By: KDKA-TV News Staff

LATROBE, Pa. (KDKA) – State police are asking for help finding a runaway 16-year-old from Westmoreland County.

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Police say Kayla Marie Tabron is missing after she left her house in the Latrobe area Thursday.

Missing / Runaway

Please help us find Kayla Marie Tabron the below pictured female. She is 16 YOA, 6’01”, 200lbs, bro hair and eyes. She left her residence in the Latrobe area today. Anyone with info contact PSP Greensburg at 724-832-3288. pic.twitter.com/TJanE4z89U

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— Troopers Steve Limani & Cliff Greenfield (@PSPTroopAPIO) February 25, 2021

Police describe her as 6-foot-1, weighing 200 pounds. She has brown hair and eyes.

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Anyone with information is asked to call Pennsylvania State Police Greensburg at 724-832-3288.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The suspect wanted in the sexual assault of a 55-year-old woman at the Macy’s in Center City was taken into custody on Wednesday. Police announced the arrest of 22-year-old Jaleel Uqdah this afternoon.

UPDATE: Police have identified Jaleel Uqdah as the man responsible for raping a 55 yr old woman in the bathroom of the Market st. Macy’s. The clothes he was wearing the day of the assault have been recovered from his home. More at 4/5pm @CBSPhilly pic.twitter.com/OyTtThOBlP

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— Alecia Reid (@alecia__reid) February 24, 2021

Uqdah was arrested at his West Philadelphia home this morning.

Police say the suspect has a very distinctive walk, which helped to identify him.

Although he hasn’t confessed, authorities recovered the clothes he was wearing the day of the assault.

Police say Uqdah walked into Macy’s Sunday morning on a mission.

“He went into that store at 11:11, that’s the time he entered the store. Within three minutes, he was in the bathroom,” Philadelphia Police Capt. Mark Burgmann said.

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The suspect waited upwards of 20 minutes inside the third-floor women’s restroom before his victim walked in. During the assault, authorities say, he threatened to stab her and robbed her before taking off.

“He went underground and took the Market-Frankford El and got off at 52nd and Market Street, and from 52nd and Market Street, he took a bus 52nd to Girard Street,” Philadelphia Police Detective Vincent Strain said.

Additional surveillance photos released late Tuesday night got tips flooding into police. One particular tip led police to his West Philadelphia home on North 53rd Street, where a search warrant gave them access.

Authorities say Uqdah was surprised when police showed up but was arrested without incident.

In this case, it took a lot of effort and help from the public, Macy’s and SEPTA to locate their suspect.

“It took a lot of work and we’re very appreciate of that. We always coordinate with them on these jobs,” Burgmann said.

Police intend to compare Uqdah’s DNA to additional crimes in the city.

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For this incident, he is facing a slew of charges, including felony rape, aggravated assault and robbery.

Friday marks two years since the body of little Lachie Jones was found in a Gore oxidation pond. The three-and-half-year-old was discovered by a police dog and his handler at 11.15pm on January 29, 2019 face up in the water more than a kilometre from his home.

His father, Paul Jones, has taken time off work on the anniversary to visit Lachie’s grave, which he still tends to every day. Flowers and toys decorate the site – and windmills. Jones says they spin whenever he talks to his son.

“I’ll be telling him that I still love him and how much I miss him. I also like to tell him what’s going on. I promised Lachie I’d see it through to the end and find out what happened.”

The boy’s death is at the centre of a case that has mystified the Southland town. Police ruled it an accident, concluding Lachie had walked the 1.2 kilometres in his hi-viz vest, climbing over a fence and traipsing over long prickly grass to the end of the second of two large ponds before falling in and drowning. His little replica police hat was found on the grass near his body.

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But Jones remains unconvinced his son’s death was accidental, saying there’s “no way” he walked there.

Following an in-depth investigation by Newsroom late last year, which included engaging a private investigator to assess the file, police reopened the case and brought in officers from another district to conduct new inquiries.

At issue are several concerns over how the original police investigation was conducted, including that police did not secure the scene, nor conduct a full scene examination; that there were inconsistencies in witness statements, including contradictory times given for sightings of Lachie that were not followed up; and that key witnesses were also not interviewed until more than a month later.

Concerns were also raised over the length of time police took to request text messaging data from telcos so that it was too late and no longer available, and that the cellphone location data they did collect showed inconsistencies about where key witnesses said they were.

Most concerning of all for Jones was that no marks were found on Lachlan’s feet, despite a supposed walk of 1.2km over rough terrain, a gate and cutty grass with thistles.

‘Where’s the proof?’

Southern District Investigations Detective Inspector Stu Harvey has been keeping Jones and his close friend Karen McGuire informed of progress in the case.

The police have told Jones and McGuire this investigation would be done to the level of a homicide inquiry. When asked what this meant, Harvey told Newsroom it means they will “make sure everything that needs to be covered off has been covered off”.

“Obviously they’ve [Jones and McGuire] had some concerns about the standard of the investigation, so we’re just trying to fix all those problems they saw that were there. So we’re really just tidying up all the things that needed to be done,” says Harvey.

He estimates their part of the investigation will be completed by the end of February. This includes relooking at the cellphone data and having medical notes reviewed, but that waiting on experts means it was hard to know exactly when everything would be wrapped up. It would be at least “a few months” before police were able to say they’ve done everything they can.

Meanwhile, Worksafe is taking the Gore District Council to court as a result of Lachie’s death. The council has pleaded not guilty to the charges under three sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to take all reasonable precautions to ensure the oxidation ponds were safe.

Both Worksafe and the Gore District Council say they are unable to comment while the court case is underway. The next court appearance is scheduled for February 3 at the Gore District Court.

If found guilty, the case could have serious ramifications across the country, given numerous oxidation ponds have simple stock fences around them, just as Gore had at the time of Lachie’s death. Immediately following the tragedy the Gore District Council erected 1.8m deer fencing around the ponds.

A new team

Jones has engaged a private investigator and a new legal team in the hopes of fulfilling his promise to Lachie to get to the bottom of the tragedy.

Private investigator Jason Bracegirdle is expected to arrive in Gore next week from Dunedin. The former police officer of 17 years told Newsroom he believes the original investigation lacked any detail and that it appears there are some areas that should have been investigated but weren’t.

“My initial thoughts when I started reading through some of the work the police had done was that they had perhaps settled very quickly on this being a tragic drowning as opposed to anything else, and I think they worked their way to that point, as opposed to working their way through their inquiries to then determine what happened.”

He intends to conduct his own inquiries and expects to be travelling back and forth “quite a bit”.

“There are certainly some questions to be answered about police conduct with the investigation, how thorough it was. My job is to review the police inquiry and work out what work wasn’t done and needs to be done and conduct those inquiries in the hope of really clarifying what happened that night.

“There’s a lot of unknowns and contradictions and things the police should have looked at and should have questioned and perhaps if they did we may still be in the position we are now, and perhaps the evidence did show Lachie walked all the way and tragically died in the pond, but we don’t know that and I don’t think the [original] investigation satisfied that possibility.”

McGuire has been a “support person” for Jones and says if the police had completed their investigation more thoroughly in the first place Jones wouldn’t need to spend the money on hiring a private investigator and a new legal team.

“The more people that work together with the same goal in mind the better, but everything costs so much money, which is so wrong because if the cops had done their job properly in the first place he wouldn’t be having to pay a cent,” she says.

The case has also been referred to the coroner, whose office would look to determine Lachie’s cause of death. However, as is usual in situations like these, the inquiry is adjourned until the Worksafe prosecution has ended.

In a coronial inquiry, witnesses and others involved in the case may also be heard in court. Jones is hanging his hopes on this process, but the gears of justice grind slowly.

“People have to be accountable for their statements they’ve made that are not true. It needs to be done sooner than later. I don’t believe it’s a Worksafe case, I believe a criminal offence happened out there.”

Jones says he just wants answers.

“I won’t stop until I know the truth.”

Newsroom

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Eileen Broome, 93, is a self-confessed collector of anything from soft toys to teaspoons.

But her condimental salt and pepper shaker collection tops the lot – at a conservative estimate she has at least 500 sets.

And they are not hidden away in boxes, like many collections, but proudly displayed in a glass cabinet, taking up most of a wall in her daughter’s home.

Michelle Nelson said she was all too happy to accommodate her mum’s collection when she moved in with her three years ago.

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“Even as kids I remember every time we moved house dad would look to see if there was a dining room wall big enough – making sure there was room for the cabinet was always the major concern.”

Fifty years later the collection is almost entirely intact – apart from one breakage in transit, the collection survived shaky Wellington for years.

“When we were growing up we would always know how strong the shakes were by how much the cabinet rattled,” Nelson said.

The obsession began with Broome’s first and favourite set – two spaniels holding newspapers, which she bought in about 1952 from Farmers Trading Company in Auckland.

The most expensive set would have cost £30 back in the day and, while she has bought many herself, friends have also sent them from their travels.

“There are some from Australia, Namibia, India … I’ve got some sets of the individual states of America, but not all of them.”

Name an animal and Broome has it in her salt and pepper cabinet: kissing giraffes, a dog cocking his leg, pigs, cats, penguins.

“The only thing is I wish I’d got more horses – I’d always wanted more, but I was never able to find them.”

The collection does not stop with animals – there is a Robert Muldoon and David Lange set, plus kitchen items like a toaster, jugs, cups and teapots, and a musical selection with guitars, a harp and a working piano.

“You knock the piano keys and the top comes up.”

Broome admits to having had a few risqué salt and pepper sets, which she kept in a drawer while her children were young.

Now she can display the topless sunbather in all her glory.

“You lift up her apron and there’s the mustard,” she laughed.

Many are made from porcelain, while others are plastic, various types of wood, and even elk horn.

There are some pretty old specimens to boot – some of the sets belonged to Broome’s own grandmother, who was born in the 1880s.

But at the age of 93, has Broome finally finished collecting?

“Put it this way, I’m only collecting now if I see something special … they just don’t make them like this any more.”

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An Ado-Ekiti Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, ordered that a 40-year-old man, Oladipupo Seun, who allegedly raped an 18-year-old girl, be remanded in a correctional centre, pending legal advice.

The police charged Seun with rape.

Magistrate Taiwo Ajibade, did not take the plea of Seun, because the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

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Ajibade ordered the police to return the case file to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.

She adjourned the case until March 18 for mention.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Insp Olubu Apata told the court that Seun committed the offence on Feb. 20 in Igede-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti.

He said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 358 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ekiti State 2012.

Vanguard News Nigeria