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PONTE VEDRA, Fla. – A 37-year-old housewife and mother of two claims she was abducted from her posh Florida beach community, held against her will by a 25-year-old mechanic.
Ponte Vedra police say Reid Gray, 38, found a note from his wife, Quinn Gray, on Sept. 4. Three men wanted him to deliver a ransom of $50,000 – and he was not to involve the police.
Investigators say they have an audiotape that proves Quinn Gray was not a victim but an accomplice. St. John’s County Sheriff David Shoar says Gray and her lover, Jasmin Osmanovic, can be heard having sex and plotting their extortion scheme on the tape.
Reid Gray is standing by his wife in the bizarre case, paying for her legal defense as she and Osmanovic face extortion charges.
Heroic pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger has been named grand marshal of the 121st Tournament of Roses parade, officials said.
He’ll ride a flower-festooned float in the New Years’ Day parade in Pasadena, Calif. He’ll also toss the coin before the 96th Rose Bowl game.
Sullenberger gained fame for landing his passenger plane on the Hudson River in New York after it was hit by a flock of geese and lost power in both engines.
An 85-foot blue spruce soon will embark on a journey from the mountains of northeast Arizona to Washington, D.C., to stand as the Capitol Christmas tree.
The 7,000-pound tree that is taller than a seven-story building will be harvested today. From Alpine, it will go on a statewide tour before arriving Nov. 30 at the Capitol.
There, it will take about a week to decorate it with 10,000 lights and 5,000 ornaments made by Arizona schoolchildren.
An animal rights group asked a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency to look into an owner’s treatment of a circus elephant that escaped and was hit by an SUV on an Oklahoma highway.
The 29-year-old female elephant, meanwhile, was treated by veterinarians at Oklahoma State University and released to its owner, university spokesman Gary Shutt said. The animal’s injuries weren’t major, he said.
The group In Defense of Animals wants the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “to confiscate two suffering elephants” from Douglas K. Terranova of Kaufman, Texas, the group said. Terranova faces a complaint filed by the USDA concerning alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act from 2005 through 2008.
Thousands of family members and friends said farewell Friday to seven Coast Guard members who died when their plane collided with a Marine helicopter off the San Diego coast.
“No ceremony is as difficult as this one, at this place, at this time,” said Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commandant.
The Coast Guard members were on a C-130 plane searching for a missing boater when the aircraft collided Oct. 29 with a Marine AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter on a training exercise. The two Marines in the helicopter also died.
A Marine-Coast Guard board is investigating the cause of the crash.
A jury in Hackensack, N.J., has convicted a Florida man of murdering his former son-in-law, rejecting the man’s defense that he was too fat to have run up and down a flight of stairs to commit the crime and make a quick getaway.
Edward Ates was found guilty of murder and weapons counts for killing Paul Duncsak, who was shot six times. Ates had argued he didn’t have the energy to accurately shoot Duncsak from a perch on the staircase at Duncsak’s home in August 2006. He was 62, 5-feet-8 and 285 pounds at the time.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello termed Ates’ defense “nonsense” and credited a circumstantial case built around cell phone records and computer forensics.
Haitian senators have taken a key first step toward replacing the prime minister they ousted a week ago.
In a 22-0 vote, lawmakers affirmed that planning and external cooperation minister Jean-Max Bellerive meets constitutional requirements to be prime minister.
He must now get approval from the lower house, then both houses must approve his plan of governance. If approved, he’d be Haiti’s sixth prime minister since 2004.
Senators removed Michele Pierre-Louis last week, saying she had moved too slowly in fighting poverty.
A week of torrential rain has flooded the homes of more than 200,000 people along Mexico’s Gulf coast, officials said. Residents in some towns complained that no help had arrived.
The flooding in eastern Tabasco state has worsened as rains persist and more rivers overflow. Three people drowned earlier in the week while trying to flee a torrent of water in a drainage canal.
The floods affect more than a dozen towns.
French police are searching for a security driver who vanished with $7.4 million in cash from a bank in Lyon, authorities said.
Prosecutor Xavier Richard said the suspect, Tony Musulin – who is 39, single and childless – acted alone and prepared in advance; a police search revealed that his apartment and bank accounts were empty.
The driver had picked up the money Thursday at the Banque de France with two other security workers. During a stop at another bank, while the two others were inside, the driver left with the cash. He’d worked for the bank for 10 years.
A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver’s license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time.
The aspiring driver spent $4,200 in application fees, but had failed to score a minimum 60 out of 100 points needed to earn a driving test.
Cha Sa-soon, 68, of Jeonju, finally passed the written exam Wednesday. Her score? 60.
Now she must pass a driving test to get her license.
