List of All Articles with Tag 'erica'

Disgraced ex-NFL star Henry Rugs has been sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for a fiery DUI crash that killed a woman and her dog in Las Vegas. The former Raiders wide receiver was speeding down a road in the city at up to 156mph when he smashed his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray into the back of 23-year-old Tina Tintor’s SUV in November 2021. Tintor’s vehicle was consumed by flames and she was trapped inside with her pet and died from injuries caused by the fire and the crash.

A teenager was arrested Tuesday on assault charges after allegedly verbally harassing an Asian family on the subway and then assaulting another passenger. Because the arrested girl is 16 years old, her name was not released. She turned herself into the NYPD on Tuesday morning at about 9.45am, according to the New York Post. A video of the incident shows the teenager attacking both 51-year-old Susan Young, a Nevada mom sitting with her 11-year-old twins, as well as Joanna Lin, who filmed the encounter. The teen was charged with two counts of assault Tuesday, and although police were reportedly considering hate crime charges, she wasn’t charged with any; both Ms Young and Ms Lin told the Post that they do not think the girl harassed them because of their race. “One of the girls stood up and went to Joanna and just punched her. I mean, punch, punch, punch, like repeatedly. I saw at least three, maybe two or three,” Ms Young told The Post, prompting her to stand up from her seat. That’s when another girl approached the Nevada mom, and because she was screaming at her, Ms Young pushed the girl away to try to get to Ms Lin. Then, the 16-year-old turned her attention to the mom, Ms Young explained to the outlet. “Well, as soon as I made contact and pushed her shoulders away, they all came after me. I backed up, but the girl in the white t-shirt came slugging at me… She grabbed my hair, I grabbed her hair, and I basically just grabbed onto her hair to shield my face because she was swinging,” Ms Young recalled. The bystander gave her thoughts on the teen’s arrest to The Post. “I am relieved that she made the decision to turn herself in. In a perfect world, I would love if she can issue an apology to myself and Sue Young, and promise to never ever do this again,” Ms Lin told the publication. “I also hope she gets therapy, counseling, and mentorship needed to move up from here.” According to the police department, the assault took place at around 8pm on August 3 on an F train at West Fourth Street-Washington Square station. It is not clear from the video how the confrontation began. From there, however, things allegedly escalated. The video shows one of the women who had allegedly been hurling abuse at the Asian family run towards the camera, at which point it cuts out. In one of the captions for the video, Ms Lin wrote that “This ferocious one runs over to hit me. I put down my phone to cover my head and took the blow (ow).” According to an NYPD tweet, which identified the victim in the case only as a 51-year-old woman, the assailant “made an anti-ethnic remark, pulled her by the hair & punched her.” The victim has since identified herself as Sue Young — a 51-year-old from Reno, Nevada who was visting New York on vacation with her family. The altercation continued as the subway sped towards its next stop, where the passengers got off the train and Ms Lin reportedly helped the family file a police report. Video of the attack, which quickly went viral, sparked outrage in New York. The attack comes more than three years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in the city and around the country that left some AAPI community members fearful for their safety in public. The NYPD formed an Asian Hate Crime Task Force in 2020, though it’s unclear whether that task force is involved directly in any way in the investigation into the attack. Ms Young, for her part, told NBC that she does not believe the people who verbally harrassed her and her family members were motivated by racial hatred and warned about the limited effectiveness of a carceral response. “These are very young girls,” Ms Young told NBC News. “Somebody or something or some circumstance has made a big impression on them — whether it’s historical pressure, societal pressure, social pressure. Using law enforcement to curtail this, I’m not sure if that’s going to fix the problem. It just seems like it’s a more underlying issue that we, as a society and as a community, need to hold everybody accountable, not just law enforcement.” Read More Senior Japanese diplomat attacked by US woman in anti-Asian hate crime, court records say Uproar as California students sent racist cards during Black History Month

Authorities in Maryland have confirmed that the body found along a hiking trail in Bel Air is that of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, reported her missing. On Sunday morning, Morin’s vehicle was found in the parking lot at the entrance to the popular walking route. Hours later, a member of the public discovered a woman’s body close to the trail. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced that Morin’s case is now a homicide investigation, in a press conference on Sunday night. Rebekah Morin, the sister of Morin, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Tuesday, it has raised over $35K. The sheriff said that police currently have no suspects on their radar and, as a result, are unable to tell the public that there is no ongoing danger. Read More Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she ‘did not go willingly’ Rachel Morin’s boyfriend says he ‘would never do anything to her’ as homicide probe launched Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail

Donald Trump branded a Georgia prosecutor “a young racist” and claimed she had an “affair” with a gang leader, speaking to a rally just days before he is expected to face a criminal indictment from her office. The three-times indicted former president took shots at Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating him for his conduct in the state during the 2020 presidential election. “There’s a young racist in Atlanta ... They say she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member,” claimed Mr Trump during a speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “This is a person who wants to indict me. She’s got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try and run for some other office … Wants to indict me for a perfect phone call, this was even better than my perfect call on Ukraine.” And he added: “I challenged the election in Georgia, which I had every right to do… and they want to indict me because I challenged the election.” Last week Mr Trump posted a video on Truth Social featuring a Rolling Stone headline about Ms Willis defending rapper YSL Mondo in 2019, and falsely claiming that she “got caught hiding a relationship with a gang member she was prosecuting.” There is no suggestion or evidence that Ms Willis had any romantic relationship with the rapper, who described “mother-to-son type of talks with her”, reported the magazine. Ms Willis, who is married with two children, is expected to soon indict him for illegally trying to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in the state, which paved his way to the White House. Mr Trump’s alleged election interference included his infamous phone call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which he demanded that he “find” him the 11,780 votes he needed to beat Mr Biden. Ms Willis has also investigated a scheme to put in place an alternate slate of presidential electors. Even if Mr Trump wins the 2024 election he cannot fire Ms Willis, unlike special counsel Jack Smith, as state crimes are not subject to presidential pardon. Mr Trump has already been indicted on federal charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and a separate federal case over alleged retention of government documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. He has also been charged by the Manhattan DA in a hush-money case linked to the 2016 presidential election. That case relates to allegations he paid off a porn actress he had allegedly had an affair with while his wife was nursing their newborn son. He has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases and strongly denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this year the former president was found liable for sexually assaulting a magazine columnist, E Jean Carroll, in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. Mr Trump has a long history of making outrageous false claims about his opponents. He called his own former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, “dumb as a rock”, and his former defence secretary James Mattis “the world’s most overrated general”. He has recently taking to insulting fellow Republican presidential nominee – and former friend – Chris Christie over his weight. The Washington Post calculated that during the four years of his presidency, Mr Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements. The day after his presidency ended, the paper wrote: “What is especially striking is how the tsunami of untruths kept rising the longer he served as president and became increasingly unmoored from the truth.” Read More Trump vows to keep campaigning on his criminal cases despite prosecutors seeking order to stop Trump lawyers request date for protective order hearing – while completely ignoring judge’s instructions Trump doubles down on attacking Chris Christie’s weight Trump plans Iowa State Fair stop, though he won't attend candidate chat with GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch, poll finds Trump vows to keep campaigning on his criminal cases despite prosecutors seeking order to stop Trump plans Iowa State Fair stop, though he won't attend candidate chat with GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds Trump doubles down on attacking Chris Christie’s weight

The top court has allowed the rules - meant to rein in ghost guns - to remain during an appeal process.

Former president Donald Trump decried the multiple charges and indictments, calling them “bulls***,” during a rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday afternoon. Mr Trump spoke during a rally in the state that holds the first presidential primary and the one that gave him his first primary win in 2016. The twice-impeached and now three-times-indicted former president said that President Joe Biden’s administration indicted him to hamper his 2024 run despite the fact that Attorney General Merrick Garland nominated Special Counsel Jack Smith to handle the probes into Mr Trump independently. “How can my corrupt political opponent, crooked Joe Biden put me on trial during an election campaign that I'm winning by a lot, but forcing me nevertheless to spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus made up accusations and charges,” he said. “So what they're doing, I'm sorry, I won't be able to go to Iowa today. I won't be able to go to New Hampshire today because I'm sitting in a courtroom on bulls**t because his Attorney General charged me,” he said. In response, attendees in Windham proceeded to chant “bulls**t.” Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Read More Pence says he's now met polling, donor qualifications for first Republican debate Thousands in Haiti march to demand safety from violent gangs as killings and kidnappings soar New Hampshire is sued over removal of marker dedicated to Communist Party leader

O’Shae Sibley had been out celebrating a friend’s birthday when the group stopped at a Mobil gas station in Coney Island in Brooklyn on 29 July. On a steamy Saturday night, the 28-year-old professional dancer took off his shirt and was “voguing” — a dance form popularised by the LGBT+ community — to Beyoncé’s Renaissance album with a friend on the station forecourt. Just after 11pm, a separate group of young men allegedly began hurling homophobic insults saying that they didn’t like “gay dancing” in their neighbourhood, according to eyewitnesses. Sibley confronted the men, surveillance footage recovered from the gas station shows. After briefly separating, the clash turned violent, and Sibley was stabbed in the heart during a scuffle. His friends tried to apply pressure to the wound, and police arrived at 11.15pm to find Sibley bleeding heavily on a sidewalk. He was taken to Maimonides Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after. A 17-year-old suspect who allegedly fled the scene was later identified as Dmitriy Popov. Mr Popov was arrested on Friday 4 August and has been arraigned as an adult on murder and hate crime charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Eyewitnesses told the NYPD that Mr Popov had told the voguing group that their dancing offended him as a Muslim. Mr Popov’s lawyer Mark Pollard told The Independent in an interview that his client was a “good Christian boy” who regularly attended church. “I have no idea where that came from. I just know he’s not Muslim. It’s very strange,” Mr Pollard told The Independent. The killing attracted national attention due to its alleged homophobic nature, as attacks on the LGBT+ community are increasing. Beyoncé, who was performing nearby at New York’s MetLife stadium on the night Sibley was killed, paid tribute to the dancer, choreographer and model, who family say was cut down “in his prime”. A funeral for Sibley is being held in his home city of Philadelphia on Tuesday 8 August. What happened? Otis Pena, who was with Sibley when he was killed, said in an emotional Facebook video posted on the night of the stabbing that a group of friends were celebrating his birthday when they had stopped a few blocks from his home to fill up their car. He said he and Sibley were “just pumping gas and listening to [Beyoncé’s album] Renaissance and having a good time”. Mr Pena said that as the confrontation ensued, he saw Sibley wobbling on his feet after being stabbed, and rushed over to try to administer care. “I’m trying to put pressure on the wound, and there’s blood squirting everywhere… I’m covered in his blood,” Mr Pena said through tears. “They killed my brother right in front of me.” “O’Shae was just trying to tell people ‘we may be gay’ and they stabbed him right in the heart,” he continued, breaking down. “They murdered him because he was gay, because he stood up for his friends. All because he wanted people to know that we are gay.” The duo had been close friends for 15 years, he said, and had always had each other’s backs. “O’Shae was the salt to my pepper, the peanut butter to my jelly, and y’all killed him. Y’all killed my bro. O’Shae was a beacon of light that influenced everybody.” An NYPD spokesperson said in a statement they responded to a 911 call at the Mobil station at 11.14pm on 29 July. “Upon arrival, officers observed a 28-year-old male with a stab wound to the torso. EMS responded and removed the victim to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased,” the spokesperson said. Who was O’Shae Sibley? Sibley grew up in North Philadelphia and was one of nine siblings. The youngster had been teased from a young age for his love of dancing, and found refuge at the Philadelphia Dance Company, known as Philadanco, as a 13-year-old, founder Joan Myers Brown told the Philadelphia Inquirer. After starting out dancing hip hop and other modern dances, he learned ballet and classical forms at the company’s apprentice programme D/2, she said. Ms Brown told the Inquirer that opportunities were limited for young, Black dancers in Philadelphia, and Sibley moved to New York about three years ago. “I just want to be famous,” Ms Brown recalls the young dancer telling her. She introduced him to another former Philadanco student Iquail Shaheed, a dance professor who teaches at the Alvin Ailey School in New York. Sibley joined the school’s dance company Ailey Extension, where he was “cherished” by his fellow students, the group wrote in a Facebook tribute. Sibley had been auditioning for Broadway shows, and had also worked as a choreographer and model, according to Ms Brown. He was also a popular member of the ballroom dancing community, friends said. They kept in touch via weekly calls and texts, and Sibley would tell her about his latest auditions, she told the Inquirer. Tondra Sibley, the victim’s aunt, told the New York Times his death was a “senseless crime”. “O’Shae has always been a peacemaker. All he wanted to do was dance,” she said. In an email shared with the Inquirer, Mr Shaheed wrote that Sibley was killed “just because he was Black, gay and dancing”. Sibley had “wanted to make a life for himself in and through dance. Yet, his young life was snuffed out by bigotry and hatred,” Mr Shaheed wrote. He was living in an apartment in Strauss St, Brownsville, in Brooklyn, at the time of his death. Beckenbaur Hamilton, a neighbour and friend, told NBC 4 New York that he had texted Sibley on the morning he was killed out of concern for his safety. He described their neighborhood as “very homophobic.” “We have to live stifled,” he said. “We live here in a community where we have to pretend to be somebody else.” Sibley’s father Jake Kelly wrote on a GoFundme page that his son’s life had been cut “in his prime” because of his sexuality. “O'Shae not only was the glue to this family, he was a great dancer and performer for the majority of his life. His spirit lit up every room he stepped in,” Mr Kelly wrote. Philadanco has also set up a fundraising page to raise funds for Sibley’s family. Suspect arrested Dmitriy Popov, 17, allegedly went on the run for a week after the killing, before surrendering to detectives on Friday. Mr Popov has been arraigned as an adult on murder and hate crime charges and ordered to be held without bail during a court appearance on Monday 7 August. He had reportedly claimed he was Muslim during the deadly confrontation with Sibley and his friends over their shirtless “voguing” dance moves. Court records obtained by the New York Daily News allege Mr Popov said: “Stop dancing here... we are Muslim. Get that gay s*** out of here.” Mr Pollard told The Independent that his client denied making any racist or homophobic statements. “I have met his family, he has Black family members. I’ve met his friends, he has Black friends. He denies hate being a part of anything regarding this.” Mr Popov’s grandmother said outside court that he acted in self-defence, while his mother read a statement expressing sympathy for the Sibley family. “My heart goes out to the family of Mr Sibley,” she said, according to the Daily News. She said her son was a “good boy” and regular churchgoer. ‘Gay joy is not a crime’ There was anger, grief and despair among Sibley’s friends and fellow students in tributes posted to social media. Beyoncé paid tribute to the dancer in a statement on her website, writing simply: “Rest in power O’Shae Sibley.” In a statement to Advocate, LGBT+ advocacy non-profit GLAAD said the shocking murder followed a “disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the US”. “This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves. Politicians spewing lies and proposing policies filled with disinformation, and media repeating their false and dangerous rhetoric unchallenged, are creating an incredibly hostile environment that endangers all LGBT+ people and all queer people of colour.” Sibley’s dance studio, the Ailey Extension, said in a statement that he was a “cherished and devoted student”. “He had incredible energy in the studio and was loved by instructors and fellow classmates.” New York state senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he was “heartbroken and enraged” to learn about Sibley’s death in a post on social media. “Despite homophobes’ best efforts, gay joy is not a crime. Hate-fueled attacks are,” the senator tweeted. A memorial for Sibley is being held at the LGBT Community Center on West 13th St on Saturday 5 August. What is voguing? Voguing is a modern style of house dancing that evolved from the Harlem ballroom dance scene, and was predominantly performed by LGBT+ Black and hispanic men as an imitation of fashion models. Voguing was named after the fashion bible Vogue, and is characterised by exaggerated poses, angular movements and fluid transitions. It first gained mainstream attention after the release of Madonna’s Vogue 1990 music video and the documentary Paris Is Burning. The film focused on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, and won a Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. Willi Ninja, the “Godfather of voguing”, was honoured by Google with a “doodle” logo on its homepage on 9 June, which featured several performers recreating his iconic dancing style. Read More Teen accused of stabbing O’Shae Sibley in homophobic attack is a ‘good Christian boy’, lawyer says Beyoncé honours dancer who was fatally stabbed while dancing to her music: ‘Rest in power’ Gay man is fatally stabbed while dancing to Beyoncé at Brooklyn gas station Teen suspect charged with murder as a hate crime in O’Shae Sibley stabbing at Brooklyn gas station

Organizers of the annual Made in America Music Festival that takes place over Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia announced Tuesday that this year's event is canceled.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has replaced his campaign manager as he struggles to gain traction in his attempt to take down former President Donald Trump in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Campaign Manager Generra Peck will now instead move to the role of chief strategist with James Uthmeier taking on the top post, according to The Messenger. Mr Uthmeier previously held the position of chief of staff in the governor’s office. The shakeup comes not long after the campaign said that Ms Peck’s position was secure. She was in charge of Mr DeSantis’s successful 2022 reelection campaign in Florida but has been criticised by advisers to the governor as well as donors to the campaign after the campaign began to slow and funding started to run out. The campaign has had two rounds of staff and expenses cuts and a revamp of his media strategy to make the governor more available to mainstream outlets. A number of donors and advisers outside the campaign remained unsatisfied, prompting Mr DeSantis to ask Mr Uthmeier last week if he could analyse what issues may be plaguing the campaign and how they may be solved, leading to his hiring as campaign manager. The campaign doesn’t want to refer to the new moves as a “reboot,” The Messenger notes, preferring the word “reload”. “People have written Governor DeSantis’s obituary many times,” Mr Uthmeier told the outlet in a statement. “From his race against establishment primary candidate Adam Putnam, to his victory over legacy media-favored candidate Andrew Gillum [in 2018], to his twenty-point win over Charlie Crist [in 2022], Governor DeSantis has proven that he knows how to win. He’s breaking records on fundraising and has a supporting super PAC with $100 million in the bank and an incredible ground game. Get ready.” Iowa operative David Polyansky will take on the role of deputy campaign manager, leaving his post as an advisor to Never Back Down, the DeSantis-supporting Super PAC. More follows... Read More Florida school board reverses decision nixing access to children's book about a male penguin couple Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch: poll DeSantis won’t rule out abortion ban but suggests there’s no ‘mileage’ in Congress

The plan, to be announced by Joe Biden later, will protect indigenous cultural sites and curb mining.

Former president Donald Trump was hit with his third criminal indictment on 1 August, this one charging him over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the subsequent January 6 attack on the US Capitol Building. Following an investigation by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, a grand jury in Washington, DC, has charged Mr Trump on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. This is the second federal indictment filed against the Republican and the third he has received in total this year. The DC district judge assigned to oversee the case is Tanya Chutkan, a court docket revealed prior to Mr Trump’s arraignment on Thursday 3 August, at which he entered a not guilty plea to all charges. Judge Chutkan is an appointee of former president Barack Obama and was first appointed to the US District Court for the District of Columbia in June 2014. Here’s everything you need to know about the judge assigned to Mr Trump’s case. Who is Judge Tanya Chutkan? Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Judge Chutkan received her BA in Economics from George Washington University and her Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an associate editor of its Law Review and a legal writing fellow, according to her DC District Court biography. After law school, Judge Chutkan worked in private practice for three years, before joining the District of Columbia Public Defender Service (PDS), where she worked as a trial attorney and supervisor. According to her biography, during Judge Chutkan’s time working at the PDS, she argued “several appellate cases and tried over 30 cases, including numerous serious felony matters”. Eleven years later, Judge Chutkan left the PDS and joined the private law firm Boies, Schiller, & Flexner LLP, where she worked for 12 years and specialised in white collar criminal defence. As a district judge, she has become known as one of the toughest judges in the prosecution of the Capitol rioters. One case thar caught everyone’s attention was that of an Ohio couple, Brandon and Stephanie Miller, who climbed through a broken window of the US Capitol and live-streamed a video of themselves inside the building. At the time, the prosecutor asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) to sentence them to home confinement as a part of a 36-month probationary period. Judge Chutkan disagreed with the prosecution’s request and instead sentenced Mr Miller to 20 days in jail and Ms Miller to 14 days in December 2021. At the time, Judge Chutkan said: “They didn’t just walk through a door. They climbed through a broken window… they knew full well of the violence that had preceded their entry. “The fact is that they were part of a mob… that was intent on stopping the lawful transfer of power.” In total, she has already sentenced at least 38 people convicted of Capitol riot-related crimes – and has handed down harsh punishments in these cases. Matt Mazzocco – a Texas mortgage broker who posed for a selfie in front of rioters breaching the building – was sentenced to 45 days in jail by Judge Chutkan with an additional 60 hours of community service in October 2021. Prosecutors had initially recommended three months under home confinement and probation but Judge Chutkan described the recommended sentence as too lenient. “If Mr Mazzocco walks away with probation and a slap on the wrist, that’s not going to deter anyone trying what he did again. It does not, in this court’s opinion, indicate the severity – the gravity of the offences that he committed on January 6,” she said. Judge Chutkan vs Trump Judge Chutkan has also had previous dealings with Mr Trump. In November 2021, Mr Trump filed a lawsuit in the hopes of blocking the National Archives from handing over documents related to the failed insurrection to the House select committee investigating the events of that day. Judge Chutkan rejected Mr Trump’s request and said: “While broad, these requests, and each of the other requests made by the committee, do not exceed the committee’s legislative powers.” She said that Mr Trump had not acknowledged “the deference owed to” President Joe Biden’s determination that the committee could access the materials. “[Mr Trump’s] position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity,’” Judge Chutkan said. “But presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not president.” An Associated Press analysis of court records shows Judge Chutkan has sentenced at least 38 people convicted of Capitol riot-related crimes so far. She is one of two dozen judges in DC who have collectively sentenced almost 600 defendants so far for their roles in the assault on democracy. Additonal reporting from agencies. Read More Live updates: Trump pleads not guilty at arraignment in 2020 election case Trump moans criminal cases are keeping him from the campaign trail: ‘Must be Unconstitutional?’ Who is Jack Smith? The special prosecutor who just indicted Trump again Is Donald Trump going to prison? Judge in Trump election case gets extra protection after ex-president posts about her Trump judge demands hearing as Jack Smith and Trump spar over protective order – live Inside the courtroom, it was clear this indictment is different for Donald Trump

Rex Heuermann’s two adult children are now living in a “surreal, waking horror show” following his shock arrest for the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings, according to their attorney. Victoria Heuermann, 26, and Christopher Sheridan, 33, still lived at home with their parents when investigators arrested their 59-year-old father on suspicion of at least three murders that rocked Long Island over a decade ago. Mr Heuermann, a professional architect, was charged with the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Costello last month. He is also the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes – who was last seen alive in early June 2007 in New York City and who, together with the three other women, is known as the “Gilgo Four”. All four women worked as sex workers and disappeared after going to meet a client. Their remains were found in December 2010 within one-quarter mile of each other, bound by belts or tape and some wrapped in burlap – all dumped along Gilgo Beach. They were among 11 victims found in the area – some of whom are yet to be identified – which sparked fears of one or more serial killers on the loose. Mr Heuermann has claimed his innocence of the murders which investigators believe may have taken place inside the one-storey home in Massapequa Park that he shared with his wife of two decades Asa Ellerup, their daughter Victoria and his stepson Christopher. Since his arrest, search teams have combed every inch of the family home looking for clues about the killings or any potential trophies taken from the victims by the accused serial killer. Victoria, who worked at her father’s Manhattan-based architecture firm up until his arrest, and Christopher, who has developmental disabilities, have now been left to deal with the aftermath of their father’s alleged actions and the fallout from the high-profile case. Their attorney Vess Mitev, of Mitev Law Firm, told Fox News Digital that the siblings have found themselves thrust into the “developing legal case of the century” and are trying to claw back “some basic sense of normalcy”. “They’re constantly... having to reevaluate what is happening to them, almost in real-time,” he said. Mr Mitev said that a major concern for them is the state that their home was left in following a 12-day search by authorities. Images of the aftermath show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere inside the property. “Obviously, the deplorable conditions that their house was left in – torn apart from the floorboards to the shingles, basically, is their paramount concern,” he said. “[They’re] trying to regain some basic sense of normalcy, which is completely impossible at this point. “They’re living in a surreal, waking horror show.” Mr Mitev said that the two children had hired his services to protect their own “rights and liberties” as their role in their father’s murder case “has yet to be determined”. “Their rights and liberties have to be protected. And that investigation … is now heating up with the DA handing over troves of documents last week, and ... the leads the DA may be pursuing, whatever they may be, at some point may intertwine … with the rights and remedies that my clients have and enjoy under the Constitution and under the laws of New York,” he said. At this point, they want to hold onto “whatever minimum degree” of privacy they can, he said – adding that this is something that has been “completely eroded under the harsh glare of the spotlight”. The comments on behalf of Victoria and Christopher come after their mother broke her silence in her first interview last week where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror. “I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering ... anxiety,” she told The New York Post. “My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.” Ms Ellerup filed for divorce just days after his arrest but her attorney has confirmed that she has had some contact with her husband. She found support from a somewhat unlikely source as Melissa Moore – the daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer – launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her “start her new life”. “Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she wrote in the GoFundMe, which had topped $38,000 as of Tuesday morning. Ms Ellerup, Victoria and Christopher were all out of town at the time of the three murders and investigators are allegedly probing whether Mr Heuermann brought the victims to the family home. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said that a “massive amount of evidence” had been recovered from the property as part of the investigation. Court records show that Mr Heuermann was linked to the “Gilgo Four” murders through a tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, “sadistic” online searches, phone calls taunting victims’ families, his wife’s hair found on the victims’ bodies – and a pizza crust. The first piece of the puzzle came when a witness in the Amber Costello case revealed details about a vehicle that a client was driving when she was last seen alive. Costello was seen alive on the evening of 2 September 2010 when she left her home in West Babylon. A witness said she had gone to meet a client who was driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche. Last year, a registration search showed that local man Mr Heuermann owned a first-generation model of the truck at the time of Costello’s disappearance. He also matched the witness’ description of the man believed to be the killer: a large, white “ogre”-like male in his mid-40s, around 6’4’ to 6’6” tall, with “dark bushy hair,” and “big oval style 1970’s type eyeglasses”. The discovery of the car led investigators to home in on Mr Heuermann, including executing 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence to determine his potential involvement in the killings. Among this was Mr Heuermann’s alleged use of burner phones, with prosecutors saying that he used burner phones to contact the three women and arrange to meet them at the time when they went missing. He also allegedly took two of the victims’ cellphones – and used one to make taunting phone calls to one of their families where he boasted about her murder, court documents state. Mr Heuermann’s DNA was found on one of the victims, while his wife’s hair was found on three of the four women he is connected to. His arrest comes after the horrific serial killer case has captured the nation’s attention for more than a decade. The Gilgo Beach murders had long stumped law enforcement officials in Suffolk County who believed it could be the work of one or more serial killers who targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies along the remote beaches on Ocean Parkway. The case began in May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot near Gilgo Beach. She called 911 for help saying she feared for her life and was never seen alive again. During a search for Gilbert in dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered the remains of another woman. Within a matter of days, the remains of three more victims were found close by. By spring 2011, the remains of a total of 10 victims had been found including eight women, a man, and a toddler. Police have long thought that it could be the work of one or more serial killers. Gilbert’s body was then found in December 2011. Her cause of death is widely contested with authorities long claiming that it is not connected to the serial killer or killers but that she died from accidental drowning as she fled from the client’s home. However, an independent autopsy commissioned by her family ruled that she died by strangulation and her mother believes she was murdered. Like Gilbert, most of the victims targeted were sex workers, while some are yet to be identified. Read More Gilgo Beach murders victim Karen Vergata’s final phone call revealed More families await answers in Gilgo Beach killings – and the names of other victims How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard