Crime

Agnes Tirop, an elite Kenyan long-distance runner who finished 4th at the Tokyo Olympics, was tragically found stabbed to death in her home, according to a Kenyan athletic commission.

She was only 25 years old.

According to reports, police are actively looking for Agnes' husband who hasn't been seen since her death.

The BBC is reporting Agnes' father called police Tuesday night, worried he could not reach his daughter.

Sadly, when police arrived at her home in Iten, Kenya, they found Tirop laying in bed, surrounded by a pool of blood, according to the UK outlet.

Police say the runner had what looked like a stab wound to her neck ... and that's what they believe caused her death. She also reportedly had a stab wound to her stomach.

Agnes' husband was not at the home when they arrived ... and has not been heard from since authorities arrived on the scene.

Tirop was one of the best long-distance runners in the world. In fact, just last month she set a women's world record at a 10-kilometer race in Germany. Agnes also took home bronze medals at the World Athletic Championships in 2017 and 2019.

"Athletics Kenya are distraught to learn about the untimely death of World 10,000m bronze medallist Agnes Tirop," the country's athletics body said in a statement.

Everyone from Adidas to Kenya's president weighed in on the tragic loss.

"It is unsettling, utterly unfortunate and very sad that we've lost a young and promising athlete who, at a young age of 25 years, had brought our country so much glory," Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's president said in a statement.

"The Adidas family is deeply saddened by the tragic news about Agnes Jebet Tirop. Agnes was an incredible person, a record-breaking athlete and a beloved member of our family. She will be greatly missed by us all and her legacy will forever live on in our memory," the sportswear giant tweeted.

Rest in peace.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and John Walsh are getting hammered by the Brian Laundrie family attorney, who says both men are inserting themselves in the Gabby Petito case purely for attention.

Steven Bertolino represents the Laundries and tells TMZ ... "Dusty relics like that Dog and John Walsh need a tragic situation like this so they can clear the cobwebs off their names and give their publicity hungry egos some food."

As we've told you ... Dog joined the manhunt for Brian last month, trekking through some rugged terrain in remote sections of Florida and even injured his ankle in the process.

The search has gotten him a lot of attention, and Dog's seen TV offers start rolling in, with multiple networks showing interest in resurrecting a show with him.

We also asked Bertolino if he feels Dog is impeding the official investigation, by showing up unannounced at Brian's sister's house ... and he said, "That's for law enforcement to determine."

As for John ... the "America's Most Wanted" host has a new TV special about the Petito case and the search for Brian.

The cemetery accused in a viral video of burying bodies on top of each other insists there's no nefarious tale from the crypt going on, because it's not what it looks like on camera.

Here's the deal ... a woman visiting her sister's plot at Laurel Grove Cemetery in New Jersey posted a video showing what appeared to be a fresh mound of dirt over her loved one's grave. She blasted the cemetery, accusing it of doubling up, and using the plot for someone else too.

Jessica Tawil, who posted the video that's making the rounds on TikTok, says the incident happened Monday, and she claims there was an extremely foul odor coming from the pile of dirt on her family's $12,000 plot, which she believes had been disturbed.

However, Laurel Grove Cemetery tells TMZ ... the video really just shows their process for routine maintenance on plots -- soil gets placed on the area before it's leveled, covered with topsoil, seeded and then covered with hay to protect the seed.

The family isn't buying that, and says they're exploring legal action and want to get the gravesite formally inspected. They claim they filed 2 reports with cops.

Dog the Bounty Hunter hasn't given up his hunt for Brian Laundrie -- he's got one more vital person to speak with -- and he's en route to her now.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... Dog has NOT left Florida yet -- despite injuring his ankle earlier this week -- and is still working leads. We're told he's currently headed to the home of Laundrie's sister, Cassie, with whom he will attempt to discuss the case.

Earlier this month ... Cassie confronted a group of protesters outside her Florida home and told them she doesn't have the slightest clue where Brian's hiding, but added she wasn't sure if her parents had anything to do with his disappearance.

Our sources say Dog is still hobbling around on that bum ankle, but wants to make sure he's tried every possible avenue to locate Laundrie ... before heading to Colorado to get checked out by his doctor. As we reported, Dog hurt his ankle a couple of days ago in rugged terrain.

The Cassie meeting would come just a day after an autopsy report revealed Gabby Petito died by strangulation. The Teton County Coroner estimated the time she was killed might have been 3 to 4 weeks before her remains were found.

Gabby's family is heading to Wyoming to retrieve her body, and have her cremated.

Mona Rodriguez was shot in the head by a school resource officer while fleeing the scene of a fight -- unarmed, no less -- and now that she's died ... her family is seeking accountability.

Oscar and Iran Rodriguez -- Mona's older brothers -- came on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to discuss this tragic story that went down in Long Beach, CA. Mona had gotten into a fight, and while attempting to leave the scene in her boyfriend's car ... a campus cop who'd responded decided to open fire on them.

One of the bullets Eddie Gonzalez fired struck Mona in the head ... leaving her hospitalized on life support. After doctors determined Mona was brain dead, the life support was turned off -- and now the Rodriguez brothers find themselves in a nightmarish battle to get any measure of justice.

As they explained to us, they feel they're getting the cold shoulder from Long Beach officials, including Mayor Robert Garcia, as well as L.A. County District Attorney George Gascon.

As they say, they just want answers ... and more importantly, they want justice for their slain sibling, who leaves behind an infant child -- now in the care of their mother.

Oscar and Iran have been outspoken since the killing, calling for the arrest of Gonzalez -- who's since been fired from his job with the school district -- but to this point, all they know is Long Beach PD is investigating Mona's death as a homicide.

The brothers made it clear they want the D.A. to charge Gonzalez with Mona's murder.

Ex-Portland Trail Blazers president and current Jordan Brand chairman Larry Miller is sharing his darkest secret with the world ... admitting he killed a man when he was 16 years old, and hid it from his closest friends -- including Michael Jordan -- until recently.

Miller detailed the September 1965 incident in an interview with Sports Illustrated this week ... saying he was a "gangbanger" seeking retaliation after a friend was stabbed and killed in West Philadelphia ... so he downed a bottle of wine, grabbed his gun and went on the hunt for a rival gang member.

Miller says he ended up shooting and killing the first person he saw -- 18-year-old Edward White -- despite not knowing if the man was even involved in his friend's killing.

"That’s what makes it even more difficult for me, because it was for no reason at all," Miller told the outlet. "I mean, there was no valid reason for this to happen. And that’s the thing that I really struggle with and that's -- you know, it’s the thing that I think about every day."

"It’s like, I did this, and to someone who -- it was no reason to do it. And that’s the part that really bothers me."

Miller was arrested shortly after ... and ended up spending many years behind bars until he was 30.

Once he got out, Miller then became a massive success in the business industry -- he was hired by Nike in 1997 and served as Jordan Brand's president from 1999-2006 before joining the Blazers. He later returned to his previous position with Nike/Jordan in 2012

Miller says he's spent the past few months slowly sharing his secret with his inner circle ... and from MJ to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the responses he's received have been positive.

Now, Miller is hoping to use his story to leave a positive impact on today's youth ... and is fighting to get second chances to those who also fell on hard times.

Gabby Petito's body has been held and studied for a month to determine how she died -- and now that we know, her family is finally allowed to go get her and lay her to rest.

The late 22-year-old's parents are reportedly heading to Wyoming Wednesday morning from the east coast -- where they'll retrieve her remains, have her cremated ... and then return to New York this weekend with her ashes.

It also sounds like law enforcement will brief her mom, father and stepfather on the latest updates in the case.

The family has reportedly said they won't be commenting on anything to the media until they're back in NY -- although, Gabby's mother did speak out against the Laundrie family lawyer Tuesday after he called her death a "tragedy" upon release of the autopsy findings.

You'll recall ... the Teton County coroner publicly announced Gabby's cause of death, which took quite a long time to conclusively uncover. Turns out, she was manually strangled to death at the hands of a person.

The coroner noted that Gabby's homicide seemed to be carried out in "a lot of anger" -- while also pointing out her body had been left out in the wilderness for at least 3 for 4 weeks before she was finally found last month.

Of course, the one person law enforcement still wants to talk to -- but can't seem to find -- is Gabby's fiance, Brian Laundrie ... who's considered to be the prime person of interest in the case, and one of the last people to have seen her alive.

The couple was traveling cross-country together through much of the summer, and had squabbles along the way -- most notably in August, when cops in Moab, Utah responded to a report Brian had struck Gabby.

Gabby Petito's cause of death is about to be revealed after weeks of waiting on a coroner's findings -- and TMZ is streaming the highly anticipated results live.

The autopsy report is being discussed Tuesday during a press conference and comes several weeks after investigators found her remains at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last month.

As you know by now, the coroner ruled her death a homicide.

Now, the last pieces of the puzzle in this tragedy are finally coming together -- and may very well back up what her family suspected all along ... that she was brutalized, and left out in the wilderness to perish.

Of course, the one answer that remains elusive ... who's responsible, and obviously why? The prime person of interest is Gabby's fiance, Brian Laundrie, who has gone missing and for whom a manhunt has been launched.

Laundrie remains unaccounted for, despite a handful of alleged sightings in different parts of the country.

There was a suspected sighting nearly 500 miles away from where he was living in North Port, FL -- with a man claiming to have spotted somebody on his deer cam who looked like Brian -- but cops have said they have no reason to believe, for now, Brian's in the area.

Most recently a hiker claimed to have seen Brian on the Appalachian Trail ... but nothing concrete there either. Dog the Bounty Hunter also joined the nationwide manhunt.

As we reported ... Dog's hitting the pause button on his search -- this after injuring himself on the job.

As for Laundrie's family ... they say he went hiking sometime in mid-September, but never returned. This follows an already incredibly suspicious return back to Florida without any trace of Gabby. Her family's blasted Brian and his family for clamming up on providing answers.

The feds issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie but NOT for Gabby's death -- it was for Use of Unauthorized Access Devices. Prosecutors claimed Laundrie used a Capital One Bank debit card from August 30 to Sept. 1 to purchase stuff totaling at least $1,000.

The feds haven't said it was Gabby's card, but that doesn't seem like much of a leap.

Just a few days later ... the FBI visited the Laundrie residence to retrieve some personal items in hopes they might have his DNA on them.

One thing we do know about Gabby and Brian's recent past is that they had a confrontation in Utah ... something that was briefly investigated by a police officer, who recorded one of the final images of her alive, and crying.

And, a witness called 911 shortly before Gabby's disappearance, telling the dispatcher he saw Brian slap and hit Gabby during an argument.

Now, we're going to learn what happened to her after that ... once and for all.

The new 'Halloween' flick features a frighteningly inspired performance from James Jude Courtney, who leaned on an old friend/real-life murderer to pick up tips on playing the legendary villain behind the mask.

The "Halloween Kills" star joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to reveal part of his process to portray Michael Myers -- something James has done more than anyone else -- and it was downright chilling.

He told us he prepped for one of his very first killer roles by living in a psych ward with paranoid schizophrenics who had killed people ... but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Later in his career, James says he lived with a guy who had done hard time for murders -- he'd been a hitman -- but apparently wanted to moonlight as an acting coach.

James told us his killer roommate actually critiqued one of his movies, and told him how to make his character more believable, more realistic. That sounds great for James' acting career, but there's still the matter of actually LIVING under the same roof as a cold-blooded killer!!!

Chris Pearson's death was the result of someone losing it on him for being loud and disruptive in his apartment complex in the middle of the night ... sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ.

Our sources say the former "Ex on the Beach" star was down in the pool area with his girlfriend, making a lot of noise around 2 AM Sunday.  We're told Chris was yelling ... it's unclear at who, but it pissed off the other residents who were trying to sleep.

We're told Chris ignored everyone, but then someone on one of the balconies amped things up and was yelling hard at Chris, who in turn started screaming back at the guy. Our sources say Chris went inside the building to confront the guy ... and that's when he was fatally stabbed in the area around his heart.

Our sources say the guy who stabbed him fled before authorities arrived.

As we first told you ... Chris was rushed to a hospital, but died around 3:30 AM from his injuries.

According to our sources ... Chris was not normally a confrontational guy, but that wasn't the case during the incident.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... cops are investigating and looking for witnesses and videos that may help them figure out what went down, but so far no arrests have been made. Our law enforcement sources say cops are confident they'll catch the guy.

Dog the Bounty Hunter's leaving Florida empty-handed and hurt-footed after spending more than 2 weeks hunting for Brian Laundrie ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for Dog tells TMZ ... he injured his ankle in rugged terrain during his search for Gabby Petito's fiance -- still the main person of interest in her death.

We're told the notorious bounty hunter wants to see his regular doctor in Colorado for his injury ... so he's heading back there now.

Dog's rep says he's not giving up on his mission just yet though -- he's still raising funds to help the team he's put together to continue searching for Laundrie.

We're told the team consists of a talented group of Florida locals who will continue the manhunt ... and Dog will stay connected and keep going after leads as much as he can in CO.

As we reported ... Dog joined the extensive search for Laundrie in late Sept. and claimed he was hot on his tail, only to leave everyone waiting for an actual capture.

He certainly seemed dead set on finding him though ... wading through a swamp to track a lead and even cancelling a public appearance to focus more on the search.

Scratch CMT off the list of possible landing spots for Dog the Bounty Hunter's return to TV ... despite his history with the channel.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ .... Dog hasn't made a pitch of a Brian Laundrie show to CMT just yet, but it sounds like he shouldn't waste his time, because we're told the network would not be interested.

One reason for passing ... we're told CMT has a renewed commitment to country music programming -- it's in the name after all -- so the network would likely not be doing another series with Dog in the future.

Dog fans will recall ... he did a spinoff show with CMT, "Dog and Beth: On the Hunt," debuting in 2013 and running 3 seasons until 2015, after which Beth announced they were leaving CMT programming.

TMZ broke the story ... Dog has TV offers rolling in now that he's on the hunt for Brian as part of the Gabby Petito case, with multiple networks expressing interest in resurrecting a show with him as the star.

As we've seen, Dog's been willing to get dirty on the manhunt for Brian -- but so far, he hasn't found the guy or a home for his show.

Dog's OG show aired on A&E, but that network's already passed on his Brian Laundrie show pitch.

Brian Laundrie's street is home to a media circus and tons of drama ... but people aren't afraid to be his new neighbor, because some folks are moving in just a few doors down.

Alisha Colligan and Tony Gustitus, who represent one of the top real estate teams in North Port, FL, tell TMZ ... despite the media frenzy outside Brian's house, people are still swooping up houses on his street.

In fact, the real estate agents say they just closed on a new home Monday that was purchased for $379k ... just a stone's throw away from the Laundrie house.

We're told the buyers were from out of state and expressed interest in the home prior to the Laundrie and Gabby Petito media madness, which apparently didn't turn them off.

Brian's new neighbors even got a first-hand look at what it's like right now on the block, where tensions are running high between neighbors and protestors, even leading to a fight.

We're told the buyers flew in for a walk-through at the house last week and closed on the home, despite warnings about the media frenzy, easing fears for the real estate agents who worried the Laundrie case might scuttle the deal.

It's interesting ... we're told the Laundrie situation doesn't appear to be having a negative effect on the housing market in North Port, where home sales are still on the rise.

A crazed gunman on an alleged crime spree in L.A. ended his trail of terror by taking a woman hostage -- only to be killed by cops who stormed in ... all of which is on video.

LAPD says this guy was on a criminal tear before fleeing into the Santa Fe Loft & Apartments high-rise building in downtown Friday ... running into a lady in the halls as police were hot on his trail, and forcing her into her unit at gunpoint -- barricading himself inside.

From there, a tense standoff unfolded -- but even prior to what you see on video here -- captured by another DTLA resident from across the way -- cops say the gunman was running amok on the streets ... allegedly shooting folks in a business, trying to carjack someone and even attempting to shoot someone in the head, with the gun failing to go off.

Like we said, this was his final stop -- and as you can see ... it was truly life or death, as the guy clearly appears to have had his own gun at her head while she was on her knees.

Helicopters were zooming ... and within minutes, a SWAT team was at the door, trying to negotiate with the man -- but ultimately decided to bust in and take control of the sitch, which they did. Luckily, the victim was unharmed as they unloaded their weapons on him.

She'd been moved to another area of the apartment, and was taken to a hospital afterward for an evaluation. Considering the violence this man is alleged to have inflicted before this ... it's a miracle the woman was left relatively unscathed, and walked away with her life intact.

The cops explained their actions on Twitter ... saying that based on what they'd been told the man had already done and the dire nature of the moment -- in addition to what they themselves were seeing via surveillance -- SWAT decided to take action ... and an officer-involved shooting occurred, killing the suspect on the scene.

There's been a very public back and forth between private investigators and cops investigating the Zodiac killer case over the testing of DNA found at the scene of a potential victim, but an email exchange obtained by TMZ appears to swing things in favor of the private investigators.

We've obtained emails from April, in which a member of The Case Breakers sent a message to The Riverside Police Department asking about hairs found clenched in the hand of victim Cheri Jo Bates. CB stated their investigators had identified a "viable suspect for a potential comparison."

From there, The Case Breakers tell us they were met with silence on the testing, and RPD refused to do a comparison between the DNA evidence found at the scene and the potential Zodiac Killer.

The email exchange seemingly goes against the RPD claim from earlier this week when they denied they'd ever received any sort of DNA testing or comparison request from CB.

What's more, in another email exchange obtained by TMZ between CB and RPD regarding the Bates case, RPD flat out said, "we can say without a doubt this case is not related to the Zodiac Killer case."

That statement is quite the opposite of what Riverside Police Chief Kinkead said back in 1969 when he said he felt the killer in the Bates case had many similarities to The Zodiac, including a military boot print at the scene of the crime.

As we reported, The Case Breakers announced Wednesday they had identified The Zodiac Killer as Gary Poste, a man who was living in Northern Cal and died in 2018.

Poste's family has not yet commented on the findings.

Kodak Black's doctors believe it would behoove the rapper to spend the final 30 days of his treatment at a facility outside of Florida ... so he's asking the court for permission to do so.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Kodak's physician and treatment specialist believe he would benefit from a program outside Florida. The location and details were not provided in the public documents for security reasons.

But, Kodak's team makes it clear ... his doctors think that for Kodak to have a better chance of success, he needs to be in a different environment for a period of time.

The request comes on the heels of some very alarming tweets from the rapper that quickly had fans worried about his mental health. He's since deleted all of his social media accounts but some tweets included, "Sitting In My Room Crying Feel Like Killing Myself."

He also wrote, "So Lonely Depressed Sad & F***** Up ... Nobody Love Me Nobody Cares ... I'm Everywhere @ Once ... Friends Playin In My Head ... Girls Playin Wit My Heart ... Wish I Can Go Back To The Start I'll Never Be Famous."

Kodak's legal team is now asking for the court's permission to join an out-of-state residential treatment facility for the last 30 days of his court-ordered residential program.

Kodak's attorney, Bradford Cohen, tells TMZ ... they'd love to move Kodak to a different state if and when probation agrees. He wouldn't say which state they have in mind.

We asked Cohen about Kodak's failed drug test and about Kodak's concerning tweets but he declined to comment.

As we first reported ... Kodak violated the terms of his supervised release in his federal gun case by failing a drug test. He was ordered to get treatment. He's currently in treatment now ... but his doctors want him to spend the last 30 days at an out-of-state facility.