Foreign News
Utah death row inmate with dementia dies of natural causes 3 months after execution was halted
A Utah man who had his execution blocked after developing dementia during his nearly 40 years on death row died of apparent natural causes, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, died Wednesday.
The state Supreme Court in August blocked his execution scheduled for Sept. 5 after his attorneys successfully argued that his dementia had become too severe. A new competency hearing to reevaluate his mental state was set for next month.
He was sentenced to die by firing squad for his conviction in the abduction and killing of Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old mother of three, near Salt Lake City in 1986. Menzies was sentenced to death in 1988.
Ralph Leroy Menzies
Ralph Menzies, convicted of killing Maurine Hunsaker, attends his commutation hearing at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City Aug. 15, 2025.
The victim’s husband, Jim Hunsaker, said he had a “happy feeling” and like a huge weight had been lifted off him when he learned of Menzies’ death.
“I think a lot of it is going to be just healing now,” he told The Associated Press. “I don’t think there was a day that I didn’t think about it.”
He expressed frustration about how the state’s judicial system handled Menzies’ case, saying his family experienced “one disappointment after another” for decades.
“It seems like everything went his way,” he said.
Menzies is one of several U.S. prisoners who have died of natural causes while on death row.
More than half of all U.S. prisoners sentenced to death spend more than 18 years awaiting execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The state Supreme Court said over the summer that the progression of Menzies’ disease raised a significant concern about his fitness to be executed. A state medical professional agreed in a mental competency report published this month that Menzies lacked a rational understanding of why he was facing execution.
Ralph Leroy Menzies in court
Ralph Leroy Menzies appears in Third District Court for a competency hearing in West Jordan, Utah, Nov 18, 2024.
Those findings came after a state judge ruled he was competent enough to be executed, saying in June that Menzies “consistently and rationally understands” what is happening and why he is facing execution despite his recent cognitive decline, and that his execution would not violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said he hopes the victim’s family will finally have some closure and peace after Menzies’ death.
“For decades, the state of Utah has pursued justice on her behalf. The path has been long and filled with pain, far more than any victim’s family should ever have to endure,” Brown said.
Menzies abducted Hunsaker from a convenience store where she worked on Feb. 23, 1986, just days after he was released on bail for an unrelated crime. She later called her husband to tell him she had been robbed and kidnapped, but that her abductor planned to release her.
Days later, a hiker found her body at a picnic area about 16 miles away in Big Cottonwood Canyon. She was strangled and had her throat cut.
When he was later jailed on unrelated matters, Menzies had Hunsaker’s wallet and several other items that belonged to her. Police also said Hunsaker’s thumbprint was found in a car that Menzies was driving, and her purse was discovered in his apartment.
Execution chair
A chair sits in the execution chamber at the Utah State Prison June 18, 2010.
Menzies was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes.
“We’re grateful that Ralph passed naturally and maintained his spiritedness and dignity until the end,” Menzies’ legal team said in a statement.
Menzies selected the firing squad as his method of execution and would have become only the seventh U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1977 — three in Utah, with the last one in the state carried out in 2010, and three in South Carolina this year.
Utah’s last execution of any method was carried out by lethal injection over a year ago.
Breaking News
BREAKING NEWS: 54-year-old Woman Apprehended For Running Her Own Prison Classified Illegal
A 54-year-old woman from Nkowankowa, Limpopo, South Africa has been arrested after allegedly operating an illegal prison from her home yard.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
The woman, who also owns a local tavern, is accused of detaining patrons and other community members without any legal authority.
According to police reports, the makeshift detention facility began operating on 2 December 2025. The woman is said to have locked up individuals who caused disturbances at her tavern, particularly those who became violent while drunk. She allegedly kept them confined until they sobered up or settled their unpaid bills.
Authorities further revealed that she detained at least 36 people, some for drinking at her tavern without paying, and others for outstanding debts.
Reports also indicate that the woman used the facility to detain men who allegedly assaulted women while drunk at her establishment.
Police have confirmed that investigations are ongoing.
Foreign News
Teanna Trump Sets the Record Straight on Relationship with Nicolas Pépé
Teanna Trump has pushed back against claims that she is with Nicolas Pépé for his wealth, offering a candid defence of her commitment to the former Arsenal winger. Speaking openly about their relationship, she emphasized that financial gain has never been her motivation.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
She revealed that during their first year of dating, she paid for her own flights every two weeks just to make sure Pépé never questioned her intentions. For her, it was important that the Ivorian international understood she came into the relationship as an equal, not someone looking for benefits. “I have my own money,” she insisted, adding that she sees herself as a woman who stands firmly on her own feet.
Trump went further, sharing how she surprised Pépé on his 30th birthday by flying him out on a luxury getaway he knew nothing about. She planned the celebration entirely on her own, setting a thirty thousand dollar budget to mark the milestone. It was, she said, a way of showing appreciation and proving that she is as invested in him as he is in her.
Foreign News
Florida man threatened to decapitate ‘subhuman’ Rep. Ilhan Omar and ‘eat’ her kids after Charlie Kirk remark Independent
Florida man threatened to decapitate ‘subhuman’ Rep. Ilhan Omar and ‘eat’ her kids after Charlie Kirk remark
Independent....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
First in The Independent: Myles McQuade, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting an interstate threat to injure, which could put him behind bars for up to five years
A 30-year-old Florida man is facing up to a half-decade in federal prison after confessing to posting violent threats on social media that promised to decapitate Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, murder her “monkey children,” then eat the kids “for protein,” according to plea agreement papers reviewed by The Independent.
Myles M. McQuade, a Tampa resident, made the threats on X, the Elon Musk-owned social network formerly known as Twitter, one day after Omar criticized late right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk in an interview with a progressive news outlet. Her remarks sparked Republican outrage, leading to GOP legislators insisting Omar be stripped of her committee assignments.
“Go back to Somalia before its [sic] too late,” McQuade warned in one post, which is reproduced in his December 2 plea.
In another, McQuade addressed Omar as “you dirty subhuman [N-word].”
In both instances, McQuade’s plea, which was added to the public docket on December 4, says that the threat to kill Omar was “intended… to be a true threat of violence,” and that he “recognized that it would be viewed as a true threat of violence… not idle talk, a careless remark, or something said jokingly.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, is the only Somali-American member of Congress. She said she has faced a skyrocketing number of death threats in recent months, and a Florida man, 30-year-old Myles M. McQuade, has now pleaded guilty to threatening her life.
McQuade is an account executive at a tech company, according to his LinkedIn profile. The charges against him have not been previously reported.
Omar’s family fled war-torn Somalia when Omar was a child. They were granted asylum in 1995, and Omar became a U.S. citizen five years later, at the age of 17. The 43-year-old legislator, who has represented Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019, is the first Somali-American member of Congress, and one of two Muslim women presently serving.
A member of “The Squad,” a group of far-left-leaning Democratic lawmakers, Omar has faced ongoing death threats from the MAGA faithful amid years of vitriolic attacks by President Trump, who last week during a televised cabinet meeting described Omar and her fellow Somali-Americans as “garbage,” and called for Omar to be “thrown the hell out of our country.”
“Those Somalians should be out of here,” Trump ranted, using an incorrect term for Somalis. “They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. You have her – she’s always talking about ‘the constitution provides me with uhhhh,’” he continued, referring to Omar.
“Go back to your own country and figure out your constitution. All she does is complain about this country and without this country she would not be in very good shape. She probably wouldn’t be alive right now.”
In October, Omar told NBC News that she feared for her life due to a sharp spike in threats over her criticisms of Israel. GOP leaders did nothing to push back against the “toxic language” being used by party members, refusing to “hold extremists in their ranks accountable,” she said, noting that this kind of behavior in fact has “real-world consequences.”
“Since assuming office, two men have pleaded guilty to threatening to kill me,” Omar told the outlet. “This is very real. I fear for my children and have to speak to them about remaining vigilant because you just never know.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar is the only Somali-American member of Congress, and one of two Muslim women serving in the legislative body. She has faced a recent uptick in violent threats, stoked in part by public animosity from the White House
On Sept. 11, Omar sat for an interview with Zeteo, during which she expressed concern that conservatives had “weaponized” the fatal September 10 shooting of Charlie Kirk to attack the left. While emphasizing that Kirk’s death was in fact tragic, Omar said those on the right had recast Kirk wrongly as a unifying presence, rather than a divisive figure who last year demanded she be deported.
“There are a lot of people who are out there talking about him [Kirk] just wanting to have a civil debate,” Omar told host Mehdi Hasan. “These people are full of s**t, and it’s important for us to call them out while we feel anger and sadness.”
At 12:33 a.m. on September 12, McQuade – who was vacationing in Orlando, according to his plea papers – logged onto X and posted a message aimed at a target identified in court documents as “U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN 1.”
“[U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN 1] I’m going to kill you, you dirty subhuman [N-word] and I’ll eat your monkey children for protein,” the post read. “Go back to Somalia before its [sic] too late.”
Eight minutes after that, McQuade followed up with a second X message, according to the plea documents.
“[N-word]. When this country falls I’m going to kill your children in front of you then cut your head off,” the post read.
(US District Court for the Middle District of Florida)
McQuade’s plea bargain says he was “motivated by U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN 1’s status as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and her official actions.”
As is customary for the Department of Justice, the filing does not include the victim’s name. However, the language used in court filings, in addition to McQuade’s messages, make clear she was the target. (Omar’s office did not respond to a request for comment; a Department of Justice spokesperson declined to share any additional detail.)
Shortly before 8 a.m. that morning, the U.S. Capitol Police “received a report of these threats… and began investigating,” the plea papers say. A team of Capitol Police special agents showed up at McQuade’s apartment that evening, in an attempt to question him, but he was out of town, the plea goes on.
“The agents attempted to contact McQuade by phone, but when they identified themselves, he disconnected the call,” it states.
The agents returned to McQuade’s apartment on Sept. 14, and “attempted an interview,” according to the plea, which does not provide further specifics.
President Trump last week described Rep. Ilhan Omar as ‘garbage,’ and called for her to be deported
Prosecutors charged McQuade in a bill of information filed December 2. He pleaded guilty the same day to one count of transmitting an interstate threat to injure.
The charge carries a maximum of five years behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.
Seamus Hughes, a senior research faculty member at University of Nebraska Omaha’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, and an expert on violent extremism, is seeing more and more people like McQuade crossing his professional radar.
“With three weeks still to go, 2025 continues its record of the most federal arrests involving threats to public officials in at least a decade,” Hughes told The Independent. “The violent rhetoric touches on all levels of public service, be it the local election official, to a Minnesota congresswoman, to the president of the United States – the connective glue being a rising and concerning subset of Americans who see threatening murder as an acceptable outlet to express their political disagreements. It never is, it never should be, and hopefully… it never will be.”
McQuade is set to appear for a hearing in Tampa federal court on December 22.
Defense attorney Andrew Searle, who is representing McQuade, did not respond on Monday to a request for comment.
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