws their support for Mr. Benson,” the statement added. “It is time for the justice system to act if Mr. Benson is proven guilty, the punishment needs to be swift and severe.”

Keep reading

Defenders of the Florida and Texas Social Media Laws Contradict Themselves

Social media companies argue that their content moderation decisions are a form of editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment. Conservative critics of those companies reject that argument, even as they complain that the platforms’ decisions reflect a progressive agenda.

That contradiction is at the heart of two cases that the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear, which involve constitutional challenges to state laws that aim to correct the bias that Republicans perceive. Although supporters of those laws claim they are defending freedom of speech, that argument hinges on a dangerous conflation of state and private action.

The 2021 Florida law at issue in Moody v. NetChoice requires social media platforms to host speech by any “candidate for office,” even when it violates their content rules. The law also says platforms may not limit the visibility of material “by or about” a political candidate and may not “censor, deplatform, or shadow ban a journalistic enterprise based on the content of its publication or broadcast.”

The law does not cover relatively small, right-leaning platforms such as Gab, Parler, Rumble, and Truth Social. It applies only to the largest platforms, such as Twitter (now X), Facebook, and YouTube, which Republicans have long accused of discriminating against conservative speech.

Florida politicians made it clear that they were trying to address that perceived imbalance. The bill’s legislative findings, which complain that Facebook et al. have “unfairly censored, shadow banned, deplatformed, and applied post-prioritization algorithms,” assert that the state has a “substantial interest in protecting its residents from inconsistent and unfair actions” by those platforms.

Keep reading

Texas Anti-Abortion Crusader Demands Abortion Patient Information In Court

THE NOTORIOUS FAR-RIGHT attorney who helped craft Texas’s bounty-hunter abortion ban, Senate Bill 8, is now attempting to force abortion funds to hand over reams of information on every abortion the organizations have supported since 2021. This includes the city and state where each patient lived, the names of the abortion providers, and the identities of nearly every person who helped the patients access abortion care.

Earlier this month, Jonathan Mitchell — himself not a Texan but based in Washington state — served requests to nine Texas abortion funds and one Texas doctor. The brazen attempt to acquire sensitive information about abortion patients and the funds that assist them is a disturbing turn in the ongoing legal battle over Texas’s six-week abortion ban.

In August of last year, a coalition of abortion funds and doctors filed a class action lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other state officials. The suit, Fund Texas Choice v. Paxton, aims to challenge Senate Bill 8, or S.B. 8, and its devious method of civil enforcement to evade federal court scrutiny. In response, Mitchell, on behalf of the Texas government, is using the legal discovery process to harass those defending reproductive freedoms.

Keep reading

15 Years Ago, UFO Sightings Rocked a Small Texas Town. The Mystery Remains.

Stephenville is often referred to by locals as the “milk capital of the world.” But after the events of January 2008, the Texas town of Stephenville became known for something otherworldly.

In “Messengers”, the first episode of VICE Studios and Netflix’s new series Encounters, residents of Stephenville and the surrounding area recount seeing something strange in the sky. One witness called it an orb, another referred to it as a flying Dorito—yes, as in the three-sided tortilla chip.

But even with such wild descriptions, the so-called Stephenville Lights is considered one of the most credible UFO sightings in modern times.

It began when Steve Allen and a couple friends were enjoying a few beers by a campfire one night and something caught their eye.

“All of a sudden I see some real bright, high intensity light off to the east, headed our way at a high velocity of speed. The lights was so bright it was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was almost blinding to look at them,” said Allen. “Then what amazed me is there was no wind noise, no engine noise. There was silence. When it came past us, I developed the most peaceful, easy feeling I think I’ve ever had in my life. It was almost like a religious experience, like I was at one with whatever it was. Something I’ve never had before or since then. It was unreal.”

Then just as quickly as it arrived, it disappeared. A few seconds later, Allen claimed that two F-16 jets “came in hot pursuit.”

“And in my head I’m wondering, is it War of the Worlds? What was going on?” Allen said.

A few miles west, local police constable Lee Roy Gaitan was on his way to rent a movie for his wife’s birthday when “something caught my attention,” he said.

“I saw what appeared, I call it a bubble, or an orb, it was a reddish orange, fiery looking color, really big,” said Gaitan. “It was these bright lights, flashing, like a pulsating thing, like that. They had spread out. There was 11 or 12 lights that I was able to count. All of a sudden, these things just shoot off at a blazing speed.”

Shortly after, he too saw fighter jets, he said. “They were flying in the same direction, the same path, as these lights.“

The sightings in Stephenville quickly became the talk of the town, and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a U.S.-based non-profit dedicated to the research of UFOs around the world, came to investigate the sighting. The group invited people who had seen something to come and tell them their stories, expecting a handful of people. Instead, dozens of other witnesses appeared, claiming to have also seen odd things in the sky around Stephenville. Soon, TV crews from Japan to Brazil were descending on the town.

Keep reading