Latest news with #Kilroy
The Irish Sun
12-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
Monster used €6k van to hide body after brutal murder, rages Valerie French's brother amid fight for sister's belongings
THIS is the first photo of the camper van used by killer James Kilroy to hide wife Valerie French's body. The release of the pic comes as her brother David, 56 — who is taking civil action for damages against Kilroy — is on a mission to find the items in his dead sister's estate. 4 Valerie was killed at her home in June 2019 4 Valerie's brother David is on a mission to find the items in his dead sister's estate Credit: Collins 4 This is the first photo of the camper van used by killer James Kilroy to hide wife Valerie French's body David believes all his sister's belongings — including the camper van — should be sold and the money placed into a trust fund for Valerie's Kilroy inflicted 57 injuries on the occupational therapist in a 'brutal' blade attack at their home in Co He then put her body in the Mazda Bongo van and left their children in the house near Westport before he was later arrested by The €6,000 vehicle — bought by Kilroy in 2013 as a treat for his 40th birthday — was used by the killer before the murder as he roamed around Ireland while his wife ran the family home and cared for their three kids. Read more on Valerie French Our exclusive image shows the monster enjoying the outdoor life in the camper van. David — whose new book For Valerie, inset, is published on Thursday — believes his sister's estate includes her car, savings accounts, a motorcycle and a ride-on lawnmower. He told The Irish Sun: 'The van should be sold because it's of no use to Kilroy, now he's serving a life sentence. 'He loved that camper van and just didn't care about other people. Most read in The Irish Sun 'He also loved knives and bows and arrows — and this also shows his violent tendencies.' David added: 'He bought that van as a treat as he was so entitled and only ever cared about himself. 'BRUTAL CRIME' 'He used that camper van in the commission of a truly brutal 'I believe everything in Valerie's estate should be sold and that the proceeds should be put into a trust fund for her children. 'I have asked Kilroy's legal team to provide information on what he thinks should be in Valerie's estate. 'Once we have received his reply on the estate we will then consider our next course of action.' INSANE CLAIM David also believes Kilroy — who tried to claim that he was insane by insisting the mother of three had hired Brute Kilroy is legally recognised as the sole owner of the Although David has urged him to sell the property for Valerie's children, he has yet to agree to the move. Valerie's brother is now considering taking legal action over the house. LEGAL BATTLE During a previous court ruling, wife killer Eamon Lillis was forced to surrender half of the proceeds from his house sale to victim Celine Cawley's daughter. David added: 'Kilroy should not be in a position where he can benefit financially from my sister's horrific murder. 'Proceeds from the sale of that house should go to providing a future for her three children. 'If he doesn't agree to the house being sold, and the proceeds going to the children, we will be taking him to 'We have already seen cases where killers have been ordered to share sales from a house and this will be another option open to us.' 'ROBBED KIDS OF THEIR MOTHER' David also said of Kilroy: 'He deprived those three children of a loving mother — it's time he finally did the right thing by those kids. 'He robbed those children of a future simply because of jealousy and rage. Why should he earn a nest egg after he completes his sentence?' Since his sister's murder, he has fought a campaign for legislation to prevent individuals who have killed their spouses from having guardianship rights over their kids. Entitled Valerie's Law, the issue is one of a number of themes in David's new book. TRIBUTE TO SISTER The publication pays tribute to his sister's loving personality, her relationship with monster Kilroy and the 'shocking aftermath' of the killing. It will also outline details of the inquest into the murder, and three murder trials, before Kilroy was convicted in July 2024. Kilroy — who has appealed his conviction and has never shown any remorse for the horrific killing of the mum of his three kids — is also described as an 'entitled and controlling' husband in the book. 'Kilroy should not be in a position where he can benefit financially from my sister's horrific murder." David French In one extract, David reveals how the couple's relationship 'was deteriorating' before she died. It reads: 'One of Valerie's close friends afterwards told us Valerie was 'practically a single parent'. A few days before she was killed, they had gone with a group of friends to the cinema. 'ODD BEHAVIOUR' 'Kilroy had sat on his own. This was odd behaviour on a rare night out for the couple. 'He saw everything belonging to him as very important. 'And he cared more about his possessions than people. 'He was obsessed by the things he bought. He was obsessed about his motorbike, his camper van and his PlayStation. 'He only talked about himself — I felt Valerie was less important to him than his possessions.' FOR Valerie by David French is published by Gill Books and is available in all good book stores from Thursday. 4 David's new book For Valerie is set to be published on Thursday
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kilroy reports lackluster earnings as West Coast tenants downsize
Kilroy Realty's earnings last quarter were fair to middling as office and life sciences occupancy slackened further across its 17.1-million-square-foot portfolio in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego, the company reported Tuesday. Kilroy's funds from operations were $122.3 million, or $1.02 per diluted share in the first quarter, down 8.5 percent from $133.7 million, or $1.11 during the same period last year. But Kilroy CEO Angela Aman said she still has faith in San Francisco, where the artificial intelligence boom is boosting leasing activity and Mayor Daniel Lurie has allied himself with return-to-office crusaders by proposing city employees work in-person at least four days a week. 'We're very bullish about what we're seeing in the city of San Francisco from a leasing standpoint, and from a safety and vibrancy standpoint, particularly over the last few months,' Aman told investors in a conference call following the release of earnings. Data analytics platform Amplitude renewed 57,560 square feet at Kilroy's 201 Third Street in downtown San Francisco, the largest lease Kilroy has signed with any tenant in the city since 2019, according to Aman. And in Seattle, AI firm Databricks expanded its outpost at Kilroy's West8, a 539,226-square-foot office tower at 2001 8th Avenue that previously saw occupancy plunge to just 20 percent when Amazon left the property in 2023. 'We have numerous transactions right now that are promising,' said Robert Paratte, chief leasing officer at Kilroy, in the conference call. 'And I think it's going to be a matter of time before it plays out.' How those negotiations play out will be crucial to improve occupancy across Kilroy's office and life sciences portfolio, which fell to 81.4 percent last quarter from 83.9 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, and from 84.2 percent at the same time last year. Though the company signed 248,000 square feet worth of leases last quarter, tenants vacated another 216,000 square feet during the same period, Kilroy reported. Among those shrinking their footprint is California biotech company DermTech, which cut its staff by more than half when it filed for bankruptcy last year, and in April moved out of 81,000 square feet at Kilroy's 12340 El Camino Real, a 370,144-square-foot office complex in San Diego. And 23andMe, which is also undergoing restructuring through Chapter 11, will likely let go of 65,000 square feet at its 349 Oyster Point Boulevard headquarters in South San Francisco, according to Jeffrey Kuehling, Kilroy's CFO. Kuehling said the move-out will happen in the second quarter of 2025, and could continue to suppress occupancy across the company's entire portfolio. 'Obviously, if that happens in the quarter, you'll see the occupancy [in the portfolio] move down just a bit,' Kuehling said. 'When we think about the third quarter, I just want to remind everyone that we do have two development properties that will be coming into the stabilized pool, which will affect occupancy.' Those two projects are the 48,000-square-foot 4400 Bohannon Drive in San Francisco and the 52,000-square-foot 4690 Executive Drive in San Diego, according to Kilroy's public filing. The company paused its development pipeline last year, as TRD previously reported. And that won't change in 2025, company executives said in the conference call. In fact, Kilroy is looking to bring in about $150 million by handing off several development sites over the next year. The company is in contract to sell a portion of its 22-acre Santa Fe Summit site in San Diego for $38 million, chief investment officer Eliott Trencher told investors. It's unclear who is planning to buy the site. The Closing: Angela Aman Kilroy Realty won't start any new developments in 2024 SF's 86 AI office leases last year driving rebound This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Pamela Anderson reveals new career path despite scoring multiple film award nominations
was seemingly at the top of her game with a late-career triumph that brought her more acclaim than she had received in years. After the release of the well-reviewed drama The Last Showgirl in 2024, the 57-year-old actress received more award nominations for her lead performance than she had in her entire career up to that point. But now the film and television star is changing course with her career. On Monday, People reported that Anderson will be taking her acting talents to the stage when she appears in a new production of a classic play. She's reportedly joining the cast of a revival of the legendary playwright Tennessee Williams' drama Camino Real, which will be held at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The actress will be starring in the play — which premiered in its completed final form in 1953 — alongside Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who is best known for his buzzy role in the true-crime limited series Monsters: The Lyle and Erick Menendez Story. Although the play takes place in just one location, the show will feature an ensemble cast of 15 actors, and the theatre and opera director Dustin Wills will be helming the production. Chavez will be handling Camino Real's lead role as an American sailor named Kilroy. The play, which departs from the realism of some of William's better-known plays in favor of a surrealistic, dream-like style, features Kilroy exploring a plaza at the end of a road, the eponymous Camino Real. In addition to the characters population the nearly empty plaza, famous literary figures — including Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, the poet Lord Byron, Casanova and Esmeralda of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame fame — are featured in dream sequences. Anderson will be appearing as one of those literary figures: Marguerite 'Camille' Gautier, from Alexandre Dumas fils' novel The Lady of the Camellias. Anderson will be appearing in Camino Real in for three consecutive weekends, with evening performances on Saturdays and matinees on Saturdays and Sunday from July 19 through August 3. The Baywatch star has been away from the theatre for about three years after last playing Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway. The musical — which was adapted into the Oscar-winning film starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere — marked her debut on Broadway. 'I think I've been rehearsing my whole life for this,' she said of the musical in an interview with Vogue from March 2022. She admitted at the time that her casting was 'unexpected' for many theatergoers. Pamela has lately been experiencing a career renaissance following her turn on Broadway and her lead role in Gia Coppola's acclaimed film The Last Showgirl. The movie earned her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and earned her the best reviews of her career. Next up, she'll be turning toward over-the-top comedy to play a femme fatale mile-a-minute jokes in the reboot of The Naked Gun, which stars Liam Neeson and Paul Walter Hauser. The Schindler's List star told People in October that he was 'madly in love' with Anderson after their collaboration. 'She's just terrific to work with. I can't compliment her enough, I'll be honest with you. No huge ego,' he shared. 'She just comes in to do the work. She's funny and so easy to work with. She's going to be terrific in the film.' Pamela went on to call Neeson the 'perfect gentleman' and praised him for how he 'brings out the best in you.'
Chicago Tribune
15-03-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Bond between officers and horses in CPD's Mounted Patrol Unit is built on trust and training
At the sprawling South Shore Cultural Center, the early-morning sun casts a golden glow on the stables nestled just beyond the gated entrance. On this 20-degree Thursday, the waves of nearby Lake Michigan are frozen into tiny peaks, and 2 inches of snow covers the ground. At about 7 a.m., Sgt. Rishi Desai, an 18-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department who joined the Mounted Patrol Unit last year, opens the doors of the cozy stables to a scene more reminiscent of the gentle PBS production 'All Creatures Great and Small' than the gritty police drama 'Chicago P.D.' The 25 hardworking horses that reside here whinny as they greet their assigned officers, marking the start of their morning routines as they prepare for another day of training and duty here at the heart of CPD's storied mounted unit. 'When I come in for the day, Kilroy is already brimming with energy, a spring in his step as if to say, 'Hey, I'm ready for work, buddy,'' Desai said of his equine partner, a chestnut quarter horse that exudes confidence with his alert stance. 'Horses appreciate purpose, direction, structure and human interaction.' A black barn cat with large white spots, appropriately named Moo, emerges from under a wooden bench and stretches languidly before setting off on her morning rounds, weaving gracefully between the horses and brushing against her police officer friends' legs. The smell of fresh hay mingles with the crisp morning air as the horses finish breakfast, a carefully balanced diet of hay and grains, with a few apples and carrots for good measure. The unit officers gather to discuss the day's objectives, determining whether they will be patrolling the city, attending a ceremony or participating in a parade, while meticulously grooming their horses, brushing their coats, detangling their manes and picking their hooves. 'Grooming serves two purposes,' said Officer Jason Ayala, the unit's lead trainer. 'Not only do we want our horses to look dashing, but we're also inspecting for any ailments or injuries. We take immense pride in our horses' excellent health, reflected in their strength and beauty.' Chicago's equine protectors The horses are indeed a sight to behold. Ranging in age from 7 to 27, they've come from across the Midwest. For many, this is their chance at a second career. Some were racehorses, retired when their speed dropped; others worked on farms. The horses wait eagerly in their stalls, arranged around a central training arena, for their turn to train. Each horse is named after a fallen officer, and the entrance to each stall is adorned with a photo and information paying tribute to the officer. 1 of 26 Horse bridles are stored under their nametags in the Chicago Police Department's Mounted Unit stables at the South Shore Cultural Center. Horses are named after fallen Chicago police officers after they complete training. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) There's French, an elegant chocolate-brown mare named after Officer Ella French, who lost her life in the line of duty in August 2021. Noble quarter horses Marmolejo and Gary were named simultaneously in honor of Officers Eduardo Marmolejo and Conrad Gary, who were both killed on watch in December 2018. Desai's horse is named after Officer Raymond Carl Kilroy, who served with the Chicago Police Department for over 20 years and lost his life in May 1990 alongside his partner, Officer Gregory Hauser, as they responded to a domestic disturbance call. 'We take such care in naming the horses because it means so much to the fallen officer's family,' Ayala said. 'We make sure each horse has great potential before they're named. And when we recognize that potential, we're dedicated to putting in the hard work, training the horses to reach their fullest capabilities.' Ayala's jet-black quarter horse, Caspar, is steadfast. 'You could put him in the middle of a fireworks launch, and he wouldn't bat an eyelid,' Ayala said. Desai said the horse and rider need to build a connection before they are officially partnered. 'We call the bond of loyalty between the officer and the horse 'hand to hoof,'' he said. 'Forming that bond and commitment takes blood, sweat and tears.' The original SUV In the expansive exercise area at the center of the stables, officers and their partner horses practice morning training drills. A 14-week training program ensures that officers and their horses are prepared for duty, starting with the initial phase that focuses on establishing trust. Mounted officers train alongside their horses, mastering riding techniques, understanding equine behavior, developing patrol strategies and, perhaps most importantly, learning to communicate effectively. 'Ideal equine candidates for the unit are calm, confident and responsive, possessing a strong build, capable of navigating the city, and an unflappable attitude,' said Ayala, who served as a patrol officer in the 14th District before joining the unit. He became the lead trainer in 2007. 'Horses are the original SUV,' he said. 'Well-trained, they can outperform an SUV, and expertly maneuver Chicago's parks, the beach and busy city streets.' According to Desai, 'these are essentially the same qualities we look for in the officers interested in being part of the unit.' Learning to ride There are no requirements for the unit beyond having been a CPD officer for at least three years, Desai said. No riding experience is necessary. 'However, there is one extra value a potential mounted officer absolutely has to possess,' Desai said, 'a love for animals.' Desai himself had no prior experience with horses. 'Sometimes, the less you know, the better,' he said. The unit rides English style, Ayala said. 'Even if you have a little bit of experience with Western-style riding, which is more common in the U.S., you need to learn a completely new riding skill set,' Ayala said. 'It's not just about riding skills; you also need to be ready for the physically demanding daily tasks, like cleaning out your horse's stall.' The diversity within the unit and the beauty of the horses foster a connection with the community, Desai said. 'We have such a diverse group of mounted officers; Our unit truly represents the city of Chicago,' he said. 'All colors, backgrounds and neighborhoods are represented. This diversity helps people feel more comfortable engaging with us. Our horses' grace and beauty make them magnetic, which in turn helps us connect with people on a deeper level.' A department spokesperson said there are 20 mounted riders within the unit. Ayala emphasized that trust is key to the horse-and-rider relationship. 'When we need our horse to trot or slow down to a halt, they need to act on our cue immediately,' he said. 'It all boils down to the bond they have with their officer.' During the second phase of training, the horses take on more complex tasks that mirror real-life scenarios they may encounter on duty. 'They learn to navigate the streets and assist in crowd control,' Ayala said. 'Desensitization exercises gradually expose the horses to the sounds of Chicago — sirens, fireworks, construction noise, and even music — using a boom box.' The noise can take some getting used to. 'Initially, the horses might react like your grandpa hearing a loud hip-hop song for the first time,' Ayala said, laughing. 'He might not enjoy the music, but eventually, he learns to tune it out.' Ready for duty By 8 a.m., the officers and horses are typically ready to head out on patrol. In addition to routine patrols, the Mounted Patrol Unit performs crowd control during large-scale events, parades, protests and festivals. The unit also represents the police department at official ceremonies and memorial services. 'The mounted unit is a fantastic presence in our city,' said former 5th Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston, who was born and raised in South Shore and still lives in the community. 'They used to ride all around the city; not just downtown. And the children, especially, love to see the horses.' Hairston said she would like to see the mounted unit offer programming for youths. The last city-sponsored public riding stable, Lincoln Park's New Parkway Riding Stables, closed in 1967. 'We are one of the few cities with a park district-based equestrian facility,' she said. 'Let's take advantage of having a mounted unit in place at the South Shore Cultural Center and offer more equestrian opportunities for our youth. Horses bring so much joy; just spending time with them can be therapeutic.' Desai, too, said horses can enchant youths. 'People, especially children, are captivated by the horses,' he said. 'They're our ambassadors of goodwill, paving the way for positive relationships.' The inaugural unit The city's inaugural mounted police unit set off on patrol for the first time on Sept. 14, 1906. The unit was established to address congestion in the Loop, offering a unique solution to Chicago's early traffic woes. City streets were a chaotic mix of horse-drawn carriages, streetcars and early automobiles — often referred to as horseless carriages — which were primitive versions of cars powered by steam or gasoline engines. The day after the unit's debut, the Chicago Tribune marked the success with a bold headline: 'Mounted Police Do Good Work First Day in Saddle.' By 1948, the rise of motorized vehicles led to the unit being disbanded, replacing horses with motorcycles for more efficient urban patrol. However, the mounted unit returned in 1974, driven by the need for a more visible, approachable police presence. Evening rituals By 4 p.m., the day's patrol duties tend to wind down and the officers and horses return to the stables. It's time to thoroughly groom the horses again while also checking for signs of fatigue or injury. The officers review the day's activities and prepare for the next day's assignments. The horses have their own shower facilities with both hot and cold water. 'They're just like us,' Desai said. 'They like to warm up with a hot shower in the winter and a refreshing, cool shower after a long day of work in the summer.' The horses enjoy dinner — the same regimen as their morning meal — along with some fresh hay; then they settle in for a little alone time before bed. 'Horses typically sleep standing up,' Ayala said. 'But our horses sure do like their soft, comfy bedding.' By the end of the training program, the bond between each officer and horse is unbreakable, Ayala said. 'They emerge not just as partners, but as a cohesive unit, ready to tackle any challenge that comes their way,' he said. 'These horses stand tall, proud, with unwavering loyalty and professionalism, ready to serve Chicago with pride.'
