Beechwood children's home

Beechwood children's home was a care home for children in Mapperley in Nottinghamshire, England where staff committed serious sexual and "sadistic" abuse against children spanning several decades before it closed in 2006. Some abusive staff received lengthy prison sentences. By June 2019, 136 former residents had reported being sexually abused there, which police considered "the small tip of a very large iceberg". Beechwood was described by witnesses as "intimidating", "like a prison", "a horrible place" and having a "really toxic mix" of people. It was considered "appalling and squalid" by staff and "atrocious" by a psychologist. A judge later called it "a home from hell". Site: The Beechwood site, in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, is known to have been a children's home in 1966 and there were reports of Beechwood operating as one in the 1950s. It has also at various times been a remand home and an "observation and assessment centre". It was jointly run by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council. Some local residents opposed it with a "Close Beechwood" campaign. Police found the centre was "riddled with abuse" between the late 1960s and late 1980s. Staff reports and a psychologist found it "appalling and squalid" and visiting psychologist asked "how is it we can place young people in such atrocious conditions?" A council social services leader in the 1990s said Beechwood had an "intimidating" atmosphere and a "macho" undercurrent and she "didn’t feel comfortable". A second female professional visitor agreed: "It was a very macho place. You went in and there were a lot of male workers, with a lot of power. They were very keen to show who was boss." Beechwood was closed in 2006. Buildings: By 1976, Beechwood consisted of four buildings - the "Lindens", "Enderleigh" and "Redcot" units and an administration building. The main "Lindens" building was built in 1887 and became the home of eye surgeon Charles Bell Taylor. Later, its owners included a brewing family. By the 1960s, it was a children's care home and sometimes had other names, until it closed in 1990. It was sold in 2013, with the £550,000 sale price divided evenly between the city and county council. The buyers converted it to a single-family home and moved in. In 2018, some abuse victims wanted the Lindens razed. Haunted by memories from the late 1970s, one victim who would often pass by said: "The sooner they knock the Lindens down the better, for me. Please, please, let’s have that building demolished." The "Enderleigh" building included a "notorious" padded cell. A victim later recalled it "looked like a lovely house" from the outside, but upon entering, "the atmosphere changed" and "it was a horrible place" with boarded up doors, a "damp and fusty" smell and "nothing in there that was soft or homely". The baths "were either freezing or boiling" and the bathrooms were missing doors, offering no privacy. It was a care home from 1967 to 1978 and was later demolished. The "Redcot" building was a children's care home from the mid-1960s or earlier, until 2006. It housed 17 children in 1986, aged between 10 and 17. It was later demolished and replaced with private houses. Abuse: Staff subjected the children to numerous forms of serious sexual and physical abuse. They raped children and forced them into fights and masturbation competitions, then punished them for trying to speak out about it. A victim who was sexually abused in Beechwood in the 1980s testified that it was a violent place with "a lot of shouting" and "challenging behaviour", where care staff made children scream by painfully twisting their arms, dragged girls by the hair and sadistically forced boys to fight each other before beating up the loser. She was sent there as a 12-year-old girl. Children's basic dignity was routinely violated. Some were prevented from leaving by being stripped naked and one victim recalled that the bathrooms had no doors, "so anyone walking by could see whatever you were doing in there". One girl who had been raped before being taken into care was raped again by the same man in Beechwood. When Beechwood permanently closed in the 2000s, hundreds of children had lived there and many suffered life-long harm. Concealment: Some children were punished when they tried to report being raped by care workers. Detective Inspector Mandy Johnson said children were too frightened to report abuse because of Beechwood's ferocious regime in which "Punishments were quite brutal, people being kicked and punched, and split lips and bloodied noses, which made it very difficult for the children to be able to go to staff to disclose what was happening to them". A victim explained to an inquiry: "When a grown man turns around and says: 'I'm going to kill you' - what does a child say to that?" Another was repeatedly warned by her abuser: "It's my say-so whether you go home at the end of this term". In the 2000s, staff ignored a report of an attempted sexual attack by one resident against another and stopped the male victim from informing police by threatening to move him elsewhere. Reporting the assault to Beechwood staff was "like I never told them" and "like talking to a brick wall". IICSA witnesses: Some professionals involved with Beechwood described to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) being pressured into silence by council managers. Michelle Foster, a Beechwood carer in the 2000s, described being visited by a council overseer the day before a Beechwood suicide victim's inquest. She testified that the overseer told her not to inform the inquest about the sexual activity and drug-taking at Beechwood or she would be sacked. Foster said managers "obstructed anything I put to them", wanted "yes men" and that "anybody else was called a trouble-maker". She described Beechwood as overcrowded, understaffed and having a "really toxic mix" of people. Investigations officer Bronwen Cooper testified that in 2001, the same council overseer "convinced" her to withdraw a recommendation to close Beechwood from a draft investigation report that was meant to be independent. Cooper's independence was "slightly compromised", she said, by being a council employee. The retracted recommendation referred to staff's "inappropriate behaviour", which put children "at a high level of risk" of being abused. The overseer accused of silencing Foster and Cooper denied this to the IICSA and denied Foster's assessment of Beechwood as overcrowded, saying that overcrowding happened on "emergency" occasions. She denied having "absolved myself of responsibility" for abuse at Beechwood. A second council manager also denied the dismissal threat against Foster. Victims: Many Beechwood residents abused by staff, both male and female, suffered lifelong harm. Police believe the 136 former residents who contacted the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) having been abused there are "the small tip of a very large iceberg". Joni Cameron-Blair: Joni Cameron-Blair was placed in Beechwood in 1981 to protect her from her violent drunken father, who had struck her head with the back of an axe causing unconsciousness and an injury that necessitated hospitalisation. When she reported her father's attack to police, the officer sexually assaulted her. Beechwood proved to be even more unsafe than her family home. She found it "the most terrifying ordeal I have ever had" with most staff "beating kids and doing awful things". She said: "Staff would routinely punch children in the face. They would kick children down the stairs, spit in their food, spit in their faces, pull children round by the hair." She witnessed staff deliberately provoking a boy by spitting in his food, then severely assaulting him when he reacted angrily. She also witnessed staff sexually abusing the children. She informed a social worker and a psychiatrist of her constant state of fear, to no avail. Only her mother's efforts enabled her to leave Beechwood after 10 weeks. Leaving involved returning to her dangerous father, who resumed physically abusing her. "Laura": "Laura" was sent to Beechwood's "horrible" Enderleigh unit for several weeks just before her 15th birthday, where John Dent sexually abused her. She had felt "unloved" by her family and was brought there by a social worker when she returned home from school, leaving her feeling "abandoned" and "absolutely heartbroken". Laura recalled immediately noticing Enderleigh's dispiriting atmosphere, boarded up doors, "fusty" smell, missing bathroom doors, baths that were "either freezing or boiling" and "nothing in Enderleigh that was soft or homely". John Dent initially groomed her by adopting a friendly demeanour and by giving her alcohol and tobacco. Then he climbed on top of her bed one night, waking her up and terrorising her. He covered her mouth with his hand, told her to "be quiet" and sexually assaulted her. There was no one she felt confident reporting it to. She feared being disbelieved because "people would just think I was a rebellious teenager and making excuses, that I was in a care home and I wanted to get out." Then her roommate was moved away, leaving her alone each night. Dent sexually assaulted Laura again "at every available opportunity" and stopped her from reporting it by reminding her over and over again "It's my say-so whether you go home at the end of this term". When she left Beechwood, she overdosed and spent years feeling "awful". Her "education was ruined" and the abuse left her suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), vivid flashbacks and depression, for decades. She was the first victim to report Dent to the police. Later, other victims also did so, leading to a conviction and a seven-year prison sentence. She remained terrified of retribution by Dent for decades afterwards. She and other victims want all police officers working with abuse victims to be specially trained, and a new independent body to hold social services records to prevent them from being destroyed. She wants councils held to account because "It's such an enormous scale of abuse" and "I can't believe the evil that happened in those places. I really can't." Claire Blake: Claire Blake, who was abused in Beechwood from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, was "still suffering" in 2019. She "didn't even have respect for myself, never mind anyone else, I just existed." While welcoming that the abuse was acknowledged at long last, she wanted accountability: "The people that were in charge need to be held accountable. They knew, and they hid it, and I think people need to be held responsible." Caroline Nolan: Caroline Nolan said because of abuse in Beechwood, she "withdrew within myself" and "as I got older, I had very bad anger issues". "D37": "D37" said Beechwood staff "picked out boys to be gagged" and sexually abused. He said he was raped there and "forced to participate in masturbation competitions with other boys and members of staff on multiple occasions", which he assumed "was normal". "L17": "L17" from Nottingham suffered racist abuse and was "restrained" violently, and other staff knew about it. One staff member sexually abused her and was later sacked from Beechwood for his sexual relationship with a former resident. She "knew something wasn't right" with his sexual abuse. Her hope was that by obeying him she "would be allowed to go home". "C21": "C21" was sexually assaulted in a shower and on another occasion raped, by a care worker. He was too frightened to report the crimes and said, "For years I blamed myself". After his time in Beechwood, he struggled for many years with drug and alcohol addiction. "L45": "L45" was visited and assaulted in Beechwood multiple times by a man who had previously repeatedly raped her in her foster home, having abused her there from the age of 11. She had been moved to Beechwood to protect her from his abuse. When she reported his abusive visits, the visits simply continued as before. Andris Logins also sexually abused her. Unnamed victim: A man who was sexually assaulted twice in Beechwood as an 11-year-old boy by an older "bigger and physically stronger" child in the early 2000s said he was "terrorised" by older children daily. He said Beechwood was "just a horrible place to be in" and "I never wanted to stay there. I was always finding places to run off." Despite reporting the abuse, he was too frightened to press charges because he feared being moved to a care home much further from his mother as a result. The abusive child continued living in the bedroom next door and the victim was still transferred to a different care home anyway. Investigations: Child abuse in Beechwood was eventually investigated by both the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and police. Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: As part of its investigations into historical child abuse nationwide, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) examined abuse in Beechwood from 1967 until it closed in 2006. 136 former residents contacted the inquiry to report being abused in Beechwood, which police believe is "the small tip of a very large iceberg". IICSA Report: In July 2019, the IICSA published a report on historical child sexual abuse that severely criticised Beechwood. It described Beechwood staff as "threatening and violent", with their sexual acts against children being "tolerated or overlooked, allowing abusers to thrive". It found that only two sexual abuse allegations in Beechwood led to disciplinary action and this action was "inadequate". It criticised the "serious failure of scrutiny and governance" by county councillors in how they "did not question the scale of sexual abuse or what action was being taken". One victim, David Robinson, said "things should have been addressed decades ago, at the time when children were being abused" and was "astonished" to discover "that people who were put in a position of trust abused that trust, and were being paid for it". The leader of Nottingham City Council David Mellen, himself a witness to the inquiry, said Beechwood should have been closed earlier and the council "let some young people down". Police operations: From 2010, Nottinghamshire Police launched dedicated police operations to investigate historical abuse in Beechwood and throughout the Nottinghamshire care system. Operation Daybreak: Operation Daybreak began in 2011 in response to reports of child abuse in Beechwood. Its suspects included serial rapist Andris Logins and the operation led to his conviction and imprisonment in 2016. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse criticised Operation Daybreak for its "lack of urgency" and under-resourcing from 2011 to 2015. It said "senior police officers should have done more to support" it, "valuable time was lost" and "these failings had consequences for the children involved". The Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police from February 2017 Craig Guildford agreed "the number of police officers had reduced considerably" during those years because of "resourcing issues". He said the understaffing predated 2017 and that since his appointment the investigation "has been resourced" and "is a priority". Operation Equinox: Operation Equinox began in 2010 to investigate historical child abuse across the Nottinghamshire care system. The investigation led to the conviction and imprisonment of several offenders including Beechwood sex offender Barrie Pick. Sentences: Andris Logins two counts, two counts, seven counts, 20 years John Dent 7 years Barrie Pick 2 counts, 2 counts, 6 counts 6 years Helen Logins 6 counts 1 year suspended Andris Logins: Beechwood carer Andris Logins was jailed on 23 March 2016 for 20 years for sexually abusing teenage girls and boys there from 1981 to 1985. One victim, who was sent to Beechwood in the 1980s as a 12 years old girl, having already suffered previously sexual abuse, said Andris Logins was known by other girls in Beechwood as "a pervert" who wore "really tight trousers in which his privates was on show" and often silently watched the girls. He groomed her by adopting a friendly demeanour and giving her "special privileges" including cigarettes and a different bedroom. He sexually abused her on multiple occasions, beginning when she became separated from the other children during a trip to the woods. When another child saw one of these sexual assaults, the victim ran away from Beechwood to her mother's house because she was afraid of being punished. Upon her return, she was told that Logins' crime was "being dealt with" and within weeks she was simply moved to another care home. It was years after her reporting the crime that police finally contacted her. She said "It’s made me really over-protective of my children. I’ll live with this for the rest of my life. I’m still quite an angry person inside." A female victim who testified at his 2016 trial said Logins' abuse caused her severe anxiety and "constant" panic attacks. She said "You live with it day in, day out. I feel like I'm doing a life sentence here. He wasn't a carer. He was just nothing more than an abuser." His child cruelty conviction was for dragging a 14-year-old boy into his office, punching him so badly that the boy "cowed on the floor", making him strip, then ogling his penis. He said "All I remember is crying, thinking to myself why is he doing it to me? Every day is now a challenge to get up. I'm off work at the moment with stress. I drink every day, cry most days. It was wrong, evil." His trial was told Logins also took a photograph of another care worker burning a boy with a cigarette and wrote on it: "Childcare at its best". Logins was originally investigated in 1990 after reports of him sexually assaulting girls in a different home. When the investigation concluded in 1991, he faced no action and was allowed to resume working there, with no assessment of whether he might be a danger. He was eventually investigated again because of reports in 2010 of abuse in Beechwood and was arrested in 2013. Judge James Sampson admonished the "grave breach of trust" and called Beechwood "a home from hell". He told Logins "You were compliant in physical violence, you dished it out in a sadistic fashion" to children "powerless to do anything about it". The leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Alan Rhodes welcomed the 20 -year sentence and apologised for how the council "failed in our duty of care", adding "it was our role to keep children safe and we clearly didn't". Rhodes praised the victims' "bravery, courage and persistence". Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson called the sentencing "a very significant moment for Logins' victims" for whom "the past few years have not been easy" because "they have had to relive these harrowing and life-shaping events." Andris Logins can seek parole after 10 years. He was banned from unsupervised contact with under-16s or any work with children upon his release and he was permanently added to the Sex Offenders’ Register. Helen Logins: Helen Logins, wife of Andris Logins, received a suspended 1-year sentence in April 2016 for abusing her managerial position in Nottingham City Council by unlawfully accessing his victims' case files and social care records. As a manager in the city council's "children and adolescent mental health service team", she searched for this confidential data on the council's computers. This intrusive violation caused one victim "sleepless nights". Helen Logins pleaded guilty to six counts of the offence. Judge James Sampson imposed a concurrent 1-year sentence for each, suspended for 1½ years. He described her crime as a "gross breach of trust". The city council sacked her for the offence in June 2015, calling it "a significant breach of professional and ethical standards". John Dent: On 25 January 2002, John Dent received a seven-year prison sentence for 11 sexual offences against four children in Nottinghamshire care homes, some of which he committed in Beechwood's Enderleigh unit where he was second in command. He was permanently added to the Sex Offenders’ Register. When one girl in Beechwood defied him by not skipping at exercise time, because Dent was watching the movement of her breasts, he retaliated by forcing her to scrub a floor and locked her inside a "punishment room" with barred windows and only a mattress for sleeping. He later sexually assaulted her. He also took another 15-year-old girl to his parents' house where he had sex with her. Judge John Hopkin admonished Dent as "an appalling case of a man who used his position to satisfy his own lust." In October 2018, a woman known as "D7", who was in care in Beechwood in the 1970s, told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) that Dent sexually abused her "on several occasions", beginning with an assault in her own bed. She was "really, really scared" and it was decades before she found the courage to report it because she expected to be disbelieved. Barrie Pick: On 6 December 2017, Barrie Pick received a six-year sentence for repeatedly sexually assaulting 13-year-old boy in Beechwood and a concurrent six-month sentence for possessing child pornography. Pick had been a social worker there in the 1970s and the crimes began in 1977. Detective Constable Richard Jones said: "Pick abused his position of authority at the children’s home to target this boy. He should have been ensuring the children under his care were given the best possible start in life, instead he subjected this boy to these horrendous offences." Detective Jones praised the victim's courage in reporting it.

Disappearance of Ben Needham

On 24 July 1991, 21-month-old Ben Needham disappeared on the Greek island of Kos. After initial searches failed to locate him, he was believed to have been kidnapped. Despite numerous claims of sightings, his whereabouts remain unknown. In October 2012, South Yorkshire Police began to follow a line of inquiry which suggested that Ben had been accidentally killed and buried in a mound of rubble by an excavator driver working in a field adjoining the house where he was last seen. Extensive excavation of the rubble was undertaken by British and Greek Police. One item of particular interest to the police was a Dinky toy car, which they hoped to recover and believed could be "key to discovering his fate." The search failed to detect any human remains or items belonging to Ben. In September 2016, the police returned to Kos to carry out further excavations. Although no remains were found, a yellow Dinky car, believed to have been Ben's, was recovered. Detective Inspector Jon Cousins, heading the inquiry, said: "It is my professional belief that Ben Needham died as a result of an accident near to the farmhouse in Iraklis where he was last seen playing. The recovery of this item, and its location, further adds to my belief that material was removed from the farmhouse on or shortly after the day that Ben disappeared." In November 2018, British police said that blood found on the aforementioned toy car was not Ben's. Disappearance: Ben Needham was staying with his family on the Greek island of Kos, where his maternal grandparents had a home in the village of Iraklis, near Kos town. He went missing on 24 July 1991. On the day of his disappearance Ben had been left in the care of his grandparents, Eddie and Kristine Needham, while his mother went to work at a local hotel. Ben had been coming in and out of a farmhouse the family were renovating when, at approximately 2:30 pm, the adults realised he had disappeared. The family first searched the area for Ben, assuming he had wandered off, or that the boy's teenage uncle, Stephen, had taken him out on his moped. When no trace of the boy was found, the police were notified. They initially questioned the Needhams, viewing them as suspects, which delayed notification of airports and docks. Over the following 11 days, searches of the area were carried out by Hellenic Police, Hellenic Army and fire brigade personnel. Nikolaos Dakouras, the island's chief of police, said: "We now believe we have searched every possible part of that area, and the boy is not there. It leaves us with a great mystery. We have no theories. We have no solutions." Following a request from UK Prime Minister John Major, the Hellenic Army undertook further searches of the island in January 1993. Alleged sightings: There have been more than 300 reported sightings of boys matching Ben's description, both on the Greek mainland and on Greek islands. Most were reported shortly after his disappearance during 1991 to 1992. In December 1995, Stratos Bakirtzis, a private investigator, found a blond boy, aged around six years old, living with a Romani family in a camp located in Salonika, Greece. Bakirtzis told Greek TV network ANT1 that the child said he had been "given to the gypsies because his parents did not want him." Police from Veria took the boy into custody and determined he was not Ben Needham. Ioannis Panousis, Veria's chief of police, said the child's birth certificate was authentic and that the child's natural father was currently serving a prison sentence and had left him in the care of the Romani couple. In November 1998, John Cookson saw a blonde boy of about ten playing on a beach in Rhodes. Cookson said that the child was known as 'the blond one' by his friends and was the only fair haired child in the group of dark haired Greek children. Suspicious, he took photographs of the children and used the pretext of tousling the boy's head to acquire a hair sample for DNA analysis. However, DNA testing proved the boy was not Ben, and the Greek boy's family also provided infant photographs to prove he was their child. In October 2003, Ian Crosby made a visit to Kos with Ben's uncle Danny, followed by further visits to meet police from Greece. Crosby has also investigated a photograph, sent to him by a holidaymaker who visited Turkey in 1999, which depicts a number of Turkish village children, including a blonde boy who resembles the age progression photo of what Ben might look like aged 13. The Needham family believed that Ben was kidnapped with the intention of selling him for adoption, or that he was taken by child traffickers. Carol Sarler, writing in The Times in 2007, said: "I have repeatedly asked police and press, British and Greek, for a single example to support this rumour. There is none. When pretty little Western European kiddies go missing... we know about it; if we don't know, it isn't happening. Those of us who properly investigated Ben's disappearance are certain he was not abducted; put bluntly, a child less than 2, toddling unsupervised for five hours on a baking, remote, inhospitable hillside that is still largely unsearched, is easy prey to the lonely accident." Age progression images: In September 1992, South Yorkshire police used electronic facial identification technique (E-FIT) software to produce an image of how Ben might appear at age 3. The picture was reproduced on posters which were displayed at airports around the Greek islands. It was thought to be the first time that E-FIT had been used to age a person's appearance. Age progression images were created and distributed again in March 2000, June 2003, October 2007 and September 2016. Police forensic excavations- October 2012: In October 2012, police from the United Kingdom travelled to Greece to search an area that they believed might contain Ben Needham's remains. On 19 October, Greek police, assisted by a team of specialist search advisors from South Yorkshire Police, began an operation to examine the grounds of the property from which Ben disappeared. The operation, involving geophysical survey equipment, forensic archaeologists and human remains detection (HRD) dogs, was triggered by a police line of inquiry into whether Ben had been accidentally buried as a result of an excavator driver dumping building rubble nearby. The operation did not detect any trace of the child. September 2016: In September 2016, police informed Kerry Needham that they had learned that a man from Kos had said that Konstantinos Barkas, a digger operator, now deceased, had told him that Ben had died in an accident, and that Barkas had hidden the body in building waste. On 16 September police began a search for remains, in a different area from the one searched nearly four years earlier. Excavations were focused around a tree, apparently planted since Ben vanished. A replica of the sandals he had been wearing was being made, to see if they matched any found items. The excavation work ended on 16 October. More than 800 tonnes of soil had been dug up, with any items of interest sent back to the UK for forensic analysis. DI Cousins said that one item which was found "close to an item dated to 1991" had been identified by the Needham family as being in Ben's possession at the time he went missing. Cousins said: "My team and I know that machinery, including a large digger, was used to clear an area of land on 24 July 1991, behind the farmhouse that was being renovated by the Needhams. It is my professional belief that Ben Needham died as a result of an accident near to the farmhouse in Iraklis where he was last seen playing. The recovery of this item, and its location, further adds to my belief that material was removed from the farmhouse on or shortly after the day that Ben disappeared." New findings in 2017: In July 2017, South Yorkshire Police announced that traces of blood were found on a fragment of a sandal, as well as on soil from inside a toy car, both items believed to belong to Ben. The head of the British soil forensics group, professor Lorna Dawson, said her team discovered a genetic "profile indicative of human blood decomposition" on the piece of sandal and that the next step is to extract DNA from the fragment to determine whom the blood belongs to. According to Inspector Jon Cousins, these findings further strengthen the theory according to which Ben was killed the day he disappeared and is buried in Kos. In the media- The disappearance of Ben Needham has been the subject of several television documentaries: -"The Lost Boy" – part of the Cutting Edge series, first broadcast in the UK by Channel Four on 10 March 1997. -"Ben Needham: Somebody Knows" – part of the Real Crime series, first broadcast in the UK by ITV on 20 June 2001. -"Ben Needham and Katrice Lee" (S01E01) – part of the Missing Children: Lorraine Kelly Investigates series, first broadcast in the UK by Sky Real Lives on 12 August 2009.[citation needed] -"Unsolved Disappearances" (S02E05) - part of the Top 10 Secrets and Mysteries TV program.

COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C., is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The first cases relating to the pandemic in Washington, D.C. were reported on March 7, 2020. The city has enacted a variety of public health measures in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. As of January 23, 2021, the District of Columbia has administered 59,793 COVID-19 vaccine doses and 6.7% of the population has received at least one shot. Preparations: Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an executive order on February 28, 2020 that began to prepare Washington D.C. for coronavirus impacts. The executive order stated that the District's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) would be activated on March 2, 2020 to begin to "coordinate inter-agency information sharing and identify logistical needs for critical incident responses." It was also announced that the Washington D.C. Department of Health and the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency would be responsible for the response planning for COVID-19. On March 2, the D.C. Emergency Operations Center was activated at an Enhanced Watch status, per the executive order. On March 3, Mayor Bowser, D.C. Department of Health and the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency held a public briefing on the coronavirus and the District's monitoring, preparation, and response. Timeline of outbreak- March 2020- March 5–7: On March 7, the first two cases of COVID-19 in Washington, D.C. were confirmed. The first case was a rector at Christ Church Georgetown who had not traveled outside the United States recently or had close contact with another confirmed infected coronavirus patient. He had attended the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes conference in Louisville, Kentucky from February 19–22, then traveled back to Washington, by which time he became sick with what he thought was the flu. He then participated in church services on February 23 and March 1. The rector's condition deteriorated to the point of hospitalization, and after it was confirmed the rector contracted the virus, the church canceled services indefinitely. The second case was a Nigerian national who traveled from Nigeria to D.C. and went to a hospital in Maryland for treatment. Although the second man was being treated at a Maryland hospital, he was counted as the District's second case by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). March 8–10: -On March 9, School Without Walls, a public school in Foggy Bottom, was closed by District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) for a full-day deep cleaning and disinfecting by a third-party contractor after an employee was exposed to COVID-19 the week before. The employee tested negative and entered a two-week quarantine. DCPS chancellor Lewis Ferebee announced the closing over Twitter the previous day. -Three more coronavirus cases in D.C. were confirmed the night of March 9, including an attendee of Christ Church Georgetown. D.C. officials recommended a two-week self-quarantine per CDC guidelines for anyone who attended Christ Church on February 24 or between February 28 and March 3. At that time, $1.5 million had been allocated to the pandemic response by the D.C. government. -On March 10, George Washington University announced classes will be moved online after spring break, starting on March 23 and continuing until at least April 5. In addition, all residential students were expected to no longer be living on campus beginning March 21. It was stated that an opening date would not be announced until the end of the instructional continuity period when a decision for the rest of the semester would be made. -Also on March 10, Georgetown Day School, a private school, closed indefinitely and began a deep clean citing concerns about community members affiliated with Christ Church Georgetown. March 11–14: -On March 11, Maria Cantwell, a U.S. senator from Washington state, closed her D.C. office due to one of her aides testing positive for the virus. -Georgetown University announced that it would be moving to virtual learning entirely beginning on March 16, and while campus would remain open and key services would remain accessible the university strongly suggested that students return to their homes. -On March 12, the United States Capitol, the White House, and the United States Supreme Court Building closed to most of the public until April after several offices closed and multiple lawmakers went into precautionary quarantines. -On March 13, DCPS announced that they will cancel classes until April 1, implementing online distance learning. Also on March 13, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) escalated its operations to level 3 of its pandemic flu plan, announcing that service on the Washington Metro would be reduced to one train every 12 minutes from Monday to Saturday and one train every 15 minutes on Sunday beginning on March 17. In addition, Metrobus service would change to a Saturday supplemental schedule on weekdays beginning on March 17. -Mayor Muriel Bowser held a press conference, announcing that gatherings of people over 60 years of age or with preexisting health issues would be limited to 10 people. The restriction would not apply to residences, schools, or places of work. For populations not at-risk the government promoted social distancing measures to limit the spread of the virus. -On March 14, Mayor Bowser issued a statement confirming 6 more positive cases in Washington, D.C., bringing the total number of cases up to 16. March 15–16: -On March 15, Bowser's office announced one more positive case in Washington D.C., bringing the total cumulative number of cases to 17. The patient in this case is a 38-year-old woman who came into contact with another case. -The Hill Restaurant Group (HRG) said on March 16 they would comply with restrictions on bars and restaurants ordered by Mayor Bowser on March 15. Tom Johnson, the managing director of the group, had earlier said he would ignore the order, saying it would force his company into bankruptcy. -On the evening of March 16, Mayor Bowser's office released an update that confirmed five more positive cases of coronavirus in the District. The patients involved were a 23-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman with a history of travel to Europe, a 54-year-old woman, a 54-year-old man, and a 56-year-old man. These five cases brought the cumulative number of cases in D.C. to 22. March 17–18: -Late on March 17, Mayor Bowser's office announced the confirmation of nine more positive cases in the District, bringing the total number of positive cases to 31. The patients were all male and between the ages of 23 and 61. The 23-year-old patient was confirmed to have attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. -On March 18, at least 8 more cases were found, including a DC FEMS employee (leading to a quarantine of 73 firefighters), a U.S. marshal at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and an undergraduate student at the George Washington University who lives off-campus. -The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia announced new social distancing precautions in dealing with callers reporting flu-like symptoms as well as changes to police protocol for citations and warning notices in light of the restriction of certain services in the D.C. government. March 19–20: -As of March 19, the number of confirmed cases sharply jumped to 71 as the supply of tests was expanded, an increase of 32 over one day. This includes two more DC FEMS members and an eight-year-old. -The same day, Washington Metro closed the Smithsonian and Arlington Cemetery stations until further notice. Metro ridership reduced by 85% due to the pandemic, leading to general manager Paul Wiedefeld submitting a request to Congress for emergency funding. -On March 20, Mayor Bowser announced the first death related to COVID-19 in the District, a 59-year-old male, Deacon Brother John-Sebastian Laird-Hammond, OFM, a Franciscan friar and permanent deacon, a native of Minonk, Illinois, with underlying medical conditions, specifically a multi-year battle with a type of leukemia who had been undergoing cancer treatments and was therefore more vulnerable to the virus. The number of cases rose to 77. -DCPS extended the school shutdown to April 24, meaning classes would be scheduled to resume on Monday, April 27. In preparation for the beginning of distance learning on March 24, the DCPS Distance Learning platform was released, publicly accessible at dcps.instructure.com/courses/179580. Certain schools would continue to provide lunch on weekdays. March 21–22: -On March 21, the D.C. government, operating through the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Park Service announced several road closures around beginning on March 22, 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM, in an effort to reduce congregation of tourists around monuments during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. These crowds had not been conforming to social distancing guidelines and thus presented a possible vector for the transmission of coronavirus. The DC Department of Parks and Recreation closed all of its facilities including parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields. Only dog parks remained open. -The same day, Metrobus announced reduced operation from 325 routes to only 20 high-use corridors. Real-time bus data would no longer be available and drivers may bypass stops in order to observe social distancing guidelines on buses. WMATA said it hoped to restore some routes with limited operation hours soon. Real-time bus data would be restored on June 28, 2020. -The number of cases as of 7:30 PM that day was 98. -On March 22, the second death due to COVID-19 was reported in the District, a 65-year-old woman with underlying medical conditions. -The number of cases as of 7:00 PM that day was 116. March 23–24: -On March 23, Mayor Bowser and Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt announced that the 2019 tax filing deadlines would be pushed to July 15, instead of the upcoming April 15. The Mayor also urged D.C. residents to remain at home except for "essential activities," clarifying that she would not be issuing a shelter-in-place order as of now. -On that day, Mayor Bowser also commissioned Republic Restoratives Distillery and Compass Coffee, two locally owned companies, for the production of 2,000 US gallons (7,600 l; 1,700 imp gal) of hand sanitizer (1,000 US gallons (3,800 l; 830 imp gal) each) for use by D.C. government workers and emergency responders. -As of 7:00 PM that day, the number of cases was 137. March 25: -On March 25, the third death in Washington, D.C. was a 75-year-old female with underlying health conditions. March 30: -On March 30, Mayor Bowser announced a stay-at-home order that would go into effect on April 1. The order stated that residents may only leave their residences to engage in essential activities, including obtaining medical care that cannot be provided through telehealth and obtaining food and essential household goods, to perform or access essential governmental functions, to work at essential businesses, to engage in essential travel and to engage in specific recreational activities that the order defined. Anyone found to be violating the order would be charged with a misdemeanor and subject to a $5,000 fine and/or 90 days in prison. Bowser said, "Staying at home is the best way to flatten the curve and protect yourself, your family, and our entire community from COVID-19." -On the same day, Maryland's Governor Larry Hogan and Virginia's Governor Ralph Northam issued similar stay-at-home orders (see COVID-19 pandemic in Maryland and in Virginia). However, the penalties for violating those orders were different from those in the District. April 2020: -On April 6, Bowser announced a government-wide hiring and pay freeze to ensure the District's funds are conserved. -On April 17, DC Public Schools announced that they would remain closed for the rest of the 2019–2020 school year, with a shortened schedule ending the school year on May 29. June 2020: -During the month of June, D.C. experienced widespread protests relating to the killing of George Floyd. While numbers of protesters were in the thousands, almost all were wearing masks[50] and there was not an appreciable spike in cases that could be traced to the protests. -On June 2, during some of the most intense demonstrations, some protesters were arrested and charged with "wearing a hood-mask" in addition to curfew violations, even though masks were mandatory at the time. -On June 22, with the move to phase 2 of the reopening plan, indoor dining was permitted to begin at 50% capacity, although bar sitting was to remain closed. Gyms were also allowed to reopen, with 5 people per 1000 square feet. July 2020: -On July 22, Washington, D.C. imposed new mask requirements. On July 27, self-quarantine restrictions were placed on non-essential travelers arriving from 27 high-risk states. September 2020: -A cluster of COVID-19 infections emerged among people at the White House, including many U.S. government officials, who were in close contact with one another. Numerous high-profile individuals were infected, including President Donald Trump, who was hospitalized for three days. At least 48 White House staff members or associates, closely working with White House personnel, tested positive. The White House resisted efforts to engage in contact tracing, leaving it unclear how many people were infected in total and what the origins of the spread were. -Many of the infections appeared to be related to a ceremony held on September 26 in the Rose Garden for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, where seating was not socially distanced and participants were mostly unmasked. Trump himself may have been infectious at that point, but he and his entourage attended several subsequent events unmasked, including the first presidential debate against Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29. The next day, Presidential Counselor Hope Hicks was placed in quarantine aboard Air Force One while returning with Trump from a campaign event in Minnesota. Following that, the president proceeded on schedule to an October 1 New Jersey fundraiser where he mingled, unmasked, with donors. More infections were reported in late October among Vice President Mike Pence's staff, and a second large outbreak occurred after Election Day, after Trump held a watch party in the East Room. -Other infections included First Lady Melania Trump; GOP Senators Thom Tillis, Mike Lee, and Ron Johnson; GOP Representative Matt Gaetz; Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien; RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel; former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway; former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; Notre Dame president John I. Jenkins; Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany; presidential advisor Stephen Miller; Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. As of November 11, at least 48 people had tested positive. At least one person, White House security office head Crede Bailey, was reported as "gravely ill." October 2020: -On October 5, DC Public Schools announced an updated reopening plan, with certain elementary students having an option of in-person or virtual learning starting on November 9, with secondary schools remaining as virtual instruction until February 1. However, the mayor and school chancellor, Lewis Ferebee, had developed the plan without informing the various faculty unions or asking for input, and the union maintains that the schools are not ready to be reopened. January 2021: -On January 15, organizers of the annual March for Life announced that the 2021 march, scheduled for January 29, would be moved online due to the pandemic, as well as a security measure following the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. -On January 19, a memorial service was held at the Lincoln Memorial, to commemorate nearly 400,000 citizens of the United States who died of the virus. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris attended, and Catholic Archbishop of Washington, DC, Cardinal Wilton Daniel Gregory, gave the invocation. February 2021: -The 117th Congress held a moment of silence and vigil in memory of those who died of COVID-19 on February 23. Projections: -A number of organizations have produced models that project the trajectory of the coronavirus outbreak. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle has constructed one of these (the IHME). Penn Medicine, a consortium of the Perelman School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, has constructed another, the COVID-19 Hospital Impact Model for Epidemics (CHIME). -Among other things, the two models differ in the methods by which they calculate the effectiveness of social distancing in reducing the number of new COVID-19 infections. The District is using the IHME as a best-case scenario and the more conservative CHIME to prepare for a surge that its planners consider to be more likely. -As of April 3, the CHIME was projecting that the peak hospital impact of the COVID-19 outbreak would occur in the District at the end of June. On April 5, an update to the IHME model revised that model's forecasts. The revised model suggests that the District will experience the peak of its outbreak on April 16. -The 117th Congress held a moment of silence and vigil in memory of those who died of COVID-19 on February 23. Government response: -On March 11, Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency for the District of Columbia. The declaration allowed Bowser to request federal disaster funds and to address price gouging. The order also gave her additional authorities, including the ordering of quarantines without court approval. -On March 16, the District government suspended on-site bar and restaurant service and shut down movie theaters and gyms. Restaurants could still offer food for carryout and delivery, but customers could not dine in. -On March 20, Mayor Bowser issued an order that prohibited mass gatherings of 50 or more people. The order also prohibited table service and service to standing customers at restaurants, bars and multi-purpose facilities, including seated, fast food and fast casual restaurants. Those businesses could only operate for take-out, "grab-and-go" and delivery operations. -The Mayor's March 20 order also required nightclubs, health clubs, health spas, massage parlors, and theaters to continue their suspension of operations, which the District's government had initially ordered on March 17. The order further closed to the public all facilities that the District's Department of Recreation operated, including playgrounds, parks, and athletic fields. -The District of Columbia Medical Reserve Corps (DC MRC), a volunteer organization under the District of Columbia Department of Health, was mobilized to aid emergency workers in responding to the coronavirus pandemic throughout D.C. On March 21, Mayor Bowser called for more volunteers to join the task force. -On March 24, Mayor Bowser issued an order "to temporarily cease all non-essential business activities, including tour guides and touring services; gyms, health clubs, spas, and massage establishments; theaters, auditoriums, and other places of large gatherings; nightclubs; hair, nail, and tanning salons and barbershops; tattoo parlors; sales not involved in essential services; retail clothing stores; and professional services not devoted to assisting essential business operations." -Bowser's March 24 order defined "Construction and Building Trades" as "essential businesses", but did not define private construction projects themselves as being "essential". However, The Washington Post reported on March 28 that the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia had designated construction as "essential," along with hospitals, grocery stores, banks and several other types of businesses. The Post reported that each of these jurisdictions had allowed private construction, including home building and commercial developments, to continue. -The Post reported that John Falcicchio, Bowser's chief of staff, had stated that the District, Maryland and Virginia had agreed to follow the federal guidance declaring construction to be essential work. However, the Post reported that several states, including Pennsylvania and Vermont, had suspended or prohibited all construction work (except for emergencies) as unnecessary during a public health crisis. The Post further reported that the State of Washington's transportation department had suspended work on nearly all of its projects and that Washington's governor had clarified his stay-at-home order to state that commercial and residential construction were generally prohibited "because construction is not considered to be an essential activity." -The United States Department of Homeland Security's March 28 guidance on essential critical infrastructure lists as "essential" the construction of residential/shelter facilities and services (see "essential services"), energy-related facilities, communications, and information technology, public works including the construction of critical or strategic infrastructure and infrastructure that is temporarily required to support COVID-19 response, is for certain other types of community- or government-based operations or is otherwise critical, strategic, or essential. The guidance does not contain any such listings for other types of construction. -On March 30, Bowser announced a stay-at-home order that would go into effect on April 1. The order stated that residents may only leave their residences to engage in essential activities, including obtaining medical care that cannot be provided through telehealth and obtaining food and essential household goods, to perform or access essential governmental functions, to work at essential businesses, to engage in essential travel and to engage in specific recreational activities that the order defined. Anyone found to be violating the order would be charged with a misdemeanor and subject to a $5,000 fine and/or 90 days in prison. Schools: -On March 13, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) shut down schools from March 16 to March 31. March 16 was reserved for professional development for teachers in preparation for the implementation of distance learning. The April Spring Break period was moved to March 17 to March 23, after which classes were set to resume online. DCPS-sponsored out-of-state travel for students was suspended until May 1 and staff travel was restricted. During the closure, several schools were set to offer meals to students from 10 am to 2 pm on weekdays. -D.C. Public Schools have an all-virtual start to the 2020–21 school year for students in pre-K through the 12th grade, from August 31 to at least November 6. On October 5, DC Public Schools announced an updated reopening plan, with certain elementary students having an option of in-person or virtual learning starting on November 9, with secondary schools remaining as virtual instruction until February 1. However, the mayor and school chancellor, Lewis Ferebee, had developed the plan without informing the various faculty unions or asking for input, and the union maintains that the schools are not ready to be reopened. Impact on sports: -The pandemic affected several sports in the district. On March 12, Major League Baseball cancelled the remainder of spring training, and on March 16, they announced that the season will be postponed indefinitely, after the recommendations from the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, affecting the Washington Nationals.[86] Also on March 12, the National Basketball Association announced the season would be suspended for 30 days, affecting the Washington Wizards. In the National Hockey League, the season was suspended for an indefinite amount of time, affecting the Washington Capitals. -In college sports, the National Collegiate Athletic Association cancelled all winter and spring tournaments, most notably the Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments, affecting colleges and universities districtwide. On March 16, the National Junior College Athletic Association also canceled the remainder of the winter seasons as well as the spring seasons.

Disappearance of Nicole Morin

On July 30, 1985, eight-year-old Nicole Louise Morin left her penthouse apartment on the 20th floor of an apartment building in the Etobicoke borough of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to meet a friend in the lobby for a swim date. She never arrived and has not been seen or heard from since. The Toronto Police Service launched the biggest missing-person investigation in their history, forming a 20-member task force and investing more than 25,000 man-hours following up leads. No physical evidence has ever been found to solve the disappearance. While it is now considered a cold case, Toronto police and missing-child organizations continue to keep it in the public eye in an effort to garner fresh leads. They have produced several video re-enactments of Morin's last known movements and released age-enhanced photographs coinciding with anniversaries of her disappearance. Early life: Nicole Louise Morin was born on April 1, 1977. She was the only child of Arthur (Art) and Jeanette Morin, who had married 12 years before her birth. Morin had brown hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 4 ft 0 in (1.22 m) tall and weighed 51 lb (23 kg). In July 1985, Morin was living with her mother in a 20th-floor penthouse apartment in the Etobicoke borough of Toronto. Her father lived in Mississauga. Morin was on summer vacation from Wellesworth Junior School, where she was in Grade 3. Disappearance: On July 30, 1985, at approximately 10:30 am, Morin went down to the lobby of her building to pick up the mail. She returned to the apartment to get ready for a planned swim date with a friend. The pool was located in the rear of their building complex. Before leaving the apartment, she spoke to her friend via the intercom and said she would meet her in the lobby shortly. She left the apartment at about 11 am wearing a peach-colored, one-piece bathing suit, green hairband, and red canvas shoes; she carried a plastic bag containing a white T-shirt, green and white shorts, suntan lotion, hairbrush, a peach-colored blanket and a purple beach towel. Fifteen minutes later, the friend buzzed her apartment to ask why Morin had not met her yet. Nicole's mother Jeanette, who was busy with small children in a daycare group that she ran in her apartment, assumed that Morin had gone to the pool herself or was playing with other children at the rear of the complex. She did not call the police to report a missing child until about 3:00 pm. Investigation: The police investigation initially involved "active searches and canvassing" of all of the apartments in the complex. The first day, police set up roadblocks around the building and circulated vehicles with public address systems to alert neighbourhood residents to the missing child's description. Knocking on every door in Morin's 429-unit complex, police entered apartments even if no one answered the knock. After a woman who lived in the building identified Morin from a photograph, police determined that Morin had travelled down the elevator and entered the lobby. From there, however, no other evidence was found as to Morin's whereabouts. The next day, additional Toronto Police Service officers were brought in, and a "police dragnet consisting of mounted horsemen, marine units, helicopters and foot patrols" began combing the area near Highway 27, which was in the vicinity of the apartment building. Tracking dogs were also brought in to explore the building's underground garages, utility rooms, storage units, and sump pump rooms. A neighbor recalled seeing an unidentified blonde woman with a notebook on the floor that Nicole's apartment was located on, about 45 minutes before the disappearance. Police sought her as a possible witness, but she was never identified, nor did anyone come forwards claiming to be her. More than 900 neighborhood residents joined the search. The newly formed Toronto Crime Stoppers organization took on the disappearance as its first significant case. This organization posted a $1,000 reward, printed posters, and produced a video re-enactment of Morin's last known movements which aired on television several weeks later. The Toronto Star printed 6,000 copies of a poster showing Morin's picture and the phone number of the Metro Toronto Police. Three thousand copies of a watercolour sketch of Morin were commissioned by the Toronto police and distributed to police departments, post offices, and local stores. The search was the biggest missing-person investigation in the history of the Toronto Police Service. Toronto police formed a 20-member task force which remained active for nine months. They invested 25,000 man hours following up leads. By November, police had questioned about 6,000 individuals, including hundreds of sex offenders. The first year's investigation cost an estimated $1.8 million. The police also offered a $100,000 reward for Morin's safe return, a reward that is still applicable today. Police cleared all family members and acquaintances from suspicion. An unexplained note was found in the apartment on which Morin had written in pencil a few months earlier: "I'm going to disappear". Although police discouraged it, Art Morin raised funds to hire a private investigator. He also left his job, set up an office, and searched for clues for his missing daughter in Canada and the United States. He moved back in with Jeanette after Nicole's disappearance, but the couple permanently separated in 1987. Jeanette consulted with a psychic in Calgary in her own effort to locate her daughter. In 2004, researchers for a Belgian organization known as Fondation Princesses de Croÿ et Massimo Lancellotti announced that they had tentatively matched photographs of Morin seen on a Canadian police website with pictures on a Dutch website that advocates for sexually-abused children. Using biometrical analysis, the researchers claimed a strong resemblance between Morin and a child in a pedophile network in Zandvoort. Despite the years of investigations and thousands of leads, no physical evidence has ever been uncovered to solve the disappearance. Ongoing efforts: -While the case is considered a cold case, Toronto police and missing-child organizations continue to keep it in the public eye in an effort to garner fresh leads. Several video re-enactments of Morin's last movements have been produced, including a 2007 television re-enactment for GTA's Most Wanted. For the 29th anniversary of the disappearance in 2014, the Toronto Police Video Unit produced a re-enactment which was also screened at Mac's Convenience Stores throughout the province of Ontario. -For the 30th anniversary of the disappearance in 2015, Toronto police organized a 5K run called Nicole's Run at Centennial Park in Etobicoke. The event included a candlelight vigil. In addition to raising awareness of the case, the run collected $3,000 in donations for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which operates a missing-child website. -In 2019, on the 34th anniversary of the disappearance, the Toronto police's missing-persons unit released an age-enhanced picture of Morin suggesting what she might look like in her early 40s. -In 2001, Toronto Crime Stoppers disseminated an age-enhanced photograph of Morin as a woman in her mid-20s to more than 1,000 Crime Stoppers programs in 17 countries via the internet. Child Find Ontario has also endeavoured to maintain public awareness of the case by arranging for Morin's picture, physical description, and age-enhanced photographs to appear "on electronic screens in Esso gas stations, billing envelopes from Rogers Cable and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto Transit Commission display screens, and on the back of transport trucks". -Morin's mother Jeanette died in 2007. Her father still lives in the Etobicoke area.

Disappearance of Julie Weflen

Julie Ann Weflen is a missing woman who was last seen on September 16, 1987. Disappearance: Weflen worked as an operator for the Bonneville Power Administration in Spokane, Washington. She parked her minivan in the gravel lot along Four Mound Road and logged into the Spring Hill Substation near Riverside State Park at 2 p.m. on the day she disappeared. BPA workers have stated that she probably finished work and returned to the minivan about 3:45 p.m. Weflen was last seen heading toward a substation at Four Mound and Coulee Hite Road. Her hard hat, toolbox, a water bottle, and a pair of sunglasses were located on the ground beside her truck and the driver's side door and back hatch were found open. Her purse was discovered in the rig where she had worked. Investigation and aftermath: -A reward of $25,000 has been issued for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons involved in Julie Weflen's disappearance. Since she disappeared, the BPA and local law enforcement officials have received plenty of information, but nothing has ever helped in finding her. -Weflen's mother died in 2006.

Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia

Donald Trump has pursued business deals in Russia since 1987, and has sometimes traveled there to explore potential business opportunities. In 1996, Trump trademark applications were submitted for potential Russian real estate development deals. Trump's partners and children have repeatedly visited Moscow, connecting with developers and government officials to explore joint venture opportunities. Trump was never able to successfully conclude any real estate deals in Russia. However, individual Russians have invested heavily in Trump properties, and following Trump's bankruptcies in the 1990s he borrowed money from Russian sources. In 2008 his son Donald Trump Jr. said that Russia was an important source of money for the Trump businesses. Efforts to build a Trump building in Moscow continued into June 2016, during which Trump was securing the Republican nomination for the presidential election. In January 2017, BuzzFeed News reported the existence of the unverified Trump–Russia dossier (also called the Steele dossier), which alleges connections between Trump associates and Russia. Trump responded the next day, and again at a February news conference, that he has no financial connections to Russia. In response to ongoing questions, White House press secretary Sean Spicer reiterated in May that Trump has no business connections to Russia. Also in May, Trump's tax lawyers sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying Trump had not received any income from Russian sources over the past 10 years "with a few exceptions". Trump's pre-Presidential business dealings with Russia were scrutinized by the special counsel. In July 2018, The Daily Beast reported on a search engine optimization project intended to minimize public awareness of Trump's connections to an associate who worked on these projects with him. Becoming well known: In 1987, Trump visited Russia to investigate developing a hotel, invited by Ambassador Yuri Dubinin whom he had met in New York the year before. British journalist Luke Harding alleged in 2017 that this trip likely began a long-term cultivation operation typical of the KGB's Political Intelligence Department, under written directives initiated by First Chief Directorate head Vladimir Kryuchkov, to recruit politically ambitious Westerners susceptible to flattery, egotism and greed. In 1996, Trump partnered with Liggett-Ducat, a small company, and planned to build an upscale residential development on a Liggett-Ducat property in Moscow. Trump commissioned New York architect Ted Liebman, who did the sketches. Trump visited Moscow again with Howard Lorber to scout potential properties for "skyscrapers and hotels". During that trip, Trump promoted the proposal and acclaimed the Russian economic market. At a news conference reported by The Moscow Times, Trump said he hadn't been "as impressed with the potential of a city as I have been with Moscow" in contrast to other cities had visited "all over the world." By this time, Trump had made known his desire to build in Moscow to government officials for almost ten years "ranging from the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev (they first met in Washington in 1987) to the military figure Alexander Lebed." Moscow's mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov, showed Trump plans for a very large shopping mall to be located underground in the vicinity of the Kremlin. The mayor complimented Trump's suggestion that this mall should have access to the Moscow Metro, and it was eventually connected to the Okhotny Ryad station. Although the 1996 residential development did not happen, Trump was by this time well known in Russia. Projects: Trump's business strategy included Russia in ventures intended to internationally expand his brand. He transitioned in the mid-2000s from building and investing in real estate to simply licensing his name to hotels, condominiums, and commercial towers. Although a strategy of taking a percentage from the sales was successful in other countries, Trump's terms were not agreeable to Russians and conflicted with their way of doing business with American hotel chains. From 2000 to 2010, Trump partnered with a development company headquartered in New York represented by a Russian immigrant, Felix Sater. During this period, they partnered for an assortment of deals that included building Trump towers internationally. For example, in 2005 Sater acted as an agent for building a Trump tower alongside Moscow River with letters of intent in hand and "square footage was being analyzed." In 2006, Trump's children Donald Jr. and Ivanka, traveling with Sater, stayed in the Hotel National, Moscow for several days, across from the Kremlin, to see promising partners, with the intent of doing real estate development deals. Trump was associated with Tevfik Arif, formerly a Soviet commerce official and founder of a development company called the Bayrock Group, of which Sater was also a partner. Bayrock searched for deals in Russia while Trump branded towers were attempting to further expand in the United States. Sater said, "We looked at some very, very large properties in Russia," on the scale of "...a large Vegas high-rise." In 2007, Bayrock organized a potential deal in Moscow between Trump International Hotel and Russian investors. During 2006–2008, Trump's company applied for a number of trademarks in Russia with the goal of real estate developments. These trademark applications include: Trump, Trump Tower, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Trump Home. In 2008, he said as a speaker at a Manhattan real estate conference that he feared the outcome of doing business deals in Russia, but he really prefers "Moscow over all cities in the world" and that within 18 months he had been in Russia a half-dozen times. In 2007, Trump announces that Trump Vodka will expand its distribution into Russia, his first foray into the Russian market. Trump "Super Premium" Vodka, bottles glazed with 24-karat gold, debuted in 2007 at the Millionaire's Fair in Moscow. It was successful only until sometime in 2009. Trump attempted to create a reality show in St. Petersburg, starring a Russian athlete. However, this was not successful. In a 2015 interview, Trump said that his repeated attempts to launch business deals with Russians resulted in contacts with "…the top-level people, both oligarchs and generals, and top of the government people. I can't go further than that, but I will tell you that I met the top people, and the relationship was extraordinary." Efforts to build Trump Tower Moscow continued through June 2016, while Trump was securing his place as the Republican presidential nominee. However, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen in 2017 told Congress that these efforts ended in January 2016, and as a result, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 2018. On July 9, 2019, Sater acknowledged before the House Intelligence Committee that one real estate project between Russia and Trump was falsely presented as a joint defense agreement, but withheld documents concerning direct details and phone records. Following his testimony, Committee chair Patrick Boland announced "Our investigation thus far has revealed that Sater was not a part of any joint defense agreement, and has no basis to assert this privilege over these documents.” Trump's responses: On January 10, 2017, BuzzFeed News published the Trump-Russia dossier (also called the Steele dossier), a series of reports prepared by a private intelligence source in Great Britain. The unverified dossier alleged various connections and collusion between Trump associates and Russia before and during the 2016 presidential election. The next day, January 11, Trump tweeted, "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!" USA Today evaluated that assertion as "not exactly true". At a February 16, 2017 press conference, Trump said, "And I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don't have any deals in Russia." On May 9, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "He (Trump) has no business in Russia. He has no connections to Russia." On May 9, 2017, Trump's tax law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which said a review of Trump's tax returns for the past 10 years did not find income from Russian sources during that period, save for "a few exceptions". The exceptions were the 2008 sale of a Trump-owned 6.26-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for $95 million to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who tore down the 62,000-square-foot mansion shortly after and sold 2.72 acres of the site for $34 million, as well as $12.2 million in payments in connection with holding the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013, plus a number of "immaterial" deals. No independently verifiable evidence was provided, such as tax returns, and it has been noted that even disclosure of tax returns would not necessarily disclose Russian-source income. The letter also said Trump had received undisclosed payments over 10 years from Russians for hotel rooms, rounds of golf, or Trump-licensed products such as wine, ties, or mattresses, which would not have been identified as coming from Russian sources in the tax returns. The letter was a response to earlier requests from Senator Lindsey Graham asking whether there were any such ties. On November 30, 2018, a day after Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's business projects in Russia, Trump tweeted that it was "very legal & very cool" that he did "run for President & continue to run my business". Trump continued: "Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project." Timeline of Trump business activities related to Russia: Further information: Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections (July 2016–election day), and Timeline of post-election transition following Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections 1986: Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin invites Trump on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Soviet Union. July 1987: Trump and his wife, Ivana, who speaks Russian, make their first visit to the Soviet Union (which included the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic RSFSR). They scout potential construction sites for a Trump Tower Moscow. 1996: Trump returns to Russia, visits Moscow with Howard Lorber and Bennett S. LeBow to scout potential properties for "skyscrapers and hotels", registers his trademark, and makes connections with the development company Bayrock Group (which would result in Trump Soho) and Felix Sater, who became crucial to later Trump Moscow talks. Trump subsequently announces a plan to invest $250 million in Russia and brand two luxury residential buildings in Moscow, which doesn't come to fruition. 2005: Trump gives Bayrock Group an exclusive deal to build a Trump-branded property in Moscow. 2006: At Donald Trump's request, Sater accompanies Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on a Moscow trip, and arranges for Ivanka to sit in Putin's office chair during a tour of the Kremlin. November 2007: Trump attends the Millionaire's Fair in Moscow, where he announces that Trump Vodka will expand its distribution into Russia, his first foray into the Russian market. Around 2008: Trump Jr. travels to Russia a half-dozen times in 18 months, looking for deals. July 2008: Trump sells the Palm Beach estate Maison de L'Amitie to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev for a record $95 million. Trump bought the property for $41.35 million three years earlier and made only minor improvements. September 2008: Trump Jr., then an executive vice president of The Trump Organization, says, "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, say, in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." 2010: The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto receives timely financing from Vnesheconombank (VEB), a Russian state-run investment bank. 2013 August: Eric Trump tells author James Dodson, "We don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia", and says, "We go there all the time". In May 2017, Eric Trump calls this quote "fabricated" and an example of why people distrust the media. November 9–11: The Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant is held in Moscow, sponsored by Sberbank.[45] According to various reports, the event's $20 million licensing fee is paid by a Moscow real estate development firm called the Crocus Group, whose president is Aras Agalarov and vice president is his son, pop singer Emin Agalarov. One VIP guest is Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, an alleged Russian mobster and fugitive who was recently indicted for running a high-stakes illegal gambling ring out of a Trump Tower apartment in New York City. While Putin does not attend, the event is attended by Vladimir Kozhin, the head of the Kremlin's property department, which is responsible for development projects. After the event, Trump tells Real Estate Weekly, "the Russian market is attracted to me. I have a great relationship with many Russians". During the trip, Trump meets Herman Gref, the CEO of state-controlled Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, and other oligarchs close to Putin. Agalarov and Gref co-host a dinner for Trump at the Moscow branch of Nobu, which is owned by Agalarov. Afterwards, Trump tweets to Agalarov, "I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next." November 12: The Moscow Times reports that Trump is in talks with Russian companies to build a new Trump tower in Moscow. December 23: Trump, Trump Jr., Emin Agalarov, and Kaveladze reach an agreement for the Trump Tower Moscow project under which the Trump Organization would receive a 3.5% commission on all sales. 2014 Before January 24: The Crocus Group sends The Trump Organization a proposal to build a 194-meter tall building with 800 units at the Crocus City site in Moscow where the Miss Universe pageant was held. February 1–4: Kushner and Ivanka Trump travel to Russia on a four-day trip at the invitation of Dasha Zhukova, a longtime friend of Ivanka and the wife of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. They attend a gala fundraiser for the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow along with Vekselberg, other oligarchs, Russian government officials, and their families. Ivanka and Emin Agalarov tour the proposed Trump Tower Moscow site at Crocus City. In 2016–17, Kushner omits the trip from his security clearance applications. June 3-16: Kaveladze emails Trump Jr. and others about design elements and architectural details for Trump Tower Moscow. July 7: The Trump Organization sends Crocus Group a set of questions about the "demographics of these prospective buyers" in the area around the proposed Trump Tower Moscow site, the development of neighboring parcels, and concepts for redesigning portions of the building. August 4: The Trump Organization requests from Crocus Group the specifications for a Marriott-branded tower under construction near Crocus City. 2015 September: A New York architect completes plans for a bold glass obelisk 100 stories high in Moscow, with the Trump logo on multiple sides. Late September: Felix Sater meets with Michael Cohen on behalf of I.C. Expert Investment Company to discuss building a Trump Tower in Moscow. I.C. Expert is a Russian real estate development corporation controlled by Andrei Vladimirovich Rozov. Sater agrees to find a developer and arrange for financing. Sater later contacts Rozov to propose that I.C. Expert work with the Trump Organization on the project. September 22: Cohen forwards a Trump Tower Moscow preliminary design study to Giorgi Rtskhiladze, who then emails it to his associate Simon Nizharadze, writing, ""if we could organize the meeting in New York at the highest level of the Russian Government and Mr. Trump this project would definitely receive the worldwide attention." September 24: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a draft letter for the Trump Organization to send to the mayor of Moscow, explaining, ""we need to send this letter to the Mayor of Moscow (second guy in Russia) he is aware of the potential project and will pledge his support." Later that day he sends Cohen a translation of the letter that describes Trump Tower Moscow as a "symbol of stronger economic, business and cultural relationships between New York and Moscow and therefore United States and the Russian Federation." September 27: Rtskhiladze emails Cohen a proposal for the Trump Organization to partner with Global Development Group LLC on the Trump Tower Moscow project. He describes Global Development as controlled by Nizharadze and the architect Michail Posikhin. In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that he declined the proposal and decided to continue with Sater's proposed partner, I.C. Expert Investment Company. October 9: Sater emails Cohen about his plans to meet with and persuade Andrey Molchanov to provide the land for a Trump Tower in Moscow. October 12: Cohen has a series of email exchanges with Felix Sater about developing a Trump property in Moscow. July 24: Rob Goldstone emails Trump's assistant Rhona Graff, suggesting that Emin Agalarov could arrange a meeting between Putin and Trump. Sater tells Cohen that VTB Bank will fund the project, and that his associates will be meeting with Putin and a deputy on October 14. October 13: Sater sends Cohen a letter of intent signed by Andrey Rozov for Trump to sign in order to move the Moscow project forward. October 28: Trump signs a letter of intent {LOI} to construct a Trump-branded building in Moscow hours before the third Republican presidential debate, a fact made public in August 2017. The LOI proposes that the tower have "approximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums" and "one first class, luxury hotel consisting of approximately 15 floors and containing not fewer than 150 hotel rooms." The Trump Organization would receive 1%–5% of all condominium sales and 3% of all rental and other revenues, and 20% of the operating profit. November: Trump associate Felix Sater emails Trump lawyer Michael Cohen: "Michael, I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putin's private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin. Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this". Sater also tells Cohen that the Kremlin's VTB Bank is ready to finance a Trump Tower project in Moscow. November 3: In an email to Cohen, Sater predicts that building a Trump Tower in Moscow will help Trump's presidential campaign. "I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected." November 18: IC Expert, the developer for the Trump Tower Moscow project and a signatory to Trump's letter of intent, receives a non-revolving line of credit from Sberbank for 10.6 billion rubles. IC Expert provides 100% of its equity to secure the line of credit. Sberbank agrees to finance 70% of the project, its largest commercial real estate loan to date. November 19: Kolokov writes in an email to Cohen that a properly publicized meeting between Trump and Putin could have a "phenomenal" impact "in a businesss dimension" and boost the "level" of projects if he receives Putin's endorsement. Cohen rejects Kolokov's offers, writing, ""currently our LOI developer is in talks with VP's Chief of Staff and arranging a formal invite for the two to meet." In September 2018, Cohen tells Mueller's team that he rejected the offers because he was already pursuing business with Sater and understood Sater had Russian government connections of his own. December 2: Trump tells the associated Press that he is "not that familiar with" Felix Sater and refers questions to his staff. December 10: ABC News reports that Trump denied knowing Sater under oath in a 2013 video deposition even though Sater was involved in several of his high-profile projects. Trump testified, "If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn't know what he looked like." On December 30, Sater tells Cohen that he helped bury the story. December 19: In an email to Cohen, Sater talks about securing financing from VTB, a Russian bank under American sanctions. Sater also asks for Cohen's and Trump's passport information so that VTB can facilitate obtaining visas. VTB would be issuing the invitation, he writes, because "politically neither Putins office nor Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot issue invite, so they are inviting commercially/ business." He writes that they will be invited to the Russian consulate that week to receive an invitation and visas for traveling to Russia. Cohen sends images of his own passport but not Trump's. December 21: Sater texts Cohen asking again for a copy of Trump's passport. Cohen replies, "After I return from Moscow with you with a date for him." In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that Rhona Graff provided Trump's passport to Cohen's office, but the Mueller Report says the team could not find any evidence of a copy being sent to Sater. December 30: Cohen emails Sater complaining about the lack of progress on the Trump Tower Moscow project. Sater responds that he helped bury an ABC News story in which Trump denied knowing him. Cohen tells Sater in a text message that he will set up a meeting with Russian government officials himself." December 31: Sater tells Cohen that Genbank (Генбанк), recently put under U.S. sanctions, will be the new funder for the Trump Tower Moscow project. Late 2015 – early 2016: Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump are included on emails about the Trump Tower Moscow project. Ivanka Trump recommends an architect. 2016- January 14: Cohen emails Peskov atinfo@prpress.gov.ru seeking help to jump-start the Trump Tower Moscow project because "the communication between our two sides has stalled", but does not receive a response. In August 2017 Peskov tells CNN that Cohen's email "went unanswered because it was solely regarding a real estate deal and nothing more." January 16: Cohen emails at Peskov at Pr_peskov@prpress.gov.ru, the correct address he mistyped on January 11, and repeats his request to speak with Ivanov. Later Cohen tells Congress and Mueller's team that he received no response to this email and abandoned the Trump Moscow Project. He later admits to federal prosecutors that he did receive a response and continued working on the project and keeping Trump updated on progress into June 2016. January 20: Peskov's personal assistant Elena Polikova sends an email to Cohen from her personal account asking him to call her on her personal phone number, which she provides. Cohen calls her and explains the nature and status of the project, and asks for assistance with securing land and financing. The conversation includes a discussion of giving Putin a $50 million penthouse in the tower as a gift. Later Cohen tells prosecutors that Polikova took notes, asked detailed questions, and said she needed to follow up with people in Russia. January 21: Sater texts Cohen asking for a call. He writes, "It's about Putin they called today." Sater emails Cohen a draft invitation from Genbank for Cohen to visit Russia, which Sater says is being offered at the behest of VTB, and asks Cohen if any changes need to be made. Sater and Cohen work on edits for the next few days. January 25: Sater sends Cohen a signed invitation from Andrey Ryabinskiy of the company MHJ to travel to "Moscow for a working visit" about the "prospects of development and the construction business in Russia," "the various land plots available suited for construction of this enormous Tower," and "the opportunity to co-ordinate a follow up visit to Moscow by Mr. Donald Trump." In September 2018 Cohen tells Mueller's team that he didn't use the invitation to travel to Moscow because he didn't receive any concrete proposals for suitable land plots. January 26: Sater asks Cohen to take a call from Evgeny Shmykov, who is coordinating their project in Moscow. Cohen agrees. February 2: Trump comes in second in the Iowa caucuses. In 2017 Cohen asserts that all efforts on the Trump Tower Moscow project ended before this date. April 20: Sater texts Cohen asking when he is going to travel to Moscow. May 4: Sater texts Cohen asking when he will be traveling to Moscow. He writes that he set expectations in Russia that it would probably be after the convention. Cohen responds that he expects to travel before the convention, and that Trump will travel after he becomes the nominee. May 5: Sater texts Cohen that Peskov would like to invite him to the St. Petersburg Forum June 16–19 and possibly meet Putin or Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He continues, "He said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects are on the table to discuss." May 22: Politico reports on Trump's past associations and dealings with the American Mafia and other criminal figures, including Sater. June: A former GRU officer arranges for Felix Sater and Michael Cohen to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which Putin regularly attends. Sater wants to use the trip to push forward the Moscow Trump Tower deal. Cohen cancels at the last minute. Sater does not attend the forum. June 14: Sater meets Cohen in the Trump Tower lobby. Cohen tells him he will not be traveling to Russia (two days before planned departure). July 19: Steele files a dossier memo alleging that during his Moscow trip, Page secretly met Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin, together with a "senior Kremlin Internal Affairs official, DIVYEKIN", that Sechin offered Trump a 19% stake in Rosneft (worth about $11 billion) in exchange for lifting the sanctions against Russia after his election, and that Page confirmed, on Trump's "full authority", that he intended to lift the sanctions. July 26: Trump denies having any investments in Russia. July 27: Trump tells a CBS affiliate in Miami, "I have nothing to do with Russia. Nothing to do. I never met Putin. I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever." This contradicts his many claims since 2013 to have met Putin and done business in Russia. August 13: Russian-American Simon Kukes attends a $25,000-per-ticket Trump fundraising dinner at the home of Woody Johnson in New York. Kukes's 2016 political donations become a subject of the Mueller investigation. October 8: Kushner's company receives $370 million in new loans, including $285 million from Deutsche Bank, to refinance his portion of the former New York Times building. The size and timing of the Deutsche Bank loan draws scrutiny from the House Financial Services Committee, the Justice Department, and, later, the Mueller investigation. The concern is that the transaction may be related to Russian money laundering through Deutsche Bank. October 11: Trump Jr. travels to Paris to give a paid speech at the Ritz Hotel. The dinner event is sponsored by the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs, a group founded by Fabien Baussart and his business partner. Baussart is openly linked to Russian government officials. Randa Kassis, one of the hosts, travels to Moscow after the election and reports the details of the event to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. October 15: The National Security Division of the Justice Department acquires a FISA warrant to monitor the communications of two Russian banks as part of an investigation into whether they illegally transferred money to the Trump campaign. October 30: Cohen and Giorgi Rtskhiladze exchange text messages in which they discuss suppressing tapes of Trump's 2013 trip to Moscow rumored to be in the possession of Aras Agalarov's company, Crocus Group. In May 2018 Rtskhiladze tells Mueller's team that he was told the tapes were fake but did not relay that information to Cohen. October 31: Mother Jones magazine's David Corn reports that a veteran spy, later publicly identified as Steele, gave the FBI information alleging a Russian operation to cultivate Trump, later known as the "Steele dossier". Slate publishes an article by Franklin Foer alleging that a Trump server was in suspicious contact with Alfa-Bank in Russia. 2017: February 9: Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduces a resolution of inquiry in relation to possible crimes relating to Trump's financial dealings or collusion with Russia. March 10: Trump fires 46 U.S. Attorneys, including Preet Bharara, whom Trump had recently told could keep his job. Bharara had been prosecuting a money-laundering case against the Russian company Prevezon. Prevezon's attorney in the case is Natalia Veselnitskaya. The company reaches a financial settlement with the government on May 15, 2017, two days before the trial was scheduled to start. May 23: Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, requests Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to release to the House Financial Services Committee any Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) records involving Deutsche Bank, Russia and Donald Trump. May 30: CNN reports on leaked intercepts of conversations between Kremlin officials discussing their potential influence on some Trump campaign members, including financial matters. 2018: January 19: German periodical Manager Magazin reports that Deutsche Bank has presented to Germany's financial authority, BaFin, evidence of "suspicious money transfers" by Kushner; this information is due to be handed to Mueller. Deutsche Bank denies the report on January 22 and announces that it is taking legal action. February 12: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, asks the Treasury Department for documentation related to Trump's 2008 sale of an uninhabitable Palm Beach mansion to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. 2019: April 15: The House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issue subpoenas to Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup demanding documents related to Trump and possible money laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe. April 17: Along with the four banks reported subpoenaed April 15, additionally Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Co, Capital One Financial Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto Dominion Bank are subpoenaed in Trump finance probe. May 19: Anti-money launders at Deutsche Bank AG recommended in 2016 and 2017 transactions involving Trump and Kushner-controlled entities be reported to a unit of the Treasury Department that polices financial crimes. The report is denied by the Bank that it prevented Trump transactions from being flagged. August 8: Per the request for House Financial Services and the House Intelligence Committees; Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo turn over documents relating to Russians who may have had dealings with the Trump Organization, and/or Trump and his family. Some of the banks also turned over documents to New York state investigators.

National Missing Children's Day

National Missing Children's Day has been commemorated in the United States on May 25, since 1983, when it was first proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan. It falls on the same day as the International Missing Children's Day, which was established in 2001. In the several years preceding the establishment of National Missing Children's day, a series of high-profile missing-children cases made national headlines. On May 25, 1979, Etan Patz was only six years old when he disappeared from his New York City home on his way from bus to school. The date of his disappearance was designated as National Missing Children's Day. At the time, cases of missing children rarely garnered national media attention, but his case quickly received extensive coverage. His father, a professional photographer, distributed black-and-white photographs of him in an effort to find him. The resulting massive search and media attention that followed focused the public's attention on the problem of child abduction and the lack of plans to address it. For almost three years, media attention was focused on Atlanta, Georgia, where the bodies of young children were discovered in lakes, marshes, and ponds along roadside trails. Twenty-nine bodies were recovered in the Atlanta murders of 1979–1981 before a suspect was arrested and convicted.

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the President of the United States reauthorized the allocation of $40 million in funding for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as part of Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2013. The current chair of the organization is child safety advocate Patty Wetterling, mother of Jacob Wetterling. NCMEC handles cases of missing or exploited children from infancy to young adults through age 20. History- Founding and early years: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children was founded in 1984, spurred by notable child abductions such as the 1981 abduction and murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh from a shopping mall in Hollywood, Florida and the 1979 abduction of six-year-old Etan Patz from New York City. Because police had the ability to record and track information about stolen cars, stolen guns, and even stolen horses with the FBI's national crime computer, it was believed that the same should be done to find child victims and the procurers who exploited them. In 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act, which established a National Resource Center and Clearinghouse on Missing & Exploited Children. On June 13, 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, formed by Adam Walsh's parents, Revé and John Walsh, alongside other children's advocates, was officially opened by President Ronald Reagan in a White House ceremony. The national 24-hour toll-free missing children's hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST, was also established. Primarily funded by the Justice Department, the NCMEC acts as an information clearinghouse and resource for parents, children, law enforcement agencies, schools, and communities to assist in locating missing children and to raise public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction, child sexual abuse and child pornography. John Walsh, Noreen Gosch, and others advocated establishing the center as a result of frustration stemming from a lack of resources and a national coordination between law enforcement and other government agencies. The Center provides information to help locate children reported missing (by parental abduction, child abduction, or running away from home) and to assist physically and sexually abused children. In this resource capacity, the NCMEC distributes photographs of missing children and accepts tips and information from the public. It also coordinates these activities with numerous state and federal law enforcement agencies. During the mid to late 1980s, the toy Teddy Ruxpin became the "Official Spokesbear" for the center at the height of his popularity. Due to this partnership, some stories featured extra information for kids to stay safe from abductions, sexual predators, etc. This also caused his animated series to feature a clip titled "Protect Yourself" in which safety information for kids would be given by then popular child actors. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the President of the United States voted to reauthorize $40 million in funding for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as part of Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2013 (H.R. 3092; 113th Congress). The Center not only specializes in locating missing children, but identifying the deceased. There are a number of unidentified decedents in the country, some of which are children, teenagers and young adults. Like missing children, posters are created for the cases and, is possible, show forensic facial reconstructions of the subject that show an estimation of their appearance while alive. The reconstructions that the NCMEC creates have been regarded to be state-of-the-art and have been stated to have been mistaken for photographs. On April 6, 2018 it was announced in Forbes magazine that the United States Department of Justice had seized and shutdown the website of frequent nemesis of NCMEC, Backpage.com, on the grounds that it had frequently facilitated human trafficking. NCMEC released a statement: "The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children just learned that Backpage.com was seized by the FBI, IRS, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center. This is another step in the years-long fight against the exploitation of child victims who were bought and sold for sex on Backpage.com. #NCMEC is waiting alongside the rest of the world to see what will come next. We stand by the victims and their families as they process this news and continue to fight for justice against those who profited from their abuse. #SexTrafficking. CyberTipline: The NCMEC operates the CyberTipline which was established by Congress to process reports of child sexual exploitation (including child pornography, online enticement, and contact offenses). The NCMEC reviews these reports and shares them with the appropriate law enforcement agency or Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. In addition to the information provided by the reporting party, NCMEC typically adds geolocation information (if appropriate) and cross-references identifying information such as email address, username, or IP address with existing CyberTipline Reports. Anyone can make a report to the CyberTipline but reporting is required for certain electronic service providers (ESP) who become aware of the presence of child pornography on their systems. While ESPs are not required to actively scan for or try to detect child pornography, many of them do. In 2018, the CyberTipline processed 18.4 million reports. Applications to the US seeking return of children: Effective September 5, 1995, applications seeking the return of or access to children in the US under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction were processed through the NCMEC for the US Department of State, Office of Children's Issues under contract with the US Department of State and the US Department of Justice. On April 1, 2008, the US Office of Children's Issues re-assumed U.S. Central Authority duties for processing incoming cases under the Hague Abduction Convention. As a result of its status as a government contractor as well as funding provided under the Missing Children Act and Missing Children's Assistance Act, the NCMEC received (as of 2008) US$40-million funding each year from the US Government. International: In 1998, the NCMEC Board of Directors approved the creation of a separate international organization, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC); the two now act as sister organizations. ICMEC combats child sexual exploitation, child pornography, and child abduction. ICMEC held its first Board of Directors meeting in 1998. It was officially launched in April 1999. According to data compiled by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, between 2011 and 2015, 45 percent of children reported missing in America were found after being missing between six and 11 months; 27 percent were found when missing for between one and two years; 19 percent when missing for between two and five years; 5 percent between six and 10 years; 3 percent when missing between 11 and 20 years; and only 1 percent of missing children and found when missing for over 20 years. ICMEC—along with NCMEC—runs a global missing children's network of 22 countries. ICMEC has trained law enforcement personnel from 121 countries, works with law enforcement in over 100 countries, and has worked with legislatures in 100 countries to adopt new laws combating child pornography. ICMEC also encourages the creation of national operational centers built on a public-private partnership model, and leads global financial and industry coalitions to eradicate child sexual exploitation and child pornography. The Koons Family Institute on International Law and Policy is the International Centre's research arm. In August 2008, ICMEC was granted "Special Consultative Status" by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), to assist the UN with its expertise regarding child sexual exploitation and child abduction. ICMEC also works with the intergovernmental organization INTERPOL, the inter-continental organization the Organization of American States (the OAS), and the Hague Conference on Private International Law. NCMEC is an associate of PACT Parents and Abducted Children Together in the United Kingdom. Publications: In 2007 NCMEC and Duracell along with the public relations firm PainePR produced a children's book title The Great Tomato Adventure: A Story About Smart Safety Choices along with a series of educational tools for parents and guardians of older children called Teachable Moments Guides. The books were produced and published by Arbor Books and the foreword was written by actress, and best-selling children's book author, Jada Pinkett Smith. Both tools were introduced as an extension of the successful child safety program that launched in 2006. The book was made available as a free download via the Power of Parents program website. Notable board and staff members: -John F. Clark, President and CEO -Karen Tandy, Board Chair -Revé Walsh, Co-Founder and Chair-Elect -John Walsh, Co-Founder -Dennis DeConcini, former United States Senator

Disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh

Susannah Jane Lamplugh was a British estate agent reported missing on 28 July 1986 in Fulham, London, England. She was officially declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994. The last clue to Lamplugh's whereabouts was an appointment to show a house in Shorrolds Road to someone she referred to as "Mr Kipper". As of 2021, the case remains unsolved. Disappearance: Lamplugh was an estate agent who was reported missing after attending an appointment with someone calling himself "Mr Kipper", to show him round a house in Shorrolds Road, Fulham. Her office diary recorded the details of the appointment as: "12.45 Mr. Kipper – 37 Shorrolds O/S". The "O/S" annotation means "outside the property". Witnesses reported seeing a woman, who resembled Lamplugh, talking with a man in Shorrolds Road and then getting into a car. Lamplugh's white Ford Fiesta (registration: B396 GAN) was found on the night of 28 July, outside a property for sale in Stevenage Road, Fulham, which is about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) away. The hand brake was off and the car key was missing. Lamplugh's purse was found in a storage pocket in one of the car's doors. Police suggested that a black, left-hand drive BMW vehicle may have been involved, because of an eyewitness account of a car of that description seen at the same location as Lamplugh's car in Stevenage Road. For some time after her disappearance, it was believed that "Kipper" was her pronunciation of the Dutch name "Kuiper", but police investigations failed to identify anyone of that name in connection with Lamplugh. In June 2019, a former police detective suggested that the 'Mr Kipper' diary entry might have been a cover story. Police investigations: Following Lamplugh's disappearance, police tested the DNA of 800 unidentified bodies and skeletal remains that matched her description. Lamplugh was officially declared dead in 1994; she was presumed to have been murdered. Renewed police investigations in 1998 and 2000 failed to trace her. The investigation was summarised in an ITV Real Crime programme in 2002. In November 2002, it was reported that convicted rapist and murderer John Cannan could have killed Lamplugh. He had been released from a prison hostel only days before she went missing, and it was claimed that his nickname in prison was "Kipper". That month, Scotland Yard held a press conference at which officers named Cannan as the person they believed to have murdered Lamplugh. Cannan denied any involvement and police investigations failed to produce any evidence linking him to the disappearance. In April 2001, a previous girlfriend of Cannan, Gilly Paige, told police that he had suggested Lamplugh's body was buried at Norton Barracks, a former military base in Worcestershire. However, in December 2002, one of Cannan's fellow prisoners told police that Cannan had buried Lamplugh under the patio of his mother's house in Sutton Coldfield, in the West Midlands. In 1982, Lamplugh had worked as a beautician on the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2. At the same time, Steve Wright, who was convicted in February 2008 of the murder of five women in Ipswich, was working as a steward on the QE2. In 2008, the Metropolitan Police investigated whether Wright was connected with Lamplugh's disappearance, but this was not a strong line of enquiry and a senior Met police officer described the link as "speculative". In August 2010, police began searching a field off the B4084 between Pershore and Drakes Broughton, about three miles from the former Norton Barracks in Worcestershire, where a search had previously been carried out in December 2000 and February 2001. In December 2000, police had also searched a nearby brickworks, which had been mentioned in several of the original witness statements. The 2010 search proved unsuccessful and Lamplugh's remains were not found. In late October 2018, police began searching the former house of Cannan's mother in Sutton Coldfield, the same property that was searched in 2002. They dismantled the garage and began removing its concrete floor, whilst also carrying out a search of the back garden. On 12 November 2018, police announced that the search of the property had ended and no evidence had been found. In July 2019, a police search of land in Pershore, with the assistance of archaeologists, produced no relevant evidence. Suzy Lamplugh Trust: The Suzy Lamplugh Trust is a charitable foundation that was established in December 1986 by Suzy's parents, Paul and Diana. The mission of the Trust is to raise awareness of personal safety through training and various projects, to help people avoid becoming victims of aggression, and to offer counselling and support to relatives and friends of missing people. The Trust runs the UK's National Stalking Helpline and organises National Personal Safety Day, an annual event that was first held in 2006. Paul and Diana Lamplugh were appointed to OBE, in 1992 and 2005 respectively, for their charitable work with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.Diana Lamplugh died in August 2011 at the age of 75, and Paul Lamplugh died aged 87 in June 2018. Rachel Griffin, CEO of the Trust since 2012, died of cancer in August 2019. Commemorative window: Lamplugh and her family were members of the congregation at All Saints Church, East Sheen, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. She is commemorated there in a stained glass window which was installed in 1996.

Disappearance of Mirella Gregori

Mirella Gregori mysteriously disappeared from Rome in 7 May 1983, about 40 days before the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, a citizen of Vatican City. Both vanishings are unsolved as of today. International events: Both the Gregori and the Orlandi cases led to the Grey Wolves, an extremist Turkish group, claiming to be involved in the abductions and demanding the release of Mehmet Ali Ağca, the assassin who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. According to Mehmet Ali Ağca's autobiography, the two girls' disappearances as well as the disappearance of Soviet journalist Oleg G. Bitov from the Venice Film Festival on September 9 that same year are closely linked. Circumstances of disappearance: Gregori left her house telling her mother she "had a date" with a unknown former schoolmate. That was the last time she was seen. Suspects: During a visit of the Pope to a Rome parish, on December 15, 1985, Gregori's mother recognized a man in the papal escort as the person who often came to pick up her daughter at the house. The man was identified as Raoul Bonarelli. Roman remains: Remains found in Rome in October 2018 were thought to possibly be those of Mirella or of Emanuela Orlandi. Early reports said the remains could be those of a woman, but results of tests released on 1 February 2019 showed they were of an ancient Roman man who died between 190 and 230 AD.