Someone stole unreleased Beyoncé music from a car in Atlanta. What to know about the investigation
The break-in and robbery: The theft was reported July 8, which was two days before Beyoncé kicked off four nights of concerts at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium as part of tour of the US and Europe in support of her Grammy-winning album 'Cowboy Carter.' Beyoncé's choreographer, Christopher Grant, and dancer, Diandre Blue, called police after dining at a restaurant at a retail complex a few miles (kilometers) east of the downtown Atlanta stadium. They said their rented Jeep Wagoneer had been broken into while parked in a nearby garage. They had left it for about an hour after stopping to eat shortly after 8 p.m. Among the things that were stolen were two suitcases, a pair of sunglasses, Apple headphones, two Apple laptops, and five thumb drives, according to the police report. 'They have my computers and it's really really important information in there,' one of the men told a 911 operator in a recording released by police. 'I work with um someone who's like of a high status and I really need my computer and everything.' Grant told officers at the scene that he and Blue work for Beyoncé and that he had been carrying some personal sensitive information for the musician. The police report said the thumb drives contained watermarked music, unreleased music, footage, plans for the show, and past and future set list(s). A representative for Beyonce did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Police zero in on a suspect: Investigators have secured an arrest warrant for a suspect, police said in a news release Monday. They did not release the suspect's name but said the person was at large. The 911 caller, who isn't identified on the released recording, noted that one of the stolen laptops had tracking software enabled. The police report says officers canvassed an area by following signals from the laptop and the stolen headphones. Although it's unclear what evidence following the tracking signals yielded, the police report lists a red 2025 Hyundai Elantra as a possible suspect vehicle. It also says an officer inspecting Grant and Blue's rented Jeep was able to retrieve two very light fingerprints. The police report also mentioned that cameras captured the incident at the garage.
Car break-ins are common in Atlanta: As thousands of Atlanta residents and visitors learn every year, thieves commonly target parked cars with luggage and other potential valuables left in sight. There were 7,195 thefts from vehicles reported to Atlanta police in 2024, and 3,185 more have been reported since January. Police recorded 105 thefts from cars during the week before Beyonce's unreleased music was reported stolen. 'Take your bags, phone, and anything important with you every time you leave your car,' police said in their news release about the thefts from Beyonce's choreographer and dancer. 'Don't give criminals an easy win.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Fans say new romance bookstores and online groups are giving the genre some overdue respect
Romance novels have always spiced up quiet nights. Now a genre that has sometimes been dismissed as a guilty pleasure is bringing readers and writers together through social media book clubs and a growing number of romance-specific bookstores. At a recent launch party for Nora Dahlia's enemies-to-friends romance 'Pick-Up at Lovestruck Books,' a romance-dedicated store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a crowd of women sipped cocktails from the bar-café as they browsed the shelves. After Dahlia's reading, patrons stuck around to mingle, swap contact info, and trade author recommendations. It was a particularly social event for a book talk, but the communal atmosphere is typical of events for romance fans. Dahlia likened romance readers to Comic-Con folks, referring to the deep-rooted passion that defines comic-book fandom. 'They're educated on the genre in a real way,' Dahlia said. 'Many of them started reading romance – Danielle Steel, V.C. Andrews, Jude Deveraux – as teenagers.' At The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, manager Katherine Zofri said romance fans who have connected online frequently come into the store to meet in person. Along with author events, the store hosts three different book clubs and a romance comedy night. 'We've had a couple proposals here, we've had a wedding here, which was really fun,' Zofri said. She said customers range from teenagers who are starting to really get into the romance genres to older folks who have been romance readers for their entire lives and remember way back when they were reading the Harlequins and romance wasn't as widely accepted. Now they're loving seeing how widely accepted romance has become. Bookstores like Lovestruck and The Ripped Bodice (which has a flagship store in Los Angeles) have begun popping up all over the US, from Wichita, Kansas, to Wilmington, North Carolina, to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Of the 157 romance-dedicated bookstores in the American Booksellers Association, more than half opened within the last two years, said Allison Hill, CEO of the group. 'Romance books have been one of the fastest growing book sales categories in recent years, driven by a number of factors, including the need for escape reading and BookTok,' Hill said. And the genre has evolved. 'The romance genre is more diverse in every way, including character identity and plot,' she said. Lovestruck's owner Rachel Kanter called the boom 'incredible – and honestly overdue.' 'Romance has always been one of the most commercially successful genres, but for a long time it didn't get the respect or space it deserved in the literary world.' Romance-specific bookstores, she says, are places where readers can feel joy, comfort, and connection – and where love is taken seriously as a literary theme. As with many hobbies, romance fandom solidified and expanded after the COVID-19 pandemic. 'The pandemic had pushed so many people toward reading for escape and comfort, and romance became a lifeline for a lot of folks,' said Kanter. 'At the same time, there was a wider cultural shift happening – people were rethinking what mattered, craving joy and softness, and looking to support indie businesses that reflected their values. Romance, with all its hope and heart, met that moment beautifully,' she said. Romance has countless subgenres – hockey romance, Western romance, LGBTQ romance, even romance set on prison planets. But a common theme is their inherently hopeful storylines, says Elizabeth Michaelson Monaghan, a 52-year-old freelance writer and editor in New York who said she's read hundreds of romance novels. 'Romance must have a happily-ever-after – or at least a happily-for-now.' Romance writers and readers are very clear on this, she said. 'Romantic fiction that doesn't end that way? That's just a love story.' Traits of the romance genre also include strong character descriptions, attraction, conflict, a satisfying resolution, and emotional growth. Expect plenty of steam – some authors deploy it explicitly, others are more tame. There's a long-standing culture of (mostly) women reading and sharing these books across generations. 'It is pleasurable to reimagine courtship or the romantic bond,' said Jayashree Kamble, professor of English at LaGuardia Community College and president of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance. 'There is limited risk involved.' Kamble has been a voracious romance reader since her teenage years in India, where she devoured Harlequin romances. Romance novels, she said, are 'a lovely reminder that individualism and companionship can go together. These are basic bonds.' Podcasts too have become a source for discovering what's trending. Andrea Martucci, creator and host of the romance-focused Shelf Love podcast, said romance bookstores have become places of connection akin in some ways to churches – for the romantically devoted. 'I can go to a bookstore and not just find people who love books,' she said, 'but find people who love the very same books I love.' As Annabel Monaghan, author of several love stories including 'Nora Goes Off Script,' puts it, 'People who read romance want to feel good. And when you gather a bunch of people who want to feel good, it's magic.'
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Facebook privacy practices the focus of $8 billion trial targeting Zuckerberg
An $8 billion trial by Meta Platforms shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders kicks off on Wednesday over claims that they illegally harvested the data of Facebook users in violation of a 2012 agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission. Jeffrey Zients, White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden and a Meta director for two years starting in May 2018, is expected to be one of the first witnesses to take the stand in the non-jury trial before Kathaleen McCormick, chief judge of the Delaware Chancery Court. The case will feature testimony from Zuckerberg and other billionaire defendants including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, venture capitalist and board member Marc Andreessen, and former board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix. A lawyer for the defendants, who have denied the allegations, declined to comment. The case began in 2018, following revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump's successful U.S. presidential campaign in 2016. The FTC fined Facebook $5 billion in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, saying the company had violated a 2012 agreement with the FTC to protect user data. Shareholders want the defendants to reimburse Meta for the FTC fine and other legal costs, which the plaintiffs estimate total more than $8 billion. In court filings, the defendants described the allegations as 'extreme' and said the evidence at trial will show Facebook hired an outside consulting firm to ensure compliance with the FTC agreement and that Facebook was a victim of Cambridge Analytica's deceit. Meta, which is not a defendant, declined to comment. On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019. The lawsuit is considered the first of its kind to go to trial which alleges board members consciously failed to oversee their company. This is often described as the hardest claim to prove in Delaware corporate law. Boeing's current and former board members settled a case with similar claims in 2021 for $237.5 million, the largest ever in an alleged breach of oversight lawsuit. The Boeing directors did not admit to wrongdoing. In addition to privacy claims at the heart of the Meta case, plaintiffs allege that Zuckerberg anticipated that the Cambridge Analytica scandal would send the company's stock lower and sold his Facebook shares as a result, pocketing at least $1 billion. Defendants said evidence will show that Zuckerberg did not trade on inside information and that he used a stock-trading plan that removes his control over sales and is designed to guard against insider trading. McCormick is expected to rule on liability and damages months after the trial concludes.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump, White House race to stem Epstein conspiracy fallout
For years, President Donald Trump and his Republican allies benefited from conspiracy theories that fueled the conservative MAGA movement and targeted his political enemies. Now the persisting furor over files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has forced Trump into an unfamiliar role: trying to shut a conspiracy theory down. Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death. The saga burst back into the news last week after the Trump administration reversed course on its pledge to release documents it had suggested would reveal major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele. That reversal has enraged some of Trump's most loyal followers. In an effort to contain the fallout, Trump and White House officials are weighing a range of options including unsealing new documents, appointing a special prosecutor and drafting executive actions on issues such as pedophilia, according to two White House sources with knowledge of the matter. Trump and senior aides have also reached out to key MAGA-aligned influencers, urging them to dial down their criticism of the administration's handling of the Epstein investigation and shift focus to broader priorities for the America First movement, one source said. The backlash over the Epstein case has laid bare tensions inside Trump's coalition and is testing one of Trump's most enduring political strengths: his ability to command loyalty and control the narrative across the right. The outcry comes amid discontent among parts of Trump's base over the U.S. strikes on Iran, continued involvement in Ukraine and any hint of backsliding on the administration's hardline immigration promises. The two sources said the intra-party friction was damaging to the coalition and that the White House was actively trying to restore unity, though they did not expect the Epstein controversy to dent Trump's core support. Many conservative influencers and hard-right media figures remain unconvinced by a Justice Department memo last week that concluded there was 'no incriminating client list' or any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people. The review also confirmed prior findings by the FBI that concluded that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and that his death was not the result of a criminal act such as murder. Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. During the 2021 trial of Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, the financier's longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, testified that Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times. Trump has denied ever being on the plane and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. That history now complicates Trump's response, as he works to reassure a base steeped in long-running suspicions about Epstein and his connection to influential figures. Trump backs Bondi Trump has defended Attorney General Pam Bondi against calls for her firing by some MAGA personalities. He has urged his supporters to move on from the Epstein saga. 'I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case is of interest to anybody,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday. 'It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going.' Both White House sources said there were mistakes in how information about the Epstein files was shared with pro-Trump influencers, especially by Bondi, who had previously implied that a list of Epstein's clients existed. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment, and Bondi did not answer questions on Tuesday about Trump's comments on the Epstein files at a press conference. When asked if she expected to keep her job, she said, 'I am going to be here for as long as the president wants me here - and I believe he's made that crystal clear.' In a statement on Tuesday, the White House said Trump's law-and-order team remains focused on 'Making America Safe Again' and 'restoring the integrity of our criminal justice system.' While some prominent voices outside the administration are falling back in line, others are not. Charlie Kirk, a key MAGA influencer who had amplified doubts about the Epstein probe, abruptly reversed course after a call with Trump, one of the sources said. On Monday, Kirk posted on social-media platform X: 'I'm done talking about Epstein. I'm gonna trust my friends in the government.' Trump's call for critics to back off is not landing everywhere. Podcast hosts including Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Tim Dillon, whose large audiences are not necessarily pro-Trump but broadly anti-establishment and helped propel his election victory, are unlikely to let up, according to Angelo Carusone, president of the progressive nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America. 'Trump seems very disconnected from the zeitgeist that put him into power in the first place,' Carusone said. Some of Trump's staunchest political allies also are keeping the pressure on. House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, called on Tuesday for the Justice Department to release more Epstein documents. Representative Lauren Boebert, a hardline MAGA supporter, made her own demand on X: 'We deserve the truth about the Epstein files. I'm ready for a Special Counsel to handle this.'
