They don’t find people who go missing, you know. I’m at a loss for words.Cleveland resident Kayla Rogers • Expressing utter surprise that a childhood friend of hers, Gina DeJesus, was found—alive—along with two other women who went missing during the period between 2002 and 2004. DeJesus, the youngest of the three women, went missing when she was just 14. Amanda Berry was only 17 when she went missing after her shift at Burger King, and Michelle Knight, then 22, was last seen at a cousin’s home. The three women, now 23, 27 and 32, respectively, were found in the home of 52-year-old Ariel Castro, who was arrested in the wake of the discovery. Police found the women after Berry called police Monday afternoon. Too soon to know all the details, but this has some serious shades of the Jaycee Dugard story.
BREAKING NEWS: Oil rig explosion and fire off Louisiana coast, 2 missing
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that a Black Elk Energy Co. oil and natural gas platform had some sort of explosion occur in the gulf, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the water.
The coast guard is still searching for 2 missing people in the aftermath of the Black Elk platform explosion, and 11 have been taken to the hospital with injuries, some in critical condition.
Have you seen this guy, New Yorkers? If so, a family could desperately use your help. Ian Burnet, a Virginia Commonwealth University student, went to visit friends in NYC near the first of the year, but he hasn’t been heard from since December 30, when he left the home where he was staying without his cell phone. Burnet reportedly has a history of suicide attempts, something his family is aware of. His brother Jamie said as much on Reddit: ”Yes. There’s a very real possibility that he took his own life, and I’m trying not to think about it. He has a history of depression, and there have been scares before. But he didn’t leave any last messages behind, which would be extremely uncharacteristic … I’m hoping that’s not the case.” source
The feared death toll in Japan’s catastrophe rose to 20,000 Sunday and the government ordered blackouts to conserve energy as nuclear plants risked meltdown.
Police told The Yomiuri Shimbun Sunday 10,000 residents in the town of Minami-Sanrikucho and another 10,000 in Otsuchicho were missing after Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.
The head of the Miyagi prefectural police said the number of deaths in his province alone would “no doubt be tens of thousands.” [read more]
They told us they’ll probably bring him to us, and that he will likely be escorted by security.Egyptian Hazem Ghonim • Discussing the fate of his brother, Wael Ghonim, who will reportedly be released from Egyptian custody tomorrow. Wael, a Google executive, quickly became a lightning rod for the pro-democracy movement after his unexplained disappearance over a week ago. Turns out that Egypt targeted and arrested him. They had good reason – he was one of the catalysts for the Egyptian protests. “I said one year ago that the Internet will change the political scene in Egypt and some Friends made fun of me :),” he wrote on Facebook not long before his disappearance. Wael was one of the administrators for a key fan page used to organize the movement. But he’s one of many who have been arrested so far – the count is around 1,275, although most have been released. Hopefully, Wael will join them tomorrow – and be able to tell his story. source (via • follow)
As you might remember, we expressed serious concern for Wael Ghonim, the head of Google’s Middle East marketing, in a post last week. He hasn’t been heard from since the end of January. This video, however, might provide a clue. It shows someone getting arrested by the Egyptian police who looks A LOT like Ghonim. Hopes and prayers, people. In other news, he’s been named the spokesperson of the April 6 opposition movement in absentia, in an attempt to get Egyptian authorities to release him to them. source
This is one of the last tweets Wael Ghonim sent. He hasn’t been heard from since last week, and many are worried about the head of Google Middle East – and it’s gotten to the point where al-Jazeera is asking aloud where he is. Has anyone heard from him? source
First off, We’re A little uncomfortable with the way the L.A. times is covering this story. See, the Times put the collection of photos – 180 of them – into a pageview-generating giant slideshow, complete with ads on every page. We’ll let you click through them without posting any ourselves. Anyway, moving on … the photos, collected from suspect Lonnie David Franklin Jr., are disturbing documents – the way they are cropped suggests at least some, but not all, of the women were naked in the original photos. The “Grim Sleeper,” called that due to a long period of dormancy, may have killed many other young girls; there’s nothing to suggest he ever stopped between 1998 and 2002. It’s possible he was just really good at covering his tracks. source
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