Today in History: April 28, Abu Ghraib torture images made public
On April 28, 2004, the world first viewed images of prisoner abuse and torture by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, via a report broadcast on the CBS television news program '60 Minutes II.'
Also on this date:
In 1789, mutineers led by Fletcher Christian took control of the ship HMS Bounty three weeks after departing Tahiti, setting the ship's captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and 18 other crew members adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans after attempting to flee the country.
In 1947, a six-man expedition led by Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl set out from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day, 4,300 mile (6,900 km) journey across the Pacific Ocean to the Polynesian Islands.
In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was stripped of his WBA title after he refused to be inducted into the armed forces.
In 1994, former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had passed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2001, a Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia carrying the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to the International Space Station.
In 2011, convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy Garrido, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a California girl, Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted in 1991 at the age of 11 and rescued 18 years later. (Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison; Nancy Garrido was sentenced to 36 years to life.)
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Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
She was killed while walking to her car, family says. Man, arrested weeks later, is free on bail
A suspect arrested in the fatal hit-and-run killing of a woman in Hollywood in late June had his arraignment pushed back months Tuesday morning and is free on bail. Davontay Robins, 30, was in Los Angeles Superior Court for his arraignment following his July 22 arrest. Erika 'Tilly' Edwards was killed around 9 p.m. June 29; she had just finished performing at a nearby fundraiser, her husband wrote on Instagram. Kris Edwards was mourning the loss of his wife after they 'just bought a house ... to grow our family. We wanted to have kids and we were taking the next step to make a home. And now that's all gone.' Kris' sister Andrea Edwards wrote on a GoFundMe that Edwards was walking back to her parked car when she was struck by a black Mercedes G-Wagon. Robins was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter, felony hit-and-run driving resulting in death, and misdemeanor driving with a suspended license due to a previous DUI, in the death of the 37-year-old Hollywood resident. Robins posted bail, listed at $50,000. His arraignment was continued to Oct. 16, according to the L.A. County district attorney's office. Kris Edwards told CBS News outside court on Tuesday, flanked by family and friends, that he was 'surprised that he was out on bail and that his bail was set so low.' 'It cost me more to bury her than it did for him to get out,' he said. 'Explain that to me. Robins was arrested in Hollywood, only a couple of miles from the scene of the incident. He is charged with striking and killing Edwards near the intersection of West Sunset Boulevard between North Gardner Street and North Sierra Bonita Avenue in Hollywood. He fled the scene and was arrested nearly a month later as police detectives reviewed security footage to identify the driver. Los Angeles police believe speed may have been a factor in the slaying. They impounded Robins' G-Wagon, which according to CBS was found in a body shop with some damaged parts already swapped out.
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
How $100m ‘Crypto King' John Woeltz went from school goth to alleged torturer, and why his parents had to bail him out
The 'Crypto King' accused of kidnapping and torturing an Italian man in a swanky Manhattan townhouse was only bailed out of jail when his parents put a house and their savings on the line as collateral — despite their son reportedly having amassed a fortune. The judge releasing John Woeltz, 37, said to be worth $100m, stipulated he wasn't allowed to pay his bail with cryptocurrency. That led to his father, Matthew Van Woeltz, putting his own home on the line and his mother Joan agreeing to cough up $1 million, should their son fail to meet the terms of his bond, according to court documents seen by The Post. He is now under house arrest in New York while waiting trial, a world away from the private jets he was accustomed to traveling in and the nightclubs where he would drop tens of thousands of dollars. Advertisement 8 Woeltz was released from jail to home confinement in New York on July 31. His co-accused, William Duplessie, remains behind bars. Diamond / BACKGRID Woeltz' glitzy lifestyle before his arrest was itself far removed from his upbringing, when he was a 'goth' kid from an 'affluent' family and a computer nerd back in Paducah, Kentucky. 'I know his whole family. It's heartbreaking. I don't know what happened. He was a really good person,' one former classmate told The Post. Advertisement A change appears to have taken place in Woeltz in late 2024 when he started hanging around with his co-accused, William Duplessie — the flashy, 6′ 5″ son of a former hedge fund manager who spilt his time between Miami and Switzerland before the couple's ill-fated run in Manhattan earlier this year. Woeltz was released from Riker's Island a week after a Manhattan judge granted both he and Duplessie $1m bail each over the shocking alleged kidnapping and torture of Italian crypto trader Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, who had been visiting them, in May. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. 8 The so-called 'Crypto Bros' Woeltz (seated right) and Duplessie (seated left) were both granted $1m bail, but so far only Woeltz has been released from Riker's Island. Steven Hirsch Duplessie, 33, remains behind bars. Advertisement While Woeltz – assumed to have all his assets tied up in digital currency – was able to get help from his parents, it's unclear why Duplessie has not posted bail. Sources confirmed he hasn't had a bond package approved yet. When his father and former business partner, James, was reached by The Post, he declined to speak. Woeltz and Duplessie were listed in different facilities on Riker's before their bail hearings. Prosecutors allege Woeltz and Duplessie had tortured Carturan by allegedly lighting him on fire, cutting him with a chainsaw and holding a gun to his head in order to hijack the password for his Bitcoin wallet, worth millions. Advertisement The pair also allegedly threatened the 28-year-old victim's family in Italy — while subjecting him to humiliation by having people urinate on him and forcing him to take drugs during captivity, authorities have claimed. 8 William Duplessie pictured in a New York nighclub. The crypto investor was known for his hard partying before he was arrested. TMZ / BACKGRID 8 The Soho townhouse at 38 Prince Street, where Carturan was allegedly tortured for weeks. REUTERS However, lawyers for the pair maintain the whole thing was a misunderstanding. They allege Carturan was a willing participant who was free to leave at any time and that he was only subjected to a kind of 'hazing' ritual. The allegations come as a major shock to those who grew up with Woeltz in Paducah. Several sources described Woeltz as an ordinary kid who didn't appear to be particularly close with any other students when they were classmates at Paducah Middle School. Jefferson Jones, a former Paducah Middle School student, said Woeltz didn't stand out from the crowd. 'I knew of him as a classmate but he wasn't in my direct circle of friends,' Jones told The Post. 'He seemed kind of normal to me.' Advertisement 8 Sources claimed Woeltz and Duplessie had claimed they worked for the CIA and that they went aruond their houses with night vision goggles and sometimes with a chainsaw. TMZ / BACKGRID 8 Woeltz and Duplessie bought this mansion in Smithland, Kentucky, months before their arrest and flew friends out form Florida for a debauched party in February. Google Maps Another ex-classmate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he was had also been on a wrestling team with Woeltz. 'He was maybe someone that leaned towards not being afraid to get into trouble, but he wasn't bad. He came from an affluent family which helps socially in a town like ours but it doesn't guarantee you will be close to anyone.' Advertisement Another former student remembered Woeltz as 'a goth'. Woeltz's father — who still lives in Paducah and is a well-respected neurologist — could not be reached for comment. The philosophy major graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring from the University of Kentucky before moving to California's Silicon Valley to invest in startups. 'That's what you had to do then to succeed in the industry,' Woeltz told the Paducah Sun in 2020. Advertisement Although he moved away, Woeltz often returned to his roots in the Bluegrass State, where he purchased a mansion earlier this year, as exclusively revealed by The Post. 8 Woeltz in 2019 giving a presentation at Grincon, a crypto company where he previously worked. @gakonst/x The six-bedroom waterfront home in Smithland was bought by Woeltz and Duplessie for $1 million cash in January, multiple sources told The Post. The house was later raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the NYPD, with support from the Kentucky State Police, according to a release from authorities. Five guns and ammunition were seized, according to the ATF. Advertisement A Smithland resident who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity said that both Woeltz and Duplessie were the talk of the town while living in the mansion because people were always 'coming and going' from the property. He said the pair ingratiated themselves with the local Chamber of Commerce and tried to 'fit in as much as possible'. 8 John Woeltz is now on home detention with an ankle monitor. Steven Hirsch for NY Post 'As far as small community goes there was talk they were looking at making the mansion a venue for events,' the source claimed. 'There were all kinds of rumors going around. At the same time there was an undercurrent that something wasn't right.' More recent friends described how they had been flown from Florida to the Kentucky home to party with the crypto bros in February, but noted both were increasingly paranoid. Once at the house Woeltz and Duplessie claimed they were CIA operatives and carried loaded guns, and communicated by writing messages to each other on typewriter and then burning them so their guests couldn't see what they were talking about, according to New York magazine, which also reported the pair were allegedly consuming quantities of cocaine. During the same weekend Duplessie is said to have pulled a loaded gun on the chef he had hired and only relented after other guests intervened, according to the magazine. It was a few weeks after this weekend Woeltz and Duplessie moved into the $75,000 a month rental home on Prince Street. There they enlisted fixers and held bigger parties with more people and things started getting even more out of hand. Videos taken within the house show unidentified people having sex, taking drugs and partying hard. The videos, first published by TMZ, also showed Carturan apparently cooking drugs and also strapped to a chair. Both defendants are next scheduled to appear in court on October 15.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
French president hired investigator to uncover dirt on right-wing U.S. podcaster Candace Owens
French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron hired a prominent U.S. investigative firm to gather information on far-right podcaster Candace Owens before filing a defamation lawsuit against her in Delaware, according to reporting by the Financial Times. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. The 219-page complaint, filed in July in Delaware Superior Court, accuses Owens of leading a 'campaign of global humiliation' through an eight-part YouTube series and social media posts promoting false and transphobic claims about Brigitte Macron. The allegations include that the French first lady is transgender, that she assumed her brother's identity, and that the French president is the product of a CIA mind-control experiment. The lawsuit says Owens also claimed the couple are blood relatives. Related: French President Macron sues Candace Owens for defamation over claims his wife is transgender The FT reports that to prepare for the suit, the Macrons retained Nardello & Co., a U.S.-based firm led by former federal prosecutor Dan Nardello. Investigators reviewed Owens's public statements, documented her ties to far-right figures in France, Britain, and the United States, and noted her appearances on Russian state-controlled media. The report also traced the conspiracy theory's origins to a Spanish blog in 2017, its spread in France by 2021, and its promotion in 2023 by French far-right activist Xavier Poussard. Related: Alex Jones's lawyer mocks Candace Owens's chances in Emmanuel Macron's defamation lawsuit Owens first referenced the rumor on her show in March 2024, later devoting a full interview to Poussard. Russian outlets heavily covered her series once it was released. Investigators also highlighted her participation in a 2019 nationalist conference in Paris alongside politician Marion Maréchal and her online interactions with Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin. The Owens claims against Brigitte Macron are part of a pattern of online harassment known as 'transvestigation,' in which activists target public figures with fabricated claims that they are secretly trans. While Owens has dismissed the lawsuit, some of her allies have questioned her chances. Robert Barnes, a far-right attorney known for representing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, wrote on X that 'Owens told some of the dumbest, obvious lies one can tell' and has '0 percent chance of winning in court.' Related: Candace Owens claims Donald Trump asked her to stop calling Emmanuel Macron's wife transgender Macron's attorney, Thomas Clare, told the Financial Times the couple is willing to testify in Delaware. No trial date has been set. This article originally appeared on Advocate: French president hired investigator to uncover dirt on right-wing U.S. podcaster Candace Owens RELATED Beyond the Macrons' lawsuit: Why do people accuse powerful women of being men? French President Macron sues Candace Owens for defamation over claims his wife is transgender Alex Jones's lawyer mocks Candace Owens's chances in Emmanuel Macron's defamation lawsuit Solve the daily Crossword
