Arizona
Teen Alicia Navarro missing for nearly 4 years shows up safe at Montana police station
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona teenager who disappeared days before her 15th birthday nearly four years ago is safe after walking into a small-town police station in Montana this week, authorities announced Wednesday.
Alicia Navarro, now 18, showed up alone this week about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Canadian border and identified herself to authorities there as the missing teenager, according to police in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.
Her disappearance in 2019 sparked a massive search that included the FBI. Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago said over the years, police had received thousands of tips.
Her mother, Jessica Nunez, raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
The name of the town wasn’t immediately disclosed, but Montana is more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from Arizona.
“She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” Santiago said at a news conference.
Investigators were trying to determine what happened to Navarro after her disappearance at age 14 on Sept. 15, 2019.
Police Lt. Scott Waite said they were investigating all the possible scenarios that could have led to Navarro’s disappearance, including kidnapping.
“As much as we’d like to say this is the end,” Waite said, “we know this is only the beginning of where this investigation will go.”
Police said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
In a short video clip that police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the Montana police station this week, she can be heard telling authorities, “No one hurt me.” In another short video, Navarro thanked the police.
“Thank you for offering help to me,” she said.
When she disappeared from her home, Navarro left a signed note that read: “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.”
Waite described Navarro’s reunion this week with her mother as “emotionally overwhelming” and that Navarro said she was sorry for “what she has put her mother through.”
Nunez confirmed that her daughter had been found but said she had no details.
“I want to give glory to God for answering prayers and for this miracle,” she said in a Facebook post.
“For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example,” she said. “Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
Alaska
State asks U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the rejection of a proposed copper, gold mine
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal agency’s rejection of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January blocked the proposed Pebble Mine, citing concerns with potential impacts on a rich aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. It was the 14th time in the roughly 50-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the EPA flexed its powers to bar or restrict activities over their potential impacts on waters, including fisheries.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor in a statement Wednesday said having a case heard directly by the Supreme Court rather than first in the lower courts is “an extraordinary ask, but it’s appropriate given the extraordinary decision being challenged.”
“The EPA’s order strikes at the heart of Alaska’s sovereignty, depriving the State of its power to regulate its lands and waters,” according to the court filing.
An EPA spokesperson said the agency was reviewing Wednesday’s filing, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The EPA has said its decision would prohibit certain waters from being used as disposal sites for the discharge of material for the construction and operation of the proposed Pebble project. The decision also would prohibit future proposals to build or operate a mine to develop the deposit that would result in the same or greater level of impacts.
Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. owns the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is pursuing the mine. Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen in a statement said the company plans to support the state in its legal action and left open the possibility of pursuing separate litigation.
In cases where states sue the federal government, they can bring complaints directly to the court, though only a few such cases are heard annually.
A Virginia-based law firm known for championing conservative causes, Consovoy McCarthy, is representing the state in the lawsuit as Supreme Court counsel. The firm previously contracted with the state in a dispute with public employee unions.
Alaska Native tribes and environmental groups have long pushed for the rejection of the mine.
Alannah Hurley, executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, called the state’s filing a “slap in the face to Bristol Bay” and said tribes “will use every tool at our disposal to protect our waters, our salmon, and our people.”
Pennsylvania
Man arrested in 2007 killing after informant comes forward, authorities say
DERRY, Pa. (AP) — A longtime suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in her Pennsylvania home 16 years ago has now been charged with homicide and several other counts.
Charles Earl Ream, 53, of Latrobe was arrested Wednesday and remains jailed without bail. Court officials said there was not a defense lawyer on file to represent him and a text seeking comment was sent to his phone.
Ream is charged with homicide, robbery, burglary and theft in the March 2007 death of 22-year-old Samantha Lang.
Lang was last seen alive about 24 hours before a friend found her body surrounded by a pool of blood in her living room. Lang’s skull had been fractured, her throat was cut and her left ring finger was broken. The home — which authorities have described in court papers as a hub for drug activity — was ransacked and had a strong odor of marijuana.
Ream was initially questioned by police because he was known to be one of the last people seen with her. Ream told police he met with Lang at her home and ultimately bought three bags of heroin from her, authorities said.
An unidentified male informant spoke with investigators “multiple times” over the years and told them he talked with Ream around the time Lang was killed. He said Ream described killing the woman but said he had only gone there to break her fingers in order to
learn where she kept her drugs.
Two months ago, a female informant told police she had overheard Ream telling others that he “did it” and “made a mistake,” according to court documents. She told police Ream said, “I have a daughter now,” and, “I don’t want to get in trouble for something I was involved in from the past.”
