At Least 9 Dead and Others Missing After a Massive Fire Rips Through Buiding During Party in Oakland, CA

9 DEAD AS FIRE RIPS THRU PARTY IN OAKLAND, CA …

At least nine people died as a fire raged through a warehouse in Oakland, California’s Fruitvale neighborhood where a party was underway late Friday night. It is also being reported that there are another 25 people who are missing and unaccounted for. The fire started about 11:30 p.m. Friday at 1305 31st Ave. It tore through the building during an event featuring musician Golden Donna’s 100% Silk West Coast tour.

In what may be the deadliest structure fire in Oakland’s history, at least nine people died in a blaze that broke out late Friday at an electronic music party at a Fruitvale district live-work space, officials said.

The fire tore through the two-story building in the 1300 block of 31st Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. Friday during an event featuring musician Golden Donna’s 100% Silk West Coast tour.

Most of the nine dead were found on the second floor, and another 25 people are unaccounted for, Fire Chief Teresa Deloach-Reed said.

Firefighters said it appeared that no smoke detectors were activated during the fire and there was no sprinkler system in the  structure, the chief said.

“We still have to do a more thorough search of the building and we don’t know the potential number of other victims,” Deloach-Reed said. No firefighters were reported injured while battling the blaze.

The blaze is already being called one of the deadliest single-structure fires in Oakland’s history, if not the deadliest.

UPDATE I: Sheriff says officials prepared to deal with up to 40 deaths in Oakland, California nightclub fire.

California Police Reopen 16-Year-Old Cold Case of Missing Woman, Diana Rojas

As reported at FOX News, the California police have reopened a 16 year old missing persons cold case for Diana Rojas after receiving an anonymous tip. Diana Rojas was 27 when she disappeared in October 2000.According to accounts, she was a church worker and the mother of a 2-year-old and Long Beach police believe she was murdered.

California homicide detectives reopened the 16-year-old cold case of a missing woman last week after getting an anonymous tip.

Diana Rojas was 27 when she disappeared in October 2000. She was a church worker and the mother of a 2-year-old and Long Beach police believe she was murdered, though they have no suspect.

The tipster called cops to say where the woman’s body had been buried, KNBC-TV reported.

Following the tip, police drove 100 miles northeast to Ridgecrest on Thursday and dug four holes in the desert with the help of a backhoe and ground penetrating radar, according to the station.

After several hours the search was called off in the middle of the afternoon, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported.

UPDATE I: Search Begins for Remains in 16-Year-Old Long Beach Cold Case.

Excavation began Thursday in the Kern County desert as authorities conducted a search for remains in connection with the disappearance of a Long Beach woman 16 years ago.

Diana Rojas, 27, was last seen Oct. 20, 2000, at an apartment in the 5500 block of Ackerfield Avenue, where she lived with her 2-year-old daughter, according to the Long Beach Police Department. She is believed to have been murdered.

Her pickup was never found. It was a 1992 Nissan Extended Cab pickup, black with white pinstripes, with Texas license number BY3242. Police circulated her photo and listed her description as being of Filipino and Hispanic descent, 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 115 pounds, with brown hair and eyes.

EgyptAir Flight 804 Vanishes From Radar with 66 People Aboard … Terrorism or Mechanical Failure? (Update: Plane “Swerved and then Plunged”)

EgyptAir Flight 804 vanished from radar.

CNN is reporting that EgyptAir Flight 804 vanished from radar on its way from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard. There were 56 passengers, including one child two babies and 10 crew members. The plane disappeared from radar about 10 miles after entering Egyptian airspace. Search teams have been sent to last recorded location of the plane about 30-40 miles north of Egtpt’s coast. According to reports, weather conditions were clear and calm when the plane crossed over the Mediterranean Sea.

EgyptAir Flight 804 vanished from radar on its way from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard, the airline said Thursday.

The plane was flying at 37,000 feet when it lost contact overnight above the Mediterranean Sea, the airline tweeted. French President Francois Hollande said he had been told the flight crashed.

It’s too early in the investigation to say for sure what caused the disaster, and at this point experts say anything from mechanical failure to the terrorism is a possibility.

UPDATE I: Greece’s defense minister says, the plane “swerved and then plunged.”

A distress signal was detected in the general vicinity where the flight disappeared, said Capt. Ahmed Adel, a vice chairman at EgyptAir. The signal was detected at 4:26 a.m. — about 2 hours after the jet vanished, he said. Adel said the distress signal could have come from another vessel in the Mediterranean. But the Egyptian armed forces stressed that they had not received a distress call. There’s no confirmed information on the status of the missing plane, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said.

The EgyptAir flight “swerved and then plunged” before its descent into the Mediterranean, the Greek Defense Minister said during a news conference.

“At 3:37am local time, immediately after the aircraft entered Cairo airspace at 37,000 feet, the aircraft swerved 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees to the right and descended from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet and then 10,000 feet, when we lost the signal,” Panos Kammenos told reporters in Athens.

UPDATE II: French President Says, Egyptair Jet From Paris to Cairo Crashed.

French President Francois Hollande told a press conference that the plane had crashed, but said it was too soon to speculate as to the cause.

“No hypothesis can be ruled out,” he said.

Egyptian and Greek authorities are searching for the plane, which was flying at an altitude of nearly 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar shortly before it was due to land.

Almost immediately after entering Egyptian airspace the plane swerved sharply and then lost altitude before it dropped off radar, Greece’s Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told a press conference.

When the plane vanished it was about 175 miles away from Egypt’s coast, according to officials. [...]

Airbus — the maker of the plane — said in a statement that it regretted to confirm that “an A320 operated by Egyptair was lost” over the Mediterranean Sea.

French and Egyptian officials stressed they were closely cooperating to determine what caused the crash. Radar showed no adverse weather in the area at the time of the jet’s disappearance.

Egyptian and Greek authorities were focusing search efforts in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek military confirmed that one of its frigates and two of its aircraft were assisting in the operation about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of the island of Karpathos.

Was Terrorism to blame?

UPDATE III: Egypt’s prime minister says he can’t “rule out” the possibility that a terrorism.

Egypt’s prime minister says he can’t “rule out” the possibility that a terrorist attack brought the plane down. He says there was no “distress call” but there was a “signal” from the plane.

A search was launched to find the downed aircraft, but an Israeli newspaper quoted witnesses as saying they saw a fireball in the sky around the time the plane disappeared.

The Greek Defense Minister said the flight abrupt turns, suddenly lost altitude and then vanished from radar.

UPDATE IV: Egyptian minister says plane crash search widens.

Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said Egypt-Greek search for debris of crashed EgyptAir plane off Greek island of Karpathos is expanding.

Hours after the plane disappeared on Thursday, Fathi told reporters in Cairo that the diameter of the search area will widen, moving further south of the island.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s chief prosecutor Nabil Sadek says he has ordered an “urgent investigation” into crash of EgyptAir plane. Sadek instructed the National Security Prosecutor to open an “extensive investigation” in the incident.
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2:15 p.m.
Greece’s defense minister, Panos Kammenos, says Greece has a submarine on standby which is participating in a NATO exercise about 100 miles (160 kms) away from the presumed crash area, while F-16 fighter jets stationed on Crete could also be used if necessary. The country already has a navy frigate, two military transport planes and a radar plane participating in the search and rescue operation, while he said Egypt had sent a C-130 military transport plane and two F-16s.

France is providing Falcon navy support aircraft, he said, while Greece has contacted the US and Russia, and the American side has offered and Greece has accepted the help of a maritime support aircraft.

Human Remains found in a Houston Pasture are those of a 17 Year Old Jessica Cain who disappeared in 1997 … Convicted Felon William Reece Pointed Authorities to the Location

The remains of 17 year old Jessica Cain who disappeared in 1997 have been positively identified according to the Harris County medical examiner’s office on Friday. Forensic experts used DNA to identify her. The remaining of the missing teen girl were found in a Houston area pasture. According to reports, William Reece, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a 1997 kidnapping, assisted authorities in the search and pointed authorities to the location. Investigators zeroed in on the field on East Orem Dr. thanks to a tip from an inmate named William Reece.

Tim Miller with Texas Equusearch assisted in the search for Jessica’s remains said the following, “I was there the day she disappeared on the original search, and this is not the news her family wanted to hear, but not knowing is usually worse.” Miller further went on to say, “They now have the opportunity to go through that grieving process. And realize that Jessica’s not coming back and get into that healing process.”

Human remains found in a Houston pasture are those of a 17-year-old girl who disappeared in 1997, the Harris County medical examiner’s office said Friday.

The remains of Jessica Cain, who disappeared after dining with friends, were identified through DNA analysis, said Audrey Carter, an investigator with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

A convicted kidnapper who might be linked to other violent crimes pointed investigators to the location of the remains. Investigators dug for more than three weeks in a rural pasture on the edge of Houston before finding the remains on March 18.

William Reece, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a 1997 kidnapping, assisted authorities in the search. Reece, 56, also recently led authorities to remains identified as those of 20-year-old college student Kelli Cox, who had been missing from Denton in North Texas since 1997.

Reece’s attorney, Anthony Osso, has said his client ultimately hopes to avoid the death penalty by cooperating with authorities.

UPDATE I: Human remains found in SE Houston field confirmed to be Jessica Cain.

Cain disappeared in 1997; her truck found abandoned on the side of I-45 near the exit to her home. Her case remained unsolved until detectives began searching a southeast Houston field in February of this year. After nearly three weeks of searching, skeletal remains were found.

The man who led investigators to the site is William Reece, who has been the prime suspect in Cain’s disappearance. A handcuffed Reece was spotted in the field over the few weeks the search took place, walking around with investigators.

After Cain’s remains were found in southeast Houston, Reece led investigators to a field in Brazoria County near Angleton. After a week of digging, investigators found what were later identified as the remains of Kelli Ann Cox.

Cox disappeared from the town of Denton in 1997.

36 Year Old Jeremy Cross Missing on Percy Priest Lake While Boating With His Son & Family Friend at Anderson Road Campground & Recreation Area on 4/2/16 in Nashville, TN

36 year old Jeremy Cross has gone missing Saturday, April 2, 2016 while boating with his 10 year old son and a family friend in Nashville, Tennessee. Firefighters were called to Percy Priest Lake just before 7 p.m. Saturday to the Anderson Road Campground & Recreation Area. According to  Tennessee Wildlife officer Kaleb Stratton, the 10-year-old boy and the family friend were able to get away from the boat. They last saw the boy’s father clinging to the upturned canoe and trying to put on a life vest. The three extremely high winds and waves near Hole in the Wall island.

Search efforts continued Sunday for a 36-year-old man who went missing on Percy Priest Lake while boating with his son and a family friend, according to the Nashville Fire Department.

Firefighters were called to the lake just before 7 p.m. Saturday, but as of 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the man remained missing, spokesman Brian Haas said.

The three had been out on the lake most of the day when they encountered extremely high winds and waves on the lake near Hole in the Wall island, Haas said.  The group, who had been out in a canoe and a kayak, tied the kayak to the canoe and tried to get to land, but high waves capsized the canoe.

The 10-year-old boy and the family friend were able to get away from the boat, Haas said. They last saw the boy’s father clinging to the upturned canoe and trying to put on a life vest. Tennessee Wildlife officer Kaleb Stratton identified the man as Jeremy Cross.

UPDATE I: Father missing after canoe capsizes on Percy Priest Lake.

The rescue effort began around 7 p.m. Saturday night. Two boats from the Office of Emergency Management, one boat from the Nashville Fire Department, one boat from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Metro Police’s Air 1 helicopter all assisted in the search.

Thermal imaging, sonar and search and rescue dogs were utilized in the search.

Due to increasing winds and dangerous conditions on the water, the search was called off around Midnight before Cross could be found.

The search continued at the Anderson Road recreation area beginning at 9 a.m.