Egypt Covington murder suspects' sentencing • Ford lays off 400 • Rash of public masturbating worries police
Family of Egypt Covington relieved after guilty pleas
All three of the people suspected in the death of a Van Buren Township woman have pled guilty to second-degree homicide. Michigan State Police, who took over the case in 2020 after local police investigated the death of Egypt Covington, say Timothy Moore and Shandon Groom of Toledo, Ohio, and Shane Evans of Sumpter Township had all pled guilty.
THURSDAY NEWS HIT - The final suspects in the murder of Egypt Covington will be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty days before their trials were set to begin over the summer.
Covington was found shot and bound in Christmas lights inside her Van Buren Township home in 2017 during a robbery gone wrong.
Shandon Groom and Timothy Moore pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July, just days before their trials were slated to begin. Moore also pleaded guilty to one count of felony firearm.
Because of the pleas, charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, first-degree home invasion, and felony firearm were dismissed against them.
A third suspect, Shane Evans is currently in prison after pleading guilty to the same charge. He was sentenced to 15-25 years in May.
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Remaining Egypt Covington murder suspects to be sentenced Thursday after guilty pleas
Two of the men charged with murdering Egypt Covington in her Van Buren Township home in 2017 will be sentenced Thursday.
Ford lays off 400 more workers
Ford has laid off 350 workers at the Livonia Transmission Plant and 50 workers at the Sterling Axle Plant.
"Our production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage," Ford said in a statement.
The automaker has now laid off 1,330 employees since the strike began Sept. 15.
This most recent round of layoffs comes after UAW members at Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant began striking last Friday. Before that, the only Ford facility targeted by the union was Michigan Assembly in Wayne, Mich.
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UAW strike update: 400 Michigan Ford workers laid off
More Ford employees have been laid off as the UAW strike nears the end of its third week. The automaker said Wednesday that 350 workers at the Livonia Transmission Plant and 50 workers at the Sterling Axle Plant will be out of work beginning Thursday.
Murder victim found during welfare check
Inkster police checking on a man Wednesday night found him murdered.
Officers went to the home on Meadow Lane near Middlebelt around 9:45 p.m. and discovered the 40-year-old's body.
Now, a manhunt is underway for the person responsible. Investigators believe they have identified a person of interest, but are not revealing their name publicly at this time.
"Any witnesses, if you've seen something out of the ordinary in this area, Meadow Lane, Inkster, Mich., if you've seen anything out of the ordinary in the last week or so, need to contact us," Inkster Police Chief Bill Ratliff said.
It isn't clear how long the victim was dead before his body was found.
Tips can be reported to Inkster police at 313-563-9850 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
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Man found murdered during welfare check in Inkster
Police are searching for the killer after a man was found dead in his Inkster home during a welfare check.
Multiple people caught publicly masturbating in Dearborn Heights
An investigation is ongoing after a gross trend seen in Dearborn Heights - men masturbating in public.
Three men in three locations in the city were seen doing this in the same week.
One of the instances was caught on camera. He was naked inside his vehicle with the door open.
"The individual was found to be naked in his car, pleasuring himself in the parking lot," said Paul Vanderplow, with Dearborn Heights police.
Police are leaning towards this not being a coincidence and that it could even be a social media "challenge."
"Anytime you get these reports of something very similar like this, yes, there is no coincidence," Vanderplow said. "It sounds like one of those TikTok challenges."
One of the suspects was arrested and charged after an incident near Annapolis High School last week. The others are still out there.
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Rash of public masturbation incidents in Dearborn Heights have police on alert
Police are leaning towards this not being a coincidence and that it could even be a social media challenge.
Mel Tucker's sexual harassment hearing starts Thursday
A hearing that will weigh allegations of sexual harassment against Mel Tucker, Michigan State University's fired football coach, is expected to begin Thursday in East Lansing.
The disciplinary hearing will sort through whether Tucker violated the school's sexual misconduct policy in his communications with Brenda Tracy, and examine the credibility of both figures.
The hearing is expected to span Oct. 5 and 6 and will attempt to determine if the accusations against Tucker are true - that he pursued Tracy romantically including the details of a phone call where he masturbated and used sexual comments toward her - and whether he sought to exact revenge against the accuser when he canceled a scheduled visit to campus by Tracy.
The hearing is a step in the Title IX office's investigation that began months ago when a complaint was first filed against Tucker by Tracy.
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Fired MSU coach Mel Tucker sexual harassment hearing begins this week
Mel Tucker's exit from MSU came swiftly when he was suspended a day after reports of potential sexual misconduct were made public. He was fired two weeks later.
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What else we're watching
- An 8-year-old's father is in custody after the child was shot with an unsecured gun inside a Detroit home. He is currently being held on a second-degree child neglect charge, though more charges could be added.
- Activists claim the newly-drawn districts are not fair and the representation or lack thereof is racist toward the Black population. The group, led by former state representatives, say current configurations dilute the Black vote as evidenced in part by a reduction they say happened post-2022 in majority-minority districts.
- Ypsilanti's Unicorn Feed and Supply is closing its storefront and moving fully online.
- The owner of Motor City Popcorn in Detroit says someone broke in and stole the cash register early Thursday.
- It's almost the weekend! Check our event guide and plan how you'll spend it here.
Biden administration waives 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction
The Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency.
The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the U.S. Federal Registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing "high illegal entry." According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded so far this fiscal year in the Rio Grande Valley Sector which contains 21 counties.
"There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas," Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, stated in the notice.