A 20-year-old American student from North Carolina has been found dead after vanishing during a hike on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, officials say. 

The body of Brook Cheuvront – a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – was recovered on Sunday. Cheuvront was reported missing on Saturday after a tracking app she was using stopped updating and friends could not reach her, SANParks spokesman JP Louw told The Associated Press. 

“She was recovered, we are devastated. God help me and us,” Steve Cheuvront, identified by WCNC as her father, wrote in a Facebook post. 

The cause of Cheuvront’s death is unclear. The sophomore was interning at University of Cape Town, and in addition to being a Morehead-Cain scholar was the 2022 valedictorian at Avery County High School, where her mother teaches, according to WNCN. 

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“One of our teachers tragically lost a loved one today,” the high school’s principal, Jennifer O’Briant, wrote on Facebook. “We will have counselors and pastors present tomorrow at school for students who may need support. If students feel led to, please wear blue in support of the Cheuvront family.” 

An initial search was conducted by rangers, wilderness search and rescue members, and trail runners until late Saturday evening when it was no longer practical to continue, Louw told The Associated Press. 

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Brook Cheuvront, of Newland, North Carolina, was the valedictorian of her high school, media reports say. (Facebook/Steve Cheuvront )

An aircraft joined the search the next day and helped to locate the body. 

South African authorities have urged people to avoid hiking on their own, suggesting it be done in groups of at least four people. 

Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, in July 2023. (Xabiso Mkhabela/Xinhua via Getty Images)

The management of SANParks, which manages Table Mountain and other national parks, said an investigation into Cheuvront’s death is ongoing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A federal judge on Monday ordered Ryan Routh, the man accused in connection with an assassination attempt against former President Trump earlier this month, held in custody. 

Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe granted the government’s request to detain Ryan Routh pending the resolution of charges during a court hearing in Florida. Routh, who was clad in a blue prison jumpsuit and shackled by his hands and feet, appeared engaged and paid attention during the hearing. 

Prior to the court proceeding, the Justice Department asked the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to keep Routh in pretrial detention. McCabe said federal prosecutors met their burden and the weight of the evidence was strong.

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Routh has been charged federally with possessing a gun with a scratched-out number and with possessing a gun illegally as a felon, though more serious charges are likely pending. 

Federal prosecutors also told the judge that the government intends to ask a grand jury to indict Routh on the much more serious charge of the attempted assassination of Trump, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

In addition, prosecutors said they have an audio recording of a recent jailhouse phone call from Routh to a female friend. During the call, Routh said he was “sorry,” while the friend said she was still “processing” what happened. 

A court sketch depicts Ryan Routh as he appears in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 23, 2024. Routh is facing charges related to the alleged attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last week. (Lothar Speer)

“You did the worst thing you could have possibly done,” she told Routh, prompting a second apology. 

Routh will likely face additional charges in the coming days, which could include aggravated assault for allegedly pointing the rifle at a U.S. Secret Service agent and making threats against a former president, State Attorney Dave Aronberg previously told Fox News Digital. 

In addition to the federal case against Routh, the state of Florida is also investigating the suspected assassination attempt. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference last Tuesday that Florida will pursue more charges against Routh and that his offense should merit life in prison.   

In a letter dated Monday to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody asked them not to bring a specific charge against Routh, otherwise it would suspend the state’s investigation. 

In a statement, Trump said the federal government has mishandled the Routh case and prefers Florida take it over, calling the charges against Routh a “slap on the wrist” while stating the Justice Department and FBI are conflicted because of the prosecutions against him. 

“If the DOJ and FBI cannot do their job honestly and without bias, and hold the aspiring assassin responsible to the full extent of the Law, Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida have already agreed to take the lead on the investigation and prosecution,” Trump said in a statement. 

A court sketch depicts Ryan Routh’s appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 23, 2024. Routh is facing charges related to the alleged attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last week. (Lothar Speer)

“Florida charges would be much more serious than the ones the FBI has announced,” he added. “The TRUTH would be followed, wherever it leads. OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT AND DISCREDITED, especially as it pertains to the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. LET FLORIDA HANDLE THE CASE!”

“To be clear, I believe it would be a grave mistake for the federal government to invoke this provision, and I urge you to cooperate with the State’s investigation rather than frustrate it,” Moddy wrote. 

Routh is accused of targeting the 45th president as he waited about 12 hours outside a golf club where Trump was playing a round. 

McCabe said it appeared Routh was stalking Trump for 30 days and had a passport with him when he was caught along with a phone, which had a search history of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.

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Ryan Routh camped out near the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach with an SKS-style rifle, a backpack, and a shopping bag. The two bags both contained plates capable of stopping small arms fire, a preliminary ballistics testing showed.

Federal prosecutor Mark Dispoto described Roth’s location next to the sixth hole, with the gun and bags as “nothing short of a sniper’s nest.” Dispoto also said the two bags next to the gun, which had plates, or tiles in them which were bulletproof, was part of an effort to protect himself if Secret Service agents returned fire.

On Monday, the Justice Department also released a chilling letter written by the suspect. 

The Justice Department obtained the letter from a witness who says they received it inside a box delivered to them by Routh several months prior to the assassination attempt. Authorities say the witness opened the box only after hearing Routh was suspected in the attack. 

A court sketch depicts Ryan Routh’s appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 23, 2024. Routh is facing charges related to the alleged attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last week. (Lothar Speer)

The box contained several handwritten letters as well as ammunition, among other things. One of the letters, addressed “Dear World,” discussed the assassination attempt. 

Routh had written in the letter that he had failed and that he would give $150,000 to anyone who could finish the job. 

In a court filing, prosecutors also referred to Routh’s conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002. They told McCabe that the device was a “binary explosive device” with a fuse.

FBI investigators carry a box of evidence from the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Ryan Routh was arrested earlier this week after allegedly attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump while hiding in the bushes along the golf course. (Mega for Fox News Digital)

At one point during Monday’s hearing, Routh smiled while his public defender argued that the majority of his 100-plus arrests were non-violent, including passing bad checks and the theft of sinks from construction sites.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Jake Gibson, David Spunt and Danamarie McNicholl contributed to this report. 

A Virginia elementary school photographer reportedly lost her job after being accused of making improper remarks to young students, including allegedly asking one boy, “Can I eat your soul?” 

The principal of Chittum Elementary School in Chesapeake, Bridget Outlaw, said in an email to parents last week that a photographer hired to take school pictures was escorted off campus for making “inappropriate comments” to students, WTKR reported. The photographer, who was not named by school or company officials, was employed by Lifetouch, a family and school photography service owned by Shutterfly. 

In an interview, parent Rachel Fjeld told WTKR that her son was sitting to have his school picture taken when the photographer allegedly asked him, “Can I steal your identity?” and “Can I eat your soul?” 

“You can say all the things you want to say about good vs. evil, God vs. the devil, or demons or whatever, but at the end of the day what was said was not funny, and it wasn’t OK. It was a child in an uncomfortable situation,” Fjeld said. “I know people are trying to say, ‘Oh she’s just joking. It was just funny,’ but it’s not funny. That’s not funny. And what that doesn’t do is put any child at ease, it just scares them.”

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“She asked him, ‘Can I steal your identity?’ His response was just, ‘No.’ Her next question was, ‘Can I eat your soul?’ And, you know, when he was expressing it to us he was crying, he was very upset and he said ‘No, no,’” Fjeld said of the exchange between her son and the photographer. 

“Her next question was, ‘Well, then what can I eat?’ He told me, he said, ‘Mommy I didn’t know what to say so I said the first thing that came to mind was, ‘You can have noodles, you can eat noodles,’ and her response was, ‘Demons don’t eat noodles.’”

The mother, who initially sounded the alarm about the alleged remarks in a since-privatized Facebook post, also thanked the elementary school for their swift response. 

A school bus arrives at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, on Aug. 21, 2023. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“It went to the principal, who is amazing, I will say. The school handled it – we so appreciate it. They were very quick. They immediately escorted her off the premises, they called us,” Fjeld told the outlet.

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Once the comments were reported, school administration “immediately addressed the issue, and this individual was escorted off of school property,” Outlaw said in an email to the school community last week, according to the local station. “Parents of students who reported the concern were notified.”

“We want to commend our students for quickly reporting the incident,” Outlaw said. “We are thankful that our message of ‘see something, say something’ was effectively used in this situation.”

This file photo shows a photographer and school children during “picture day” at Rogers International School on Sept. 23, 2020, in Stamford, Connecticut. (John Moore/Getty Images)

On Friday, a Shutterfly spokesperson told WTKR that the photographer involved in the Chittum Elementary incident was no longer employed as a photographer by Lifetouch and an internal investigation is underway. 

“At Lifetouch, our number one priority is the safety of every student we photograph,” the company said in a statement obtained by the outlet. “We have numerous policies and procedures in place to ensure that safety, including training and background checks on all of our photographers. We take any allegation about a photographer very seriously, and are conducting a thorough internal investigation. In the meantime, the employee in question has been removed from all photography duties.”