Alleged ‘serial cat killer' arrested in California
An alleged serial cat killer has been arrested in California over claims that he abducted and slaughtered more than a dozen cats.
Alejandro Acosta Oliveros, 45, was taken into custody on Wednesday by police in the city of Santa Ana, 30 miles south of Los Angeles. He has been charged with felony animal cruelty.
Oliveros was identified as a suspect after an investigation into more than a dozen reports of neighbourhood cats going missing. Police claim he abducted the animals or lured them to his home in the neighbourhood of Wilshire Square, where he allegedly tortured and killed them.
Last month the abduction of a ten-month-old Bengal lynx cat, Clubber, was captured on surveillance video and posted to Facebook by its owner, Eva Corlew.
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Daily Mail
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Teen boy shoots himself dead after 'sextortion' scam that's every parent's worst nightmare
A Kentucky teen took his own life after being targeted in a cruel 'sextortion' scam that used AI-generated nude images to try to blackmail him. Elijah Heacock, 16, of Glasgow, was getting ready for bed on February 27 when he received a chilling text demanding $3,000 to keep an AI-generated nude photo of him from being shared with friends and family, KFDA News reported. Only hours later, his family found him inside their home's laundry room gravely injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Despite efforts to save him, Elijah died in the hospital the next day. It wasn't until the teen was in the hospital that his parents discovered the AI-generated photos on his phone, uncovering the disturbing reality behind his suicide. The digital evidence revealed that he had fallen victim to a sextortion scam - where criminals target young people online, threatening to release explicit images unless they pay up or comply with potentially harmful demands. Now, more than three months after the tragedy, Elijah's family is channeling their grief into action - fighting to make it a federal crime to post both real and generated sexually-oriented images of someone online without their consent. 'The people that are after our children are well organized,' Elijah's father, John Burnett, told CBS News. 'They are well financed, and they are relentless.' 'They don't need the photos to be real, they can generate whatever they want, and then they use it to blackmail the child,' he added. 'It's kind of like a bullet in a war. It's not going to win the war. No war is ever won by one bullet. You got to win battles. You got to win fights. And we're in it.' On the night of February 27, Elijah's mother, Shannon, urged him to get to bed early, reminding him of the district basketball playoff game the next day in their hometown, the Wall Street Journal reported. Elijah - known to his parents as 'their tornado' for his bold spirit and relentless ambition - seemed excited for the events planned the next day, WLKY reported. Just before 10:30pm, the teen texted his mother about grabbing coffee before the game the next morning, the WSJ reported. An hour after Shannon went to sleep, her daughter jolted her awake with gut-wrenching news no mother ever wants to hear. Elijah was found in the laundry room, bloodied, after shooting himself. The 16-year-old 'wasn't depressed, he wasn't sad, he wasn't angry,' Burnett told CBS News about his son. Now, more than three months after the tragedy, Elijah's family is channeling their grief into action - fighting to make it a federal crime to post both real and generated sexually-oriented images of someone online without their consent The grim truth began to unravel as Elijah's parents searched his phone, ultimately discovering a series of AI-generated nude photographs. 'They started asking Eli for money,' Shannon told KFDA of the blackmailer. 'This person was asking for $3,000.' 'Three-thousand dollars from a child,' she added. 'And now, we're looking at $30,000 to bury our son and medical bills.' After being alerted to the disturbing images, the Barren County Sheriff's Office arrived at the hospital, where a deputy reviewed its contents firsthand. In the final hour before Elijah took his own life, he exchanged more than 150 text messages with the person threatening him, the WSJ reported. If he didn't send the $3,000, the person warned, a fake nude image of him would be sent to friends and family. It quickly became clear the case needed to be escalated to the FBI. Elijah's case wasn't a rare occurrence, but rather part of a growing trend in the age of advanced technology and chatbots. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), more than 500,000 sextortion cases targeting minors were reported last year alone. At least 20 young individuals have taken their own lives since 2021 after falling victim to sextortion scams, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 'You don't actually need any technical skills at this point to create this kind of illegal and harmful material,' Dr. Rebecca Portnoff, head of data science at a non-profit focused on preventing online child exploitation, told CBS News. In January 2024, 15-year-old David Gonzalez Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after becoming the target of the sex scam, the WSJ reported. The Utah teenager was contacted by what appeared to be a teenage girl on the social media app Wizz, and the conversation quickly moved across Instagram, Snapchat and iMessage - continuing throughout the day. Eventually, one of the perpetrators told the boy they knew where he lived and threatened to release screenshots from a live video call he had participated in with the supposed girl. 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Sky News
36 minutes ago
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Donald Trump warns of 'consequences' if Elon Musk funds rivals - as 'big bomb' Epstein post disappears
Donald Trump has warned of "serious consequences" if Elon Musk funds the US president's political rivals - as the social media post at the centre of their public falling out was removed. Speaking on Saturday to Sky News' US partner NBC News, Mr Trump warned of repercussions if Musk funded Democrats who opposed his sweeping budget bill. "If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump said in a phone interview. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," he added, not specifying what those consequences would be. 'The truth will come out' It comes after the tech billionaire claimed the US president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in a post on his social media platform X, as he traded blows with his former colleague in a dramatic public row. In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: "Time to drop the really big bomb: "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public." He had doubled down in a follow-up post, saying: "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out." He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House - with the posts disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday. Users clicking on the message - first posted on Thursday - were instead greeted with: " page doesn't exist. Try searching for something else." Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. JD Vance has his say Amid the fallout, vice president JD Vance said Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after Mr Trump but characterised him as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. He made the comments in an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von - one of the "manosphere" influencers the Trump team targeted to gain votes with young men during the election. "I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Mr Vance said. He also said such outbursts "happen to everyone", adding: "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." 'Big ugly spending bill' Musk and Mr Trump's relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee. In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president's signature tax and spending bill as a "big ugly spending bill". President Trump posted on his own platform Truth Social, saying Musk had been "wearing thin" and claimed he "asked him to leave" his government position - something Musk denied. Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement. "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," she said. "The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again." The spat hit Tesla shares, which closed down 14.3% on Thursday, losing about $150bn (£111bn) in value. In an interview with ABC News, Mr Trump was asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk on Friday.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
White House aide calls Los Angeles anti-ICE protests an 'insurrection'
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - Senior White House aide Stephen Miller on Saturday condemned protests in downtown Los Angeles against federal immigration raids as an "insurrection" against the United States. Helmeted police in riot gear engaged in a tense confrontation with protesters on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on immigration violations. "An insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States," Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X. Miller, an immigration hardliner, was responding to video footage on X showing a large number of people protesting in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said it had not made any arrests related to the demonstration. FBI deputy director Dan Bongino posted on X that they were reviewing evidence from the protests. "We are working with the U.S. Attorney's Office to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice," Bongino said. "The Right to assemble and protest does not include a license to attack law enforcement officers, or to impede and obstruct our lawful immigration operations." President Donald Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day. But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also included people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges. Television news footage earlier on Friday showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. "Forty-four people (were arrested) on immigration charges," Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations told Reuters on Saturday. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and gathered outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were reportedly being held. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a statement condemned the immigration raids. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this."
