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Teen suspect arrested after cheerleader found dead in woods

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Teen suspect arrested after cheerleader found dead in woods

A Tennessee cheerleader, 13, was allegedly stabbed to death by a 15-year-old with a pocket knife and left alongside a dirt road. Now, prosecutors hope to try him as an adult in court.

Savannah Copeland met with the 15-year-old around midnight Oct. 22, when he allegedly attacked her and fled, according to a petition released by Knox County court Oct. 24. It is unclear how the two teens might have known each other. 

Michael Copeland, the victim’s father, told 8WVLT his daughter had been missing in Powell for several hours before he tracked her using her cellphone information and found her body.

FAMILY OF WOMAN WHO WENT MISSING ON CROSS-COUNTRY VACATION SAYS CRYPTIC TEXTS SENT FROM PHONE UNLIKE HER

Savannah Copeland, 13, was found stabbed to death along a dirt road in Knox County, Tenn., Oct. 22. (Family handout)

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The 15-year-old was arrested soon after the stabbing and charged with second-degree murder, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. 

A judge allowed the release of the teen’s name despite his age two days later and scheduled a Jan. 14 hearing on whether the juvenile suspect should be tried as an adult, 6 News reported. Fox News Digital is not naming the suspect until it is determined if he will be charged as an adult.  

MICHIGAN GIRL, 7, STABBED TO DEATH; 13-YEAR-OLD SISTER IN CUSTODY: POLICE

Savannah Copeland was a cheerleader and also practiced karate and gymnastics, her family wrote in her obituary. (Powell MAC Cheerleading/Facebook)

Fox News Digital could not reach the suspect’s attorney for comment at press time.

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Copeland was not named in the department’s statement, but she was identified in a GoFundMe set up by her family, an online obituary, her cheerleading team and several news outlets that spoke with her family.

TENNESSEE POLICE SEARCHING FOR BRAZEN BURGLAR WHO RAPPELLED INTO BOWLING ALLEY AND STOLE CASH

Police arrested a 15-year-old in Savannah Copeland’s death and charged him with second-degree murder (Powell MAC Cheerleading/Facebook)

“I think it was a lack of compassion and a lack of empathy that drove the hand that took my daughter’s life,” the victim’s father told 8 WVLT. 

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Copeland, a cheerleader with Powell Mac Cheerleading, was a talented student who also excelled in karate and gymnastics, her family wrote in her obituary. Her father told 8WVLT the teen had “spunkiness, eagerness and … a go-getter attitude.”

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Trump seeks more than $6M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case

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Trump seeks more than M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case

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President Donald Trump is asking the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to reimburse him more than $6.2 million in attorney fees and costs in the wake of the recently dismissed 2020 election interference case she brought against him. 

The development comes after Willis was permanently sidelined from prosecuting the case against Trump last September. She had lost an appeal after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was then dismissed in November. 

Georgia state legislators last year passed a law that says that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of his or her own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, anyone charged in that case is entitled to request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in their defense. The judge overseeing the case then is responsible for reviewing the request and awarding the fees and costs, which are to be paid from the budget of the prosecutor’s office. 

“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in a statement.

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FANI WILLIS PERMANENTLY REMOVED FROM PROSECUTING TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE AFTER LOSING APPEAL

President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)

A motion filed Wednesday said, “President Trump prays that this Court award attorney fees and costs for the defense of President Trump in the amount of $6,261,613,08.” 

Willis’ indictment had accused Trump of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 vote in Georgia, organizing “fake electors” and harassing election workers. 

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, and Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24.

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GEORGIA CALLS SPECIAL ELECTION IN MARCH TO FILL MTG VACANCY

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County (Getty Images)

Last month, when another person charged in the case made a similar filing, Willis’ office filed a motion asking to be heard on the matter of any claims for fees and costs filed in the case, according to The Associated Press. 

Willis’ motion raised concerns about the law passed last year that allowed Trump and others to seek to have their expenses paid. 

“The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution,” her motion said.

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Donald Trump’s booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office after he surrendered on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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Her motion also added that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme” that creates a substantial burden for the county’s taxpayers without any recourse. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor

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After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor

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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.

The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”

Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.

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FLASHBACK: STACEY ABRAMS MULLS THIRD STRAIGHT RUN FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR

Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.

Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.

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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.

Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent. 

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.

And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.

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Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

FRAUD FALLOUT FORCES WALZ TO ABANDON GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION BID

Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)

In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.

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The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.

Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.

“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”

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Florida man accused of killing woman, dumping body on popular tourist destination: report

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Florida man accused of killing woman, dumping body on popular tourist destination: report

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A Florida man is behind bars after allegedly killing a woman and leaving her body on a popular beach the day after Christmas.

Brandon Ward McCray, 28, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals and Hollywood Police Department on Dec. 30, 2025 and charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Authorities responded to a call regarding a body on the sand of Hollywood Beach – located approximately 15 miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach – at around 7 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 26, 2025, according to WPLG.  The victim, later identified as 56-year-old Heather Asendorf, was pronounced dead at the scene. 

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Brandon Ward McCray is charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation in Broward County, Florida, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)

Witnesses later told NBC Miami the body was wrapped in a white blanket and had blood trailing from the remains.

Officials did not release details regarding Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected. 

Additionally, detectives believe McCray and Asendorf knew each other prior to the alleged murder, according to WSVN.

MAN WITH VIOLENT CRIMINAL HISTORY ON PAROLE ALLEGEDLY STABS TEEN TO DEATH: OFFICIALS

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Authorities reportedly allege Brandon Ward McCray murdered 56-year-old Heather Asendorf after her body was found on Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Florida on Dec. 26, 2025. (iStock)

“This case remains an active criminal investigation,” Hollywood police said in a news release. “There is no indication of a broader threat to the community.”

McCray was previously charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2023 after allegedly brandishing a gun at a tow truck driver as his vehicle was being repossessed, according to NBC Miami.

MAN WITH VIOLENT CRIMINAL HISTORY ON PAROLE ALLEGEDLY STABS TEEN TO DEATH: OFFICIALS 

Officials reportedly did not release details regarding Heather Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected. (iStock)

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He was taken into custody at his nearby home and booked into the Broward County Main Jail on $770,000 bond, WPLG reported. 

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The Hollywood Police Department and McCray’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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