Crime

The hunt for Gabby Petito's fiance, Brian Laundrie -- who's believed to be the last person to see her alive -- may have broken wide open ... because someone thinks they spotted him about 500 miles from his Florida home.

Sam Bass says a man fitting Brian's description was seen on his trail camera set up in the wilderness in Baker, FL early Monday morning ... and he's alerted the authorities.

Bass' deer camera footage shows a man with a backpack trekking through the woods, and he certainly resembles Laundrie ... who was reported missing by his family after being named a person of interest in the disappearance of Gabby.

Folks were quick to point out Baker is about 450-500 miles away from Laundrie's home in North Port -- which would be quite a journey on foot over 4 days -- but the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed it's actively looking into the footage ... but there's no confirmation it's Brian yet.

People have also pointed out that the man's backpack is similar to Laundrie's, and his parents told authorities he left with it on a hike Friday and never came back.

As we've reported ... the story of Gabby and Brian -- who were on a cross-country trip this summer and documenting it on social media -- garnered national attention when he returned to his Florida home without her on Sept. 1.

Gabby was reported missing 10 days later by her family, who claim Brian was not cooperative at all in trying to locate her, and the feds believe they found her body at a national park Sunday in Wyoming ... a place she was believed to have visited with her fiance.

There was also a domestic dispute between the couple in mid-August in Utah, but the authorities released them with no charges or arrests. A 911 caller from that incident said they had observed Brian physically attacking Gabby ... she went missing sometime after that.

On Monday, FBI agents tore up Brian's parent's home in Florida, searching for evidence and leaving with several boxes.

A makeshift memorial has already been set up at the site where the remains believed to be hers were found, though the autopsy confirming it's her has not been disclosed yet.

Nancy Grace says determining Gabby Petito's cause of death could be hampered by the wildlife of Wyoming -- but, adds, the fact her tattoos were ID'd offers a glimmer of hope.

The author and Fox Nation host joined "TMZ Live" Tuesday and said she's not sure Tuesday's autopsy will ultimately determine how Petito died ... or if her fiance, Brian Laundrie, was involved.

Her theory? The site where authorities found remains matching Gabby's description experiences such intense weather elements, it could have caused decay or damage to the body that might conceal markers the coroner would use to determine cause of death.

Nancy -- who's special, "A Gabby Petito Investigation" is streaming now on Fox Nation -- points out there's also a lot of wild animal activity in that area, and it's possible the creatures could have damaged the corpse.

That being said, Nancy says there's hope Gabby's body was found somewhat, if not fully, intact. Remember, the FBI said the body they found was "consistent with the description" of Petito.

Nancy says, that if authorities were able to immediately identify Gabby's tattoos -- on her left arm and right forearm -- it's possible her skin was still intact ... meaning the body could offer clues about what led to her death.

With all we know at this point, she sees 3 possible explanations for Gabby's disappearance and possible death. She also tells us why she thinks cops never named Laundrie a suspect.

As for Laundrie ... he's been missing for days now but a trail cam set up in the wilderness in Baker, FL may have spotted him. The FBI is investigating the possible sighting.

Gabby Petito's boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, allegedly slapped and hit her in the run-up to them being pulled over and questioned by a cop in Utah, shortly before she vanished ... this according to a 911 caller, who claimed to have witnessed violence.

FOX obtained the 911 call in question, which was placed on August 12 near Moab, Utah -- not too far from where Gabby and Brian were eventually pulled over later that day by a city cop, whose body camera captured a distraught Gabby ...  and Brian unseemly denying anything had happened between them.

Check out the audio ... you hear a man tell the operator he's calling to report a domestic dispute he says he saw in town, going on to paint a picture of the white van Gabby and Brian had been traveling in, while also providing a license plate number ... and descriptions of both of them.

When the operator asks point blank what he saw them doing ... the guy doesn't hesitate -- he says he saw the man slapping and hitting the female, then both of them running up and down the sidewalk ... and finally jumping into the van and driving off.

Not long after this, Gabby and Brian were, in fact, stopped by a Moab officer and questioned. While neither Gabby nor Brian admitted to any physical confrontation -- it was clear the former was having a hard time and going through some sort of a breakdown, as she started to cry in front of the cop. Brian, for his part, said they'd just been arguing ... nothing more.

Interestingly enough, FOX reports that an official police account of this entire incident claimed "no one reported that the male struck the female" -- which appears to be contradicted here.

As we reported ... the feds announced Sunday that they believe they found the remains of Gabby's body in a national park in Wyoming, one of the last places she's said to have been with Brian -- who came back to Florida solo, and who has since gone missing himself.

The body believed to be that of Gabby Petito -- a travel blogger who's been unaccounted for, for at least a few weeks now -- has been found.

Authorities announced Sunday they discovered what they believe to be the remains of Petito during a vast search across Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming -- among parts of the country -- which is one of the places she and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, had recently visited on a monthslong, cross-country road trip to the west coast ... which they were documenting online.

A rep for the FBI says while forensic tests have not yet been completed, the body they discovered is consistent with Gabby's. Petito's family has also been notified ... but there is not yet a cause of death.

Gabby's family first reported her missing on Sept. 11 -- this after not hearing from her since late August ... and following Brian's return to North Port, FL, sans Gabby. Up until this past Friday, Laundrie and his family had reportedly refused to speak with investigators ... but then his own loved ones reported him missing, saying they'd last seen/heard from him on Tuesday.

The Petito's have claimed that Brian went radio silent on them when they tried to get answers -- namely, why he'd returned by himself in their shared van, where he last saw her, and why he would leave her alone?

It goes without saying ... her fam suspects Brian is mixed up in her disappearance, claiming he isn't missing ... but simply hiding. Police have said he isn't a suspect quite yet, but certainly a person of interest. Now, a search is underway to find Brian as well.

Adding to the speculation is bodycam video from a Utah officer who had a run-in with Gabby and Brian near Arches National Park prior to her vanishing -- and it sounds like there was a squabble between the couple.

You can see Gabby breaking down in tears when the officer asks what was going on after pulling them over on the side of a road, as she explains she has OCD. Brian, for his part, told the cop they were just arguing and that there wasn't anything to be alarmed about.

The case, of course, has become the biggest talked about story for a while ... and has captured national headlines.

For now, it appears only Gabby has been located -- and, sadly, she isn't alive. She was only 22.

Murdaugh just appeared in a South Carolina court, going in front a judge and being read the charges against him.

Murdaugh has just turned himself in. He reportedly pulled up to the Hampton County Law Enforcement Center in a beige SUV.  Murdaugh was booked at the Hampton County Detention Center and is expected in court later in the day.

The disgraced lawyer faces a slew of charges ... including insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report.

"Dateline" correspondent Josh Mankiewicz knows the bizarre murder/assisted suicide case of South Carolina's Murdaugh family is right up his show's alley -- and he's totally into it -- but he says the location is a bit off.

Josh was leaving The Palm in L.A. Wednesday when we got his take on the endless twists surrounding prominent lawyer Alex Murdaugh, and the unsolved murders of his wife and son.

For starters, Josh, like everyone else, says the case is riveting and people are asking him about it nonstop. Comes with the territory when you're the go-to guy covering true crime cases.

For the uninitiated ... Murdaugh found his wife, Margaret, and 22-year-old son, Paul, shot dead outside their home in June -- and police have yet to make any arrests in that case.

Fast forward to September 4 ... when Murdaugh got shot in the head, but survived. He now admits he hired a hitman to kill him so his surviving son could collect a $10M life insurance policy. The shooter's already been arrested and charged with assisted suicide, and Murdaugh's expected to surrender to authorities Thursday.

Josh is blown away by all of this, and that's coming from a "Dateline" vet who's seen it all ... so, ya know we're in uncharted true crime waters. In fact, he says one of the strangest parts of the case is that it's NOT happening in Florida!

Apologies to the Sunshine State, but y'know ... some insane stuff does happen there. 'Memba this and this??? Anyway, Josh also has a tip for Alex Murdaugh, although we suspect it's too late to help him now.

BTW ... S.C. officials announced they're also opening a new investigation into the 2018 death of a housekeeper at Murdaugh's home. 😲

Reece James -- a Chelsea soccer star and member of England's national team -- claims his home was burglarized Tuesday ... and he says it was all captured by security cameras.

James says the incident went down while he was away from his house playing in a game for Chelsea ... claiming the footage shows clear as day how thieves stole a giant safe from his home.

In the video, you can see what appears to be four men pushing their way through a gate on James' property to get access to his house.

The men then appear to look into James' windows ... before breaking in using a giant sledgehammer.

James says you can see in the video the guys stole a safe from his place ... and then hauled it all the way outside and into a getaway car.

"They managed to collectively lift a heavy safe containing some personal items of mine into their car," James said.

The 21-year-old footballer says some of his priceless soccer awards were in the safe ... adding that law enforcement has been notified and is investigating.

"I am appealing to all my Chelsea and England fans to help identify and turn in these low life individuals who will never be able to rest easy as the evidence is mounting against them," James said.

"The police, my advisers and Chelsea FC (and many others) are all behind me as we have firm leads on who the perpetrators are. We are closing in on them."

James said, thankfully, nobody was home or injured during the incident.

Marilyn Manson's rape accuser just had her lawsuit against the shock rocker tossed out of court ... TMZ has learned.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge dismissed the suit Tuesday, ruling the statute of limitations had passed on the woman's claims.

TMZ broke the story ... Manson was sued back in May by a Jane Doe who claims they started dating in 2011 before things took a turn for the worse and he raped her.

Manson's accuser claimed she repressed her memories of the alleged rape ... but the judge dismissed the suit because the woman couldn't specify how her memory was repressed, or why she didn't learn of it earlier.

While this lawsuit is dismissed, for now, we've told you Manson is also being sued for sexual assault by 3 other women ... including his former assistant and "Game of Thrones" star Esme Bianco.

Rapper Mo Fayne's going away for a long, long time for his role in a PPP loan fraud case ... he's just been sentenced to 210 months in prison -- that's 17.5 years.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star was hit with the prison sentence after pleading guilty to 6 counts, including bank and wire fraud.

Remember ... prosecutors alleged he funded a lavish lifestyle during the pandemic with money from the Paycheck Protection Program. The money was intended to help employees and small businesses hit hard by COVID.

Fayne had cut a plea deal with prosecutors ... who agreed to drop 14 other charges and recommend Fayne get a 151-month sentence. Instead ... the judge hit him with nearly 5 more years behind bars. The silver lining ... he was staring down a possible 30-year sentence if he didn't cut that deal, so take that for what it's worth.

According to the Dept. of Justice ... Fayne submitted a $3.7 million PPP loan application, falsely claiming his trucking business had 107 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1,490,200.

The feds say Fayne promised to use the PPP loan to retain workers and maintain payroll but instead used it for improper purposes ... including $40k for past-due child support, $85k for for jewelry, $136k for a Rolls-Royce, and $907k to start a new business in Arkansas.

Simone Biles broke down while testifying about Larry Nassar in front of a group of senators on Capitol Hill ... choking back tears while explaining how U.S. Gymnastics and other agencies failed her and other abuse victims.

Biles, along with fellow former USA gymnasts McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman, told their stories in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington D.C. on Thursday ... and understandably, it's still an incredibly difficult topic to discuss.

"I am also a survivor of sexual abuse," Simone opened her statement, continuing, "and I believe without a doubt that the circumstances that led to my abuse and allowed it to continue are directly the result that organizations created by Congress to oversee and protect me as an athlete, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee failed to do their jobs."

Biles then quoted Nelson Mandela, before getting emotional while saying she never wanted another child to endure abuse.

Of course, Nassar was convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of women and girls ... and effectively received life in prison -- getting sentenced to 175 years behind bars.

But, the hearing wasn't directly about Nassar's deplorable behavior ... it was held to discuss the FBI's failures with respect to their investigation into the team USA doctor, after a government watchdog group concluded the country's top federal law enforcement agency didn't adequately respond to the allegations.

And, the gymnasts didn't hold back when taking on the bureau.

“We suffered and continue to suffer because no one at FBI, [U.S. Gymnastics] or the [USOC] did what was necessary to protect us,” Biles told the committee.

“We have been failed and we deserve answers. Nassar is where he belongs, but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable. If they are not, I am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across Olympic sports.”

"This is the largest case of sexual abuse in the history of American sport," Biles told the committee, adding, "It truly feels like the FBI turned a blind eye to us."

Maroney also went in on the FBI, saying ... "They had legal, legitimate evidence of child abuse and did nothing."

The U.S. gymnasts are still testifying on Capitol Hill.

As for Nassar, he's rotting in prison ... where he will remain for the rest of his life.

Former "Smallville" star Allison Mack couldn't wait to start serving her prison term ... or so it seems, 'cause she showed up more than 2 weeks early to begin serving her sentence.

Allison reported to the facility Monday, according to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, CA. She was supposed to begin serving her sentence on September 29.

Mack was sentenced to 3 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of racketeering and one count of racketeering conspiracy in her highly publicized sex cult case. She recruited and directed women to have sex with the leader of the cult.

After her release ... Allison will be on supervised release for another 3 years.

BTW, if FCI Dublin sounds familiar it's because that's where Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman served their sentences for their roles in the college admissions scandal.

As we reported ... Allison was sentenced back in June. The sex cult leader, Keith Raniere, was sentenced to 120 years in prison. Mack was with him in Mexico when he got busted back in 2018.

G-Eazy's in the crosshairs of police in NYC, after his crew allegedly got violent with another group of guys ... with punches and bottles thrown.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the rapper's been named as a suspect in an NYPD assault report, for an incident that went down around 1 AM Friday at the Boom Boom Room in the Standard Hotel.

We're told G-Eazy's party got into an altercation with a few other guys, and one of them claims a member of G's entourage hit him in the head with a glass bottle.

Our sources say the scuffle moved outside, where G-Eazy allegedly punched another man in the head.

We're told the dude who claims he took a bottle to the head went to the hospital to get checked out ... but the guy G-Eazy allegedly punched refused treatment.

No arrests yet, but we're told police are still investigating the incident.

Jason "Mayhem" Miller allegedly broke a guys ribs in a bar fight just days before his domestic violence arrest, TMZ Sports has learned.

Our law enforcement sources tell us they recently responded to a fight at a San Fernando Valley bar. When they arrived, the altercation was over, and we're told no one wanted to press charges, so everyone was allowed to leave.

However, the next day, one of the people involved in the brawl went to the hospital ... and was diagnosed with several cracked ribs.

We're told at that point, cops took an incident report for felony battery. They're expected to turn the case over to the L.A. district attorney sometime in the near future ... and they'll decide whether or not to charge Mayhem for the bar fight.

Of course, we broke the story last week, Miller -- who has a long history of trouble -- was arrested for felony domestic violence after a woman accused the fighter of roughing her up early Friday morning.

During the domestic violence arrest, Mayhem didn't go easy, with cops using a taser in order to slap the cuffs on him.

Police said the alleged victim had injuries to her face and neck.

That case is still active ... and depending on what the D.A. decides, Miller could be hit with more charges from a totally separate alleged incident.

Linda O'Leary -- wife of "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary -- has been found not guilty in her criminal trial for a 2019 fatal boat crash on a Canadian lake.

As we reported ... Linda had been charged with careless operation of a vessel, and was accused of drinking alcohol before the boat she was driving struck another, killing 2 passengers.

The verdict was just read in court -- not guilty -- and the judge rejected any suggestion O’Leary was impaired by alcohol at the time of the boat crash ... concluding that alcohol played no part in the accident.

An acquittal will be entered in the case, and Linda's off the hook for any criminal charges.

However, the O'Learys are still facing a wrongful death suit for the fatal crash. They were sued in late 2019 by the family of one of the victims, alleging Kevin and Linda were incapable of safely operating the boat because their judgment was impaired by alcohol, drugs or fatigue.

Blueface is accused of viciously attacking a doorman at a club, and video of the incident shows 3 other men jumped the guy too ... and it's incredibly brutal and disturbing.

TMZ's obtained security footage from late Sunday night at Skinny's Lounge in the San Fernando Valley, where the rapper and his crew are accused of pummeling the club's bouncer for not letting Blueface in without his ID.

As you can see, the altercation started in the entryway to the club, and a member of Blueface's group throws the first punch ... then Blueface and the other 2 men proceed to attack, unloading a flurry of punches and kicks.

It appears a woman in the group is recording the attack on her phone, before Blueface seemingly stomps the bouncer. Then, another guy tries to lift him up by his feet while the attack continued.

Blueface is the last person seen on the video, and appears to give the bouncer a couple of taps to see if he's conscious before leaving.

As we reported ... the bouncer had to be transported to a hospital by ambulance where he got stitches, and photos of his injuries look pretty bad.

The Subway worker who got suspended for aggressively stopping an armed man from robbing the store and then posting the surveillance video says she's afraid to go home ... because the crook has her info.

Araceli Sotelo, the Subway worker who went viral for fending off her attacker, tells TMZ ... she's scared the robber could be waiting for her outside her house because he stole her purse and her ID, and the whole ordeal has taken a huge toll on her mental health.

Araceli says she feels like Subway doesn't have her back after she got indefinitely suspended from the store she works at in Rockford, IL ... and she's not sure when she'll be allowed back.

She tells us why she defended herself and the store instead of just letting the crook have his way. She's also considering legal action against Subway.

A death row inmate Kim Kardashian has been advocating for finally got a major break in his fight for freedom -- the guy got the green light, albeit partially, to maybe walk out one day.

There's a recommendation to commute Julius Jones' death sentence to life with the possibility of parole. The recommendation is from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board... which now means his fate lies with Gov. Kevin Stitt, who'll decide whether to follow the suggestion.

Stitt's office says he takes his role in this process seriously, and will carefully consider what the Board has recommended here -- as he does with all cases.

Jones isn't at the end of the tunnel yet ... but he's closer than he ever has been before. The decision came down on a 3-1 vote -- with one of the members recusing themselves after calls from the D.A.'s office to do so ... and allegations of bias and conflict of interest.

Alex Weintz -- one of the reps for Julius’ family -- tells TMZ … "We are overjoyed," with the rec, while adding, "Although that recommendation means he will not be walking out a free man as soon as we hoped, Julius would be able to spend his days inside prison no longer on death row and, in the future, be eligible for parole."

Weintz says the entire team is praying Gov. Stitt rules in their favor so Jones can return home for the first time in over 20 years.

As we reported ... Kim visited Julius on death row back in November of last year, meeting with his family and working behind the scenes to help out. She became interested in his case after watching Viola Davis' docuseries, "The Last Defense" ... which spotlighted Jones.