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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Loved ones honor mother found dead at L.A. homeless encampment as questions linger
Loved ones held a vigil Friday night to honor the life of a 46-year-old mother who was found dead at a homeless encampment in Los Angeles, as questions remain over her cause of death. Held at the site where the body of Lucrecia Macias Barajas was found, friends and family shared their fondest memories of the U.S. Army veteran and mother of six children. 'She had her whole life ahead of her,' said Amely Becerra, the woman's daughter. 'She was still so young.' Her daughters said Barajas left her home on the Saturday before Mother's Day, and that was the last time they heard from her. After she was missing for several days and family members were unable to reach her, they eventually traced her cell phone signal to an encampment on Huntley Drive in the Westlake District near downtown L.A. Inside a locked tent, they found the bodies of Barajas and her male friend, whose identity was not released. Neighbors said at least one of the bodies had been partially eaten by dogs. Video of the scene showed Barajas' youngest daughter wailing with grief, imploring police to take her mother's body out of the tent. Officers, however, waited because two live dogs, a pit bull mix and a shepherd mix, one of whom reportedly bit into Barajas' body, were still in the tent. Her daughter told the Los Angeles Times that her mother's body wasn't removed from the tent until early the next day, after animal services, who are now holding the dogs as evidence, responded to the scene. Both Barajas' and the male victim's corpses were in the tent with the dogs for at least eight hours after they were found, her family said. Her daughters said they're unsure why their mother went to the encampment that day, but they believe the circumstances surrounding her death are suspicious. Los Angeles police detectives are reportedly investigating the case as a suspected overdose, but her family believes homicide shouldn't be ruled out and that there may be evidence of foul play. One of their issues with the alleged 'overdose investigation' is that the tent in which their mother and the man were found was secured with a lock on the outside of the entrance, presumably suggesting a third party could have bolted it as they left the scene. In addition, a neighbor told The Times that he and his girlfriend were awakened at around 3:30 a.m. that morning by sounds of a man and woman arguing, followed by a woman's screams for help before they heard silence. 'We have a lot of questions,' said Raul Claros, Founder/Director of California Rising. 'First, of what happened when she left the home — the timeline between when she left home and when she showed up [at the encampment].' Born in Nicaragua, Barajas fled with her family in 1986 amid the country's civil war. She later joined the U.S. Army between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Her daughters told The Times that they believe their mother started using methamphetamine in 2017 as a way to manage raising six children, working full-time and battling stage 3 lymphoma. The children were reportedly unaware of their mother's drug use, though they said she eventually became sober. Barajas' loved ones described her as a generous person who often delivered food to those struggling on the streets. 'Lucrecia was a wonderful person and served our country,' said Stephanie Torres, a longtime friend. 'She doesn't deserve to be swept under the rug. No, we're not going to let that happen.' The homeless encampment where Barajas was found has remained a chronic issue for many residents, who say the area attracts criminal activity, drug use and safety hazards. Neighbors said the area has been neglected by city officials and despite repeated complaints, nothing is being done to curb the growing problems. 'The family and the community believe that if these encampments were not here, these two individuals would still be alive,' Claros said. Barajas' daughters said they've spoken with LAPD detectives about the investigation and presented their theories on what they believe might have happened to their mother. 'That's all I want, is justice, and that my mother's memory won't fade,' Becerra said. L.A. city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the Westlake District, told The Times in a statement that she has spoken with LAPD and is working to 'ensure the family gets the answers they deserve.' 'I want people to know she wasn't a homeless drug addict, because that's not true,' Becerra said. 'Some people are coming to that conclusion, and that's not fair. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.' The cause of death for Barajas and the unidentified man remains under investigation. A GoFundMe page to help her family with funeral expenses can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Who is Michael Kelley, the man questioned over the murder of Michael Gaine?
It is a drizzly morning in Tralee and few people seem to be paying much attention to the tall, bearded man in rain gear. He is making his way across The Square in the Co Kerry town, just another person going about their business on another grey Irish day. The man is Michael Kelley (53), a US army veteran from Maine, a northeastern state, but now resident in Tralee. He is, to date, the only man to have been questioned about the murder of Kerry farmer Mike Gaine (56) whose dismembered remains were found two weeks ago at his farm outside Kenmare, two months after he went missing. READ MORE Kelley, standing 6ft tall and lean and muscular, is firm but polite when approached by The Irish Times and other media, saying he will not be doing any other interviews beyond what he has told The Irish Daily Mirror some days earlier. He confirms that his reported comments are correct and that he was arrested by gardaí for questioning about Gaine's murder. He denied any involvement in the killing during nine interviews over 24 hours of questioning by gardaí. [ American man Michael Kelley (53) confirms he was suspect arrested for questioning about Michael Gaine Opens in new window ] Kelley has alleged he is being framed for the crime by criminals. 'There may be elements that want to string me up – people who have an interest in organised crime – people who are involved in organised crime,' he has said. He is calm and relaxed. He says he has been playing traditional Irish music, having been photographed playing the flute with a local busker some days earlier. Michael Kelley busking on the streets of Tralee, Co Kerry. Photograph: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus As he agrees to pose for a photograph, he jokes that he will have to 'start charging $10 for pictures'. Little is known about Kelley, who has become the suspect in an investigation into Gaine's gruesome murder. Kelley, whose ancestors are understood to be from east Galway, grew up in a rural part of the US, outside the small village of Swanville, which has a population of about 1,500 and is in Waldo County in central Maine, about a two-hour drive northeast of Portland, the state's capital and largest city. He was born on July 27th, 1971, the second child born to New Yorkers Patrick and Janice Kelley, who moved to Maine in 1967 with Janice's son, Damon, from her first marriage. The family settled on a five-acre holding at Upper Oak Hill Road in Swanville. [ Michael Gaine case: Investigators believe most human remains at farm have been recovered Opens in new window ] Janice Kelley had lived in the East Village in New York with her first husband and she stayed there after their marriage ended, becoming acquainted with many of the folk musicians on the coffee shop circuit and some of the leading figures in the 1960s counterculture scene before they became famous. She participated in the famous 1963 March on Washington, where she heard Martin Luther King make his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. This was to inform her political thinking in later life, when she became an ardent Democrat strongly opposed to Republican Donald Trump. Michael Kelley and his mother Janice in 2018 posted on Facebook She and her husband set up a small business where she would design houses and he, a skilled carpenter, would build them. She taught her children an appreciation of nature and growing their own food. Janice and Patrick Kelley divorced in 1974, and she moved with the children to Washington, Maine, but returned to Swanville in 1981, where she opened a second-hand store where people could buy music and jewellery as well as rock crystals and gemstones from around the world. What role or influence Janice Kelley's politics and philosophy had on her son Michael is unclear, but in 1991, aged just 19, he found himself in the US army on a military base in Germany, where, when not on sentry duty, he watched as the first Gulf war unfolded in Kuwait and Iraq. Kelley told the Irish Daily Mirror he never killed anyone when in the army and became a conscientious objector when he saw the horror of the 'Highway of Death', when hundreds of Iraqi troops were killed at night in February 1991 by American war planes as they retreated from Kuwait. What Kelley did after he quit the US army is unclear. He seems to have kept a low profile for more than a decade. On April 6th, 2006, he married Karen Harden in Northport, Maine. The couple divorced on June 23rd, 2014. On December 22nd, 2009, he found himself the subject of critical comments from Judge Donald G Alexander of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court after he appealed a decision by Judge Michael Westcott of Maine District Court over the custody of his two daughters. The judge's criticisms are outlined in a detailed eight-page published judgment . Michael Gaine, whose remains were found earlier this month, more than two months after the 56-year-old sheep farmer was last spotted in a supermarket in Kenmare Kelley had been in a romantic relationship with a woman called Alicia Snow, and they had two daughters. After they separated Kelley brought a parental-rights action over his right of access to the children, who were living with their mother, a qualified nurse. Initially the relationship between the separated couple was cordial but Kelley later claimed that Snow had breached the court order, which ruled that the children could live with her, when she took them on a visit out of state to Chicago, Illinois, to their grandfather without Kelley's consent. Judge Westcott found for Snow in the initial hearing. Kelley appealed it to the state supreme court, where he represented himself. He called his wife, Karen, as a witness. After hearing testimony from both sides, including Snow and her father, Judge Alexander affirmed the earlier court order. He said that Kelley's allegations and fears that Snow intended to move out of the state with the children were 'unfounded'. He concluded that Kelley's ability to determine fact from fiction was 'questionable', and that both Kelley's testimony and that of his wife was 'untrustworthy'. Undated photograph of Michael Kelley posted in October 2017 on the Facebook page of a relative. He said Kelley was an inflexible parent 'who makes false allegations that Snow is a witch and that she practises witchcraft on the children', while he also found that Kelley refused 'to take responsibility for his role in this conflict'. It suited Kelley to be living off the grid as he wanted to be under the radar — A local in Kenmare Judge Alexander agreed with Judge Westcott when he 'specifically stated why it did not find the testimony of Kelley and wife to be credible, including the unsupported allegations that Snow is casting spells on the children and an unwillingness to take responsibility for conflicts.' Attempts by The Irish Times to contact Alicia Snow and her attorney Thomas F Shehan proved unsuccessful, but Kelley did confirm to the Irish Daily Mirror that he had lost custody of his children, now adults with whom he is in contact, after falsely claiming their mother was a witch. Kelley says he arrived in Ireland seven years ago. From inquiries by The Irish Times, it appears he first surfaced in Kenmare about six years ago, squatting on a boat while working for a man harvesting kelp in Kenmare Bay. Garda forensics specialists at Michael Gaine's farm at Carrig East near Kenmare where partial human remains were discovered. Photograph: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus When that job ended, he reportedly lived in a shed in Templenoe, a village about eight kilometres along the Ring of Kerry route west of Kenmare, before taking up residence three km away in Scully's Wood near Dromquinna. There, he lived in a tent and reportedly used survivalist skills to live off wildlife. It was while he was there that he met Mike Gaine. 'Mike was out shooting deer with a friend in Scully's Wood when they came across Kelley,' says one local. 'It was around 2022 and Mike offered him the use of his old, abandoned family farmhouse at Carrig East in return for doing jobs around the farm and Kelley agreed.' Gaine's farm at Carrig East is about seven kilometres from Kenmare, near Moll's Gap, the scenic spot popular with tourists. 'Kelley used to earn his keep working for Mike, feeding the animals and such like. They used to go hunting together – it was a very informal, loose arrangement, there was no lease, no contract – it suited Kelley to be living off the grid as he wanted to be under the radar,' says the local. 'There was no electricity in the farmhouse, but that didn't seem to bother him – he was rarely in town – Mike used to drive him every so often in to Aldi or Lidl to do his shopping, but beyond that he never hung around, never went into pubs. 'He was just this very reclusive American drifter.' Kelley told the Irish Daily Mirror that he applied for asylum when he first arrived in Ireland but had been refused. Garda sources confirmed he was served with deportation order four weeks ago, though he remains living in Tralee. 'I've asked for an ombudsman to review my asylum but that's gone nowhere,' he said. 'I'm not surprised – I may have a claim to Irish citizenship based on the standing laws of this country based on my ancestry ... [but] I don't see that they are going to deport me in the middle of this case.'
Phone Arena
12-05-2025
- Phone Arena
Family uses AI to present message in court from loved one no longer alive
Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us and while some use it to create funny animated pictures of themselves, others use it to "bring back" their loved ones that have departed. Maybe we've hit a new frontier in courtroom proceedings – recently, a simulated version of a deceased man created with AI spoke directly to his assailant during a sentencing hearing in Arizona. The AI-generated avatar of Christopher Pelkey, developed by his family, was presented in Maricopa County Superior Court, just before Gabriel Paul Horcasitas was sentenced for fatally shooting Pelkey during a 2021 road-rage incident. The digital recreation of Pelkey appeared on video wearing a green sweatshirt and a full beard, standing against a plain white background. Early in the video, the avatar clarified that it was an AI representation, a point made clear by minor audio irregularities and imperfect synchronization of speech and facial movements. In the message, the avatar expressed a sense of tragic irony about the encounter, suggesting that under different circumstances, they might have become friends. Pelkey, a 37-year-old US Army veteran, lost his life in the incident. His family chose to create the AI message to honor his memory and articulate their pain. Since the video was not used as evidence, the court allowed greater flexibility in presenting it during the sentencing phase. Horcasitas, who had already been found guilty of manslaughter and endangerment, received a sentence of ten and a half years in state Wales, Pelkey's sister, wrote the script for the avatar after finding it difficult to fully express her grief in her own words. Although she admitted she could not forgive Horcasitas, she believed her brother would have taken a more empathetic approach. The video, she explained, was meant to remind the court of her brother's humanity and the lasting impact of the tragedy. She worked with her husband and a friend, both of whom are in the tech industry, to produce the use of generative AI in this case introduces a new and emotionally charged way of applying technology in the legal system. While courts have been cautious about AI, especially after incidents where lawyers used fake cases created by AI, this new use without evidence adds another level of Surden, a law professor at the University of Colorado, pointed out that using generative AI in court raises ethical concerns. He explained that simulated content can skip over careful thinking and appeal directly to emotions, making it more powerful – and possibly more problematic – than regular evidence. He stressed that while these tools may seem real, they are still made up and should be treated as such. Image credit – OpenAI Let's hope nobody is in the aforementioned situation, but if you want to give AI videos a try, you could do so by using ChatGPT, for example – it's a straightforward process that combines AI-generated content with video creation to do: Generate a script: Use ChatGPT to create a script for your video. Choose a text-to-video tool: Pick a text-to-videoplatform. Customize and edit: Adjust voiceovers, visuals, and background music. Export and share: Export the video and upload it to platforms like YouTube. First, you'll use ChatGPT to generate a script for your video. Then, you can choose a text-to-video platform (you can find those online) to convert the script into a video, adjusting settings such as voiceovers and visuals. Finally, after previewing and editing the video, you can export it and share it across platforms like YouTube or social media.
Free Malaysia Today
12-05-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Murdered Arizona man ‘returns' to address killer in court
Christopher Pelkey was shot and killed in a 2021 road-rage incident. (AP pic) CHANDLER : A simulation of a dead man created by artificial intelligence addressed his killer in an Arizona court this month, in what appears to be one of the first such instances in a US courtroom. Made by his family, an AI-generated avatar of Christopher Pelkey spoke in Maricopa county superior court on May 1, as a judge prepared to sentence Gabriel Paul Horcasitas for shooting and killing Pelkey in a 2021 road-rage incident. 'It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,' the Pelkey avatar says in the video. 'In another life, we probably could have been friends.' The Pelkey avatar appears in the video sporting a long beard and green sweatshirt against a white backdrop. He cautions at the start that he is an AI-version of Pelkey, which is apparent through the gaps in audio and slightly mismatched movement of his mouth. Pelkey, a US army veteran, was 37 at the time of the shooting. The video marked a novel use of AI in the legal system, which has viewed the rapidly growing technology with a mix of fascination and trepidation. Courts generally have strict rules on the types of information that can be presented in legal proceedings, and several lawyers have been sanctioned after AI systems created fake cases that they cited in legal briefs. Pelkey's relatives were given more leeway to present the AI-generated video to the judge at sentencing, given that it was not evidence in the case. Horcasitas, who was sentenced to 10.5 years in state prison, had already been convicted on manslaughter and endangerment charges. Pelkey's sister Stacey Wales said she scripted the AI-generated message after struggling to convey years of grief and pain in her own statement. She said she was not ready to forgive Horcasitas, but felt her brother would have a more understanding outlook. 'The goal was to humanise Chris, to reach the judge, and let him know his impact on this world and that he existed,' she told Reuters. Generative AI, Wales said, is 'just another avenue that you can use to reach somebody'. Wales said she worked with her husband and a family friend, who all work in the tech industry, to create it. Harry Surden, a law professor at the University of Colorado, said the use of generative AI material in court raises ethical concerns, as others may seek to use those tools to play on the emotions of judges and juries. The content is a simulation of reality, not the verified evidence that courts typically assess, Surden said. 'What we're seeing is the simulations have gotten so good that it completely bypasses our natural scepticism and goes straight to our emotion,' he said.
