THE family of an Irishman who has been missing abroad for almost a week are becoming increasingly concerned for his safety.

Galway man James Gleeson has been missing from California, in the USA, since Thursday, September 28.

James has been missing from the Parkside area of San Fran since September 28

The 35-year-old was last seen five days ago in the Parkside area of San Francisco wearing a maroon flannel jumper, a high-vis vest and carrying a backpack.

He has been described by worried family as of a slim build, approximately 6ft 1in with light brown hair and brown eyes.

James, who is originally from Dunmore, recently moved to San Francisco in California.

In the days since he has gone missing, family have become increasingly concerned about his whereabouts.

One person said: “Please God you will be found safe and well.”

Another added: “Please be found safe and well James. If anyone knows people over there please keep a massive look out.”

Police in the US have issued an appeal for his whereabouts and a notice reads: “Missing: James Gleeson, last seen in the Parkside/Sunset area near Sloat.

“Wearing a maroon checkered flannel jumper with a reflective vest carrying a backpack. Irish male, ‘6″1, light brown hair, brown eyes, 35 years.

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“If seen please contact us on his whereabouts (914) 294-8949.”

Separately, the devastated mum of a teenager missing for nine days has appealed to the public to help find her son, saying: “I want my boy back.”

Worried Kelly Smith urged anyone with information about the whereabouts of her 18-year-old son Josh Markey to contact her or the police immediately. 

She told in a poignant Facebook post that she has suffered nothing but torment and despair over the past week after Josh vanished off the face of the earth from the Rathmullen Park housing estate in Drogheda.

Gardai have categorised his disappearance as “high risk” and believe his life could be in danger.

There are unconfirmed reports that he may have been abducted.

‘HEART OF GOLD’

The heartbroken mother said: “All these days gone and not one single person has heard or seen my son. 

“Someone knows something. He didn’t just walk into the middle of Rathmullen and a UFO came down and beamed him up Scottie.

“He was no angel, far from it, and was easily led but underneath it all he had a heart of gold.

“Someone knows something, I want my boy back.

“I am begging anyone that knows anything about my son or his whereabouts whether it is good or bad news, please tell me.”

TEXT ALERT

Drogheda Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster has called on anyone with information about Josh to use the new garda confidential text alert service See Something, Say Something, to pass on whatever they know.

They can free text DROGHEDA and send their message to 50555.

She said: “If they don’t want to contact the gardai directly they can use this text line to pass on information and no one will know where it came from.

“Your number is scrambled so it will not show up. 

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“This is another avenue for people to pass on information if they don’t want to have to deal with the gardai themselves.

“The fact no one has heard from Josh is extremely worrying.”

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The body of a young Netflix engineer, who disappeared two weeks after moving to California from Upstate New York, has been positively identified, authorities said Wednesday.

A passing boater spotted the remains of  Yohanes Kidane, 22, floating in the waters of the San Francisco Bay northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday, Aug. 29, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the decomposing body.

“The remains exhibited signs of advanced decomposition, prolonged exposure to the aquatic environment and appreciable depredation,” the sheriff’s office said. There was no identification with the remains.

Related Story: Police Say There’s ‘No Evidence’ of a Crime in Netflix Engineer’s Disappearance

The coroner used scientific evidence to positively identify the body, and Kidane’s family was notified.

An autopsy was completed on Sept. 1. The cause of death was a combination of blunt impact injuries and drowning.

“The mode of death was determined to be suicide,” the sheriff’s office said.

Kidane was from Webster, New York, and graduated from Cornell University in May 2023.

He moved to the Bay Area in late July to start a job as a software engineer at Netflix.

Kidane was last seen alive on the night of Aug. 14, when a security camera recorded him leaving his apartment in downtown San Jose and getting into an Uber.

His phone’s GPS tracker showed he arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge that night. The next morning, a commuter found Kidane’s wallet and cell phone near the bridge’s welcome center and notified police.

Police officers quickly located his backpack, wallet, ID cards and phone.

The California Highway Patrol, Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, and the U.S. Coast Guard joined in the search.

The San Jose Police Department said in a statement at the time that the investigation had “uncovered no evidence to suggest that a crime has occurred.”

Kidane’s family and friends traveled to the Bay Area to search for answers. They started a GoFundMe page that raised more than $107,000 in donations to cover travel expenses, private investigators, and other resources for the search, the page said.

“I’m heartbroken,” Kidane’s distraught mother Mehret Hana Beyene said in an interview with local news station KTVU-TV after he went missing.

The engineer’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Eritrea. Their children were born and raised in the Rochester area.

“We want to take him home. I need my son. I need my son,” his mother told the TV station. “He’s a good man who has a bright future, very loving to his family.”

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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Chase Elliott said Saturday night that missing the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career is a “bummer,” but it provides a learning experience.

“I appreciate everybody’s support through this season that hasn’t been what I would want by any means,” Elliott said after finishing fourth in the Cup regular-season finale. “But certainly going to be some lessons taken from it, and I think we’ll be better for it on the other end.”

Elliott fails to make the playoffs for an eighth consecutive year after missing seven races this season — six for injury and one for suspension. This dropped him well below the playoff cutline as the end of the regular season approached.

Elliott had an opportunity to point his way into the playoffs, but a crash at Michigan and a fuel issue at Watkins Glen put him in a must-win situation at Daytona.

The 2020 Cup champion did what he could at the superspeedway. He avoided a 16-car incident at the end of stage 2, and he put himself on the second row for the start of overtime. He just couldn’t cap the night with a win due to the teamwork of the RFK Racing drivers.

“I feel like we had an OK chance there, but Brad (Keselowski) and (winner Chris Buescher) just worked so well together there and they were able to stay locked-on,” Elliott said after the race. “They were so locked-on there … they just had a strangle-hold on the top lane.

“Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get to Kevin (Harvick) and stay there like that, and just make the bottom lane work. I kind of bottled it up there and just couldn’t get enough momentum going forward.”

There are multiple areas where Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson can make improvements for next season. They can put a bigger emphasis on qualifying after the No. 9 car only reached the final round seven times in his 19 starts.

They can also continue to work on race strategy for road courses and other tracks where they do not have to worry about pitting in a group. Nailing those little details can make the difference between contending for a championship and ending the regular season below the cutline.

While Elliott missed out on the final playoff spot on the driver side, he still checked off a goal that was very important to Hendrick Motorsports. He put the No. 9 Chevrolet in the owner championship over the No. 23 of 23XI Racing.

Elliott now has an opportunity to pursue wins and points that will move the No. 9 through the opening rounds of the playoffs. NASCAR pays the season-end purses based on the owner standings, so Elliott can help deliver a bigger payday with a strong postseason run.

“Obviously we came up a little short, but nonetheless — I hate the way the season has gone, but proud to get the car into the owner’s championship,” Elliott said. “It’s a big deal to get in on the owner’s side, so hopefully we’ll try and go make some noise on that front, and just keep progressing and pushing to be better for next year. We’ll be better through all of this down the road.”

Elliott is not the only prominent driver to miss the playoffs. Teammate Alex Bowman also missed the cut after an injury sidelined him for three races. Reigning Rookie of the Year Austin Cindric missed the playoffs after winning his way in last season.

Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez, who both won their way into the playoffs last season, missed the cut after falling into must-win situations during the regular season. They joined AJ Allmendinger, who entered the season as one of the favorites to make the playoffs due to the number of road courses on the schedule.

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On Christmas Eve 2022, Pat Brogan and her husband, Jim Mason, were riding their bicycles near their home in Coronado, a peninsula town on California’s San Diego Bay. Avid sailors, they noticed a striking sailboat anchored in very shallow water next to the municipal golf course.

This was an unusual boat, a very large trimaran, very similar, they thought, to one called Mighty Merloe that for years had been listed for sale for as much as $1.7 million and docked next to their boat on nearby Harbor Island. With a mast 100 feet high, and a width of 60 feet to match its length, this boat stood out in any harbor. The next day they were out for another ride and saw it again tied up at Coronado’s public dock. Curious, they approached.

Now, Brogan was almost sure this was the Mighty Merloe, a high-performance racing trimaran with an impressive pedigree. In her prime, she was one of the fastest boats in the world and had been skippered by some of the world’s best sailors. Her new captain and his wife were aboard and greeted the strangers warmly. They introduced themselves as Donald and Tori Lawson.

“This looks like the Mighty Merloe,” Brogan said, fishing unsuccessfully for an answer. Donald Lawson was otherwise gregarious and happy to give a tour of the boat, now called Defiant. Once below, Brogan spotted the VHF radio labeled with the boat’s former name. She was indeed the Mighty Merloe.

Brogan didn’t press for details about the boat’s provenance as Lawson regaled his guests with his quest to sail Defiant alone around the world in record-setting time, a Herculean feat. He talked about his nonprofit organization, the Dark Seas Project. Lawson told them they were about to set sail for Panama and transit the canal on Jan. 8, on their way to their hometown of Baltimore, where Donald would begin his attempt to sail around the world in what he hoped would be fewer than 70 days. The voyage, planned for the fall, would be one of many records he wanted to break in the years ahead. By the end of the tour, the foursome had become fast friends.

Lawson, 41, got as far south as Acapulco, his last known port. After spending several months there adding and testing equipment and gear, and making repairs, which he recounted in detail on social media, he departed for Panama once again on July 5 — fully into cyclone season, and this time alone. Tori, whose given name is Jacqueline, flew home to Baltimore.

Four days into his journey, Lawson sent a message to his wife, telling her Defiant’s engine had failed. Three days later, he encountered heavy weather and lost use of his wind generator. Soon he had no electrical power. He was almost 300 miles southeast of the southern coast of Mexico, the nearest land. He decided to turn back toward Acapulco, which satellite tracking confirmed on July 13.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the Mexican Navy had located a capsized trimaran that Tori Lawson identified as Defiant. The Coast Guard dispatched a cutter to assist in the search for Donald Lawson, whose fate is not yet known. He had with him a life raft, survival equipment and ample provisions.

Missing sailors are often never heard from again. Those who are rescued summon help quickly, or find a way to survive for a long time and are eventually found. Apart from miracle rescues, missing sailors generally do not make big news. Mishaps at sea are accepted as the cost of sailing offshore. The recent advances in satellite technology, however, have made rescue more likely. Defiant had satellite communications aboard but apparently lost the ability to keep it powered. The boat also had an emergency beacon, but no signal was transmitted.

The story of Defiant differs from other stories of lost boats, starting with Lawson’s profile in the sailing community. He was an inspiring promoter with a compelling story he was good at telling. He was the subject of many interviews and had a following on social media. One of very few prominent Black sailors, he was the chair of the diversity committee at U.S. Sailing, the governing body of the sport. He evangelized his trailblazing mission to bring more people of color into the sport, still dominated by white men.

His backstory was the basis for the Dark Seas Project and important to its funding, which he had to solicit. Defiant was no ordinary boat. While Lawson’s skills — for that matter, any sailor’s skills — are challenging to measure with precision and unanimity, there is no disagreement that his mile-eating trimaran was a thoroughbred.

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Enormous, complex, expensive to operate, and of an age when sailboats typically need a lot of repair, Defiant would be a challenge for any one person to manage, let alone to sail. About 20 years old, she was an ORMA 60, a class of high-performance racing boats built from 1996 to 2007, akin to Formula One cars.

They were the cutting edge of sailboat design made of very stiff, lightweight carbon fiber. Defiant weighed the same as boats a fraction of her size. She could sail as fast as 40 knots (46 mph), whereas most conventional sailboats would be pressed to reach 8 knots. Defiant was equipped with a square-top mainsail (a shape that makes for a larger, more powerful sail) and three triangular foresails, or jibs, one larger than the next, each one capable of adding speed. A system of hydraulics aided control of her powerful sails and unique pivoting mast, which could be moved into and away from the wind to enhance stability and performance.

“The boat was the best ORMA 60 ever built,” said Artie Means, who served as crew for years aboard Mighty Merloe, “but not designed for the ‘average’ sailor. It was delicate.”

Means was the navigator in 2017 when Mighty Merloe competed in the storied Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, finishing in a record four days and seven hours with a crew of seven led by renowned French skipper Jacques Vincent. That is a pace of about 500 miles a day.

The French-designed trimaran was launched in 2004 and christened as Groupama 2. She was skippered by another famous French yachtsman, Franck Cammas, who won several races with her. She was later used as a training platform for the America’s Cup team, before being sold to American owner Howard Enloe and being renamed Mighty Merloe.

Stiff and light, aided by foils on each outrigger, Defiant could almost get airborne. At her fastest, Defiant skimmed the surface of the ocean, riding the edge of one of its outriggers. But a sudden gust could cause the boat to go over. Once capsized, trimarans cannot recover.

Although ORMA 60s like Defiant are typically sailed by a large crew, they have crossed oceans steered by one person. The singlehanded, transatlantic Route du Rhum race from France to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean is held every four years at the end of the hurricane season. The 2002 race featured 18 ORMA 60s; only three finished the race, as many either capsized or lost their masts in rough weather. Skippers, drawn to the speed of ORMA 60s, continued to race them even as the design was discontinued, in part because of the fickle nature of the boats.

Scot Tempesta, the editor of a popular sailing blog and YouTube channel, toured Defiant in late 2020 when it was still Mighty Merloe. He found it to be in good condition. In the video, the boat appears to have been well maintained, its surfaces polished and shiny. Sailing lines look new, equipment is neatly stowed, and the mainsail is folded into a pristine sail bag. In one shot, he is surrounded by a spider’s web of ropes, attesting to the complexity of the boat’s rigging system. He points out an escape hatch in the hull, a reminder of the boat’s risk of capsizing.

The last available images of Defiant, some taken by Lawson and posted on sailing blogs and social media, were taken in Acapulco upon its arrival at the end of January and shortly before its departure in July. Defiant had certainly seen some hard ocean miles. One widely circulated image showed extensive damage to the port side outrigger and to its sails. Late in 2022, Defiant apparently drifted into rocks while at anchor off Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands off the southern coast of California.

Lawson spent most of the winter and spring in Acapulco tending to the boat, although he spent a few weeks of April in Baltimore. He returned to Acapulco May 1 to continue preparing Defiant. His social media posts go into great detail about upgrades, maintenance, repairs and the gear he added. He wrote extensively about weather and the tools he used to make decisions about his route.

In a short video posted May 23 to his YouTube channel from Acapulco, Lawson obliquely referred to some of his recent mishaps, saying he “hit some debris and damaged some stuff in some storms.” No longer polished and shiny, Defiant was in need of a paint job. The sail bag looked worn. He went on to show viewers a new mooring line, halyards (ropes used to hoist sails), a wind generator, a chartplotter and a glimpse of a weatherworn bag containing a life raft.

As Lawson’s following grew, so did the skepticism expressed in online posts. Indeed, he had set a mighty goal and had been very public about it, opening himself up to criticism.

There is no formal standard to grade or qualify a sailor. Credentials can be earned, but no certifications, licenses or titles are required to sail. The world is full of sailors with no formal training who have safely crossed oceans. The skills needed to race a modern trimaran are not necessarily the skills needed to cruise the Caribbean in an old monohull. Put another way, there are so many skills to master — seamanship, weather, rigging, sail trim, steering, docking, line handling, anchoring, plumbing, engine repair — that it’s possible to be simultaneously an expert in some things and a novice in others.

“He might be a professional sailor, but he’s not a professional racer,” Tempesta said, “and there’s a difference.”

Lawson studied engineering at Morgan State and, according to his LinkedIn profile, also attended the Annapolis School of Seamanship, where he earned a 100-ton captain’s license and a celestial navigation certificate. He said he completed a number of long, offshore passages as crew and captain, including a solo voyage across the Atlantic in a 21-foot sailboat. He has taught sailing extensively, raced, and worked as a delivery captain, transporting yachts for other owners. His sailing resume would be the envy of recreational sailors and many professionals (the definition of which is open to interpretation), but what he was setting out to do verges on superhuman.

The shortest route that qualifies as an official circumnavigation is 21,600 nautical miles (or 24,857 land miles), most of it in the Southern Ocean past Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Leeuwin. Because there is little less land in the Southern Hemisphere, waves and wind in the Southern Ocean are especially big and strong. A solo sailor can never sleep a full night, instead napping for 20 to 30 minutes at a time every few hours over a period of months. According to Yachting World, only about 200 sailors have sailed alone, nonstop around the world, most of them in slow-moving monohulls not in pursuit of speed records that are now within the reach of only modern trimarans.

Means, who raced thousands of miles aboard Mighty Merloe, was unconvinced Lawson had sufficient experience aboard Defiant under the kinds of conditions he would likely encounter sailing nonstop at a record-breaking pace.

“In my opinion Mr. Lawson had zero chance of setting any records himself, and very little chance of even completing a passage on such a complicated yacht with so little training,” said Means, who met Lawson briefly.

Those who know Lawson are unanimous about his passion, determination, and confidence, which often showed itself in his ability to settle and soothe those he sailed with. They also all expressed concern over what he set out to accomplish.

Lawson and Lynn Handy learned to sail together as teenagers at Baltimore’s Downtown Sailing Center, known as one of the most inclusive yacht clubs in the sport. They both went on to become sailing instructors at the center. Handy eventually became its executive director.

“Even when he was young, he had that drive for adventure and risk taking,” Handy said. “That was always in him. He was always looking for the next challenge. He was driven by proving himself. … this was an obvious next step for him.

She paused when asked if she thought he had taken on too much by sailing Defiant.

“This is a hard question to answer,” she said. “I feel like some people are also responsible, not just him, for putting him in the position he’s in now. … What he should have had is a really deep team of really professional people constantly coaching him and working with him.”

To her point, a Formula One driver has a team of mechanics, advisors, and a deep-pocketed owner who can pay for the expenses required to keep a race car in good running order. High-end racing yachts are similar.

Whatever his qualifications, Lawson managed to sail his vessel, a highly complex and temperamental racing machine, from San Diego to San Francisco, then back to San Diego, and on to Acapulco — an impressive accomplishment on its own.

Brogan and Mason brought the Lawsons Christmas dinner the day they met, along with some extra provisions, extra batteries and flashlights. They promised to see each other again. Brogan and Mason invited them to come sailing with them in the Bahamas in the spring. Within a few days, the Lawsons were offshore. They did not reach Acapulco, about 1,800 miles from San Diego, until the end of January. Defiant is capable of covering this distance in less than a week under the right conditions. A conventional sailboat can do it in about two weeks nonstop.

What the Lawsons did in January, where they sailed, what route they took, whether they stopped somewhere, isn’t clear. Donald Lawson’s various social media platforms are empty of any posts during this stretch. Tori Lawson has declined interviews since appearing at a press conference Monday about her husband’s disappearance.

Lawson seemed to be aware of skepticism from his online audience. In a post dated Feb. 5, he wrote:

“Our program is working towards having our vessel, the Defiant, ready for long distance and hard record runs. So I will say openly — expect more damage, more torn sails, more stories about collisions and more sea stories because these things need to happen now so we are prepared for the ultimate challenge.”

Lawson’s friend and colleague Richard Jepsen remained hopeful Lawson would be found alive and safe. He was measured when asked to assess his friend’s abilities and judgement.

“Would you need to have some willful dismissiveness of risk in order to embark on such an incredible project? You’d have to say yes,” said Jepsen, the president of the Board of Directors for U.S. Sailing. “I worried for him, but I loved that there was someone on this planet willing to do something like that.”

hugo.kugiya@thebaltimorebanner.com

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Jeffrey Vandergrift

San Francisco Police Department

A body found in the water off Pier 39 on Wednesday has been identified as missing San Francisco radio host Jeffrey Vandergrift, according to the San Francisco Medical Investigations Bureau.

San Francisco police first responded to reports of a person in the water at Pier 39 just before 5 p.m

On Thursday, the San Francisco coroner confirmed the body was that of 54-year-old Vandergrift, who was last seen at his King Street home in late February.

His employer, Wild 94.9, said there had been no traceable activity on his phone, credit cards or bank accounts since he was reported missing.

His wife revealed on his radio station’s social media channels that Vandergrift likely “won’t be coming back” based on personal information leaked in early March.

Police suspect no crime in Vandergrift’s death.

The post Physique discovered at Pier 39 ID’d as lacking San Francisco radio host Jeffrey Vandergrift | Native Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Rescuers in a remote area of ​​the Atlantic Ocean fought against time on Tuesday to locate five people assigned to document the wreck of the Titanic.

Authorities reported Sunday night that the carbon fiber ship was overdue and launched an international rescue operation in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. On board were a pilot, the famous British adventurer Hamish Harding, two members of a legendary Pakistani entrepreneurial family and a Titanic expert.

The submersible, named Titan, had 96 hours of oxygen when it set sail around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, a consultant with OceanGate Expeditions who oversaw the mission.

This means that oxygen supplies could run out by Thursday morning.

CBS News journalist David Pogue, who traveled to Titanic aboard Titanic last year, said the craft uses two systems of communication: text messages sent to a surface ship and security pings sent out every 15 minutes to indicate that the U-Boot da is still working.

Both systems stopped about an hour and 45 minutes after Titan submerged.

“There are only two things that could mean. Either they lost all power or the ship suffered a hull rupture and immediately imploded. Both are frighteningly hopeless,” Pogue told CBC on Tuesday.

The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that fall down, and an inflatable balloon. A system is designed to work even when everyone on board is unconscious, Pogue said.

Experts said rescuers face major challenges.

Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, said submersibles typically have a drop weight, which is “a mass that they can release in an emergency to buoy them to the surface”.

“If there had been a power outage and/or communications failure, that would have happened and the submersible would then be floating on the surface waiting to be found,” Greig said.

Another scenario is a leak in the pressure hull, in which case the prognosis is not good, he said.

“If it’s sunk to the sea floor and can’t get back up on its own, the options are very limited,” Greig said. “While the submersible may still be intact, once it’s beyond the continental shelf there are very few vessels capable of going that deep, let alone divers.”

Even if they could go that deep, he doubts rescuers could get stuck on the sub.

As of Tuesday morning, an area totaling 10,000 square miles had been searched, the US Coast Guard tweeted.

Canadian research icebreaker Polar Prince, which is supporting Titan, was to continue conducting surface searches with the help of a Canadian Boeing P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, the Coast Guard said on Twitter. Two US Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft also performed overflights.

The Canadian military dropped sonar buoys to listen for Titan’s sounds.

Concannon, who said he should have been present at the dive but was unable to be, said officials are also working to get a remote-controlled vehicle to the site as soon as possible, which can dive to a depth of 6 kilometers.

Archaeologists and marine biologists take part in OceanGate’s expeditions to the Titanic wreck. The company also brings paid employees, known as “mission specialists.” They take turns operating the sonar equipment and doing other tasks in the submersible.

The Coast Guard said on Monday that the Titan had one pilot and four “mission specialists” on board. However, OceanGate’s website suggests that the fifth person may be a so-called “content expert” guiding paying customers.

Authorities have yet to officially identify those on board, although some names have been confirmed, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who the company says served as a member of the crew.

Rush told The Associated Press in June 2021 that the Titan’s technology is “very cutting edge” and was developed with the help of NASA and aerospace manufacturers.

“This is the only submersible — crewed submersible — that’s made of carbon fiber and titanium,” Rush said, calling it the “largest carbon fiber structure we know of,” with 5 inches of thick carbon fiber and 3.25 inches of titanium.

Harding, who lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was one of the mission specialists, according to Action Aviation, a company of which Harding is chairman.

Harding is a billionaire adventurer who holds three Guinness World Records, including the longest full-sea depth record in a manned ship. In March 2021, he and marine researcher Victor Vescovo descended to the deepest depths of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

According to a family statement, the Pakistani national Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman were also on board. The Dawoods belong to one of the most prominent families in Pakistan. Her eponymous company invests nationwide in agriculture, industry and the healthcare sector.

Shahzada Dawood is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California-based SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial intelligence.

French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet was also on board, according to David Gallo, a senior adviser on strategic initiatives and special projects at RMS Titanic. Gallo identified Nargeolet, a friend who has led several expeditions to Titanic, during an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

Greg Stone, a longtime California-based oceanographer and friend of Rush’s, called the lost submarine “a fundamentally new submarine design” that shows promise for future research. Unlike its predecessors, the Titan was not spherical in shape.

“Stockton was a risk taker. He was smart…he had a vision. He wanted to push things forward,” Stone said.

The expedition was OceanGate’s third annual voyage to document the disintegration of the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the approximately 2,200 passengers and crew. Since the wreck was discovered in 1985, it has slowly fallen victim to metal-eating bacteria.

OceanGate’s website listed the “mission support fee” for the 2023 Expedition as $250,000 per person.

Recalling his own voyage aboard Titan, Pogue said the ship was turned around in search of Titanic.

“There is no GPS underwater, so the surface vessel is supposed to guide the sub to the shipwreck by sending text messages,” Pogue said in a segment aired on CBS Sunday Morning. “But on this dive, communication kind of broke down. The sub never found the wreck.”

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Danica Kirka, Jill Lawless and Sylvia Hui in London, Rob Gillies in Toronto, Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad.

Follow @ktar923

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• A radio DJ in California’s Bay Area has disappeared after making a chilling final post on his Instagram page
• Jeffrey Vandergrift has been missing since Thursday night. The caption of a post he wrote in August 2022 was edited shortly after his disappearance
• “Thank you for a wonderful life filled with joy, laughter, pain and struggle,” the post reads, along with a picture of Wild 94.9 radio host Vandergrift

A Bay Area radio DJ has disappeared and may have left a chilling final message for his fans and loved ones in the wake of his disappearance.

Jeffrey “JV” Vandergrift, 54, host of the JV Show on radio station Wild 94.9, was last seen at his home in San Francisco around 10 p.m. Thursday.

A post on Vandergrift’s official Instagram account dated August 20 was recently edited to change the caption to the past tense, in which he thanks his listeners and says he’s had a good life.

“Thank you for a wonderful life filled with joy, laughter, pain and struggle.” It’s been a great journey. “Your support and prayers meant the world,” the caption reads.

His listeners, friends and family are now asking the public to help find him and bring him home.

Jeffrey “JV” Vandergrift, 54, host of the JV Show on radio station Wild 94.9, was last seen at his home in San Francisco around 10 p.m. Thursday. Officials have described Vandergrift as “vulnerable” and are urging anyone who may have information about his disappearance to come forward. After his disappearance, fans pointed out that the Wild 94.9 host had edited an Instagram caption to be past tense used, and thanked the fans for their years of love and support

According to his Twitter account, the post was originally shared to mark National Radio Day.

“It’s #NationalRadioDay. I know who cares!!?” Been at 94 since 94. Wow that’s a long time!! “I am very grateful to each of you who have been with me on this journey,” he wrote at the time.

Since he edited the post and disappeared, the comments section has evolved into a place for his fans and loved ones to send him love and support in hopes that maybe he sees it.

“Dear JV. You are loved. “We are all praying for you and thinking of you,” one person wrote.

“We are all praying for you and thinking of you.” Sometimes it’s nice to just get away and clear your head, but we’re worried about you,” said one commenter.

“JV… Listen to your listeners.” We’ve been listening to you since the 1990s. Now it’s your turn to listen to your audience. You are so loved!! We still need more than 40 years of listening to you on the radio! “I pray for your safe return to your family,” wrote another fan.

“Hey buddy, come home.” We miss you and love you bro. At least tell us you’re safe,” another person said.

Fans also gathered outside iHeart Radio San Francisco station over the weekend to leave flowers and messages of support for Vandergrift and his colleagues.

San Francisco police ask for help locating Vandergrift. The San Francisco radio DJ who disappeared last week said he was suffering from mysterious brain problems just hours before he disappeared from his home. Fans also gathered outside station iHeart Radio San Francisco weekend to leave flowers and messages of support for Vandergrift and his colleagues

Natasha has remained silent about her husband’s disappearance as she works closely with investigators.

She is a former Playboy model and actress who appears on DJ’s radio show. The model was frequently featured in various advertisements for Target, Sony and Marriott.

Her current focus is on her Instagram account, where she showcases model photos and her figure to her 2 million followers.

JV and Natasha tied the knot in 2006 after a three-year relationship. They renewed their wedding vows later in 2017.

The couple quickly bonded over various projects including producing their shows, The Dog House Comedy Show.

While the two thrived in the spotlight, JV took a brief hiatus in 2021 after being diagnosed with Lyme disease, according to The Sun.

Vandergrift, here with his wife Natasha, in a photo posted to Instagram

San Francisco Police Department officials released a statement last week urging the public to keep an eye out for the “vulnerable” man.

In a statement released by Vandergrift’s radio station, his colleagues said they were worried sick for him and were working with police to get him home.

“We are deeply concerned, and we know you are, that our own joint venture has been reported missing by the SFPD,” Wild 94.9 said in a statement.

“We are working closely with them and his wife Natasha, who is also a dear friend and member of the WiLD 94.9 family.” it further in the statement.

Vandergrift is described as a white male, six feet tall, 180 pounds, balding, and brown eyes.

According to police, he has multiple tattoos, including those on his arms and above his right ear, and was last seen wearing black sweatpants.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Five Iowa residents remain missing, including two people whose remains may lie in a debris pile at the site of a partially collapsed apartment building, Davenport city officials said Tuesday.

Mayor Mike Matson confirmed the numbers at a news conference after criticizing the city for being too quick to demolish the building, which partially collapsed on Sunday afternoon. The 116-year-old brick and steel structure, built as a hotel, had more recently been used as apartments and tenants were allowed to stay even as the bricks began to fall off the building.

After the partial collapse, the city said it would start demolishing the building as early as Tuesday morning, but they were delayed after a woman was found Monday night.

Officials now say immediate demolition was never intended, but they wanted to quickly prepare the site for demolition. Rescuing the woman prompted officers to check if they could enter safely and make sure there were no others inside, but that would be extremely difficult when the building could collapse at any time, they said.

“This could be a place of rest for some of the missing,” Matson said. The city is trying to figure out how to demolish the remains of the building while preserving the dignity of those who may have been killed, he said.

Fire Marshal James Morris said no explosives were being used in the building, which is close to other buildings.

At the press conference, a relative of one of the missing asked for understanding that the authorities want to control the demolition without throwing more material on the rubble. “I beg our community to let the city do its job,” the woman said.

The woman said her relative did not want any more lives to be put at risk.

The building is “unstable and continues to deteriorate,” Morris said. A civil engineer says searches near the rubble should be avoided as more rubble could collapse, and officers are considering that assessment before searching inside again.

Morris said removing the debris supporting the rest of the building could result in another collapse.

“We fully understand the possibility that two people are still inside,” Morris said, fighting back tears.

On Tuesday, protesters held up signs reading “Find them first” and “Who’s in the rubble?” Some used megaphones to call out residents’ names. The building had 53 tenants in about 80 units, the police chief said.

City officials said that shortly after a center section collapsed around 5 p.m. Sunday, rescue workers escorted 12 people from the building and rescued several others, including one person who was evacuated to safety overnight Sunday.

“There was a lot of screaming, a lot of screaming, a lot of people saying ‘Help!’ when the building collapsed,” Tadd Mashovec, a resident of the building, told KCCI-TV. “But that didn’t last, and two, three minutes, and then the whole area was quiet.”

On Monday morning, fire chief Michael Carlsten said: “There are no known people trapped.”

The city then issued a statement saying a demolition order had been served on the owner Monday and proceedings would begin Tuesday morning.

The discovery Monday night of another survivor, rescued in a ladder truck from a fourth-story window, prompted the city to reassess it, they said. The woman could only be brought to safety after she jumped out of a window grille and waved to the people gathered below.

“We had no evidence from any responders that we still had any dogs or tools at the time” that anyone else was alive in the building, Morris said.

Patricia Brooks said her sister Lisa tried to leave the building but rushed back to where she felt she would have the safest protection – her bathtub. Brooks spoke to her sister as she was being examined at the hospital after being rescued from a still standing window on the side of the building.

“It was just exhausting and a nightmare,” said Patricia Brooks from Chicago about the 24 hours before Lisa’s rescue.

The family have asked police and city officials to locate Lisa at the home beginning Sunday, daughter Porshia Brooks said.

“They allegedly conducted a search and said they didn’t find anyone,” said Porshia Brooks of Moline, Illinois. “They are trying to demolish the building without cleaning it thoroughly.”

It’s unclear what caused the collapse, which left a gaping hole in the center of the former Davenport Hotel, a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Built in 1907 in brick on steel and concrete, the building has been renovated into a mixed-use residential/commercial building.

Work was being carried out on the exterior facade at the time of the collapse, said Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services. Reports of falling bricks were part of that work, and the building’s owner had permission for the project, Oswald said.

The firefighter said Tuesday the owner also hired a civil engineer who determined the building was safe enough to remain occupied while the repairs were being carried out.

Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster declaration activating the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program and the Disaster Case Management Program for the homeless residents. After the demolition was ordered, residents were not allowed to go back inside to collect their belongings due to the instability.

Authorities confirmed that local residents had complained about unmet maintenance issues. The Quad-City Times reported that nearly 20 permits were filed in 2022, mostly for plumbing or electrical issues, according to the county surveyor’s office.

The collapse didn’t surprise former resident Schlaan Murray, who told The Associated Press his year-long stay there had been “a nightmare”.

Murray, 46, moved into his apartment in February 2022 and almost immediately had problems with heating, air conditioning and bathroom plumbing. Calls to the management company were rarely answered, and even when workers came by, “they didn’t fix anything, just patch it,” he said.

He wonders how the building, which he says he didn’t even want to bring his children to, passed inspections. He moved out a month before his lease expired in March and still hasn’t received his deposit, he said. Many residents are like him, he said, and despite the deplorable conditions, are having trouble paying the first and last month’s rent plus deposit.

“It was awful,” Murray said.

____

Associated Press contributors include Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire and Beatrice Dupuy in New York City.

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• Police began searching the backyard for the body of Cynthia Cole, 57, who has been reported missing since February 24
• Her body was found submerged in the cesspool, buried in her backyard at the 4500 block of NE Skyline Drive in Jensen Beach
• Her handyman, Keoki Hilo Demich, 34, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder
• Demich had been hired by Cole to be her handyman for the last few years and was the only person investigators were suspicious of after she went missing

The body of a Florida woman who disappeared more than a week ago had been found in her septic tank – and her handyman was arrested for murder.

Police began searching for Cynthia Cole, 57, in the tank just hours after their handyman Keoki Hilo Demich was arrested Friday night.

After several hours of excavation, her body was discovered in the cesspool buried in her backyard on the 4500 block of NE Skyline Drive in Jensen Beach.

Demich, 34, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Cole, who walked past Cyndi, has been missing for over a week and was last seen at a Jammin Jensen event on February 24.

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Cynthia Cole’s body, pictured, was found in the septic tank in her backyard on Friday night. Suspect Keoki Hilo Demich, Cole’s handyman who was arrested and charged in connection with her murder of Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, and investigators dig in Cynthia Cole’s backyard March 4-5, 2022, a week after the woman went missing was reported

Demich had been employed by Cole as a handyman for the last few years.

He was the only person investigators were suspicious of after she was reported missing.

“He made several statements that we know to be false, so he was charged with second-degree murder,” said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.

Snyder added that ring cameras and security footage near Cole’s home shows Demich exiting Cole’s car near Demich’s home in Stuart on the same night Cole was last seen.

According to Snyder, there were several other instances in which Demich was caught on cameras near Cole’s vehicle.

Cole, who walked past Cyndi, has been missing for over a week and was last seen at a Jammin Jensen event on February 24. Cole, pictured, was likely murdered at her home before her body was placed in the septic tank, authorities said Cole had hired Demich to be her handyman in recent years

After several hours of digging, they finally pulled Cole’s body out of the septic tank early Saturday morning.

“I’ve been doing this for over 40 years. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Snyder said.

Meanwhile, Snyder said detectives are still gathering evidence, adding that Demich could face additional charges.

Evidence gathered so far suggests that Cole was likely murdered in her home before her body was placed in the septic tank.

The body has yet to be positively identified by the coroner’s office, but authorities say they have every reason to believe they discovered Cole’s body.

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A DJ for a San Francisco radio station has been missing since late last week and police consider him “at risk,” according to authorities and his station.

Jeffrey Vandergrift, known as JV on WiLD 94.9, KYLD, was last seen at his San Francisco home at 10 p.m. Thursday, police said in a statement asking for the public’s help.

Since then, there has been no traceable activity on his cell phone and no activity on his credit cards or other banking records, WiLD 94.9 said Monday. The broadcaster said the situation was “incredibly worrying”.

Jeffrey Vandergrift. (San Francisco Police Department)

“JV is loved by everyone here at Wild 94-9 and iHeartMedia, and we know he is equally loved by his Bay Area listening family,” the radio station said in a statement.

Vandergrift is 54 years old, 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds, police said.

He has tattoos, including one above his right ear, it said.

Anyone who sees him or has information should call the police, the police department said.

Fans lit candles outside the station Sunday night to show they care for him and want him to be safe, NBC Bay Area reported.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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