Tag Archives: Death

Tornado Ravages Oklahoma City

May 20, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.people.com

A tornado has ravaged through Oklahoma City suburbs on May 20, killing at least 37 people.

The monstrous tornado was reported to be a mile wide with winds up to 200.  It set buildings on fire and landed a direct blow on an elementary school.

There are currently no confirmed injuries or deaths, but the storm did leave the community in ruins, with heaps of debris piled up where homes used to stand.  The estimated dead is at 37 right now.

The National Weather Service had issued an initial finding that tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, which ranks it as the second most-powerful type of tornado.

Volunteers and first responders have raced to search the debris for survivors.

At Plaza Towers Elementary School, rescue workers have pulled several children alive from the rubble, while others are passing the survivors down a human chain to a triage center in the parking lot.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson believes that downed power lines and open gas lines will pose the most risk in the aftermath of the twister.

This same suburb had been hit hard by a tornado in 1999, with a storm that had the distinction of producing the highest winds ever recorded on the earth’s surface – 302 mph.

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Remains of 13-Year-Old Missing Since 2010 Found

April 29, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.cbsnews.com

The remains of a 13-year-old middle school cheerleader missing since December 2010 have been found.

Hailey Darlene Dunn’s remains were found near Lake J.B. Thomas in Scurry county on March 16. The girl had been reported missing by her mother on Dec. 28, 2010.

Her disappearance and the cause of her death are still under investigation.

Texas Rangers had informed Dunn’s mother, Billie Jean Dunn, on the afternoon of April 27, and said that she will be driving to West Texas to arrange her daughter’s funeral.

Dunn’s body was found about 20 miles northwest of her hometown of Colorado City.  An intensive search had occurred for months after her disappearance, and more than 100 billboards featuring her picture and information were set up along interstates in Texas and other states.

The mother’s boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, had at one point been a person of interest in the girl’s disappearance, but had never been charged.  Dunn’s mother also was accused of lying about the whereabouts of Adkins, and received a suspended 90-day jail term with probation for making a false report to law enforcement.

Both the mother and Adkins deny involvement in Hailey’s disappearance.

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Factory Explosion Leaves Up to 15 Dead

April 18, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.nydailynews.com

As many as 15 people have died in a fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.

Rescue workers in downtown West, which is about 20 miles north of Waco, Texas, searched the rubble for survivors.  There was more than 160 people injured in the blast.

The factory was left in ruin after the blast caused the building to shake with the strength of a small earthquake and could be heard dozens of miles away.  Flames shot into the night sky and rained burning embers, shrapnel, and debris down on the residents.

Authorities believe that between five and 15 people were killed in the blast, but stress that this is an early estimate.  Among those believed to be dead are members of a group of volunteer firefighters and a single police officer who responded to a fire call shortly before the blast.

The explosion occurred around 8 p.m. and decimated around 50 to 75 houses, an apartment complex with about 50 units, a middle school, and the West Rest Haven Nursing home, from which first-responders evacuated 133 patients.

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Three Killed in Boston Bombings Identified

April 18, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.abcnews.com

The three killed in the Boston bombings have been identified.

8-year-old Martin Richard, 29-year-old Krystle M. Campbell, and Chinese graduate student Lingzi Lu have all passed away.

Richard, who died from his injuries, had gathered with his family in Copley Square to watch the iconic race.  His sister Jane, 7, had lost a leg, while their mother Denise had surgery for a brain injury.  Father Bill, and an older brother, reportedly were not injured.

Meanwhile Campbell, of Medford, Mass., was at the finish line to cheer on her boyfriend, who was running the race.  It is currently unclear whether her boyfriend was injured.

Her father, William A. Campbell Jr. told Yahoo! News about his daughter’s death, “My daughter was the most lovable girl.  She helped everybody, and I’m just so shocked right now.  We’re just devastated.”

Photo Credit: www.nydailynews.com

The third victim, Lu, was a young Chinese graduate student of math and statistics at Boston University.  She was originally from the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, and her death was confirmed by the Chinese consulate on April 16.

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Margaret Thatcher Laid to Rest

April 17, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.guardian.co.uk

Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who died at 87 on April 8, was honored on April 17 with a funeral service in London.

Thousands of faithful British fans and others who had traveled from abroad paid their respects to the former prime minister of England.  Thatcher served from 1979 to 1990.

Among the royals who attended her funeral were Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, and Sarah, Duchess of York.  Also at the funeral were actress Joan Collins and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

President Obama had honored Thatcher in a statement: “Here in America, many of us will never forget her standing shoulder to shoulder with President Reagan, reminding the world that we are not simply carried along by the currents of history – we can shape them with moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will.”

Crowds had gathered overnight at St. Clement Danes Church, where Thatcher’s flag draped coffin had been transported.  She was then carried in a gun carriage with black horses to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where the funeral occurred.

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Bombs Go Off at Boston Marathon Finish Line

April 15, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.businessinsider.com

Multiple explosions near the finish line at the Boston Marathon has left two people dead and injured 23 more.

The explosions had gone off on opposite sides of the street near Copley Square around 2:45 p.m.

“There were two bombs that exploded near the finish line in today’s Boston Marathon.  We are working with law enforcement to understand what exactly has happened,” the Boston Athletic Association said in a statement.

Currently, the Boston Police Department are investigating into who or what caused the incident, and are asking families of the victims to call 1-617-635-4500.  Eyewitnesses or people with information should call 1-800-494-TIPS.

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Leave It to Beaver Star Frank Bank Dies

April 15, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.jonprovost.com

Frank Bank, best known for portraying the clumsy bully Clarence “Lumpy” Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, died on April 13.

The actor had died just one day after his 71st birthday, and no cause of death has been reported.

Bank was born in Los Angeles, and first appeared on screen as the young Will Rogers in the 1952 biopic The Will Rogers Story.  He followed that with his role as Clarence on the popular 1957-1963 series Leave It to Beaver.

When the sitcom was canceled, Bank continued to make sporadic TV appearances, but by 1972, he changed careers and became a stock-and-bond broker.

According to a 1998 PEOPLE profile, Bank and taught himself “everything there was to know about tax-free bonds.”  And after three years of getting started, he was earning around $300,000 a year at an L.A.-based company, and boasted fellow Beaver co-stars Jerry Mathers and Barbara Billingsley.

Bank is survived by his second wife, Rebecca, and two daughters with his high school sweetheart and first wife.

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Margaret Thatcher Has Passed Away

April 08, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.forbes.com

Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, has died.  She was 87.

Her spokesman Lord Bell made the announcement on the morning of April 8, “It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning.  A further statement will be made later.”

Lady Thatcher, who had been awarded title of Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in 1992, had suffered a series of strokes in recent years.  In 2005, she had been advised by doctors to no longer give speeches in public.

Thatcher, who was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, was known for reshaping her country as capitalism’s staunch defender.  She was a hardcore Conservative and her fierce anti-trade-union stance will be best remembered.

She was born in 1925 to Beatrice and Alfred Roberts, and had studied chemistry and law at Oxford.  At 34, she won the Tory Parliamentary seat in north London’s Finchley, and then continued to climb her party’s ranks.  At 44, she took the position of Education Minister in the Cabinet, and in 1975, she challenged Edward Heath for leadership in the Tory party, which she won.

Thatcher’s life was recently portrayed in the 2011 film The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, which dramatized her health issues.

She was married to businessman Denis Thatcher, whom she met in 1941 and married in 1951.  He died in 2003, and the two had had twins in 1953.

She is survived by her children, businessman Mark Thatcher, and author-TV personality Carol Thatcher.

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Remembering Roger Ebert, Film Critic Dies at 70

April 04, 2013   Ebonne Young   No comments

Photo Credit: tvweek.com

Roger Ebert, 70, has succumbed to his battle with cancer on Thursday, April 4th 2013, just two days after revealing what appeared to be an injury was actually the disease returning.

Ebert suffering from thyroid and salivary gland cancer for over ten year,  had already lost his voice and had to remove much of his jaw. In December, he suffered a hip fracture and as mentioned earlier it was an unfortunate reappearance of the cancer.

Ebert wrote a message to his fans in a blog post titled “Leave of Presence” that he had plans of reducing the amount of movie reviews he wrote. ”My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me,” Ebert wrote. “What’s more, I’ll be able at last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.”

Ebert and Gene Siskel co-hosted the iconic review show “Siskel and Ebert At The Movies” until Siskel’s death in 1999 after a battle with a brain tumor. Ebert, who won a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism in 1975, had a way with words and a sharp wit that is not easily matched.

Remembering the last words of an icon: “I’ll see you at the movies.”

Read more at CNN.com

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Buckwild Star Shain Gandee Dead

April 02, 2013   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.nydailynews.com

Buckwild star Shain Gandee has died.

A search for Gandee, 21, and two others ended when all three were found dead in his car in West Virginia.

“We are shocked and saddened by the terrible news about Shain Gandee, and those involved in this tragic incident.  We are waiting for more information, but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends,” an MTV rep said in a statement.

The reality star had been discovered unresponsive in his car on the morning of April 1 with his uncle, David Gandee, 48, and another person.

The family had notified authorities that the trio has been missing since March 30.  An intense search had been done and concluded when their bodies were found.

Gandee had last been seen at Larry’s Bar in Sissonville, W. Va.

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