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On this day in history, April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln passes away
President Abraham Lincoln died in Washington, D.C., on this day in history, April 15, 1865, one day after he was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln, who was elected president in 1860, was the first U.S. president to be assassinated.
He was survived by his wife, Mary Todd, whom he married in 1842, and his sons Robert and Tad.
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The president was shot while he was attending a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in D.C.
During one of the funniest lines of the play, Booth entered the presidential box — and fired a shot into the president’s head, according to the Ford’s Theatre website.
This engraving from 1886 depicts John Wilkes Booth preparing to shoot President Abraham Lincoln. (iStock)
“At the moment the president was shot he was leaning his hand on the railing, looking down at a person in the orchestra, holding the flag that decorated the box aside to look between it and the post,” according to the witness statement of James P. Ferguson, an audience member that night.
Witness statements from the assassination and its aftermath are published on the Ford’s Theatre website.
“The confusion was great the moment the pistol was fired.”
“I saw a flash of the pistol in the right back of the box. As the person jumped over and lit on the stage, I saw that it was Booth,” the witness statement continued.
Both actors and audience members initially thought the shot was part of the show, the various witness statements indicate.
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“At first I thought it was some ‘gag’ introduced into the play, but presently there was commotion on the stage and an uproar in the audience,” said Jeannie Gourlay, an actress at the theater.
“The confusion was great the moment the pistol was fired, and my first thought was that there was a side scene of the play,” said the Hon. Frederick A. Sawyer, who was in the audience that night.
President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. (Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
“Instantly I remembered that there was nothing of this sort in the play, but by the time I had recovered my thoughts sufficiently to realize that such was not the case, the man had disappeared,” he said.
After the shot, Maj. Henry Rathbone, who was in the box with the Lincolns as their guest, fought with Booth in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the assassin.
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Booth then leaped from the box down to the stage, “landing awkwardly,” said the Ford’s Theatre website.
“He held in his right hand a dagger whose blade appeared about 10 inches long — he did not strike the stage fairly on his feet, but appeared to stumble slightly,” said Frederick A. Sawyer, an audience member.
This engraving depicts John Wilkes Booth escaping after shooting President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. (iStock)
Booth then yelled, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”) and “The South is avenged!” before fleeing.
Lincoln, gravely wounded, was transported across the street to the Petersen boarding house, the Ford’s Theatre website says.
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He died the morning of April 15, at the age of 56.
Captain in the war
Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky on Feb. 12, 1809, Lincoln attended only one year of formal schooling as a child.
“My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families — second families, perhaps I should say,” wrote Lincoln during the 1860 presidential campaign.
“When I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all,” he said in the 1860 writing, published on the White House’s website.
Above, a painting of President Lincoln delivering the “Gettysburg Address” on Nov. 19, 1863. (Library of Congress/Getty Images)
At the age of eight, Lincoln moved to Indiana with his family; his mother would die only two years later.
When Lincoln was 21, he moved to Illinois, says the website AbrahamLincoln.org.
Lincoln served as a captain in the Black Hawk War — then spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, notes his official biography on the White House website.
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Despite his lack of formal education, Lincoln became an established lawyer and received a law license in 1836. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1846 as a member of the Whig Party, notes AbrahamLincoln.org.
He made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 1858, losing to Stephen A. Douglas.
The Lincoln Memorial is a popular spot on the National Mall and is dedicated to the memory of President Abraham Lincoln. (Joshua Comins/Fox News Digital)
“He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for president in 1860,” said the White House website.
During Lincoln’s presidency, the Civil War erupted as 11 states seceded from the United States of America.
In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people in the Confederate states.
Lincoln was reelected president in 1864 — but was killed just over a month after his inauguration for a second term.
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Southeast
Texts after Anna Kepner’s mysterious cruise ship death show family scrambling to clamp down on info
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Newly released court records shed additional light on how a family responded after the death of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, who was found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship last month.
According to documents obtained by FOX 35 Orlando, text messages exchanged after Anna’s death show the family’s concern about limiting information shared publicly and keeping their 16-year-old son’s name out of the media.
The messages were submitted as exhibits in an ongoing family court case and include exchanges that began within roughly a day of Anna’s body being discovered. The messages also emphasize the family’s position that the teen does not remember events surrounding Anna’s death.
Anna Kepner was found dead Nov. 7 in her cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon, which returned to Port Miami two days later. Federal authorities boarded the ship upon its return and began collecting evidence.
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Anna Kepner was identified by her family as the passenger who died onboard the Carnival Horizon. (Instagram/Anna Kepner)
Officials said she died from mechanical asphyxia, meaning she was deprived of oxygen. No suspect has been publicly named in the case.
Text exchanges between Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Kepner, and her ex-husband show conversations that began the evening of Nov. 8, about a day after Anna’s body was discovered.
Court records indicate the discussions focused largely on managing information, limiting social media exposure and addressing concerns involving the teen, who is a minor, rather than on the circumstances of Anna’s death. Court documents indicate the teen is being investigated in connection with Anna’s death but note he has not been charged.
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In one message sent around 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, Shauntel asked her ex-husband to call her immediately, describing the situation as an emergency. When he later suggested picking up their daughter, Shauntel declined, explaining the girl had only been told that her brother was struggling emotionally and was being evaluated at a hospital.
In a later exchange on Nov. 9, Shauntel described a brief conversation she said she had with her son while he was in a medical facility. She stated he repeatedly said he could not remember anything and that a nurse allowed the short call so she could reassure him that his parents loved him.
The messages also show efforts to prevent information from spreading on social media, including concerns about posts circulating online and the desire to shield the teen from negative attention. Shauntel emphasized that he is a minor and that the family did not want his name released.
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During a Dec. 5 court appearance, Shauntel’s attorney said the teen’s father agreed to have him live with a relative after his release from the hospital once the ship docked. The attorney said the decision was made to eliminate any potential risk to other children in the home, according to FOX 35 Orlando.
Shauntel also testified that the teen takes medication for ADHD and insomnia and had not taken his insomnia medication for two nights during the cruise, including the night before Anna’s body was found.
Court documents state Anna’s body was discovered under a bed in a cabin she was sharing with two siblings, including her 16-year-old stepbrother.
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(L-R) Chris Kepner, Shauntel Kepner, and Jeffrey Kepner arrive to court in Melbourne, Florida, Friday, December 5, 2025. The trio are headed to an emergency custody hearing in an ongoing dispute between Shauntel and her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
While the FBI has not publicly identified anyone as a suspect and no criminal charges have been filed, records from an ongoing family court dispute between Anna’s father and stepmother, Christopher Kepner and Shauntel Kepner, and Shauntel Kepner’s ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, indicate the teen is being investigated in Anna’s death.
Additional messages referenced the possibility that charges could be filed depending on the results of the autopsy. Shauntel said the family planned to learn more once the autopsy findings were available.
A former sheriff’s detective, Jamie Copenhaver, reviewed the messages and told FOX 35 Orlando they raised concerns for him. He said the exchanges appeared focused on controlling public perception rather than addressing the loss of an 18-year-old family member.
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Anna Kepner, her father, stepmother and several siblings in a family photo. (Shauntel Kepner/Facebook)
Copenhaver described the messages as resembling “damage control,” adding that the tone suggested to him that the family knew more than what had been publicly shared.
Messages included in the court records also show both parents expressing emotional support for their son, emphasizing that he was not alone and that his family stood by him.
In one exchange, Hudson told Shauntel that he wanted their son to know “he isn’t just dead to everyone,” adding that “regardless of everything at the moment, he needs his parents,” and that he wanted an opportunity to speak with him as soon as possible.
Kepner, of Titusville, Florida, was a high school senior at Temple Christian School. She was preparing to graduate in the spring of 2026 and hoped to enlist in the U.S. Navy, her family said.
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The FBI has not released details about the investigation, and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner has not publicly released Anna’s autopsy or toxicology results. The investigation remains ongoing, and more than six weeks later, no individual has been publicly identified as a suspect.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will appear on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” ahead of her expected departure from Congress next month.
On Friday, “60 Minutes” teased the interview with Lesley Stahl that will air Sunday, touting Greene’s first sit-down interview since she announced her exit last month.
Greene shocked the political landscape when she revealed she would leave Congress Jan. 5. Many believe her abrupt exit was the result of her soured relationship with President Donald Trump.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will appear on Sunday’s installment of “60 Minutes,” marking her first interview since she announced her exit from Congress in January. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Greene previously sat down with Stahl in April 2023, when the two had a fiery exchange over the congresswoman’s claim that Democrats are the “party of pedophiles.”
“They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?” Stahl exclaimed.
“Democrats support — even Joe Biden, the president himself — supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children,” Greene said.
“Wow,” Stahl reacted.
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“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl sighed during a tense exchange she had with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., over her claim that Democrats were the “party of pedophiles” in an April 2023 interview. (Screenshots/CBS News)
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There had been speculation that Greene’s feud with Trump stems from reports that he had privately discouraged her from running for Senate in 2026 amid polling that suggested she’d be defeated by Georgia’s Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, D. Greene denies those claims.
In a lengthy statement posted to X, Greene cited her growing disillusionment with Washington politics, blasting what she called a corrupt “Political Industrial Complex” that she said uses Americans as “pawns in an endless game of division.”
“Americans are used by the Political Industrial Complex of both political parties, election cycle after election cycle, in order to elect whichever side can convince Americans to hate the other side more,” Greene wrote. “And the results are always the same — nothing ever gets better for the common American man or woman.”
President Donald Trump withdrew her endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., previously one of his most outspoken supporters. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Greene said she “never fit in” in Washington and was leaving Congress to “fight for the people of this country in a different way.”
“I believe in term limits and do not think Congress should be a lifelong career or an assisted living facility,” Greene wrote. “My only goal and desire has ever been to hold the Republican Party accountable for the promises it makes to the American people and put America First, and I have fought against Democrats’ damaging policies like the Green New Deal, wide open deadly unsafe border policies, and the trans agenda on children and against women.”
She made her announcement days after Trump withdrew his endorsement for her, calling Greene “wacky” and “a ranting lunatic.”
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Southeast
Rev. Franklin Graham delivers Kentucky flood survivors new homes for Christmas: ‘We can finally breathe’
Standing in the snow on an eastern Kentucky mountaintop Friday, Rev. Franklin Graham dedicated 18 newly constructed homes in Jesus’ name to families who lost everything in the region’s catastrophic 2022 floods. It was a moment survivors described as the first real breath of relief they’ve had in three years.
“This is Franklin Graham,” he says in an exclusive video to Fox News Digital. “Terrible floods here a few years ago just destroyed hundreds of homes. Well, today we are dedicating 18 houses that are finished and ready for people to move in.”
The homes are part of the new Chestnut Ridge subdivision, a 57-lot neighborhood built from scratch by Samaritan’s Purse and an army of volunteers.
“We’re grateful to God,” Graham added. “We couldn’t do this without the partners who provided land, the finances, the volunteers. These people are going to be in their homes for Christmas.”
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Rev. Franklin Graham shares a lighthearted moment with Paul Johnson, a home recipient who can now register for a lung transplant with a permanent address after years of being displaced from flooding. (Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse)
Flood survivor Lora Honycutt described the moment she stepped into her new house in a raw, unfiltered way captured on video.
“When I walk in this house here … the floors are not sinking,” Honeycutt said, wiping her eyes. “Even the smell is different. … I can’t describe the feeling.”
She added through tears, “These are happy tears. … These are happy tears.”
Video clips showed families breaking down as they crossed thresholds, their first structurally sound homes since the deadly floods destroyed entire communities three years ago.
For Paul Johnson, the dedication was life-changing. When the floods wiped out his home, he lost the permanent address required to stay on his lung transplant list.
“I was taken off the list when I moved into an RV. After today, I can get back on the transplant list,” Johnson said. “This home exceeds anything I expected. It’s beautiful. I feel very blessed. It’s a great day.”
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The Chestnut Ridge subdivision in eastern Kentucky has 18 homes for survivors of 2022 floods that devastated the region. (Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse)
The Chestnut Ridge homes have two, three or four bedrooms with one notable exception. A family with 10 children has the only home in the new subdivision with five bedrooms after spending 1,128 nights crammed into two campers since losing everything in the floods.
“We were thankful to have a place to lay our heads,” the mother said, “but it was aggravating. We were all on top of each other.”
Looking around her new five-bedroom home, she couldn’t hold back.
“We’re so dumbfounded, I don’t know what to do,” she said. “We can breathe.”
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Rev. Graham of Samaritan’s Purse and dedicated 18 homes in eastern Kentucky for survivors of 2022’s deadly floods. (Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse)
Former U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft and her husband, Joe, the CEO of coal mining company Alliance Resource Partners, donated the land on which the new neighborhood was built.
Graham also praised employees at the Lowe’s in Hazard, Kentucky, some of whom volunteered on construction crews.
Samaritan’s Purse has now constructed nearly 100 homes across Kentucky, from tornado-ravaged Mayfield to the devastated communities of the east.
Crews are also rebuilding in North Carolina, which continues to reel from Hurricane Helene.
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As snow fell across the mountaintop, Graham prayed over families receiving their brand-new houses, no longer haunted by the memories of 2022’s floods.
“We give God the glory, and we praise Him and, of course, these people are going to be in their homes for Christmas,” Graham said as he looked over the row of new homes.
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