Connect with us

Southeast

Murder in small-town America: The crimes that tore quiet communities apart in 2025

Published

on

Murder in small-town America: The crimes that tore quiet communities apart in 2025

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

In 2025, idyllic small towns across America were interrupted by acts of violence from Mississippi to Montana, Arkansas to Washington state.

The murders struck during homecoming weekends, inside neighborhood bars, at campgrounds and along hiking trails.

Together, the cases exposed vulnerabilities in small-town America: unresolved personal disputes, untreated mental health crises and domestic violence.

Clinton and Cristen Brink were murdered at Devil’s Den State Park on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (GoFundMe)

Advertisement

FRIENDS UNVEIL DEVIL’S DEN COUPLE’S HAUNTING FINAL MESSAGE BEFORE DEADLY PARK AMBUSH

Devil’s Den, Arkansas:

In northwest Arkansas, a visit to a state park ended in a double homicide.

Clinton Brink, 43, and Cristen Brink, 41, the parents of three children, were stabbed to death while hiking at Devil’s Den State Park on July 26.

The couple had recently moved to Arkansas to be closer to family and begin a new chapter. Friends described them as gentle, active and devoted parents.

“They loved to take the girls and go hiking,” said Mary Hinebauch, a friend from their former church in Montana. “That wasn’t an unnatural place for them to be.”

Advertisement

The Arkansas State Police arrested Andrew James McGann, 28, charging him with murdering the couple. Investigators said the killings appeared unprovoked. The arrest came a day after police released “a composite sketch of a man” they were “seeking to identify for questioning in connection with the double homicide.”

“This was a very safe place to be,” Hinebauch said. “It’s pure evil.”

To read more about this case, click here.

The FBI’s Jackson Field Office released this “seeking information” poster featuring four suspects wanted in connection with the Oct. 11, 2025, mass shooting in Leland, Mississippi, that left six people dead and 20 injured. (FBI)

Leland, Mississippi:

On Oct. 11, 2025, just after midnight in Leland, Mississippi, a small city in Washington County where the population hovers around 3,700, the excitement of homecoming weekend was shattered when a shooting broke out following a football game.

At least six people were killed and at least 19 others wounded.

Advertisement

The FBI’s Jackson Field Office announced that four people were arrested in connection with the shooting.

Three men, identified as Teviyon Powell, 29; William Bryant, 29; and Morgan Lattimore, 25, were charged with capital murder. A fourth suspect, Latoya Powell, 44, was charged with attempted murder.

MUGSHOT OF RURAL MONTANA BAR MASSACRE SUSPECT RELEASED AFTER WEEK-LONG MANHUNT

Investigators said they believe the violence stemmed from a personal dispute, though no final motive has been confirmed.

“This is not who we are as a community,” Leland Mayor John Lee said. “Our hearts are broken for these families.”

Advertisement

To read more about this case, click here.

Main Street in Anaconda, Montana, leads to the Deer Lodge County Courthouse with mountains in the background on Aug. 8, 2025. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

Anaconda, Montana:

In Anaconda, Montana, a quiet bar in a former mining town with about 9,000 people was interrupted when a man opened fire on Aug. 1, 2025.

Authorities said that Michael Paul Brown, 45, an Army veteran and longtime local resident, entered The Owl Bar around 10:30 a.m. and opened fire. Authorities said Brown lived next door to the bar and was known to the patrons inside.

Four people were killed: Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74. Kelley was working as the bartender; the others were regular customers.

Brown fled, sparking a massive weeklong manhunt involving more than 130 local, state and federal law enforcement officers. The FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and Montana National Guard all assisted, deploying helicopters, air patrols and ground teams across rugged terrain.

Advertisement

The Department of Criminal Investigations in Montana released a photo of Michael Brown fleeing the scene after allegedly shooting and killing four people at a bar on Aug. 1, 2025. (Department of Criminal Investigations)

MONTANA MANHUNT EXPANDS FOR EX-SOLDIER SUSPECT SEEN WITH STOLEN SURVIVAL GEAR AFTER BAR MASSACRE

Residents told Fox News Digital that fear settled over the town as the search dragged on.

“The town is just scared,” one bartender said. “Everybody’s on edge.”

Brown was captured Aug. 8 near a barn about five and a half miles from the bar. Authorities said he was armed.

Advertisement

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen called the killings “cold-blooded.”

To read more about this case, click here.

Travis Decker was suspected of murdering his three daughters before disappearing into the Washington wilderness.  (Chelan County Sheriff’s Office)

SPECIAL FORCES VET EXPOSES TACTICS OF MONTANA, WASHINGTON STATE SURVIVALISTS: ‘CAN’T STAY HIDDEN FOREVER’

Wenatchee, Washington:

In May 2025, a manhunt was launched for the fugitive father of three accused of murdering his three daughters before disappearing into the wilderness. 

The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said Travis Decker, a military veteran and wilderness survivalist, failed to return his three daughters from a court-mandated custody visit in late May 2025. Days later, the bodies of Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were found at a Chelan County campground.

Advertisement

According to police, the girls had been bound with zip ties and suffocated.

This undated photo provided by Whitney Decker shows Paityn, Olivia and Evelyn Decker.  (Whitney Decker via AP)

A manhunt followed, spanning rugged mountain terrain and involving multiple law enforcement agencies. In September, human remains were discovered on Grindstone Mountain, less than a mile from where the girls’ bodies had been found. DNA testing later confirmed the remains belonged to Decker.

“This will bring a close to our case,” Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said after the DNA results were confirmed. “We wanted to show honor to them and let them know we haven’t forgotten.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

Court records showed Decker’s ex-wife had previously petitioned to modify the parenting plan, citing his worsening mental health and unstable living conditions.

To read more about this case, click here.

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca, Julia Bonavita, Michael Dorgan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Read the full article from Here

Southeast

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

Published

on

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

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

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. 

Advertisement

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading

Southeast

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

Published

on

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

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

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.

Advertisement

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.

JOSH SHAPIRO LAUNCHES 2026 GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN AS 2028 WHITE HOUSE BUZZ SWIRLS

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.”

Advertisement

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading

Southeast

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

Published

on

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

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

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. 

HOMELESS DRIFTER ACCUSED OF KILLING BARNES & NOBLE CHRISTMAS SHOPPER BLAMED ‘FIGHT OR FLIGHT’ OUTBURST: REPORT

Advertisement

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

Advertisement

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)

Advertisement

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

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

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

Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending