Sunday, 13 July 2014

Remains may be missing American





  • Authorities try to determine whether body found in Mexico is that of missing American

  • Harry Devert was on a motorcycle ride through Mexico

  • Family and friends in New York have not heard from him in months

  • His last message mentions getting an "escort out of some area"




(CNN) -- Harry Devert left a job as a trader in finance to take a transcontinental motorcycle journey from the United States to Latin America.


Six months ago, he vanished after sending his girlfriend in New York an ominous text message from a troubled region in Mexico, about being escorted from "an area too dangerous for me to be."


Mexican authorities, acting on tips, on Thursday located his green Kawasaki motorcycle in a shallow grave in the state of Guerrero, along with the badly decomposed remains of a man in two plastic bags, said Darren Del Sardo, an attorney for Devert's mother.


The identity of the body has not been confirmed, said a statement from the Guerrero office of public safety. The discovery was made nearly 300 miles southwest of where Devert was last heard from in January.




Harry Devert had not been in touch with his mother or girlfriend in New York since January 25.

Harry Devert had not been in touch with his mother or girlfriend in New York since January 25.






American adventurer missing in Mexico




American teen lost at sea

"We don't know whether it's Harry or not," Del Sardo said.


On Saturday, Devert's mother Ann was to fly to Mexico after identifying the VIN number on the motorcycle found in Mexico. A day earlier she provided a DNA sample to police in New York to match against the remains.


"She's just remaining hopeful as any mother would," Del Sardo said. "One way or another, she's hoping for either closure or hoping that she's at least one step closer to finding him due to the fact the motorcycle was found."


Del Sardo said Ann Devert spent time in Mexico after her son's disappearance, meeting local authorities and residents in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacan in an attempt to find him. There was hope with unconfirmed tips that he was being held at a ranch. This week, she was notified of the remains and the bike in the shallow grave.


Mexican authorities said the motorcycle was found along a road leading to La Majahua beach in Guerrero. The statement said "10 packages of what appeared to be narcotics (marijuana and cocaine)" were found near the motorbike and body.


Del Sardo said Ann Devert was told that the remains may have been moved to the shallow grave. Devert's mother hopes to examine the remains for any signs that they are her son's, Del Sardo said.


"She's keeping her spirits up at this point and, most importantly, hoping that she gets confirmation one way or another as soon as possible," he said.


Devert, 32, had not been in touch with his mother or girlfriend in New York since January 25. That day he sent girlfriend Sarah Ashley Schiear an ominous text via the WhatsApp messenger app.


"Just got an hour and a half long escort out of some area it was too dangerous for me to be," the message said. "Stopping for lunch and ... voila Internet. ... Gonna get back on the road soon. Apparently there's another military escort waiting for me in some other town... I'm running way late because of the crazy military stuff...hopefully get a chance to talk to you tonight when I (hopefully) finally arrive."


He had checked out of a bed and breakfast in Michoacan and planned to travel to a beach in Zihuatanejo, on the Pacific Ocean, that was in the final scene of the film "The Shawshank Redemption," according to friends and family.


Ann Devert last heard from her son January 23. The phone connection was poor. He told her he'd be out of cell phone and Internet range for a few days.


She told CNN earlier this year that he would call every January 29, his late father's birthday, "and when he didn't, I felt a misgiving but I thought maybe it would take a couple of days," she said. "He didn't call."


Then, Ann Devert heard from a friend who recently returned from Michoacan, where vigilante self-defense groups in numerous communities have engaged in deadly confrontations with the Knights Templar drug cartel.


After vigilantes threatened to descend on a key cartel area last month, the Mexican government sent in thousands of troops and police to try to keep the peace. The government has even joined forces with the vigilantes as the Knights Templar become further entrenched in the agricultural state.


Ann Devert had been in touch with both the American and French embassies in Mexico. Her son, born in France, has dual citizenship.


Devert's friends and family were hopeful that his disappearance was only temporary, another story to recount from his wild travels around the world -- from Pamplona, Spain, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and beyond.


"I've been chased with a gun in Colombia, chipped my tooth on a gun that was shoved in my mouth in Venezuela and shot everything from a bazooka to a machine gun, an M16 to a Colt .45," Devert wrote in his travel blog, A New Yorker Travels. "I've been in some of the poorest and some of the most dangerous parts of the world and to many of the finest, and I still can't tell which I liked more. I think that life is a pilgrimage."


In an October 19 post, Devert described his latest journey on a type of vehicle he had no experience using.


"I've never ridden a motorcycle," he wrote. "Mostly, naturally, because I don't know how. So tomorrow I'm going to go to the DMV, get my motorcycle permit, buy a bike and hopefully figure out how to ride it home without crashing. Which I'm sure will be an adventure in itself."


He added, "Then in the next 2 or 3 weeks I'm going to drive it across America, through Central America, down to Brazil for the World Cup, and eventually south to Ushuaia, which as far as I can tell from a map is about as far south as one can get on the continent."


He purchased a green 2002 Kawasaki. Ann Devert said her son took a safety course and spent hours studying YouTube videos on how to survive falls from bikes.


But the fact that he had never driven a motorcycle concerned her, she said. He promised not to travel faster than 55 mph, yet he took a nasty spill while speeding in Florida, Ann Devert said. He emerged unscathed.


Friends and family created the Help Find Harry page in Facebook, with more than 25,000 likes.


READ: 'Strong possibility' missing world traveler Bearden meant to leave


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'Cake Boss' gets lost in layer of fog


Buddy Valastro says he wants to bake a cake for the rescuers.


Buddy Valastro says he wants to bake a cake for the rescuers.






  • Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro, his wife and friends were rescued after his boat was stranded

  • New York fire and police department units located and towed Valastro's boat to safety

  • At one point, Valastro said, a bigger vessel about 30 feet away was headed straight for his boat

  • Valastro: "I couldn't even see in front of me"




New York (CNN) -- Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro's gastronomical gifts were of little help when his 32-foot Boston Whaler got lost in heavy fog in New York Harbor.


"People were scared," Valastro told CNN of the harrowing journey Friday night with his wife, another couple and nine young children. "I didn't know which way to look -- left, right. I couldn't even see in front of me."


Both New York fire and police department units located and safely towed Valastro's boat to Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, New Jersey, NYPD Sgt. Carlos Nieves said. The vessel typically docks at Liberty Landing, which sits on the other side of the Hudson River from New York City and not far from the Statue of Liberty.


Police said authorities received an emergency call about 9:30 p.m.: A boat was stranded and its captain disoriented just south of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.


The vessel was lost in thick fog in Ambrose Channel, a busy shipping channel that put it in danger of colliding with large commercial ships, police said. Valastro said they were lost about 20 minutes before he called for help.


The ordeal started about 8:30 p.m. after Valastro and his friends had dinner in Highlands, New Jersey, and were taking the boat back home.


"I can't see the city," said Valastro, who had owned a boat for about six years. "I'm thinking it's dark... We wind up going into this deep, deep fog where you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. We started to get really scared."


At one point, Valastro said, a bigger vessel about 30 feet away was headed straight for his boat.


"I saw him but I don't think he saw us," he recalled. "We had to get out of the way... I turned quick. It got really, really scary. I said,' You know, it's time to call for help."


The boat moved slowly in the dense fog, he said. The children cried. Some were seasick and vomited overboard.


"My wife was flipping," he said. "I couldn't pick a worse bunch of people to be on the boat stuck in the fog with. All the kids were under 10 years old ... then my wife and my friend's wife and my friend... After we got rescued, we started joking and having some fun. But it was no joke. "


Nieves said police inspected the boat and found no alcohol on board or equipment violations. Valastro showed no signs of impairment, police said.


Valastro said a fire department vessel responded about 10 minutes after his distress call, followed later by a police boat.


"I want to bake them a cake," he said. "I want to do something good for them. They didn't even realize who I was until the end. It was all business. I'm not the kind of guy to say, 'I'm the Cake Boss. The Cake Boss in distress. May Day."


Valastro, who starred on the hit TLC show "Cake Boss," now appears in the competition series "Next Great Baker" on Tuesdays. A fourth-generation baker, he runs Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey.


After Friday's odyssey, the Cake Boss tweeted: "Next time we go out at night need to check the forecast #mywifewantstokillme".


2 tread water for 14 hours off Florida coast until chance rescue



Lightning in park kills 2 in 2 days





  • One woman is killed and seven people are injured in the lightning strike

  • The names of the hikers have not yet been released

  • Hikers are urged to be aware that when storm clouds gather, they should head to lower ground




(CNN) -- A lightning strike on a trail in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, left one woman dead and seven people injured.


The strike occurred Friday on the Ute Crossing Trail, park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.


The seven injured hikers were treated at the Estes Park Medical Center. Their names have not been released.


Dr. Martin Koschnitzke, of the Estes Park Medical Center, speaking to CNN affiliate KUSA, urged walkers to be aware of changing weather conditions.


"We can't emphasize enough that when it starts getting dark and clouds are forming, it's time to get down," he said. "My understanding is this group was actually in the process of doing that and still got caught, which is really a sad thing."


Medical officials told KUSA that three people still in the hospital Friday evening were being treated for burns, lacerations and broken bones.


Fire lieutenant resuscitated after lightning strike in Ohio



Massacre survivor quotes Dumbledore





  • NEW: Grandfather credits Cassidy Stay with saving 20 lives by alerting authorities

  • NEW: He says she played dead after being shot, then told police others were in danger

  • The teenager speaks out for the first time, after her parents and 4 siblings were killed

  • Cassidy quotes from Harry Potter: "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times"




(CNN) -- Cassidy Stay has seen the worst -- the brutal killings of her parents and siblings, ages 4 to 13, in their Texas home.


On Saturday, the 15-year-old quoted Dumbledore, the wise man from the Harry Potter series, in hopes of finding some good amid the horror.


"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times," Cassidy said, citing J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "if one only remembers to turn on the light."


The remarks -- at a public memorial for her family -- were the teenager's first public comments since she emerged as the lone survivor from the carnage in her family's Spring home.





Shooting spree suspect collapses in court




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Cops: Mass shooter intended to kill more




Police: Man kills 4 children, 2 adults

Authorities say that Ronald Lee Haskell barged into residence on Wednesday demanding to know the whereabouts of his estranged wife.


She was not there, but the Stay family was. And soon, in a barrage of bullets, six of them were dead.


They included Cassidy Stay's parents, Stephen and Katie, as well as her 7- and 9-year-old sisters and 4- and 13-year-old brothers.


Authorities: Man kills 4 children, 2 adults


Cassidy was targeted as well, with the Harris County Sheriff's Office indicating the shooting left her in critical condition. By Saturday, though, she was not only out of the hospital but standing tall, wiping away tears as people remembered her parents and siblings and offered support to her.


Thanking the first responders, doctors and nurses who'd helped her, the teenager said, "I am feeling a lot better and am on a very straightforward path to a full recovery."


Unfortunately, her family isn't coming back.


Reminders of this were everywhere, including a board that had hearts with their names. Cassidy mentioned them too, right after quoting Dumbledore.


"I know that my Mom, Dad, Brian, Emily, Becca and Zach are in a much better place, and that I will be able to see them again one day," she said at the gathering.


Accused killer collapses in courtroom


Grandfather: Cassidy saved 20 lives


At the same ceremony outside Lemm Elementary School in Spring, Roger Lyon remembered his daughter Katie, his son-in-law and grandchildren, saying, "We will miss them in the morning and in the evening."


"The best way, we think, (to move on) is to concentrate on the living, to cling to hope of life that has emerged in this terrible darkness."


He was talking about Cassidy.


Lyon then recounted what the teenager had done -- how she'd been shot and how she'd seen her parents and siblings shot. After all that, her grandfather said Cassidy "had the presence of mind to remain quiet and to play dead."


Once the coast was clear, the teen got up, called police "and told them we were in danger."


"Without her courage and quick thinking, we might be mourning the deaths of 20 -- yes, I said 20 -- people today, including myself and nearly all of our children and grandchildren," Lyon added, crediting Cassidy for alerting authorities who headed off Ronald Lee Haskell and arrested him after a three-hour long standoff.


While in the hospital, Cassidy talked about angels she'd learned in Sunday school are sent to "protect his children in times of great need," according to Lyon.


"After she had been shot on Wednesday, she said it felt as though the angels were there with her, putting their hands over her mouth -- whispering to her to be quiet," her grandfather said. "'I was quiet when I needed to be quiet,' she told us."


Between the balloons being released into the sky in the Stay family's memory, in between all of the tears and the hugs among those in the crowd who knew them, there were many reminders of Cassidy's actions -- and not just from her grandfather -- on Saturday.


Her name, after all, was among those on the board with those of her slain family members.


Hers was the only heart that wasn't red. And it was the only one with extra words added: "Our hero."


Police: N.C. grandfather shoots father, kid kills grandpa


Man questioned in fatal Tennessee armory shooting


Deputy's fatal shooting of boy carrying fake rifle ruled lawful


CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin, John Branch, Jason Hanna, Ed Payne, Dave Alsup and Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report.



Kerry joins talks on Iran nukes





  • NEW: Israeli Prime Minister says Iran is obviously trying to build nuclear weapons

  • Kerry says U.S. and Germany "great friends" amid spy flap

  • Top Iranian official says his country doesn't need to build nuclear weapons

  • Kerry says it's vital to ensure "Iran is not going to develop a nuclear weapon"




Kabul (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Austria on Sunday for talks with five other world powers and Iran on Tehran's nuclear program.


The participants will hold a final round of negotiations ahead of a July 20 deadline aimed at reaching a permanent deal on the future of Iran's nuclear program.


"Obviously, we have some very significant gaps still, so we need to see if we can make some progress," Kerry said in the Austrian capital, Vienna. "I really look forward to a very substantive and important set of meetings and dialogues."


The nuclear talks will include the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the U.S., UK, France, China and Russia -- and Germany.


"It is vital to make certain that Iran is not going to develop a nuclear weapon, that their program is peaceful," Kerry said.





Kerry scrambles to prevent Afghan crisis




Abdullah: Half of ballots 'suspicious'




Could Afghanistan be the next Iraq?

Tehran insists its ambitions are peaceful, but the world powers fear it plans to build nuclear weapons.


"We don't see any benefit in Iran developing a nuclear weapon," Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told NBC's "Meet The Press" from Vienna.


He said Iran has a number of advantages over its neighbors, including "the fact that we have better technology," which Iran doesn't need to augment with nukes.


"I believe nuclear weapons reduces countries' influence in our region," he added. "It doesn't help anybody."


Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking on "Fox News Sunday" from Jerusalem, called Zarif's comments a "joke" and a "sham." He said Iran has invested billions into its nuclear program.


"For what? For creating medical isotopes for Iranian patients circling the earth? What are they developing ICBMs for if not for nuclear warheads?" he asked. "What are they developing these -- building these enormous underground nuclear facilities, if not for a nuclear weapon?"


Kerry is expected to meet with Zarif on Sunday night.


Kerry seeks to mend U.S.-German relations


Kerry met Sunday in Vienna with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The encounter came amid a row over fresh spying allegations against the United States.


On Thursday, Germany's government asked America's top spy chief stationed in the country to leave.


This followed the revelation that two Germans -- one working at a German intelligence agency, the other in the Ministry of Defense -- are suspected of spying for the United States.


After Sunday's meeting, Kerry described the relationship between the two countries as "a strategic one. We have enormous political cooperation, and we are great friends and we will continue to work together in the kind of spirit that we exhibited today."


Kerry did not address the spy flap in his public remarks after the meeting, saying instead the conversation focused on Iran and also included Afghanistan and Iraq.


Kerry: Afghanistan election audit coming


Kerry's stop in Austria follows an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, where divisions are growing since the country's contested presidential runoff election.


After his visit, he announced that an audit of the disputed presidential election results will begin within a day in Kabul, and the two candidates will accept its determination of who won.


The inauguration of the new president, originally scheduled for August, will be postponed during the audit of votes cast for Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, Kerry said. Provisional results showed Ghani ahead with roughly 56% support to 43% for Abdullah.


Both candidates have alleged vote fraud and manipulation during the runoff last month.



Libyan militias battle for airport


Libya's Tripoli International Airport, pictured here in 2012, has been controlled by brigades since 2011.


Libya's Tripoli International Airport, pictured here in 2012, has been controlled by brigades since 2011.






  • NEW: National airline announces airport will be closed for three days

  • A weak central government and rivalry among militias fuel the Libya crisis

  • Brigades from Zintan have controlled the airport since 2011

  • Armed vehicles gathered in the area overnight




Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Rival Libyan militias battled for Tripoli International Airport on Sunday, with the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoing across the Libyan capital.


Brigades from the Zintan militia have controlled the airport since the Libyan civil war in 2011. Other militias have tried to wrest control of the airport from the Zintan brigades for years.


Armed vehicles gathered in the area overnight before fighting broke out around dawn Sunday, witnesses said.


"The revolutionary brigades are inside Tripoli International Airport," the Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room, an Islamist militia in the capital, posted on its Facebook page.


"The revolutionary forces have reached the perimeter of Tripoli International Airport ... clashes with some of the armed groups present there," the group said.


One of Libya's two national airlines, Afriqiyah Airways, said on its official Facebook page that it was diverting some of its international arrivals to the city of Misrata and that the airport in Tripoli will be closed for three days.


Late Sunday morning, the sounds of fighting could also be heard in the vicinity of a Zintan base in a western suburb of Tripoli.


Even though Libyans successfully toppled the 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, the country is far from stable. Armed militias are now the biggest challenge.


The international community has largely agreed that the key to resolving Libya's crisis is national dialogue. But a weak central government -- combined with militias split along regional, tribal and ideological lines -- has added to the challenge.


"The United States is deeply concerned by the ongoing violence in Libya and dangerous posturing that could lead to widespread conflict there," the U.S. State Department said in a statement Saturday.


"We affirm our support for Libya's democratic transition and urge the seating of the new Council of Representatives as soon as possible," the statement added. "Finally, we stress the vital role Libya's Constitution Drafting Assembly plays in building the new country for which Libyans sacrificed so much during the revolution."


CNN's Holly Yan contributed to this report.



S. Korea: North fires more rockets


An unidentified North Korean missile is displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang last year.


An unidentified North Korean missile is displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang last year.






  • South Korean official: 2 short-range missiles are fired from North Korea

  • South Korea's military is monitoring the situation closely, the official adds




Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea fired two short-range missiles early Sunday towards waters east of the Korean Peninsula, the latest such launch in the tense region, a South Korean official said.


The projectiles were fired at 1:20 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. Sunday (12:20 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday), according to the South Korean defense ministry official. They appear to have flown about 500 kilometers (310 miles).


The official added that South Korea's military is monitoring the situation closely.


North Korea has carried out a series of missile and rocket launches into the sea in recent months, drawing criticism from South Korea, the United States and the United Nations.


South Korea and the United States, especially, have long expressed concerns about both missile launches and that Pyongyang might be moving closer to developing nuclear weapons.


Prior to Sunday, the most recent such launch happened Wednesday morning, according to a South Korean defense ministry official.


North Korea did not declare a no-fly zone prior to the launch, of what was assumed to be short-range ballistic missiles, from North Korea's western Hwanghae Province, the official said. No damage or injures were reported.