Category: US

A New Jersey teacher’s mysterious death was ruled a homicide after police found her body in a shallow grave, and a search is underway for her killer. 

Luz Hernandez, a 33-year-old mom of three and teacher at BelovED Charter School, died from “blunt force trauma to the head and compressions to the neck,” the Hudson County District Attorney said Thursday evening. 

Police also found “blood splatters” on the door of her apartment, according to NJ.com.

MISSING NEW JERSEY KINDERGARTEN TEACHER FOUND DEAD IN SHALLOW GRAVE

Luz Hernandez, 33, a mother of three and a teacher at BelovED Charter School, was found dead on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023.  (Facebook/ Luz Hernandez)

Police conducted a welfare check home at her Jersey City home on Tuesday after she didn’t show up to work and found her body later that evening. 

Hernandez has been missing since the weekend, according to police, and was officially reported missing on Monday. 

Hernandez started at the school after graduating from Saint Peter’s University in 2017, according to NJ.com. She initially worked as a teacher’s assistant.

911 CALL IN MURDER-SUICIDE REVEALS VIOLENCE IN WEALTHY FAMILY

“People loved her. She was a wonderful co-worker,” BelovED founder Bret Schunder said of Hernandez, according to the report. “She was a beloved member of the BelovED family. People are feeling devastated by this.”

According to Nj.com, BelovED Charter School was closed Wednesday as a gesture to honor her loss.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said the body of Luz Hernandez, 33, was found in what appeared to be a “shallow grave.” (Facebook/ Luz Hernandez)

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit is actively investigating this case with assistance from the Jersey City Police Department and the Kearny Police Department. 

No arrests have been made at this time. 

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Anyone with information is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip at: http://www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/. 

All information will be kept confidential.

Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts will make history Sunday when they become the first two Black quarterbacks to start a single Super Bowl as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.

For Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon, he had to make sure it hadn’t been done before.

Moon accomplished a lot in his stellar NFL career. He spent five seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League and won five Grey Cups. He joined the Houston Oilers in 1984 and played there until 1993. He then played for the Minnesota Vikings from 1994 to 1996. He would spend two years with the Seattle Seahawks and finish his career with two more seasons with the Chiefs.

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Warren Moon gives acceptance speech at NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio on Saturday, August 5, 2006. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)

After nine Pro Bowls and an NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, his legacy was cemented in 2006 when he became the first Black quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Moon told Fox News Digital in a recent interview that he had to check the record books again just to make sure the anticipated matchup hadn’t already been done before.

“I was watching the AFC Championship, and when the Chiefs won, that was the first thing on the top of my head. I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, has this ever happened before? There’s going to be two Black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl?’ And then I started going back over the Super Bowls because I knew there was a number of Black quarterbacks that had played it but never against each other. So, then I just got really proud there for a moment,” he said.

The former superstar said he was watching the game with fellow Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis and five-time Pro Bowler Mark Clayton when the Chiefs solidified the victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon (1), elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2006, fires a pass during the AFC Divisional Playoff, a 26-24 loss to the Denver Broncos on January 4, 1992, at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado. (William R. Sallaz/Getty Images)

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“We all just started high-fiving each other and just were really happy for the fact that this is really finally happening because it is history,” Moon said. “And for me, I just had a sense of pride that everything that I went through trying to play the position of quarterback, people telling me that I couldn’t, happen to go to another country, all the different things I went through on my journey, and then the guys before me like Shack Harris and Marlin Briscoe and Joe Gilliam, and knowing what those guys went through, it was just a very proud moment for me that all of our trailblazing have not gone in vain.”

Moon didn’t think the storyline would add any extra pressure to either quarterback.

Mahomes is set to appear in his third Super Bowl and is going after his second ring. Hurts is after his first ring in his first Super Bowl. The rest is just outside chatter.

Jalen Hurts #1 of the Philadelphia Eagles speaks with Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs at Footprint Center on February 6, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

“I think if anything, it lets them relax a little bit,” Moon explained to Fox News Digital. “They don’t feel like they’re the only one in the game, that they’re the only Black quarterback in the game. One of those guys is going to win. They both have great respect for one another. I think it’s more of a history-type thing to the fans and to the media. It’s a great storyline to talk about this week, just like the Kelce brothers and Andy Reid going to play against his former team. A lot of great storylines to this game, but this is pretty historic because it’s never happened before.”

EAGLES GREAT BRIAN WESTBROOK ‘VERY CONFIDENT’ TEAM CAN WIN SUPER BOWL, SHARES ADVICE TO NEWCOMERS

With the NFL world putting more scrutiny on giving more minorities roles in the coaching and front-office ranks, Moon said he hopes the Super Bowl moment will lead to a ripple effect across the league in all its aspects.

“I’m hoping so. We did get another African-American coach hired this year, and we had an African-American general manager going to the Tennessee Titans,” he said. “There’s some progress being made. It’s slow, but it is progress. We just have to keep trucking along.”

“I think the more we can get African Americans, either front-office people or coaches or whatever, in front of owners and let them get a chance to see who these guys are and what their personalities are all about, I think that has a lot to do with it because look at the Houston Texans hire (DeMeco Ryans). He played for the Houston Texans. They know him, they’re comfortable with him, they know his character and they know his personality. That made it easy for them to pick him as a head coach because of that familiarity. That’s what it’s going to take for other African-American coaches to get those opportunities because you have to remember they’re being hired by White men, and you’re going to usually hire whoever you feel comfortable. Unless they have that comfort with you, you’re probably not going to get the job over somebody else.”

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The Chiefs and Eagles will meet in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on FOX.

A former Massachusetts school superintendent was convicted by a jury Thursday of indecent assault and battery for inappropriately touching an employee in his office.

Frederick Foresteire, 79, who led the city of Everett’s schools from 1989 until his resignation in 2018 when the assault allegations first came to light, was sentenced to 18 months in jail with 90 days to serve and the balance suspended for two years. He must also register as a sex offender.

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Foresteire was found guilty of indecently assaulting the 41-year-old female victim multiple times in 2017 and 2018.

Former Everett, Massachusetts, school district superintendent Frederick Foresteire was convicted of battery Thursday.

The victim worked for him at the Everett Public School Administration Building, according to prosecutors. The allegations included that the defendant touched her buttocks on various dates in the School Administration Building where they worked.

MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS’ UNION BEGS FOR CASH AFTER BEING FORCED TO HANDOVER $300K FOR ILLEGAL STRIKE

Foresteire took the stand in his own defense to deny inappropriately touching the woman.

Foresteire was placed on leave by the Everett School Committee in September 2018 and announced his retirement several days later.

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There are two additional counts of indecent assault and battery pending against Foresteire, involving two other former female employees, according to prosecutors. The second case against the Foresteire has been set for trial on Feb. 15.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

The day Lindsay Clancy allegedly killed her three children and paralyzed herself when she attempted suicide started when she built a snowman with her 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. 

That was outside the Clancys’ Duxbury, Massachusetts home the morning of Jan. 24, prosecutors said during Tuesday’s arraignment in Plymouth County District Court.

At 4:02 p.m., the 32-year-old nurse searched on her phone about kids’ MiraLAX and takeout restaurants, according to prosecutors, who alleged this was the beginning of a murderous plot to kill her children.

By 6:11 p.m., her husband, Patrick Clancy, was on the phone with 911 screaming for help when he found his wife in the backyard after she jumped from their bedroom window. 

LINDSAY CLANCY’S HUSBAND ‘BEGGED KIDS TO BREATHE’ AFTER MA MOM ALLEGEDLY ‘HEARD VOICES TO KILL THEM

Lindsay and Patrick Clancy with two of their three children in this undated photo (Lindsay Marie Clancy/Facebook)

He was still on the phone with 911 emergency personnel when he screamed after finding his children with exercise ropes around their necks, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors detailed what happened in the two-plus hours that began with Lindsay’s internet searches and ended with Patrick’s 54-minute trip from their house to CVS, to the restaurant and back.  

4:02 p.m. and 4:13 p.m. internet searches

Lindsay Clancy searched on her phone about kids’ MiraLAX, which is a laxative, then searched “takeout ThreeV,” prosecutors said.

“Immediately after that, she used Apple Maps on her phone to determine how long it would take someone to drive from her home in Duxbury to ThreeV Restaurant in Plymouth, so she would know how long someone would be gone if they ran that errand,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said. 

Lindsay Clancy’s three children: 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 7-month-old Callan. (Lindsay Marie Clancy/Facebook)

4:47 p.m. call to CVS

Clancy allegedly searched the CVS website and then called the Kingston pharmacy and talked to the manager about the MiraLAX, according to prosecutors. 

“According to the manager of CVS, her voice did not sound slurred or impaired in any way,” Sprague said. “She had no trouble understanding the defendant, and it was a perfectly normal conversation.”

MASSACHUSETTS MOM LINDSAY CLANCY’S 911 DISPATCH REVEALS FRANTIC FIRST RESPONDERS

4:53 to 5:10 p.m. 

Clancy’s husband was working from home in his basement office, and she allegedly asked him to go to CVS and pick up takeout at ThreeV Restaurant in a text, saying, “I didn’t cook anything. It’s been a long day,” prosecutors said. 

He obliged. 

At 5:06 p.m., he asked her what she wanted to eat, and she responded. Once they got their orders together, she called the restaurant at 5:10 p.m.

Lindsay Clancy with two of her three children in this undated photo. (Lindsay Marie Clancy/Facebook)

5:15 to 5:37 p.m.

Patrick left the house at 5:15 p.m. and was seen on surveillance footage in the Kingston CVS at 5:32 p.m.

He called Lindsay at 5:33 p.m., but she didn’t answer, according to prosecutors. 

She called back a minute later, and they spoke for 14 seconds about which medication to get. “It was a completely normal call,” Sprague said. 

“Although he did mention that she seemed like she was in the middle of something,” she added.

Patrick was seen leaving CVS at 5:37 p.m.

CLANCY KILLINGS: JUDGE ALLOWS FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST TO EVALUATE MOM ACCUSED OF STRANGLING HER 3 KIDS

Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mom accused of killing her children, is arraigned from a hospital bed Feb. 7, 2023. (Plymouth County District Court)

5:54 p.m. food pickup

Patrick is seen on security footage picking up the food at this time, and he’s in and out “within a minute.”

“When he arrived home, the first thing he noticed was the silence,” Sprague said. “He did not see or hear the defendant or the children.”

6:09 p.m. Patrick calls Lindsay

Because of the unusual silence, Patrick called Lindsay, but there was no answer. He searched the house for her and discovered their bedroom door was locked, according to prosecutors. 

He was able to get inside and saw blood on the floor in front of a mirror and an open window. 

He ran downstairs to the backyard, where he found his wife. 

6:11 p.m. 911 call

Patrick called 911 and said that there were wounds on his wife’s wrist and neck, but they appeared to be dried up, and she was conscious but injured. 

On the phone, emergency personnel heard Patrick ask Lindsay, “What did you do?”

She responded, “I tried to kill myself and jump out the window,” Sprague said. 

He was still on the phone when he asked Lindsay where the kids were. 

“He later told police that she replied, ‘In the basement,'” Sprague said. 

MASSACHUSETTS CLANCY KILLINGS: MOTHERS’ MURDERS ‘UNLIKE ANY OTHER TYPE OF HOMICIDE,’ ANDREA YATES’ LAWYER SAYS

Patrick was still on the phone with 911 dispatchers when he ran downstairs to the basement and found his three children with exercise cords around their necks, prosecutors said. 

“He can be heard screaming in agony, in shock as he found his children,” Sprague said. “His scream seemed to get louder and more agonized as the time passes. …. He removed the bands and begged them to breathe.”

Cora, 5, and Dawson, 3, died in a hospital. Seven-month-old Callan survived three more days before he died. 

Lindsay Clancy holding her youngest child, Callan, who was 7 months old when he died.  (Lindsay Marie Clancy/Facebook)

Jan. 27

Lindsay woke up in the hospital but couldn’t speak, prosecutors said. The first thing she wrote on a whiteboard was, “Do I need a lawyer,” Sprague said.

Jan. 28

In a statement on a GoFundMe page, Patrick said he forgave his wife and asked others to do the same. 

“The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone — me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients,” he wrote. “The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace.”

Feb. 7

Lindsay appeared from her hospital bed via Zoom in Plymouth County District Court for her arraignment, when she was charged with two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation, and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Chief John Kelley of the Wareham Fire Department attends a candlelight vigil for Cora Clancy, 5, and Dawson Clancy, 3, as the community sends prayers and support to the Clancy family Jan. 26, 2023. (Wareham Fire Department)

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A plea of not guilty on all charges was entered on her behalf, and the judge didn’t set monetary bail. 

Lindsay is paralyzed from the waist down, according to her defense attorney Kevin Reddington, who said she has a history of struggling with her mental health and has been overmedicated, which turned her into a “zombie.”

“This is a significant issue between the postpartum depression, as well as possibly postpartum psychosis, that is pretty much ignored,” added Reddington, who called this a “tragic” case and an example of a “flawed” mental health care system. 

Prosecutors said Clancy was never diagnosed with postpartum depression, though.

“The defendant did not take advantage of the situation when her husband left the home that night. She created it,” Sprague said.

A Minnesota woman who asked a store clerk for ammunition that would “blow the biggest hole” was found guilty Wednesday of fatally shooting her 6-year-old son just 10 days after regaining full custody of him, in a case that raised questions about the conduct of child welfare workers.

Jurors in Hennepin County District Court deliberated for less than two hours before finding Julissa Thaler, a 29-year-old Spring Park woman with a history of mental illness and drug abuse, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Eli Hart.

The charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 16.

Investigators said Eli was shot inside his mother’s car in a parking lot at Lake Minnetonka Regional Park in Minnetrista. Police found the body in the trunk May 20 after pulling her over for a traffic violation.

During closing arguments, defense lawyer Bryan Leary said she participated in the boy’s death but was not the one who shot him. He said no eyewitnesses, photos or videos connected her to the killing, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

MINNESOTA AG ELLISON’S OFFICE MAY SOON RECEIVE MILLIONS IN FUNDING FROM LEGISLATURE

“She’s not charged with the crime they have proved,” Leary said. “She destroyed evidence, lied to police, ran away, but they have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the gun was in her hands when it was fired nine times into her son.”

Thaler did not testify, and her defense called no witnesses.

Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Dan Allard said overwhelming evidence, including cellphone data linking her to all the sites involved in the death, showed Thaler killed her son, either for life insurance money, because of her mental health or after the stress of a custody battle with the boy’s father.

A Minnesota woman was found guilty of killing her 6-year-old son. (Fox News)

He noted that the boy’s DNA was found in Thaler’s hair and on her skin and clothes. If if she didn’t shoot him, Allard said, why didn’t she tell police when pulled over, “Oh my God, someone shot my son — he’s in the trunk!”

MINNESOTA MAN CONVICTED OF NORTH DAKOTA TRIPLE HOMICIDE GETS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Her ex-boyfriend, Tory Hart, a bait and tackle shop manager from Chetek, Wisconsin, has filed a lawsuit alleging that child welfare workers ignored warning signs before his son’s death. He had filed a petition seeking custody shortly before the killing and at trial told jurors his son was “everything to me.”

Hart’s lawsuit and other documents obtained by the Star Tribune spell out a string of issues.

Among other things, police responded to Thaler’s Farmington home 21 times in 10 months, she was arrested for stealing drugs from a health clinic and had to find a new drug-testing facility because of “bizarre behavior.”

Thaler lost custody of Eli twice, first in October 2020 and then for most of 2021.

Robert Pikkarainen, another ex-boyfriend of Thaler, testified at trial that she and Eli had an argument the night before he died because he didn’t want to go to bed.

She left the apartment and put a recently purchased shotgun in the car, grabbed her son and went downstairs, he said.

Pikkarainen, who was not charged, said he fell asleep and asked where she had gone when he woke up the next morning.

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“She was kind of like, ‘I had to go do something,’” Pikkarainen said.

Later that day Thaler was stopped while driving with one tire completely gone, the rim scraping the road and the back windshield blown out.

Officers escorted her home before they continued searching her vehicle. Eli’s body was in the trunk wrapped in a blanket.

The Internal Revenue Service was slammed on Twitter after the government agency proposed a new reporting program for workers who receive tips.

The program would track point-of-sale data provided by employers in order to ensure that service workers like waiters, many of whom are paid less than minimum wage and rely on gratuity from customers, are paying taxes on the tips they receive. 

President Biden previously promised that new funding provided to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act would not be used to target Americans making under $400,000 per year. This latest development, conservatives argue, represents a violation of that promise.

“The IRS, flush with a boosted enforcement budget that they totally promise is to go after rich people has… announced a crackdown on service industry tipped workers,” Kevin Glass, a conservative commentator, remarked.

REPUBLICANS BLAST BIDEN ADMIN OVER PLAN TO CRACK DOWN ON WAITERS’ TIPS

This photo taken April 13, 2014 shows the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Washington. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

“Those 87,000 new IRS agents that you were promised would only target the rich… They’re coming after waitresses’ tips now: ‘monitoring of employer compliance based on actual annual tip revenue and charge tip data from an employer’s point-of-sale system.'” Mike Palicz, director of tax policy at Americans for Tax Reform, tweeted.

Matt Whitlock, a GOP communications veteran, added, “The ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ everyone. Sending the super-sized IRS after waitress tips to pay for electric Bentleys for the wealthy.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted, “Stop the presses. No need to raise the debt limit. Biden is going after those billionaire waitresses’ tips.”

John Bhasham, a U.S. Army veteran and conservative commentator, retorted that Biden is going to make “rich waitresses” pay their fair share.

“BREAKING: @JoeBiden, Who Promised In LAST NIGHT’s State Of The Union That New Tax Policies WILL ONLY TARGET PEOPLE WHO MAKE MORE THAN $400,000/yr Now Has The #IRS Targeting #Waiters & #Waitresses TIPS! FINALLY, WE’RE GONNA TAKE DOWN THE RICH WAITRESSES AT WAFFLEHOUSE!” he tweeted.

WHITE HOUSE DODGES QUESTION ON BIDEN’S $250K LINE OF CREDIT AGAINST DELAWARE BEACH HOME AMID SCANDALS

Biden’s IRS is looking to crack down on waiters’ tips. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images  |  Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Commentator Carol Roth, criticized the government for targeting middle class Americans instead of the wealthy. 

“We are going after ‘billionaires’ is a trick they use to get you to give up your principles so they can come after you. The govt isn’t looking to expand IRS staff and programs because of ‘billionaires’. They aren’t going after the wealthy; they are creating barriers for you,” Roth tweeted.

Mostly Peaceful Memes, a popular conservative account whose name is a play on CNN’s “mostly peaceful protest” headline against the backdrop of burning cars during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, tweeted, “I was told all those new IRS agents were gonna go after billionaires.”

“@JoeBiden’s IRS has no business going after waiters’ tips,” Citizens Against Government Waste tweeted.

President Biden speaks at the White House. (Fox News)

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This is the latest public controversy for the Biden administration, which has presided over the Chinese spy balloon infiltration into the United States, the southern border crisis, depleting military reserves as aid is shipped to Ukraine, depleting oil reserves after Biden released them into the market just before the midterms and also sold them to China, and various other scandals.