Month: September 2025

By WDJT News Staff

Click here for updates on this story

    RACINE, Wisconsin (WDJT) — A small plane crashed into Lake Michigan, approximately 12 miles off the coast of Racine Thursday afternoon, Sept. 11.

According to Mitchell International Airport, the Cirrus SR22 aircraft left MKE heading to Michigan around 12:17 p.m. and encountered a problem in flight. The plane ended up in Lake Michigan, about 20 miles east of Bender Park, around 12:37 p.m.

Three people were recovered from the crash, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

A Traverse City helicopter and a U.S. Coast Guard boat helped with the recovery.

The Racine Police Department is responding to the scene.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Gino Recchia

Click here for updates on this story

    GREENFIELD, Wisconsin (WISN) — A new mosquito species is showing up in Wisconsin, raising concerns about its potential impact.

The Asian tiger mosquito, originally from Asia, was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2017. Since then, it has been concentrated in small population pockets near Madison and Milwaukee, according to Nick Dowdy of the Milwaukee Public Museum.

“They’re called that because they have this sort of black and white stripes on their body, not because they’re particularly dangerous more so than any other mosquito. However, they can vector diseases like West Nile as well as Zika,” Dowdy said.

Dowdy explained that Wisconsin’s winters may be one of the best defenses against the invasive insect.

“There’s some recent evidence that they can’t survive the winter very well in Wisconsin. So the populations are probably dying off each year and then sort of getting reintroduced through things like trade and commerce,” he said.

While tiger mosquitoes may not stick around the whole year, experts say there is one simple step homeowners can take to reduce their presence.

“One of the things that you can do to sort of limit the amount of mosquitoes in your yard, for example, is to reduce standing water,” Dowdy said.

Dowdy added that while most tiger mosquito eggs cannot survive Wisconsin winters, some may make it through in warmer places such as city sewers or underground.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Caitlin Ashbaugh

Click here for updates on this story

    STARTEX, South Carolina (WYFF) — The body of a woman, known in the Spartanburg County community as “Ms. Startex,” has been identified after years of inconclusive investigation.

The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office and Sheriff’s Office announced on Wednesday they positively identified a Jane Doe as Jolene Lynn White, formerly of Cowpens. The match was reported to Investigator Rick Ellis, who was among the main deputies working the case from the beginning, on Aug. 27 of this year.

Investigators determined White disappeared between 2003 and 2005. Before this disappearance, it was reported she went missing another time by law enforcement.

“I was there the day we recovered her in 2011 in Startex. It’s a personal touch for me. It’s something that, as cold case people, we look for that final day,” Ellis said. “She (her mother) even after that period of time, had a hope that her daughter was going to come walking in the door. We always speak for those who can’t speak for themselves. That’s what we do. So from that aspect, I was able to bring her to the closure.”

A body was found on October 26, 2011, along South Main Street in Startex by teenagers looking for scrap metal, according to investigators. At the time, she was determined a Jane Doe, “Ms. Startex.”

Skeletal remains were submitted to Forensic Anthropologist Suzanne Able to assist with identification and possible cause of death. During the examination, investigators determined the person was a white woman between the ages of 40 and 55. At the time, the case was then ruled a homicide based on evidence from the Coroner’s Office.

Numerous attempts were made by news stories, public posters, and forensic images to determine how the person looked. DNA profiles were generated and entered into a national database for years without success.

In 2020, Ellis looked into developments in Genealogy science, consulting with the D.N.A.Doe Project to help match profiles with possibly known family members on FamilyTreeDNA.

In April 2025, a new match was entered into the database, which investigators said was a close match. From there, investigators conducted interviews to narrow the search for a potential daughter of the person who passed away. A DNA sample was submitted to the University of North Texas for familial comparison, and a positive match for White was reported to Ellis on Aug. 27.

“It’s a personal touch for me. It, it’s something that, as cold case people, we look for that final day,” Ellis said.

“He prays about this a lot, to bring these people to a positive conclusion of who they actually are and be able to return them to their families,” Coroner Rusty Clevenger said.

D.N.A.Doe Project’s Rebecca Somerholder said White had matches for Puerto Rican descent, and her mother in the United States was her adoptive parent, making the search difficult.

“Our team included numerous support staff and ten volunteer genetic genealogists who spent more than four and a half years, painstakingly researching this case,” Somerholder said. “Today, she is no longer Miss Startex. We can say her name.”

Clevenger said without them helping to investigate the case and providing the funds, White may have never been identified. He describes the 501(c)3 program as one in desperate need of funding, especially for smaller departments like in Spartanburg County.

White’s case continues to be investigated and ruled as a homicide. Investigators are unable to provide a cause of death or motive as they continue to search for a suspect.

The Coroner’s Office said it has identified several other missing persons cases like White’s under Ellis’ time as an investigator. Investigators continue to look into the cases of three unidentified people, who go back to as far as 2016.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.