A Long Island architect who lived a secret life as the Gilgo Beach serial killer is being sentenced in the deaths of eight women. Rex Heuermann faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he goes before a judge Wednesday in Riverhead, New York. Heuermann admitted in April that he strangled the women, many of them sex workers, and dismembered some of their bodies before dumping them on a desolate parkway not far from Long Island’s Gilgo Beach. Police began to suspect a possible serial killer in 2010 after discovering the remains of multiple victims along a remote beach parkway.

AP Top Story Wire
  • Updated

Court papers say law enforcement officials disrupted a planned attack targeting the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend. Papers unsealed Tuesday say plotters spoke of flying explosives-laden drones and shooting panicked crowd members as they fled. The documents reveal the FBI obtained encrypted text messages showing roughly 20 people sharing detailed maps of the area and discussing the need for a “safe house” and escape routes after the attack. It's unclear from court records how close the would-be attackers came to being able to carry out their plan, which was thwarted last week. The FBI says among those arrested was a 19-year-old Ohio man.

AP Wire
  • Updated

A teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship has surrendered after a federal judge reversed his decision on pretrial release now that the teen is charged as an adult. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami confirmed on Monday that Timothy Hudson is in custody. U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres filed the order to revoke Hudson’s pretrial release last Wednesday, but the order was sealed until Monday afternoon. The judge had ruled in February that the 16-year-old could live with an uncle and be electronically monitored. But after the case was transferred to adult court, prosecutors wanted Hudson in custody. Hudson has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.

AP Wire
  • Updated

The NCAA has asked a Texas appeals court to stay a temporary injunction allowing Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play despite being declared ineligible for gambling. The Big 12 Conference also filed a federal lawsuit warning the Texas attorney general to stay out of the case. The NCAA seeks an emergency motion to stay the injunction, arguing it undermines college sports' integrity. Sorsby admitted to a gambling addiction, making thousands of bets, including on his own team. The Big 12 wants to enforce its bylaws for potential punishment against Sorsby, citing reputational risks.

AP Wire
  • Updated

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether states can use juries made up of only six people in criminal cases, instead of the usual 12. The case puts a Florida chiropractor convicted of practicing with a suspended license in an unlikely leading role in a constitutional clash. The justices said Monday they will hear arguments in the fall in the case of Hamed Kian, who argues that a six-person jury violates his constitutional rights. Florida uses six-person juries for all criminal cases that don’t involve the death penalty. Five other states, Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah, also conduct some criminal trials with six-person juries.

AP Wire
  • Updated

The letters spelling out President Donald Trump’s name on the facade of Kennedy Center are now gone. That word comes Saturday from the executive director of the performing arts venue. Matt Floca made that declaration in a court filing to the federal judge who had ordered the removal. A tarp continued to hang over the scaffolding constructed for workers to remove Trump’s name from the building, making it impossible to immediately detect whether the only words remaining on its white marble portico are “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”

AP Wire
  • Updated

President Donald Trump says a “swift and lethal kinetic” U.S. strike has killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang. Tren de Aragua has been labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization. Guerrero Flores has been charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade, authorities announced in December. Trump wrote on his social media site Friday that “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else."

  • Updated

Pakistan's prime minister says the United States and Iran have agreed on a final text for a peace deal. Pakistan has been a key mediator in the talks. Iran's foreign minister posted earlier Friday that an agreement "has never been closer.” And it’s already going to be a big weekend for U.S. President Donald Trump. The World Cup returns to the U.S. today; on Sunday, Trump will host a UFC fight at the White House on his 80th birthday; hours later, he’s scheduled to jet off to the G7 summit in the French Alps.

AP Wire
  • Updated

A judge has denied a request from the Kennedy Center to pause a ruling ordering President  Donald Trump's name removed from building. That denial came Friday. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled last month that Trump’s name was illegally added to the iconic Washington performing arts facility. Cooper ruled only Congress could institute a change to the Kennedy Center’s name and ordered references to Trump to be removed by Friday.  Now he's refused the Kennedy's Center board's request to stay the ruling.