Author: CNN Newsource

By Darius Johnson, Shardaa Gray, Sara Tenenbaum

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    PORTAGE, Indiana (WBBM) — The woman who was killed in a Portage, Indiana, house explosion during severe storms Tuesday has been identified.

Aerial footage of the home in the 6600 block of Harrison showed it had been completely destroyed, with debris scattered around the smoking ruins. The explosion hit and damaged neighbors’ homes and sent debris down the street. First responders had trouble getting to the scene because of downed trees from the earlier storms.

Neighbors told CBS News Chicago an elderly couple had lived in the home for at least 30 years. The husband, they said, had gone to the doctor before the storms hit Tuesday and asked his wife if she wanted to go, but she decided to stay home.

Wednesday morning, family identified the woman as 86-year-old Leona Rice. Her husband and sons were at the home this morning, laying keepsakes on the doorstep, but did not want to speak.

Now all that’s left of the home is the foundation and the stairs that once led to the front door.

Neighbors said when Rice’s husband returned from his doctor’s appointment Tuesday, the home was reduced to rubble and his wife’s body was still inside.

“I got out there, I put my arms around him, and I said come with me, come sit down,” said neighbor Shirley Golob.

“It’s just a sad situation that that had to happen like that,” said neighbor Margaret Clark.

CBS News Chicago First Alert meteorologists believe the home was hit by hurricane-force straight-line winds going 100-1110 mph, the same force as an EF-1 tornado or a Category 2 hurricane.

“Tragedy really. I mean seeing the house down the block blew up and just the destruction everywhere is terrible,” said neighbor Desmond Lord.

Lord lives down the block from the couple. He said his daughter narrowly avoided her own tragedy during the storms as her call stalled when she was pulling out of the driveway, shortly before a massive tree branch fell on it.

“She decided to come back in the house when the storm got bad. Right when she reached the door, tree fell. So she was very lucky. Very lucky. God was in her hands,” he said.

A few houses down, a massive tree also fell on Posey Jacobs’ car.

“I usually park there. I had work at 1, so I was like, getting dressed honestly and ready to go. I’ve been needing to work, so I’m kind of sad,” she said.

Neighbors have come together to pick up the pieces of their community and hope to be spared by the next storm.

“We can recover. God’s will, we will recover. But there’s just a lot of work that needs to get done,” Clark said. “But we will get through it and we will make sure that everybody is fine.”

Neighbors said they smelled gas throughout the community after the explosion Tuesday.

Multiple gas leaks have been reported throughout Portage and other parts of Northwest Indiana that were devastated by the storms, and NIPSCO said it is working to keep them under control and restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers.

City officials said the cause of the house explosion remains under investigation.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Jennifer Mayerle

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — A Twin Cities metro mother blames the Minneapolis VA Medical Center for her son’s suicide.

Marine veteran Allen Giller died less than four hours after leaving the Medical Center in 2022. His mother has filed a federal civil lawsuit. According to court documents, the VA denies the allegations.

Deb Giller recalls his final moments with Senior Investigative Reporter Jennifer Mayerle. We want to warn you it includes discussions of suicide.

“He rests here with me. I start my day and end my day here, praying over him and holding him,” Deb Giller said, standing by her son’s ashes.

The corner of Deb Giller’s home holds so much meaning with her late son, Allen. His presence is felt throughout her place.

“Allen was free-spirited. Always wanted to be a Marine and was in camo by the time he was four,” Deb Giller said.

The 27-year-old Marine Corps veteran served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Allen Giller’s family says he received several commendations before he was honorably discharged. They say it was only after that, he was diagnosed with mental illness.

“PTSD, bipolar tendencies, so high highs and low lows,” Deb Giller said.

The diagnosis was the beginning of a run of hospitalizations and mental health holds.

Medical records show Allen Giller went back to the Minneapolis VA Medical Center one day after being discharged from a 72-hour hold. He was asking for help. That was on March 17, 2022.

“And I’ve been on a loop since he died of having to relive that day over and over and over again,” Deb Giller said.

According to medical records, soon after being admitted Allen Giller wanted to leave. Records show a psychiatrist had to sign off, and “the patient was discharged to his mother’s care as requested on 17 March with follow-up in place.”

“I was just being a mom. They should have kept him. If the computers could have talked to each other, if somebody could have made a call from the ER to the floor. Who knows what would have happened? I think my son would still be alive,” Deb Giller said.

According to a police report, Deb Giller says Allen Giller “seemed to quickly switch attitudes” on the way home. The report shows she made a 911 call for “an adult son who is manic” saying “she was worried he could get hit by a vehicle” after he ran away and into traffic. Police notes say “I did not see anything that would lead me to believe that the male was a threat to himself or others” and “we did not have enough to place the male on a health and welfare hold.”

After police left, Deb Giller was driving her son back to the Minneapolis VA Medical Center when she said he kept trying to get out of her car.

“I was begging him, begging him and at some point, he just took off his hat and opened the door and rolled out in traffic on 94. I pulled over, and I was getting out and screaming. And he jumped up on the overpass, saluted and then he was gone. And I was just screaming, ‘Jesus, help me, please, help me, please, help me.’ I can’t do anything different because it’s over, I can’t unsee what happened. But a part of me died that day as well,” Deb Giller said.

Attorney Peter Bertling is suing the United States government on behalf of the Giller family for wrongful death.

“I brought this lawsuit because this is a death by suicide that could have been prevented,” Bertling said.

The lawsuit filed in 2024 reads “Allen should never have been discharged … because he was mentally unstable; had attempted suicide earlier that morning; was a danger to himself and others; and at high risk for suicide.”

“If the physicians and health care providers at the Minneapolis VA would have followed their own policies and procedures, their own mandatory suicide prevention training, Allen Giller would probably still be with us here today. But they didn’t. They failed him, they failed his family, and they failed the system,” Bertling said.

A VA spokesperson told WCCO: “VA does not comment on pending litigation.”

WCCO reviewed the VA’s Suicide Prevention Program Bertling provided, which was in place at the time of Allen Giller’s hospitalization. Medical records show at least one suicide risk assessment was done by a psychiatry resident. Allen Giller was found to be low risk. She noted Allen Giller should be admitted for stabilization and safety, and if he didn’t voluntarily stay, he may need to be placed on a hold.

WCCO did not find a full assessment on March 17, 2022, from the staff psychiatrist who discharged him.

“The psychiatrist didn’t do a proper suicide risk analysis as he was trained to do before he let Allen leave the VA that day. That morning Allen came to the VA and he said, ‘I need help.’ He agreed to be voluntarily admitted to the VA, and then somebody who was not in his right mind changed his mind and they let him go,” Bertling said.

Allen Giller’s family has stayed close, saying they are forever changed by the loss. They share their grief because they want to prevent another family from feeling their pain.

“He was just a baby, 27 years old. And I brought him into this world, and I was there when he left this world,” Deb Giller said.

While the VA wouldn’t comment, WCCO found it denied the allegations in court documents. A judge denied the request to dismiss the case. A settlement conference is scheduled for Wednesday.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Adam Thompson, Tara Lynch

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    BALTIMORE, Maryland (WJZ) — A man accused of urinating on people during a Morgan Wallen concert in Baltimore last month now faces assault charges.

Jayson Reed, 33, is facing four counts of second-degree assault, public urination and other related offenses. After an arrest warrant for indecent exposure was issued Tuesday, Reed was taken into custody in Wilson County, North Carolina, where he is being held without bail pending extradition to Maryland.

Maryland Transportation Authority Police said officers responded to a report of a fight at the show at M&T Bank Stadium on July 18. Concertgoers told police that a man had urinated on them while they were sitting in their seats during the performance.

Police identified a man and escorted him out of the stadium. After investigating and speaking with witnesses, MDTA Police detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Reed.

Troy Grevelding told CBS News Baltimore that he and his family traveled from Syracuse, New York, to attend the concert. He said that after Wallen took the stage, he and his wife felt something dripping on their legs. Grevelding said they looked behind them and saw a man they did not know urinating in the stands.

“I just look, and at that point his pants are completely down. He’s urinating all over myself … all over my wife,” Grevelding said. He said his two nieces, one of them an 8-year-old girl, were also urinated on.

“I’m freaking out, and the guy’s just telling me, ‘It’s OK, man. It’s OK, brother,'” Grevelding said. He posted a series of videos about the incident on Facebook, which went viral. He said he tried to push the man away from his family and told him to stop.

Grevelding told CBS News Baltimore Thursday he was aware of Reed’s arrest, but added he was frustrated that Reed wasn’t taken ito custody last month at the concert.

At the time, MDTA Police said in a statement that they were aware of the video and were investigating.

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By Tammy Mutasa

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A man was stabbed to death on an escalator in Boston’s South Station Wednesday event, and police are seeking the public’s help to find the attacker.

Transit Police responded to a report of a fight in the Red Line station at about 5:30 p.m. A man was found suffering from at least one stab wound. He was rushed to a local hospital where he died.

“At this time, the preliminary investigation indicates that there was an altercation between the victim and another male on the escalator leaving South Station,” said Boston Police Superintendent Paul McLaughlin.

No arrests have been made. McLaughlin asked anyone who witnessed the stabbing to contact police. He said detectives are working to talk to witnesses and gather video evidence.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office is assisting in the investigation.

“There’s obviously, given the time of day, a number of witnesses, so anyone who knows anything about what may have happened … either before, during or after this altercation, we need you to contact the Boston Police Department,” District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.

State Senator Nick Collins said the stabbing during rush hour is “very tragic and alarming.”

“We know that the police are involved right now in a thorough investigation,” Collins said. “They have strong surveillance of what transpired and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and their family.”

Collins believes it is an isolated incident and said the transit system is safe.

No other information has been released.

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By Mike Toole, Logan Hall

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A man described as “very dangerous” by Massachusetts State Police was captured Wednesday after a wild chase on Interstate 93 in the Boston area during the morning rush hour.

Troopers were looking for an armed man who they say was holding a pregnant woman hostage in a car when they spotted them around 7 a.m. in an Infiniti SUV on the northbound side of the Southeast Expressway in Quincy.

Video from the incident showed the car smashing into vehicles while weaving through traffic as it was followed by several troopers heading toward Milton.

“A James Bond movie” “It was like something out of a James Bond movie,” said Kristen Eck, the traffic reporter for WBZ NewsRadio 1030. Eck recorded the chase on a video camera attached to a drone in the HOV lane.

“During the pursuit, the suspect vehicle crashed into 8 vehicles on Interstate 93 before the driver attempted to flee on foot by exit 11,” State Police spokesperson Sgt. Gregory Jones said in a statement.

“Troopers apprehended the suspect, facilitated medical care for the victim, who is a pregnant woman, and recovered a firearm from the suspect vehicle.”

State Police later identified the driver as 31-year-old Dominic Hampton-Boyd of Dorchester. He is expected to be arraigned on several charges in Quincy District Court as early as Thursday.

There’s no update yet on the woman’s condition.

“Never seen anything like that” “It was crazy. I’ve been covering traffic for WBZ Radio for 29 years and I’ve never seen anything like that as up close as I did this morning,” Eck told CBS News Boston.

“Normally you wouldn’t think that somebody would continue to try to escape through a traffic jam through morning rush hour traffic, but this person was very determined to get away.”

Traffic was backed up for miles after the crash.

No other information is available at this point in the investigation. It’s being handled by the Norfolk District Attorney’s office.

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By Erika Stanish

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    BUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh-area police department is warning about scammers after investigating several cases where residents have fallen victim.

The Buffalo Township Police Department told KDKA-TV that over the last several months, multiple elderly residents have lost nearly $100,000 to a scheme that is more sophisticated than investigators have ever seen before.

Police warn of sophisticated scheme Chief Timothy Derringer said scammers are contacting the victims, allegedly threatening them into sending a bulk amount of money in either cash or gift cards in packages at local postal offices.

“The scammers are able to hack into their phone, take control of their bank accounts,” Derringer said. “So it does look legit.”

Derringer said scammers are using different methods to target the victims, like pretending to be their bank or using scare tactics like saying their loved one is in jail, or using personal information about the victim to steal their money.

“A lot of times they don’t believe the police, they don’t believe the family members, they’re so coerced into what the scammer is telling them to do,” Derringer said. “They forget. It’s no fault of their own, but they forget. They think it’s a legit problem and they go and take multiple transactions of cash in order to fulfill that obligation, whatever the scammer is telling them to do. Once you send that money, you may as well throw it away because you’re not going to get it back.”

Derringer said in several cases, scammers have asked residents to send bulk amounts of cash through South Pike Postal on Mulone Drive in Buffalo Township. He said a scammer attempted to victimize the same woman twice.

“It was an elderly female,” Derringer said. “She wanted to ship another $30,000 in order to win 15 million.”

Store manager spots red flags Luckily, he said the store manager at South Pike Postal has been able to stop the victims from sending money, based on the red flags she sees when they walk into the store.

“I had one lady, she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m shipping out a coffee pot,'” Monica Placek, the store manager at South Pike Postal, said. “It’s $1 general coffee pot. To overnight it, it was over $500. I’m like, ‘something’s not right.’ So I’m allowed to open it because it’s my package now, so I open it up and I catch about 16 grand and a debit card in the coffee pot.”

Placek told KDKA-TV that the scammers had hacked the victim’s phone and were intercepting phone calls to the victim when police tried to intervene.

In another case, Placek said a woman was trying to mail $60,000 in cash.

“I was like, ‘I’m gonna open the box just to make sure it’s packed properly. I’m allowed to.’ She’s like, ‘No, don’t, don’t.’ I’m like, OK. And I’m like, ‘What are you shipping out?’ She’s like, ‘There’s $60,000 in there,'” Placek said.

Another man showed up to ship books to California, Placek said, and was willing to pay a hefty fee to overnight the package.

“I opened it up and there was $27,000 in cash,” Placek said. “It’s just red flags. Like, you know, don’t get me wrong, we ship out overnight. We ship out standard ground, everything. But the red flags to me is why are we shipping books overnight? Like, why are we spending $300 to ship something that isn’t even worth that much?”

Police invite residents to public discussion “If I can get anything out there, it’s please check with somebody prior to shipping anything anywhere,” Derringer said. “Contact 911 in your community, check with a family member, check with a friend, check with anybody before you ship any type of currency or money.”

Because of the recent uptick in scams, Buffalo Township Police are inviting the public to attend a public discussion on Saturday at Zion Methodist Church.

Officers, along with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, will be there to discuss scams, how to recognize scams, how to protect your information and how to avoid becoming a victim. Other topics during the discussion will include drug awareness and resources for the community. The event starts at 10 a.m. at 438 Bear Creek Road in Sarver.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Laura Fay, Joe Holden, Tom Gardiner, CBS News Philadelphia Staff

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Inside a house in Philadelphia’s Olney section, police have found evidence that at least two missing women have died, officials said Wednesday.

Police found more than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos and more than 10,000 pages of writings, manuscripts and drawings on various digital devices at the house in the 400 block of West Chew Avenue, Philadelphia Police Inspector Raymond Evers said during a press conference.

The house belongs to Eugene Horsch, 44. His father, Raymond Charles Horsch, also lived there before he died in 2025.

On the first hard drive, detectives found photos and videos shot inside the home in which two women — identified as Maribel Fresses and Gabrielle Amarando, both born in 1990 — appeared to be dead.

Investigators also found videos showing the women alive. The women’s bodies have not been located. Without the bodies, the medical examiner cannot issue a death certificate or determine the cause of death, Evers said, but investigators believe the women have died.

Police notified the women’s families Wednesday.

Fresses was last seen in February 2018, and Amarando has been missing since September 2012, Evers said.

Evers stressed this is a complex investigation that will take time to unfold. The materials detectives found are “graphic and dark,” he said. At this time, Evers said, detectives have gone through about 5% to 7% of the digital evidence found in the house.

The investigation began in June with a traffic stop near 6th and Market streets in Philadelphia. At that time, National Park police arrested Eugene Horsch, who was driving.

His passenger was carrying a fake ID with the name Blair Tonzelli, which matches the name of another missing woman.

Police recovered two illegal handguns, a fraudulent Drug Enforcement Administration badge with Eugene Horsch’s picture and thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs during that stop.

Investigators learned through the debriefing process that “we may never see [Blair Tonzelli] again,” Evers said.

At the house, police also found another fake federal badge with Eugene Horsch’s photo, an illegal gun, gun parts, five urns that they believe contain cremated remains and a marijuana growing operation worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Evers said.

More than 20 containers with unknown substances inside have been taken to a lab in Chicago for testing and analysis, Evers added.

A special investigative team from Philadelphia police is working with the FBI and other partners on this case. Police activity at the house will continue, Evers said. He also urged anyone who has information about Eugene Horsch and his father, the house or the case to contact police.

Melissa Fresses, Maribel’s sister, said she was devastated by the news. She said her family last heard from Maribel in 2018, when their father went to check on her in Kensington.

“I don’t know much information, so it just almost feels like it’s not real yet,” she said.

Law enforcement sources told CBS News Philadelphia they fear even more missing women could be connected to this house.

The Olney home is also the last known location of Amy McHale, who was previously married to Raymond Charles Horsch and disappeared in 2016.

Eugene Horsch has been behind bars since his arrest in June. CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to his attorney multiple times and has not heard back.

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By Ross DiMattei, Casey Kuhn

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    SEA ISLE CITY, New Jersey (KYW) — Nearly 30 small sharks found dead along a stretch of beach in Sea Isle City, New Jersey, are raising questions about what caused the animals to wash ashore.

Michelle Greenling said she counted 29 sharks during a Wednesday morning walk along the beach between 29th and 39th streets.

“The first couple weren’t too surprising, but when I saw three and four and five, I knew something was up,” Greenling said.

The sharks were roughly a foot long and appeared to be juvenile dogfish, according to Stephen Nagiewicz, an adjunct professor of marine science at Stockton University. Dogfish are known to travel in large schools.

Greenling said some of the sharks had red markings on their undersides, prompting concerns about what the deaths could mean for the water.

“It was definitely concerning. I was concerned about the water. I was concerned about the sharks,” she said.

Nagiewicz said a toxic substance in the water is unlikely to be the cause.

“If it were some kind of toxic substance in the water, more fish would show up on the beach than just the dogfish,” he said.

Instead, Nagiewicz said the sharks may have become trapped by changing tides and subsequently stranded themselves. Another possibility is that fishermen targeting other species accidentally caught the young sharks and discarded them offshore.

“It’s either they got stuck in the tides and beached themselves, or somebody dumped their catch offshore and came this way,” Nagiewicz said.

While finding nearly 30 sharks on the beach is unusual, Nagiewicz said it does not necessarily indicate a larger environmental problem.

Still, some beachgoers said they want officials to determine what happened.

“That’s why they should figure it out,” Patricia Steidel of Bergen County said. “They should try and track down what happened. And if there is illegal fishing, try and patrol it better.”

The sharks were already gone by the time a CBS News Philadelphia crew arrived at the beach around noon. Nagiewicz said they were likely washed back out to sea by the incoming tide.

Beach patrol officials and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection were contacted about the reported shark deaths. Neither immediately confirmed the animals had washed ashore, though a DEP spokesperson said such occurrences are not uncommon.

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By Allen Devlin

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — Police say they are investigating a fire that injured one person and damaged a row of Bronx businesses as possible arson.

It started just before 10:15 p.m. Tuesday at a deli on West 183rd Street between Jerome and Davidson avenues in the Fordham section.

In surveillance video, it appears as though people are crowded at the door as flames erupt and burst several times.

According to police sources, witnesses said two men threw two bottles containing an unknown substance into the deli.

Witness Andrew Franco said he sprung into action when he learned a person was still inside the building.

“I run into the fire through the back entrance of the doorway. I kick the door in to drag the person out,” he said. “I grabbed somebody. He was halfway burnt. His arms, his legs … some of his face.”

Police say the 33-year-old man was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.

Jesus Beserra was right next door where he works at Las Palmas Bakery when he heard what he described as an explosion.

“Smoke started coming out. I recorded it, and then I left because things started to get really bad,” he told CBS News New York in Spanish.

Video shows firefighters were forced to break the bakery’s windows as it filled with smoke.

“There was a lot of smoke, and they needed to get inside to cut the gas supply,” Beserra said.

Over 140 FDNY personnel responded. A partial vacate order has been issued for the building due to the damage.

Bakery manager Oskar Guzman says they will rebuild, but it will take time.

“I have to work again. We have to rebuild the building again,” he said. “We have to see the insurance and everything like that to put it back again, the business.”

The exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined, and no arrests have been made.

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