A suspect has been arrested after a 16-year-old cheerleader was found dead in her bathtub by her mother in Texas.
Rafael Romero was located by the Edna Police Department on Saturday.
The force said the “undocumented male subject” was detained in Schulenberg, about 50 miles (80km) from Edna, where the body of Lizbeth Medina was discovered last week.
The Texas Rangers arrested Romero for capital murder and took him to the Jackson County Jail.
If convicted he would be eligible for the death penalty.
He is 23 years old and from Schulenberg, according to NBC affiliate KPRC2, which reported it is not clear if Romero knows the victim.
Image: Rafael Romero was arrested for capital murder. Pic: Edna Police Department
Lizbeth was a cheerleader at Edna High School and aspired to become a nurse, according to her aunt Ana Medina.
“Lizbeth was outgoing and confident – someone willing to take off her shirt to give it to someone else,” she told NBC News.
“She was always there for everybody – charming, young, and full of energy. That was all just cut short.”
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KPRC2 reported that when Lizbeth failed to turn up to a Christmas parade, her mother Jacqueline Medina, arrived home on Tuesday evening to find her daughter’s body in the bath.
Officers arrived at the scene and found her dead, police said.
Edna Police Chief Rick Boone wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that his officers were “dedicated to seeking justice” for the teenager.
“As you know, we are a small department and this can call for a great demand to be put on my officers,” Mr Boone wrote.
“They not only stepped up during their own shifts, but worked many hours willingly on their days off and past their own shift times.”
Lizbeth was born in Nebraska and had been living in Texas for about a year, according to a GoFundMe page set up by her family to raise money for funeral and memorial expenses.
“She was loved by many but most importantly she is loved and will be missed by the family,” her aunt Ana Medina wrote on the fundraiser page.
An American Airlines flight travelling from New York to New Delhi was diverted midair due to a “bomb threat”.
Flight 292 landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport “due to a possible security issue,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday, adding later the threat “was determined to be non-credible”.
The airline did not clarify what the security issue was, but a source familiar with the situation told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News it was a bomb threat sent via email.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew reported the security issue.
“Safety and security are our top priorities, and we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience,” the airline said in a statement.
Image: The view from the cockpit of the fighter jet. Pic: Italian air force/Reuters
Image: Pic: Italian air force/Reuters
The flight requested a diversion to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport at around 2pm local time, Roberto Rao, a spokesperson for the airport.
“We immediately agreed and organised a safe landing,” Mr Rao told NBC News.
“We don’t know what the security concern was, but my opinion is that it was serious enough to divert the plane, but not urgent, because we received the alert when the plane was over the Caspian Sea, a three hours’ flight from Rome.”
Once in Italian airspace, the plane was escorted by two Italian air force fighter jets and landed in Rome at around 5.30pm local time.
Image: The flight on the ground in Rome. Pic: AP
‘What’s going on here?’
Neeraj Chopra, one of the 199 passengers on board, said the captain announced the plane had to turn around about three hours before it was supposed to land in New Delhi because of a change in “security status”.
Mr Chopra, who was traveling to India to visit family, described the mood on board as calm until the captain later announced that fighter jets would be escorting their plane to Rome.
“I felt a little panic of, okay, what’s going on here?” Mr Chopra told the Associated Press. “There’s got to be like something bigger going on here.”
Jonathan Bacon, 22, added that once on the ground, all passengers were loaded on to buses and taken to the terminal, where each passenger and their personal items underwent additional security screenings that were time-consuming and felt “slightly heightened”.
More than two hours after landing, Mr Bacon and his friend said they were still waiting for their checked baggage. “It was definitely the longest flight to Europe I’ve ever taken,” he said.
American Airlines said the plane was inspected and cleared to depart again for New Delhi “as soon as possible” on Monday, after the crew gets some rest.
At least three people have died and two are injured after a boat capsized off the coast of New York, police in the US have said.
The vessel sent out a distress call from the Ambrose Channel just after noon on Sunday.
One of the injured is in a critical condition and another is described as stable, NBC, Sky’s US partner, said.
Five people were rescued from the water after the New York Fire Department (FDNY), the New York Police Department (NYPD), and the US Coast Guard responded to the call for help.
The boat capsized in an area known as Breezy Point, NBC said, quoting the NYPD.
Breezy Point is “a neighborhood at the tip of Queens’ Rockaway peninsula,” according to NBC New York, citing the Coast Guard.
Six people were said to be in the water after the boat capsized, the FDNY said.
Two of the victims were airlifted to Staten Island University Hospital and three were taken to Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook, where its emergency medical crews were waiting to treat them, the agency said.
Four of the five people rescued from the sinking boat were unresponsive, and some of them were given CPR, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said on Sunday night it is still searching for one person missing in the water roughly five miles (8km) southeast of Breezy Point.
Nothing else is known about the victims or what kind of boat was involved.
Police said it is not clear what happened but it did not appear the vessel collided with another boat. The Coast Guard said it was notified of a “vessel taking on water” and described the boat as “sinking”.
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