Paranormal investigator and Annabelle doll handler dies at 54
Rivera passed away this past weekend while on tour with the infamous doll, a classic fixture in the horror genre.
The cause of death for Rivera, who was also the lead investigator for the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), has not yet been revealed.
Fellow investigator Chris Gilloren expressed profound sadness, highlighting Rivera's dedication to sharing his experiences and educating people on the paranormal.
Rivera had recently debunked rumors that the Annabelle doll had gone missing, confirming its presence in the Warrens' Occult Museum via a TikTok video.
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Daily Mail
a few seconds ago
- Daily Mail
Beaming Amanda Knox laughs as she poses up a storm and kisses her husband at premiere of new series based on her ex-flatmate's harrowing murder
Amanda Knox grinned and shared a smooch with her husband - at the premiere of a dramatized mini-series based on the real life case that saw her accused of murdering her flatmate during a year abroad. The divisive public figure - exonerated in the death of of her roommate Meredith Kercher - was the image of glee as she joined actors on the red carpet for Hulu's 'The Twisted Tale Of Amanda Knox' in New York. It's a contrast to the tone of the TV series, which explores the aftermath of the 21-year-old's student's killing. Amanda and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted in their first trial of killing Meredith but after another round of flip-flop verdicts, they were ultimately exonerated by Italy's highest court in 2015. The 38-year-old, from Seattle, Washington, has since spoken in great length about life after prison - and how she is still 'haunted' by the incident. However, her manner in photos from the event earlier this week were positively jovial, as she and Rafaello smiled alongside their actor counterparts Grace Van Patten and Giuseppe De Domenico. Despite the bleak nature of the show, Amanda sported a floral summer dress accentuated with bow-tie detailing, while her husband Christopher Robinson sported a trendy mesh blouse worn under a light grey suit. Meanwhile Rafaello donned a cheerful cornflower blue blazer and matching slacks for the occasion. The series, which is executive-produced by both Amanda and feminist campaigner Monica Lewinsky - who has spent years moving on from a sex scandal with then-President Bill Clinton - has drawn mixed reviews - especially due to the lack of active involvement from the victim's family. Despite that, the Guardian 's Lucy Mangan gave it four stars out of five, albeit lambasting an 'often dodgy' script. 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox has its flaws,' she penned. 'The mannered, Wes Anderson-lite openings to each episode sit uneasily with the harrowing hours to which they give way and the script – particularly in those openings – can be dreadful. 'We were just getting to know our young selves in this charmed and ancient city,' says Knox in a voiceover early on. 'And later: 'Does truth actually exist if no one believes it?' At one point, investigator Monica (Roberta Mattei) describes Knox providing 'unsolicited information in crude American spasms'. 'Fortunately, the main parts are held together by an unreservedly brilliant performance by Grace Van Patten as Knox, in English and Italian (halting at first, fluent by the end of Knox's incarceration), the ebullient, naïve, overconfident, shattered young woman caught in so many currents and cross-currents it seems a miracle that she ever made it back to shore.' The Times was more critical, with Carol Midgley writing: 'As you would expect, the drama is very much on Knox's side, presenting her as a co-operative and pleasant young woman caught up in an unending utter nightmare in a foreign country. 'Yes, a bit crass that she kissed and cuddled her boyfriend at the police station, but then who wouldn't want some comfort when their friend had just been found brutally murdered?' Elsewhere, ranking it only two stars out of five, Nick Hilton wrote for the Independent: 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox knew that it was swimming in morally murky waters. 'The series was originally supposed to be called Blue Moon, but transitioned to its rather twee title ahead of release. And that should give some indication about the unusually bubbly tone of this eight-part series. ''Full of hope, curiosity and the naivety of youth, I embarked on my romantic Italian adventure,' Knox informs audiences, like she's setting up an episode of Amanda in Perugia. The series leans heavily on these voiceovers to explain Amanda's quirks (such as providing an impromptu gymnastics display at the police station or wearing a T-shirt to court bearing the slogan 'All you need is love' in all caps). 'The show's visual flourishes – like a juror juggling computer-generated ears to illustrate their exposure to inadmissible evidence – mirror its goofy, confident protagonist. It also makes the tone of the series very distinct from the grim BBC procedurals we're used to in Britain, owing a debt of gratitude to schlocky tastemaker Ryan Murphy (creator of the American Horror Story anthology series). Speaking to the Guardian as filming for the show kicked off last year, Meredith sister explained the victim's family found it 'difficult to understand how the series served any purpose'. 'Meredith will always be remembered for her own fight for life, and yet in her absence, her love and personality continues to shine,' she added. 'We will forever feel this indescribable void but we live by Meredith's standards with dignity.' It comes as Amanda has revealed how Monica became her mentor as she tried to rebuild her life. The two women met at a speaking engagement in 2017, just two years after Italy 's highest court exonerated Amanda and Raffaele in Meredith's murder. Amanda told The Hollywood Reporter how she was nervous and had begged the event organizers to let her speak with Monica in private. The former White House intern obliged, and even made Amanda a pot of tea as she shared some guidance from her years trying to move past her sex scandal with then-President Bill Clinton. 'She had a lot of advice about reclaiming your voice and your narrative,' Amanda said. 'That ended up being a turning point for me.' Years later, Amanda shared her desire to tell her story on screen in an interview with The New York Times - and upon seeing it, Monica jumped on board. Together, the pair wound up assembling a creative team, including This Is Us executive producer K.J. Steinberg and famed producer Warren Littlefield, to create 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,' a limited series for Hulu. After years of planning, the duo celebrated the premiere of the show on the red carpet Tuesday. Just hours earlier, Amanda released the latest episode of her podcast, Hard Knox, in which she and Monica spoke of the importance of telling the stories of those who survived scandal. Speaking of the decision, Monica noted that she does not often pay attention to a story after it fades from headlines. 'I don't think about "How is this person rebuilding their life?"' she said, her voice cracking as she apparently started to tear up. It was Amanda that had discovered Meredith's bedroom door locked and blood in their bathroom, but after police in Italy noticed her acting odd she became a suspect. Amanda pictured speaking to the media during a brief press conference in front of her parents' home in 2015 But, she said, she thinks it is important to 'understand, as my therapist calls it, the long tale of trauma - and that it's not even just the person, but the collateral damage for people's families.' 'It's not the story of like, being a person and being gutted and then building your life back. 'And having to find yourself again,' Monica said, noting that both of their scandals arose when they were in their 20s. 'You think you know everything, you think you know who you are and it's then ripped away from you,' she reflected. 'It's reconfigured and reflected back to you as a monster that you never saw yourself as, that you actually aren't.' During that time, Amanda said, 'it's hard to remember that you have value as a human.' 'I think it's a better product because I was able to share really personal and intimate things about, you know, my life that wasn't just like a Hollywood gloss over reality,' she added. 'Like it becomes dirtier in a good way because it has all the messy humanity and you have all these scenes that I, you know, remember being in the writer's room being like, "This is an actual thing that has happened" and they were like, "You can't make this stuff up."' But the duo also sought to play on the 'anatomy of bias,' aiming to showcase how events unfold and are perceived through different people's perspectives. 'It's the way we story tell and it's the way we process a story in our own minds that is impacted by everything we're bringing to that moment that has been shaped by bias upon bias upon bias,' Lewinsky said. 'Every interaction that we have with a person is not just a straight interaction,' Knox added. 'It is colored by the context that we all carry. 'All of us are little universes inside of ourselves and we collide with each other,' she said. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox airs on Hulu, and stars Grace Van Patten in the titular role. Elsewhere, Amanda recently said she believes the spirit of her murdered roommate Meredith Kercher still 'haunts' her. Speaking with People, she however clarified that this is 'not in that bad way that people sort of project on to me'. 'More in this benevolent spirit who is reminding me of the value of life, the privilege it is to live and the privilege it is to fight for your life,' Amanda added. 'Because she fought for hers.' Despite being freed and declared innocent, Amanda told the outlet that she has never been allowed to fully live her life. She added: 'There's always this subtext, like "Look at Amanda living her life while Meredith is dead." 'Any expression of life in my life is seen as an offense to the memory of my friend who got murdered.' She also said that she had panicked when she found out she was pregnant with her first daughter Eureka, 3. 'I did not want the first instance of my daughter's existence into this world [to] be a headline like "Amanda gives birth to know who will never get to have a daughter? Meredith",' she added. It was Amanda that had discovered Meredith's bedroom door locked and blood in their bathroom, but after police in Italy noticed her acting odd she became a suspect. At the time, Amanda put the blame on her boss at a local bar she worked at, Patrick Lumumba, who had a solid alibi, which only increased police suspicions. After an immense investigation and trial, Amanda, who was 20 years old at the time was convicted for the crime in 2009. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison for faking a break-in, defamation, sexual violence, and murder. In January of this year the defamation conviction was upheld by Italy's highest court over her comments about Lumumba. Amanda shared a video of herself weeping after the conviction was upheld, saying it was 'disappointing'. She also added on X: 'I've just been found guilty yet again of a crime I didn't commit'. Her lawyers said she accused Lumumba during a long night of questioning and under pressure from police, who they said fed her false information. The European Court of Human Rights found that t he police deprived her of a lawyer and provided a translator who acted more as a mediator. Rudy Hermann Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was eventually convicted of murder after his DNA was found at the crime scene. Guede was freed in 2021, after serving most of his 16-year sentence. Amanda returned to the US in 2011 after being freed and has established herself as a global campaigner for the wrongly convicted. She has a podcast with her husband, Christopher Robinson, and has a new memoir coming out next week titled, 'Free: My Search for Meaning.'
The Independent
a few seconds ago
- The Independent
South Park takes aim at Trump's Washington DC crime crackdown with the return of an old character
South Park has teased the return of an old character in another savage episode mocking the Trump administration's Washington, D.C., crime crackdown. In a post on the iconic show's X account, a 20-second teaser shows the long-serving Towlie on a trip to the capital amid a backdrop of troops and tanks on the streets. 'Wow, Washington D.C.,' Towlie says, looking out of his bus window with bewilderment. Towelie, which the producers created years before to satirize how heavily merchandised and exploited their creations were becoming, was previously branded the 'worst character ever' by co-star Eric Cartman. Towlie first made an appearance in 2001 in Season 5 and has featured sporadically ever since – often being depicted as high on marijuana, while spouting the phrases, "I have no idea what's going on" or "Don't forget to bring a towel.' As the fresh teaser clip continues, Towlie is seen standing outside a fictionalised depiction of the White House, and saying, 'This seems like the perfect place for a towel.' The character's return coincides with the commander-in-chief's move to deploy the military in D.C., after claiming the city was 'becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness' on August 11. The administration's justification for deploying the military has been widely disputed, as recent data suggests the opposite: violent crime is reportedly down 26 percent, according to the city's police department. Earlier this week, MAGA South Park actor Janeshia Adams-Ginyard hailed the series' latest episodes skewering Trump's actions as brilliant, while claiming that the producers were by no means taking sides. 'They've been going after everybody. Red or blue – it don't even matter,' she said. Though senior Trump officials have rebuked the new series, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after she was portrayed as being obsessed with plastic surgery, and mocked for shooting her dog. 'It's so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look. Only the liberals and the extremists do that,' Noem said, responding to the second episode. 'If they wanted to criticize my job, go ahead and do that, but clearly they can't; they just pick something petty like that,' she continued. Vice President J.D. Vance and conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, however, have embraced the mockery, praising the sardonic jokes. 'Well, I've finally made it,' Vance wrote on X after the second episode aired. The White House, on the other hand, was less affable about the latest episodes, calling them 'a desperate attempt for attention,' in a press statement. Meanwhile, South Park's popularity continues to shine with Comedy Central announcing that the second episode drew 6.2 million viewers across cable and streaming in its first three days. Episode three will air on Wednesday on Comedy Central at 10 p.m. Eastern time and 9 p.m. Central, and will be available on Thursday on Paramount+.
Daily Mail
a minute ago
- Daily Mail
Michelle Obama shades Barack AND youngest daughter Sasha in latest podcast episode
Michelle Obama revealed her youngest daughter Sasha was 'difficult' for her husband Barack to parent in the latest episode of her podcast. The former First Lady, 61, was discussing raising her daughters Malia, 26, and Sasha, 24, on the latest episode of IMO, the podcast she hosts with her brother Craig Robinson. And she was quick to take a dig at her husband, the former President of the United States, as rumors continue to swirl over the state of their marriage. The mother-of-two opened up about their children to her guests Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, where she alluded to her husband finding one daughter easier to raise than the other. Michelle and her guests were discussing the dynamics between siblings and parents, when she shared an anecdote from when the power-couple were raising their then-teenage girls in the White House between 2009 and 2017. She explained that her eldest daughter Malia, now 27, would try appease her father while her youngest Sasha, now 24, did not. 'I'd say this to Barack when it comes to [our] oldest Malia, she is going to figure out who you are and what you like' and discuss it,' Michelle explained, admitting the perception was an 'unusual' trait in a teenager. 'When Malia was a teenager, it wasn't that she was going out any less or doing anything differently,' she continued,'[but] she would tell me "I'm going out this weekend, but I'm going to go in and give dad like 15 minutes."' 'She'd go into the treaty room and go, "tell me about Syria?"' Michelle recounted. 'Then she'd be like "ok, we'll I'm gone."' 'Barack would come out of the treaty room going, "I just had an amazing conversation with Malia,"' and I'm like "ok,"' she said dryly. Meanwhile, she said her youngest Sasha was 'like a cat' and wasn't so much a people pleaser, which Barack struggled with. 'She's like, "don't touch me, don't pet me, I'm not pleasing you, you come to me,"' the former FLOTUS explained. 'Barack's like, well, "she's difficult," and I was like "no, the first one was a pleaser, right?" She added that her daughters still have the same 'temperament.' Both have kept an extremely low profile since leaving the White House and have not commented on their mother sharing family secrets. It's not the first time Michelle has discussed the differences between the couple's parenting techniques, often opening up on her podcast about their struggles. In July, she told guests Julia Louis-Dreyfus she had a stern conversation about what kind of father he was going to be immediately after he was elected President of the United States in 2009. She explained that she told her husband he had to get their daughters' school used to the President of the United States being at events - and that she wanted him to still be as engaged with this daughters' lives as he was before he took office. 'It was like, "no, you got to go to parent-teacher conference" - and he wanted to go,' Michelle told Julia and Craig. She stated that even if he was not necessarily required to go, she still expected him there. 'You have to get the school normalized to you being the type of engaged parent that you were before election night,' she recalled telling Barack. 'And you were the father that went to parent teacher conference, you were the father that would coach your girls' basketball game league,' she recounted. In June, the devoted mom took another jibe at her husband of 33 years, confessing that she was glad the pair never had a son because he would have been just like her husband. 'I'm so glad I didn't have a boy... he would've been a Barack Obama,' she joked to her brother, Craig Robinson and radio host Angie Martinez. Michelle previously opened up about her relationship with her two daughters admitting they started 'pushing away' from her and her husband when they were teenagers. The mother-of-two explained that she believes her daughters distanced themselves because they wanted to 'distinguish themselves' from their famous parents as they became adults The remarks comes amid swirling rumors about the state of the power couple's marriage. In July, the pair - how have been married since 1992, finally addressed the state of their marriage - after months of speculation that the couple's relationship is on the rocks. The Obama's wasted no time in addressing the rumors of their separation when he appeared on IMO. 'What, you guys like each other?' Robinson joked, before Michelle replied: 'Oh yeah, the rumor mill.' 'She took me back!' Obama light-heartedly chimed in, adding: 'It was touch and go for awhile.' But Michelle's continued outpourings about her husband and children have done little to quell the rumors.
